A Purrfect Alibi: A pawsitively gripping cozy mystery (The Oyster Cove Guesthouse Book 3)

Twenty-Six

The scream left no doubt that there was no time to fumble around for the flashlights we’d left in the kitchen, so we headed straight for the stairs. By now my eyes had become accustomed somewhat to the dark and the moon shining through the windows helped, not to mention the meows of the cats who were just ahead of us. Lucky thing I didn’t have to try to fit the key into the lock. Then again, if I’d locked the door like I was meant to, I supposed we wouldn’t be running up here to stop a murder.

As we rushed up the stairs, noises from above quickened our steps. The moonlight had splashed in through the windows in the main house, but windows were sparse in the attic, so it was nearly pitch black. Muffled sounds came from the very far end where I’d seen Jedediah Biddeford’s trunk.

“Ooof… Arghhh…”

Not ghostly noises this time, these were coming from a human.

Mew. Nero’s meow was soft but insistent, as if he knew it was urgent for us to move toward the sounds but that we might not want to let the killer know we were there.

I focused on the direction of the noise, I was sure it was the back corner now, but getting there was another story. The attic was full of piled up cast-offs and it was too dark for me to see the path. Taking the wrong one might be off course and I’d be too late.

I started in one direction, but then felt a cold resistance and backtracked.

“Oghhhh…”

Oh no, that didn’t sound good. We were making slow progress; a few times I’d taken a step down the wrong path but had felt an odd cold resistance blocking me and then turned around.

Meroo! Marlowe didn’t need to tell me we were almost there, I could see the dark shadow of a person moving about as if wrestling something that was on the floor below them. Then a sickening thud. “Aghshhhh…”

“Hold it right there. We have you covered!” Millie shouted from behind me.

“Look out… gaghhh… gun!” A man’s voice came from the floor. Was he warning us or was this some kind of trick?

Esther trotted up behind us catching her breath beside me. “Wait, that sounded like Victor. I thought he was the killer!”

“No, it must be Anita!” Mom said. “I knew she was up to no good.”

They were both wrong. “I’m afraid not, it’s—”

“Shut up or I’ll shoot!” a voice shouted. “It’s unfortunate you’re all here. Now I’ll need to think up a new plan.”

“Guess it’s not Anita. Is there really a gun?” Mom whispered. “Maybe they’re bluffing.”

“And what is Victor doing on the floor?” Esther asked.

“I think he’s tied up,” Mom said.

“I wish I could see.” Millie craned her neck forward beside me. “We need to surround him then someone can get him from behind.”

Millie’s idea about surrounding the killer was a good one, but now that my eyes were getting used to the low level of light, I could see that wouldn’t be possible. He was in the corner, backed up against a tall bureau that had boxes piled high. Beside that, other pieces of furniture were jammed in all the way to the walls. There would be no way to get behind there easily.

“Maybe someone should go down and get the flashlights,” Mom whispered. “I can sneak back without him noticing in the dark.”

“Quiet, all of you!” The killer waved something in the air. A gun, or was it a bluff? “Get up against those bureaus, spread out so I can see all of you. Wouldn’t do to have one of you sneaking off now.”

My mind was racing—we had to come up with a way to distract him so we could overpower him. Maybe if I got him talking, he’d get distracted and it would give me time to think. “You won’t get way with this, M—”

Zzzzpt!

The lights came on, temporarily blinding me. I blinked, trying to keep my eyes on the gun. Maybe now I could rush the killer and…

“Myron Remington!” Millie gasped, looking from Myron to me. “Did you know it was him, Josie?”

Well, at least I was right about that. Myron was the killer. Too bad Victor was also right… Myron had a gun and it was pointed at us.

Myron looked dazed and a little spooked. “Who turned the lights on?” He glanced around the room as if expecting some sort of specter to appear. Too bad he didn’t loosen his grip on the gun.

On the floor in front of Myron lay Victor. He was tied up and he must have passed out… at least I hoped he was only passed out and not dead. The sound of someone gasping behind us drew our attention.

Gail stood behind Millie, looking over her shoulder at Victor on the floor. “I heard the noises up here. Did you capture Victor?”

“No, silly.” Mom turned her so she could see Myron with his gun. “Myron did. He’s the killer.”

Gail frowned. “Victor doesn’t look dead.”

“He’s not,” Myron snapped. “At least not yet. I guess you can all go together now. I won’t say I regret that. You’re all too nosey for your own good.”

Merooo! Nero sounded indignant on our behalf.

Mewooo! Marlowe agreed.

The cats were pacing around in front of Myron. I wasn’t sure if they had a plan, but I certainly hoped so.

“You might as well give up now, Myron. There are many of us and just one of you.” I gestured to our little group now huddled against a large mahogany server pushed against the wall.

“Yeah but I have the gun.” Myron’s lips curved in a sinister smile. Apparently he’d recovered from his shock of the lights coming on. I would have preferred they stayed out, at least that way some of us would have a chance of getting away, but now he could clearly see all of us.

I barely heard what Myron was saying as I was busy wondering how we could get around behind him. Maybe Victor would wake up and trip him? I couldn’t count on that and now with the lights on he’d see if one of us broke from the group and tried to slip between the furniture to the back. Where was Flora when you needed her? Last time we’d gotten ourselves into a predicament like this, she’d snuck up from behind and clobbered the killer.

“Okay then, a little change in plans might be good.” Myron looked confident in his new plan. “Hmm… I think I’ll use Gail’s vendetta against Victor here.” Myron kicked Victor who let out a miserable groan.

“What do you mean?” Gail asked.

“Don’t think I don’t know about that,” Myron said. “It’s too bad that everyone will think that you became so obsessed with him that you burned down the guesthouse.”

Millie’s hands flew to her face and she gasped. The cats meowed. I felt a little disturbed at the prospect myself. Not just that it was my home and how I made my living, I was getting quite attached to the place.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Myron continued. “It won’t be a total loss… except for all of you perishing during the fire. I’ll put a nice big hotel or some condos here. I did notice a good spot for a pool where that old barn is.”

So he had been scoping out the grounds! Though I guessed that was only a secondary reason for him being out in the yard earlier. “But that’s not what you were doing outside earlier today, is it?”

Myron nodded at me as if approving of my skills of deduction. “Nah. I guess I can tell you now since you won’t be able to tell anyone. I was hiding the speakers that made the ghostly noises.”

“Why?” Millie asked. “I thought you didn’t want ghosts to be associated with the guesthouse?”

Myron narrowed his gaze on Millie. “Ha! That’s where you got it wrong. I’m not afraid of ghosts.”

Esther stepped out of our little circle toward Myron. “It won’t work, Myron… I told the police the truth.”

Myron stared at her as if trying to decide whether or not to believe her.

“That’s right. I have the proof of what really happened, and I got it from your very own bank.” She stood a few feet from him, hands on her hips. Apparently she didn’t care that the gun was pointed directly at her. “I did it for Jed.”

The cats seemed agitated at this pronouncement and paced around her feet as if trying to protect her.

“Liar!” The gun wavered in Myron’s hand. “The bank tellers only said that Victor was there getting old coins. He was planning on putting on quite a show.”

“Figures,” Gail muttered.

Esther shook her head. “Nope. I was there too and now I know the truth.”

“I doubt that,” Myron scoffed, but he was starting to look nervous.

“What truth?” Millie whispered. “How is Myron mixed up in this?”

“The papers…” I whispered to Mom and Millie.

“Papers?” Millie asked.

“The ones Esther had from the bank. You gave me the clue, Millie. You said it was a good thing that Thomas Remington opened the bank when he did because he would have been out of a job with Jed’s death.”

“Yeah, but how could a butler afford—” Millie’s eyes widened. “Oh… the treasure!”

“What are you whispering about back there?” Myron demanded.

“Esther’s right,” I said. “We know the truth about the bank. It’s no use. Let us go and the police will go easier on you.” I wasn’t really sure if that was true. In fact, I hoped they wouldn’t go easier on him, but I always heard them say that on TV and it sounded good.

Myron made a face. “I was afraid this would happen. You and your mother and Millie are so nosey. What papers are you talking about?”

“Turns out your pride was your downfall,” Millie said. “You had to display all the history of the bank and old Thomas’ journal papers. That’s how I figured it out. The timing wasn’t right for him to raise that much money!”

I frowned at Millie. Did she just say that she’d figured it out? I guess it wouldn’t matter much who actually figured it out if we didn’t find a way to get out of this.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Myron asked. “Those papers don’t prove anything and, since no one else will think to look at them, I don’t think anyone else will put two and two together.”

“Not just the papers,” I said. I didn’t want Myron getting any more confident than he already was. The best course of action was to get him feeling uncertain and then he’d be distracted and we could use that to our advantage. “It was also that pen.”

He turned the gun toward me. “Pen?”

“Yeah, the carved ivory pen you left here that day you viewed Ed’s work on the ballroom. You had it retrofitted for modern use by Agnes Withington, didn’t you?”

“It’s an antique and I wanted it to be of use. So what?”

“Yes, it is an antique. In fact, I saw it in an old etching, but it wasn’t Thomas Remington who was using it. It was Jedediah Biddeford. So it made me wonder… how did the pen come into your possession?”

“Thomas must have stolen it!” Mom said.

“Yep, and if he stole that, he probably stole Jed’s fancy shoes with the buckles too. Isn’t that right, Myron.”

Myron’s confidence was faltering. This was my chance! Millie could take it from here, so I whispered in her ear. “Cover me and keep him talking.”

Millie maneuvered herself in front of me and I backed up, slowly receding into the dim shadows. Myron was too distracted to notice when I slipped behind the server, crouching low so he wouldn’t see me making my way to circle around behind him.

“So what if Thomas stole some things from Jed? He deserved them, working as a butler all those years for a pittance. He didn’t have any nice clothes and he needed to look presentable when he opened the bank.”

“So you put the buckle and the note on Madame Zenda to scare people off.” Mom paused, then added. “But why use the Oyster Cove Guesthouse letter opener?”

“To scare people off, of course.” Myron wiggled the fingers of his free hand in the air. “Make people think the ghost did it because he didn’t want anyone in his house.”

“That’s why you kept coming over,” Millie said. “You weren’t checking on the progress of the renovations, you were checking to see if anyone had figured out the real truth. And maybe you were a little afraid that someone really had been talking to Jed’s ghost.”

“Ha! I ain’t afraid of no ghost. But I did have to make sure no one found out the truth,” Myron said.

“So you tried to scare us off with those ghost noises,” Mom said. “How did you do that?”

“Remote.” Myron sounded pleased with himself.

A large box blocked my path and I moved it slowly so as to make no sound as I thought back to when we’d heard the noises. Myron had seemed frightened, ducking behind Mom and Millie… or so I’d thought. Now I realized he’d actually been hiding back there so no one would see him work the remote.

“But where did you put the recorder that made the noises? We looked everywhere,” Millie said.

“Oh, I bet that’s what he was doing out by the barn!” Mom answered.

“That’s right, too bad you figured it out too late.” Myron’s voice took on a sinister tone and my heart pounded as I wedged myself in between a marble-topped bureau and a Victorian sofa with most of the horsehair stuffing exposed.

“But why?” Mom asked. “Everything happened three hundred years ago.”

“Because if they knew the bank was started with stolen money they could take it away. The heirs, those cheesy guests you had here a few weeks ago, might try to get the money back. I couldn’t risk anyone finding out the real truth…” Myron was starting to sound manic.

I quickly pushed another box out of the way and suppressed a sneeze. My quest was stirring up a lot of dust and I wasn’t making much progress, I just hoped I’d get behind Myron in time to do something.

“The real truth?” Millie sounded confused.

“That’s right, its worse than stolen money!” Esther’s voice had a triumphant ring to it and I popped my head up over a cherry Chippendale server to see that she’d broken from the group and was standing a few feet from Myron, her hands fisted on her hips. She looked round at the corners of the ceiling and projected her voice as if speaking to someone other than those of us present in the room. “Myron’s ancestor, Thomas Remington, killed Jed and put him in the wall. Then he dug up Jed’s treasure and used it to start the bank.”

“Oh, you don’t say,” Mom said.

“And that’s why Myron had to stop Madame Zenda… and now Victor… from telling the truth. He’s the killer!” Esther yelled.

“Fine, it’s true! And since my ancestor is a killer, then a few more dead bodies won’t matter!” Myron grabbed Esther and pulled her in front of him, pressing the gun to her temple.

Esther cried out.

The cats wailed.

I froze in place, not sure what to do. I was too far away to get behind Myron in time! Then I saw something strange. The bureau behind Myron started to shake, the boxes on top wobbled and then they started to topple, one by one as if an unseen hand was pushing them over.

Thunk!

Thunk!

Thunk!

The boxes hit Myron on the head, causing him to let go of Esther. He batted at them as they fell. Millie and Mom rushed toward him and my heart leapt. The boxes weren’t enough to render him unconscious and he still had the gun. What if one of them got shot?

The boxes had fallen around Myron, their contents spilling out on the floor. He was dazed but not out. Then the bureau gave one last wobble. A heavy, peacock-shaped alabaster lamp flew off and hit Myron square on the back of the head.

He crumpled to the ground and Mom, Millie and Esther dived on top. The cats joined them, Nero sitting on Myron’s backside and Marlowe on his ankles.

I rushed behind the bureau expecting to see Flora, just like the last time we caught a killer, but no one was there. It was empty except for a cold breeze and a few droplets of moisture on the edge of the bureau. I made a mental note to have Ed check the roof for leaks. Looking down, I saw the only footprints in the thick dust were mine. I would have suspected the cats, but not even a paw print could be seen, and I could have sworn they’d been in front of Esther when the boxes fell.

I glanced over the top of the bureau to see that Mom, Millie and Esther had taken the gun. Myron was out cold. Victor had woken up and was looking around, confused. Gail was standing over him and I do believe she was thinking about giving him a swift kick.

The bureau lurched to one side and I noticed the front leg was broken. Is that what had caused all the toppling? Either that was a lucky coincidence or, perhaps, other forces were at work. I didn’t have much time to think about it because just then I heard footsteps running in our direction. Anita Pendragon burst out from between a gilt-decorated armoire and a tall pine hutch.

She surveyed the scene, catching her breath. Her eyes went from Victor tied up to Myron lying on the floor. She whipped out her camera and started snapping pictures.

“I don’t know what the heck you people are up to here, but it looks like I finally got myself a scoop!”