A Whisker In The Dark

“Maybe you shouldn’t have eaten so much,” Carla said. I could hear her sniffing. “Did Josie bake something? Maybe we should make sure the kitchen isn’t on fire.”

The siblings laughed and I resisted the urge to march right out there and give them a piece of my mind. I’d burned a few loaf cakes since the Biddefords had been here, but I didn’t burn everything I put in the oven.

“I’m going to bed to see if I can get some sleep,” Arlene said. “It’s kind of freaky knowing there is a murderer running around. I knew this town was weird. Luckily, we’ll only be here a few more days. I don’t even care about the town celebration or how Earl’s ancestors practically founded Oyster Cove anymore.”

“You can say that again,” Carla agreed. “And honestly, I don’t know if I want to sleep in this creepy old house with Jedediah Biddeford’s ghost rambling around. I don’t want to be his next victim.”

“You don’t really think there is a ghost here, do you?” Arlene scoffed.

“That’s what they’re saying in town.”

Great. People were starting to believe this murdering ghost nonsense. Now even the current guests were afraid to stay. I heard the stairs creaking as they all went up to bed.

“You know, it would make sense that it would be Jed’s ghost,” Earl said. “I mean, who else would want to kill Bob?”

“You mean other than one of ush?” Paula slurred.

“Yeah,” Earl said. “Maybe Bob really did find something and Jed made good on his curse to harm whoever messed with his treasure.”

“Stop it!” Arlene admonished. “I won’t sleep a wink. There’s no such thing as ghosts.”

“Well I, for one, hope there really is,” Doris said. “And I hope Jed is rambling around in here. In fact, I hope he pays me a visit tonight.”

“Why is that?” Henry asked.

“Because then maybe I can persuade him to tell me where he hid the darn treasure!”

Eighteen

The cats had been sitting silently at my feet the whole time I listened to the Biddefords’ conversation. They blinked up at me as if in agreement that the whole family was crazy. But was one of them a killer?

Nero rubbed his face on my ankle and then looked up at me adoringly. I could see why people got so attached to the furry creatures. I was really starting to like them, they could be very friendly and attentive. They were especially attentive when I headed toward the fridge and got out some cheese and an apple for a snack.

“You guys want a snack too? Okay maybe a little cheese.” I broke off two pieces and added it to my plate. At their protesting meows I articulated, “You can have these up in our room after I get this quiche out of the oven.”

Our room. Who knew I’d be thinking of the cats as part of my family in that way?

Meow! they chorused.

Sounded like they’d understood. But when I started toward the back stairs, after securing the quiche in the fridge, the cats meowed loudly… prancing off in the direction of the butler’s pantry. Did they not understand we were going to our room? Or maybe I was the one who didn’t understand. I decided to follow them and find out.

As I started toward them Nero’s tail twitched and he trotted off even further, casting glances over his shoulder as if to make sure I was following. I’d determined he was the smarter of the two after watching them interact. Marlowe seemed younger, more impetuous. Marlowe had trotted ahead not even looking back, her tail waving in the air like a flag to follow.

The other side of the pantry opened into the hallway. At first, I thought they’d go toward the west wing. That seemed to be where everything happened. Bodies, skeletons, who knew what would be next? To my relief, they veered off to the right continuing down the hall to the conservatory.

Oh no. Was something wrong in there now? Had Ed started work and uncovered something dastardly or, even worse, been injured? I’d given Ed the day off but it would be just like him to come in and work anyway. The room was off the beaten path and no one would be walking past it to look in and see if someone was hurt in there.

We came to the French doors that opened into the room and my fears were put to rest when I saw it was empty except for the plants Millie had given me. Maybe the cats were trying to remind me to water them.

“Nice try, guys. Everything looks fine in here.” I scanned the room. Even in its dilapidated state, it was clearly once lovely. Large Palladian windows—most of which were temporarily boarded up—ran the length of the room and French doors opened to the overgrown garden. The moon shone in from the one window not boarded, creating a swatch of silver light on the floor. Wait… what was that shadow on the floor, over by the giant ficus tree?

The cats trotted over. Uh oh… was this why they’d come here? Dread washed over me. The cats always seemed to insist on summoning humans when something terrible had happened.

The electricity had been shut off to this room, so I ventured in to get a closer look. I bent down slowly… phew! It was only dirt.

“Hey, did you guys do this?” I asked.