“What makes you think that?”
“He’s at a private care facility out in Tuck’s Harbor. He’s been there for some time.”
“I could swear Marigold told me he was hunting in Africa.”
He chuckles at the thought. “That’s Marigold for you. The last thing she wants is to face the truth. She married a man old enough to be her grandfather just to line her bank account.”
“You think she’s ashamed?” I blink back, amused.
Flint shrugs. “Some people would do anything for money. And if she sticks around for another couple of months, she’ll get a big payout. There won’t be much shame in that.”
“A big payout? From his death?” I cringe as the words stream from me.
“You got that right. And now that Ember is gone, I guess she can rest easy.”
“Rest easy?”
He glances to the shop. “You know—fighting over the will. Ember always claimed every red cent was going straight to her. Marigold insisted on it to prove she wasn’t a gold digger.” He waves to the crowd before giving me a pat on the arm. “Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, Bizzy,” he says as he takes off.
“Oh no.” Could I have missed something so blatantly that was sitting right in front of my face?
The crime scene bounces through my mind. That fingernail Jasper found indeed belonged to my sister. Then there was that half-used cigarette that was discarded not too far from the body. Sassy Slims are still marketed toward women even to this day.
“Hey, girls?” I give Pumpkin and Spice a quick scratch on the head. “That day you were left in the alley, you said a man left you there?”
Oh yes, Pumpkin mewls. The woman told him to put us down far away from her. She didn’t want to be anywhere near us.
“I bet she purchased you.” My mouth falls open. “Was that woman smoking by any chance?”
Yes. Spice twitches her ear. Her mouth was a smoke stack.
Pumpkin swats her sister on the nose. She was a fire-breathing dragon.
A fire-breathing dragon. I look back to the shop.
A real monster in our midst.
I have a feeling I know who killed Ember—and who happens to be responsible for Ember Sweet’s ghost.
Chapter 16
The parade is going full tilt as a float covered in mums and birdseed passes us by. The float is in the shape of a giant birdfeeder and attached to its every orifice are exotic animatronic birds that bob their heads back and forth as if trying to get their fill. Right behind that, a large balloon of a cute bear holding a picnic basket does its best not to float off into the sky. The wind is beginning to howl, causing a flurry of red and orange leaves to rain down over the crowd like confetti, and the crowd is growing all the more rabid with excitement with every passing moment.
I’d like nothing more than to watch the parade with the rest of the town folk, but there’s a killer in our midst, and I need to get Jasper and Leo here quickly. I’m about to pull out my phone when I spot a plume of smoke drifting from the entry to Suds and Illuminations.
There she is. Sherlock lets out a low growl while Fish and the two kittens remaining in my pouch all peer out at the woman before us.
Fish lets out a guttural roar. Don’t worry, Bizzy. We’ll hold her down while you call Jasper.
I take a quick breath at the sight of her and slip my phone back into my pocket. The last thing I want to do is spook her.
Sherlock whines. Why do I get the feeling you’re not calling Jasper? Let go of my leash, Bizzy. I’ll sniff him out myself.
But I don’t let go. Instead, I stride right up to the suspect in question and shed a forced smile.
“That’s terrible for your health.” I try to laugh through the words to make it sound light, but it comes out like a judgmental-laced threat.
Marigold Sweet gives a frenetic nod as she blows a stream of white smoke from her nostrils. She gives a quick glance to the cigarette in question—slim, with a pink ring around the filter.
“Don’t I know it.” She tosses it down and extinguishes it with her shoe.
“I’m sorry, I interrupted you. You didn’t have to do that. That’s a Sassy Slims,” I say as my chest begins to rise and fall from the sudden rush of adrenaline coursing through me. “My mother used to smoke those. The smell of the menthol takes me right back to my childhood.” I glance in the shop to see my mother and Georgie each pushing a broom. Juni and Macy are in the back carrying a box out through the rear of the shop. “I remember seeing an unfinished cigarette in the alley the day of the murder.” I shrug over at the stunning brunette before me and watch as the smile melts from her face. “I thought it was strange that it was half-finished. Did you get interrupted that day, like you did now?”
Pumpkin lets out a sharp meow. The man who delivered us interrupted her, Bizzy! She blew out a breath and a horrible storm cloud came right out of her nostrils.
Spice mewls as if she were terrified, And she threw something down and stepped on it like she did just now.
Marigold frowns, but it looks forced. “I’m sorry, Bizzy, what was that?”
“The day of the murder, you had a box of kittens delivered to the alley. And when you saw them arrive, you stomped out your cigarette the same way you did just now.”
“What?” She shakes her head at me while her eyes search my face for clues. How in the
