Harold, taking the hint, brought them to Bernard, who poured the wine, and the goblets were passed to the diners using the standard Moorecliff etiquette of serving the head of the household first.
“Wait… where is Stephanie?” Bernard asked about Archie’s daughter as he held the last glass, looking for whom to hand it to. “Shouldn’t she be here?”
“She’s in Switzerland. Can you believe it? At this time of year?” Daisy asked as Harold passed out the plates and set two gravy bowls on the table.
Araminta agreed. Steph should be there, since they were celebrating the auspicious occasion of Moorecliff Motors’s two hundredth anniversary, but she had chosen to have a trip with her friends instead. Archibald wasn’t happy.
Daisy fiddled with the clasp of her purse, absently snapping it open then closed again before waving away any response he might have given. She continued with a half-hearted shrug. “We really do try to include her, Bernie, but she simply doesn’t like me.”
“It isn’t you, dear,” Archibald insisted with a quick smile in her direction, then he sipped his wine before nodding then gesturing toward his son. “If it were... well, have a look at Reggie. He’s here, is he not?”
From the end of the table, Reginald Moorecliff lifted his nearly empty glass in a bit of a salute. “Of course I’m here and hailing the reigning stepmom. Love you, Daisy,” he said. Then he mumbled quietly as he leaned forward to tackle the braised beef on his plate, “Where else would I possibly be?”
Araminta couldn’t help but notice the pained look Daisy shot her stepson before covering it with a smile that could easily have been a grimace. “Thank you, Reginald, for your support. You know how happy it makes your father and me.”
“Yes, quite... quite happy,” Archie agreed then drew in a deep breath before taking another sip of wine. He patted his brow with his napkin.
Beside him, Daisy’s half-hearted smile completely disappeared. “Archibald? Archie, are you all right, darling? You look a little pale.”
“I’m fine,” he insisted, brushing away the sudden focus of attention with a shaky wave of his hand.
“If not, I have the tablets our fine Dr. Morton gave me for your heart.” Daisy started to rise, but Archie motioned for her to stay seated.
“No worries, dear, I, ahh…” He tugged at his collar, his face turning red.
“Archie?” Daisy asked, now clearly alarmed.
“I just feel a little… argh…”
Araminta watched in horror as Archie slowly listed to the side, his face growing redder and redder until he crashed to the floor, pulling the tablecloth and half the dinner plates with him.
Chapter Two
“This isn’t good,” Arun said as he slunk over to the spot where Archie had fallen.
The body was no longer there. The EMTs had tried to revive poor Archie but to no avail. But even with no body, the area still held many mysteries for the cats to unravel. And if there was one thing Arun and Sasha liked to do, it was unravel mysteries.
Arun glanced over at Sasha. Her pale-blue eyes glittered with excitement, and her chocolate-brown tail twitched as she sniffed the area. Even though they were both Seal Point Siamese with dark-brown masks, tails, and feet and cream-colored bodies, they were not identical. Arun was a good two pounds heavier—all muscle. Sasha was daintier, and her eyes were very pale blue, while Arun’s were more of a sapphire. He liked to think that his markings were a bit more regal than Sasha’s, although he didn’t dare tell her that.
“Something smells fishy,” Sasha said.
“Interesting, because they had beef for dinner.” Arun put his nose to one of the gold-rimmed dinner plates. It didn’t smell like fish to him.
“I meant that metaphorically.” Sasha moved on to sniff a spot on the rug. “Something isn’t right. For one, the police are here.”
Arun glanced from under the tablecloth to see two pairs of polished black shoes. They didn’t belong to any of the Moorecliffs. He tuned in to the conversation the humans were having. Yep, it was the police.
“Then again, he did have a bad heart,” Sasha said as she sniffed the leg of Archie’s chair for clues, her velvety ears turning right and left like furry radar dishes intent on catching every word of conversation happening in the room.
“True. Let’s hope it was natural. Still, I will miss the old guy.” Arun made his way to the empty goblet that had rolled under the table, his whiskers twitching.
He took a sniff. “It’s strong. Must have been a good year.”
Sasha joined him, wrinkling her nose when it got close to the goblet. “Kind of acidic, but wait…” She sniffed again. “It’s got a sweet tinge that doesn’t seem right.”
Arun hunkered down and took another good whiff. “Yes! Flowery.”
“But it’s red wine.” Sasha swished her tail toward the drop of wine that had spilled from the goblet and stained the rug. “That’s usually not sweet. In fact, this scent reminds me of something.”
Arun closed his eyes to concentrate on the smell. “Lily of the valley.”
He snapped his eyes open, and they met Sasha’s. “Something isn’t right here. We need to alert Araminta.”
Araminta listened intently to Inspector Ivan Hershey and wondered what he was getting at. Surely Archie’s death had been caused by his heart. He’d had a few episodes before.
She remembered the way the cats had been strutting ominously in front of the door to the dining room before dinner. Had they sensed something was about to happen? It wouldn’t be the first time. And where were they now?
Araminta glanced around the room and finally saw the tip of a chocolate-brown tail sticking out from underneath the table. She was just about to peek under to see what they were doing when the young inspector addressed her.
“And what about you, Mrs. Moorecliff? Did you notice anything unusual?”
Araminta straightened in her chair. Was the young inspector just as impertinent as his grandfather? Yes, Araminta had had her fair share of run-ins with the senior Inspector Hershey, who had also been an inspector in their younger days.
“It’s Ms. Moorecliff. And no, I didn’t notice anything unusual. We were having a perfectly nice family dinner, then…” She gestured toward Archie’s empty chair, her heart heavy as the realization that he was gone hit her once again.
Hershey nodded and consulted his notebook, where he’d been writing down notes. “And you say he had a heart condition.”
“Yes,” Daisy said. “But it was under control. I offered to get his pills, but he said he was fine just ten minutes before... before…”
Her voice broke, and she started to cry. Reginald hadn’t left her side since the EMT had pronounced his father dead. He put his arms around her and did his best to calm her while Bernard stepped in to answer the inspector’s questions.
“Archibald had episodes at least once every few months. I suspect that this time, it was just more than he anticipated. I can assure you, it was totally unexpected, and it all happened so fast. Unless…” He glanced at Daisy. Bernard’s eyes narrowed then went wide. “My word! You don’t expect foul play, do you? Is that why the police have come?”