The Legend of Tabby Hollow (Whales and Tails Mystery Book 5) by Kathi Daley Page B

personal relationship with either of them. I think we can eliminate him as a suspect.”
    Siobhan erased the developer’s name but started a new column on the side of the whiteboard: eliminated suspects . It was a smart thing to do, in case we needed to come back to them for any reason.
    “Anything else?” Siobhan asked Cody.
    He nodded. “While Francine didn’t feel the mall was a motivation for murder, she did think there was another issue that was worth looking at. It seems Mayor Bradley wanted to remove the cats from the hollow.”
    “What? Why?” I asked.
    Cody shrugged. “You know Bradley. As far as he was concerned, all cats are evil. He planned to hire a service to relocate them.”
    “That’s crazy,” I spat. “Why didn’t Maggie say anything?”
    “Francine thinks she didn’t want to worry you.”
    I frowned. I guess it made sense that she would want to protect me. “Relocate the cats to where?” I asked.
    Cody shrugged. “Francine didn’t know. She suspected they planned to exterminate them once they’d removed them. Glenda was also sure that was the intention of the company Bradley was talking to.”
    “Could he have done that?” Tara asked.
    “I’m afraid so,” Cody answered. “It turns out the land where the hollow sits is owned by Nora Bradley.”
    “Do you think Nora knew what her husband planned?” I asked.
    “Nora isn’t an animal rights activist, but I don’t see her agreeing to a plan that includes killing a whole lot of cats,” Tara put forth.
    “I agree with you. I’m not sure how Bradley planned to pull that off, but I’m betting Nora didn’t know anything about it. Someone needs to stop him,” I exclaimed.
    “Someone did,” Siobhan pointed out.
    Siobhan was right of course. Someone had stopped Mayor Bradley. With him out of the way the whole plan would die.
    “I guess it’s a good thing Maggie is away at her yoga retreat,” I joked. “If she were here she’d be the number-one suspect.”
    “There is no yoga retreat,” Finn informed me. “I checked, and the retreat Maggie claimed she left the island to attend was held two weeks ago.”
    “Surely you don’t think Maggie did this?” Siobhan accused.
    “I hope she didn’t. I don’t want to think her capable of such an act. But she had motive and I can’t find evidence that she ever left the island. I’ve talked to everyone who works the car deck on the ferry and no one remembers seeing her on it.”
    “A lot of cars take the ferry,” Tara insisted.
    “True, but everyone knows Maggie,” Finn reminded her. “She always stops to chat with whoever’s working. I confirmed that John and the regular crew were working on the day she told everyone she was leaving. They would have recognized her car.”
    “You can’t seriously be suggesting that Maggie killed these men?” I asked.
    “If she isn’t guilty and she isn’t at the retreat, where is she?” Finn asked.
    I looked at Cody. I could tell he’d had the same thought I had. I really hoped Maggie hadn’t been our killer’s third victim.
    Cody stayed to make sure I was going to be okay after Finn went home and Siobhan, Danny, and Tara all headed to Maggie’s house for the night. They’d tried to convince me to go up to the big house with them, but I needed to be alone with my thoughts.
    There was no way Maggie would kill anyone, yet I had to admit that when Cody had told us Bradley’s plan, thoughts of murder were very much on my mind. What if Bradley had gone into the hollow to set some traps and Maggie had followed him to try to reason with him? What if they’d argued and he’d fallen? I hated to admit it, but that scenario made perfect sense.
    “Penny for your thoughts?” Cody asked. We were sitting on the sofa looking into the flames of the fire as they randomly danced to their own tune.
    I told him what I’d been thinking. I trusted Cody with my thoughts. In many ways I trusted him more than I trusted anyone else.
    “I agree your