Ghostly Paws (Mystic Notch Cozy Mystery Series) Read Online Free PDF

hills and had been Gram’s neighbor forever. They’d been close and Gram had even put a note with her will asking me to check on Elspeth frequently.
    I pulled my jean jacket off the peg by the kitchen door and shoved my feet into black rubber boots. The temperature was already falling from the high of the day and it would be chilly by the time I made my way back from Elspeth’s house. Slipping out the back door, I heard the familiar slap of the cat door flapping as Pandora bolted out behind me. She was never one to miss a trip over to see Elspeth or her cats.
    Elspeth lived one street over, but there was a shortcut through the woods. Clumps of winter snow were still visible under the trees, but the main trail was nearly bare. I walked the path, focusing on the drier spots and trying not to slip in the layers of wet leaves that carpeted the path. My leg was still weak and slipping wouldn’t do it any good. Chickadee’s, sparrows and nuthatches chirped their last songs of the day as they flitted between the bare branches of the trees. I noticed the unmistakable impressions of deer tracks and I reminded myself to put out some apples and carrots.
    I bit my lip as I considered how to tell Elspeth about Lavinia—I didn’t want her to be shocked. Not that she was frail or anything, she was actually quite feisty and in excellent health. Still I wanted to make sure to break the news in the most gentle way. I didn’t want her finding out about it through the Mystic Notch grapevine—better for me to tell her and be able to comfort her and calm any fears she might have.
    The trees were still bare of leaves and it wasn’t long before I could see Elspeth’s green and pink house through the branches. It was a cute, turn-of-the-century cottage with a wraparound porch and intricate gingerbread molding all along the roofline.
    The porch posts were covered with thorny vines that would burst with fragrant pink roses in summer. I walked up and tapped on the door.
    Elspeth answered within seconds. Her face was flushed under snow-white hair that was woven into a thick braid on top of her head. She wiped her hands on her blue toile apron.  
    “Hi Willa. I was just in the kitchen.” Elspeth held the door wide open. “Come on in.”
    Pandora pushed in ahead of me, greeting the orange striped tomcat that always seemed to be weaving its way around Elspeth’s ankles with a catty meow. Two more cats came running from the hallway, a fluffy Maine Coon and a regal Siamese. Elspeth had quite a collection of cats—I wasn’t sure exactly how many, but I was pretty sure it was more than the three I saw in front of me. We headed toward the kitchen while the cats went through their usual sniffing ritual.
    As I entered Elspeth’s old-fashioned kitchen, my eyes were immediately drawn to the two pies on the counter. They looked fresh from the oven. The steam rising out of their fork pricked middles spiced the room with the scent of vanilla, sugar and cinnamon.  
      “I just came by to see if you needed anything,” I said.
    “Oh, thank you, dear. I don’t need anything.” She gestured toward the pies and my mouth started to water as I noticed the apple filling bubbling up through the slits in the golden brown crust. “I was just putting up these pies. One is for you.”
    “For me?”
    “Yes, I had an idea you’d be stopping by tonight.” She studied me, her light blue eyes tinged with concern. “You look a little wan, dear … did something happen today?”
    I frowned. How did she always seem to know these things?
    “Well, as a matter of fact, something did happen downtown today,” I said as Elspeth started packing up one of the pies. “Lavinia had an accident at the library.”
    “An accident? Oh, I do hope she’s okay.”
    “Well, I’m sorry to say she’s … umm … passed.”
    Elspeth whirled around to look at me. “Dead? At the library? What happened?”
    “She fell down the stairs.”
    Elspeth’s eyes narrowed. “Fell?