A Purrfect Alibi

“Well don’t just stand there, let’s go inside.” Mom aimed her light at the interior and pushed in front of me.

“What do you think Esther was doing in here?” I asked as I pointed the beam of my light around. The flashlights were all small pen-sized lights that sent out a narrow beam that didn’t reach far. Probably not that great for the job but, seeing as I hadn’t anticipated skulking around in outhouses in the middle of the night, they were all I had on short notice.

“Hiding the speaker that made the ghost noises, of course.” Millie shot me a look that said “duh”.

“We shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Maybe there is another reason she was here.” I pointed my light at one of the holes. Nothing but a black pit. I dared not look too closely, that hole led to things I didn’t want to think about. “Maybe she thought being here would bring her closer to Jed. I mean, he probably spent a lot of time in here and I do remember someone mentioning that being close to places or things that someone spent a lot of time near when living could help raise their ghost.”

“This is an odd place to hide the recorder,” Mom said. “Maybe Gail was lying to us. If I were the killer I’d lie to us.”

“But Flora saw Esther here, too,” I reminded them.

“And the recorder that Gail had didn’t have ghostly noises on it,” Millie said. “Her claims about the real reason she is here do make sense. We know Victor scammed that woman from the cruise. We should find a way to verify that she really was that woman’s friend though.”

“Even so, she could still be the killer.” Mom seemed reluctant to let go of that theory as she ran her light over the three holes. “Sure glad we don’t have to use this thing. Did you have to when you were a kid, Millie?”

Millie snorted. “I’m not that old! We had indoor plumbing. This old thing hasn’t been used since my grandfather’s time.”

Meow!

Nero was walking along the “seat” part, which was just a long board with three large holes in it. “Don’t fall in there, because I’m not going in after you.” I used my sternest tone, but Nero just blinked at me and continued walking along, balancing precariously on the edges of the holes as if challenging me.

When Nero moved, my light picked out a spot in the wood that looked like it had fresh scratch marks. “Look at this, looks like someone pried this open.”

“A hidden compartment, maybe?” Millie put her flashlight in her mouth and reached over toward the wood. She tugged and pulled and finally a small section slid back revealing a dark hole.

“What’s in it?” Mom asked.

We all shone our lights into the dark section. “Can’t see. The compartment goes behind the board.” Millie angled the light and craned her neck to see inside. “Darn. It’s too dark in there.”

“Reach in with your hand,” Mom suggested.

“I’m not reaching in with my hand, you do it.” Millie stepped back from the hole and gestured for my mother to step up.

Mom looked at the hole uncertainly. “I’m not doing it. Josie, you do it. You’re younger and if something bites you, you have a much higher chance of recovery.” Mom pushed me toward the hole.

Visions of nests of spiders, centipedes or worse ran though my head as I aimed my flashlight inside. Someone had to reach in though, and I didn’t want Mom or Millie to get hurt. Guess it was up to me.

I slowly put my hand in, tentatively feeling the sides and bottom of the compartment, my heart thudding with the expectation of feeling the creepy sensation of insect legs at any moment. Thankfully I didn’t, but I also didn’t feel anything of interest. Satisfied that I’d explored the entire compartment, I withdrew my hand as quickly as possible. “It’s empty.”

“Darn!” Mom said.

Millie shone the beam of her flashlight over the interior of the outhouse again. Probably looking for more secret compartments. “Esther must have come in and gotten the recorder after the noises played. She’d have had plenty of time and we wouldn’t have seen her because we were busy with Gail.”

“But how would she know there was a secret compartment in the first place?” I asked. Still not convinced, I shone my light on the scratches again. The scratched wood was light, almost white in color. Surely it had been done recently.

“Good question,” Mom said. “Maybe it wasn’t Esther. Maybe it was Jed’s ghost. He’d know about the hiding place I bet.”

“Rose, there’s no such thing as ghosts!” Millie who had had her back to us, turned quickly, the flashlight under her chin lighting her face in a ghastly way.

Mom screamed and jumped back.

I did too.

Nero and Marlowe practically fell into the holes they were circling.

Millie cackled, then lowered the flashlight and rolled her eyes. “Come on, let’s look the rest of the place over. It’s pretty obvious someone has been in that hidden compartment, but there might be another clue and we might as well look while we are in here.”

We searched for a few minutes but found nothing else. The cats weren’t much help, they were more interested in sniffing the holes. Yech.