The Legend of Tabby Hollow (Whales and Tails Mystery Book 5) (4 page)

“Thanks, Cait. I really do feel better. I’m not sure how I totally missed it, but it seems my little sister is all grown up.”

I grinned. It felt good to know I’d been able to help Siobhan for once; she’d been there for me so many times when we were growing up.

I sat in my car when I first arrived at Coffee Cat Books, admiring the view. The rain had slowed to a drizzle, the hillsides were painted in fall color, and the ocean was dark with a mysterious feel. I’d strung orange lights around the doors and windows of the bookstore, and Tara had arrived early and turned them on. The window display Tara had taken so much trouble with brought an immediate feeling of Halloween to the deserted dock. I let the warmth and magic of the moment warm my heart before I headed into the store for the hectic day I knew was ahead.

“Oh, good, you made it on time,” Tara greeted me as soon as I walked in the front door. “I wasn’t sure you would because Siobhan is in town.”

“I said I’d be here early and I am. I need to unload the cats, but I’ll do whatever you need me to do after that.”

I took the cats we featured in the cat lounge home each evening and brought them back in the morning. While they probably would have been fine if we left them overnight, I liked having them close by, where I could keep an eye on things.

“I’ve got half the shipment unloaded and inventoried, but I haven’t had a chance to start stocking the shelves. Destiny is in the back entering the inventory into the computer. Once she does that we can start putting everything away.”

“Give me a few minutes and then I’m on it. By the way, did Destiny ever hear back from her doctor?” I wondered.

“Not yet. He had some sort of an emergency yesterday. His nurse said he’d call this morning. I think Destiny is pretty nervous about the whole thing.”

“Really. Why?”

Tara shrugged. “I don’t know exactly. She didn’t even want to know the sex of the baby at first, but now she seems to be of the mind that it could be the deciding factor in terms of her long-term plans. The thing is, I’m not sure if she’s hoping it’s a boy or a girl.”

I frowned. “I don’t get it. If she doesn’t feel equipped to raise a boy on her own why would she be hoping for one?”

“It makes the decision for her about whether to pursue adoption, which will take a lot of pressure off. If it’s a girl she still needs to decide what the best thing to do is.”

When I gave it some thought I realized Tara’s reasoning made sense. I couldn’t help but feel for Destiny as I headed out into the drizzle to unload the four cats and two kittens I’d decided to bring. I’d thought momentarily about bringing Ichabod so we could start getting to know each other, but he’s a beautiful black cat and I was afraid someone would want to adopt him. I’d learned along the way to let Tansy’s cats set the pace, and when I’d left that morning Ichabod had been content to sleep by the fire. I had to wonder how he’d gotten to my cabin in the first place. The hollow was quite a ways from my home and it didn’t seem likely he’d walked. Besides, it had been pouring rain all night. Maybe Tansy had dropped him off, or maybe he really was a magical kitty who had flown in on his magic kitty carpet.

“Everything is inventoried and ready to shelve,” Destiny announced as I settled the last of the cats into the lounge.

“Perfect,” I answered.

“I can help with the shelving if you don’t have anything else you need me to do,” Destiny offered.

“I don’t want you lifting anything,” Tara reminded her.

“I’m fine. I’m not even due for two months.”

“I know, but we wouldn’t want to hurt the baby. Why don’t you start the book order we talked about yesterday?” Tara suggested.

Destiny shrugged. “Okay. I have the list we made in the back.”

Destiny started toward the back room as her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and hesitated. Finally, she lifted the phone to her ear.

“Hello?”

I couldn’t help but watch Destiny’s face as she listened to the person on the other end. She looked terrified, sad, and happy, all rolled into one.

“Okay, thank you.”

Destiny hung up and looked to where Tara and I were standing.

“It’s a boy.”

I glanced at Tara. I had no idea how to respond. Should I congratulate her? Offer sympathy?

Tara didn’t say anything; she just walked across the room and opened her arms. Destiny walked into them and began to cry. I suspected news of either sex would have been greeted with tears, but at least she now knew and could make her decision with all the information available to her.

“Are you open for business?” A woman walked in through the front door.

Destiny pulled away from Tara and headed down the hall.

“Did I interrupt something?” the woman apologized.

“You didn’t interrupt anything and we aren’t open quite yet, but I’d be happy to help you,” Tara said. “Are you here for coffee or a book?”

“Both, actually.”

I decided to start shelving the inventory while Tara waited on the woman. I considered going after Destiny, but my instinct told me that she needed some space to think things through. The poor girl had some tough choices to make in the weeks ahead. I’d noticed a difference in Destiny since she’d been living with Tara. She’d been an out-of-control teenager with a huge chip on her shoulder prior to becoming pregnant. After she found out about the baby she stopped sneaking out as often, but the chip on her shoulder had doubled in size. When I looked at her now, I saw a young woman with a good attitude who was mature and responsible. She had a job and was doing well with her homeschool lessons. In my opinion she just might be able to pull off single motherhood if she decided she wanted to try.

I paused to read the back of one of the books I was shelving. It was a mystery that took place in a small alpine town. The premise sounded intriguing. Maybe I’d give it a try if I ever again found the time to read. I didn’t mind that my life was busy, but it did seem it was busier than was really manageable of late.

I looked up and watched as my favorite law enforcement officer walked through the front door. “Hey, Finn. You here for a cup of coffee?”

“Coffee sounds great, but what I really wanted was to talk to you. Do you have a minute?”

“Yeah, as soon as Tara finishes with her customer. I’ll get your coffee and you can drink it while we chat.”

By the time I poured Finn’s coffee into a to-go cup, Tara’s customer had left and Destiny had wandered back in. I suggested we talk in the cat lounge, which was occupied only by animals at the moment, so we could talk freely without worrying about being overheard.

“So do you have news about Mayor Bradley’s death?” I asked when we were seated on one of the sofas.

“Not really. I still have no idea why he was in the hollow or whether his death was an accident or homicide. I’ve had a few leads I’ve explored, but I don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere. The reason I’m here is to talk about Siobhan.”

I guess I should have seen that coming.

“Do you know how long she’s staying?” Finn asked.

“She didn’t say specifically, but it looks like she’s going to be here for an extended period. She’s decided to take a break from Seattle, and as of this morning, she planned to stay with Maggie for a while.”

“She’s moving back?” Finn’s dark eyes shone just a little bit brighter as the significance of what I’d said sank in.

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that, but she did indicate that she wanted to take some time to think about her future. My sense was that she would be on the island until she figured out what she wanted to do.”

“So she left her job?”

“She’s no longer with the firm she’d been working for,” I confirmed. I didn’t feel it was my place to tell Finn she’d been canned.

“Is she seeing anyone?”

“Not as far as I know,” I answered honestly.

Finn sipped his coffee as he took a minute to process what I’d told him. I’d always suspected he’d never really gotten over Siobhan, but I didn’t realize how totally into her he still was. I really hoped she wouldn’t break his heart again.

“Do you think I should call her?” Finn asked.

Did I? I wasn’t sure. Siobhan seemed to regret leaving him, but did that mean she was ready to pick up where she’d left off?

“Siobhan seems to need some time to herself at the moment,” I answered. “I think she’ll want to talk to you, but I’m not certain about the timing. Why don’t you text her to let her know you’d like to get together for lunch when she has a chance? That way she knows you want to see her, but you’re allowing her to set the pace.”

“Okay. That sounds like a good idea. I’ll do that.”

“So about those leads that didn’t go anywhere…” I said.

Finn looked at me. “I take it you think Mayor Bradley was pushed off that ledge.”

“It’s the only thing that makes sense, and even that doesn’t make very much sense. Any way you slice it, the fact that Mayor Bradley was in the hollow, and on top of the cliff, doesn’t jive with anything we know about him. For one thing, he hated cats. He’d never be hiking in the area for recreation, and if he wanted to kill himself he wouldn’t do it surrounded by cats. At least I don’t think he would. I guess you can never really know what a person is thinking. And besides the whole cat issue is the fact that it was a strenuous hike to the top of that bluff. I can’t see Bradley making the climb unless he had a
very
compelling reason to do so. The guy was at least fifty pounds overweight and totally out of shape.”

“So you’re thinking someone somehow motivated Bradley to make the trip up to the bluff and then pushed him off?”

“That’s my theory. Did you ever find Bradley’s car?”

“No. It isn’t at his home or his office. He either left it somewhere nearby and we simply haven’t found it yet or the killer stole it, if there was indeed a killer. Chances are the killer left on the ferry, if that’s in fact what happened, but I’ve been driving around looking for the car just in case.”

“Mayor Bradley’s car has a license plate that says ‘Mayor B.’ If someone stole the car and then took the ferry chances are the guys who work the car deck would have noticed. Have you asked around?”

“No, not yet, but that’s a good idea. I suppose an intelligent killer would have traded out the plates, but you never know who might have wanted the man dead. It seems the idea that Bradley was murdered merits a bit more consideration than I originally thought.”

“So like I said, about those leads?”

The first ferry of the day arrived shortly after Finn left. I watched as Wendy Pratt, a temp who worked for a variety of businesses around town, met a man in a dark suit. Wendy held an umbrella in one hand while she handed the man an envelope with the other. The man opened the envelope and pulled out a stack of papers. Then he said something to Wendy that caused a look of panic to cross her face. He looked at his watch as Wendy frantically looked down the street, as if trying to decide what to do.

I continued to watch as she took back one of the pieces of paper and then hurried across the dock toward the bookstore.

“Can I borrow your copy machine?” Wendy asked as she shook the rain from her umbrella.

“Sure. It’s in the office.”

She stowed her umbrella in the stand we had for that purpose and I led her down the hall.  She put the paper down on the top of the machine and pressed the Copy button.

“Thank you so much. You’re a lifesaver. I’m temping in Mr. Cloverdale’s office this month and I would have been so fired if you hadn’t helped me out. I was supposed to deliver some papers to a man on the ferry last week, but I totally spaced out on it, and he only comes on Thursdays, so I arranged to meet him today only to find out that one of the copies came out crooked and the signature line was cut off.”

Talk about a run-on sentence.

“Luckily, Mr. Cloverdale has been out of the office for the past week and a half, so he doesn’t know I screwed up. Hopefully, I can get this fixed before he finds out.”

Wendy grabbed the copy she’d made and headed toward the door. “If I hurry I should be able to catch him before the ferry pulls out.”

With that, she was gone.

“Was that Wendy?” Tara asked.

“Copy emergency.”

Tara laughed. “She seems to have a lot of those.”

“Wendy is supernice, but she’s pretty disorganized. I’m not surprised she hasn’t managed to land a permanent job.”

Tara opened the top of the copier to refill the paper. “Oh, look. Wendy forgot her original.”

“I’m going to meet Cody for lunch. Grover’s office isn’t too far from there; I’ll drop it off.” I slid the paper into my backpack. “I’d hate for Wendy to get fired.”

By the time I joined Cody for lunch at the diner down the street the rain had stopped and the sky was beginning to clear, so I decided to walk the couple of block between the bookstore and the restaurant. I really enjoyed walking along Main Street during the holiday season. Almost all the shopkeepers went out of their way to create a festive atmosphere by decorating their windows and entries. The merchants all pitched in to buy white twinkle lights that were strung in all the trees along the main stretch of town. The lights gave the town a warm and inviting feeling from mid-October until after Presidents’ Day.

“Most of what Finn shared with me really was useless,” I told Cody after we’d been shown to our table. “But there are a few things I thought warrant a second look.”