A Twist in the Tail: An absolutely purrfect cozy mystery (The Oyster Cove Guesthouse Book 1)

Four

Nero sunk his paws into the silky blue duvet on Charles Prescott’s bed and fluffed. ‘Now that the police are gone, I hope the humans figure out they need to look in here for clues. If they don’t come up soon, I’m game for a nap. This is my favorite room.’

Charles had been staying in what Nero referred to as ‘the blue room.’ As you might have guessed, the room was a lovely shade of light blue. Nero found that the combination of the powder blue and gold silk oriental rug, Victorian-era sky-blue flowered wallpaper and the robin’s egg blue silk bedding to be very relaxing.

The room also had all antique furnishings, handed down from Millie’s ancestors, like the mahogany dresser and the four-poster bed. Nero loved the antiques because they were rich with lingering scents of lemon oil and pride from generations of use, unlike the new stuff that smelled like glue and a quick buck.

Marlowe poked her head in quickly from the adjoining bathroom. ‘I wouldn’t be so sure that the humans will come. I don’t think that redhead is too smart.’

‘You mean Josie?’ Nero asked as Marlowe disappeared back into the bathroom to continue the search.

‘Yeah, she said she owned us. She’s clearly not too quick on the uptake.’ Marlowe’s voice was muffled, likely because she had her head in the trashcan.

‘She’s just oblivious to the ways of felines. I sense that she has a kind heart and I think she’s worth training.’ Nero hopped down from the bed. He’d already canvassed the room for clues and was waiting for Marlowe to catch up. He knew there was one whopper of a clue in the room and wanted to see if the younger cat could figure it out.

‘Train her? You mean by not doing as she asks?’

‘Naturally. And sometimes the exact opposite.’

‘Good idea.’ Marlowe trotted back into the room. She sat on her haunches, licking her front paw. ‘Okay. I noticed a scent that shouldn’t be here.’

‘Indeed,’ Nero said. The young cat was coming along nicely. ‘And what do you make of it?’

‘Well, it’s salty like the sea but also has a tinge of seagull and wet dog. So, I’m guessing our victim was near the ocean and the gulls and possibly visited someone with a dog. Maybe near the cliffs where they nest or on the beach. Those darn seagulls are everywhere.’

The mention of the gulls had Nero cringing. ‘Tell me about it. One dive bombed me the other day and I had to do a tuck and roll right out in the middle of the street!’

‘I had to hide under an azalea bush to get away from one.’

‘They’re a nuisance.’

‘They don’t even taste good. Like bland chicken.’

‘And very dry.’

‘Too salty.’

Nero glanced out the window. The room had a partial view of the ocean and he could see the gulls flapping above the Smugglers Bay Inn. Good, let them stay over there. He didn’t mind them so much if they just kept away from him. Live and let live was his motto. ‘But still, they seem to be dying in droves. And I hate to think of anything dying before its time. They only have one life, you know.’

‘True,’ Marlowe sniffed at a pair of tan chinos that lay on the floor. ‘Judging by these pants our victim was up to something sneaky before he died.’

Nero nodded. He had wondered if the other cat would discover the scent of nefarious intention on the human’s pants. That was an advanced sleuthing skill and he was happy to see that Marlowe was mastering it. ‘What do you think our next move is?’

Marlowe raked her claws on the oriental rug. Millie would have a fit if she saw her. ‘We must talk to the gang at the wharf. One of them might know something about what our victim was up to.’ Marlowe started for the door.

Nero stayed rooted to his spot. The young cat would have to learn not to be so hasty. There was still something big left to be found. ‘Not so fast. There is another clue.’

Marlowe turned back, her green gaze slit. ‘There is? I skulked around the whole perimeter of the room and didn’t see anything that is not supposed to be here. Nor did I smell anything other than what I mentioned.’

‘Sometimes when looking for clues, it is not what you see, it’s what you don’t see,’ Nero said wisely.

Marlowe rolled her eyes. ‘Seriously? Could you be any more vague?’

Nero simply gave her a blank look.

Marlowe sighed. ‘Okay fine. I’m making another round.’

Nero watched the young cat carefully as she sniffed the perimeter, coming to stop in front of the small bookcase just as Nero had hoped. The bookcase was only two shelves that Millie had stuffed with a few old Reader’s Digest volumes. It looked like Charles had put those all on one shelf and added his own books to the other.

Marlowe turned around triumphantly. ‘Aha! One book is missing.’

Nero nodded. ‘Yes, and from the fact that the victim had placed books here in the first place, I think we can conclude that these books were important.’

‘Yeah, I see that. So how are we going to alert the humans?’

‘We’ll have to draw their attention to it somehow. Naturally they will think they made the discovery.’

‘I know! We never get credit,’ Marlowe said. ‘But how should we draw their attention? Hair ball? Incessant meowing? Leaping in the air?’

Nero watched as Marlowe pantomimed all of the above. He was proud that the young cat had figured out the clues, but she could be a little overzealous at times. ‘I think this calls for something more subtle. The good old pushing-everything-off-the-top-of-the-bookshelf routine should do the trick.’

The police had secured Charles’ room with a large ‘X’ of yellow crime scene tape. Was that really necessary? I worried that it would make the other guests nervous.

Millie must have had the same thought because she stopped in front of it. ‘Seems overly dramatic to have this here. What does he think this is, a scene from Castle?’ She ripped the tape off one side and Mom and I followed her into the room.

The first thing I noticed was that the duvet was messed up. It looked like something had been burrowing in it. A movement in the corner of the room caught my eye. The cats.

I was sure Nero was the culprit. ‘If you put any tears in that cover I’m not feeding you any more of that nice food with the gravy.’

Millie frowned. ‘Josie! That is no way to speak to the cats.’

As if understanding what she said, both cats trotted over to her purring and rubbing against her ankles while casting me angry looks.

‘But they messed up the bed!’ In my defense I had no idea how to talk to them. Should one let them just do whatever they wanted or was there some secret way to get them to obey you?

‘You must never admonish or threaten them,’ Millie said. ‘That will only make things worse. You should speak to them as if they are the superior beings that they are.’

The cats preened and purred.

I looked at Millie out of the corner of my eye. I wasn’t sure if she had said that bit about superior beings for their benefit or if she was serious. If she was serious, then she was crazier than I’d previously thought. I filed that thought away for future reflection.

‘Enough about the cats,’ Mom said. ‘We’re in here looking for clues, right?’ Her gaze fell on a pair of tan pants on the floor. ‘Look, the man couldn’t even pick up his dirty laundry.’

Now what in the world was I supposed to do with those pants? I had no idea what the protocol for dealing with deceased guest’s belongings was. Would the police come and take his things? Should I box them up? How long should I wait? Because judging by the police tape that used to be on the door, I wasn’t even supposed to be in here.

‘I don’t see any computer, that’s usually where the good stuff is.’ Millie looked around the room.

‘I don’t remember him having one,’ I said. Had he? I thought back to when he’d checked in. He’d had a suitcase and a blue paper notebook but no case for a computer.

‘Darn,’ Mom added. ‘Maybe he left another clue.’

‘I say we look to his bureau drawers.’ Millie opened a drawer and started pawing through it.

‘I’ll take the bathroom,’ Mom said.

‘I guess that leaves the rest of the room for me.’ I got down on my hands and knees and peeked under the bed. There was nothing under there but dust bunnies. Not a surprise, I doubted Flora vacuumed under the beds. ‘Just what, exactly, are we looking for?’

Thud.

Over on the other side of the bed, something hit the floor. I jumped up to look. Marlowe was on top of the little bookshelf and apparently angry at the lack of attention. I’d heard that cats could be persnickety that way. She must have decided that a good way to get it was to push the little lighthouse statue off the top of the bookshelf.

‘Hey now, kitty, that’s not necessary for a supreme being such as yourself.’ I tried to temper my voice so it was soft and placating as I strode around the bed and picked up the statue. I was certain that cats responded to the tone of one’s voice and not the words.

‘They can understand sarcasm,’ Millie said from her position crouched on the floor looking in the bottom drawer of the bureau.

I smiled at the cat who looked at me warily. I reached out to pet her and she hissed. I replaced the lighthouse and went over to the closet.

‘No clues in here.’ Millie stood and brushed her hands together. ‘Maybe we should look in between the mattress and the box spring.’

Thud. Mew.

We turned to see that Marlowe had now pushed a candle off the top of the bookcase.

‘Is this some kind of behavioral problem I should be aware of?’ I asked Millie.

‘No dear, they just love to push things onto the floor. Nothing is safe.’

I replaced the candle. I could’ve sworn Marlowe rolled her eyes and looked at me like I was stupid. If you ask me, I wasn’t the stupid one. Pushing things onto the floor when you knew someone would just put them back was stupid.

Nero was much smarter. He’d jumped up on the bed and was curled up on the duvet. ‘Please don’t get cat hair on that.’ I tried to say it with the reverence due a superior being.

‘There’s nothing in this bathroom but shaving cream and toothpaste.’ Mom leaned against the doorframe looking disappointed. ‘How are we going to figure out why someone killed the guy if there are no clues in his room?’

Thunk! Merow!

Marlowe had pushed the alarm clock off the bookshelf.

‘Now Marlowe, really,’ Millie strode over to the bookshelf and petted the cat, who purred and bumped her head up against her hand. ‘She bent to pick up the alarm clock but stopped halfway down. ‘Hey, this doesn’t look right.’

‘What?’ Mom and I joined her. I could see someone had rearranged her Reader’s Digest volumes and put different books in. ‘Ava told us Charles was writing a cookbook, maybe these are his books for reference or something.’

Meow!

Nero had come over for his portion of attention and was rubbing the side of his face against the corner of one of the books.

‘Huh, looks like there’s a book missing,’ Mom said.

‘Maybe he just didn’t have enough books to fill up the shelf?’ I suggested.

Millie straightened. ‘No, I don’t think so.’

Just then Flora sauntered past the room.

‘Hey, Flora!’ Millie yelled.

Flora stopped, backed up a few steps and narrowed her owlish eyes at us. ‘Oh no. I don’t clean crime scene rooms. Anything with police tape I don’t go in.’

‘We don’t want you to clean,’ Millie pulled her into the room and dragged her over to the bookcase. ‘Do you remember if this shelf was full?’

Flora shuffled over to the book case and vertebra cracked as she bent to examine the piece of furniture. She stopped with her face only inches from the shelf. She ran her finger along the layer of dust on the edge. ‘Yep, must’ve been something there.’

‘You remember that it was full?’ I asked.

‘Nah, my memory isn’t that great. But look at the dust on the edge. If that spot had been empty, there’d be dust in there too and that spot is clean as a whistle.’