Probable Paws (Mystic Notch Cozy Mystery Series Book 5)

by Leighann Dobbs

  Purring contentedly, her eyes were just slitting closed when she saw Him.

  He was trotting down the sidewalk beside his human. Two evil beings looking as if they hadn’t a care in the world. The worst thing about them was that from all outside appearances they seemed perfectly innocent. The human, Felicity Bates, looked normal enough with her pale skin and red hair. The fluffy white Persian cat trotting beside her looked cute. Cuddly even. His name was Fluff, and he was anything but cute and cuddly.

  The hair on Pandora’s back stood on end as she watched them move closer to the bookstore. Pandora had had a run-in with Fluff not that long ago, and it had nearly killed her. She’d had to go up against him to keep the young chimera cat, Hope, from falling into the clutches of the dark side, of which Fluff was a member. Though Mystic Notch was indeed a special town with a heightened sense of magic, it was no different than any other place where, according to the laws of nature, there must be balance. Just as Pandora and the cats in Elspeth’s barn were sworn to keep Mystic Notch on the side of “good,” there were other cats, especially Fluff, who wanted the notch to swing to the side of “evil.”

  Pandora stared out the window at Fluff’s malevolent amber eyes. She arched her back and hissed. Fluff’s whiskers twitched in amusement.

  “Your side is in a little trouble,” he hissed.

  “I’ve no idea what you mean.” Pandora tried to act nonchalant. What did he mean?

  “You seek a book, do you not?” He stared at her unblinkingly.

  Pandora tried not to react, but he must have sensed her surprise. His tail flicked, and he moved closer to the window, his human obliviously gazing across the street, probably trying to decide whether to go into the hat store or the new photography shop.

  “I happen to know that one of the Hamilton clan covets the book you seek. They are very close to possessing it, and you will not get it for your purposes.” Fluff smirked.

  “How do you know that?” Pandora doubted that Fluff knew anything. He was a liar and was probably just trying to get her all riled up. But if that were the case, how did he even know about the Hamiltons’ connection to the book in the first place?

  “My human knows the Hamiltons quite well … at least some of them. They are of the same mind.” Fluff glanced up at Felicity, who turned to face them. Her ruby lips curled in a smile, she bent down and petted Fluff behind the ears.

  “That may be, but my human can beat the pants off your human any day. We’ll get the book,” Pandora said childishly.

  Felicity straightened and glared into the window at her as if she could understand cat-speak. Pandora doubted she could. Felicity wasn’t the sharpest pencil in the box.

  “Come on now. You can talk to your little friend later.” Felicity waggled a shiny red talon at Pandora as she tugged Fluff away.

  Fluff glanced over his shoulder and delivered a parting shot. “I doubt that. We’ll see who gets the book. You, your human, and your gang of cats are no match for my human. Why, I have her so well trained now, I don’t have to do any of the dirty work myself.”

  Pandora’s stomach tightened as she watched them sashay down the street. Her whiskers twitched uneasily.

  Darn it! Fluff knew something about the book, though how much he knew wasn’t clear. What had he meant about one of the Hamiltons being of like mind? Was one of Adelaide’s relatives after that book? If so, that could be very bad for her and Willa. A relative would have much easier access to Adelaide’s hiding spot. But Willa had access to Adelaide. Maybe the ghost would show up and reveal the location of the book. Pandora didn’t dare hope for that. Things were never that easy.

  Pandora settled back into her cat bed with a heavy sigh. She’d hoped that the dual ghosts of Louis and Adelaide spurring both Willa and Striker on to find the book would have brought the matter to a quick close and left Pandora with little to do but nap and feast. But now Fluff had issued a challenge, and Pandora was not one to back down from a challenge. Not to mention that if Fluff had spoken the truth about a villain from the Hamilton clan trying to secure the book, then that made the search much more urgent.

  From what Pandora could tell, Willa wasn’t putting a high priority on finding the book, though she had gone to the Hamiltons’ today in search of it. Maybe they would luck out and she would come back with it, but if she didn’t, Pandora would have to do something to prod her human into quick action.

  It was time to dial her cat-to-human telepathy skills up to the next level. She just prayed that Willa would finally become a ready receiver.

  9

  When I returned to the bookstore, I was surprised to find that Pandora hadn’t done anything to exact her revenge for being left alone. Or at least not anything that I could find. Her behavior made me suspicious, though. She was acting sweet, rubbing up against me and looking at me at me innocently with those golden-green eyes.

  Too sweet and too innocent. It set me on edge—the behavior was out of character for the normally feisty and contrarian feline. Maybe she’d done something that I had yet to discover.

  I didn’t have much time to look for it, though. The bookstore was crowded with customers most of the afternoon, and I was kept busy ringing in sales. Adelaide’s ghost was nowhere to be seen, not that I would’ve had time to talk to her. But I’d hoped she would show up when I closed the shop and give me some kind of direction for the search. No such luck. There wasn’t a swirl of mist or hint of ectoplasmic dew. Not even Robert or Franklin appeared to chat. Must have been something interesting going on over on the other side.

  “Maybe Adelaide’s gone on and I won’t have to find that stupid book to get her to stop haunting me after all,” I said to Pandora later that night at home as I kicked back on my couch, my feet propped up on the coffee table.

  “Mewooo!” Pandora leapt up on the coffee table and batted at the crystal paperweight that Elspeth had given to me as a housewarming gift when I’d moved in.

  “Don’t smash that on the floor.” I leaned forward and moved the paperweight away from her into the center of the table. As I moved it, the crystal orb flashed, reflecting a rainbow of light. For a second, though, I thought I saw a field of daisies inside. I leaned closer, squinting into the orb. Not daisies, just a weird reflection from the ceiling.

  “Cripes, now I’m seeing daisies everywhere,” I muttered to myself.

  “Menow.” Pandora gave up on the paperweight and crawled into my lap. She’d been clingy and cuddly all day, which was a nice switch from her normal aloof and independent personality. I rubbed her silky gray fur, soothed by the low vibration of her purr. She gazed at me with unblinking luminescent eyes. I felt a strange vibe. Almost like a connection, but then I felt a pang of alarm. Something wasn’t right with Pandora. She’d been staring at me in that strange manner ever since I got back from the Hamiltons’. I hoped there wasn’t something wrong with her. She wasn’t due for her checkup for another three months, but maybe I should take her in early just to be sure.

  “Meowoo.”

  “What? You don’t want to go to the vet?” It was almost as if she knew what I was thinking.

  “Meaisy.”

  “Yes, I need to check out that field of daisies. And the cottage,” I said absently.

  “Meow.”

  “Not now. It’s dark out, and besides, that daisy field was behind the mansion. I can’t just go marching through the Hamiltons’ yard to get there.”

  I guess Pandora didn’t have an answer to that one, because she simply kept staring up at me.

  A strange dream-like feeling came over me, and old memories drifted up from somewhere deep in my subconscious. As a teenager, I’d joy-ridden on all the roads in the notch extensively. Especially the out-of-the-way back roads. And if I was remembering correctly, there was a dirt road not far from the Hamiltons’ driveway. Maybe that road led to the stone cottage?

  “Meow!”

  Pandora sprang off my lap and trotted toward the kitchen door as if encouraging me to investiga
te whether or not my teenage memories were true. What the heck? It was dark out, and I had nothing better to do and nothing to lose. I could just drive out and see if there was a road that led to the cottage. Maybe take a little peek in the windows? I was sure it was empty. What harm could it do?

  Happy to have a plan of action, I sprang up off the couch and followed Pandora. I grabbed my hoodie from the pegs next to the door. Even though it was warm enough out, it would protect me from mosquitoes, and the hood over my face would help me blend in with the shadows.

  Pandora was already halfway out her cat door. She looked back at me and gave an impatient meow. As usual, she wanted to come with me, and I could tell from her stubborn stance that she wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

  “Okay, this time you can come with me, but you better behave.” She shot through the cat door and across the driveway toward my Jeep before I even had a chance to get out the door.

  I found the road about a quarter of a mile past the mansion. It was a narrow dirt road that one could easily miss. Judging by the grass growing in between the tire ruts, not many drove down it. I turned off my headlights so no one would see them from the mansion and let the parking lights illuminate the way as I drove slowly down the road. Pandora thumped her tail against the passenger seat in excited anticipation.

  The cottage was about an eighth of a mile down the road. The silver half-moon provided enough light to see it fairly clearly but still offered good cover. Across the field, amber lights blazed in the mansion, but it was too far away for anyone to see me. A green pinpoint glow could be seen in one of the cottage windows. Probably an appliance or maybe even an alarm system. If the cottage was empty, and it made sense, they would have an alarm with it being so far from the house. I’d have to be careful not to set it off if I looked in the windows.

  I parked a couple hundred feet down from the cottage on the opposite side of the road, hopped over the stone wall, and picked my way through the tall grass to the field. I breathed in the subtle, sweet smells of honeysuckle and hay as Pandora trotted at my side, expertly snaking her way through the grass.

  I wasn’t really sure what I was looking for. Some help would be nice.

  “Adelaide? I could use some help now,” I whispered, hoping to conjure the ghost, but all I heard were the chirping of crickets and leaves rustling in the light breeze.

  “Mew.” Pandora gave me a look.

  “I know. They never show up when you want them to,” I whispered.

  “Meow.”

  With Pepper on vacation and Gus and Striker occupied with police business, I hadn’t had a lot of people to talk to this week. But even though I was a natural loner, I was starting to get afraid that I might’ve been spending too much time alone, because I was starting to imagine that Pandora could understand me. Not only that, but it almost seemed as if we had some sort of a communication channel going.

  Nah, that was silly, I thought. But something niggled in the back of my brain. I’d known for a long time that Pandora wasn’t like ordinary cats. She seemed to be smarter, more intuitive. I knew for a fact that she’d been special to Gram. Was there really a connection between us? It seemed far-fetched, but considering I’d just tried to conjure a ghost, maybe communicating with my cat wasn’t so out of the ordinary. Perhaps I should pay more attention to Pandora when it appeared as if she was trying to tell me something.

  “Meow!”

  We stood at the edge of the daisy field. It was a pretty big field, much bigger than it looked from the mansion. The moon reflected off the white petals, turning them a silver-blue. A flagstone path cut down the middle of the daisies and curved toward the stone cottage. I realized I had no idea where to start looking.

  Adelaide had said the word “daisies,” but she couldn’t have meant she buried the book, could she? A book would be ruined pretty quickly if it were buried in the damp earth. What if she’d put it inside something to protect it? Tupperware or some kind of box, maybe. Why would she go to such great lengths?

  Unlike me, Pandora wasn’t one to stand around and ponder. She trotted to a spot in the middle of the field and started digging.

  “What are you doing?” I whispered.

  She stopped, looked back at me as if I had just asked the stupidest question ever, and then turned back to her digging. I walked over beside her, taking out my cell phone and using the flashlight app to illuminate the ground in front of her. I didn’t have cat eyes that could see in the dark as she could.

  She’d torn out some of the flowers and had dug down about an inch into the earth. I trained the beam around the area. Flowers were squished and flattened. Someone had been here recently, but the damage didn’t look like footprints. It was more like narrow tracks.

  I squatted to inspect the ground further. It did look as if someone had been digging, but they’d also carefully replaced the flowers and topsoil.

  “What’s going on over here?”

  I dropped the phone, my heart crashing against my rib cage as I whirled around to see a dark, ominous figure standing at the edge of the field.

  10

  The ominous figure was Striker. His arms were crossed over his chest, and his steely gaze flicked from my face to Pandora’s. On the one hand, I was relieved it was him and not some creepy weirdo. On the other, I might rather face a creepy weirdo than have to try to explain why I was out here in the middle of the night.

  “So what is it? Why are you here?” he demanded.

  I squatted down to retrieve my phone and give myself time to make up an excuse. But what kind of excuse could one have for being out in the middle of a field in the middle of the night?

  “I was just looking for Pandora,” I said lamely.

  Pandora meowed loudly as if to lend credence to my lie.

  The cottage door whipped open, and a figure appeared in the doorway. It was Adelaide’s grandson Max, and he looked angry.

  “What the hell are you doing on our property?” He stormed over to where Pandora had been digging. “Were you digging up my time capsule?”

  “Time capsule?” Striker and I said at the same time. What was he talking about? Was Adelaide’s recipe book in some kind of time capsule?

  “I’m calling the police,” Max said.

  Striker flashed his badge. “I am the police. I’ll escort Ms. Chance from the premises.”

  “Miss Chance?” Max squinted at me. “Aren’t you that lady who inherited the bookstore from my grandma’s friend?”

  “Yes, that’s me.”

  That seemed to make him less adversarial, and Striker took the opportunity to grab my elbow and pull me away.

  “I’ll see that she doesn’t bother you anymore,” he shot over his shoulder as he dragged me back toward the road.

  “Hey, what about Pandora?” I looked around for the cat, but she was nowhere to be found.

  “She can take care of herself,” Striker said. “You’re lucky I showed up when I did. Who knows what that guy would have done.”

  I pulled my arm away and narrowed my eyes at him. “And exactly why did you show up there?”

  Striker’s face hardened, and I noticed he couldn’t look me in the eye. Instead he turned toward his car. “Never mind why I was there. Why were you there? I could put you in jail for trespassing.”

  It didn’t escape me that he had evaded my question. Which made me wonder if there really was something to Adelaide’s accusations that someone in her family had killed her. If not, why would Striker be out at the Hamilton estate investigating? A seed of uneasiness sprouted in my stomach. If one of Adelaide’s relatives was a killer, it could make nosing around for the recipe book a lot more dangerous than I had anticipated.

  “So you were looking for the murder weapon in that time capsule,” I persisted.

  “Murder weapon?” He did a good impersonation of someone being surprised, but that didn’t fool me. “What are you talking about?”

  “You guys must think Adelaide was murdered. That’s why you’r
e here, isn’t it?”

  “No...I mean it’s none of your business why I’m here, but I wasn’t looking for any murder weapon in a time capsule.”

  “Of course, there wouldn’t really be a weapon,” I realized. “If she’d been stabbed, bludgeoned, or shot, no one would think she died of natural causes. It must’ve been something more subtle like poison or suffocation.” But then why would Striker be in this field in the middle of the night?

  “You think everything has to do with murder. But you’re wrong in this case. There is no evidence to indicate Adelaide was murdered, so I have no probable cause to investigate it. I just happened to be on patrol, and I saw your Jeep here. I know how you like to stick your nose in where it doesn’t belong, and I was worried that you might be in trouble, so I came to see if you needed my help, Chance.”

  Had he really been worried about me? My heart melted at the way his voice softened when he said my last name. It was a pet name he used for me. According to Striker, my last name was appropriate because I took a lot of chances.

  We stopped beside Striker’s police car. I looked around for Pandora. She’d disappeared when Max had come out of his cottage, and I was a little worried about her.

  “She’ll be fine. I saw her trot up the road ahead of us.” Striker was standing very close, and I backed up a step, my butt meeting the side of the car’s passenger door. He leaned one palm against the roof, trapping me. He brushed a lock of hair behind my ear with his other hand. “So what gives? Why were you out here? And I’m not buying that story about looking for Pandora.”

  I sure as heck couldn’t tell him I was out there because a ghost had sent me looking for a recipe book, so I decided to ignore his question. “Are you going to arrest me for trespassing?”

  Striker leaned even closer, kicking my pulse up a notch. “If I ever get you in handcuffs, I promise a jail cell won’t be involved.”