A Whisker In The Dark

Mike glanced at me. Judging by the way the back of Bob’s head was flattened, it didn’t seem like he had fallen in by accident. And besides, who could drown in only a few inches of water without help? Unless he’d been getting into Paula’s nips, he would’ve just picked himself up, brushed himself off and continued along the way.

I glanced at the cats. It was clear by the way Nero was looking at me that he didn’t think it was an accident either.

The grass rustled behind us and we all turned to see my mother and Millie bursting out of the narrow path that led to the pond.

“See, what did I tell you, Josie’s got another body!” Millie sounded almost excited. Then she looked around at the Biddefords, her face dropping. “Oh, I’m sorry. Is it one of the guests?”

Nero and Marlowe sprang into action upon seeing Millie and darted over to rub against her ankles. The other cats pulled back further into the overgrowth, satisfied that they’d seen all there was to see.

“It’s Bob Biddeford,” I said.

Millie eyed the Biddefords suspiciously and whispered. “Huh, really? Family dispute?”

“I have no idea,” I whispered back.

“I heard they didn’t get along very good,” Mom said.

“Well you were both here last night, did you see anything?”

Mom and Millie shook their heads. “We didn’t think the treasure would be around here. We focused our efforts on the older side of the property.”

More rustling from the path and Sheriff Seth Chamberlain and his deputies, Johnnie Sanders and Sheila Watts, came rushing into the clearing, cutting off any other queries I had with Mom and Millie.

“What happened?” Seth asked as they started getting out their crime-scene paraphernalia.

“Mike found him down by the pond,” Millie said.

Seth turned to Mike. “What were you doing down here, Mike?”

Mike pointed toward the old toolshed, barely visible through the tall grass. “I came to inspect that. Josie had Ed do some repairs on it and it’s on my inspection list.”

Seth nodded, his eyes drifting back to the body. “Any ID on him?”

“It’s my Bobby.” Doris’s voice cracked and she dissolved into tears.

Millie hustled over to her, put her arm around her and patted her shoulder soothingly. “Now, now, dear, it’s going to be okay.”

“My guess is it has something to do with this treasure, Sheriff,” Johnnie said.

Seth nodded. “Good guess. Let’s say this Bob character found the treasure and someone saw him, then clonked him over the head and took it from him.” Seth glanced around at the ground as if looking for the hole the treasure might’ve come out of.

“Who would do that?” Carla asked.

I didn’t say a word, but the way I looked over the Biddeford family might have given away my suspicions. Seth wasn’t privy to their family dynamics though. I’d have to let him find out for himself. But even though they argued a lot, killing your own brother—or son—was a whole different matter. Surely none of the Biddefords would stoop to murder?

“Just about anyone in town,” Sheila shot over her shoulder from where she was crouched down in the muck beside the body taking pictures.

Seth nodded. “I heard a lot of people were out here last night. That true, Josie?”

“Well, I didn’t see everyone who was out here, but there were a lot of flashlights,” I said.

“Really?” Seth raised a brow at me. “And where were you?”

“I was inside preparing the breakfast for this morning,” I said.

“And what about all your guests?”

“They were outside digging for treasure,” I said. “Along with the rest of the town.”

“It was dark, Sheriff, and hard to see who was who,” Johnnie said. “There were people all over the place.”

“Is that so? How would you know that, Johnnie?”

Johnnie’s expression turned sheepish. “Well, I might’ve come here. The wife dragged me along.”

Seth pressed his lips together. “Kinda odd. Two dead bodies here in two days. That seems a little suspicious to me, Josie.”

Millie fisted her hands on her hips. “Now that’s technically not true. The first one was a skeleton and he was put in there years ago, nothing to do with any of us here. If you keep twisting the truth like that, Seth Chamberlain, I won’t bake you that apple pie I promised for the town celebration.”

Seth’s eyes twinkled and he looked at Millie fondly, but I could tell the threat of her withholding the apple pie was real. “You might be right, but still that doesn’t negate the fact that bodies seem to keep showing up at the guesthouse ever since you sold it to Josie.”

Meow!

Nero, who had trotted over to join us earlier, voiced his disagreement. Good kitty. He and Marlowe were now sitting on their haunches in our circle and it appeared as if they were listening intently to everything we were saying.

“All right, I guess we will have to talk to each one of you and see if I can piece together Bob’s activities last night.” Seth walked over to take a closer look at the body. “Josie, you didn’t notice that he didn’t come in? Looks like he’s been here all night.”

“No, like I said, I was preparing the breakfast and then I went to bed early. I don’t know what time people came and went.”