Pawsitively Deadly (Silver Springs Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) Read online

Maggie turns to look at her sister. “The phone booth isn’t hooked up?” That’s not really what she wants to ask because the stranger part is that she just spoke to her mother. Who confirmed that she’s dead.

  “Nope. I don’t even know if it’s possible. Why?”

  “It rang.”

  Clem laughs and it grates on Maggie’s ears. “It rang? That’s impossible.”

  Maggie waits for Clem to apologize. That’s how their relationship has been since Maggie left home. One of them is flippant about the other’s reality and then they apologize. Usually half heartedly.

  “Well, who was it?” Clem asks, her way of validating what Maggie said in lieu of an apology.

  “Mom.” Maggie knows this will make Clem doubt her sanity even more.

  “Mom called on the phone booth that isn’t hooked up to anything?”

  “Yes. That’s what I just told you. Why do you have to turn everything I say into a question?”

  “Sorry,” Clem says quietly, keeping her eyes on the road. They pull into the only parking spot left on the street and get out. “I’ll treat. It’s your first night here.”

  They get out of the car, go inside and wait in line for their dinner. Clem gets a cheesy soup that Maggie knows is not good for her and Maggie orders a salad with grilled chicken on top. Everyone inside seems to know Clem and they offer greetings to Maggie as her sidekick. She tries to remember the name of every new face she meets so she can track them down if she needs to. But her mind is still back in the phone booth listening to her mother.

  They head back to the car with their food and Clem starts driving again.

  “You don’t even want to know what Mom said?” Maggie asks. She knows she’s poking a sleeping beast.

  Clem sighs. “Sure, what did Mom say?”

  “She said she and Dad didn’t kill themselves. The police got it wrong. They were killed.”

  “Well good. Because that’s what you’re here to prove.”

  Maggie turns and looks outside for the last few minutes of the drive. The setting sun turns the sky on fire and brilliant reds and oranges glow behind the snow covered mountains. Even in May, the peaks are bright white.

  “So you don’t believe me then,” Maggie says as Clem pulls into the driveway. There’s enough space for two cars in the garage but Maggie parked in the driveway. She doesn’t want to get comfortable and make Clem think she’s staying.

  “You make it kind of hard to believe.”

  Maggie nods. “I know. But I’m telling you, Mom called on that phone.”

  “Okay, well maybe she’ll call back and I can talk to her.”

  Clem gets out of the car and Maggie follows her. Inside, Suzie is lying outside of Maggie’s bedroom door on full alert. Oscar doesn’t seem to notice any unusual cat scents and jumps off the sofa when the front door closes.

  “You know you’re not supposed to be up there,” Clem croons and rubs Oscar’s ears. Based on the tone of her sister’s voice, Maggie knows why Oscar keeps going on the couch. Clem is incapable of punishing her dogs. She treats them like they are her kids.

  Something Maggie can relate to. Opal is spoiled beyond belief.

  Maggie sets her salad down in the kitchen and then goes into her bedroom to check on Opal. She finds the cat still hiding under the bed, her eyes just as wide with fright as when she left her. She’s unable to coax her out of her hiding spot so she gives up and goes back to the kitchen.

  Clem is already eating her soup, dipping the side of white bread into it as she goes. The spoon looks untouched and still sparkling clean. Maggie sits opposite her but Clem doesn’t put down the celebrity magazine she’s reading.

  “Do you think you could get the case files from the lead detective on Mom and Dad’s death?” Maggie asks, interrupting her sister’s reading.

  Clem doesn’t look up when she responds. “You probably could. It was Daniel Stevens. You know, from school.” Clem takes another bite, finishing the bread and picking up the spoon, never taking her eyes from the page.

  Maggie sighs, which finally catches Clem’s attention. “What?” Clem asks.

  “Really? You don’t remember? Daniel and I didn’t exactly get along in school.” Maggie takes the first bite of her salad and is rewarded with fireworks of flavors in her mouth. She loves the crunchy peppers, earthy greens and seasoned chicken.

  Clem goes back to her reading. “You didn’t get along with anyone by senior year.”

  “Yeah, but it started with Daniel.”

  CHAPTER 3

  “You don’t remember any of it?” Maggie asks between bites.

  “I remember you making a big deal about everything,” Clem responds.

  Maggie holds her tongue and shakes her head. “You were just too busy on the cheerleading squad to notice your band geek twin sister.”

  “Don’t pull that card. You looked down on the cheerleaders because they were ‘selling out’ you always told me.” Clem’s voice rises and Maggie regrets bringing all of this up.

  Maggie holds up her hands in surrender. “Well, regardless of anything like that—”

  Clem huffs her annoyance.

  Maggie continues, “While you were necking under the bleachers with Daniel Stevens, I was being teased by the rest of your friends on the squad.”

  Clem’s face goes a shade paler and Maggie knows she’s finally broached the start of their falling out. “What do you mean?” she almost whispers.

  Maggie chuckles. “As if you didn’t know. Lisa stole my trumpet once so I was put in detention for not showing up to marching band for a week. Faye ripped my uniform and I had to buy a new one. And Karen tricked me into going to some party one time, but there was no one there but those three girls to take photos of my futile attempts at being cool. Good thing Facebook didn’t exist back then.”

  Clem doesn’t look up for a long minute and Maggie wonders if she really didn’t know about any of this. She never told their parents because she was too embarrassed. They thought Clem and Maggie were best friends and she couldn’t bear to tell them otherwise.

  “I’m sorry,” Clem finally squeaks, still looking down at her soup. “I didn’t know. They never told me any of that.”

  Maggie can tell from her voice that she’s serious and she suddenly feels guilty for blaming her all these years. “I thought that was why you were dating Daniel. So you had an excuse to pretend not to know.”

  Clem shakes her head but still doesn’t look up. “He dumped me the day after graduation. I bet he was in on it too.”

  Now it’s Maggie’s turn to feel guilty. “I didn’t know he dumped you as soon as we graduated.”

  “I know. I didn’t tell anyone until September because then he was gone away to college and I could pretend like it was a mutual decision.” Clem finally looks up at Maggie and there are tears in her eyes. “Is this really why we haven’t been friends for thirty four years?”

  Maggie is surprised that Clem knows exactly how long it’s been. She thought she was the only one counting. She nods her head.

  “Can we start over?” Clem asks.

  Maggie nods again. “Yes. Definitely. No more silly high school past. I can’t even believe we’ve both held on to all that for so long. No more boys getting between us.”

  Clem’s next question surprises Maggie almost as much as her mother’s phone call at the shop. “Is that why you left?”

  Maggie answers slowly, choosing her words carefully, wanting to lay a solid groundwork in truth for the future of their friendship. “Yeah. I thought you hated me. And you’d picked your future in Silver Springs at the shop with Mom and Dad. So I picked something else.”

  Clem’s eyes never leave Maggie’s face. “You didn’t want to leave?”

  Maggie hesitates before answering. “I don’t have any regrets about my career path or personal life, if that’s what you mean. Yes, I regret not telling you all of this sooner because I thought you knew and were just ignoring it. I thought we were already on the same page so
I never brought up the past. My only regret is letting our friendship die for so long.”

  “It took both of us to let it die,” Clem says quietly. It’s the first time in thirty four years Maggie has heard Clem take any blame for anything.

  After a few minutes of eating in silence, Clem looks up with a more relaxed expression and asks excitedly, “So Mom really called on the phone booth?”

  Maggie nods and takes another bite of her salad. She doesn’t want to push Clem away again when they’re just starting to make up.

  “And she said they were murdered?”

  “Yeah. What did Daniel tell you about their investigation?” Maggie hopes that Clem will be able to help her get a first suspect.

  “It was suicide. There was a note and everything. I saw it. Mom definitely wrote it.”

  “Where were you?” Clem lived with them until their death a month ago.

  Clem blushes slightly before answering. “Denis Stevens’ house.”

  “Daniel’s older brother?”

  Clem nods. “I was about to move in with him just before Mom and Dad died. But now I’m back here.”

  “Are you still . . . dating?” Maggie asks.

  “Yeah. It’s been about a year.”

  Maggie can’t believe they’ve fallen so far out of touch that she didn’t even know Clem had a boyfriend. But she’s even more surprised that it’s the older brother of Clem’s high school boyfriend, a lifetime ago.

  “Okay. So you weren’t home. Anyone you can think of who would even want them dead?”

  Clem shakes her head.

  “Forget motive then. Who could have had access? Someone who knew them? Someone who knew you weren’t home? Can you think of anyone?” Maggie asks, getting excited and pulling her smart phone out of her pocket to write down anything Clem says.

  Clem thinks for a few moments, finishing her soup and then placing the bowl gently back on the table. She doesn’t make a move to get up and clear dishes like Maggie expects under normal circumstances. They never sit around and talk, but they seem to be turning the corner and working together to solve their parents’ murder.

  Clem finally shakes her head. “No one. I can’t think of anyone who would want them dead.”

  Maggie shakes her head in response. “That’s not what I’m asking. We’ll get to motive later. I just need somewhere to start. Who would have had the means to pull this off? Who had access to their house, knew their schedules, and yours too?”

  After another long pause, Clem finally says, “Leah Scott?”

  “Great. Now we’re getting somewhere. Tell me about Leah.” Maggie write the name down on her phone. Later she’ll transfer her notes to her tablet computer.

  “She couldn’t have done it.”

  “Well, just tell me about her.”

  “She’s been their neighbor for twenty years. She has kids in high school. She’s way too busy to have time for anything else. And besides, they were friends. She had a spare key to Mom and Dad’s house. And they had one to hers. Not that anyone locks their doors.”

  Maggie writes incomprehensible notes that only she will understand later as Clem talks. She has to agree, Leah doesn’t sound like much of a suspect, but at least Maggie has a starting place now.

  “What else?” she asks, wanting Clem to keep talking just in case there’s anything else that could prove to be important down the road. Having a key to the house is huge. “What about her kids? Girls? Boys? Anything against Mom and Dad?”

  “Two boys,” Clem continues. “I think one’s a sophomore and the other is a senior. They’re both on the county ski team.”

  “What does Leah do for work?” Maggie asks.

  “She owns The Last Page bookstore on Main Street.”

  Maggie looks up. “A business owner. You’re right, she would be too busy to be able to kill anyone.”

  In the silence that follows, Maggie looks over her notes and Clem puts the dishes in the sink. “Don’t do these,” she says, though Maggie has no intention of washing dishes tonight. “I’ll do them in the morning. I’m going to bed.”

  Maggie checks the time. It’s not even nine yet. She’ll be up for at least another three hours. “Already?”

  “I’ll be up at six and to the shop at eight.”

  “Okay. I’ll meet up with Ginger Rae, Erline and Winona at The Coffee Bean, then stop by the shop sometime tomorrow if that’s okay.” Her mother’s words swirl around in her head, This is where you can find me, and Maggie wants to see if she’ll call again. Though she’s still doubting her own sanity and wonders if she dreamt the call into reality.

  Clem yawns. “Good night.” She takes the dogs out quickly, closes the dog door, then goes upstairs to her room with Suzie and Oscar at her heels.

  Maggie heads into her bedroom where she finds Opal curled up on the quilt on the bed, snuggled close to the pillows. “I’m happy to see you’ve decided to come out of hiding.” She rubs the cat’s ears and Opal purrs contentedly.

  Maggie pulls out her tablet computer and inputs her notes to keep them organized. She has the weakest of suspects to start with and hopes that tomorrow something else will come along.

  Finally, after midnight, she lies down in bed next to Opal and thinks about her mother’s voice and everything she told her. She wishes her parents could see that she and Clem have taken their first step toward renewing their sisterly friendship.

  CHAPTER 4

  The following morning, Maggie is pulled from dreamland by the dogs’ click clacking nails tapping like a room full of ballerinas charging across the wood floors just outside her bedroom. She rolls over and tries to get back to sleep but hears one of them scratching at her door. She assumes it’s Suzie, trying to get at Opal. Opal races off the bed and hides again.

  Maggie doesn’t get up until she hears the front door close and she knows Clem has left for work. It’s still earlier than she’s usually up but she knows it’s futile to try to get more sleep. She’ll just load up on caffeine.

  She slowly drags herself out of bed and into the bathroom where the hot water of the shower brings her one step closer to reality. Without her glasses on, she’s nearly blind and feels her way around the steamed up bathroom, hoping she’s using shampoo and conditioner in the right order. She opens the window a crack so Opal can go outside if she wants, though she’s still hiding under the bed when Maggie leaves.

  When Maggie ventures into the kitchen, both dogs are lounging on furniture she assumes are really off limit. They must sense her lack of interest in them because they don’t charge her for attention. She leaves the house without eating and Oscar follows her out through the dog door.

  “You’re one lucky dog if you just get to roam the neighborhood all day,” she tells him and watches him head off toward a neighbor’s yard.

  Maggie starts her Prius and sits for a minute before backing out of the driveway. She wonders if she and Clem have really turned over a new leaf or if last night was a fluke; just a reaction to their parents’ death. Murder, she reminds herself. Their murder.

  The phone call comes sliding back into her consciousness and Maggie heads over to The Coffee Bean to talk to Ginger Rae, Erline and Winona. She hopes they can point her in a more helpful direction than that of Leah Scott who is most likely innocent from what Clem told her.

  Maggie has spent so little time in Silver Springs for so long that driving down the length of Main Street is all new to her. Whether the shops have changed since she was a kid or if she just remembers them wrong, she isn’t sure.

  The dog park at the west end of the street that may have been there her whole life is nearly hidden from the road by the dozens of pine trees and Aspen groves. On the next block, Maggie notices The Last Page bookstore, a place she plans to visit later today if time permits.

  The Last Page marks the furthest west end of the two blocks of shops that make up the walking, trendy part of town. There is Kidz, a toy store, Two Sisters where Clem already has the front door open, and The Kitc
hen Sink advertising cooking classes. On the next block, she finds High Mountain Brewery, File and Style, where she might have to make a hair appointment if she doesn’t make it home before her allotted two weeks, and Silver Taxidermy.

  Maggie finds The Coffee Bean on the other side of the road and parks in the parking lot below ground. She likes that the eyesore of empty cars has been hidden. Above the parking garage, she finds the same small sandwich shop she and Clem stopped at last night, a pizza place and plenty more quick food options.

  Maggie walks slowly down the street toward the coffee shop. She passes Flower Power and wonders if it’s a flower shop or a gay pride store. Or both.

  She stops just outside The Coffee Bean to prepare herself for the socializing she’s about to endure before she even has her first cup of coffee. Maggie knows she isn’t a morning person and has snapped at Garth in their office plenty of times before she’s been fully caffeinated. She’ll have to tread lightly until she’s fully awake.

  Maggie opens the door and inhales the full roasty smells of a dozen different coffees. She closes her eyes briefly to get lost in the aroma, but Ginger Rae’s voice drags her unwillingly back to reality.

  Maggie looks around and spots the three women on a tan couch to her right. They shift away from the middle to make room for one more. “Hang on, I need a coffee first,” Maggie tells them and heads to the counter. She orders a coffee of the day and is handed a mug that she recognizes as having once belonged to her parents. A smile forms and she feels her heart lighten. For the first time since high school, she truly feels that Silver Springs is home.

  Maggie sits down between Erline and Winona; Ginger Rae is squished against the arm of the couch on Erline’s other side. Winona takes one look at Maggie’s mug and matches the smile on Maggie’s face. “I know that mug.”

  Maggie nods. “I think I gave it to my dad for a Father’s Day when I was little. It’s funny seeing it here now.”

  “You know, no two mugs are the same here. They’ve all been donated over the years. I sometimes wonder if they have to thin out their supply or if they just rotate through different mugs every few months. They must have hundreds by now,” Erline says.