“She said she made a mistake and went the wrong way. She never went up to the room—I just saw her coming back out. That’s what she told me and I believe her.”

“Mrs. Poulson,” Mac said, “this has been very helpful and I’m grateful you came forward with your information. I would just like to say, that if you are ever in a position to be questioned by the police in the future, it would be best to tell your whole story up front.”

Mavis’s face fell from a broad smile to a contrite countenance. She nodded.

“So, will you arrest Violet?” Mavis asked. “It would be really nice if she wasn’t snooping around the castle the whole time we’re stuck here. Where will you keep her imprisoned while we wait for the police to arrive?”

“Unfortunately, we’ll need to gather some more information before we can make an arrest,” Mac said. “But you’ve given us something to think about.” He stuck out his hand and Mavis grasped it eagerly.

She showed us to the door and as I passed into the hall, she put a hand on my arm. “I’m so sorry to have to be the bearer of such distressing news. You have certainly shown grace and poise under these difficult circumstances.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Poulson,” I said. “I try to remain professional in these situations.”

36

“I think I should go talk to Kirk about this,” Mac said, and patted the notebook through his sweater.

“I’ll work on finding the key to the lockbox,” I said.

“How are you going to do that?” Mac asked. “Is this another pendulum thing? Are you going to get your aunt involved?”

“No! I’m not even going to tell her about the box,” I said. I didn’t add that I had to keep the information from her or risk losing a bet.

Mac lowered his voice and said, “Are you going to do that finding thing you do?”

I stopped in the middle of the hall. “What are you talking about?”

“I know you can find things.” Mac didn’t meet my eyes. “I’ve seen you do it.”

“You have?” I didn’t remember when I would have told him that I was tapping into that sense to find something. Ever since we had gotten back together after so many years apart, I had avoided discussing my . . . talents with him. When it came to talking about my psychic abilities I was a coward. Neila’s guidance had at least moved me in the direction of not outright denying them. But treating my “finding ability” the same way Mom treated the tarot deck or Vi relied on her messages from animals? I wasn’t there yet.

Mac put his hand to my cheek. “Of course I have. I think you’re incredible. Even though I don’t understand it, I recognize that you have a gift. You should use it.”

My heart started pounding. I couldn’t believe he was encouraging me to use a psychic method to help solve a case. He didn’t even have to write it in a note! Something had shifted between us and the relief I felt at not hiding that part of myself from him had me blinking back tears.

I swallowed hard. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll see what I can do.”

He gave me a quick kiss and turned toward the back door to look for Kirk.

I wandered past the lounge, trying to focus on the key and where it might be. Not knowing exactly what it looked like made the process more difficult.

I glanced in the room and saw Isabel there with a small bundle of yarn in her arms. She smiled when she saw me.

“You caught me,” she said. “I’m glad you aren’t one of the knitters—I left them working on their projects to sneak down here and do my yarn bombing.” She held four or five furry knitted animals. I identified a fox, an elephant, and a monkey. She had already placed a small horse next to the horse statue.

“Wow,” I said. “That looks really complicated.” I reached out and she handed me the monkey.

“They can be a little fiddly, but it’s fun,” she said.

I gave the monkey back. “I’m having enough trouble with the scarf.”

Isabel looked around the room, presumably searching for a place to exhibit the animals.

I hated to do an interview without Mac, but this seemed like a perfect opportunity to ask her about Mavis’s accusation.

“Isabel, I need to ask you again about the night Clarissa was killed.”

Her smile faded and she nodded. “Should we sit?” She pointed at the couches by the fireplace.

She set her animals on the coffee table and sat back against the cushions. “How can I help?”

“A . . . witness has come forward reporting that you were seen leaving Clarissa’s room on the night she died.”

Isabel took a deep breath and let it out. She closed her eyes briefly. “I know who your witness is and I’ll tell you the same thing I told her. I did go up to Clarissa’s room that night, but I didn’t talk to her. She had made a remark about Teresa—that’s Mavis’s daughter—and how suicide was such a waste, and such a selfish act.” Isabel laced her fingers together on her lap and squeezed. “Mavis turned white as a sheet. I was furious, and on my way to my room to get my headache medicine I went to her room. However, halfway up the stairs I came to my senses. There was no reasoning with Clarissa and no way to appeal to her conscience because she didn’t have one. I went to my room to calm down and the rest is just as I told you before.”

“I’m sorry about your friend,” I said.

“Thank you.” Isabel relaxed her hands. “Mavis and I got into a bit of a tiff over this whole thing. She told me she had seen me and that she would ‘cover’ for me. I couldn’t believe she thought I had killed Clarissa—and that she would offer to cover it up!” She shook her head. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything earlier, but I just thought it would confuse the issue.”

And that she would be a suspect, I thought to myself. It was starting to look like the entire hotel had visited Clarissa that night and they all had a reason to want her dead.

“Thank you for telling me about it now,” I said.

Isabel gathered up her animals and I left her in the lounge to continue her surreptitious placement.

Back in the hall, I leaned against the wall for a moment to clear my head. I would have to fill Mac in on Isabel’s story, but first I needed to find that key. Usually, I can visualize the item and then “zoom out” and see where it is. Instead, I kept getting a picture of Seth.

Seth couldn’t have the key, but I had been down this road enough times to just go with it. If I was seeing Seth, then I should go find Seth. Just like that tug to look in the wardrobe, I had to follow this hint.

I found him rather quickly in the front reception area. He sat on the couch staring out at the snow. I almost hated to disturb him. I was shocked he wasn’t already in the dining room since it was close to lunchtime, and it had been at least three hours since he’d last eaten.

As I got closer, I saw that he was petting the demon cat. I heard its purring across the room.

“If you sit down really slow, you won’t disturb her,” Seth said quietly.

I hated to disturb the crazy cat, so I sat down slowly on the chair across from Seth. The cat opened one eye and stopped purring. Seth scratched her head and she closed her eye and resumed her little motor noises.

“How did you catch her?” I asked. “It seems like everyone in the hotel has been trying to find her.”

“I just sat out here to listen to my music and watch the snow and she found me.” He smiled at the pile of fur in his lap. She rubbed her head against his hand.

“Maybe there are two cats, because that doesn’t look like the streaking, yowling, scratching cat I’ve seen before.”

Seth grinned. “It’s the same cat.” His smile faded. “She’s really scared.”

I didn’t realize Seth had the same affinity for cats as he did for dogs.

“What’s she afraid of?”