Rafe walked over to Eddie and crouched in front of him. “What’s that you have there, buddy?” he asked, reaching down. He extracted something from between Eddie’s front paws and held it up. “Do you know what this is?”

I eyed the item. “A small piece of brown plastic in a vaguely human shape. Looks like something from a game.”

“Not just any game,” Rafe said, handing the object to me. “Giddy Giants, a board game of skill and talent that requires great intelligence to win.”

From which I assumed he’d been good at it in his misspent youth. The figure had two legs, one missing arm, and a helmeted head. “Never heard of it,” I said. “An army game of some sort?”

“From a local company.” Rafe plucked the figure out of my hand and slid it into his jeans pocket. “They went out of business years ago.”

“But where did Eddie find it?”

Rafe and I turned to ask him, but he’d vanished. Then we heard the unmistakable noise of cat kibble being crunched by sharp teeth. Not so much vanished as teleported, then.

“Anyway,” I said, picking up my fork. “The sheriff’s office hasn’t arrested anyone for Pug’s murder. I wonder . . .” I put my fork down.

“Wonder what?” Rafe asked, sitting. “And I know that look. You’ve thought of something about Pug and now you’re wondering if you should tell Hal or Ash.”

I nodded. “It probably doesn’t matter, but Pug was up here earlier than normal. By a few weeks. He never came up this early. So maybe he saw something he wasn’t supposed to.”

“Or someone,” Rafe added.

“And was killed so the secret could be kept a secret.” I sighed. “Looks like I need to stop at the sheriff’s office tomorrow morning.”

“Look at you, doing your civic duty.” Rafe grinned. “You are an admirable person, Minnie Hamilton.”

Not hardly. An admirable person wouldn’t be dreading the encounter. And a truly admirable person would be happier about the next two hours of her life. “Time for me to go.” I pushed my chair back.

“Have fun,” Rafe said. “Eddie and I will take care of the dishes, right, buddy?”

“Mrr!” came a distant voice.

I rolled my eyes but smiled as I grabbed my coat from the front closet and hurried out the door.

*   *   *

A five-minute walk later, I met up with Aunt Frances. She was leaning, arms and ankles crossed, against downtown’s newest retail store. “You’re nearly late for a very important date,” she said.