Murder Most Howl: A Paws & Claws Mystery (32 page)

She stopped talking and looked away. “Last year, one of my work friends who was exactly my age died in an accident. When I came back to work after the funeral, they already had someone else in her cubicle, and I kept thinking—is that all there is? I come to work every day, and when I die, they plug someone else into my place like I never existed?” She blew out a breath.

“So I came to Wagtail on vacation. This will sound stupid, but I felt Juliana here. I felt at home. I loved that dogs and cats could go everywhere. Juliana would have liked that, too. I was out walking and saw that Hair of the Dog was up for auction. I did a little calculating, and with a loan from my parents, I thought I might be able to swing it. A couple
of days before the auction, I went by Norm’s house to say hi and introduce myself. The minute I met him, I knew something wasn’t right. He fooled a lot of people by being charming but I saw through him right away. Imagine my shock when he showed up at the auction and bid against me!”

“He didn’t want you here,” said Ben.

Thirty-six

“Exactly. That became obvious very fast,” said Val. “So I did some checking up on him. The man was a worm, and he didn’t like that I was asking people about Juliana’s death. Shadow’s dad, Hollis, didn’t like that I was stirring things up again so he came into the pub one day and confronted me. Why was I asking questions about Shadow’s involvement in Juliana’s death? He came in to yell at me, but suddenly I had an ally because he also thought Norm murdered Juliana. The only downside to Norm’s death is that now we’ll never be able to prove what he did.”

“If it’s any comfort to you, Savannah also thinks Norm killed Juliana.” I explained about the rat poison. “There’s no way of knowing what he intended to do with it, but if one wife died from poison in her food, and he got away with it—”

“Why not do it again?” Holmes finished my thought.

“That’s why you were trying to yank Norm’s chain by making the clues in Murder Most Howl match his life.” I looked to her for confirmation.

“I hoped that they would push him to the edge when he found out. That he would slip up and confess in anger. I even bought a little recorder that I carried around, just in case he showed up to berate me and incriminated himself.”

I gave her a big hug. “I’m so sorry. But you went about it pretty stupidly. He could have killed you, too.”

“It’s over now. Whoever knocked him off gets my respect.”

Ben raised his eyebrows. “I’m not sure I’d go around saying that, even if I did think it.”

Val shooed us out of her office. “Go on now. I have work to do!”

On the walk back to the inn, Trixie and Gingersnap played with other dogs they met along the way.

In the lobby, Weegie hustled over to me. “Did you hear? I won! I can’t believe it. Of course, I feel a little bit guilty for stealing those clues from Myrtle, especially now that she’s in the hospital, but that’s the way the game is played. Right?”

I gave her a little hug. “Congratulations. Well played.”

“I thought for sure Ian and Geof would win but they were off by one very important little item. It was a clue that I found on the back of the cow at the ice cream place. They had weapons but I guess they didn’t think I was worth questioning.” She giggled with delight.

A number of her friends gathered around.

“So what was the solution?” I asked. “Who killed the Baron von Rottweiler?”

“As you know,” said Weegie, “I was his third wife. And I was quite afraid of him. I confided that to my brother, Max, who owns the local bookstore. Our mom had an upper respiratory infection. She was taking acetaminophen with codeine for it. When my brother cooked dinner at our mother’s house, he took some of Mom’s pills and put them into the baron’s flask to get rid of the baron to protect me.”

Her friends groaned and laughed, all talking at once. Some
of them had half the clues, but none of them had figured out the full story.

Mr. Huckle came over and announced, “Your victory table is ready, ladies.”

He had pushed together a number of tables in the dining area so they could all sit together. I spied Leo on the grand staircase watching them.

Walking calmly so I wouldn’t frighten him away, I approached Leo and scooped him up in my arms. “No more mouse gifts, please.”

I carried the big cat, who purred, to the reception desk. “Zelda, I don’t mean to be cruel, but do you think Leo would mind terribly if I shut him in the office until Sylvie has left? They’re having lunch now, so it would only be a couple of hours. She clearly doesn’t appreciate his attention.”

“He knows her. That’s why he’s acting this way.”

“Zelda!” I didn’t want to insult her but I doubted that Leo was telling her that. “Are you . . . reading his mind?”

“No. I’ve been thinking about this. He never came over to the inn before Sylvie arrived in town. Didn’t you notice that? I walk to work all the time but he never follows me here. And giving gifts of mice, that’s something he does to the people he likes. He’s always bringing me little presents. He takes them to my neighbor, who is very sweet. But he never brought anything to my good-for-nothing ex-husband. His previous owner told me about his gift-giving habit. She warned me because her mother was appalled when he brought her gifts.” Zelda stroked Leo’s back. “He knows Sylvie from somewhere.”

I walked into the office and placed him on the sofa. “I’m sure you don’t like being cooped up, Leo. But it won’t be too long.”

I closed the door behind me. “Sylvie lives in North Carolina. Unless Leo has been there, I’d think it highly unlikely that he knows her.”

“He’s not the youngest cat. Maybe he’s getting senile, and she reminds him of someone.”

“Where did the previous owner live?”

“Here in Wagtail. In Randolph Hall. She loved Leo so much. She cried and cried when she gave him to me. She was moving to Shanghai and didn’t think he would like living in a cramped apartment after years of roaming free in Wagtail.”

I looked down at Trixie, who gazed up at me as though she was smiling. “I don’t know if I could do that. It was probably the right thing to do for Leo but . . .” No question about it. I couldn’t leave my little sweethearts. I picked up Trixie and held her close at the mere thought.

“It was complicated. Her husband found a job there. I had just moved here when they were leaving. Leo sort of latched on to me, and she asked if I would take him. It was my lucky day. He’s such a cool cat.”

“Shanghai. That’s awfully far away. Didn’t someone say that Sylvie’s kids live in China?”

“Really? I can’t imagine there’s any connection.”

The sound of footsteps racing on the back stairs drew our attention.

“Holly! Holly!” shouted Robin. “We figured it out. We know how those items came to be under my bed.” Robin beamed and hurried toward me with a phone in her hand. “Look!”

She showed me the phone, which displayed a picture of Ella Mae, her ears pinned back, carrying a man’s money clip. Robin pressed a button and a video played as the camera followed Ella Mae, who disappeared under a bed and emerged without the money clip.

“She stole it?”

“Exactly. She’s Klepto Dog! That’s why it’s such a weird collection of items. Do you know how to reach Officer Dave? We have to show him.”

I had seen Ella Mae dragging the mock candlestick. She had darted out of Weegie’s room right in front of me. “Of course. Zelda, would you call Dave?”

“Can I go in my room and pack now?” asked Robin.

“I think we had better wait until Dave gives the okay.” I
excused myself and skedaddled to the main lobby so she wouldn’t keep pressing me. While Robin might be off the hook, there was still the issue of the pen cap at Randolph Hall. Not to mention the fact that Ella Mae must have found the insulin pen somewhere in the inn. Would she have put it inside the box? Or had someone else hidden it there and Ella Mae thought she was just stealing the tissue box? Instead of narrowing the list of potential murderers, everyone who had stayed at the inn was now suspect.

I watched the members of The Thursday Night Cloak and Dagger Club eat lunch. They were a noisy and happy bunch. The unlikeliest group of killers that I could imagine.

But I was reminded that Myrtle wasn’t with them, and that I had to pack up her belongings.

Ben walked toward me, putting his phone away. “My car is now at the parking lot outside of Wagtail. I’m going to take a Wagtail taxi over to see the damage. I’ll be back soon, though, if that’s okay.”

I assured him it was.

He headed out, and I walked upstairs to Myrtle’s room.

I left the door wide open, as was our practice when working in an occupied guest room. It wasn’t as though Myrtle would come running in and be shocked to find me there, but it also indicated that I wasn’t doing anything that I needed to hide.

It was eerily still. Like a life interrupted. I told myself that was only my imagination because Myrtle had been attacked. I pulled open the drapes. Sun flooded in, dispelling some of the creepiness in the pretty room. Myrtle hadn’t been the tidiest of guests. Her luggage lay on the floor, half-open. Clothes were strewn around, hanging on chairs and covering the bed previously occupied by Weegie. I set her suitcase on a luggage rack and lay sweaters, blouses, and pants inside as I folded them. I collected three books she had brought along and inserted them along the sides of the suitcase.

I scooted into the bathroom and collected her toiletries. There weren’t many. She wasn’t heavily into makeup. I
placed them in the suitcase and noticed a thick gray sweater tucked behind an armchair. When I picked it up, a cell phone fell out.

Aha! Maybe she had contact information for her sister on the phone. I examined it. It wasn’t quite like mine. I managed to turn it on and an e-mail came up. On the chance that it was from her sister, I read it.

You’re going to Wagtail? I’m so jealous. Mike and I dream of moving back there. I wonder if the stigma will ever go away? If people will ever forget? I can’t forget. It will haunt me to the day I die. I still cry when I think of my wonderful Leo. He would hate it here, though. Look up Shadow for me? I hope life turned out okay for him and that he didn’t have to flee, too.

Hugs and kisses,

Michelle

I sat on the edge of the bed, trying to put everything together. Michelle and Mike. Hadn’t Shadow said they owned The Doggy Bag? That made sense since she was asking about Shadow. Zelda would know if Leo’s previous owner was named Michelle.

But how were they connected to Myrtle? Was Michelle her daughter? Her sister? A friend? I scrolled back and found the addressee,
SylvieP
.

Sylvie Porter’s phone? Had Myrtle swiped it from her or was it more of Ella Mae the Klepto Dog’s handiwork? I had some trouble imagining that Ella Mae could have wrapped it in the sweater and stuck it behind the chair, but then who’d have thought she would steal things and hide them under the bed? So Sylvie knew the people who had owned Randolph Hall and The Doggy Bag. I’d thought Zelda was being silly when she said Leo recognized Sylvie and that was why he brought her gifts of mice. Hadn’t Zelda said that Leo had
brought them to the mother of his previous owner? Could Sylvie be Mike or Michelle’s mother?

I heard a scuffle and looked around but I didn’t see anyone. An impatient whine came from under the bed. The voice Trixie used when she wanted something from me.

Not again. I placed the phone on the bed and looked under it. The frame holding the mattress must have been higher than in the other room because Trixie had managed to wedge herself underneath it, squashed flat on her belly. There was another broom in the housekeeping closet. I retrieved it along with a flashlight, lay on the floor, and aimed the beam under the bed.

Trixie didn’t take her eyes off—Leo? “How did you get up here?” Someone must have opened the door to the office. Leo’s tail twitched back and forth, and sure enough, in the far corner was the poor mouse.

The door to the room closed, and I heard footsteps.

Thirty-seven