Pawsitively Murder (Silver Springs Cozy Mystery Series Book 2) Read online

  Pawsitively Murder

  Silver Springs Paranormal Cozy Mystery Series

  by Ginny Gold

  Copyright © 2015 Ginny Gold

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author and/or publisher. No part of this publication may be sold or hired, without written permission from the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are a product of the writer’s imagination and/or have been used fictitiously in such a fashion it is not meant to serve the reader as actual fact and should not be considered as actual fact. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication / use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 1

  Maggie cruises the streets of Denver in search of her latest target. When she spots the car she whispers into her phone. “Garth, I have him,” she tells her private detective partner of 17 years. She’s alone in her car and no one would hear her if she yelled, but out of habit she keeps her voice low.

  “Good. Stay with him,” Garth responds, just as quietly. He’s heading in Maggie’s direction from the police department. He just finished sharing all of the evidence he and Maggie collected on a suspected bank robber. They were hired by a small credit union after the police investigation turned up nothing.

  Maggie pulls out behind the silver Nissan they’ve been following all week but is careful to keep her distance. Following the Nissan during rush hour in downtown Denver takes Maggie’s complete concentration. She is desperate not to lose the car now.

  “Where are you now?” Garth asks. “We’re on our way.”

  “Heading north on Speer. Cut him off at I-25.” Maggie starts to feel the panic tighten in her chest and she tugs on her right earlobe, thankful that she’s using a headset and can spare her right hand. This happens every time she and Garth lead the police to a suspect—she worries they’ll get away.

  Just as Maggie thinks the silver Nissan is going to blend into the mass of cars, sirens come screaming from every direction. The Nissan has nowhere to go. All of the traffic lights have turned red and it’s so busy, the cars can’t even get to the sides of the road to let the police through.

  Maggie stays in her car and keeps her eye on the Nissan. She’s shocked when the driver jumps out of his car and takes off on foot. But he’s surrounded. There are officers on him within seconds and he’s in handcuffs before Maggie can let out a sigh of relief.

  “We got him,” Maggie says more confidently into her phone.

  “I know. Good work,” Garth replies and Maggie disconnects.

  It’s Friday afternoon and now she’s stuck in rush hour traffic. She wants to get home and take a long bath with a good book to start a relaxing Labor Day weekend after a less than relaxing week. But it will have to wait at least an hour until she can untangle her car from the gridlock of the crime scene.

  ***

  Finally, Maggie leans back in her bath tub with a book, a cold beer and take-out fish tacos. Her calico cat Opal is perched on the side of the tub, hoping for a morsel of fish but Maggie isn’t feeling generous after coming home to a mouse head just inside the front door.

  “You already had your treat today,” she tells her cat. Opal has a habit of eating everything but the head of her victims and leaving them for Maggie to find. Thankfully, today she still had her shoes on when she came across it and just barely missed stepping on it. “This is my treat. But I should have eaten it at the table instead of in the bath.”

  Maggie fishes some cabbage from the first taco out of her bath water and places it in the take-out box. She carefully eats the rest of the three tacos and sips her beer before leaning back and fully relaxing into the warm water.

  She’s given only a few minutes of peace before her phone rings, interrupting her in the first chapter of her book. Maggie glances at the bathroom door and into her bedroom where her phone is on the corner of the bed. She threw it there when she undressed in a hurry. She has no intention of getting out of the water and answering it and lets it go to voicemail.

  A few seconds later it rings again. Maggie shoots the phone a dirty look but reluctantly gets out of the serenity of the bathtub, wraps herself in a towel and picks up the offending phone that she wishes she turned off. Opal wraps herself around her ankles, clearly proud of her earlier catch.

  “Hello?” Maggie says into the phone, not trying to hide her annoyance.

  “Maggie. It’s Clem,” the voice on the other end of the line says. Maggie can hear worry in her twin sister’s voice.

  “What’s up?” Maggie forces her voice to become friendlier. It’s only been the last few months that they’ve even tried to return their relationship to some level of civility. Only after their parents’ death gave them some common ground on which to relate after 34 years of ignoring each other.

  There’s a long pause on the other end and Maggie isn’t sure if they’ve been disconnected. “It’s Erline—”

  “What happened?” Maggie is worried now too. Her mother’s friend is 81, and though she’s in good health, she could have fallen and broken a hip, gotten in an accident—

  Clem interrupts Maggie’s silent worries. “She’s actually fine.” Maggie sits down on the edge of her bed where her phone had been only moments earlier, wondering what’s going on with one of her mother’s best friends. “But her house keeper was found dead in her house this afternoon. Will you come? Erline is beside herself with fear. She thinks she might be in trouble.”

  CHAPTER 2

  Maggie lets Clem’s words sink in. She thinks she might be in trouble. Finally she asks her sister, “Why? In trouble how?” She can feel her face contort into skepticism.

  “I don’t know. But she called me and asked me to call you and do anything to get you to come. She thought you’d listen to me more than you’d listen to her.”

  Erline must not know the details of Maggie and Clem’s relationship if that’s the impression she has of the sisters. “Has Detective Stevens been to her house yet?” Maggie asks.

  Clem chuckles but Maggie can find no humor in her question or this situation. “You can call him Daniel. And he’s been asking about you all summer.” Maggie hears the smile in Clem’s voice. They went on one double date with Clem and her boyfriend, conveniently Daniel’s brother Denis. Maggie was barely interested then and is not interested now. Her life is in Denver and she has no intention of moving it to Silver Springs. Especially for a man.

  “But has he been to Erline’s house? You can’t just call a pri
vate investigator. You have to call the police,” Maggie says roughly. Opal jumps up on the bed next to Maggie and she absently strokes her fur.

  “Yes, Erline called the police.”

  “Good. Then if Daniel wants my help, he can ask for it.” Maggie is ready to finish her bath, her beer and make progress on her book.

  There’s silence on the other end of the phone before she hears voices in the background that Maggie can’t quite make out. She waits, considering how Clem would react if she just hung up. But she doesn’t.

  “Maggie?” a man’s voice finally says. Maggie is surprised and sits up a little straighter, pulling the towel tighter to her chest even though the phantom voice on the phone can’t see her. “This is Daniel.”

  “Hi Daniel,” Maggie responds, relaxing again and petting Opal.

  “I’d really appreciate your help on this. Our department is severely understaffed and inexperienced on murder cases. I don’t want to miss anything like with your parents’ murder.”

  Maggie thinks back to May when she spent less than a week investigating her parents’ death that had been ruled a suicide. She was able to get a confession out of the murderer and now he is behind bars awaiting trial.

  “It’d be a big help to have you here,” Daniel implores.

  Maggie is speechless, something only men of Silver Springs, Colorado manage to do to her.

  “Okay, well, I’ll let you think about it,” Daniel answers to her silence after what feels like a minute. “Here’s Clem back.”

  Maggie hears muffled chatting on the other end of the phone again and then her sister’s voice. “So you’ll come?”

  Clem has a way of assuming Maggie will do what she wants. Maggie mentally scrolls through her list of cases at work, not wanting to leave it all to Garth in an unexpected absence, but realizes that the case they closed this afternoon was the only big one they had. She wouldn’t be dumping anything on him that he couldn’t handle. And it’s not like he’s never left her extra work. That’s how their office has been run for the 17 years they’ve been partners.

  “I’ll leave in the morning,” Maggie finally says through a sigh.

  Clem nearly squeals, completely uncharacteristically. “Oh thank you. I’ll tell Erline you’ll be here. See you tomorrow.”

  “Yeah. See you tomorrow.”

  Maggie hangs up her phone and puts it back on the bed next to Opal. Her cat bats at it like it’s a mouse. “You ready for another road trip?” Maggie asks. Opal completely ignores her, a habit of hers, and continues to try to entice the phone into moving on its own so she can chase it.

  Maggie sighs again and walks into the bathroom. She lets the water out of the tub instead of adding more hot water and relaxing in it. She brings her beer, her empty take-out container and her book into her bedroom and puts on sweats before packing a small bag. Opal watches her with curiosity and disdain. Maggie knows she’s already figured out she’s going somewhere but the cat doesn’t know if she’s invited.

  Finally, Maggie slips between her covers and settles in for a long night of reading. She even sets an alarm so she doesn’t get on the road too late. Clem does not tolerate lateness, even though they haven’t set a time for Maggie to arrive.

  ***

  Maggie’s alarm wakes her Saturday morning at the unruly weekend hour of seven. She hates mornings and today is no different. She knows Clem will already have been up for at least an hour and probably expects Maggie to arrive any minute. She never could understand Maggie’s night owl habits.

  An hour later, after a quick breakfast and checking compulsively that she has everything she’ll need to help Detective Daniel Stevens investigate Erline’s housekeeper’s death, Maggie is in her silver Prius with Opal safely tucked away in her cat carrier and stowed behind the passenger seat. Opal’s yowls of protest are quickly drowned out by the radio that Maggie turns up loud to wake her up the rest of the way, her coffee not having quite the effect she hoped for.

  By eight thirty, Maggie is stuck in Labor Day weekend traffic heading up to Colorado’s mountains. Opal continues to yowl her protests and Maggie continues to ignore her but turns down the music to call Garth and let him know her plans.

  He answers after the third ring, sounding just as tired as Maggie feels. “What’s up?” he asks through the lingering sleep in his voice.

  “Hi Garth.”

  “Why are you awake?” he asks, probably just noticing the time and knowing Maggie wouldn’t be out of bed yet if she had her way.

  “I’m on my way to Silver Springs.”

  “Why? I thought you were done up there after you caught your parents’ murderer. You hate it there.”

  Maggie chuckles. Everything he says is true. “Clem called last night. And I even talked to Detective Daniel Stevens on the police force. They asked me to help solve another murder.”

  “Another murder in Silver Springs? What are the chances?” Maggie hears the blankets and pillow crackle as Garths lie back down and is jealous that he’s still in bed.

  “Not good. Probably only the second one in 20 years. And only five months after the last one. The last two,” she quickly corrects herself.

  “So you won’t be into the office next week?”

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “Yeah. No problem. I’m going back to sleep. Enjoy the mountain air for me.”

  Maggie hangs up and focuses on the slow moving traffic again. Garth is her only friend who prefers the slow and quiet of small town Silver Springs to the hustle and bustle of Denver life.

  What should be only an hour drive turns into three and Maggie finally pulls into Clem’s driveway at eleven. Clem comes out the front door, frustration written across her face.

  “You sleep in?” she asks, her voice friendly but Maggie can see the annoyance in the tenseness of her body. Clem roughly brushes her long brown and grey hair away from her face and her eyes hold frustration that Maggie didn’t arrive when Clem expected her.

  “Traffic.”

  Clem nods and her posture relaxes. “I forgot about that. Erline worked herself into a panic and locked herself in her bedroom last night. She still hasn’t come out.”

  Maggie picks up Opal’s cat carrier and whispers an apology for the longer than expected drive. “She stayed at home? Daniel let her? Isn’t it a crime scene?”

  “He didn’t really have a choice when she wouldn’t leave the house. He didn’t want to knock down her bedroom door so he left an officer in the house with her,” Clem explains, picking up Maggie’s small bag and walking toward the front door.

  Clem’s two dogs, Suzie the Australian shepherd and Oscar the golden retriever, come charging out the dog door as the sisters approach and Suzie immediately goes for the cat carrier.

  “No,” shouts Clem, the sternest Maggie has ever seen her with either of the dogs. Usually she’s rolling on the floor with them, getting covered in their slobbery kisses.

  Oscar jumps on Maggie, ignoring Opal altogether, and Maggie puts her knee into his chest to keep him off. She’s not a dog person. And Clem isn’t a cat person. Clem gives Opal’s carrier the shortest of dirty looks, but Maggie doesn’t miss it.

  “Same room as last time?” Clem asks once inside.

  “Please. That worked great for Opal.”

  Maggie follows Clem into the bedroom on the first floor, using her feet to keep the dogs out. Clem sets Maggie’s bag on the bed, turns to Maggie and says, “I know Erline is going to want to talk to you as soon as you’re ready. Do you think we can go to her house after lunch?”

  Maggie nods. “That will give me enough time to get organized here.”

  “Great. I’ll leave you to it then.” Clem leaves the bedroom and closes the door. Maggie opens Opal’s cat carrier and the cat immediately leaps off the bed and hides underneath.

  “You don’t remember this place?” Maggie asks Opal. She squats down and reaches under the bed to reassure her that she’s okay. In response, Opal swats at her hand. “Fin
e. Have it your way.”

  Maggie stands up and turns to join Clem in the kitchen. As she turns, she notices the cat collar that she thought was missing since her last visit four months ago in early May. The small trinket she found on the coffee table that their childhood cat had worn is still on the collar and Maggie picks it up to inspect it.

  Aside from a little bit of dust, nothing is changed.

  CHAPTER 3

  Maggie roots around in the kitchen for anything to make for lunch. Between the two of them, Clem never cooks and Maggie makes up for what she considers one of her sister’s flaws. She settles on canned tuna, pickles and bread from the fridge that is so dry the only way to salvage it is to toast it. She makes two sandwiches and places each one on a plate, sliding one in front of Clem and sitting down at the kitchen table with the other sandwich for herself.

  “Thanks.” Clem puts down the magazine she’s been reading and takes a bite.

  “I don’t know how you survive without cooking anything. This isn’t even cooking,” Maggie says before taking a bite of her sandwich.

  “To me it is,” Clem defends herself through a mouthful of food. “Oh, there are chips too.” She brings a half full bag from the cupboard and sits back down.

  Maggie lets the comfortable silence build between them, a new phenomenon, but finally has to ask, “What do you know about Erline’s housekeeper?”

  Clem chews and swallows before answering. “Not much. Felicity Myers. She cleaned once a week for Erline. She was in her fifties I think. A little older than us. Left a job she didn’t like, I don’t know what, and ended up starting her own business up here in hospitality. She might have cleaned for Ginger Rae and Winona. I’m not sure. But definitely for some of the property management companies that have a lot of rentals.”

  Maggie’s mind is going a mile a minute trying to put all the connections in place. Erline, Ginger Rae and Winona are practically inseparable, so if Felicity cleaned for Erline, there’s a good chance the other two employed her as well.