Pawsitively Fatal (Silver Springs Cozy Mystery Series Book 4) Page 6

The women all exchange wide eyed looks of shock.

  “What? Have you seen it before?” Maggie asks.

  Winona shakes her head and says, “No, but I have one that looks exactly the same. I found it on Barney’s dog bed. I have no idea how it got there.”

  When she doesn’t continue, Maggie asks, “Did you open it?”

  Winona nods and produces a second journal from beside her. “And I brought it. It has your mother’s handwriting in it.”

  “This one is also from my mom,” Maggie explains and trades journals with Winona. Erline and Ginger Rae have remained surprisingly silent.

  Winona opens the new journal in her hand and quickly reads the first page. Maggie knows exactly what it says—nothing good about time travel. The other two women lean closer to Winona, crushing Maggie in the process, hoping to catch a glimpse of the words Maggie’s mother wrote so many years ago.

  Winona’s face changes from optimistic to concerned. “What is it?” Ginger Rae asks.

  Winona looks up and answers, “This tells the opposite story than what’s in the journal I brought.”

  “What do you mean?” Erline asks, leaning even further over Maggie.

  Maggie opens the journal Winona brought but doesn’t have a chance to read anything before Winona answers. “This one tells all the horror stories of,” she looks around but no one in the coffee shop is paying attention to them, “time travel. That one,” she points to the journal in Maggie’s hands, “is only the good stuff. The excitement of being able to visit history. Your parents were huge history nerds,” Winona says, putting her hand on Maggie’s arms. Maggie remembers. That’s how they got into the antique business. “They loved seeing history firsthand. But they made sure not to do anything that would change the course of the world.”

  The women nod in understanding. “What’s in the one you brought, Maggie?” Erline asks.

  “What can go wrong,” Maggie says, leaning back into the couch cushions. “They got stuck before, ended up in the future, had the keys stolen, and speculated about what could happen if someone out for power and wealth knew about this. History could be changed and wealth and power could be in the hands of the few who were able to time travel.”

  The whole couch falls silent as they consider the consequences of Maggie’s words.

  Winona flips through the journal to a later entry. Maggie peeks to see what she’s reading. It’s about bringing vaccines to the past to treat preventable diseases. Maggie thinks it sounds good in theory, but the unknown consequences of changing history are too great.

  By quarter to nine, a consensus has not been met on how to deal with the powers of time traveling. Whether to keep it alive and well or destroy everything associated with it is a difficult decision to make and the four of them can’t agree. Not yet anyway.

  “I’ve got to get going,” Maggie says and stands. She still has the journal Winona brought but offers it back to the women. “You hold on to both of these. I know what I want to do with everything.”

  Erline takes the journal and begins reading it while Winona remains lost in the one from Maggie.

  “We’ll talk about this later,” Maggie says to deaf ears as she leaves.

  Maggie walks quickly to her car in the parking garage, not wanting to be late to pick up Drew and get to James’s house. While she drives, she thinks of all the ways to coerce Travis into admitting he killed James. He’s benefitting from his death—though not as much as Maggie is likely to—and has friends who are murderers and thieves.

  There might be little to no evidence against Travis, but Maggie won’t write him off as a suspect. She keeps James’s sister, Kami, his ex-wife, Anya, and possibly scheming employee, Mona Fitch, in the back of her mind for good measure. Tess barely makes an appearance.

  Drew is ready and waiting when Maggie shows up just five minutes before nine. It’s a good thing Silver Springs is small or they’d be late for their meeting. They share only a quick greeting before driving the rest of the way to James’s house in silence except for directions from Drew.

  James’s house is small and cozy looking. Christmas lights are still draped along the outside and Maggie can imagine its gingerbread house feel when it’s lit up at night. The driveway has been plowed since yesterday’s storm and the path to the front door is shoveled. She wonders if someone is under contract to plow for the winter and doesn’t yet know that James is dead.

  Before Maggie has a chance to knock on the front door, Travis opens it. “You brought company,” he says flatly.

  “I hope that’s okay,” Maggie responds, not caring if it’s okay or not. She feels safer with Drew present, and she knows he never would have let her come alone.

  “Sure. Let’s get started.” Travis leads them to a small living room that has been kept up immaculately. “The piano is my area of expertise so I wanted to go over what that’s worth first.”

  Travis’s mouth remains open and his hand raised to begin his detailed appraisal of the piano when the front door opens with a bang. “You all have no right to be here,” comes a woman’s voice before they can see who it belongs to. “After everything I’ve been through because of this man, I deserve at least a cut of what he left behind.”

  A woman with long, jet black hair struts into the living room. A woman Maggie has never seen before.

  CHAPTER 14

  Travis gives Maggie a nervous look. “You brought someone else?” he asks her in a hissed whisper.

  Maggie shakes her head, having no idea what’s going on.

  “Anya,” Drew says, offering the woman a seat. Maggie realizes this is James’s ex-wife suddenly appearing.

  Anya continues to stand and nods at Drew, who introduces Travis and Maggie, briefly explaining what everyone is doing here. Her gaze lingers on Maggie for an uncomfortably long moment.

  “So James thinks he can just give everything away with no concern for all the damage he’s caused me,” Anya sneers, finally sitting down. Her suit pants are creased along the front of her legs and she crosses them aggressively. Maggie doesn’t think her shoe selection—small black pumps—is a very wise choice for Silver Springs’s winter. Her entire body breathes wealth.

  “They were his possessions,” Travis says meekly. It’s clear that everyone is thrown off by Anya’s demanding presence.

  “And what does Kami think of this arrangement?”

  Travis hesitates before answering. He fiddles with the pen in his hand, his nerves getting the better of him. “It . . . it doesn’t really matter what she thinks. James made these arrangements before his unfortunate death on Saturday and who are we to complain?”

  Anya huffs. “I think Kami and I both have plenty of reason to be upset about his choices. We both have more right to his things than Maggie.” Her voice drips with derision when she says Maggie’s name.

  Anya continues to glare at Maggie. All Maggie can think is that she didn’t ask for this. She desperately wishes Clem was home to deal with everything.

  “Maggie, how did you know James?” Anya asks, never breaking eye contact.

  Maggie looks away first. She fiddles with her hands. “I just knew him as the owner of Flower Power,” she admits. She knows that won’t go over well. Travis and Drew both stare at her and the tension in the room grows.

  “Hmm. And you don’t find it odd that he left so many items to Two Sisters?”

  “He’s not the first to bequeath items to us.” She knows she’s not really answering Anya’s question and she doubts that Anya will let her get away with it.

  “But James still had family living—”

  Maggie interrupts her, not wanting to be put on the spot. “I understand you’re James’s ex-wife.” Her nerve grows with each word. “What right do you have to his belongings?”

  Anya rolls her eyes and re-crosses her legs, leaning confidently back in her chair. “You have no idea what you’re asking.”

  “So tell me,” Maggie challenges, her eyes holding Anya’s gaze this time.

&nb
sp; Anya leans forward, her elbows on her knees. Maggie forgets about the two men in the room with them.

  “We married when we were too young, barely out of college. That sounds so long ago now. We lived the high life in New York. It had been a dream of both of ours since we were kids. Even before we knew each other.”

  Maggie wishes she could take notes but she doesn’t want to give away that she’s investigating James’s murder and have Anya stop talking.

  “Everything was great. I worked my way up the career ladder I’d planned for myself, and James was a well known wedding planner. The flower shop was a spinoff,” she adds offhandedly.

  Anya gets a wistful look in her eye and Maggie wonders if she’ll continue or just get lost in memories she doesn’t want to share.

  “We went to Broadway shows and were invited to share private boxes at sports games. Neither of us were into sports but we couldn’t get enough of the limelight.” She chuckles. “Or at least I thought that’s what James wanted. I loved every minute of it.”

  “How did you both end up in Silver Springs?” Maggie asks.

  Anya’s eyes focus again on Maggie. “I’m getting to that,” she says coldly. “In New York, James started going out on his own. He made his own friends. And suddenly, our dream world was turned upside down. Well, mine was. James had an affair. With a man.”

  Anya stops talking and looks at each of Maggie, Drew and Travis, reading their expressions. Maggie remains stoic but she sees Travis’s hand go to his mouth. Drew doesn’t react. Maybe he already knew about this.

  “I was crushed. Not just because he had an affair, but he’d been living a lie and brought me into that lie. It was humiliating. I couldn’t go out in public. I had years of counseling. And when I finally thought I could handle things, James would show up out of nowhere. He kept reappearing just when I felt like I was getting my feet back under me.”

  Anya shakes her head, and for a brief moment Maggie actually feels sorry for her.

  “James moved to Silver Springs with a man. It didn’t last. And I finally realized that the only way I was going to be able to move on was to be near James so he couldn’t surprise me. If I knew what he was doing, he couldn’t show up in my life unexpectedly.”

  “So you started stalking him?” Maggie asks.

  Anya laughs. “No. I just kept my eye on him. I moved to Silver Springs and started my life over. Not the life I’d planned, but the only life that made sense at the time. I’ve given up the last decade and a half of my dream life to keep James close so he couldn’t terrorize me anymore with surprise appearances. You know, one time he followed me to a vacation in Mexico. Do you know what it’s like to feel like you’re always being watched?” Anya huffs. “You asked if I was stalking him. He was the one stalking me. And now he’s gone.” Anya throws her hands up and lets them fall back onto her lap. “Leaving me something of value is the least he could do for ruining the last fifteen years of my life.”

  “Like the piano,” Travis pipes up from the piano bench. He looks totally disinterested in Anya’s story.

  “Like the piano,” Anya agrees. “You’re here to appraise it?”

  Travis nods. “Yes. And I’d really like to get started.”

  No one protests and Travis walks through every aspect of the piano’s history and what work it needs to restore it to its full value. It takes almost an hour to get through everything because Maggie, Anya and Drew don’t know the first thing about pianos. But ultimately, they all learn that with about ten thousand dollars worth of work, the piano will be worth over fifty thousand.

  Silence sits in the air as that number sinks into Maggie’s brain. She knows Two Sisters could use the money. Clem is always worried about inventory and growing the business. Maggie also knows that not all of the profit would go to Two Sisters. A portion—a significant portion—would be donated to one of the charities James selected, but she and Clem would still be left with a hefty sum to improve the shop.

  “Well, I think that’s all I needed to hear,” Anya says, standing suddenly, her palms smoothing down the front of her already smooth pants. “You’ll be hearing from my lawyer.” She meets Maggie’s eye and then turns and walks out of the house.

  Travis’s earlier confidence seems to have been shattered with the appearance of and berating by Anya. He fiddles with his pen and papers, unsure of what to do next.

  “You said there were also some paintings, carvings and rugs,” Maggie prompts him. If he’s this thrown off by Anya’s presence, could he have had the courage to kill James? She exchanges a glance with Drew and knows he’s thinking the same thing.

  “Right.” Travis leads them into another room, sparsely furnished with uncomfortable looking chairs and an ancient couch. “The furniture is worthless but if you wanted to try to sell it, I’m sure that would be okay,” he says, waving his hand absently toward the couch. “It might end up in the dumpster.”

  Maggie doesn’t respond. She does not have the expertise to make that decision and will have to wait for Clem to get home this weekend.

  It takes another hour for Travis to slowly review each of the items left to Two Sisters. Ultimately, only the piano needs work, but with the fifty thousand dollar estimate, James’s home contains over one hundred thousand dollars worth of antiques. Maggie isn’t sure what Two Sisters will be able to keep from the sales, but she knows it will be worth it.

  Travis seems to have recovered from his earlier surprise after Anya’s visit and walks them to the door confidently. He hands Maggie his card and says, “If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call.”

  Maggie glances at the card in her hand. “I actually have a question right now,” she says. Travis has already opened the front door for them and the cold February air blows in. At least it’s a clear day with the sun shining.

  “Sure. What can I do for you?” Travis smiles.

  “How did you get into appraising antiques?”

  The smile is quickly wiped from Travis’s face and he pales. “I . . . It was back in Iowa actually.”

  Maggie knows she’s hit a nerve and she wants to know the whole story.

  CHAPTER 15

  “Iowa?” Maggie asks, nodding to herself and hoping she looks intrigued.

  Travis tries to recover from the surprise of Maggie’s question but his face remains as white as a sheet. “Yeah . . . I used to work at a newspaper there.”

  “You don’t say. What town?” She already knows what town but wants to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth.

  “Two Forks. Small town.”

  “How’d you switch from working at a newspaper to appraising antiques?”

  Travis looks down at his shoes and Maggie knows without a doubt that he’s only in Silver Springs to find the three keys that unlock time travel. Now she just has to prove that he’s responsible for James’s death when Winona had been the actual target. They don’t seem immediately related.

  “I . . . um . . . a friend found some old clocks and I was just blown away by their value.” He hits his stride and stops faltering. “I knew reporting wasn’t really what I was good at, and this is so much more fun. It’s like it’s in my blood. I guess I was just in the right place at the right time. And what about you, Maggie? How did you get involved with antiques?”

  Maggie is as unprepared to answer that question as he was. She darts a quick glance at Drew who just shrugs unhelpfully. “Right place at the right time, I guess,” she says and smiles. “I’ll be in touch if I have any other questions.”

  Maggie turns and walks out the front door and hears Drew’s footsteps follow her down the path back to her car. She doesn’t turn to look at him until they’re both buckled into their seats but she hasn’t turned on her Prius.

  “You heading to work now?” Drew calmly asks.

  Maggie’s mouth drops open. “After that? I’m heading straight to the police. They have to know that Travis used to work with a known killer—Karl Jacobs. And I know from a valid source that
he lived with a known thief—Mitch Cable.” She told Drew all of this last night already and is surprised he isn’t as concerned as she is.

  Drew holds up his hands, slowing down Maggie’s rant. “Even if he is friends with criminals, that doesn’t make him a criminal.”

  “No, but it’s certainly worth letting Daniel know.”

  Drew leans back in his seat, a look of defeat written across his face. “Okay.”

  “I can drop you off at home first,” Maggie offers, pulling into the street. The snow banks on either side of her nearly turn the side roads into one lane roads.

  “No. I’ll come with you.”

  Maggie drives to the police station in silence. She heard in Drew’s voice a questioning of her train of thought. He doesn’t know anything about Trista, just that she’s the one who provided information about Travis. Maybe more details about what Trista does would make Drew worry more, but she doesn’t want to give away too much about her source.

  Inside, Maggie doesn’t even stop at the front desk. She smiles at the receptionist but walks right past like she’s done it a hundred times before. False confidence goes a long way.

  She walks down the desolate hall to Daniel’s office. Only when she’s right outside his door does she realize he might not even be in.

  Luck is on her side and she peeks around the corner. Daniel is working at his desk and doesn’t look up so she knocks on the doorjamb.

  “Maggie. What are you doing here?” His smile quickly fades when Drew follows her into the office. Maggie sits across from him on the opposite side of his desk and Drew pulls up a second chair and sits next to her. Close. He stakes his claim even though it’s been months since Maggie chose Drew over Daniel, and Daniel seems to have moved on.

  “I wanted to see if you’d look into Travis Kirsch.”

  Daniel furrows his brow and leans back in his chair. “As a possible murder suspect on Saturday afternoon?”

  Maggie nods. “I think there’s reason to believe he was involved in James’s murder.”