Murder in Cherry Hills (A Cozy Cat Caper Mystery Book 1) (5 page)

Kat Harper had a lot to learn about cats. For one thing, she was discovering that Matilda pretty much did as she pleased, regardless of whether Kat approved. If Matty preferred to use the couch to sharpen her claws instead of the scratching post that Andrew had lugged over from Mrs. Tinsdale’s apartment, she did. If Matty wanted to sit in the middle of the kitchen table, she plopped her butt down there even if it meant that her tail landed on top of Kat’s microwave dinner.

Kat was also learning that she couldn’t carelessly set things down as she had become accustomed to doing during her fifteen years of living alone.

After sorting through Mrs. Tinsdale’s files with Betty Hamilton, Kat had returned home with a stack of paperwork for 4F. She’d set it, the remote control, and the earring in one neat pile on the coffee table, then proceeded to the bedroom, where she’d tossed and turned despite her best efforts to catch a few more minutes of shut-eye. When she finally gave up on sleep and emerged from her bedroom, she found Matty playing with her shiny new toy in the middle of the living room.

“Matty!” Kat rushed over and snatched the earring out of Matty’s paws. “That could be evidence!”

Miffed, Matty sat on the floor and stared at her, her tail thwacking the coffee table legs with displeasure.

Kat shoved the earring into her bathrobe pocket and shook her finger at the cat. “You have plenty of other toys. Why don’t you play with one of those?”

Matty turned her tail up and sauntered into the kitchen.

Kat sighed as she followed after her, knowing Matty was expecting her breakfast. That was another thing she was learning about cats. They were very regimented about their meals and didn’t appreciate any delays when it came to being served.

Kat dished out some kibble while Matty twined between her legs. The affectionate display caused the last of Kat’s exasperation to fade away. She would have given anything to have such a loving pet when she was a child. But that wasn’t a possibility when you grew up in foster care. And, as an adult, Kat never found herself with a decent amount of free time to devote to an animal.

Of course, if Kat were honest with herself, she
had
had the time. What she didn’t have was the confidence that she would be the best owner, and she feared she would end up doing an animal more harm than good. She had seen firsthand how a bad parent could cause more damage than no parent at all.

“Snap out of it,” Kat mumbled to herself, shaking her head. “You have more important things than the past to focus on right now.”

Like finding out who murdered Mrs. Tinsdale, Kat thought, touching the outline of the earring through her bathrobe pocket.

Checking the time, Kat returned to her bedroom for her cell phone and dialed Andrew. “I found something in Mrs. Tinsdale’s apartment that you might be interested in,” she told him when he answered.

“What were you doing in Mrs. Tinsdale’s apartment?” he asked.

“I’ll tell you when you get here.”

There was a pause before Andrew replied. “I’ll be over in half an hour.”

Kat used the time before Andrew’s arrival to take a quick shower and get dressed. She found herself fussing over her makeup more than normal, which both surprised and annoyed her.

“It’s only Andrew,” Kat told her reflection in the mirror. Then she grabbed a mascara wand and applied a second coating to her lashes.

When the doorbell rang, Kat catapulted off the couch as if she had been touched by an electrical wire. She made herself stand there for a moment, trying to calm the flutters in her stomach.

From her spot on the sofa, Matty stopped grooming herself to eye Kat, her head tilted to one side. Kat presumed her pet was just as perplexed by her behavior as she herself was. She’d never felt this way about the prospect of seeing Andrew when they were kids. Sure, she had enjoyed his company and always looked forward to spending time with him, but butterflies in her stomach? It was absurd.

I’m just anxious to show him the earring
, Kat told herself as she swung the door open.

Andrew smiled at her, causing Kat’s heart rate to spike. “So, what did you find?” he asked.

“A hoop earring,” Kat told him. “It might have belonged to the killer.”

Andrew stepped inside the apartment. “What makes you think that?”

Kat shut the door. “Because Mrs. Tinsdale didn’t wear earrings like this one. I’ll get it, and you can take a look for yourself.”

She dashed into her bedroom and retrieved the earring from her nightstand drawer, where she’d hidden it from Matty before jumping in the shower. When she returned to the living room, she held it out to Andrew. She felt sparks as their fingers brushed during the handoff.

Kat sat down next to Matty, petting the cat to steady herself as Andrew studied her discovery.

After a moment, Andrew looked up at her. “You say you found this in Mrs. Tinsdale’s apartment?”

“Well, actually, Matty found it,” Kat admitted.

Andrew’s gaze drifted toward the purring feline. “What were you and Matty doing in Mrs. Tinsdale’s apartment?”

“Betty, Mrs. Tinsdale’s daughter, was here this morning,” Kat explained. “I heard her rummaging around next door and went to check it out. Matty followed me, and later I saw her playing with the earring.”

“Betty Hamilton came here this morning?” Andrew asked, arching one eyebrow.

Kat nodded. “She showed up around three
a.m.
looking for Mrs. Tinsdale’s life insurance paperwork.”

Andrew collapsed onto the unoccupied sofa. “That sounds like a pretty big motive for murder.”

“Yes, but I’m not convinced she did it. You didn’t see how distressed she was. At first I thought maybe she was putting on an act, but after spending all that time sifting through Mrs. Tinsdale’s files with her, I believe she’s truly grieving.”

“Just because she’s grieving doesn’t mean she didn’t kill her mother,” Andrew countered.

“If she had killed her, wouldn’t she be a little more discreet about wanting the insurance money?” Kat asked. “Everybody knows you don’t start looking for a payoff the day after you murder somebody.”

Andrew stared at her. “Everybody knows that?”

Kat flushed. “You know what I mean.”

A grin tugged at Andrew’s lips. “When did you get to be an expert on how murderers act?”

“It’s common sense,” she retorted. She felt her own smile materializing. She had to admit, it felt good to be teased by her childhood friend again.

Andrew’s mouth flattened out into a more serious expression. “However she feels about her mother’s death, Betty showing up in the middle of the night to search Mrs. Tinsdale’s apartment is a red flag. I’m going to have to question her again, and more seriously this time.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Kat said. “But I don’t think you’re going to get anywhere. You’ll just find out that she’s hard-pressed for money after her husband walked out and left her with nothing.”

“That may be, but she still might help to shed light on who
would
want her mother dead.” He paused. “Do you know if Betty and Mrs. Tinsdale had a good relationship?”

Kat lifted one shoulder. “As much as most mothers and daughters, I suppose.”

She ignored the pang in her heart as she delivered the statement. She would have given anything to have any type of relationship, average or not, with her own mother. As it was, she knew very little about the woman.

Andrew coughed and sat up. “Well, people have been known to kill their loved ones for a lot less than a life insurance payout.”

“How much is Betty owed?”

“I don’t know. I’ll have to get one of the guys down at the station to look into it.”

Kat sat bolt upright when she noticed the time displayed on the wall clock. “Oh, fiddlesticks!”

Andrew looked at her, his dimples threatening to make another appearance. “Again with the fiddlesticks?”

Kat leapt off the sofa. “I just realized I have to be at work in forty minutes, and I still need to stop somewhere first.”

Andrew spread his hands. “Don’t let me keep you from anything.”

Kat backed into the hallway. “Sorry to run off on you like this.”

Andrew stood up and headed toward the front door. “No problem. I’ll see myself out.”

As Andrew left, Kat raced to her bedroom to grab a hair tie, but the one she typically wore to work was nowhere to be found.

She stormed back out to the living room, jamming her hands on her hips. “Matty, you weren’t playing with my hair tie again, were you?”

Matty looked at her and yawned.

Kat groaned. There she went, questioning a cat again.

Oh, fiddlesticks, Kat thought. She was turning into Mrs. Tinsdale.

“Kat, hello!” Imogene Little swung her front door wide open and waved Kat inside. “I’m tickled to see you again.”

Kat stepped over the threshold. “Hi, Ms. Little.”

“Please, call me Imogene.”

“Okay, Imogene.” Kat held up the piece of paper in her hand. “I brought the invoice from Matty’s vet visit. You said you might be able to help me cover the costs, remember?”

“Of course I remember!” Imogene closed the door and took the invoice from Kat’s hand.

Kat had a flashback of sitting next to Betty Hamilton as they both sorted through Mrs. Tinsdale’s documents. She had meant to bring Imogene the 4F paperwork they’d found but had forgotten in her haste. She would just have to remember the next time she had a reason to meet with Imogene.

Imogene perused the Cherry Hills Veterinary invoice before smiling at Kat. “Nothing unusual here. I take it Matty is in good health then?”

Kat nodded, although she felt a tightening in her chest when she remembered what Dr. Harry had said about a single mosquito bite transmitting parasites. “Dr. Harry wants to give her some kind of medicine every month though, to ward off heartworms and some other things.”

“Oh, that’s typical,” Imogene said.

Kat felt a bit better that the news didn’t seem to alarm Imogene. Maybe monthly parasite treatments really were as commonplace as Dr. Harry had led her to believe.

Imogene bustled farther into the house, motioning for Kat to join her. “Did you pay these charges already?”

Kat followed her hostess. “Yes. I told Sherry, the receptionist, that you said it was okay to apply the Furry Friends Foster Families discount.”

“Good.” Imogene moved into a smaller room that appeared to serve as her home office. “I’ll just write you a check to cover your costs then.”

“I really appreciate this,” Kat said.

Imogene sat down and pulled a checkbook out of one of the desk drawers. “Don’t mention it. You’re a dear for taking in Matty.” She fingered the edge of the checkbook cover, a melancholy look developing on her face. “It’s times like this when I really miss Hilda the most. Normally she would be the one writing you a check.”

Kat smiled sadly. “I’m sorry I didn’t know her better. She seems like she really did a lot for the animals.”

“Oh, she did, she did.”

The sound of the doorbell caught the women’s attention.

Imogene stood up. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll finish writing you this check as soon as I see who’s here.”

“Okay.”

As Imogene went to answer the door, Kat folded her hands in front of her and looked around the room. She had to admire Imogene’s tastes. The furniture looked to be made of oak or some other expensive, sturdy wood. The desk crammed into one corner of Kat’s own place had been constructed out of what she assumed was particleboard. She had brought it home in a box and assembled it herself.

“. . . before the benefit dinner,” Kat heard a woman say.

Imogene reentered the room with Greta Opheim in tow, a purse the size of a parade float hooked over one of Greta’s shoulders.

“Kat,” Greta said. “I seem to be running into you everywhere.”

“She came by to get reimbursed for Matty’s vet expenses,” Imogene told her, returning to her chair and picking up a pen.

“Oh.” Greta regarded Kat. “I didn’t realize your visit yesterday was for 4F business. I was under the impression you had adopted Matty permanently.”

“I did,” Kat confirmed.

“I felt, given the circumstances, that we should pay for Matty’s initial checkup,” Imogene interjected, filling out the check and scribbling her signature on the bottom. “We do that for all the animals before we adopt them out anyway, and Kat here was a lifesaver to take in Matty the way she did after that awful tragedy.”

“Oh, I wasn’t complaining,” Greta said. “But if I had known I could have saved her the hassle of paying first then getting reimbursed, not to mention her having to make the trip out here.” She turned toward Kat. “Typically when Cherry Hills Veterinary does work for 4F, the foster families don’t even see the invoices. I prefer not to burden them with that if I don’t have to.”

“Well, it wasn’t any trouble,” Kat assured her. “I was just happy you all were kind enough to cover this visit.”

“We had to do something for poor Matty, after what happened to her mama.” Imogene looked up at Kat, her face brightening. “Say, you wouldn’t be interested in attending our benefit dinner next month, would you?”

“How much are tickets?” Although Kat didn’t have much discretionary income at the moment, she wanted to repay 4F for their generosity. If seats were cheap enough, she would make it a point to scrimp a little in the next few days in order to attend. Plus, the money would be going to a good cause.

Imogene waved her hand. “You could take Hilda’s seat, no charge.”

“Oh, no, I couldn’t do that,” Kat protested. “Really, I don’t mind buying my own ticket, as long as they aren’t too far out of my budget.”

“The tickets don’t have a set cost,” Greta piped up. “They’re based on donations, whatever you want to pay. But the minimum is twenty dollars.”

Kat relaxed. “In that case, I’d love to attend. Just give me a week or so to come up with some money.”

“Absolutely.” Imogene tore out the check before standing up and holding it out to Kat. “And here’s for Matty.”

Kat took the check and slipped it into her jeans pocket. “Thank you so much.”

Greta sat down in one of the two chairs facing the desk and started rummaging through her huge purse. “Imogene, since you’re writing checks at the moment, I’ve tallied up Harry’s total for last week.”

Imogene winked at Kat as she resettled in her chair. “All people want from me anymore is money,” she said, but her voice was laced with mirth.

Greta held up a few pages printed on Cherry Hills Veterinary letterhead. “I have the itemized invoices here for your records.”

Greta’s hair had fallen into her face as she’d turned her head down to sift through her purse, and now she had to smooth the blond locks back from her eyes. As Kat watched her bend forward to place the invoices on Imogene’s desk, she caught a glimpse of the woman’s profile.

Kat’s breath caught. From this angle, she had no trouble discerning the single, empty hole located in the fleshy part of Greta’s ear, and the tear that stretched from the tiny piercing all the way to the bottom of her earlobe.