Probable Paws (Mystic Notch Cozy Mystery Series Book 5) (9 page)

Striker remembered Willa accusing him of investigating Adelaide’s murder. He had thought it was strange at the time since there was no murder. Did Willa know something that he and Gus didn’t? It would be just like her to try to track down the killer herself. She had a habit of doing that. That would explain why he kept finding her skulking around the Hamiltons’. But
why
would someone want to murder Adelaide?

“That’s a good question.” Louis Hamilton’s ghost appeared in the passenger seat of Striker’s police car, practically giving him a heart attack.

“Do you have to pop up unannounced like that?”

“Sorry. I don’t know how to announce myself. I can’t believe what I just heard you say on the phone. My Adelaide murdered? By whom?”

“I wish I knew. But since she was found at home in bed, it looks like it was probably one of your relatives.”

Louis frowned. “Gosh, that’s hard to believe. It wouldn’t be one of my offspring.” His face brightened. “Maybe it was that Lisa or Marion. I never did like Marion, always poking into our affairs, but Adelaide wouldn’t let me turn her out. Twins have a very close relationship.”

“So you don’t have any idea who it would have been? You’re not much help. In fact, you’re getting in the way. What was that business outside of the Hamilton … err … your mansion earlier today? Couldn’t you see I was talking to Willa?” Striker asked.

“Oh, sorry about that. I just sensed that Adelaide was so close, and you’re not doing nearly enough to find that book. I had to pop in and give you some instructions.”

“More like distractions. It’s hard to pay attention to you when I’m trying to be talking to humans who don’t know you exist.”

“Well, that’s just too bad, young man. Can’t you find that book any quicker? I feel my Adelaide is slipping away …”

Louis’s voice sounded so sad that Striker almost felt sorry for him. Almost. But the fact was, he felt as if his relationship with Willa was slipping away, too. And it was all because of Louis. “Yeah, this isn’t good for either one of our love lives. So what were these instructions you were going to give me? Do you know where the book is?”

“I don’t know where it is, but I have some suggestions as to where to look. We always joked that Adelaide was forgetful. She’d hide things and not be able to find them again. So for anything important, she’d pick a Hamilton ancestor and hide it near them.”

“What do you mean
near
them?”

“The Hamilton line goes way back, and we have a lot of family heirlooms and memorabilia. Aunt Lottie’s favorite rocking chair. Uncle Henry’s beer stein. Old family portraits. She’d associate the item with an ancestor and hide it near their portrait or in one of their favorite things. One time she hid a necklace in the drawer of a side table that had a lamp that Aunt Cleo brought back from the Orient in the twenties. Another time a pocket watch she was planning to give me for Christmas went into a gravy boat my great-grandparents brought over from England.”

“So what ancestor did she associate the book with?”

Louis grimaced. “
That
, I don’t know.”

“Well, that’s hardly helpful.”

“I suppose not, but I happen to know that Adelaide was meticulous about keeping the Hamilton heirlooms in order. She didn’t like the house to be cluttered, though. So she donated a lot of stuff to the historical society. She used the stone cottage for storing and sorting those items. If someone in the family was out to kill her and Adelaide was worried about that recipe book, she might well have hidden the item in the cottage. It’s worth a look, right?”

“I suppose it can’t hurt.” Striker remembered the last time he’d been at the cottage. Willa had been there, too. Coincidence? He also remembered how mad Max had gotten when he’d thrown them out. Was there something in there the boy didn’t want him to see?

When he’d been there before, he hadn’t been on police business. He’d been trying to get a handle on the family and figure out how he could get his hands on the book. Since he hadn’t been on official business, he’d left when questioned. This time, it wouldn’t be as easy to get rid of him.
Now,
in addition to his unofficial business of looking for the book, he had official business that would allow him to
show his badge and search the premises—Adelaide’s murder.

I
felt
bad about lying to Gus. Well, technically I hadn’t lied—I just didn’t tell her everything I knew. Though the part about not going to the Hamiltons’ house was probably a lie. I was sure I was going to end up there again sooner or later. But there was no way I could tell her that I’d talked to Adelaide’s ghost and was looking for a book of spells. Gus was a total nonbeliever when it came to magic. I couldn’t get judgmental on her about that, though. I’d been pretty much a nonbeliever most of my life, too.

Looking back, I wondered if Gram had tried to instill magic in me from early on. She always said I was special. Adelaide had even said Gram wanted her to give me the message to believe in magic, and Gram had mentioned
Betty’s Recipes
in her will. If she’d known about the spell book, then surely she’d known about magic? And what about Elspeth? Elspeth was supposed to get the book. Did she know of magic too?

I’d always thought it was strange that Gram had left her house, her bookstore, and Pandora to me alone instead of splitting them between Gus and me. Since she’d left Gus a sum of money equal to what I’d inherited, I had assumed she was just trying to make it easy on us, so we didn’t have to go through the work of splitting things up. But it was odd that she’d leave the property in Mystic Notch to me, because I’d lived in Massachusetts at the time of her passing. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to leave the property to Gus, who already lived here? But now I wondered if it wasn’t all part of a plan to get me to move back to Mystic Notch. And if that was the outcome Gram had wanted, then it had worked perfectly. But why would Gram have cared if I moved back after her death?

There didn’t seem to be much reason for it. Maybe Gram knew all along I needed a change. I was happy here. I loved the bookstore and had made great friends. Friends who took care of me, like Elspeth with her homemade dinners. But if I didn’t get that spell book, I was afraid things might change drastically, and not for the better. Maybe Elspeth would have some insight as to where Adelaide would have hidden it.

I still had Elspeth’s basket and the—now clean—plates she’d left the previous night. What a great excuse to go to her house. I wasn’t sure what I would ask her, but I hoped she’d have some insight into the Hamilton family dynamics or where Adelaide might have kept the book. She’d known Adelaide—maybe she could point me in the right direction.

Pandora was more than happy to accompany me, and we made the short trek through the woods in record time. We split off in the clearing—Pandora heading toward the barn, and me heading to the front door.

I could smell the sugary scent of cookies as soon as I hit the first step. Elspeth was baking, and I hoped there was enough for me. As if on cue, she appeared in the doorway just as I raised my fist to knock.

“Oh, hi, Willa. Would you like to join me for some tea and cookies?” She held a tray in her hand. On it sat a round clear-glass pitcher swirling with amber liquid, a plate piled high with golden-yellow sugar cookies, and two cut-glass tumblers.

“I’d love to. Are you expecting someone else? I don’t want to intrude.” I eyed the two tumblers.

“Oh no, it’ll just be us.” She pushed the door open, and I set the basket down and then took the tray from her.

“I brought back your dishes from the other night. I really appreciate you sending supper over,” I said.

“It’s nothing, dear. I know you work long hours, and it’s just as easy for me to cook for two and bring dinner over for you.”

We settled into the white rocking chairs. Some of the pink roses had opened, and their papery floral scent perfumed the air. It was one of those pleasantly warm spring evenings that reminded me of the summer soon to come. The chirping of crickets, the angle of the setting sun, and the still air gave the evening a magical feel. Elspeth poured from the pitcher, the ice cubes clinking together like the bells of a wind chime.

“It’s iced green tea.” She handed me the cool glass, and I snagged a cookie from the plate.

“Delicious,” I mumbled around a mouthful of cookie. The tea was earthy and sweet.

“Thanks.” Elspeth sipped her drink. “Last time you were here, we were talking about Adelaide Hamilton. I don’t suppose any of her family members consigned her recipe books to your bookstore, did they?”

“No, but I hear her daughter-in-law, Lisa, is in the market to sell some of the family belongings. I don’t think she’ll bring the books to me, though. I heard she was selling them to Felicity Bates.”

Elspeth’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second at the mention of Felicity. “Oh, really? I don’t see why the Bates family would need any more things. They’re quite wealthy themselves, and their mansion is stuffed to the gills.”

“Tell me about it.” I’d been inside the mansion, not that I wanted to remember. They certainly didn’t need any of the Hamilton family items, but I suspected Felicity’s offer to purchase was really a ploy to get her hands on the spell book.

Elspeth pressed her lips together. “Some members of Adelaide’s family are not quite on the up and up, if you know what I mean. I don’t think it’s Lisa’s place to be selling things off.”

“It seems like a very unusual family dynamic over there. Did you know them well?”

“Not really. I knew Adelaide ages ago, like I told you before. And her husband, Louis, was quite a nice man. He died a long time ago. The kids were very young, and Adelaide never remarried.” A smile flitted on Elspeth’s lips. “True love, you know. Well, I don’t need to tell you about true love.”

My brows tugged together. “Huh?” Was she talking about Striker and me? I didn’t think so—the way it was looking, we might not even get past “good friends,” never mind true love.

Elspeth chuckled and took another sip of tea. “Anyway, I don’t really know her children or grandchildren.”

I ignored her “true love” comment. I had more important things on my mind than love. “What about Marion? You must’ve known her?”

“She was an odd duck. Never married or had children. Wasn’t as outgoing as Adelaide but stuck to her like glue. Well, you know how sisters are—they have a special bond … and since they were twins, it’s even more special. Maybe I should go visit Marion. She must be feeling very upset. She used to like these raisin buns I made…oh, if only I had the recipe.”

Was Elspeth hinting about that recipe book again? Now I
knew
she knew more about this than she was letting on, but I had no idea how to broach the subject with her. “Twins do seem to have a special bond.”

Elspeth nodded.

“Like Hattie and Cordelia, and Adelaide has twin granddaughters, doesn’t she?”

Elspeth frowned. “Different as night and day, I hear.”

I wondered if Elspeth knew more about Evie than she was letting on. I remembered Max claiming his security footage caught Evie out in the moonlight. Was she a witch? Maybe Evie was after the spell book, too? Which reminded me—better get down to business fast.

“You don’t have any idea where Adelaide would’ve put this recipe book, do you? I asked around for you when I was at the Hamilton mansion the other day, but no one seems to know anything about it,” I said.

“I’m not sure, but sometimes people hide things right in plain sight.”

My thoughts drifted to the library. I still couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something important about that library, but my efforts to search it kept getting interrupted. But maybe the library was too obvious. “Did Adelaide have a favorite place on the property, or anyplace that was special to her?”

“Oh, yes. When she was dating Louis, they used to sneak off to the gardener’s cottage and … well, you know.” Elspeth’s eyes gleamed with mischief. “Back at the turn of the last century, the family had a full-time live-in gardener, if you can imagine that. But no one has lived in the cottage in a long time. After Louis died, Adelaide still loved to go there. She had it set up as a little retreat. Probably needed to get away from her nasty family. I hear her grandson is doing something with it now. I sure hope he hasn’t changed that quaint little library.”

“Library? There’s a library in the cottage?”

“Oh, it’s just a tiny thing, more like a reading nook, but Adelaide used to love to curl up right in the window seat and spend the afternoon reading. She was a big reader. In fact, she was one of your grandmother’s better customers down at
Last Chance Books
.”

“I didn’t realize that,” I said absently. My mind was still whirling about the fact that the cottage had a library. Maybe that was why she had mentioned the daisies. She hadn’t hidden it in the library in the main house—she’d hidden it in the cottage. But why wouldn’t she just say that?

I drained the rest of my tea glass and put it on the tray.

“How did you like the tea?” Elspeth asked.

“It was delicious.”

“Good. It’s one of Pepper’s special blends.”

I choked, my eyes darting to the empty glass. “That was one of Pepper’s teas?”

Elspeth laughed. “Yes. Is there something wrong with that, dear?”

“No. It’s just that sometimes her tea can have a strange effect.” Maybe they weren’t as potent when the tea was iced, I hoped.

Elspeth waved her hand in the air. “Oh, I know about Pepper’s teas. They’re just charming, aren’t they?” She tapped the edge of her glass, which was still half full. “This one is a togetherness tea. And it seems to work, because I drank some earlier, and it brought you here, and we had this lovely conversation.”

“Right.” I doubted the tea had anything to do with my visit. I’d already planned to return her basket and plates from the night before. What worried me, though, was what effect the whole glass I drank might have on
me
. Would I suddenly be running into people I didn’t want to see?

On the other hand, it might work to my benefit if it brought Adelaide’s ghost around more to give me some direction. Then again, Pepper’s teas often had the opposite effect of what she intended, so if the outcome was that Adelaide stayed away, then that would make my job much harder.

I’d already downed the drink, so there was no sense in taking up brain space worrying about it. I had more important things to think about, like making a plan to get back onto the Hamilton property and check out that stone cottage.

* * *

I
nside Elspeth’s barn
, a shaft of moonlight pierced the darkness and beamed on the floor like a spotlight. Pandora trotted in, sitting just beside the illuminated area. Rustling noises came from behind the bales of hay and inside the stalls as the other cats padded out to greet her.

“We’ve heard that the evil one, Fluff, has an interest in this recipe book, and your human has yet to produce any satisfactory results.” Inkspot jumped down from the hayloft, his sleek jet-black coat gleaming an inky indigo as he walked through the moonbeam of light. His rebuke made the hairs on Pandora’s neck prickle, but she reined in her temper. Inkspot was the ruler, and she wouldn’t be disrespectful.

“Fluff’s interest is disturbing,” Pandora purred. “But my human has made great strides. She thinks the book is in the Hamilton library.”

“Well then, why doesn’t she simply go and get it?” Otis preened his long whiskers with his paw.

“It’s not that easy,” Pandora said. “There are many Hamiltons in the house, and as you know, there is at least one in the home who wants to thwart our efforts.”

“Is she sure it is there? If so, then you must work on her to figure out a way to get it.” The Maine Coon, Kelley, swished her giant fluffy tail.

“Maybe we should get Elspeth involved,” Ivy, a tan-and-black-striped Maine Coon, suggested.

“No!” Snowball’s pure-white fur ruffled as she hissed the words. “Elspeth must never get involved in these things. She must be protected at all costs.”

The other cats murmured their agreement, and Ivy’s white-ringed green eyes registered a flicker of contrition before she blinked them shut and shrank back into the corner. Pandora felt a pang of sympathy for her. She was one of the newer cats and still had a lot to learn.

Pandora had another morsel of information, and she sensed that now was the time to reveal it. “My human may not be retrieving the book as fast as you want, but she did come by some vital information.”

Sasha raised a minky-brown brow, her ice-blue eyes showing interest. “And what might that be?”

A smug smile crept over Pandora’s face. She relished being the center of attention with all eyes on her as she imparted important information that only she possessed. “The recipe book is not recipes for food, but rather recipes for charms and spells.”

Otis snorted. “I figured that one out a long time ago. Of course it had to be a spell book. There wouldn’t be such a big commotion over a simple recipe book.” Leave it to Otis to rain on her parade.

Inkspot glared at him, and Pandora felt vindicated that their leader did not take kindly to the calico’s sarcastic remark. “All the more serious, and all the more reason for us to work together.” Inkspot turned back to Pandora. “What is your human’s plan now?”