“She seems eager to get on with her interrogation.” Marlowe glanced back longingly at the outhouse. “It’s a shame because there were lots of lovely smells in there and I hated to leave.”
“They didn’t even notice that someone had been digging at the gazebo,” Nero said.
“We did all we could to alert them, but once they found the recorder they were focused on that.”
Nero shook his head.“Just like humans not to consider there might be another thing to investigate.”
“At least they got it half right. Gail did put the recorder there,” Marlowe said.
“But who did the digging?” Nero asked.
“It could have been Gail. She was there.”
“No, I think it was someone else. Perhaps Victor. He was missing from the guesthouse this afternoon.”
Marlowe glanced at Nero.“Before or after the noises? Maybe he was the one hiding the recorder. It would make sense because he wants everyone to think he is talking to Jed.”
“Indeed. I wonder if, perhaps, he was burying the recorder so as not to be found with the evidence.”
“Or maybe he really did talk to Jed and was digging up the treasure,” Marlowe suggested.
“There is no buried treasure!” Jed’s voice boomed from beside Nero, making him jump sideways in the air like a frightened kitten. He then leaped and pivoted, trying to pretend he did that on purpose.
“Thought I saw a snake,” Nero said at Marlowe’s amused expression.
Marlowe turned to Jed.“You keep saying there is no treasure, but your memory doesn’t appear to be very good. Maybe you are mistaken. I mean, you couldn’t remember where you had buried it.”
“That was just a momentary confusion on account of the property being so different from my time. Now that I have my bearings, I know exactly where I put things.”
“And Esther tried to dig it up, but nothing was there,” Nero added. They were almost at the house now and he wondered what Millie was going to do. At the rate she was moving she planned to go in all guns blazing and accuse Esther. That might not be the best course of action, especially since hehad his doubts as to whether Esther was the killer.
“It wouldn’t be there.” Jed floated along keeping pace beside them. “I remember that old oak tree. There was no gazebo at the time, but the view of the cove is very pretty from that spot so everyone used to go there. I wouldn’t be so stupid as to bury treasure there where anyone could stumble across it.”
“So what was the digging at the gazebo about?” Marlowe asked.
Nero shrugged.“Another mystery to be solved.”
“So you say that Millie and the gang think Esther is mixed up in the murder now?” Jed asked.
“Shewas in the outhouse for suspicious reasons,” Nero said.
Jed stopped abruptly. He looked quite disturbed.“She may have had very good reasons. After all, I spent a lot of time in there.”
“Umm… Okay. So she wanted to be close to you in an outhouse?” Marlowe’s whiskers twitched. “Yech.”
“The fact remains that someone took something out of that old compartment.” Nero turned to Jed. “Did you know about that?”
Jed swirled and dipped.“I might have had a little secret stash to hide some hooch from the missus back then.”
Nero exchanged a glance with Marlowe.“So you knew it was there, and you’re in communication with Esther… so…”
“No! It’s not like that. Esther is no killer, I swear to that!”
Poor Jed, he had it bad for Esther. Nero had never seen a ghost so smitten. Was Jed so gullible that Esther had him doing her dirty work? How far would he go for her?
“I don’t think she’s the killer, either,” Marlowe said.
Nero glanced at the younger cat.“Is there concrete evidence which has caused you to reach this conclusion or do you just favor her because she gives us treats?”
Marlowe’s steps faltered. “I… well… She seems so nice, I can’t imagine her killing anyone.”
“In our line of work, we can’t go with how we feel, we have to make conclusions based on evidence.” Nero tried to keep the exasperation out of his tone. One minute Marlowe seemed as if she was making great progress in the ways of becoming a cat detective and other times it was as if she’d taken two steps backwards. Oh well, not every feline could be a great detective like he was, he had to remember to be patient with his prot?g?e.
Jed swirled to Esther’s defense. “She is nice. And kind. She wants justice. Have you not considered that there may be another reason for her activities?”
They reached the house and Millie ripped the door open and ran inside with the other humans quickly following. Jed held back and Nero paused, waiting for him to fill them in.
“Well, what is her other reason?” Nero said finally.
Jed looked a bit unsure of himself.“I’m not sure exactly what Esther has in mind. Wait, it can’t be…” He paused and looked off in the distance, then said very softly, almost as if to himself, “ Yes… Yes… it all makes sense now. This goes back much deeper than either you or the humans think and I bet I know who is behind all of it.”
Twenty-Five
Millie skidded to a halt in the kitchen and we all piled in behind her. The door banged shut, leaving the cats outside. They wasted no time in meowing their displeasure and I opened it to let them in. The five of us stood around catching our breath.
“What’s your plan?” I asked Millie.
“I do think we need to proceed with caution. We could be dealing with a killer,” Millie said.
“Maybe weshould call Seth,” Mom suggested.
Millie pressed her lips together.“No time for that, if Esther is the killer we need to act fast. Victor is planning something and I’m sure Esther means to stop him.”
Meooow.Nero blinked up at us as if contributing to the conversation.
I looked down at him.“I know you like her, but this is bigger than cat treats.”
Nero seemed affronted. He yowled, turned his back end toward us and flicked his tail at me.
Millie frowned at him.“Anyway. I’m sure she is still in the house, probably waiting to make a move on Victor. I think the key is to catch her alone.”
“Good plan. Even if she tries something, it is three against one.” I pointed to Mom, Millie and then myself.
“And two cats,” Mom added.
“Right,” Millie said. “I think we should get her to show us what was in that envelope and potentially use that to get a confession. I have Seth on speed dial so we can call him in once we have solid evidence.”
“Good thinking. We wouldn’t want to call him prematurely lest we ruin our reputation,” Mom said.
Millie nodded.“We have to be very careful about our credibility. We’ve called him in on a few false leads before. Won’t make that mistake again.”
They were worried about theircredibility? I was more worried about another murder at the guesthouse.
Millie put her fingers to her lips with a shushing noise. Someone was rustling around in the butler’s pantry. We crept over to see Gail looking out the window.
Gail turned to us.“Shh… he’s out there. I saw him.”
“Who?” Mom asked, ducking down and then peeking up over the countertop to look out the window.
“Victor.” From the tone of Gail’s voice, she might as well have been telling us the devil was out there. I guess she did see him as such. I really hoped he was the killer, he seemed like a jerk, but the evidence we had pointed to Esther.
“What’s he doing?” Millie asked.
“Getting ready for his fake talk with Jed, I assume. He called in that reporter,” Gail whispered.
Anita Pendragon was out there too? I leaned closer to the glass but it was dark out and I couldn’t see a thing.
“Tonight is Victor’s last chance. I heard Anita saying the movie producer called her about the story. Nothing sensational has happened, so he’s moving on. Victor will have to up his game.” Gail turned to us, her eyes deadly serious and maybe a little crazy. “He may do something drastic. Maybe even murder.”