"I'll be fine. I'll see you at three."
As soon as we were alone, Cosmo hopped onto the sofa, careful not to jostle me.
"I tried to warn you," he said.
"You did."
"No thanks to your policeman."
"He's not my policeman," I said. "And he tried his best."
It had taken all of Nick's persuasive powers to get the detective to play along and hide in the bushes, waiting for me to lure out the killer. It wasn’t his fault he couldn’t be any closer, to prevent Mimi from striking me. If Mimi had spotted him, our whole plan would have failed.
I scratched Cosmo between the ears. "I’ve proven that I wasn't as helpless as you thought?"
"That's true," he said. "But don't do it again."
"I won't. Cross my heart. Now, if you don't mind, I could do with a cup of herbal tea—one of Aunt Violet’s special mixes. I need to have my wits about me for the police interview, and pain meds for a broken collarbone do not help.”
“It's in the Clarice Cliff tea caddy."
Preparing tea with one hand and the other arm in a sling took a little improvisation. I added a spoonful of honey and let the soothing beverage work its magic. The shoulder still wasn’t perfectly pain-free, but it was manageable.
Luckily, my aunt had left my old wardrobe untouched, so a few minutes before three, I pulled out the velvet cape I’d worn over both a witch dress and a Dracula outfit whenever I wanted a change for Halloween. Aunt Violet had some large capes, but I hadn’t brought myself to go through her wardrobe after we’d finished the inventory.
Ange carefully draped it over me before she bundled me into her car as gently as if I were made of porcelain.
The detective treated me with less consideration. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the sling.
"You were reckless," he said.
I stayed silent.
"If it hadn’t been for me, you might have been dead,” he added.
Still, I didn’t say anything.
He gave me a puzzled look. “I’m only happy there were some heavy branches plummeting down and knocking her over. Otherwise, I might have been too late to save you.”
"All’s well that ends well.” I opened my eyes wide, projecting vulnerability and innocence as far as that still worked at my age.
"I still can’t figure out how the branches came off the tree."
"Must have been the wind," I said.
"There was hardly a breeze."
I chuckled. Then I stopped because I did not want to jar my arm. "It’s the woods at night," I said. "They can be spooky, especially if your senses are heightened. And I can’t tell you how grateful I am for your help and for bringing Mimi to justice."
He had the grace to look slightly abashed. “More like, I was helping you."
"Fiddlesticks," I said. "You would have caught her."
"Maybe. But what made you suspect her?"
"A couple of things. The murderer needed to have had easy access to my aunt’s pill dispenser and to know where she kept it. Now, a few people used to go in and out of the library and probably visited her upstairs as well, seeing that my aunt was also involved with the garden club and the bird watchers and everything. Mimi told me herself that she was there to return books just before my aunt died. My aunt had the habit of talking to the cat about things that bothered her, and she spoke loudly. I think it's possible that Mimi overheard her talking about Jake's death and her suspicions. Maybe shethought she could still stop her from writing the letter to the police, or she didn’t hear that bit, if my aunt mentioned it.”
The detective nodded. "It's plausible."
