Free Copycat Killing: A Magical Cats Mystery by Sofie Kelly

you can go. Where are you going to be?”
    “At River Arts for a while,” I said, pointing down the street. “Then the library. Then home.”
    “I suppose I’d be wasting my time to suggest you take it easy for the rest of the day?” he said, almost smiling at me.
    “Pretty much,” I agreed, and I did smile back at him.
    Ric joined us. Like Marcus he looked me over quickly. “How’s the ankle?” he asked.
    “Better, thank you,” I said.
    “What about your thumb?”
    I pulled my hand out of my pocket and held it up so he could see the bandage was still in place.
    “Try to keep it dry,” he said.
    I nodded. Ric turned to Marcus and Marcus looked at me. I was about to be dismissed. “I’ll talk to you both later,” he said.
    “All right,” I said. Maggie was waiting by the door and I walked over to her.
    “I thought you said Marcus was out at Wisteria Hill,” she said.
    “He was, but the anthropologist has more work to doout there. It’s going to be a while before they figure out…” I wasn’t sure how to finish the sentence.
    “Before they figure out if it’s Roma’s father.”
    I thought about what Marcus had said. “They need to be certain how old the remains are first.” I was picking at the tape on my thumb again without realizing it. I jammed my hand back in my pocket.
    Maggie looked past me at Marcus and Ric still talking on the sidewalk.
    “Let’s get out of here,” I said.
    “Is it okay?”
    “Uh huh. Marcus said we could leave. He’ll have some questions later.”
    “I should give him my keys,” Maggie said, running a hand back over her short blond hair so she looked a little like a poodle that had just had its head scratched.
    The men stopped talking as we came level with them. Maggie held out her key ring. “The silver-colored one is for the front door,” she said. “The gold one is the basement lock. You might have to wiggle it a bit. It sticks sometimes.”
    Marcus took the keys from her. “Thanks,” he said. “I’ll talk to you both later.” His eyes slid briefly over to my face. I wasn’t sure whether I should say anything or not. Not getting the third degree from him felt a little strange. I settled for a slight nod and a tiny smile.
    Maggie got in the passenger side of the truck. I checked the boxes we’d loaded into the back and then squeezed between the truck bumper and the side of the police car to get around to the driver’s side.
    Once I’d eased the truck out from between the police cruiser and Marcus’s SUV and started down Main Street, I glanced over at Maggie. “Are you okay?” I asked.
    She stared at me blankly for a moment. “What? Oh, yeah, I’m all right.” I watched the road and waited for her to find the words she needed for what she wanted to say. “It just doesn’t make sense,” she said finally. “There was no reason for Jaeger to be down in the basement. None.”
    “It doesn’t have to have been a reason that would make sense to anyone else,” I said. “Just to him.”
    “How did he end up down there?”
    “The stairs were wet. He didn’t have boots on.” I pictured Jaeger’s feet on the steps. He’d been wearing leather shoes—black, with red laces and red stitching. Not gum rubbers or anything with a good tread.
    She slumped back against the seat. “No, I don’t mean how did he end up in the water. I mean how did he get into the basement in the first place. The door was locked. I remember locking it after the meeting, Ruby was standing beside me, and”—she gestured with one hand—“you saw me unlock it before we found…before we found him.”
    “Does anyone else have keys to the building?” I asked, turning into the narrow alley that led to the art center’s parking lot.
    “Ruby. But I don’t see her giving them to Jaeger.”
    Ruby’s truck, the twin to mine, was parked in her assigned spot. “Neither do I,” I said. “But she’s here. We can ask her.”
    I backed up to the rear door of the building