She crept through the dim rooms, wishing she had a light. When a floorboard creaked under one paw, she froze.
Did Thomas hear it? Was he close enough to realize he wasn’t alone?
After a few tense moments, she continued on.
Just at the doorway of the living room, the air changed behind her.
“Why, good evening, Miss Vixen.”
She whirled to see Thomas standing there.
“Where’s Dorothy?” Vera demanded.
“Upstairs, tied up. I have plans for her, and I don’t want to rush things.”
Thomas smiled at her, a smile that looked like a sinister version of the rat in the painting above the fireplace. “You really are a nosy reporter. I should have known you’d get in here somehow.”
“The storm cellar door,” she said shortly. “The one we all heard about at the funeral. You should have checked the lock on it. Rusted all the way through.” She paused, then added, with a tiny bit of spite, “Dorothy would have noticed if she’d had any chance at all to spend time at home.”
“If you’re so smart, why’d you sneak into a murderer’s house all alone?” From the folds of his clothing, he pulled out a large, wicked-looking knife.
“My friends are on their way,” Vera told him in what she hoped was a forceful tone.
“Ah, but they’re not in here, are they?” Thomas approached her, moving with a slinky, stealthy gait that made it hard to evade him. He seemed to always be one step closer than before, no matter how Vera tried to maneuver away. “You know, this is the knife I killed Edward with. Very reliable.”
“Was it the knife you used to kill whoever is lying up in the Highbank cemetery? The rat Big Eddie passed off as you?”
He nodded, smiling widely. “I’m flattered, really, that you went to Highbank to search for clues. I wasn’t sure you’d pick up on the hints I was offering. So difficult to know how thick to lay it on. You took a few days, but you got the boat at last, so I knew I could put the next part of my plan in motion. I messaged Big Eddie with a few instructions, and you got his note just as you were intended to. That idiot wolf was the only wild card. How was I supposed to guess that he’d be so puppy-doggish to follow you around a murder investigation?”
“I was lucky he did,” Vera admitted.
“The blind alley at the Highbank cemetery was supposed to have been enough for you,” Thomas said, anger twisting his features. “You were supposed to give up on hunting down Thomas Springfield, because he was dead. But you just wouldn’t let things go.” He raised the knife.
“You’re the one who planned revenge for twenty years!” Vera squeaked as she dodged away. “Talk about not letting go!”
“It wasn’t revenge,” Thomas told her, preparing to pounce again and whip the knife at her face. “It was the money! I wanted the money that was my due.”
“You don’t deserve money just for being born,” she gasped, then turned tail and ran up the stairs.
“You can’t get away!” Thomas called, moving after her. “You think I’ll let you slip free after ruining all my hard work?”
“If only you had that work ethic when it comes to honest labor.”
“I tried,” Thomas said. “I really did. Took jobs, worked like anyone else. It just didn’t ever work out. I played a few too many games with the wrong folks, and got into too much debt.”
“Big Eddie. You owed him.”
“A lot,” Thomas confirmed. “He was going to kill me, but I managed to persuade him that there was a better way. You were pretty close, Vixen. I met a hobo coming through to Highbank from the southern forest, and by chance, I ran into him before he actually was seen in town. I offered him a place to sleep in exchange for a few odd jobs…and that night, I killed him and brought the body to Big Eddie. We dressed the body in my clothes and I slipped my wallet into his pocket. Big Eddie cut off a few toes of the corpse to match mine. See, I’d already been taught that Big Eddie is serious about money.”
“And Eddie tossed the body in the river while you skedaddled.”
“Yup. He knew how to time it so the body would be found well after it was made known that he was ‘looking’ for me. He even went to the cops to make sure they thought I was the corpse. After that, it was just waiting. I did some work for Big Eddie while I bided my time, checking in on the progress of my dear old mum.”
“And when she got very sick, you made your move.”
Thomas shrugged. “Might as well tell you, since you won’t be leaving here. Not alive anyway.”
All this time, Vera had been slowly moving down the second floor hallway, toward the big double staircase at the other end. Thomas stalked her relentlessly, not taking his gaze off her. And that was why he missed what Vera saw behind him.
Vera screamed and pointed. “Edward?” she gasped out, toward the pale image wavering in their vision.
Thomas looked over by instinct, and froze for split second, staring at the mirror image. His brother, Edward, dressed in a suit and carrying a knife, his expression twisted with fear and hate.
Then Thomas laughed, realizing the image they were both staring at was nothing more than his reflection in the giant mirror.
“Good trick, Vixen,” he growled. “But not good enou—”
He went silent as a large cooking ladle impacted with his head. The knife dropped from a nerveless paw, and the rat crumpled to the floor.
Dorothy stepped out of the shadowed alcove where Vera had noticed her hiding. She held up the implement. “I use this every time I make a vegetable soup. Never thought it would be a weapon. That was a perfect distraction.”
“I did
