Two raps of my knuckles against my grandmother’s bedroom door was all it took.
Gamma opened up, wearing her fluffy white robe and striped cotton PJs underneath, her hair in curlers. “Yes, Charlotte? I assume you’ve got a fantastic reason for interrupting me in the middle of my insomnia.”
I lifted the journal. “I found the evidence we needed. And I know where the phantom cat came from.”
“My, you have been busy, haven’t you?” Gamma stepped back, and I entered her pretty in pink bedroom. She had floral cushions, a lightwood dressing table with a massive mirror, and a set of comfy armchairs to lounge in.
I took one of them, simply so she could join me rather than having to pace and read over my shoulders. Honestly, that was all I wanted to do. Pace.
“Start with the phantom cat,” Gamma said.
“Her name is Snowy, and she scratched on my door this evening, then promptly led me to the journal’s location,” I replied. “I can’t… fathom how that’s possible but that’s what happened.”
“Cats are intelligent. She likely senses the tension around the inn.”
I waved a hand. “I’m not disputing intelligence in felines,” I said, “but solving mysteries and uncovering evidence?”
“I think you’ll find there’s a simple explanation for why she led you there.” Gamma glanced around at the floor. “Where is she?”
“Didn’t follow me up. She seemed obsessed with the Persian rug under which I found this.” I brandished the leatherbound journal.
“Where did Snowy come from?” Gamma prompted.
I inhaled, hesitating. “It’s an assumption, but when I stroked Snowy I caught a whiff of a very strong scent. Sandalwood.”
Understanding flashed across my grandmother’s face. “Ah. Mr. Timothy Knowles.”
“The groom’s father,” I added in, nodding with her. “The cat belongs to him, and since Snowy knew where the journal was hidden…”
“I wish cat testimony stood in court, but this is all hearsay.”
“That’s what the journal’s for.”
“I assume, then, that this Snowy kitty cat wasn’t checked into the cat hotel because Mr. Knowles has been keeping her a secret from Mrs. Knowles. Perhaps, a newly adopted pet?”
“I have no idea.”
My grandmother sat in the seat beside mine, and we opened Julia’s journal together. The first few pages were lists of items she wanted for the wedding, and musings about how much she despised Mrs. Knowles interfering with her plans. But toward the middle of the journal, the entries grew frantic, paranoid, suspicious.
But was it really paranoid if she had actually been killed?
I know they’re after me. I can feel them watching. I don’t know which one wants to get rid of me, but I know… it’s one of them. It’s one of them.
“Poor woman,” Gamma said.
We paged to the back of the journal and found…
“What is this?”
“Blackmail,” Gamma said.
Julia had drawn up a list of names with information written out beside them. She had been keeping tabs on all of her friends and even Ethan.
Ethan—Has been acting strangely over the past month. Cold feet? Got to get a P.I. to tail him.
Bella—Blonde bimbo. Having an affair with Ethan’s father. No one knows, but I got a pretty great picture of them together.
And beside that, was an arrow pointing toward the flap of the book. We checked, but it was empty. Had the person who’d stolen the journal destroyed the image?
Mr. Timothy Knowles—Such a creep! He’s having an affair with Bella, and if Mrs. Knowles finds out, she’ll leave him destitute. He doesn’t have any money without her.
“If that isn’t a motive, I don’t know what is,” I whispered.
Sasha—Owes me $10,000 for her engagement ring. Her deadbeat fiancé couldn’t afford one so she had to buy it for herself. Doesn’t want anyone to find out.
Mrs. Sarah-Lin Knowles—Allergic to cats. Might be able to have some fun with this hahaha.
That was everything.
“Do you think it was Julia’s cat then?” I asked.
“No. That wouldn’t make sense to me. Julia wasn’t staying at the inn. She was at her house, and she’d already gotten back at Mrs. Knowles by having booked them into an inn with this many cats.”
“Right,” I said.
We fell silent, mulling it all over.
Mr. Knowles was having an affair with Bella. If Mrs. Knowles found out, they’d lose everything! Sasha had owed Julia money, which explained the custard slice laced with sleeping pills.
“But how?”
“How?”
“Yeah. So, to me, the only answer here is either Mr. Knowles, Mrs. Knowles, or Brad Walker fired the shot. Brad Walker isn’t even in this journal, and the killer clearly wanted to hide it,” I said.
“Assuming it was the killer who stole it.”
“Right. The point here is that it’s got to be one of those three. It can’t be Bella because she was up at the…” I trailed off, my eyes widening.
“What is it, Charlotte?”
“I’ll be right back.” I jogged across the hall, grabbed my phone, and brought it back. “Look at the photo. Look carefully at Bella.”
The platinum blonde bridesmaid had been crying, that much was clear from her puffy eye—the one the camera had caught.
“Look there.” I pointed at Bella’s hands. She had them balled up at her sides, and a tiny sliver of… something stuck out of her right fist. A peach something.
“What is it?”
“I think it might be a handkerchief. A peach handkerchief. Like the one I saw Mrs. Knowles using,” I said, my brain making rapid connections. “It’s a stretch, but she was crying, and the person who attacked me knew about the letter. Bella must’ve figured it out somehow. Maybe she heard it from Ethan or even Grant Hodges. Ethan and Grant were close.”
“You think it was Mr. Knowles and Bella who planned the murder.”
“Planned it!” I gasped. “Violet heard people talking at the beginning of the week, remember? They must’ve been planning the murder. Talking softly, late at night, after Mrs. Knowles had gone to bed. And when Bella attacked me, and I punched her, she must’ve tucked the handkerchief into her dress.” I made a punching motion. “It was the only thing I could’ve ripped free.”
“That leaves Mr. Knowles as the supposed shooter,” Gamma replied. “And the owner of Snowy the cat.”
“Yeah.” I stood up, abandoning the journal and the phone, pacing now. “Mr. Knowles wasn’t in either of the photos, so he must have shot Julia from a secret location. Bella knew that Julia kept a journal and stole it, as Ethan suggested.”
“There are holes in the theory,” Gamma said. “First, how did Knowles see Julia to shoot her?”
“That I don’t know.”
“He would need training. Or night vision.” Gamma pursed her lips. “And second, why not just destroy the journal entirely? Why hide it?”
“Maybe they couldn’t figure out a good method for destroying it. Or maybe… Maybe it was some type of insurance policy? Like, it’s possible that Mr. Knowles or Bella didn’t fully trust each other? Maybe one thought the other had destroyed it?”
Gamma’s expression was doubtful, and I didn’t blame her. But at the same time, I was sure we were onto something here.
“There’s no other explanation that makes sense to me,” I said. “We just have to prove that Snowy belongs to Mr. Knowles. And that he could see Julia in the dark. And that… OK, so there’s a lot to prove.”
“A lot,” Gamma said.
“I did see Bella and Mr. Knowles talking at the funeral. And he so clearly holds disdain for his wife. And Bella bragged about expensive jewelry, as well, jewelry she likely got from Mr. Knowles who has access to Mrs. Knowles bank account.”
Gamma, once again, didn’t comment.
But I was sure that it was right. I had never felt as certain before. They were the only two other major players who could have done this. Bella to attack me, and Mr. Knowles to shoot Julia. A conspiracy to get rid of her so that they could continue their affair.
I had the motive, I just had to prove the means.
But how?
“The Halloween party,” I whispered.
“What’s that?”
“The Halloween party. We’ll catch them out at the Halloween party. We’ll get them to confess. Shock tactics. We can use the journal or… I don’t know.”
Another hesitation from my grandmother. She’d helped me prove this type of thing before. Surely, she’d help me now.
“Let me speak with my people in New York,” Gamma said. “I’ve been waiting to hear back from them. If they tell me something that proves your theory, we’ll act.”