by Krista Davis
Twinkletoes got along with Leo and appeared pleased to see her old pal. But the second she noticed the other cats, the fur on her back rose in panic. In one swift move, she turned and jumped to the fireplace mantel, where, with horrified round eyes, she watched six more cats enter her domain.
Ben hadn’t returned from his dates yet. In the interest of a night without caterwauling, I gave Zelda and her kitties my bedroom and opted to sleep on the roll-away bed.
While she got them settled, I took Trixie and Twinkletoes down the back stairs to the kitchen for a very late dinner. Trixie dined on Country-Style Surf and Turf. I ate spinach salad with a honey mustard vinaigrette, but Twinkletoes turned her nose up at everything I offered.
We trudged up the stairs, and I tried calling Ben one more time. Still no answer. I gladly fell into bed.
In spite of my exhaustion, I tossed and turned that night, unable to think of anything other than the murders and Zelda’s stalker. When I heard the sound of a key in the door around two thirty in the morning, I opened an eye. The light from the hallway illuminated Ben and Huey from behind.
I rolled out of bed, picked up Randall’s plastic-wrapped business card, and followed Ben into the guest room. Huey wagged his tail in greeting.
Ben flicked on the light and when I spoke, he let out a huge “Gah! You scared me. What are you doing up?”
“I cannot believe you’re just getting in. And what’s with your phone? Did you turn it off?”
“No.” Ben sat on the bed and examined the phone. “Yes.” He flicked it on. “Must have been accidental. What’s so important that you waited up for me?”
I showed him the card. “What’s a Saurian?”
“It’s from a video game about dinosaurs and surviving in prehistoric times. But aside from the game, a saurian is a lizard. Why is it wrapped like this?”
“So we won’t leave fingerprints on it. Lizard Pail? What does that mean?”
Ben shrugged. “Is there a definition of pail other than bucket?”
I borrowed his phone and looked it up. “Swell. A round container with a handle.”
“Why are you obsessing about this?”
“It was in Nessie and Sky’s room and had fallen under a bed. Zelda thinks it means one of them had contact with Randall.”
“Did you call Dave?”
I told him about Zelda’s stalker. “She thought it best for you to talk with Dave since we’re under suspicion. But you were otherwise occupied.”
“How do you get yourself into these things?” Ben yawned and stretched out on the bed. His head on the pillow, he closed his eyes and murmured, “I’ll talk with Dave in the morning, okay?”
That was no help. “Brush your teeth,” I said. Huey followed me out of Ben’s bedroom, and I closed the door.
Now I was even more awake. Nevertheless, I crawled into bed. Twinkletoes jumped up to snuggle with me. I watched the time tick by on an illuminated clock. Two forty-five. Three o’clock.
The sound of dog claws tapped the floor ever so gently. Twinkletoes jumped off my bed.
I heard someone at the door. Somebody was trying to get in!
Thirty-three
I was too scared to move. What should I do? Be still? Shout to wake Ben and Zelda? I lifted my head ever so slightly.
The light of the moon shone in through the French doors. I watched as Huey flipped the lock with his nose and pressed down the door handle with his paw. It swung open. Trixie and Twinkletoes paraded out behind him.
Those rascals! I rolled out of bed and tiptoed after them. So Huey was the ringleader. He knew how to unlock doors. It wouldn’t be all that hard to unlatch the bolts by flipping them with a nose or dog paw. But most dogs didn’t know how.
They followed Huey down the grand staircase. The inn was unbearably still. Not a single guest roamed the halls.
Huey walked straight to Sky and Nessie’s room. He pawed the door handle. I could hear someone turning the lock inside the room. The door swung open, and Huey’s tail wagged joyously when Duchess walked out.
The two dogs nuzzled each other. There was no sign of Lulu.
Huey led the parade to Oma’s apartment. I tried to keep out of sight, but I had a feeling the dogs knew I was with them.
More pawing of the door handle, scratching sounds inside, and the click of the lock turning. Gingersnap joined the sneaky team.
They took the back stairs while I hurried to close the doors they had left open, then ran to the grand staircase and looked down. Sure enough, the whole gang ran through the main lobby on their way to the dog and cat food pantry. I scurried downstairs as fast as I could.
Happily, I caught Huey trying to open the door. The dogs had the grace to slink away and look ashamed. All except for Huey, who seemed happy to see me.
“All right. I can’t sleep, either, so we might as well have a midnight snack. Come on.” I headed for the private kitchen.
Casey was fast asleep with his head on the kitchen table. A book was open in front of him and a coffee mug sat near his right hand. He had fallen asleep with his glasses on.
I poured water into the kettle for a cup of hibiscus and rose hip tea. The fridge contained leftovers of meals the inn had served to dogs and cats the previous day. I found bowls and spooned Summer Supper into bowls for the dogs, and Feisty Feline Fantasy, which looked like salmon and beef, into a bowl for Twinkletoes. Was this why she hadn’t eaten earlier? She had looked forward to the pantry raid?
I helped myself to a banana cupcake with chocolate frosting.
Casey’s head jerked up. “Holly! Is it morning?”
“Only the wee hours.”
He removed his wire-rimmed glasses and rubbed his eyes. “Don’t tell your grandmother you caught me sleeping, okay? She gave me a lecture when I came in tonight.”
When I picked up the dog dishes, I noticed a small backpack by one of the easy chairs. Casey hadn’t had a backpack with him earlier. What a fake he was. He’d thought if he pretended to be asleep I would go away. Two could play this game.
The dogs all watched me innocently. Casey chewed his upper lip and avoided my eyes.
I poured hot water into my mug. “You know, I feel like a cookie. Casey, would you like a cookie?”
At the mention of the C word, the dogs followed me like baby ducks when I walked across the kitchen to the pantry. But Casey stiffened.
I was having way too much fun playing with him. “Maybe not. I can’t sleep. What are you reading? Maybe I’ll stick around here for a while and read, too. Is it any good?”
“Uh, yeah. You’re going to be tired tomorrow if you stay up all night, though.”
“You’re so right,” I said.
He sagged with relief.
“A cookie it is.” I jerked open the door to the walk-in pantry.
A truly beautiful, petite girl with long brown hair and big brown eyes handed me a box of cookies. “Chocolate chip?”
I liked her instantly and couldn’t help laughing. “Get out of there. Who are you?”
“Allie.”
“I don’t think I’ve met you. Did you come for the matchmaking event?”
“Gosh, no. You might know my uncle. Bob Lane? My mom and I moved into his guesthouse a couple of months ago, when my dad left us.”
“We go to the community college together,” said Casey.
Allie couldn’t have been a day over nineteen. “I see. Isn’t your mom worried about you? It’s the middle of the night.”
“She’s a nurse. She works the midnight shift at the hospital in Snowball.”
“Allie, I don’t want to scare you, but two people have been murdered in Wagtail recently.”
“That’s why she’s here,” said Casey. “She feels safer. There are so many people in the inn that someone would hear if us if we needed help.”
I figured it was a convenient excuse to hang out together, but it also made some sense. No wonder Casey had missed so much that was going on. Instead of being at the desk in the lobby, he’d been cozying up with Allie in the kitchen. “Casey, what would you think of an e-mail name that was Saurian Pail?”
“I’d think it was somebody who was into dinosaurs.”
“Have you ever heard of selfdestructmail.com?”
“Yeah. Their big deal is privacy. There’s some kind of double layer of security for anonymity. Your e-mails vanish from their server and don’t show up on your computer history.”
“Is that possible?”
He shrugged. “I’ve never used it.”
“So you’d use that address if you wanted to hide something?”
“I guess. Some people probably think it’s cool.”
“But if the recipient keeps the e-mail, it’s still out there,” I said. “It’s not like it vanishes from the recipient’s computer, right?”
“Yeah. I’m not really sure how it works. Maybe like if I wanted to keep something from my mom?” Casey suggested.
I sipped my tea. Or maybe if a psychiatrist wanted to keep a secret. But from whom? And why? “Did you see Nessie Jamieson tonight?”
“Nope. The guy staying in Fetch came in late. He met some lady he likes. And Laura Pisani came in really late, too. She said if I apply to Douthier University, she’ll put in a good word for me.”
“That was nice of her.”
“I thought so. It’s pretty expensive, though. I don’t know if I could afford it.”
“Maybe you could get a scholarship,” I said.
“I couldn’t work here anymore. It would be too far away.”
Casey was like a little brother to me. As much as I liked having him around, I would never do anything to stop him from having a great future. “It wouldn’t be the same without you. But maybe you should apply and see what happens.”
Allie looked none too happy about that. “What was that e-mail name again?”
“Saurian Pail.”
She wrote it out and showed it to me. “Is this right?”
“That’s it!”
“It could be an anagram.”
“I don’t think so,” said Casey. “A saurian is a thing. We just need to figure out what other meaning pail could have.”
“That’s silly,” Allie said. “Pail doesn’t mean anything else. Lizard bucket is stupid. Who would call himself Lizard Bucket?”
Their argument continued and my eyelids grew heavy. “I’m going to bed. Let me know if you come up with anything. All dogs and Twinkletoes, come!”
I opened the hidden door in the bookcase and they filed past me, evidently equally tired. Back in my dining room, I latched it securely. With a wink at Huey, who watched me very carefully, I tilted a dining chair and propped the back under the door handle of the front door to the apartment. If Huey tried to open it again, he would have to knock the chair over first, hopefully making enough noise to wake me.
I woke at eight o’clock, when Huey knocked the chair over to admit Mr. Huckle. I hadn’t slept that late in ages.
The commotion woke Zelda and Ben, who rushed to see what was happening.
Mr. Huckle righted the chair. “I understand Mr. Huey is something of a Houdini. Casey suggested you might want to sleep in. I’m terribly sorry to have awakened everyone.”
“I’m glad you did.” I gratefully took the steaming mug of tea he offered me.
“You get room service every day?” Zelda helped herself to a chocolate croissant. “I’m moving in.”
Ben thanked Mr. Huckle for his coffee and slouched in one of the large armchairs, half-awake.
Mr. Huckle opened the French doors. Cool morning air wafted in. “It’s a beautiful day. And no one was murdered last night.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Ben muttered. “Trixie hasn’t been out yet this morning.”
Zelda’s cats emerged slowly from the bedroom. Twinkletoes watched them from the fireplace hearth.
Two of them jumped on Ben and rubbed their heads on his T-shirt and chin.
“Will you look at that?” Zelda watched with astonishment. “They’re saying they like the way you smell.”
Ben smiled. “I have a way with cats. Except for that one.” He pointed at Twinkletoes.
“Perhaps they know that you are assisting Miss Zelda,” opined Mr. Huckle. “Have you identified your stalker yet, Miss Zelda?”
“Nooo,” she wailed.
“Do you know something?” I asked.
“Nothing important, I’m sure. Although when I walked to work yesterday morning, I encountered Miss Nessie in your neighborhood, walking back to the inn. I must say she looked exhausted.”
Two more of Zelda’s cats crawled into Ben’s lap.
“It’s like you’re the cat whisperer.” I noted that he was tentative about stroking them, but that didn’t stop them from marking him by pressing the sides of their faces along his chest.
Excusing myself, I hurried through a shower and dressed in a white short-sleeved, scoop-neck top and a long pale green skirt that fell in gentle folds a couple of inches below my knees. A turquoise necklace and simple gold hoop earrings, and I was done. My hair would dry fast in the summer weather. I pinned it back loosely, so I would look somewhat pulled together.
I shoved my feet into white sandals, waved at Zelda and Ben, who were still lounging, and took all the dogs with me.
Mr. Huckle had been correct. It was a beautiful summer day. If only the murders didn’t cast a shadow over Wagtail. I escorted the dogs out to do their business.
In the distance, Macon scurried off somewhere, and Gustav walked slowly toward the inn.
I watched Huey, suspecting that the escape artist might be one of the smartest dogs I had known. He had been with us only a few days, but he seemed to stay with me, even off leash.
When we entered the main lobby, Sky called Duchess. “I wasn’t worried this morning when she was gone. Did they have another party?”
I told her who the ringleader was and what I had witnessed. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”
Sky lowered her voice. “Nessie didn’t sleep in our room again last night.”
“I suspected that when Lulu didn’t join the midnight raid.”
Sky and her sister selected a table in the dining area, and I settled down with Oma and Gustav. I noticed that Trixie and Gingersnap stayed with us, but Huey followed Sky.
After I ordered buttermilk pancakes with fresh raspberries for Trixie and me, I told Oma and Gustav who had been letting the dogs out.
Gustav looked doubtful, as though he didn’t believe me.
“I have heard of this,” said Oma. “How interesting that Gingersnap and Duchess caught on so quickly.” Oma cast a fond glance at Gingersnap. “I have always known my little one was very smart.”
Oma folded her napkin and placed it on the table. “Normally, Zelda would work today, but she needs time to recuperate, ja?”
“I can fill in for her.”
“Danke, liebling. Perhaps you take the morning, and I can relieve you around three in the afternoon?”
“That works for me.”
Ben and Zelda sauntered in just as Oma rose to leave. After a polite exchange of morning greetings, they slid into the chairs vacated by Oma and Gustav.
Shelley delivered our pancakes and poured coffee for them. “I wish I could sit down with you. I’m dying to know what’s going on.” She hurried away to pour more coffee for Sky.
I poured raspberry syrup over the pancakes and dug in. If summertime had a flavor, it had to be fresh, juicy raspberries.
“I called Dave this morning.” Ben added cream to his coffee. “I don’t like being out of the loop like this. He’s usually so forth
coming with information, but this time I think he’s afraid to share what he knows.”
“I feel the same way. We’re going in circles,” I complained. “There has to be something that we’ve overlooked.”
Laura ambled over to our table with Marmalade on a leash. “Is this a private confab or can we join you?”
Marmalade seemed put out and yowled.
“What’s wrong with him?” asked Ben.
“I’ve been keeping him cooped up in our room and on a leash when we go out. He’s not happy about that.”
“I guess he liked roaming during his first days here.”
“You could take him to the cat park.” Zelda sipped her coffee. “It’s loads of fun for them. Or how about the cat agility center? Leo loves to go there.”
“I’m a little bit embarrassed. I’ve had such a great time here that I haven’t taken Marmalade to play at the cat places.”
I polished off my last bite of the fluffy pancakes and excused myself. Leaving them to their breakfasts, I dashed upstairs to brush my teeth in the company of Zelda’s cats, and hurried down to the registration lobby to work.
It was a fairly ordinary day at the Sugar Maple Inn. The housekeeper came to clean rooms. The handyman arrived to clean the doggy poop areas and take care of the outdoors. I fielded a couple of phone calls about hosting weddings at the inn. Trixie napped in the office, and Twinkletoes napped in the sun. But through it all, the ugly shadow of the murders hung over me.
At three o’clock in the afternoon, Ben made an appearance.
“Holly,” he said, “I thought I’d packed a green T-shirt. Have you seen it anywhere?”
I had completely forgotten about it. I jumped to my feet instead of ratting out the animals and telling him they had destroyed his T-shirt. “I have to buy a few things. Why don’t I pick up a new one for you?” I whistled for Trixie and sped upstairs to fetch my wallet before he could question me. If Ben was warming up to cats, I didn’t want to discourage his progress by telling him the cats had ruined his clothes.
In spite of the murders, the sidewalks of Wagtail buzzed with people, dogs, and cats. I suspected most of the Animal Attraction participants knew nothing about the two deaths. I strolled to a casual clothing store called Petunia. Their merchandise leaned toward clothes with dog and cat themes, but I thought I could probably find a green T-shirt that would be acceptable to Ben.