Claws for Alarm

by Cate Conte

  Ellory frowned. “Really? How?”

  “She and Stevie are—were—cousins.” I didn’t add any additional commentary. The fight with Mish would come up eventually. Especially since I wasn’t the only one who had witnessed it.

  Ellory wrote that down. “Is Stevie her next of kin?”

  “I have no idea,” I said. I didn’t know if Jillian was married, or had a partner, or even children. Oh God. What if she had children? This was terrible.

  “When did she get here?”

  “I’m not sure. I met her for the first time on Thursday.” It seemed so long ago already. “She came over to see the café.” I ran him through the past few days, starting with Jillian’s fundraising proposal, her introduction of Peyton Chandler and Marco Moore, her ask of Val to be the lead on the party planning, right up to today’s meeting. “We were here to do the walk-through with the staff, get the lay of the land for the event, figure out what we needed. Val and I showed up a few minutes early. Jillian was already out here.”

  Ellory tapped his pen on his notebook. “I noticed she had casual clothes on. And no shoes.”

  “Yeah. That tells me she wasn’t here for the meeting yet.”

  “Was she staying here?”

  “She told my grandfather she was, and she must have been. Not sure where her shoes would be otherwise.”

  We both fell silent for a moment. My mother was still comforting Val. I wondered if Ellory was going to want to talk to her again.

  “What’s up with the leash?” Ellory asked finally. “She have a dog?”

  I shook my head. “They’re cat leashes. I guess you could use them on a small dog too. Anyway, they’re the favors for the event. They showed up yesterday. She had the box with her when I saw her at Stevie’s.”

  “So who would have access to them, besides her?”

  “I don’t know. She said she had staff coming out here. Not sure if they’d already arrived. I guess she could’ve brought them here, but I’m not sure why she would have done that already. We were here to finalize the venue today.” I hesitated, remembering. The leashes had been delivered to Stevie’s house. That meant he and Mish had access to them too. Which doesn’t mean anything at all, the good half of my brain argued. Your friends are not killers.

  Ellory caught my pause. “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  He knew I was holding something back, but sudden activity caught both of our attention. “ME’s office is here,” I heard the door cop call out.

  Medical examiner. If that didn’t make it official.

  “There she is. The ME will tell us for sure.” He nodded at the woman who had just emerged from the hotel onto the patio. “She wanted to see the body before it was moved. So you didn’t see anyone else out here when you got here?”

  I shook my head. “The staff said they had closed off the patio for guests so we could take our time and have the whole space to look at.”

  “Then she must have been out there before they closed it off.”

  I nodded. “She definitely wasn’t dressed for a meeting.”

  “What time did you say you got here?”

  “About five minutes before ten. Do you think…” I trailed off.

  “What?”

  “That whoever killed her was still out here somewhere?”

  “I don’t know. We have teams combing the neighborhood. We figured if someone took off on foot that way”—he pointed to the side of the grounds, where a large white fence separated the property from its neighbor—“maybe they were hiding and watching the action. There’s an opening over there. It’s pretty easy to get onto the property. But it’s highly likely whoever it was just walked back into the hotel and out the front door.” He eyed me, and I knew he was going to circle back to our previous conversation.

  I spoke quickly. “By the way, Val dropped her phone over there.” I indicated the gazebo, keeping my eyes averted from the scene unfolding. “Can she get it back?”

  “I’ll talk to the crime scene techs. They probably bagged it. Your grandfather is here,” he said, nodding over my shoulder.

  I turned and saw Grandpa talking to the cop at the door, then he came through onto the patio. He came straight over to us, stopping to say something to Val and my mother, then sat down with me and Ellory.

  “What’s happened?” he asked, his face grim, looking from Ellory to me.

  “Someone strangled Jillian,” I said without preamble. I was tired of saying it at this point.

  “Any suspects?” Grandpa asked.

  Ellory shook his head slowly. “Not yet. I was just getting to that part of the conversation with Maddie.”

  “I told you we didn’t see anyone,” I said.

  “Right, but I’m also interested to know who she’s interacted with while she’s been here, any conflicts she may have had, that sort of thing.”

  I tried to keep my face as stoic as possible. “I just met her a couple of days ago.”

  “Okay. Did she mention any trouble? Was she interacting with anyone while she was here that looked tumultuous?”

  I could feel Grandpa’s eyes boring into my brain from the side. Ellory noticed it too, because he leaned forward.

  “Maddie. I don’t have to tell you how important this is, do I?”

  I sighed. “Of course not. She was a … big personality. Kind of bossy, but I think that’s just how she was. But I did see her arguing with someone.”

  “Who?”

  I met Ellory’s eyes. “Mish Warner.”

  He frowned. “Her cousin’s wife?”

  I nodded.

  “So a family issue?”

  “I don’t really know what the argument was about. They were in their cars on our street and you could just tell they weren’t happy with each other.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. I’d asked Mish about the argument, not Jillian. And as Grandpa Leo always said, there were three sides to every story—yours, mine, and the truth. And Mish hadn’t really given me much to go on there either. She’d just said she wasn’t happy about Jillian “weaseling her way” into the café. Jillian could’ve had a completely different perception of the whole conversation.

  “Sergeant Ellory.”

  We all turned to the man towering over us. Chief McAuliffe. The Daybreak chief who had taken over after Grandpa Leo retired.

  Ellory stood. “Chief. Did anyone brief you? I’m getting a statement from one of the witnesses.”

  “Not yet. I’ll wait for you to brief me.” The chief regarded me curiously, then glanced at Grandpa. “Leo. No rest for the retired, eh?” His tone was teasing but his eyes were flinty. It was no secret that the new chief didn’t like that Grandpa ended up in the middle of police investigations more often than not. I figured it was insecurity on his part. Grandpa had been here for his entire career, worked his way up from patrol, and had an impeccable reputation and standing in the community. He had left big shoes to fill, and McAuliffe was still trying to prove himself almost four years in.

  Grandpa stood and shook his hand. “Small island,” he said. “Sometimes it just can’t be helped.”

  “And this is your granddaughter, right?”

  I stood too. “Maddie James.” I didn’t hold out my hand. I didn’t love this guy. He was condescending to my grandfather, and he didn’t care much about animals. I’d watched him give Katrina’s budget the shaft, and he hadn’t stood by her last year when she’d been in trouble. To me, that said a lot about his character.

  Grandpa, sensing my mood, turned to Ellory. “Do you need anything else from Maddie? If not, I’d like to get my girls home.” He glanced at the chief. “And let you all do your jobs.”

  Chapter 18

  After a quick side conversation with Ellory, Grandpa ushered us back into the lobby.

  “Why is the chief here?” I asked. “You usually don’t visit crime scenes at that level. Is it because he’s friends with the owner?”

  “That’s right,” Grandpa said. “It doesn’t look great that he r
ecommended this venture to his buddy and now someone was killed here on his watch.”

  So the chief was there for damage control. Closing this case would be a huge priority for him, since he clearly had a personal stake in it. I wondered if any of it was going to become a backlash on Katrina, if he found out that Jillian’s presence here was even indirectly benefiting the ACO efforts. I sincerely hoped not. He already had an eye on her, and not in a good way.

  Grandpa looked back at Val, still subdued but a bit steadier. “You okay? Ethan’s outside.”

  That brightened her spirits. “I just want to get out of here. I’ll be outside,” she said as she headed for the door.

  “Lucas too,” he added. “I picked him up on the way.”

  “You’re the best, Grandpa.” Then I remembered Val dropping her phone at the gazebo. “Shoot, her phone. She never got it back.”

  “They’ll bring it over later. Mick already let me know. He wants to talk to her again. I asked him to give her a couple hours.”

  “Ah, that’s right. You know all the tricks of the trade.” I pushed open the front door and stepped outside, stopping to take a breath. Even though I’d been outside all morning, being on that patio had been suffocating. Out here, the air seemed lighter. Like I could breathe easier. At the front of the crowd of onlookers I could see Ethan, Lucas, and Ollie. Val had already made her way over to Ethan, who immediately stepped forward to offer her shelter from the crowd.

  “Maddie.” Lucas and Ollie rushed over. Lucas enveloped me in a huge hug, capturing JJ between us. He let out a muffled squeak of disapproval. “What happened? Are you okay?”

  I took a minute to breathe him in. He smelled like the outdoors—sea salt and sunscreen, the scents of summer. “I don’t know,” I admitted, my voice muffled by his shirt. “It still feels surreal.”

  “Your grandfather said it was that woman? The one planning the party?”

  I nodded, lifting my head from his chest. Grandpa had his phone out and was speaking to someone, walking in small circles around the parking lot. I wondered who it was. Ethan, my mother, and Val were walking toward my mother’s car, Val in the middle of them. I felt sorry for her. No one should have to see what we’d seen this morning. And Val wasn’t great at crises in general, and the ones she usually handled were a heck of a lot more benign than this one. Like, someone who ordered chicken got beef instead at a party. Although when it came to her business, she was really chill. It was the personal types of crises that threw her.

  Lucas was still waiting for me to tell him. I could tell he was getting antsy. “So, what happened to her?” he prompted.

  I reached down to pet Ollie, who was climbing my leg desperately looking for attention. “Someone strangled her. With one of the cat leashes we were going to give away as party favors.” Just saying the words made my stomach flip again. I pressed my hand to it. “But you’re not supposed to know that. The leash part.”

  His face had turned white, though. I don’t think he even registered the leash bit. He was still trying to process the strangled part. “You’re kidding, Maddie. That’s … horrible. Who would’ve done that?”

  I shook my head slowly. It had been a really long day already and it was barely noon. I was only upright because of the adrenaline rush that was still pumping through my blood, but I was in for a crash soon. And then I would need to really process this whole thing. Jillian was dead. One minute she’d been planning a fundraiser for our little cat café, and the next, someone had killed her. “No clue. Can we go home now?”

  He took my hand. “Of course. Let’s go. You have your grandmother’s car, right?”

  I nodded, pointing vaguely in the direction I think I’d parked it. It seemed so long ago now. As we were walking over, my phone rang. I glanced at it. Craig.

  “Sorry,” I said to Lucas. “I have to get this.” Lucas and Craig didn’t really care for each other. Mostly because when I’d returned to the island, Craig had wanted to get back together. I’d entertained the idea for a bit, but then things with Lucas happened and ultimately I decided to move forward, not backward. And Craig was happily in a relationship with Jade Bennett, who owned Jade Moon, a popular bar on the island. Still, the two of them had never quite gotten past their differences.

  “Craig. Hey.” I pressed the phone to my ear. Lucas opened the car door for me and I slid inside with JJ, grateful to shut the noise of the scene out.

  “I have Val’s phone. Ellory and I will bring it by around two. Let her know, please?”

  “I will,” I said. “What’s going on in there? Find anything out?”

  Silence. Which meant he couldn’t talk. “We’ll be over after we finish up here.”

  “Yeah.” I disconnected and tossed the phone into the cupholder, leaned back, and closed my eyes as Lucas loaded Ollie in the back seat and climbed into the driver’s side. JJ curled up in a ball on my lap and closed his eyes. It had been a long morning for him too.

  “What’s up?” Lucas asked.

  “The cops are coming over to talk to Val. She was kind of in shock in there. And she dropped her phone near the body.”

  Lucas winced. “I don’t blame her. So you don’t have any idea…”

  I shook my head. “No.” I wondered if Ellory had sent a team right out to Stevie’s house. They would probably start there if Jillian didn’t have any information on her to identify an emergency contact. I also wondered how many people knew about their family ties, or if Stevie would know immediately that I was the one who had told them. I mean, it wasn’t a secret, right?

  I wondered if I should call Mish and give her a heads-up. Would she be happy at the news? I immediately felt bad at the thought. No matter what she thought of her husband’s cousin, she wouldn’t want her dead. Would she?

  I thought of Stevie’s car speeding out of the lot earlier and realized that I had no idea what to think. Mish had clearly hated Jillian. Stevie hadn’t seemed all that fond of her either. But that couldn’t mean one of them had hurt her. I’d known these people my whole life. Stevie was a nerd, for goodness’ sake. A lovable, gentle nerd. And Mish was, well, just Mish. Apparently she could be loud and opinionated, but deep down she wouldn’t hurt a fly. Would she?

  But then why did my stomach feel so sick when I thought about the possibility that I was wrong?

  “I need to talk to Mish,” I said to Lucas. “Can you take me to her store?”

  “I can, but she won’t be there,” he said. “She’s at the café. She arrived just as I was leaving to walk Ollie, just after ten.”

  Chapter 19

  “She did?” I tried to process that. Mish showed up around ten at our house. We found Jillian right around ten at the hotel, already dead. But for how long? Did that clear Mish, or implicate her?

  “She did. Why?”

  “How did she look?”

  Lucas frowned. “What do you mean? She looked like Mish.”

  “Did she look … ill? She’s been sick.” I didn’t want to ask Did she look like she’d just killed somebody? I was horrified I was even having that thought in the first place.

  “I’m not sure. I just saw her running in, we didn’t talk. Why do you need to talk to her? Is it about … what happened?”

  I nodded.

  He stopped at a red light and glanced over at me. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea, Mads. What are you going to say to her? Do you really think you should be preempting the cops? I’m sure she’s on their list.”

  “I’m sure too, but I have to ask her what happened with Jillian. Why she was yelling at her out in the street. I feel like I need to get to her before they do. She’s going to find out soon enough. Unless they already got to Stevie.” I rubbed my temples. I had a headache and I desperately wanted to go lie down for a bit and reconcile these paranoid thoughts that were running through my head. What was wrong with me? Normal people didn’t automatically suspect their childhood friends were murderers.

  Lucas didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t
say anything else. We were silent the rest of the short drive home. As we passed the marina, I caught a glimpse of Peyton’s giant boat. I thought of Chad Novak on the steps of the hotel, watching everything, and wondered who knew what at this point. Had the word leaked to the guests? Had he figured out it was someone he knew, and if so, had he gotten to Peyton yet? And why was he there? Although he could’ve been staying there too—maybe they had coordinated their stays. It made sense, since Jillian probably had to work through Chad for access to Peyton. Also I got the sense that Chad and Peyton weren’t besties, despite their professional relationship, so it made sense he might not be invited to stay on her yacht despite the size of it.

  Grandpa’s truck and my mom’s car were already in the driveway when we pulled up. But Mish’s car wasn’t. I sat up straight in my seat. “Shoot! Did she leave?”

  “She didn’t drive,” he said. “At least, her car wasn’t here earlier either. I assumed Stevie dropped her off?”

  I thought about that. If Stevie had dropped her off, he must’ve been alone when I saw his car this morning. It was also after ten when I’d seen him. Had he dropped her off and gone straight to the hotel? Why? He couldn’t have had a planned meeting with Jillian, since she had a planned meeting with us. Unless he was supposed to meet with her after she finished with us.

  “I have no idea,” I murmured. But maybe that was a good thing. If she’d been with someone, she would’ve had an alibi. I pushed the door open and slid out of the car. “I’ll be right in. I’m going to the café and talk to her. Can you bring JJ in?” I closed the door and hurried away before he tried to stop me.

  When I entered the café, it was quiet. Mish was alone, save for one guest, who sat on one of the floor pillows with three kittens flopped around her in various stages of ecstasy while she rubbed all their tummies.

  Mish glanced up from fluffing cat beds and straightened when she saw me. “Maddie. Hey. I hope it’s okay I came in. I know I wasn’t on the schedule, but I texted Adele. She said it was fine.”