“My house was broken into by Lavinia’s killer and I think you know exactly what is going on because you had means, motive and opportunity.” I ticked the last three words off on my fingers.

“That’s crazy!” The words exploded from Derek’s mouth. “I didn’t kill Lavinia or break into your house!”

“Really? Then explain why you were skulking around in the woods just before the murder and were seen fleeing town right after in your long black car.”

A confused look passed over Derek’s face. “Long black car? You mean the Lincoln? I never take that car … and if you must know, I was bringing my cat to the vet that morning.”

I remembered what Emma had said about Derek being one of the ‘opposers’ of the feral cat sanctuary. “Cat? I heard you didn’t even like cats, so now I know you’re lying.”

“That’s not true,” Derek said. “The rest of my family doesn’t like them, which is why I had to take Kitty to Doc Evans early in the morning. I keep him in my wing of the house … away from the others. Anyway, he jumped out of the window of my Mini-Cooper on the way through town and ran into the woods. I was in there trying to catch him.”

What? If that was true, it blew my whole case. The back of my mind wondered if Doc Evans could give him an alibi, but my mouth couldn’t be stopped. “I think you’re lying—covering up. That’s what killers do.”

“Willa—” Augusta tried to cut in.

“No. Wait.” I held my hand up to Augusta. “I can prove it.”

I took two long strides to Derek’s side, grabbed his sleeve and pushed it up to the elbow, turning triumphant eyes to Augusta. “See!”

Augusta squinted at Derek’s arm. “See what?”

I whipped my head back to look at his arm, my stomach sinking. There were no scratches. I pushed up the other sleeve only to find that arm was scratch free, too.

“But that’s impossible,” I said. “Pandora fought the intruder and Elspeth said they would have scratches on their forearm!”

Derek jerked his arms away. “Well, I’m not the one who broke in, which is why I don’t have any scratches. And I certainly am not the one who killed Lavinia Babbage!”

And with that, Derek stormed out the door, leaving an embarrassing silence in his wake.

I looked around the room, my leaden stomach growing even heavier. Everyone was staring at me, even Lavinia, who stood behind the counter, hands on hips.

Josiah cleared his throat and pushed up from the couch. “Well, I should be going.”

“Yep,” Bing said.

“Us, too,” Cordelia and Hattie twittered as the four of them fought their way to be first out the door.