The following morning…
Lauren yawned as she prepared the key lime pie for after breakfast. She was in the habit of making something sweet for our guests every morning and this was great practice for the baking competition.
“Bad night’s sleep?” I asked.
“It’s difficult to sleep when you’re the size of Wisconsin,” she replied.
“Why Wisconsin?”
“First state that popped into my mind.”
“We live in Texas.” I scratched my temple.
“When I figure out how my brain works with all these hormones flooding it, I’ll let you know.” Lauren checked on her pie crusts in the oven. “Oh, that reminds me! Georgina asked to see you in the kitten foster center.”
“Right. Be right back.”
Lauren waved me off, yawning yet again.
I exited into the hall, pausing to stroke Sunlight and Cocoa Puff—both cats had set up camp outside the kitchen archway, dozing as they watched the morning activity. The door to the kitten foster center was ornate, carved beautifully, and kept locked at all times.
The only people who had the key were Gamma, me, and the new assistant who spent most nights in the center looking after the smallest kittens in the incubator.
I withdrew my key from the chain hanging around my neck and inserted it into the lock. One satisfying click later and I was in my favorite part of the inn.
The older kittens had free reign in the largest room, and they darted across the wooden floors, playing. A few of them scratched the cat trees in the corners, or used the litter boxes. My grandmother stood by the half-door that blocked the kittens off from the incubation room.
“Are you sure?” Gamma asked. “I’m happy to give you time off.”
“I’m fine. I swear. I love it here.” Our new assistant, Jemimah, sat in a chair next to the incubator, occasionally glancing at it to check on its occupants.
“Very well. Ah, Charlotte. I was hoping you’d come join me,” she said. “Take a look at this.” She led me to one of the rooms that had been part of the old museum. We’d kept it locked since we’d had no use for it after converting the place into the foster center.
Gamma unlocked the door and opened it. “I’ve remodeled the cat hotel!”
I gasped. The cat hotel, which had consisted of a corner in the kittens room where we’d kept the full grown cats away from the boisterous kitties, separated by a simple room divider, had needed an upgrade.
“This is amazing!”
The room, wide enough to accommodate several humans let alone cats, had been filled with all the amenities a cat away from home might need. Separate kitty sleep areas that were closed off from each other, an open play area, a feeding corner, and a place for the kitties to go potty in state-of-the-art litter boxes.
There were toys galore, and my Gamma had installed a TV on the wall that cycled between videos birds on and fish.
“How did you afford this?” I asked.
“I don’t pay myself a salary,” she replied.
“That’s not good, Georgina. You have to look after yourself.”
“Spare me the lecture, Charlotte. I’m fine.” She beckoned for me to enter the new cat hotel room then shut the door behind me. “This isn’t the only reason I wanted you to join me here. I wanted to touch base on what you’ve discovered.”
I told her everything that had happened last night. “My plan is to investigate Kayla, and pay a visit to this Colton guy at the trailer park. He’s a dark horse. I want to find out if he has an alibi for the time of Brenda’s murder. Then I can focus solely on Norman and Kayla as my suspects.”
“With the motive being the recipe book and unrequited love?”
“Exactly. If they believed the key lime pie recipe would land them the five grand from the competition…”
“I see your point,” Gamma nodded.
“What about you?” I asked. “What happened last night?”
Gamma inhaled through her nose and glanced toward the lovely open windows that provided a view of the inn’s grounds. “Nothing,” she said, at last. “Nothing. Jessie spent the night with her husband and her guests.” She pursed her lips. “And my FlyBoy Drone didn’t find out anything interesting, other than Jessie wearing a pashmina to bed.”
“You’re kidding.”
“I wish I was.” Gamma walked to the window, folding her arms. “You stay the course, Charlotte. And I will too.”
“Georgina.”
“Don’t try to stop me. I know Belle-Blue is up to something, and I’m going to find out what it is. You run along to that trailer park, Charlotte. I’ll review the footage I have from the past week. I guarantee you, I’ll find something of interest.”
Why did that sound so ominous?
The Happy Camper trailer park was situated on the outskirts of Gossip. A series of fields with plenty of trees, the trailers themselves bordered by grass. There were no tarred roads, but dirt created a center street that ran between the mobile homes. Most of them weren’t mobile at all, but firmly seated on yellowed grass.
Gamma’s Intel had provided me with the description of Colton’s trailer—baby blue, rusted, and without wheels.
I found it at the end of the center road with several ornaments pegged into the grass outside the shoddy front steps. We didn’t have much information on why or when Colton had decided to move in here, but according to the grapevine, he wasn’t a very good tenant. Was he renting this mobile home?
I parked the Mini-Cooper and went up to knock on his front door. A few knocks nearly buckled it inward.
“Hello?” I called. “Is anybody home?”
“Hey. Hey, you there.” The rasping voice had come from the trailer beside Colton’s. It was a side fancier, sleek and cream colored with its windows open, providing a view of the neat interior. A skinny woman wearing a faux fur coat hung out of the window, her hair in curlers. A cigarette hung from the corner of her lip. “You looking for the freaks who live here? You want the tall one or the short one?”
“Hi,” I said, retreating from the steps before they crumbled underneath me. “There are two men who live here?”
“Sure are. You want the skinny or the short one?”
“I’m looking for Colton Harrison. Is he home?”
“The tall guy, right? Blond with the facial hair?” She gestured to her chin. “Talks like a robot having a bad day?”
“I guess so,” I said.
“Nah, he’s not here, honey. But I’d stay away from him if I were you. Pretty girl like you shouldn’t mess with trash like him. Just look at the state of this house.” She gestured with her cigarette, and ash dropped to the grass. “The man’s no good.”
I brushed fingers through my short, blonde hair. “He’s not that bad,” I said, trying to ham it up. Maybe I’d get some information out of this lady.
“Not that bad? He’s up all hours of the night with that roommate of his, making noise, banging pots and pans. His house always smells too. Like burned sugar. Granted, I can’t smell that good, but it’s not a good smell.”
“Do you know what car he drives?” I asked, fishing now.
If Colton drove a white Kia, as Misty had claimed she’d seen driving around the area on the morning of Brenda’s death, I might have a lead.
“Oh, honey, no,” the woman rasped. “No, he hasn’t got any wheels. The man walks everywhere.” She studied me, her eyes narrowing. “Listen, you want to come in for some tea? He works a lot of jobs so I don’t know when he’ll be back, but if you really want to waste your life on this man, I can keep you company until he arrives.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’d better get going. Do you know where he works?” I asked. “I’d sure love to go see him.”
“Nah. I don’t talk to the freak. Seriously, honey, don’t waste your time.”
“Hey,” I said, before she dipped back inside. “This might seem like a weird question, but—”
“Weird questions are my bread and butter, honey, you go ahead and ask.”
“Was Colton home early on Monday morning?”
“This last Monday?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, darn, I don’t know. I tend to sleep in,” she said. “Why, honey, do you think he’s cheating on you?” She dropped more ash onto the floor as she took a drag of her cigarette. “I wouldn’t put it past him. Never trust a man who has cobwebs for a beard.”
I thanked her for the help then headed back to my grandmother’s car. There was nothing for me here, but that was fine. I had other leads to follow. Like the affair between Brenda’s boyfriend and one of her chief competitors at the baking contest.
But first, I had my duties to attend to, and they were meant to come first, especially with the baking contest two days away.