The Koala of Death (20 page)

Linda shook her head again, this time so hard that I feared she would hurt her neck. “No. A few seconds later, I heard someone rap against a door. Then I heard it open and somebody whispering. It didn’t sound like Sam. Then everything went quiet and I fell back asleep.”

“Did you tell the sheriff?”

“Of course. But I could have stopped it, Teddy.” A tear trickled down her furrowed cheek.

I’d brought tissues, so I handed her one, then poured us both some tea. Like me, she took hers black. After making certain she’d taken a sip, I said, “Look, Linda, if you’d gone over there, you’d have been killed, too. Do you really think that you’d have been allowed to live if you’d gone barging in?”

At the shocked look in her eyes, I softened my tone. “You would have done that if you’d believed Heck was in danger, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course!”

“Which means you had no inkling of what was going down. So don’t you ever feel guilty. There was nothing you could have done.”

“But…”

“Drink some more tea, Linda.”

Some of the old spirit flooded back into her ravaged face. “I’ve already had so much tea I’m about to float away. MaryBeth got two pots down me before she took off.”

“Decaffeinated, I hope.”

“Do I look like a decaffeinated kind of gal?”

I was about to apologize for casting aspersions on her honor when she said, “The sheriff says you’re keeping Heck’s cats on the
Merilee
until you find them good homes. Thank you for that, and I’m sure the old fart—wherever he is now—thanks you. In case you’re wondering, as ratty as they look, they’re all in good health. Since Heck didn’t have a car, I was the one who took them to Dr. Wypath, that vet over in Castroville. They’ve all been neutered and are up to date on their shots. To make it a little easier for you, I’ll start you off by taking two.”

“Two cats?” I looked at the massive Hans, who appeared oblivious to her offer. “But what about Hans?”

Hearing his name, the German shepherd raised his shaggy head. From where I was sitting, it looked as big as a Mexican gray wolf’s. His teeth were almost as big as a wolf’s, too.

Linda must have noted my concern, because she said, “Oh, don’t worry about Hans. He’s always liked Spike and Estelle, but he has no time for any of the others.” At my blank expression, she added, “Spike’s the short-haired gray, Estelle’s the calico. They’re a couple.”

Just like Linda and Heck. “I can take one, myself. No more, though, because as you know, I already have…”

“Bonz and Miss Priss. Might I suggest little Toby? He’s the white part-Siamese. Has a bit of a mother complex from being weaned too early. Priss can give him all the mothering he missed.”

Priss had never come across to me as the motherly type, but I was willing to try it. The more boat babies, the merrier. “Toby it is, then.”

Casting off the blanket, Linda stood up. “Great. Let’s go get Spike and Estelle.”

We trooped over to the
Merilee
, where Heck’s cat herd had pretty much taken over the entire boat, with the single exception of the aft bedroom, where from behind the door, the outraged Miss Priss continued to yowl.

Unfazed, Linda said, “Toby will calm her down.”

If she didn’t kill him first. But I had sense enough not to voice my thoughts. “We’ll see.”

It wasn’t too hard separating Spike and Estelle from the herd. After a few nervous hisses, they allowed Linda to scoop them up and carry them over to the
Tea 4 Two
, me following with two cans of cat food and an empty coffee can I’d filled with kitty litter. As soon as she released the cats, Hans walked over and nuzzled Estelle. She purred. He did the same to Spike, but Spike just stood there in stoic silence. Then the three, led by Hans, trooped into the aft sleeping quarters where they all curled up together on Linda’s blue blanket.

“That’s surprising,” I said.

For the first time since we’d found Heck’s body, Linda attempted a smile. “Things aren’t always what they seem.”

I set the cat food down on the galley sink and poured the kitty litter into the cardboard box she’d found under the sink. “You’re going to need a litter tray.”

Her smile disappeared. “I’ll pick one up in the morning on the way to the funeral home. Heck doesn’t have any family, so it’s up to me to make arr…arr…arrangements.” After clearing her throat, she continued more steadily. “Speaking of arrangements, what’s the holdup with Kate’s funeral? She wasn’t here long, but she was one of us. All the liveaboarders want to attend.”

I explained the problems the police were having finding Kate’s father. “They’ve called every nursing home in the Oakland area looking for an Alzheimer’s patient named Nido, and there don’t seem to be any.”

“Have you considered that ‘Nido’ might not be his last name? Heck once told me that when Kate was seventeen, she had a big falling out with her father and ran off and married some kid from San Francisco. Apparently it didn’t work out, because she was back on the
Nomad
less than a year later. Maybe she never took her maiden name back. Some women don’t. After they go to all that rigmarole of changing their maiden names to their married names on their drivers’ licenses, Social Security cards and other stuff, they don’t want the trouble of doing it all over again.”

“That would be pretty rare, don’t you think? Especially these days.”

A bitter laugh. “You think so? Well, I wasn’t born with the name ‘Cushing’, Teddy. That came courtesy of a marriage when I was old enough to know better. And don’t bother asking about it. That’s a part of my life I simply won’t discuss.”

We never know as much about our friends as we think we do, do we? Moving beyond my surprise at Linda’s secret past, I admitted that her theory about Kate might be correct. “Did Heck ever mention Kate’s husband’s name?”

“He…” She gulped, then recovered herself. “He just said once bitten, twice shy, and that was why she had trouble sticking to one man. Myself, I think it might have had more to do with the way he said she was raised, with her dad bringing all those girlfriends onto their boat and none of them ever staying more than a few months. When you’re raised around revolving door relationships, that’s what passes as normal for you.” She sighed. “Oh, well. Thanks for the tea.”

I know when I’m being dismissed, so I left her with a new menagerie to comfort her through the long, lonely night.

When I returned to the
Merilee
, I discovered that the yowl-fest I’d left behind had diminished in energy. From behind the aft bedroom door, Miss Priss muttered imprecations at the invaders, but the other cats were silent. To help them feel at home, I set out several saucers of cat food. One by one, they crept forward and began to eat. Toby was easy to spot. He was the smallest, a pale enough cream color to pass for white, and with a less wedge-shaped head than a full Siamese. Within seconds he let himself be bullied away from his saucer by a larger cat.

Later, after I’d hand-fed Toby at the table so that the feline bullies couldn’t take his food away, I retired to the aft bedroom, where I found Miss Priss so angry that she refused to let me pet her. Instead, she stalked to the corner of the bed and lay there in a huff.

Believing it would help me keep my mind off Heck’s murder, I stayed up half the night to write the Tiger Teddy column for the zoo’s blog. It dulled my unhappiness, but never quite made it disappear. At three I finished the blog and sent it to Zorah via email. Then I turned in, with Toby curled against my left side, Miss Priss at my right, and DJ Bonz at my feet. Snug and warm, my three babies and I drifted off to sleep.

My dreams were not good.

In the worst, it was late at night. I was walking along the dock toward the
Merilee
when I saw a man and two women floating face down in Gunn Landing Harbor, wires wrapped around their necks.

As the incoming tide nudged at them, the three bodies slowly rolled over to stare sightlessly at the moon-lit sky.

Kate.

Heck.

And me.

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTEEN

Zorah was already in her office when I clocked in at six the next morning. A blank note pad was positioned in front of her, pen at its side. Unlike myself, she looked like she’d had a good night’s sleep. Then again, she’d only heard the news about Heck on KTSS just this morning, while getting ready for work.

Concerned, she said, “You need to get off the
Merilee
, Teddy. It’s too dangerous. Stay with your mother until they find out who’s been doing this.”

When I shook my head, she added, “Oh, yeah. I forgot that you and your mother don’t always get along. Too bad. She’s a nice woman. Generous to the zoo, too. Tell you what. You can come stay with me. I don’t have much room, but the couch makes into a comfortable bed. You can even bring your dog and cat.”

I thanked her for her kind offer, but turned her down, explaining that the
Merilee
was my home and I wasn’t going to be driven from it. “By the way, what are you doing in the office so early? What happened to the perks of management?”

“Two reasons. One, I checked out the
Tiger Teddy
blog before I had Helen post it to the Net. Good job! Two, I had a brainstorm last night. This thing with Kate’s father…”

“Zorah, I think I may have…”

Without letting me finish, she said, “We’ve been going about this the wrong way because like most people, we’ve expected the cops to do everything for us, and even they have their limitations. I have to take the blame, because I should know better, but I’m new at this job, which, yes, was a big mistake. I need to get back to taking care of animals.”

“Zorah, about Ka…”

“Don’t argue with me, Teddy. It’s the Peter Principle. ‘In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his highest level of incompetence.’ Well, I’m bailing as soon as we get Kate buried and I can find a replacement. Two, actually. One for her, one for me.”

“But…”

“Will you stop interrupting me? God, you’re rude. Why can’t you behave with your mother’s good manners? Until you learn how, remember that I’m still your boss, so just be quiet and listen. Anyway, while I was lying in bed waiting to drift off to sleep last night, I figured out how we can find Kate’s father. All I needed to do was…”

“Zorah?”

“Quiet! As I’ve been trying to tell you, all I needed to do was call the San Diego Zoo and speak to the head of Human Resources. That’s Nancy Perez, who used to be in Human Resources at the Omaha Zoo when I worked there.” Zorah checked her watch. “She’s like you, a real early bird, and I’ve left a message on her voice mail, so she should be calling me any minute.”

“But…”

“You’re obviously deaf, so I’ll say it louder.
Shut up, Teddy!”

Ears ringing, I shut up.

Zorah smiled in satisfaction. “Nancy will…”

This time, the phone interrupted her, not I. She snatched it up midway through the first ring. “Nancy? Zorah here.” A long pause while she listened to the other end. In the meantime, she picked up her pen.

“Yes, Nancy, a terrible thing. We’re all in shock. Tragic, I agree. So young. Well, the police arrested Bill, but I doubt sincerely if he’s the one…” Another pause. “I know. Bill has a foul mouth, but that’s all. He’s as gentle as a hand-raised kinkajou. But back to business. Do you have that info I asked for?”

Another pause, this one much shorter, as Zorah scribbled a name and number on the notepad. “Got it. Thanks so much. Think you’ll make it up for the memorial? Oh, sorry. Well, tell Denziel hi, and give my love to that brand new grandkid. Bye.”

She hung up and looked at me, satisfaction on her face. “Well, Little Miss Rude. Nancy Perez came through for me, as I knew she would. She pulled Kate’s files, and they had a completed Emergency Contact form. Kate’s father’s actual name is Tyler Everts. Seems Kate was married at one time and was still using her ex-husband’s name. I’ll pass this info on to the sheriff, and that should take care of it. Now, what was so important that you had to keep on interrupting me?”

My mouth flapped up and down a few times before I could make a sound. Then the first thing that popped out was, “Uh, want a cat?”

***

An hour later, I was telling Wanchu about my new part-Siamese and Zorah’s two new tabbies, Roger and Ebert, when Joe arrived and called to me over the enclosure fence.

“We need to talk, Teddy.”

The use of my first name meant the discussion was going to be personal, and Joe’s tone meant that I wouldn’t like the subject matter. But if it wasn’t about Heck—which would have been an official conversation—what could it be? Surely not our relationship, not at this time. Joe wouldn’t be that insensitive.

“Her name’s Wanchu,” I called back. “Isn’t she cute?”

“Adorable. Now, come over here. I don’t want this conversation conducted in shouts.”

“She smells like eucalyptus leaves, doesn’t she?” I said, walking with the koala over to the fence. “That’s because she…”

“Eats them. You’ve told me a dozen times.”

Trying not to think about something makes you think about it all the more. I kept seeing Heck’s dead face, the red line around his neck. He might have been gruff, but I’d been fond of the man, and rather than talking to Joe right now, I wanted to share my sorrows with Wanchu. At least she didn’t look so cross.

“Joe, could you ease up on me a bit?” I asked. “Of all people you should know what a rough night I had.” Then I remembered something I needed to tell him. “Oh, I’ve got Kate Nido’s father’s name.”

“Tyler Everts.”

“Zorah already called you?”

“And I passed the info along to Oakland PD. Teddy, put that thing down and find us a place where we can have a good, long talk.”

“Don’t call Wanchu a ‘thing.’ She’s a koala, and a very nice one, too. Did you know she has a backwards-facing…?” There I went again, using an animal as an exercise in avoidance.

“Pouch. Yes, I did. Now put her down and let’s go someplace private before I have a total meltdown.”