The Telltale Turtle (The Pet Psychic Mysteries) (11 page)

"That would make more sense than Charlene wanting to sleep with him." Charlie glanced at Colin. "Maybe they thought they could kill off the old lady, Charlene would find some way to get the money from Colin, then they'd kill him too."

"That could make sense," Mary Catherine agreed. "Except that Colin has already had a death threat. They wouldn't want to tip him off before everything was set up."

"Would the two of you stop talking about me like I'm not here?"

They both looked at Colin in his dirty, smelly clothes. "Maybe Cousin Bob thought he could intimidate Colin into signing over the money. That doesn't necessarily mean he killed the old lady," Charlie surmised.

"I wish you wouldn't call Aunt Ferndelle an old lady," Colin protested.

"It seems to me, even if Colin's parents' deaths were truly an accident," Mary Catherine theorized, "that someone has gone to a lot of trouble for Colin to end up with this money. Otherwise, why not kill him too?"

"Mary Catherine!" Colin whined and threw himself on the sofa.

"Who knows he's here?" Charlie asked.

"No one except us and Danny. He won't say anything."

"The taxi driver?" Charlie nodded. "Maybe we should dangle a little bait and see what comes out of the woodwork."

"What are you talking about?" Colin demanded. "What woodwork?"

Mary Catherine agreed. "He needs new clothes. He came here just as you see him. We could send him back to his place for a shower and some clean clothes. That should give Cousin Bob or Charlene and her husband enough time to do their worst."

Charlie smiled. "It sounds like a plan to me."

Mary Catherine! Hi! Are we on the air?

My cat, Sythia, always seems to know when I'm going to be home from work. My friend said it was a learned response from coming home at the same time every day. But I came home early one day to trick her. She was still there waiting on the windowsill for me. I believe she and I have a close bond and that she psychically knows when I'll be home.

What do you think?

MARY CATHERINE WAS STATIONED in her car across the street from Colin's apartment. It was dark, but a streetlight close to the doorway illuminated the area. Danny was in his taxi at the corner. Charlie was about to stroll from the corner past the door to the building.

"Are you sure about this?" Colin looked at the scene from the passenger seat. "What if I'm killed or something? He doesn't have to be close to me if he has a gun."

"Oh I think he would've killed you by now if he wanted to make it that easy," Mary Catherine tried to reassure him, but her words didn't have the desired effect.

"Thanks. That makes me feel a lot better." Colin sighed and sat back in his seat. "I can't believe Cousin Bob would go to these lengths to get his hands on the family money. It's not like he's poor or something. All of the Jamisons are well off."

"For some people, what they have is never enough. Oh look!" She pointed to Charlie strolling toward the door. "If you're ever going to have any cover until you find out what's going on, this is it."

He nodded. "You're right. I can do this. Charlie has a gun, doesn't he?"

She didn't know but wasn't going to stop the process by saying so. "I'm sure he'll take care of everything."

Colin made his decision. He squared his shoulders and climbed out of the Mini Cooper. Baylor meowed from the back seat, jumping into the front as soon as Colin was gone.

"He's not exactly the heroic type," she said to the cat. "I don't think he's a killer. I can't imagine him not fainting at the sight of blood. Whoever killed Ferndelle was made of stronger stuff."

Baylor disagreed. Humans were not to be trusted, in his opinion. They lied and pretended to be things they weren't all the time.

She glanced at him. "I didn't realize you had such a poor opinion of me."

He pushed his head against her arm and purred loudly.

"Well that's good to know. I was afraid you were basing your judgments of humanity on me" She picked up her binoculars and shushed the cat. "Look! He's almost to the door."

Colin was stepping up on the curb as Charlie reached the side of the building. A few cars had gone by but none of them seemed to have murderous intentions. It all appeared safe and uneventful. Mary Catherine was beginning to wonder if their plan would work after all.

"You see anything, MC?" Danny asked on the other end of the two-way radio he'd given her.

"Not yet. You?"

"Nope. I could take a siesta out here with all this excitement." He yawned. "Hey! What's that? I thought I saw someone."

Mary Catherine scanned the street and sidewalk. There was a small park area on the right side of the old brick building. Like her home, Colin's building was reconstructed from an older space. It was closer to three stories than hers but they were small stories. "I don't see anything besides Charlie and Colin"

Colin had reached the front door by this time. He looked around, then put his key in the door lock. Charlie was continuing to walk past as though he didn't know Colin. Another car crept by on the street and music came from another house with lighted windows and a white picket fence.

Charlie was past the front door and Colin was stepping inside when suddenly, a dark figure came out of the shadows, yelling and throwing himself at Colin.

"This is it!" Danny got out of his taxi and ran to help Charlie grab Cousin Bob.

Mary Catherine exited her car a little more slowly, hoping the event would be over before she got there. She wasn't dressed for tackling someone on a sidewalk. She wasn't sure what that would take, except for Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider, and she didn't have anything that looked like that costume.

Charlie had jumped on the shadowed form after it was already on top of Colin. The three of them scrambled on the sidewalk looking like a trapped octopus, all arms and legs. Danny wasted no time jumping into the fray. Mary Catherine wondered how they could tell one from the other as they wrestled through the doorway.

Playing her part, she called Detective Angellus from the number on the card he'd given her. It turned out to be his home number. He answered, sounding as though he was half asleep. "Someone is trying to kill Colin Jamison," she said. "Come quickly. He's at his home. Hurry."

Detective Angellus got out one short query about who was calling before she hung up. She closed her cell phone and waited for another car to pass before she walked across the street. She hoped the detective would come quickly.

It was a sultry night after the early storm, which meant mosquitoes. She shivered. She hated mosquitoes as much as they loved her. Her first late husband, Andrew Smith, always teased her about being mosquito bait. She often missed that dear man, but she had been very young then and didn't really appreciate all that life had given her. If she ever got another man like that, she'd be more careful with him.

She could hear sirens coming their way and urged Charlie and Danny to finish what they were doing and get up. No one seemed to be listening. "You're all going to end up in jail if you don't stop fighting. This isn't part of the plan."

No one responded. She wished she could make out faces and forms better in the dim light. How could such a bright light as the one on the top of the pole lose so much by the time it reached the street? Now if someone could solve that problem, think what they could do.

Two Wilmington police cars screeched to a halt in the street and discharged three police officers who ran toward them, calling out for the men on the ground to stop fighting. Mary Catherine tried to explain what was going on, but no one paid any attention.

The police finally broke up the fight by grabbing two of the men and forcibly subduing them. That still left a third man (it appeared to be Cousin Bob) still punching and kicking Colin who was curled in a tight ball, protecting his head and face.

She carefully walked over and hit Cousin Bob in the head with her purse. He looked up long enough to realize what was going on. In that moment, the third police officer grabbed him, pulling him off Colin.

"What's going on out here, anyway?" one of the officers asked the four men.

Colin picked himself up. "He's trying to kill me!" He pointed toward Cousin Bob. "I don't know what I did to him, but he attacked me. These people are my witnesses. I want to press full charges against him."

Mary Catherine smiled, thinking Colin must've been kicked in the head. "Tell them what Cousin Bob said to you about the money."

"Why?" Colin tried to straighten his already trash bound suit and tie. "I just want this man behind bars. Officers, do your job."

"Don't tell us how to do our job, sir." One of the officers shined his flashlight on his face. "Aren't you Colin Jamison?"

"That's right," Colin declared. "You were fast enough to threaten to throw me in jail; I think you should do the same with him."

The man who'd attacked Colin shook off the officer's grip that held him. "Never mind that! I want that man arrested for sleeping with my wife."

Mary Catherine was suddenly feeling confused. "Aren't you Cousin Bob?"

He used his large white handkerchief to wipe his face. "I'm Elmore Tate. I hired a private detective to follow this man and now I know the truth. See here? I have his picture on my cell phone."

Mary Catherine, Danny, and Colin all turned to look at Charlie. He stared back. "I was doing what I was paid to do. I didn't know he'd show up and try to beat Cousin Bob out of his chance to kill Colin. It looks like they need to take a number."

Elmore, free of his restraint, rushed at Colin again. Danny, angry at Charlie, rushed at him. The police officers didn't put up with it this time. "You're all going down to the station."

The police allowed Mary Catherine to follow them to the station. Colin and Charlie rode in the backseat of one car while Danny and Elmore rode in the other.

She supposed it made sense for Charlene's husband to attack Colin when he learned his identity. In all fairness, he was sleeping with the man's wife. Maybe the police would be able to tie this attack to Ferndelle's death, as they'd discussed at her apartment.

She was glad none of her husbands had ever cheated on her. It might've been due to the brevity of her relationships, but still she hoped it wouldn't have happened. She dearly loved all of them and trusted they'd loved her in return. She felt sorry for Mindy.

All four men were subdued as they were led into the station. Probably feeling pretty stupid, Mary Catherine supposed. If they'd listened to her, they wouldn't be here.

"You," Detective Angellus pointed her way, "in here with me."

She followed him into another tiny interrogation room like the last time she was here. "I wasn't actually involved in this," she denied. "You should ask your officers. I wasn't on the ground fighting when they arrived."

He gestured for her to sit down. "But that was you who called me at home, wasn't it?"

"When I saw there was trouble, I called you."

"So you didn't have anything to do with these four guys slugging it out on Water Street. You were an innocent bystander."

"Maybe innocent might not be the best term," she disputed. "But I wasn't fighting."

"Why don't you tell me what happened, Mary Catherine? Then I can decide how innocent you are."

She explained everything, from someone threatening Colin to their plan to bring the man out into the open. Detective Angellus wrote down what she said, then read it back. "Is that about right?"

She nodded. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"A good idea would've been to call me when you found out about someone threatening Mr. Jamison. You can't take on something like this by yourself."

"Not to put too fine a point on it, Detective, but I didn't try to do this on my own. Actually my part of calling you at the right moment was fairly small. Charlie Dowd-"

"That old hack?"

"I thought he used to be a police detective?"

Angellus laughed. "Yeah, back when I was in diapers. He was drummed off the job. They said he heard voices that told him where to go when he solved cases. He's a whacko."

Mary Catherine wisely kept her own counsel on hearing voices others couldn't hear. It didn't seem like the best time to remind him that she spoke with animals. She stored away the information about Charlie for future reference. "What about Elmore Tate, the man who attacked Colin?"

"I don't know yet. You stay here and I'll go check on him."

There was no offer of anything to drink this time. She wished she had Baylor with her. She'd left him in the car and now he was sulking by not speaking to her. It would be a more difficult connection anyway, but she felt she'd be able to hear him halfway across the world.

Detective Angellus returned as promised a few minutes later. "You're free to go, Mary Catherine. But I'm warning you, stay out of trouble. My boss doesn't like repeat visitors."

"What about Colin and Mr. Tate?"