Nozy Cat 1

by Lyn Key

  What’s that? He just accused you of being the killers, for crying out loud!

  “Sergeant Trogg is just being a cop,” Hope said. “We have to understand that’s what the cops do in their jobs. They suspect everybody they encounter on a homicide case until they can find the truth and arrest the guilty culprit.”

  “Speaking of finding the truth, let’s keep plugging away before it gets too late tonight,” Peggy Sue said.

  “Dan McCabe is our third and final murder suspect,” Hope said. “We learned Dan and Hugo got into an altercation in the post office. Dan may’ve felt as if it wasn’t resolved and later decided to kill Hugo.”

  “Would a hothead like Dan have the patience to devise a plan to poison and kill Hugo?” Peggy Sue asked.

  “Dan has shown he’s quick-tempered, but he’s also proven to be crafty and resourceful enough to formulate a murder plot involving poison,” Hope replied.

  “Why did he take the notion to leave Hugo’s dead body in our bookshop?” Peggy Sue asked.

  “Mr. Bushrod told us Dan and Hugo may’ve fought over a money issue,” Hope said. “If we further accept Sergeant Trogg’s assertion Hugo dug up people’s dirty, little secrets, he might’ve learned something scandalous about Dan. Hugo tried to blackmail Dan, and they quarreled about it. He killed Hugo and left him in our bookshop, perhaps in a clumsy attempt to frame us for the murder.”

  “Clumsy or not, Dan’s frame job has worked to perfection, so far,” Peggy Sue said. “Sergeant Trogg mistakenly clings to his pet suspicion Hugo was blackmailing us, and we had to kill him.”

  We’d better shake out some answers about Dan and PDQ, too.

  “He lives in the stucco house by the old limestone quarry,” Peggy Sue said.

  “However, I know Dan works the night shift at the old fireworks plant,” Hope said. “His neighbor Mrs. Dyson told me when she came in to fill her tote bag for her latest reading binge.”

  “Isn’t what’s-her-name the night shift boss out there?” Peggy Sue asked.

  Could you be a little more specific than what’s-her-name?

  “You know who I mean. She’s the short, heavy-set gal with the gravely voice like Marge Simpson’s,” Peggy Sue replied. “Her husband with the eye patch and stammer ran off with the sweet young thing whose name also escapes me.”

  “Are you thinking of Norma Clay?” Hope said.

  “Norma is the gal I’m trying to recall,” Peggy Sue replied. “She’s one of Travis’ clients. They sit and gossip for an hour when she comes to his office with an insurance matter.”

  “Will Norma gossip with us about Dan?” Hope asked.

  There’s only the one way to know: call her up and feel her out.

  Peggy Sue placed her call to the old fireworks plant, and Norma answered the ring. She said she was taking a break and had a free minute to spare.

  “How’s Travis getting along with his selling insurance?” Norma asked.

  “We’re still eating better than beans and franks for dinner every night,” Peggy Sue replied. “So, it’s all good.”

  Norma laughed. “I hear that. So, what’s going on tonight, Peggy Sue?”

  “No doubt you’ve heard the talk about Hope and I are nosing around in the Hugo Spangler murder,” Peggy Sue replied.

  “That’s understandable given you ladies found his dead body in your bookshop,” Norma said.

  “I won’t get into the nitty-gritty details over the phone, but we’d like to speak to you about Dan McCabe,” Peggy Sue said.

  “Oh. Him. Yeah.” Norma no longer sounded as friendly. “I’m well-acquainted with Mr. McCabe. I’d love to tell you what I think of him, but I’m a Christian woman who reads her holy bible every night before she tucks in under the bedsheet.”

  “We know from personal experience he’s abrasive on top of conniving,” Peggy Sue said.

  “You don’t know the half of it,” Norma said. “I could tell you stories about Dan that would leave you dumbstruck.”

  “If you have a few minutes later on, we’d like to get with you and compare notes,” Peggy Sue said.

  “Tonight we’re slow with no pressing deadlines,” Norma said. “I’ll be working until midnight when I clock out and go home. Bang on the side door, and I’ll also be keeping an eye out for you.”

  “But with Dan also being there with you…,” Peggy Sue said.

  “Don’t you worry for one second about Dan McCabe,” Norma said. “You just leave him to me, and I’ll be seeing you ladies in a little while.”

  Chapter 20

  Every small town should have a fireworks plant. Something wondrous about ignited fireworks transforms the folks into riveted spectators gazing up into the dark sky watching the brilliant bursts of beauty. It’s a summertime ritual like picnics and baseball that never grows old no matter what your age is. Hope kept her family memories of watching the fireworks set off behind the elementary school every Fourth of July night. One year a rainy spell forced the organizers to cancel shooting off the fireworks extravaganza, and it almost broke her heart.

  Shortly after Hope married J.D. Jones, Sweet Springs snared its fireworks plant. Everybody from the mayor down to the IGA stock clerk was delighted. Any new business offering the local folks good paying jobs with benefits amounted to a godsend. Hope and Peggy Sue were among the few town residents who’d never worked a day of their lives at the fireworks plant.

  The plant management had installed the outdoor-lighted water fountain gushing in front since Hope had last been there. The red, blue, and yellow illumination added to the plume of water shooting up gave the fireworks plant a new festive air. The side asphalt lot held no more than a half-dozen parked cars and pickup trucks. A skeleton crew kept the plant operations humming along through the night. She looked around trying to spot the model car Dan McCabe had driven when they’d spoken to him on Main Street.

  After Peggy Sue pulled into the asphalt lot, Hope noticed Nozy Cat was using his animated purr. She looked at him poised on the tuffet, and he nodded at her. A new fear warned her that he was enjoying this dangerous excitement too much.

  “Norma has been standing in the doorway waiting for us,” Peggy Sue said.

  Hope got out with Peggy Sue and Nozy Cat. They strolled up the concrete walkway to the bright doorway silhouetting the hefty Norma. They could make out she wore a white chef’s bouffant hat and white baker’s apron over her street clothes. Hope wondered how manufacturing fireworks had anything to do with baking.

  “Hi there, ladies,” Norma said. “I’m glad to see you made it.”

  “How’s the fireworks business treating you, Norma?” Hope asked.

  “I guess you didn’t get to read the newspaper article about us because that’s in the past,” Norma replied.

  “I don’t follow you,” Hope said. “Don’t you manufacture fireworks?”

  “We did for a long time, but we don’t anymore,” Norma replied as she adjusted the bouffant hat balanced on her head. “A big Canadian outfit bought up the fireworks company and made some big changes real fast. We’re still transitioning over with the setup, but we’ll be producing chocolate before the summer ends.”

  “Sounds yummy,” Peggy Sue said. “Do you like making chocolate more than fireworks?”

  “The hours and pay are the same,” Norma replied. “But I’m a chocolate fiend, and I sure can’t nibble on a cherry bomb or Roman candle while I’m watching TV.”

  “What can you give us about Dan McCabe?” Hope asked.

  “To begin with, I can tell you he doesn’t work here for me anymore,” Norma said as she stiffened her shoulders, and her voice turned brittle. “I fired him a few hours before you called me.”

  “Why did you have to cut him loose?” Hope asked.

  Norma laughed. “Where do I start? He’s a pretty boy who has a wicked mouth on him and packs a mean temper to go with it. I’ve put up with his guff for years, and the change has been a long time coming. The last straw came tonight. He threw a big ste
el ladle at me, so after I ducked, I told him to grab his gear and hit the road. He was smart to leave as fast as he did, or I would’ve throttled him on the spot.”

  “Where did he go next?” Hope asked.

  “I don’t give a flying doughnut as long as he doesn’t return here,” Norma replied. “Which one of you ladies found Hugo’s dead body?”

  “That would be me,” Hope replied. “Now Sergeant Trogg likes us for Hugo’s killer.”

  “Sergeant Trogg rates up there with Dan McCabe in my book,” Norma said.

  “We’ve had our share of butting heads with him,” Peggy Sue said.

  “Mr. Bushrod told us Dan and Hugo had a heated altercation in the post office,” Hope said. “Mr. Bushrod had to break it up before they duked it out.”

  “Dan gets ticked off at anybody for anything,” Norma said. “Are you thinking he’s the one who murdered Hugo?”

  “We keep finding more evidence that convinces us of it,” Hope replied.

  “If my opinion as his ex-boss carries any weight, I’d say he’s probably guilty as sin,” Norma said. “His guilty conscience is what got him all stirred up tonight, acting like a lunatic and throwing stuff at me. He crossed the line so I threw him out and good riddance is all I have to say about it. My boss has got my back, and she’ll support me on it.”

  “Then you made the right decision,” Hope said.

  Norma looked down. “Whose regal cat is that with the gleaming marble blue eyes?”

  Please introduce me by my proper title, His Whiskered Lordship.

  “Nozy Cat belongs to me and my daughter Stace,” Hope replied, ignoring his silly, pompous request.

  “He’s also the bookshop mascot,” Peggy Sue said. “Are you also a cat serf like us?”

  “I have a pair of sister tabbies—Rosie and Josie—at home, and I love them to pieces,” Norma replied.

  “What a sad and lonely world it would be without our cats in it,” Peggy Sue said.

  “Amen to that,” Norma said. “If you should happen to bump into Dan, tell him I said not to bother calling me. I’ll just drop his keys in the mail whenever I can get over to the post office. But I’m not going to break my leg while I’m doing it. You can tell him I said that, too.”

  “Did he forget and leave behind his keys?” Peggy Sue asked.

  “He stormed out of here in a big huff,” Norma replied. “He walks to work and town, so I suppose he doesn’t need to keep up with his keys. I found them along with a Baltimore Orioles baseball cap left behind in his old employee locker.”

  Nozy Cat’s purring grew animated. For your information, that’s my clues meter going off, Hope.

  Hope gave a nod and glanced at Peggy Sue.

  “May I take a look at Dan’s keys?” Peggy Sue asked. “He may’ve stolen one of the keys to our bookshop.”

  “That can’t be a good thing to have happen to you,” Norma said.

  She fished into her trousers pocket under the baker’s apron and took out Dan’s key ring filled with the jingly keys.

  “It appears as if Dan never threw away a key in his life,” Peggy Sue said. She moved into the stronger light spilling from the doorway and went through the keys, one by one, while Hope watched with attentive eyes.

  “Is our missing key on Dan’s key ring?” Hope asked. “Remember we filed the two small notches at the top of our keys to help us identify them in the dark.”

  “I don’t see our bookshop key here with his other keys,” Peggy Sue replied.

  “Check for it again,” Hope said.

  “I just did check twice,” Peggy Sue said. “Our key simply isn’t here.”

  “As sorry as I am to say it, Dan may not be your right guy,” Norma said.

  “He’s the last person on our murder suspects list,” Peggy Sue said.

  “Then you should start at the top of your murder suspects list and go back through it,” Norma said. “I’d better get back to my job since I’m now shorthanded. Good luck on running your bookshop. Maybe I’ll come by for checking out any cookbooks on the old-fashioned Southern dishes that Grandma used to fix for Sunday dinner. Have you got any cookbooks set out for sale?”

  “They get snatched off the shelves the same day we put them up,” Hope replied. “We just got in a new batch so hurry over and get yours before they’re all gone.”

  Norma grinned at Hope before looking at Peggy Sue.

  “She’s a smart saleswoman with a silver tongue,” Norma said.

  “Hope does many things well, and she never ceases to amaze me,” Peggy Sue said.

  “Thanks but even so, the bookshop is only sputtering along in these lean times,” Hope said. “We may have to shut its doors for good.”

  Peggy Sue lightly rapped her knuckles on her forehead. “Knock on wood that never happens.”

  “You should tough it out for a little while longer,” Norma said. “Who knows? Things might start to pick up steam by the time the summer ends. If they don’t, you head on back here and see me again, and I’ll give you a fun job making chocolate.”

  Peggy Sue returned Dan’s key ring to Norma. “You have our thanks, Norma. We’ll be sure to keep your generous offer in mind.”

  “Before I forget it, one of the fringe benefits is you get to take home a free candy box of chocolates every Friday,” Norma said.

  Chapter 21

  “Travis, hon, what are you doing right now?” Peggy Sue asked.

  “I’m sitting on our sofa watching an old episode of Cagney and Lacey,” Travis replied. “What are you doing at nine o’clock if you’re not here with me? I thought you said you’d be home way before now.”

  “I don’t believe I care for hearing your snippy tone.”

  “Uh-huh. You’d better be with Hope Jones. That’s all I can say.”

  “She’s sitting here beside me while I’m driving. Would you like to speak to her and get confirmation?”

  “No, I trust you, but you’re really pushing it tonight.”

  Peggy Sue took down her smart phone and glanced at Hope.

  “Are things unsettled at home?” Hope asked.

  “Travis has gotten his little man-nose tweaked out of joint,” Peggy Sue replied. “He likes having me sit on the sofa with him while I’m knitting on my afghan, and he follows his TV cop shows. Sometimes the wives deserve a night out with the girls, even if it’s for sleuthing purposes.”

  I know a new joke I can tell Travis about the traveling encyclopedia salesman and farmer’s daughter if it will help to smooth things over with him.

  “Just ask Travis about his lost bookshop key,” Hope said.

  Peggy Sue nodded and hopped back on her call.

  “We’re taking care of the murder investigation I told you about earlier,” Peggy Sue said.

  “That’s fine and dandy but when are you planning on coming home?” Travis asked.

  “It probably won’t be before ten but no later than midnight. You know you don’t have to wait up for me. Just leave the porch light burning and go on to bed. Don’t forget to floss.”

  “I don’t mind staying up. Magnum, P.I. and Hill Street Blues are waiting in the queue for me to watch tonight.”

  “Travis, hon, we need to talk.”

  “I thought we were talking but hurry up, please. The climax is coming up soon.”

  “Turn off Cagney & Lacey, and pay close attention to your wife Peggy Sue. She’s the one you have to live with under the same roof. Copy me?”

  “Uh-oh, I hear that frosty tone I don’t like. Okay, I turned off Cagney & Lacey, and you have my undivided attention. Go ahead and have your say.”

  “The bookshop key you lost still troubles me.”

  “Are we back on that sore subject?”

  “We never left it. Do me a favor and snap on your thinking cap. When do you remember the very last time the key was in your possession?”

  “I’ll close my eyes, drift back in time, and focus on that. I carried the bookshop key on its separate keychain, the souveni
r one I bought from the Mount Vernon gift shop. I kept meaning to return the key to you before it went astray. For a while, it sat on my desktop corner. Then I moved it to my other desktop corner where it sat for several more days.”

  “Were you using it to play a game of checkers with yourself?” Peggy Sue asked.

  “Playing checkers? What are you talking about?”

  “Never mind. So, presumably the key disappeared while it was on the desktop in your office. Did one of your clients take off the key?”

  “Lots of clients enter and leave my office, so I suppose one of them may’ve picked up the key by mistake. I’m not sure how they could’ve since I wrote on the leather fob the key goes to the Brontë Bookshop.”

  “Is Cammie Jenkins one of your insurance clients?”

  “She’s been with me for six or seven years.”

  “Has she visited your office recently?”

  “She usually reaches me by phone or email about her insurance concerns.”

  “I want you to think carefully. Was she at your office to take care of something like to sign papers you prepared or to consult with you in private?”

  “That’s right. She did stop by the office for a few minutes. It must’ve been last week. She asked me a question about meeting the deductible on her auto insurance.”

  “She probably swiped the keychain with our key on it while she sat in your office, and you weren’t looking.”

  “I can’t say for sure if it vanished after she left. I have so much stuff to keep up with. Why did she take a shine to the key?”

  “She used it to open the bookshop on the night she murdered Hugo. She brought his dead body into the bookshop, and she’s the one we should be investigating.”

  “A dead body must weigh a ton. How did she transport it into the bookshop?”

  “She drove around to the rear door in the alley, unlocked the door, and dragged Hugo’s dead body through the doorway.”

  “That sounds crazy, Peggy Sue. Why did she go to all that trouble?”

  “If I get the chance, I’ll be sure to ask her the same question. Maybe she was diverting attention away from herself while she was angling to frame Hope and me for Hugo’s murder.”