“Ok, hold tight,” Vera said. “I’m going to jump up and grab the end!”
She crouched and sprang directly up, snatching the hanging sleeve of the coat in her paw. “Pull!” she shouted.
With a grunt and a series of muttered curses, Bradley pulled the coat upward by inches. Vera heard a seam start to rip and prayed that the coat was well made enough to last through the rescue.
“Almost…there…” Bradley gasped out above.
Vera pawed at the wall to help her progress along, and just as the coat stretched to its breaking point, she saw the rim of the pit and grabbed for it with both forepaws. She scrambled up to the surface, panting when she cleared the pit and could lie on the path, catching her breath.
“Hmm, this coat’s done for,” Bradley said, examining the wreckage of the trench coat.
“I’ll pay for another,” said Vera, thinking that the oaf did save her life with it.
Marvel put the coat back on, examining the effect. “I suppose I could think of it as a disguise. So why were you in that pit? Following a clue?” He held up one of the silver coins that Vera saw earlier. “This was lying on the path and that’s why I walked as far as I did.”
“Yes,” she said. “A creature was spying on me while I was looking over Thomas’s old cabin. It dropped a couple coins and I followed it…but clearly it was all a setup in order to get me out of the way.”
He looked stunned and delighted. “That means I saved you! Life imitates art!”
Vera suppressed a sigh. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t identify the creature at all, so I don’t know who to look for now. And I can’t tell the police anything about who it might be.”
She started back down the path, hoping to get back to town as soon as possible. Bradley Marvel was close on her heels.
“You know, this whole thing might be a bit out of your league, Vera. Didn’t that cop mention a criminal called Big Eddie? You could be in over your head!”
Considering she been in well over her head while stuck in that pit, Vera couldn’t dispute his words. But she also didn’t like it when folks tried to kill her.
“I’m going to solve this case,” she muttered. “If it’s important enough to shut me up, it’s important enough to uncover the truth.”
“How are you going to solve the case when your main suspect turned out to be long dead?”
“First thing,” Vera said, feeling gross and dirty and very angry, “is to take a bath.”
Chapter 14
Thankfully, the rest of Vera’s stay in Highbank was uneventful. She stopped by the police station, only to learn that Philomena had not sent any note.
“Ugh, I’m an idiot, running after a false trail,” Vera said, disgusted with herself.
“I’ll go out there later and look around,” the bobcat told her. “Maybe I can pick up a trail or identify some prints. My bet is that Big Eddie is involved somehow. If I discover anything, I’ll message you in Shady Hollow. In the meantime, I suggest you stay in town and keep your investigations to chats with the locals. You might find some more information if you go to Elmo’s Bar tonight for dinner. The place looks like a dive, but the food is amazing. Everything that can be fried, will be fried. You’ll meet plenty of folks there who can talk.”
Vera thanked her and continued on to Highbank Hideaway. Kitty St Clair was extremely solicitous when she saw the state of Vera’s clothes and fur. “My, what happened to you?” she cried.
“A rather steep fall,” Vera explained. “And it hurt a lot when I hit the bottom.”
Without a further word, Kitty set Vera up for a deep soak in a large copper tub full of steamy water and a cloud of bubbles. “You poor thing,” she fussed. “Enjoy the bath just as long as you like, dear. Here are the towels, and I’ll bring a tray of tea up to your room so that you can refuel when you’re done. We don’t want you catching your death of cold due to wet fur!”
Vera stayed in the tub till the water cooled, feeling physically better but mentally drained from the thoughts cycling in her head. Who tried to kill her? Was that trap dug just for her or was it there before? If Thomas was dead, why would Big Eddie or his minions care about whether Vera poked her nose into the case? And if Thomas was dead, then who was the rat buried in the woods back by Shady Hollow?
Nothing made any sense, so Vera gave up for the moment. After her bath, she applied herself to drinking the wonderfully spicy tea that had been brought to her room, along with a plate of hearty scones that she slathered in clotted cream and fig jam.
Either the tea or the scones had healing qualities, because Vera was soon ready to pursue more information about Thomas or Big Eddie or whatever clues she could sniff out. She went in search of Elmo’s Bar, which was located on the riverfront. Since Highbank featured bluffs along the shore, Vera had to climb down a few long flights of rickety stairs bolted into the cliff face. She wondered how guests who drank too much managed to climb back up. At the bottom, she saw that a short pier hosted several rowboats lashed to the posts, with sleeping figures in each.
“Ah,” she said to herself. “So they don’t climb back up till they sleep it off.”
Elmo’s Bar was a clapboard structure perched on the narrow bank. Unlit lanterns hung from the eaves and fishing nets festooned the outer walls. A
