Empaths and Paws by Penny Brooke

Author:Penny Brooke
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2020-03-21T04:00:00+00:00

7

Mummy Take-Over

I lay there, Gretchen snoring deeply next to me, and thought. Of course, I couldn’t sleep. It was like sleeping in the casket myself. From that angle, the guy in the mummy outfit was better off than me. At least he knew what lay ahead. Wait! How do I know it’s a man? I mean, the mummy was about my height, but surely there had to have been… shrinkage?

Then my thoughts turned to the energy he’d emitted. It was intense and very, very hot. If I had to guess, he died in a fire, but he was obviously whole enough to mummify. Then I remembered. We’d never found out where Sherlock had gone!

If that little rascal could make his way in and back out of a coffin, I’d underestimated his athletic abilities. What else could he do? Was there even another discovery waiting for me, but just in another room?

I realized that I’d guessed the corpse was nearly two-hundred years old, but what if it was younger? Could Aunt Mable have murdered someone and stuck him in to simmer? Could the Smiths have somehow sneaked a murder victim into the room without my seeing them? Or maybe Ben—he’d been in and out of the house, tearing open walls as he went. Perhaps the murderer was someone we didn’t know; someone who had stayed at Mortimer House over the years—a guest. But there was still that mummifying. That wasn’t a technique taught in grade school. It had to be someone with some familiarity, a knowledge of chemistry and also some carpentry because they’d built that back wall to be removable.

Gretchen rolled onto her side, giving me the full benefit of her snore breath. Ugh! I turned, as well, putting my back to her. This was certainly going to ruin my boarding house business. Who wanted to sleep in a building with dead bodies secreted in the walls? Word like that traveled quickly, and it took generations to die off before people forgot about it. I didn’t have that long to wait.

Suddenly, I sat straight up in bed. Where were Lizzie and Etta? “Oooooh, nooooo,” I cried out as I bolted from the bed and down the hallway. I couldn’t get into the mummy room! The door was nailed shut!

“Lizzie? Lizzie, are you in there?”

I heard a whimper. Oh, my gawd, the dog was in there. And what do dogs love to do? Chew on old, smelly things. What better treat than a mummy?

“Ben!” I ran to his door, knocking loudly. “Ben, I need you!”

All down the hallway, doors were popping open, and guests were coming out of their rooms. Gretchen even awoke and was sleepily, but gracefully, making her way toward me. “Good gawd, Fiona, I didn’t even think Ben was your type, but okay.”

“No, you don’t understand! Lizzie Borden was in my room, and with all the commotion, she found her way into the other room and managed to get left behind! Ben nailed the door shut.”

I motioned her closer and put my finger to my lips.

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