A Purrfect Alibi

“Well, I guess that’s that. We need to confront Esther.” Millie brushed the dirt off her hands and started for the crescent-moon door.

Merooo! Nero sounded like he wasn’t too keen on confronting Esther. It was no wonder, she’d given the cats a lot of treats and they were probably reluctant to think she could be a killer.

“She did seem to get really mad when Victor claimed he was talking to Jed tonight,” I said.

Merope! Marlowe added her two cents as I ushered them out of the outhouse and shut the door.

“And she got that mysterious envelope,” Mom added. “We need to see what’s in there.”

“Yeah.” Millie picked up the pace and was practically jogging toward the guesthouse. I wasn’t sure if it was because it had gotten even darker and a little scary outside or if she was excited about facing Esther. “The contents of that envelope could be the key. I have a feeling that the sooner we find out what it is, the sooner we can catch our killer.”

“I haven’t seen Millie move this fast in years,” Nero said as they trotted along beside the humans. Moonlight lit the path, but the humans had their flashlights bobbing in front of them like oversized fireflies. Blades of tall grass whipped Nero in the face every so often when he strayed too close to the edge.

“She seems eager to get on with her interrogation.” Marlowe glanced back longingly at the outhouse. “It’s a shame because there were lots of lovely smells in there and I hated to leave.”

“They didn’t even notice that someone had been digging at the gazebo,” Nero said.

“We did all we could to alert them, but once they found the recorder they were focused on that.”

Nero shook his head. “Just like humans not to consider there might be another thing to investigate.”

“At least they got it half right. Gail did put the recorder there,” Marlowe said.

“But who did the digging?” Nero asked.

“It could have been Gail. She was there.”

“No, I think it was someone else. Perhaps Victor. He was missing from the guesthouse this afternoon.”

Marlowe glanced at Nero. “Before or after the noises? Maybe he was the one hiding the recorder. It would make sense because he wants everyone to think he is talking to Jed.”

“Indeed. I wonder if, perhaps, he was burying the recorder so as not to be found with the evidence.”

“Or maybe he really did talk to Jed and was digging up the treasure,” Marlowe suggested.

“There is no buried treasure!” Jed’s voice boomed from beside Nero, making him jump sideways in the air like a frightened kitten. He then leaped and pivoted, trying to pretend he did that on purpose.

“Thought I saw a snake,” Nero said at Marlowe’s amused expression.

Marlowe turned to Jed. “You keep saying there is no treasure, but your memory doesn’t appear to be very good. Maybe you are mistaken. I mean, you couldn’t remember where you had buried it.”

“That was just a momentary confusion on account of the property being so different from my time. Now that I have my bearings, I know exactly where I put things.”

“And Esther tried to dig it up, but nothing was there,” Nero added. They were almost at the house now and he wondered what Millie was going to do. At the rate she was moving she planned to go in all guns blazing and accuse Esther. That might not be the best course of action, especially since he had his doubts as to whether Esther was the killer.

“It wouldn’t be there.” Jed floated along keeping pace beside them. “I remember that old oak tree. There was no gazebo at the time, but the view of the cove is very pretty from that spot so everyone used to go there. I wouldn’t be so stupid as to bury treasure there where anyone could stumble across it.”

“So what was the digging at the gazebo about?” Marlowe asked.

Nero shrugged. “Another mystery to be solved.”

“So you say that Millie and the gang think Esther is mixed up in the murder now?” Jed asked.

“She was in the outhouse for suspicious reasons,” Nero said.

Jed stopped abruptly. He looked quite disturbed. “She may have had very good reasons. After all, I spent a lot of time in there.”

“Umm… Okay. So she wanted to be close to you in an outhouse?” Marlowe’s whiskers twitched. “Yech.”

“The fact remains that someone took something out of that old compartment.” Nero turned to Jed. “Did you know about that?”

Jed swirled and dipped. “I might have had a little secret stash to hide some hooch from the missus back then.”

Nero exchanged a glance with Marlowe. “So you knew it was there, and you’re in communication with Esther… so…”

“No! It’s not like that. Esther is no killer, I swear to that!”

Poor Jed, he had it bad for Esther. Nero had never seen a ghost so smitten. Was Jed so gullible that Esther had him doing her dirty work? How far would he go for her?

“I don’t think she’s the killer, either,” Marlowe said.

Nero glanced at the younger cat. “Is there concrete evidence which has caused you to reach this conclusion or do you just favor her because she gives us treats?”

Marlowe’s steps faltered. “I… well… She seems so nice, I can’t imagine her killing anyone.”