A Purrfect Alibi

Ed would start work on the gazebo shortly and I vaguely remembered Mike saying something about coming out to inspect the gazebo for the permit. Had Mike said something about it to Myron? I was skeptical, as I was pretty sure that if something was wrong, Mike would have mentioned it to me first. I didn’t think guests were in the habit of going to the gazebo anyway, but even so, Myron was probably making something out of nothing. Which made me wonder if that was why he’d been out there earlier in the first place. Was he looking for a reason to call in the loan?

I was about to ask when Rita Fortin came into the lobby. She was from a wealthy family and liked to flaunt it with designer outfits and purses that cost as much as a compact car. Today was no exception. She scanned the lobby from behind overly large sunglasses, her gaze stopping when it fell on Myron. Always one to follow the money, Myron immediately hurried over to suck up to her without so much as a goodbye to me.

It was just as well, what I had been about to say to him wasn’t very nice. Better to have some time to cool off before I got Myron riled up. After all, he did hold my future in his hands.

As Myron ushered Rita into his office, Belinda May, one of the tellers, started toward me, shooting looks over her shoulder at Myron to make sure he didn’t notice.

“Hey, Josie, I have this for one of your guests. I was wondering if you could take it back for them. I was supposed to meet them later today, but my grandmother is ill and I can’t.” She held a plain A4 manila envelope out to me.

“You want me to give this to Victor?” I mean, I assumed it was him since he was the one with an agenda. The envelope had no name on it.

“No. Esther. That nice crystal-ball lady.”

“She was here?” I looked back at the display area then down at the envelope, remembering how upset Esther had been at Victor’s pronouncement.

Belinda glanced around as if to make sure no one could overhear. “She was looking at the memorabilia area, then she gave me a lovely reading with her crystal ball. Of course, Myron wasn’t here then. I do hope her readings are true. She said a silver-haired fox would sweep me off my feet.”

“She did, did she?” I shook the envelope. Nothing rattled. “So, what’s in the envelope?”

“Oh, just some information about the bank’s history.”

“Why would she want that?” I felt along the envelope, expecting to feel the bulk of a buckle or button or something, but it was flat. Just paper.

Belinda shrugged. “I guess she found it interesting. Don’t worry, it’s nothing confidential. I mean, I’m sure it’s okay to give out, but you know how Myron can be… speaking of that, I need to get back to my station.”

She rushed off, leaving me staring at the envelope. I was dying to know what was in it and why Esther would want information on the bank’s history, but it was sealed. Did I dare open it? I wasn’t sure I wanted to tip off Esther to the fact that I’d seen the contents. Which left me wondering… what in the world was Esther up to?

Nero sniffed the contents of the Styrofoam container that Harry had pilfered from the dumpster of the Marinara Mariner. Red sauce, linguini… ahhh… there was a morsel of succulent shrimp. Nero gobbled it up and then licked his paws, washing his white tuxedo to remove any evidence of sauce.

“No squid-ink dish today.” Juliette hopped down from the rim of the dumpster and eyed the container in front of Nero. “The only thing in here is common food, unfortunately.”

“Indeed.” Boots sniffed the air with disdain.

Nero had to admit, it was smelly here in the alley beside the restaurant. But sometimes Tony left good scraps for them and it was worth a try. Besides, they had an ulterior motive to meet there, it was across from the bank and they’d been watching Myron ever since Marlowe and Nero had seen him at the guesthouse.

“Myron hasn’t left the bank since we started the stakeout.” Stubbs’ voice wafted up from the dumpster. “Speaking of which, I wish Tony had put some steak out.”

“What’s going on with the police?” Nero asked Harry.

“According to Louie, Millie and Rose came to the station and tried to get information out of Seth but he clammed up,” Harry said.

“Clam sauce? Don’t think so. I don’t smell any in here!” Stubbs yelled from the dumpster.

Harry gave the dumpster the side-eye. “Would you come out of there, there’s nothing good inside.”

“Fine.” Stubbs appeared on the rim, then jumped down shaking the dumpster debris off his orange coat.

“So, as I was saying,” Harry continued, “Seth didn’t tell much to Rose and Millie, but Louie said that they are narrowing things down to one suspect.”

“Who?” Juliette asked.

“He didn’t know. They are being very hush-hush.”

“I bet it’s that guy with the mustache.” Boots glanced over at the bank. “He was in the bank earlier.”

“You mean the man with the soft suits who is staying at the guesthouse? The one who came to the rectory?” Juliette asked.

Boots nodded.

“Victor,” Nero said. “Did he do anything suspicious?”