I frowned.‘WhatI’ve been doing?’
‘Yes dear,’ Ron managed to look fatherly. ‘It’s quite obvious that you’re the one who has been killing the gulls. Earlier when we caught you in the woods, we know you were going to the nests, but turned back because you ran into us. I don’t know what happened with that Charles fellow but if you just confess, I think we can convince the authorities to go easy on you.’
‘What I don’t understand is why you would do it… were the gulls hurting business at the guesthouse?’ Iona tossed a tiny clam morsel to Nero, who caught it mid-air like a dog.
This was confusing. What was their angle? Would they try to blame me for their crime? Maybe they were trying to force a confession like I was doing to them. I fisted my hands on my hips and stood my ground.‘I had nothing to do with the gulls. They aren’t hurting business at all. They don’t even come here.’ I gestured toward the window where a few evening gulls were circling far over the water, as if to prove my point.
Iona popped a clam in her mouth and exchanged a confused look with Ron.‘Well then, why harm them?’
‘It’s not me, it’s you!’
Ron shook his head and gave me a sad look of pity, then reached in the bag for a clam.‘Think about it, this has been happening long before we came. It’s not us.’
I still didn’t believe him. ‘How do I know you weren’t in town staying somewhere else before? And what about the fact that you have been lurking up near the gulls. You don’t know the specifics of your camera and had straw and twigs from the gulls’ nests in your shoes!’ Ha! Now I had him.
Ron glanced at Iona.‘Looks like we better enact plan B.’
He advanced toward me, a serious look on his face. Ooops, now I’d done it. I stepped back, but the dresser stopped me from going further. He kept coming. My heart thudded against my chest as I searched for a means of escape.
I glanced at Iona for help. I mean I know she was in cahoots with him but maybe she’d have pity on a fellow woman.
Too late. He was almost on me. He reached out as if to grab me, I dodged left, threw myself on the floor and tucked into a roll.
To my surprise he didn’t lunge for me. Instead he gave me a funny look and opened the bureau drawer.
He fished underneath. Probably where he kept the gun!
I squeezed my eyes shut and threw my arm across my face as if that might stop a bullet.‘Don’t shoot!’
‘Shoot? Josie, dear, what are you talking about?’ Iona asked.
I opened my eyes. Ron was standing in front of me, a yellow padded mailer in his hand. He reached in and pulled out what looked like a wallet. He flipped it open. Inside was a gold badge and ID card.
‘You didn’t believe us, so I wanted to prove to you why we were here and why we can’t possibly be the ones who have been harming the gulls.’ Ron handed the badge over.
It looked official, but I’d never heard of the department. ‘U.S. Department of Audubon Investigations?’
Rona and Iona nodded.‘Yes. We’re investigators for a special government division. Not a lot of people know there is a department of Audobon Investigations. We often get confused with the Audubon Society, but we have no relation to that. You were right about one thing, we aren’t here as regular guests. We were sent to investigate what’s happening with the gulls.’
‘And our name isn’t Ron and Iona Weatherby either.’ Iona picked a clam out of the bag and passed it to Ron. ‘It’s Bob and Cindy Wesson and I’m sorry to tell you, but you’re looking mighty suspicious right now.’
‘Especially since we caught you skulking around in the woods today and looking very guilty,’ Ron added.
Iona nodded.‘And the way you ran off after we caught you… well, you can see why we think you’re the culprit.’
I sank down on the bed. Ron and Iona (yes, I still thought of them as their fake names) were government agents? Even worse, they suspected me! I supposed I had been acting funny in the woods, but that was only because I thought they were killers.‘I was guilty. But not of doing anything to the gulls. I was following you because I thoughtyou were doing something to them!’
The cats purred around my ankles as I told Ron and Iona about the note and my suspicions that Charles wasn’t killed because of a review, but because he was blackmailing someone.
‘And you thought he was blackmailing us?’ Iona chewed thoughtfully. ‘Well I suppose I can see why. We were going off and watching the gulls every day, but that was for research, of course you didn’t know that.’
‘And we did investigate the nests,’ Ron said. ‘Funny thing we didn’t find anything wrong. We suspect someone is somehow poisoning the gulls. We’ve been trying to figure out where you kept the poison so we could confiscate it for evidence and turn it over to the police.’
‘Well it’s not me,’ I said. ‘I mean why would I? The gulls are not a nuisance to me and why would I kill Charles and put the reputation of the guesthouse in jeopardy?’
‘Good point.’ Iona sat on the bed beside me, passed me the clams and patted my knee. ‘Besides you’re not the killing type. Gull or human. And we’ve seen a lot of killers, haven’t we dear?’ She looked up at Ron, who nodded.
‘I was afraid we were on the wrong track with you, anyway,’ Ron said. ‘We had no evidence that you even went near the cliff until we saw you on the path. And, as you said, you have no motive.’
Iona nodded.‘But when we ran into you on the path, we started to second guess ourselves. Funny that it turns out you were looking for the same person we were.’
I fished around in the bag and picked out a clam with a big belly. I paused before scarfing it down.‘Well, if it’s not you and it’s not me, then who is it?’
Nineteen
Nero’s mouth watered as he watched Josie eat the succulent clam with the plump belly. ‘I wish they’d pass some of those to us.’
‘Yeah what gives? The lady was feeding us until they sorted things out.’ Marlowe watched Josie pass the bag to Ron. ‘It’s like they’ve forgotten all about us. Maybe I should hack up a hairball.’
‘No, they don’t like it when that happens around food,’ Nero sighed, and hopped down from the bed. ‘I’m just glad they’ve straightened things out.’
‘Yeah, I was sure there would be a problem when Josie followed them through the woods.’
‘Me too, especially since she wasn’t understanding our hints about turning back.’
Marlowe preened her belly.‘It did seem as if she was turning to us for help a little while ago here in the room, though.’
‘Yet she didn’t ‘get’ the hint that we were not concerned and she shouldn’t be either.’ The clam bag crinkled and Nero looked up at the humans. They were seated side by side on the bed, no longer paying attention to the cats. Had they eaten all the clams?
‘I think we need to figure out who has a vested interest in getting rid of the gulls,’ Ron said.
‘Are we really sure the gulls’ plight is connected to Charles’ death?’ Iona glanced at Nero. He willed her to pick out another clam for him and she did! But just so the humans didn’t think they were too eager, he let it drop on the floor before sniffing at it disdainfully for a few seconds, then hunkering down and eating it slowly.
‘I get the next one,’ Marlowe said.
‘Fine, but we can’t waste too much time eating. We have to point them toward the real suspect.’ Nero swallowed the last tidbit and licked his lips.
‘Maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with the gulls. I could have been wrong about the letter. I mean it was only a few parts of words,’ Josie said.
‘What were the parts?’ Ron asked.
While Josie fished out her phone and showed the Weatherbys the picture of the note, Nero got to work trying to give them a hint. Who was the killer and what were they doing with the gulls? Now that it had been proven not to be the Weatherbys, Nero could think of only one person it could be.