A Twist In The Tail

Continuing with her subtle methods, Millie gasped and pointed at his feet. Luckily Tony still wasn’t paying attention. I mean, he did have a cleaver in his hand.

Millie scurried over to us and grabbed Mom by the elbow. ‘Well, looks like our business here is resolved.’

Tony scowled at her, the cleaver glinting off the light. ‘What do you mean, lady? I thought you were mad about your meal and wanted some kind of lame apology. Which you aren’t getting.’

‘No worries, I can see you have good intentions.’ She tugged Mom toward the door. ‘So all’s good then. See you later!’

And with that Millie turned and dragged Mom out of the double doors.

I had just enough time to throw some money on the table for the bill and a tip and meet them outside on the sidewalk.

Millie was already halfway down the street, her heels clacking on the sidewalk. ‘Well I guess that settles it, Tony Murano was wearing the clogs and he walks on the sides of his feet. He’s the killer!’

Twelve

‘Anybody want the crusty garlic bread?’ Harry asked from his perch on the edge of the dumpster.

‘I do,’ Juliette said.

Nero watched as Harry used his tail for balance while reaching one orange striped paw into the dumpster to skewer the garlic bread, which he flipped to Juliette, who pounced on it.

A piece of newspaper drifted out and fluttered to the ground. Nero noticed it was the food section. ‘I hope there are no reviews in that paper from Charles Prescott.’

‘Like the one the police found in the victim’s room?’ Harry tossed out a cheeseburger and Poe claimed it as his own.

‘Yes and we also made another review discovery last night,’ Nero said.

‘Do tell?’ Boots wiped some marinara off his whiskers and sat on his haunches.

‘Well, I think we finally made a breakthrough with Josie,’ Nero said.

‘It took her a while to get our drift though.’ Marlowe looked up from the remains of the shrimp scampi she was chowing down.

‘Some humans can be a little slower than others,’ Juliette said. ‘Father Tim took a long time to get on the same wavelength, but I think he’s coming along fine. Don’t give up on Josie.’

Nero and Marlowe exchanged a glance. ‘Oh, we won’t. In fact, last night we were able to guide her toward something very interesting on the Internet.’

‘What?’ Boots asked.

‘It was actually Josie who instigated it, she’s not so bad after all. I think she has some smarts,’ Marlowe said. ‘She was looking for reviews for the Smugglers Bay Inn thinking that Stella Dumont might be mixed up in this.’

The cats all nodded. ‘Yeah, she could be a killer.’

‘No, she’s too stupid,’ Harry said.

‘Sometimes they only play stupid and they’re really crafty,’ Stubbs added.

‘Would you let them tell us what they discovered?’ Poe asked.

‘It was a review for this very restaurant,’ Marlowe licked scampi sauce off her nose.

‘The Marinara Mariner?’ Juliette asked.

Nero nodded. ‘Indeed, it seems Charles did not like a pie that he was served here.’

Juliette scrunched her nose up. ‘Was it the lemon meringue? It is very tart.’

‘Yes, I agree.’ Harry hopped down from the dumpster with a slab of eggplant.

‘Well that is very interesting.’ Boots’ whiskers twitched.

Harry swished his tail. ‘Tony had the saffron special the other night and saffron was smelled on the clogs outside the window.’

‘Are you sure it was saffron that you smelled?’ Poe asked Marlowe.

‘I don’t know, I never smelled saffron,’ Marlowe answered.

‘Me either,’ Nero added.

‘Hold on,’ Harry jumped up on the rim of the dumpster and leapt right in. The sides clanged as he rummaged around, jumping out with a small napkin in his mouth. He dropped it in front of Marlowe. ‘There’s a little bit on the napkin.’

Marlowe and Nero looked down to see an orange smudge. They sniffed. Nero’s eyes widened. It was the smell. ‘That’s it all right.’

‘Well there you have it,’ Stubbs said. ‘Tony got a bad review. Tony’s footprint was outside the window of the room where Charles was murdered. Sounds like a wrap to me.’

‘You think that dame I followed here has anything to do with it?’ Stubbs asked.

‘Tina?’ Juliette asked. ‘Probably just a coincidence. I mean, lots of people eat in the restaurant.’

‘Probably. And I admit that all of this with Tony sounds suspicious, but what about that old couple, the Weatherbys?’ Harry said. ‘I followed them around just like we suggested and you’ll never guess where they went.’

‘Where?’

‘Right up to the gulls’ nests. They were practically crawling in them.’

‘Why would they do that?’ Stubbs asked.

‘Birdwatchers. Some of them can be quite eccentric,’ Poe said. ‘But it makes me wonder. Charles was up on the cliff. The Weatherbys were up on the cliff. The gulls are up on that cliff. Could the gulls have something to do with Charles’s death and it’s not about a bad review? And if so, why was Tony’s footprint outside the murder room?’

When we got back to the guesthouse, the guests were either out or in their rooms, which was a good thing because Millie couldn’t stop blabbering about Tony and his cleaver.