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? That doesn’t seem like Lavinia. She was pretty careful where she stepped, especially since she got the cane.”

“I found her at the bottom of the stairs in the back. I guess she must have slipped. Her cane was lying at the top of the stairs.” I left out the part about the blood.

“So, you don’t suspect foul play?”

My stomach tightened. Funny she should ask. I certainly wasn’t going to tell her that I talked to ghosts, so I simply said, “We don’t think so.”

“Is Augusta investigating it, or did she simply rule it as an accident?”

“I’m not sure if she’s made a final decision on it yet.” I made a mental note to call Augusta and find out if they’d gotten autopsy results and made a ruling.