The Whole Cat and Caboodle: Second Chance Cat Mystery (11 page)

“She means we’re going to investigate and find the real killer,” Rose said. Liz sent her a daggers look and for a moment I thought she was going to swat Rose with her napkin.

“No, you’re not,” Nick said, emphatically. “This is a police investigation. He made a circular motion with one finger that, like his mother’s gesture, seemed to include me. “You all need to stay out of it.”

“Excuse me?” Charlotte said.

She wasn’t my mother or even my grandmother; still, I knew what her tone meant. So would hundreds of her former students. Somehow Nick didn’t.

“Let the police do their job,” he said. He spoke slowly, enunciating each word.

“They don’t seem to be very good at it.” Charlotte crossed her arms defiantly over her chest. “Or they wouldn’t have arrested an innocent woman.”

Nick took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The set of his jaw showed that he was grinding his teeth together.

Suddenly Mac was at Nick’s elbow, holding out a mug. “Have a cup of coffee,” he said.

Nick turned to look at him. “What?” he said.

“Have a cup of coffee,” Mac repeated. “There isn’t anything stronger.” One eyebrow went up.

A little of the tension in the air seemed to dissipate. Nick took the cup and I mouthed a thank-you at Mac.

I touched Nick’s elbow. “Let’s go for a walk.” I smiled at him. It was a little fake but a smile nonetheless.

“I know what you’re doing, Sarah,” he said, shaking off my hand.

“Good,” I said. “I need to stretch my legs. Get the blood circulating.” I looked at him, thinking,
Don’t be a dipwad.
And hoped somehow he would get the message.

“We’re fine, Sarah,” Charlotte said without looking at me.

“I know you are,” I said, keeping my voice light. “I just want to take a little walk and I don’t want to go by myself.”

Nick pressed his lips together for a moment. “I’ll be right back,” he said. “Sarah wants to take me outside because she wants to give me a little lecture.”

“Yes, everyone knows that,” Liz said dryly. “So, why don’t you just get on with it?”

I looked at Nick. “So could we get on with it?” I asked.

He looked at Charlotte. “We’re not done, Mom.” It was a good thing he’d decided to move at that point, because I was ready to give him a nudge with the perfectly pointed toe of my black boot.

Nick didn’t say a word until we were outside, standing in the small side lot. He took a sip of his coffee, nodded his approval and then held out his free hand. “Okay, start lecturing me.” His sense of humor seemed to have returned.

“I’m not going to lecture you,” I said, keeping my voice and face as neutral as possible and holding up my hands like I was about to surrender. “I just want to ask you a question without everybody listening.”

“What’s the question?”

I took a step closer to him. “What the heck are you thinking?” I said. “Do you really think telling your mother, Rose and Liz to stay out of Maddie’s case is going to work?”

He made a face. “You think they should just start poking around in a murder investigation?”

I fought my first impulse, which was to roll my eyes at him. I took a deep breath and then a second one when the first one didn’t get rid of much of my aggravation. “Of course I don’t. But they aren’t going to sit around and do nothing. They’re three of the most loyal people I know. You’re lucky my grandmother isn’t here. There’d be four of them to deal with.”

He had the same stubborn look I’d seen dozens of times on his mother’s face.

“Nick, let me see what I can do.”

He took another sip from his coffee. “You think you can talk them out of this ridiculous idea?” He sounded skeptical.

“Maybe. Or at least convince them there’s really nothing they can do.”

He looked past me for a moment and I stayed silent while he weighed my words. “Okay,” he said, finally. “But they’re your responsibility, Sarah. My mother, Liz, and Rose.”

I nodded. “That’s fine.” Surely I could find a way to talk them out of the idea of playing detective.

“So, was this a long enough walk for you?” Nick asked teasingly.

We started back toward the building across the bit of lawn in the front. “You should come running with me sometime,” I said.

“Running? You mean like jogging around the block?”

I laughed. “No. I mean putting in some miles and getting sweaty and stronger.”

“I don’t know,” Nick said, grinning and shaking his head. “I think I’m busy.”

“I haven’t named a time,” I said.

“I know,” he said. “I’m still busy.”

I mock frowned at him. “I have a feeling that if I were suggesting lunch, suddenly you wouldn’t be so busy.”

Still smiling, he held up a hand. “I’m not going to answer that, on the grounds that it will probably get me in trouble.”

There were two customers in the store. Mac and Liz had both disappeared. I was guessing they were in the storage room and upstairs, respectively. Rose was at the cash register and Charlotte was arranging a set of wineglasses and an ice bucket on the table that she and Rose and Liz had been sitting at earlier.

She walked over to us. “How was your walk?” she asked.

“It was . . . helpful,” Nick said, glancing sideways at me. “But I need to get to work.”

“No lecture?” Charlotte asked, raising an eyebrow.

He smiled. “No lecture.” Then he leaned forward and kissed his mother on the cheek. “I’ll talk to you soon.” He turned to me. “Thank you for the walk, Sarah,” he said. Then he handed me his empty coffee cup and was gone.

Charlotte leaned sideways so she was in my direct line of sight. “What did you say to Nicolas?” she asked.

I linked my arm through hers and we started for the storage room. “I just reminded him that you’re a smart woman and you and Rose and Liz aren’t going to do anything stupid.” I leaned my cheek against her shoulder and smiled oh, so sweetly at her.

Charlotte smiled back at me. “I knew you’d understand, sweetie,” she said. “And we aren’t going to do anything stupid. I give you my word on that.”

I felt myself relax. Problem solved.

“We’re just going to find out who killed Arthur Fenety,” she said.

Or not.

I didn’t argue with Charlotte. I’d seen how well that had worked for Nick. I bit my tongue—literally—and left her unpacking the rest of the wineglasses. I cut through the storeroom and walked out to the back to see how Mac was doing with the table. Maybe once Charlotte and the others talked a little more to Maddie, they’d realize that they needed to leave it to the police and Josh to figure out who’d killed Arthur Fenety.

I was wrong about that, too.

Josh dropped off Maddie at about eleven thirty. I’d ordered sandwiches for lunch from Lily’s Bakery
.
There wasn’t enough space for a table and chairs in the tiny cubbyhole we used as a staff room, so Mac and I set up a folding teak table that we’d gotten from our last Saturday morning yard sale run in the storage room. It had been painted an ill-advised shade of highlighter yellow. I carried over the chairs I’d mentioned to Mac earlier.

“You know, I think you’re right,” he said, standing back and studying them, his arms folded over his chest. “I think they would work with my table.”

“Are you going to join us for lunch?” I asked.

“Thank you, but I think I’ll man the cash register,” Mac said.

I grinned. “Are you sure?”

He smoothed a hand back over his close-cropped dark hair and smiled. “Very.”

“Oh, Sarah, you didn’t have to go to so much trouble,” Maddie said when she walked in with Charlotte.

“All I did was put out mismatched plates and paper napkins,” I said, inclining my head in the direction of the table, which, because of the color, looked like it was glowing a little. “And don’t worry; I didn’t cook.”

“We should teach you how to cook,” Charlotte said, taking off the apron she wore in the store and draping it over the back of one of the chairs.

I reached for the teapot to pour her a cup of tea. “It’s a lost cause. Just ask Gram. I set off her smoke detector so many times I ruined it.”

“You’re not serious,” Maddie said.

“Yes, I am,” I said. “Would you like a cup of tea?” I gestured at the teapot. It was sitting on top of an old sewing-machine table that I’d repurposed as a small buffet table.

She nodded.

“Rose, we need to teach Sarah how to cook,” Charlotte said, as her friend bustled into the room. Rose was wearing her own store apron and carrying a large plate of sandwiches. Liz was behind her with a second one.

“That’s a lovely idea,” Rose said. She smiled as she moved past me and set the large blue bubble-glass plate on the table. “When do you want to start, dear?”

“Rose, I’m a terrible cook,” I said, as I handed Maddie her cup of tea. “I made a cake once and it was so awful I buried it in Gram’s backyard.”

Rose laughed. “No, you didn’t,” she said, coming around the table and picking up a cup for herself.

“Sadly, I did.” I reached for the teapot. “Mom tried to teach me and Gram tried to teach me and I just can’t cook. I’m hopeless.”

“Nonsense,” she said, turning around to hand the cup of tea I’d just poured to Liz. “You just haven’t had the right teacher.”

I reached for another cup, poured and handed it to her. “Julia Child couldn’t make me into a cook,” I said. “The only thing I know how to make is scrambled eggs.”

She pushed her glasses up her nose. “Julia Child couldn’t make anyone into a cook. She’s dead. You’ll do just fine.” She moved around the table and took the chair at the far end. Liz was on her right and Charlotte on her left, next to Maddie.

Rose reached up and touched my arm as I went by her. “You’ll be hosting dinner parties before you know it.”

“As long as they’re not for the fire department,” I said, grinning at her and taking the chair next to Liz.

“As soon as we figure out who killed Arthur we’ll start your lessons,” Rose said, adding milk to her cup.

I opened my mouth to explain to her that tracking down a murderer wasn’t quite the same as teaching me how to make meat loaf, but Maddie spoke before I could.

“Rose, the police think I killed Arthur.”

“We know something the police don’t,” she said, spreading her napkin on her lap.

Maddie looked confused. “What?” she asked.

“We know you didn’t do it,” Charlotte said.

Maddie smiled, and her eyes welled with unshed tears. She blinked them away and laid a hand on top of Charlotte’s hand. “You have no idea what it means to me to have your support,” she said. “All of you. Josh’s law office has an investigator—he’s a former police officer from Portland. Josh says he’s very good. I guess I’m just going to have to have faith that he can find out who really killed Arthur.”

Rose looked up the table at Charlotte, who shook her head so slightly. I would have missed it if I hadn’t been looking in her direction.

“Why don’t we eat?” I said, reaching for my own napkin. I was happy the idea of Rose and the others playing detective had been put to rest for the moment, but I’d seen the look exchanged between Rose and Charlotte, and I knew they hadn’t given up on the idea.

I picked up one of the platters of sandwiches and offered it to Maddie. She took half a ham and Swiss and smiled at me. “Sarah, I love your shop,” she said. “Where do you get everything?”

“Yard sales and flea markets,” I said, taking half a roast beef, tomato and dill pickle sandwich for myself. “We buy things from people who are moving to a smaller house or into assisted living, or just clearing out the old to bring in the new.” I gestured with one hand. “Pretty much everywhere.”

Avery blew through the door then. She was wearing skinny black jeans and a gray-and-black-checked jacket, and she had her backpack slung over one shoulder. “Most boring morning ever, and I’m starving,” she said. “I forgot my lunch but Mac said there’s food back here.” She caught sight of Maddie and skidded to a stop on the concrete floor. She looked at me. “Sorry, Sarah. I didn’t know you were busy.”

“It’s all right,” I said.

“Hello, Mrs. H.,” she said. “I heard what happened. I’m sorry. It bites.”

“Yes, it does,” Maddie said. She gestured at Avery’s left wrist. “I like your bracelets. Where did you get them?”

Avery held up her arm. She had four brightly colored fabric bracelets around her wrist. “I made them.”

“How did you get the material to hold its shape after you twisted it?” Maddie asked, leaning forward for a closer look.

Avery stretched her arm across the table. “It took a few tries,” she said. She pushed the top bracelet of the stack up her arm a little. “See, this one isn’t as tight. But I figured out that if I wet the fabric and let it dry all twisted, the bracelet held together better.”

She was leaning over my plate as Maddie studied the red-and-black fabric. I grabbed my cup and plate and nudged my chair back.

“Take my seat, Avery,” I said.

She turned her head for a second to look at me. “Oh, hey, thanks,” she said, pushing her hair out of her eyes with one hand. I moved over and slid an empty plate across the tabletop to Avery.

“Nonna says you have a big flower garden,” Avery said to Maddie.

She nodded. “Yes, I do.”

“Have you ever used marigold petals to dye fabric?” Avery asked. She slipped her backpack off her shoulder onto the floor.

“No,” Maddie said, reaching for her cup. “But I have used turmeric to dye cotton fabric. It gave me a lovely yellow color.”

“Seriously?” Avery said, reaching for a sandwich. “How long did it take?”

Avery and Maddie spent the next five minutes talking about dyeing fabric. Avery ate a sandwich and a half while peppering Maddie with questions. Finally I leaned over and touched her arm. “Go give Mac a hand,” I said. “I can hear customers.”

“Okay,” she said, jumping to her feet and swinging the backpack up on her shoulder again. “I’m so glad I got to see you,” she said to Maddie. “Maybe I could come over and see your garden sometime.”

Maddie smiled. “I’d like that,” she said. “I’m glad I got to see you, too.”

Avery headed for the front of the store as Elvis wandered in, stopping to rub against my leg before walking around the table and jumping up onto Maddie’s lap. He tucked his front paws underneath himself and started to purr.

“I was thinking about getting a cat,” she said as she stroked Elvis’s fur, “but Arthur was a dog person.”

“How did you and Arthur meet?” I asked.

Rose had slipped out and made a fresh pot of tea. She was moving around the table, filling everyone’s cups, and I smiled a thank-you at her as she got to me.

“We met at a fund-raiser for the Botanic Garden. We were at the same table.” Her free hand traced the edge of her plate. “He told me later he switched his place card with someone else’s because he wanted to meet me.” She had been staring down at the table, but now she looked up at me. “Of course, now I know he wasn’t really interested in me at all.” The color was high in her cheeks. “There’s no fool like an old fool,” she said softly. She looked away again.

“You’re not an old fool,” Charlotte said at once.

“Aren’t I?” Maddie said. “I wasn’t some love-struck teenager. I’m a grown woman who should have known better.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Liz said. “It looks like Arthur Fenety had been charming women out of their money for a long time. He’d had a lot of practice.”

“Maddie, did you give him any money?” I asked. I felt a little awkward asking the question, but I wanted to make sure she wasn’t in any kind of financial trouble. And I still had the feeling she wasn’t being totally frank. She seemed to have trouble looking me in the eye for very long.

She reached for her tea, still stroking Elvis’s fur with her other hand. His eyes were closed in kitty bliss. “No, Sarah, I didn’t,” she said. “The only thing Arthur ever said about money to me was on the day he . . . died.”

“What did he say?” I asked.

“Just that he was going out of town for a couple of days because he had some investments he had to see to.”

“Did he say what kind of investments?” Liz asked.

Maddie shook her head. “No. He was singing when he got to my house. I asked him what had him in such a good mood and he said he’d finally figured out what was important in life.” She looked down at the table once more. “He said he had to go out of town to take care of some investments, but after that he was moving to North Harbor for good.”

“Did he get any phone calls while he was with you?” I asked.

She looked up at me. “Not as far as I know, but I was inside cooking, so I guess he could have. I told you that it took longer than I’d expected to make the omelets. First, the burner on my stove wasn’t working properly, and then the phone rang.”

She was still petting Elvis, but he’d stopped purring, I realized. He’d stayed stretched out on Maddie’s lap, but something had clearly annoyed him. His face was scrunched up in a sour expression like he’d just caught of whiff of something he didn’t like. And maybe he had, for all I knew. He could smell a rodent a good forty feet away.

I got to my feet, gathered my dishes and set them on the old sewing table. Then I walked around the table and lifted Elvis off of Maddie’s lap. “Go help Avery in the store,” I said, setting him on the floor. I made a shooing motion with one hand. He made a face back at me, shook his head and headed across the concrete floor toward the door.

Maddie looked tired. There were pinched lines around her mouth and dark circles like smudges of ash under her eyes. “I didn’t poison Arthur, Sarah,” she said.

“He was poisoned?”

She nodded. “The police said it was in his coffee, some kind of pesticide that was banned a couple of years ago.”

I heard Charlotte catch her breath, and at the end of the table Rose was shaking her head. Charlotte cleared her throat. “What kind of pesticide?” she asked.

Maddie played with the strap of her watch. “I don’t know,” she said, looking at her friend. “Something they used to sell to keep slugs off roses, I think.” She shook her head. “They think because of the garden that I had whatever chemical it was, even though you can’t buy it anymore. But I didn’t. I’ve never used any chemicals on my plants and I didn’t put anything in Arthur’s coffee.”

I bent down, put my arms around her shoulders and gave her a hug. “Everyone here knows that,” I said. “And when Josh shows that you don’t have any connection to that pesticide, whatever it is, that will go a long way to proving your innocence.”

I finished clearing the table and carried everything up to the staff room. When I came down, Maddie had her jacket on and she and Liz were standing by the front door with Charlotte.

“We’re going now,” Liz said. “I’m going to walk Maddie to Charlotte’s house.”

“I’ll drive you,” I said. “Just let me run upstairs and get my purse and my keys.”

Maddie caught my arm. “Thank you,” she said, “but I really want to walk after being . . . inside all night.”

“Okay,” I said.

“Thank you for everything, Sarah,” she said, folding me into a hug.

“You’d do the same for me,” I whispered against her cheek.

Maddie and Liz headed off down the sidewalk, and I was about to go back up to my office to deal with a morning’s worth of messages, when I caught sight of another tour bus pulling into the parking lot.

Charlotte was already showing a man and woman a washstand I’d painted black and stenciled with silver stars. Avery and Rose were with a young woman with spiky lime green hair, looking at a pretty decent beginner-level guitar. Elvis was sitting in the tub chair, washing his face. The messages would have to wait.

The second bunch of leaf peepers spent even more than the first had and I wished I’d planted more teacup gardens. They’d all sold and I probably could have sold half a dozen more if I’d had them. Once the store cleared Mac went out to work on the table a little more. I sent Avery to plant some more cups, and left Rose dusting.

“Yell if you need me,” I told her. She waved her dust cloth at me and I headed up the stairs.

When I came back down about an hour and a half later Liz was back. She’d changed into black trousers and a loose white shirt with a denim jacket. She and Rose were sitting in the tub chair with Elvis between them. Avery was cross-legged on the floor at their feet, and Charlotte was leaning against the cash desk.