And Then There Were Feathers

By Peyton Stone

Having inherited her grandmother's library, Luci anticipated receiving a collection of literary treasures, not a bunch of dead bodies.

 

Instead of what she thought was a great escape from corporate life, she's now thrust into her own Agatha Christie novel. 

 

With the help of her pet parrot Simon, she starts turning the pages to solve the case. 

 

But, the bodies continue to pile up while an arrogant lawyer at her back urges her to sell the library and put the books away for good. 

 

Will Luci manage to keep the library and solve the cases before she becomes the next victim?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peyton Stone
• Release date: Jul 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223727606

Book preview

AND THEN There Were Feathers

A Small Town Cozy Murder Mystery

Peyton Stone

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Peyton Stone Books

Copyright © 2023 by Peyton Stone

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means; including information storage and retrieval systems without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief descriptions/quotations in a book review.

Cover design by Getcovers.com

Contents

1.Chapter One

2.Chapter Two

3.Chapter Three

4.Chapter Four

5.Chapter Five

6.Chapter Six

7.Chapter Seven

8.Chapter Eight

9.Chapter Nine

10.Chapter Ten

11.Chapter Eleven

12.Chapter Twelve

13.Chapter Thirteen

14.Chapter Fourteen

15.Chapter Fifteen

16.Chapter Sixteen

17.Chapter Seventeen

18.Chapter Eighteen

19.Chapter Nineteen

20.Chapter Twenty

21.Chapter Twenty-One

22.Chapter Twenty-Two

23.Chapter Twenty-Three

24.Chapter Twenty-Four

25.Chapter Twenty-Five

26.Chapter Twenty-Six

27.Chapter Twenty-Seven

28.Chapter Twenty-Eight

29.Chapter Twenty-Nine

Sneak Peek

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Luci pushed open the door to the library, locking it behind her again as she stepped inside. The first thing she noticed was that the A/C had stalled again. It was early in the morning, so it was still mildly cool; by midday, however, the entire library would be roasting. Letting out an irritated puff of air, she walked over to the thermostat. As she’d expected, the loose control panel had tilted forward. Frowning, Lucy pushed it back into place, pressed the button, and the whir of the air conditioner filled the silence.

How many more headaches were going to happen today? As much as she loved the library, over the past several months there seemed to be more and more issues: bugs, leaky pipes in the basement, issues with the A/C, and drafts. Granted, the library was old, built sometime in the seventies, but its previous owner, her grandmother, had been meticulous about its upkeep. Luci remembered running through the rows of shelves, playing hide and seek with her friends and her little sister, Kris, and spending hours upon hours here when she was younger.

What she didn’t remember was anything about a faulty A/C or broken window sills.

There were times when she half regretted not selling to Anson McMillan, the real-estate mogul, when she’d inherited the library and he’d first offered to buy it. That was until she remembered he was sleazy and only interested in the property. That, and she was fairly certain her grandmother would come back as a ghost to haunt her for the rest of her life if she sold the library to someone who would tear it down within a month. Still, it would have meant not having to become a plumber, construction worker, and HVAC specialist just to keep it afloat.

Luci groaned and rubbed her eyes. She needed coffee; she was only ever this crabby when she was uncaffeinated. She trudged along to the office, then jumped when she heard an irritated rustling sound.

‘Hello, hello’ a voice squawked. Then, when there was no response. ‘Morning?’

Luci laughed. Good morning to you too, Simon. She walked over to where a cover, decorated with little books, was draped over a cage. She tugged it off to reveal a beautiful African grey parrot in a large bird cage. Simon blinked up at her, waddling along one of the rods in his cage to get closer to her.

‘Morning. Let me out’

Luci smiled. She knew parrots didn’t understand human words exactly—it was more that they associated an action or object that came when they said something. Still, it always felt like Simon knew what he was saying.

The parrot’s wings fluttered impatiently as Luci fumbled with the latch. Simon shot out of the cage like a hyperactive bullet and flew excitedly in circles over her head.

‘Follow follow’

In a minute, Luci yawned. I have to wake up first.

Irritated at being ignored, Simon flew down and landed on her head. His claws scratched her scalp lightly as he walked to her hairline. The next thing Luci knew, Simon had bent over, and she was looking cross-eyed at an upside-down bird whose beak was pressed against her nose. He really was a beautiful bird: slate-grey feathers (except for the red tail feathers), yellow, intelligent eyes in circles of white feathers, and a coal-grey beak. He’d lived at the library since her grandmother had gotten him ten years ago, and had never been happy anywhere else.

‘Follow follow’

I know, I know, Luci said. Give me a minute. I’ll follow later.

When Simon realized Luci wasn’t going to play along, he took off, wings fluttering.

‘Follow later’ he called out to her.

Will do. Still exhausted, she went past the checkout desk into the break room and fixed herself a strong cup of coffee.

The break room was small, but it served its purpose. It had a small counter with a coffee pot and microwave, a small fridge, and a table and chairs. In the far corner was another door that led to her office. When the coffee was mercifully ready, she walked into the adjoining room. Her office was overflowing with a fraction of her personal collection of books, and the desk was crowded with papers and a new computer. She sat at the desk, brushed a few pages to the ground, and booted up the desktop, greedily sipping her coffee the entire time.

She flicked through her emails, scanning over them and responding to any that needed her attention. After the second cup of coffee, she glanced at her phone. 7:30—an hour until opening. Patrick’s shift started at 9, meaning he would get there sometime between 9:15 and 9:40. Sighing, she picked up her mug, stretched, and walked out of the office, wanting to go through the library to see if there were any other issues.

The library was massive; it was so vast that it was impossible to believe that it was privately owned. The Mitchell Library had been a passion project of Luci’s grandmother, Annabelle Mitchell. The woman had used a portion of her very sizable inheritance to build the library and fill it with as many books as possible. It had thrived and nowadays was considered one of the best libraries in the area.

It was a two-story building with a basement. The first floor housed mostly non-fiction and audiobooks, along with several meeting rooms and study nooks. The second floor wrapped around the interior of the building, giving the main annex of the library a large, open feel, and made it possible to look up at people on the floor above. The second floor had all the fiction and children’s books. The kid’s section also had a small collection of toys and puppets and an area dedicated to storytime. Honestly, Luci loved it all, even when there were issues with the building.

She took another deep swig of coffee. Caffeine really did make everything better.

She began to move across the entryway to begin her morning chores: check the overnight deposit box and check in those books; load up the cart and return all the books Alva hadn’t gotten to last night to their proper location; check the pipes in the basement to make sure they were still okay; and check for and fix any unforeseen problems that might have happened during the night.

‘Luci come come Luci’

She blinked. She had almost forgotten about Simon. Now that she was awake, she realized his behavior this morning had been a bit strange. Normally when she let him out, he would do an entire circle of both floors of the library. He knew enough not to come and say hi until she had a cup of coffee in her hand. But this morning he hadn’t cared at all. The only other time she had seen him behave like that was the day after her grandmother had died. Despite being a parrot, he had known something was off when it was Luci, not Annabelle, who had come to take care of him that morning.

An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of her stomach, making it squirm uncomfortably.

Simon? she asked. What’s up?

‘Bad thing, come come’

Bad thing? The squirming in her stomach intensified and something began crawling up her back. What did that mean?

His voice was faint, as though it were coming from the upper floor. Slowly, hesitantly, Luci walked up the steps, one hand running up the railing. When she reached the top landing, she paused and scanned the area for signs of Simon. It took her a moment, but then she saw it—a flash of grey with red tail feathers swooping intently over a single row in the mystery section.

She walked over hurriedly, wondering if she was going to find a broken window, or that someone had thrown all the books on the ground, or maybe someone had gotten sick yesterday after she left and Alva hadn’t bothered cleaning it up.

But when she rounded the corner and finally got a look between the shelves, she saw it was none of those things.

It was much, much worse.

The woman was staring up at the ceiling with sightless eyes, her body splayed. Her face was caked in make-up in a way that seemed almost intentional, instead of an amateur hand putting on too much. Her platinum-blond hair was in disarray as it fanned out all over the floor. The dress she was wearing was old-fashioned, covered in silver spangles, reminiscent of a flapper girl’s. Purple bruises circled the woman’s neck like a choker.

‘Bad bad, Luci look’

Simon had fluttered down to perch on her shoulder, speaking directly in her ear. She barely felt or heard him, too absorbed in the image in front of her. She was frozen, rooted to the spot in shock, her mind unable to process what was in front of her.

Finally, a single thought seemed to get through: That is a dead body. It was enough to shatter her paralysis.

Her cup fell to the ground, shattering and sending coffee everywhere as she screamed.

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The screeching sirens came to a piercing halt as police cars and an ambulance pulled up in front of the library, their multicolored lights flashing excitedly. Luci, who had been clutching a new cup of coffee with a white-knuckled grip—for no other reason than to be holding onto something—walked around the circulation desk toward the front door. As she reached it, a tall man with brilliant red hair and green eyes hopped up the final step.

Good morning, the man said through the glass. He fished something out of his pocket and held it up. A silver detective badge gleamed in the early morning light. I’m Detective Daniel Flinn. Are you Ms. Mitchell?

Yes. Her voice was hoarse.

You called about a body? When Luci nodded, he said, Do you mind if I come in, then?

She unlocked the door and held it open.

Thank you very much, Ms. Mitchell—

Luci, please.

Detective Flinn gave a small, charming smile that made his eyes crease and the freckles around his nose scrunch together. Very well, Luci. You can call me Daniel. So, can you tell me what happened?

Luci opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, there was a fluttering sound overhead, and a weight settled on Luci’s head.

‘There’s a body please send someone’ Simon said. ‘New person’.

Yes, new person, Luci agreed. She held up her hand and felt Simon’s talon press into her skin as he hopped on. She held Simon so that he was looking at her. And they already know about that body.

Simon cocked his head, regarding her with his yellow eyes, then teetered as he turned around to look at Daniel.

‘There’s a body please send someone’

Daniel raised an eyebrow, trying to hide his smile. I’m guessing that’s what you said on the phone?

You’d guess right.

Smart bird.

Simon, as if sensing the praise, preened himself before taking flight again. He shot into the air, heading straight toward the body yet again.

‘Come come’

Running fingers through her light brown hair, Luci led Daniel up the stairs and toward the aisle where the body still lay. When he rounded the corner and saw the corpse, Daniel stopped.

That definitely wasn’t what I was expecting when I heard ‘body in the library,’ he said.

Something poked at the back of Luci’s mind at the words, but she couldn’t figure out what it was.

I wasn’t expecting one, period, she said.

Noise came from downstairs, and Daniel leaned over the railing, motioning for whoever was there to come up.

So, you came in and found the body? he asked when he turned back to look at her. Every so often, his gaze would flick over to the side, where the corpse was.

Luci nodded. I got in at around 7, found the body a little after 7:30.

What about an alarm? We didn’t get a report of anything last night. Was it deactivated?

Luci gritted her teeth. It conked out on us two days ago, she said. The wiring in the building isn’t great, and sometimes things go on the fritz unexpectedly. The security company was supposed to come tomorrow. I figured that a couple of days without it wouldn’t be a big deal. I guess I was wrong.

Daniel nodded, jotting down notes. I wouldn’t exactly call that your fault, he said.

Just bad timing, I suppose, Luci said.

Daniel didn’t say anything, but something flashed behind his eyes, and she wondered if he thought it was more than just a coincidence. The thought unsettled her.

But he didn’t press the matter. Instead, he asked, Do you know her?

Luci glanced over, her brow furrowed. Now that he mentioned it, there was something about the face shape that looked familiar. She frowned, leaning forward a little bit so that she could get a better look. Then her eyes widened, and she all but reeled back.

I do know her, actually, she said. That’s Jenna Hargrave. She owns the bakery down the street. I didn’t recognize her at first because her hair is black. I can’t imagine her dyeing it.

She didn’t, miss, one of the techs who had just entered the aisle said. He pointed at the hairline, where a faint line of black peeked out from beneath the platinum blond. It’s a wig.

A wig? Luci turned toward Daniel, who watched her.

I’m guessing she wasn’t the wig-wearing type? he asked.

Not to my knowledge, Luci said. And I don’t think I ever saw her with anything heavier than eyeliner and foundation. I don’t think she’d be caught dead in as much makeup as she’s wearing.

I see. Were there any 1920’s parties happening last night, do you know?

Luci blinked in confusion for a long moment before she realized why he was asking. Oh…not to my knowledge.

Any reason you can think that she’d be wearing a dress like that? he asked. It’s not exactly something someone would wear outside of a costume party nowadays.

As Luci stared back at the body, an overwhelming surge of déjà vu hit her. The entire scene: the hair, the dress…she had seen it somewhere before. She racked her brain, desperately trying to figure out where she had seen this image.

‘Body in the library body in the library’

That bird of yours picks up phrases rather quickly, Daniel said, watching Simon soar excitedly overhead.

Luci barely heard him. Those words again… Why did that seem so significant?

It suddenly came to her when Simon flew into the aisle excitedly and began pecking at one of the books as if trying to get it off the shelf.

"Hey, ma’am, I’m sorry, but you need to put