Marlowe turned up her nose.“Other than that noxious cologne in Victor’s room.”
“That did smell horrid, but his velour lounging suits are soft to the touch.” The velour was so soft, it must have been very high quality—clearly Victor Merino was a human that liked the finer things. Everything in his room had been top-notch, from the offending cologne to the expensive luggage to the clothing.
“So, what now?” Marlowe sat and looked at Nero with her head tilted to the side quizzically.
Nero glanced out the window. The moon had risen and cast a soft glow over the landscape. The guests weren’t back yet, but he’d heard Josie knocking something over in the back parlor earlier and she was now rattling around in the kitchen. The guests would return any minute and it would only be a few hours before Josie went to bed, which meant they had a little time to go down to the bait wharf and meet with the other cats to find out if any of them had discovered anything.
“We meet the others.” Nero headed toward the cat door that Millie had installed for them in the old storeroom on the first floor.
Nighttime was Nero’s favorite time to visit the bait wharf. He loved the play of the moonlight on the waves and the fact that the gulls were all tucked in their nests—or wherever they went at night—and wouldn’t be rudely swooping down on them.
When they arrived on the docks, Harry was sticking his paw in the water trying to skewer a fish with his sharpened claws. He did this all the time, although Nero didn’t know why. It had only worked once and even then Harry had been so surprised that he fumbled the fish and it slipped back into the water with nary a backwards glance.
The gang was all there. Juliette lounged on the concrete slab under the tuna scale. It was probably still warm from the sun beating on it all day. Stubbs was curled up on top of a lobster trap, his tail around his nose. One green eye slid open as Nero and Marlowe approached. Poe and Boots had been batting around a piece of rope and they stopped and turned to Nero.
“Anymore news about that movie producer?” Nero asked.
Stubbs yawned and sat up.“I put a tail on that nosey dame reporter, Anita Pendragon. She met with that movie mogul. She’s involved in something.”
Nero nodded. No surprise there.“Has anyone picked up any other clues about the murder?”
Boots bestowed his look of superiority on them.“I have heard that it is someone closely tied to the guesthouse.”
Marlowe practically rolled her eyes.“No one else in town knew her, so that’s kind of a given.”
Boots looked down his nose at Marlowe.“Are you sure about that?”
Marlowe frowned and glanced at Nero who nodded his head slightly. It was most likely that the killer knew Madame Zenda and he was certain she didn’t know anyone in town.
“What about the buckle?” Nero asked.
“Nothing new on that,” Harry said. “I talked to Louie Two Paws earlier today. The police haven’t made much progress. They are checking out all those guests at the guesthouse. Seems that some of them have a shady past. But nothing new on the buckle.”
Shady past. Nero wasn’t surprised at that either. Judging by the way they acted so secretive amongst each other at the guesthouse, he knew they were the type that would often be up to something.
“What about you?” Juliette purred. “You’re in the guesthouse with all of the suspects. Surely you have found out something by now? And have you followed up on my clue about your velvety jogging-suit wearing guest and the movie producer?”
“We didn’t find anything in his room, but we do have something on the buckle that might be of interest,” Marlowe said.
Poe turned to look at her.“Do tell.”
“Jed’s ghost verified that his shoes are missing from a trunk in the attic. The shoes with the buckle,” Marlowe said. “Jed’s suit is in there and all his other things, but no shoes.”
“So someone has been in the attic,” Stubbs said.
“Looks that way,” Nero said. “Though I don’t see how. Josie keeps it locked.”
“And the buckle on Madame Zenda really was Jed’s buckle?” Poe asked.
“Most likely,” Nero said.
“Points to one of those guests even more,” Juliette said. “But you found no indication in their rooms that they were the culprit? No drippy red pens or smells of old buckles?”
“No,” Nero admitted. “But we have made another enlightening discovery.”
The other cats stilled and looked at him in anticipation. He drew the moment out for a few seconds basking in the attention, then continued.“We know for sure that the treasure is long gone.”
Boots frowned.“The ghost told you that?”
“Sort of. He suspected such and once he remembered exactly where he had buried it, he had one of the guests dig it up. Marlowe and I inspected the hole ourselves and it’s been empty for centuries.” Nero felt a bit sad about that. Josie could have used the money to complete renovations on the guesthouse. If she had treasure, she could get out from under Myron’s thumb.
Juliette looked at him curiously.“So Jedis talking to the guests. They’re not all frauds?”
“Nope. Turns out at least one, Esther Hill, really can talk to ghosts. Jed has been communicating with her through her crystal ball,” Marlowe said.
“Is that so?” Boots tugged on his long whisker, curling it up at the ends in that showy way he preferred. “Well then, surely this Esther Hill has made it known that she can communicate with Jed? After all, that seems to be the reason they are all at the guesthouse, so they can earn their way to fame in the movie.”
Nero and Marlowe exchanged a glance. Esther had been very quiet about her communications with Jed. She hadn’t bragged once about talking to the ghost. “No, actually I don’t think she has.”
“Well, maybe not to anyone at the guesthouse,” Marlowe said. “We don’t know if she has mentioned it to Anita Pendragon. She might not want the others to know that she can talk to Jed because… well… look what happened to Madame Zenda after she announced that she was going to talk to him.”
Nero nodded enthusiastically. He could have kicked himself for not thinking of that but was proud that Marlowe had.“Yeah. Good point.”
Stubbs poked around in one of the lobster traps.“If Esther is keeping quiet because she’s afraid the killer will target her next, then that meansshe isn’t the killer.”
“There’s something else that may be in play here.” Poe paced the outskirts of the group, his tail swishing, head down, apparently deep in thought.
“What?” they all asked.
He stopped and faced them.“Thus far, we’ve been assuming that Madame Zenda was killed because she said she could talk to Jed’s ghost. Whoever killed her didn’t want her talking to the ghost because they wanted the fame. A movie deal would be quite lucrative. Or that someone had a vendetta against her.”
“We did determine that most of them have crossed paths before,” Nero said.
“Yeah, Esther knew her real name,” Marlowe added.
“And a movie deal could make them a lot of money.” Juliette preened behind her ears. “Don’t forget I did find the clue about Victor talking to the movie producer.”
“How could we forget?” Poe asked. “But let us consider another reason. What if the murder wasn’t about Madame Zenda at all? What if it was about the guesthouse?”
Nero didn’t like the way that sounded. “What do you mean?”
“The body was found with the buckle and a warning to stay away from the guesthouse. Maybe that’s what the killer really wanted—for people to stay away—and Madame Zenda just happened to be a convenient target.”