A Purrfect Alibi

“He came out of the bank with a burlap bag. He was glancing all around and then hopped into an Uber.”

“What was in the bag?” Marlowe asked.

“How big was it?” Stubbs added.

“No idea what was in it,” Boots said. “It was about the size of an old bag of marbles and looked like it had something of heft and weight in it.”

“Why would Victor want marbles?” Harry asked.

“I didn’t say it was marbles.” Boots narrowed his eyes and looked toward the bank as if trying to visualize Victor and the burlap bag. “Just looked like something heavy.”

“Huh, well that bears investigating.” Nero looked at Marlowe. “Perhaps we should head back to the guesthouse and see what our velour-wearing guest is up to.”

“You might want to hurry.” Juliette swished her tail ominously. “That movie producer came to visit Father Tim again and he’s leaving town tomorrow. If the reason for the murder was to gain fame with a movie, whoever is behind it might be trying to step up their game.”

Twenty

I found Esther in the front parlor. Good thing she was alone, maybe I could get her to tell me what the contents of the envelope were. Then again, maybe it wasn’t a good thing to be alone with her if she was the killer.

Nero and Marlowe were sitting on her lap. As I got closer, I could see she was feeding them some kind of treat. They didn’t seem bothered at all that she might be a killer, I could hear their purrs out in the hallway. Those furry little traitors would go to anyone for treats, yet when I put their dishes down with their nutritious cat food in it, they circled, sniffed and looked at me suspiciously as if I was trying to poison them.

Esther and the cats looked up as I approached. I gave Nero and Marlowe the stink-eye but they both just blinked at me with blank expressions.

I thrust the envelope out at her. “Just what is this?”

Meow. Nero sniffed the envelope and then squinted at me.

“You tell me.” She took the envelope cautiously. Playing dumb, was she? “Where did you get this?”

I fisted my hands on my hips. “Belinda at the bank gave it to me.”

Marlowe hopped on the table and stretched out to head-butt my hand. I relaxed and petted her soft head. At least there was one cat who knew which side to be on. Nero remained in Esther’s lap.

“Oh…” Esther put the envelope aside. “That Belinda sure is nice. This is just some research I had her do for me.”

“Research? On what?”

She glanced at the crystal ball and it sparked, attracting the cats’ attention. They batted it gently with their paws.

“You’ll have to wait and see about that. I can tell you one thing, that Victor isn’t going to get away with stealing the show this time.”

I didn’t know what to make of this. Esther was acting more like a kindly old lady than a killer, but maybe she was good at pretending. I was mulling over how to approach my interrogation when the sound of tires on the driveway caught my attention.

Mom and Millie were pulling to a stop and right behind them was Mike and then behind him was Myron.

Ughh. What was Myron doing here? It wasn’t even an hour ago that he’d been schmoozing with Rita Fortin at the bank. Maybe he was coming to scope out a location for the pool for the condos he’d build once he foreclosed on the loan? I know he’d said he was going to have Mike show him the gazebo at some point, but this soon? I wondered if he had ulterior motives. At least now I’d have backup if Esther tried anything. Though she didn’t seem like she was going to attack. She was simply sitting calmly in her chair, the cats back in her lap as if she had nothing to hide.

I stepped out into the foyer as Mom and Millie came through the door. Flora was dusting the Tiffany glass lamp on the round mahogany table, apparently oblivious to our new arrivals.

“Oh, Josie, there you are. We just came from the sheriff’s office,” Millie said, glancing behind her as Mike and then Myron piled into the foyer.

“And?” I asked.

Millie looked deflated. “Nothing new on the case, but we ran into Mike there. He was coming here anyway so he followed us.”

Mike smiled. “Hey, Sunshine.”

“Hi. What brings you here?” Mike and Myron were starting to frequent the guesthouse as much as Millie and Mom did.

He held up the clipboard that was in his hand and tapped it with a pencil. “Permit for the gazebo, remember?”

I glanced at Myron at the mention of the gazebo. Mike had issued the permit so that was a good thing, right?

“I came because of the gazebo, too,” Myron said.

Mike frowned at him. “I hardly think that’s necessary. I wasn’t talking about much of anything, anyway. Ed can move forward with the work.” He raised a brow at me and handed me the permit.

Millie leveled a look at Myron. “Now, Myron, don’t you think you are getting a little too involved in the business here? Why, barely a day passes when you don’t stop by.”

Myron looked affronted. “Well, it is my investment.”

Mom clacked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “Myron, look here. I know you have a crush on Josie but really your excuses to come here are growing quite thin.”