A Whisker In The Dark

Seth glanced over at the Biddefords. “Anyone see Bob last night?”

“Bob’s an adult. We don’t keep track of him,” Carla said.

“Besides, we were all too busy minding our own business and looking for our own treasure,” Arlene added.

“I might’ve seen something.” Hiccup. Paula weaved on her feet.

Seth turned to face her. The look on his face told me he wasn’t going to put much stock into what she had to say and, frankly, I couldn’t blame him. I mean I had seen her sleeping in the bushes yesterday so she must have been soused.

“What did you see?” Seth asked.

She fidgeted. “Well, from the angle I was positioned in, it’s kind of hard to say.”

“Angle? Where were you?”

Her cheeks flushed and she pointed back toward the trail. “I was tired, so I took a little rest on that stone bench at the beginning of the trail that leads down here.”

“On the bench?” Arlene snorted. “I think I saw you under the bench.”

Paula straightened. “I might’ve taken a little nap but that doesn’t mean I didn’t see anything. You can see things from laying on the ground as easy as you can from sitting on the bench.”

“Okay so out with it. What did you see?” asked Seth.

“Well, I mean, it woke me up. I was a little groggy and down at that level you see different things.” She glanced over at the body. “My memory is fuzzy but I’m sure I saw someone coming from the direction of the pond.”

“Who?” Doris asked as the Biddefords eyed each other with suspicion.

Paula paused dramatically. I think she was enjoying the attention. Given the fact that she was probably drunk most of the time this might have been one of the few occasions anyone paid any notice to what she had to say. “That maid. You know, the one who doesn’t really clean anything.”

“Flora?” Millie looked at her incredulously. “Little short thing with round glasses?”

Paula crossed her arms over her chest and nodded emphatically. “Yep, that’s the one. I saw her coming right down this path and she was walking pretty fast as if she was rushing away from the scene of a crime.”

Twelve

Seth made everyone go back to the house. The Biddefords settled into the parlor and I brought them some tea and cookies. The Biddeford siblings didn’t appear overly upset seeing as they’d just lost their brother. Doris, on the other hand, was appropriately distraught. She kept wringing her hands and wailing about her baby. Paula did her best to comfort her mother.

Mom and Millie hung out in the kitchen with Mike. Millie was irate that Seth would even consider suspecting Flora. Speaking of which, where was Flora? I hadn’t seen her all morning.

The cats had followed us into the house and were settled in Millie and Mike’s laps.

“Sunshine, are you okay?” Mike placed Marlowe down on the floor much to the chagrin of the cat and came over to stand next to me.

“Of course I’m okay. I’m not some delicate flower like Stella Dumont who needs a man to coddle me.” Maybe my words came out a little sharper than I meant them, but I was a grown woman who had already proven that she was self-sufficient. And truth was I was still upset over how Mike had insisted I shouldn’t investigate the last time we found a body. It was as if he thought I wasn’t competent. Well, the joke was on him because I’d figured out who the killer was last time and I could do it again.

“Now I know what you girls are thinking.” He looked over at Mom and Millie then glanced back at me. “There’s no sense for you to go investigating this on your own. Murderers are dangerous.”

See? I knew he was going to say that! Mom and I exchanged an eye-roll.

“Dangerous schmangerous.” Millie jumped up from her seat. “Someone has accused Flora and I won’t stand for it. She’s practically family and has been here as long as I can remember. And she’s a good, hard-working woman with dozens of grandchildren!”

Mike glanced at me as if looking for help. I shook my head. “If I feel like investigating, I’m going to.”

“I’m a trained investigator, guys,” Mike said. “If you want to investigate something you can ask me to do it for you. But we really should all leave the investigating to the police.”

“I don’t think we need you to do our dirty work for us.” I glanced at Mom and Millie, who nodded.

“We’ve investigated plenty,” Mom said.

“Yeah, what do you think we were doing while you were still in the navy?” Millie asked. “Got a pretty good track record, too, don’t we, Rose?”

“Yeah, we know what we’re doing. Josie here is the amateur,” Mom said.

“Hey!” I bristled at her comment. Had she forgotten that I’d figured out who killed the last guest who had turned up dead? Sometimes nothing I did was good enough for my mother.

Seth appeared in the doorway and Millie scowled at him, taking the tray of cookies she had brought over from the counter and putting them away for emphasis.

“Have you seen Flora?” Seth asked.

“She’s probably cleaning, as is her duty.” Millie’s posture was stiff and she avoided eye contact. “Now you know that nice little old lady couldn’t have killed anyone.”