Mike angled his head sideways to read the note.“Huh. So, I guess she onlyseemed suspicious because she was looking for clues to the identity of Jed’s killer the whole time.”
“Yep,” I said.
“Interesting. I wonder why she was so keen on figuring out who Jed’s killer was and not as interested in Madame Zenda’s killer?” Mike asked.
I shrugged.“It turned out that one led to the other, so it all came out in the end.”
“Fantastic!” Millie bent down to pick up the oven mitt. “I knew that she wasn’t the killer all along.”
Now I was the one frowning. I seemed to recall that she was almost certain Esther was the killer, if the interrogation she was subjecting her to prior to us rushing up to the attic was any indication.
Mom was frowning at her, too.“But Millie, you said—”
Millie interrupted her with a wave of the oven mitt.“That’s all water under the bridge now. Seth did commend us for catching Myron. Of course, he claimed he was just about to wrap up the case with his own evidence, but there’s nothing like catching the killer with a gun in his hand pointed at the potential next victim.”
“Speaking of which, I think Victor got off a little too easy,” Mom said. “I was rooting for him as the killer.”
The oven timer went off and Millie took the cookies out, talking to us over her shoulder as she scraped the cookies off the baking sheet with a spatula.“Gail was too. I know she was disappointed Victor didn’t get arrested, but he didn’t do anything. Victor did seem very upset by the whole thing, I wouldn’t be surprised if he walked the straight and narrow from now on.”
“I don’t know about that. He did try to fake the whole communicating with Jed thing and even buried a cache of coins in a burlap sack near the gazebo so he could dig it up later and pretend he’d discovered the treasure!” Mom said.
“Ironically, he’d purchased the coins at Myron’s own bank,” Mike said. “He blurted that all out to Sheriff Chamberlain without prompting. I don’t think he’d make a very good criminal. And burying the coins wasn’t illegal, so I guess he goes free.”
“Well, hopefully that will be the last we see of him. I would like to see Gail get her revenge for him causing such sorrow to her friend, but I suppose everyone can’t get what they want. Karma will get him in the end.” Mom tapped the town newspaper that had been sitting on the table. “Anitacame out ahead, though. She did get her scoop—though it wasn’t really the one she expected.”
The front page of the paper had the large image of Myron lying in the attic surrounded by the boxes and the various items that had fallen out of them. The cats were sitting on his backside and it almost looked like they were posing for the camera. Underneath a large caption read:Local Banker Thwarted by Ghost.
Anita had told us afterwards that she’d seen a shadowy figure—which we realized was Myron—lurking over by the side of the house just before the lights went out. She figured it wasn’t a power outage and went to the main electrical box, which was still located in its original position outside on the corner of the house, to investigate. It took her a while, but she figured out the circuits had been flipped and she turned the lights back on.
“Funny, though, it seems it took Anita a while to get up to the attic after turning the lights back on.” Millie took a large crystal plate down from the cabinet and started arranging the cookies on it. “And whatwas she doing lurking around here anyway?”
“She was meeting Victor. She said he had told her something big was going to happen and she might want to cover it.” I repeated what Anita had told me. “She claims she didn’t know he was planning on faking everyone out with those buried coins. She said she turned the lights on and then cameinside as it all seemed suspicious. She heard the noises, but it took her a while to figure out we were in the attic.”
“Probably took some time to snoop around.” Millie placed the plate of cookies on the table and we all took one.
“I see she’s still working the ghost angle.” Mike pointed to the headline.
“Yeah.” Millie broke off a piece of her cookie and nibbled on it. “But the producer is no longer interested, seems he has a more interesting story developing in some little town called Mystic Notch over in the White Mountains.”
“Well, it’s all for the best, because Anita doesn’t really have a ghost story here.” I was sure there was no ghost at the Oyster Cove Guesthouse.
“Yes, but how did those boxes fall on Myron?” Mom bit into her cookie.
“The bureau leg was broken. I guess it must have been ready to let go and the added weight of all of us up there on those old floors must have shifted things in such a way that the leg buckled and the boxes toppled at exactly the right time.” The timingwas suspicious, but that was my story and I was sticking to it.
“Maybe the cats had something to do with it,” Millie suggested. “If they jumped on the bureau, that could have been enough to cause the leg to break.”
Meow. Nero blinked up at us with his intelligent golden eyes. I was certain the cats were at Esther’s feet when the boxes toppled, but I didn’t say anything.
“Funny that Myron faked all that ghost business the whole time. He must have really wanted to scare people off.” Mom took a second cookie then paused with it halfway to her mouth. “Odd though, I wonder how he got things to keep falling off mantles and tables, even when he wasn’t here.”
I’d wondered about that too. “The house is old and settling and I think those things might have just fallen because things are uneven. Remember how Esther’s pen rolled toward the center of the room the night we caught Myron? It’s natural in an old house that things are uneven, right, Mike?”
“Sure, to some degree.” Mike didn’t seem as convinced at my explanation, but what else could it be?
“Of course that must be it,” Millie said. “And I’m glad this business is over. No more talk of murders or ghosts. I could use a little break from investigating.”
Mom scowled.“Well, I don’t know about taking a break from investigating, but I’m glad there’s a reasonable explanation for everything. After all, there’s no such thing as ghosts.”
Meow!
Thud!
The rolling pin, which had been on the counter, hit the floor. We watched in silence as it rolled toward the kitchen door.
“Well now.” Millie got up, gingerly retrieved the rolling pin and put it on the counter. “I guess that proves Josie’s theory about the house settling. As you can see, it rolled right toward the door. The counters must be a bit off level too. Maybe you should look into that, Mike.”
“Maybe I will. I’d love to have an excuse to spend more time here.” Mike’s pointed look made my cheeks heat and I ignored him, focusing on the tangy sweetness of the molasses cookie. “Or maybe you’d like to get away from Millie’s cooking and have dinner some time.”
I almost choked on the cookie.“Maybe.” I glanced at my mother. If she thought I was going on a date with Mike, she’d never let me live it down. But she wasn’t paying attention to our conversation, she was busy frowning at the rolling pin that was now innocently sitting on the counter.
Mom shoved the rest of her cookie in her mouth, tilted her head and looked at the ceiling.“Yes, I’m sure that’s it. The house is sagging. Has to be, since we all know there’s no such thing as ghosts.”
[Êàðòèíêà: img_2]
Nero pulled his tail in, out of the way of the rolling pin, which was picking up speed as it rolled toward the door. He glanced up at Jed.“Did you really need to do that?”