I smiled sweetly.‘That’s really nice of you. I suppose you’re right. Thanks. Now if you don’t mind…’ I gestured toward the door.
‘Right, you have cleaning. You work really hard here. Maybe you need a night out.’
Not with you. No way.‘Maybe.’
‘I’m just finishing up here and…’
He let his voice drift off and an eager puppy dog look spread across his face. I knew what he was suggesting but I would not be swayed. He probably just wanted to get me away from the Weatherbys room so I wouldn’t get evidence that they were the killers before he did. I knew how competitive men could be. Besides, I had no desire to go on a date. Not with him or anyone for that matter. For one, I was still reeling after the divorce and for two we had history and it wasn’t all pretty.
‘You must be almost done with the work Millie contracted you to do,’ I said by way of avoiding his suggestion.
Mike nodded, looking kind of sad.‘This place needs a lot more work though. I have spare time in my schedule…’
‘Thanks, but I have a tight budget.’ The last thing I wanted was Mike hanging around here. As it was, I was almost starting to get used to him and I certainly did not want that. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but I’d already been talking to Ed O’Hara—a nice retired gentleman who was not within my dating range—about doing the rest of the work.
He leaned in.‘I’d be willing to give you a discount or we could work something out.’
He was magnetic, with a charming smile and soulful brown eyes. A discount would be nice. So would… wait! No. I was not going to go there. Best if he was out of my sight for good.
‘I wouldn’t want to take advantage of you, but thanks for the offer.’ I gestured toward the door. ‘I really need to get to work.’
He pushed away from the wall, obviously disappointed.‘Ok. But I hope you really are cleaning. I’m serious Josie, there’s a killer on the loose and it could be dangerous.’
‘Me too. Just cleaning.’ I smiled and managed to hold his gaze until he walked away. Once I heard the last stair creak, I let out my breath. I didn’t like being sneaky or lying, but one did what one had to do.
I slipped the key into the lock, turned the knob and the door squeaked open.
Given Flora’s description, I had expected the room to be filled with feathers and straw, but it was neat as a pin. Maybe Florahad cleaned. Most likely she’d exaggerated. I poked around in the bureau, under the bed and in the medicine cabinet.
The sound of tires on gravel startled me and I ran to the window. It was only Mike leaving. The driveway was empty. The Weatherbys car was still gone, but I knew I had to hurry.
In the small drawer of the writing desk, I hit pay dirt. An envelope addressed to Bill and Cindy Weston. Hmm… maybe I was on to something, but I needed more.
Maybe in the closet or between the mattress and box spring?
I was on my hands and knees in the closet, examining the bottom of Ron’s shoes, which had straw and twigs embedded inside the thick treads, when I heard the door open.
‘I’ve been craving clams ever since—’ Iona’s words were cut off as she noticed me crouched there on the floor. ‘Josie? What are you doing?’
‘Ummm… just cleaning.’
Her questioning gaze was riveted on my right hand, which still held Ron’s shoe.
‘I like to vacuum under the shoes.’ I plopped the shoe back down and jumped up. ‘See? All nice and clean.’
Ron’s closed the door and glared at me. His eyes were not friendly. ‘I don’t see any vacuum cleaner.’
Crap. Maybe Mike had been right and I should have stayed out of investigating. But if I didn’t, I’d have to remember to bring props next time if I was trying to pose as a cleaning excuse.
‘I prefer the old-fashioned method of picking stuff up by hand.’
Mew!
The cats must have snuck in with the Weatherbys. They trotted around Iona’s feet, looking up at the bag of takeout food from Salty’s which was filling the room with the delicious smell of fried clams. Just my luck they’d decided to get takeout instead of eat in.
Meow!
Nero cast a glance at me. Was he trying to signal me? To let me know they would help me escape if need be? Because judging by the way Ron was planted in front of the door with his hands on his hips, I might need help.
Iona put the bag on the dresser and Marlowe immediately jumped up and started sniffing.
Iona glared at me. No longer did she look like a sweet old lady.‘Looks like you didn’t rush home to feed the cats like you said you were going to do when we saw you out in the woods. This one appears to be starving.’
‘Oh, them.’ I waved my hand dismissively at the cats. ‘They beg for food all the time.’
I inched toward the doorway. Maybe I could rush Ron and knock him over? I hated to knock over a senior citizen, but he was a killer.
‘No sense in lying, Josie. We know what you were up to out in the woods,’ Ron said.
So they knew I was on to them. Fine! I’d get myself out of this somehow.
Mew!
Nero jumped up on the dresser and sniffed.
Iona snatched up the bag.‘I don’t think fried clams are good for cats.’
Lovely, a senior citizen killer who cared about cat nutrition.
‘That’s right. I’ll just take them downstairs for some properly formulated cat food.’ I glanced at Nero and Marlowe. Not sure what I was expecting. Maybe for them to distract the Weatherbys while I made a break for it? But they were more interested in the takeout bag because now they were sitting at Iona’s feet practically begging like dogs.
‘Nice try, Josie. You might as was well confess. We aren’t letting you go.’ Ron stood firmly in front of the door.
Images of my body at the bottom of the stairs in the West wing bubbled up. I hadn’t heard any other cars pull in, so it was likely no one else was home. Why hadn’t I listened to Mike? I decided to buy some time.
I crossed my arms over my chest.‘You confess first. I know what you’ve been up to.’
Ron and Iona glanced at each other.‘You do? How did you find out?’
‘Process of elimination,’ I said proudly. But not too proudly, lest it anger them and make their killing method more painful.
Meroo…
Nero tore his attention from the bag long enough to blink at me. Was that some kind of signal? Too bad I didn’t understand cat-blink.
I moved toward the door another inch. Maybe it was best to let them take me to the West wing. That way I’d have more opportunities to escape. Or maybe I should try to reason with them? Convince them to give themselves up.
‘What are you going to do? Push me down the stairs and try to make it look like an accident? I don’t think the police will fall for that again.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Iona looked confused.
‘Don’t play dumb. I know the truth and what you’ve been up to. But you can’t kill me like you did Charles. It won’t work. Might be easier to give yourselves up. I’m sure it was an accident. The cops will go easy, but if you kill me too… not so much.’
‘What are you talking about? Why would we kill Charles?’
‘To cover up the fact that you were messing with the gulls, of course.’
Ron and Iona looked nervous. Clearly I’d hit a nerve. They hadn’t figured that I’d discovered their secret about the gulls.
Meroo!
Marlowe and Nero sat at Iona’s feet, tails swishing back and forth anxiously. Eyes focused on the bag of clams. Fine friends they were. Here I was about to be murdered and all they could think about was clams.
‘Oh, for crying out loud, give them a clam.’ Ron took a step toward me, and I backed up. ‘Now Josie, I see what you are trying to do but it won’t work.’
Darn! He was onto my ploy to keep them talking and try to hedge toward the door. Now what? I glanced back at the window, but we were on the second floor. Maybe I could lock myself in the bathroom?
‘You’re not going to get away with murder. Think about it.’
‘Why do you keep saying that?’ Iona had taken a clam out of the bag, picked off the coating and was feeding little pieces to the cats. They were lapping it up, not paying any attention to the dire circumstances going on around them. ‘It’s no use trying to cover up what you’ve been doing.’