Death Steals the Spotlight by T. C. LoTempio

Author:T. C. LoTempio
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: small town, revenge, amateur sleuth, women sleuths, cat mystery, pet mystery, theater mystery, maine coone cat, princess fuzzypants, tv series mystery
Publisher: Beyond the Page Publishing

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I closed up at seven and went directly home. Gary was still out with Olivia, so I fed the cats, changed into jeans and a flannel shirt, and then decided to take my trek to the shed. Princess Fuzzypants squatted by the door and looked at me with wide gold eyes.

“You want to come with me, don’t you?” I asked the cat.

“Merow.”

“Well, why not. Maybe you’ll give me some sort of clue as to what happened to Terrill that night.”

Together we walked to the shed. I noticed that someone had come by earlier in the day and taken down the crime scene tape. Good thing, because I’d planned on entering anyway. I switched on the light and stared at the mountain of boxes in the corner beside the desk.

“Oy,” I said, putting my hands to the sides of my face. “Where to start?”

Even Princess Fuzzypants looked confused. I looked at the cat. “You could take a nap while I go through the boxes,” I suggested.

She looked at me and her whiskers twitched as if she were considering the idea, then her gold eyes narrowed and she jumped on top of the desk. I noticed several papers scattered across its top—things Terrill might have been working on, perhaps? I looked at the cat. Was she trying to tell me something? I bent over the desk and sifted through the papers. Most of them were scrawled, barely legible notes on the current production. On one paper he’d written down very uncomplimentary things about Wilma’s performance, and a few other actors. He had scrawled: Improvement needed next to Taylor’s name. Beside Noelle’s was one word: Hopeless. As I lifted up the pile of papers to move them to the other end of the desk, a business card fluttered to the floor. I picked it up. Horace Wagenstein, Attorney at Law. Wagenstein, Brooks and McSnell. McCloud Building, Fourth Floor, Fox Hollow, Ct.

I tapped the card against my chin. McCloud Building. Was Wagenstein the mysterious meeting he’d had that day? Why would he be seeing a lawyer?

I slid the card into the pocket of my plaid tunic and decided to turn my attention to the boxes. Finish one task before starting another was something my father had taught me from a very young age. I walked over to the stack of boxes and opened the flaps of the top box. Princess Fuzzypants jumped up on the stack beside that one, craning her neck trying to get a look inside. The smell of smoke had settled inside the carton. The princess sniffed, then let out a loud merow.

“Yeah, I’m not too thrilled with the smell either,” I told the cat.

The papers were all loose inside the carton. I pulled out a handful and took them over to the space I’d cleared on the desk and spread them out. The cat hopped onto the desk and watched me, sniffing at everything and occasionally batting at a paper with one paw.

As I sifted through the pile, I couldn’t help but wonder how one man could generate so much paper.

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