Pawsibly Murdered

by Harper Lin

  “No. There was not much in there. I sure would like to get a look at the books Jake and Blake collected. That might help us out a good deal.”

  “I’ll talk to Jake, but…” Bea shrugged.

  “No. He can’t know. If anyone gets wind that he is helping a suspect in a murder because of his personal ties, it could ruin his career and my chance to clear my name.” Aunt Astrid shook her head. “I can’t think while my head is pounding. Let’s just try to make it through today. Hopefully, tomorrow we’ll all be feeling better.”

  “I wonder if what we are feeling is why no one was buying any of Niles’s things,” I said. “We’ve got the additional burden of heightened psychic or telekinetic senses, but regular people were probably just getting creeped out.”

  “That could be,” my aunt answered.

  “I wonder how the rest of the sale turned out,” I mused. In the back of my mind, I remembered talking with Dot, the estate sale coordinator. She was there in the house all day. I wondered if she’d heard anything at all while she was working.

  The business card she’d given me was still in the back pocket of my jeans. I pulled it out and looked at the name: Dorothy “Dot” McGill. Estate Sale Coordinator. Treasure Chest Estate Sales.

  Since Bea had to worry about Jake, and Aunt Astrid had to worry about herself, I felt it was up to me. Besides, anything that kept my mind off the terrible meeting of the mother was welcomed.

  We had a fairly busy day at the café. Thankfully, by quitting time, we were all feeling much better. At lunchtime, Aunt Astrid stuck with the Alka-Seltzer, and Bea drank so much tea her eyes were floating. I went and got a hamburger down the street, and it cured me almost instantly. While I was out, I also put a call in to Dot. Maybe she’d tell me if she had encountered anything weird while at Niles’s house.

  “Oh yes. I remember you. You bought the bookcase.”

  “That’s right,” I said.

  “How’s it working out for you?”

  “It looks just perfect. I needed something to brighten up a dreary corner, and it did just the trick.”

  “That’s great. What can I do for you?”

  “Well, I’ve got a strange request.”

  Without giving away everything we had learned over the past couple of days, I inquired about the sales.

  “A friend of mine was at the house and said she had a weird feeling about the whole house and that was why she didn’t buy anything. Did you feel any kind of strange sensations? Vibes? Anything?”

  “You know, it’s funny you should say that,” Dot replied.

  My heart jumped.

  “When we first got to the house, we had to do a survey of everything.”

  She mentioned going out into the backyard and considering including some of the lawn decorations.

  “I think they were anchored in the ground. If there was ever a tornado, those suckers weren’t going to budge.” She chuckled. “But the really strange thing was the body shape dug in the ground.”

  “The what?”

  “It was the strangest thing I ever saw. You know how when we were kids and it snowed, we’d go out, fall on our backs in the snow, and make snow angels?”

  “Sure I do.”

  “Well, this was like someone fell in the mud and left a perfect imprint of the body going down about four feet.”

  “In the mud?”

  “Yup. I had one of my guys fill it up with dirt and make it look like someone had been digging but hadn’t finished the project. It was creepy.”

  “I’ll bet.” I wrote down what Dot was telling me.

  “And you went upstairs, so you saw the doll room. That was enough to make me throw back a double shot after work. Even though I have to admit that many men like Mr. Freudenfur have doll collections.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know, guys who prefer to be more feminine. I’m not very PC. But you know what I mean.”

  “They have doll collections?”

  “Many of them do. I think it stems from their childhood. But I’m no shrink. Just an estate sale coordinator.”

  “Did any of the dolls sell?”

  “No. We ended up donating them to Macey’s Resale Shop. They were happy to have them along with the other things that didn’t sell. The entire endeavor was a bust.”

  “Dot, I don’t want to keep you any longer, but can I ask who contacted you to organize the sale? It couldn’t have been Niles.” I laughed, uncomfortable.

  “No, of course not.” I could hear her smiling on the other end of the phone. “It was Patrick Fouts. All he did was pay us. He didn’t stop in. We didn’t meet with him. If it weren’t for his payment, the entire sale would have been a big bust. I wouldn’t know him if he came up and bit me, but I’m truly thankful for him.”

  “Why do you think he arranged it that way?”

  “He said it was too painful to come back in the house.”

  I nodded. That was a believable excuse. A sad one too.

  “One last thing. Did you or any of your people hear any strange sounds around the house?”

  “What? Like creaking floor boards or slamming doors?”

  “Anything that you couldn’t explain.”

  “Not that I can recall. But we weren’t there at night. I made sure of that. The place was weird enough with the sun shining. I didn’t want to be around when the sun went down. Call me crazy, but I believe in the paranormal, and when a person dies alone in a house, there has got to be something left behind.”

  If only you were Tom’s mother, I thought. I thanked Dot and wished her better luck at her next sale. When I hung up, I’d already decided to go to Macey’s Resale Shop and see if there was anything we missed.

  14

  Fouts

  “It’s a complete mess,” Jake grumbled when I walked into Bea’s house later that evening.

  “Hello. Is this a bad time?” I asked before making my way into the kitchen.

  “No, honey,” Bea called. “Are you hungry?”

  “That depends on what you are cooking.”

  I stepped in and saw Blake was there too. Of course he was. He was Jake’s partner, and they were glued at the hip.

  She huffed. “It’s vegetarian lasagna. One of Jake’s favorites.” She tousled his hair.

  “Oh, so cute. Aren’t they cute, Blake? That’s cute. Too cute. So darn cute.”

  Bea stuck her tongue out at me and went back to her oven to check on her meal.

  “What’s a complete mess?” I said to Jake. “Besides your face, I mean.”

  Jake gave me that sideways look of annoyance.

  “It seems the books we pulled from the Freudenfur crime scene were contaminated,” Blake answered.

  “Oh no. You mean someone tampered with the evidence?”

  “No.” Jake shook his head. “He means literally contaminated. There is this brownish green substance that has practically eaten away every book we carried out of the place. We had to get the poison-control people to the station. There were people walking around in hazardous material suits. Biohazard bags were being dumped in a giant waste disposal truck. I was sure Blake and I were going to have to get a Karen Silkwood shower. But thankfully no one thought that was necessary.”

  “And that isn’t all,” Blake interrupted. For as aggravated as Jake was, Blake was as calm as a Trappist monk. “We had a fellow come into the station to report a prowler on his property the past couple of days and then asking about Niles and if the house was finally empty. When we asked him why he wanted to know, he said that he’d driven by and seen someone lurking around.”

  I looked at Bea and held my breath.

  “What did he say he saw?” I was ready to deny everything even if the witness said that he saw three women and three cats running for their lives.

  “This is good.” Jake shook his head. “The guy said he saw a man covered from head to toe in a muddy, sludgy substance and that he was standing in the middle of the yard, just staring at him.”
>
  “So what did you tell him?” I let my breath out slowly.

  “We told him to quit drinking and that if he came into the police department with another story like that, we were going to throw him in the drunk tank until he dried out.” Jake smirked.

  “Was he drunk?” I asked.

  “We didn’t smell any alcohol on him. But he was obviously seeing things.”

  “Did you get the guy’s name?” I was just wondering if maybe it was a client of Niles’s or just a passerby.

  “Patrick Fouts.”

  Bea dropped the lid of her pan, making such a clatter that we all jumped.

  “You okay, Busy-Bea?” Jake asked.

  “My hands are wet,” she lied.

  The guys didn’t seem to notice anything wrong.

  Beverly, who had given Aunt Astrid Patrick’s name, had said he sounded like someone who held himself in very high regard. But according to Jake’s description, he was an annoying, possibly drunk person.

  Jake changed the subject. “Hey, Bea said you were meeting Tom’s mother yesterday. How did it go?”

  I looked at Blake as if I had been hiding something. I wasn’t. I just didn’t go out of my way to tell him anything about my personal life. He had his chance, but he’d blown it.

  Technically, it was his doppelgänger that blew it, but I couldn’t go backward. Yes, at one time, I had feelings for Blake. Sometimes, during special occasions like Christmas or Valentine’s Day, I might feel a twinge of regret that I hadn’t worked harder to get to know him.

  But then he would open his mouth and say something so crazy or so emotionless that it would make my skin crawl.

  Of course, he wasn’t always like that. Sometimes when he decided to rattle off some strange facts or stats, it came across as downright funny. There were times I could never tell if he were really being serious or saying these things just to make me laugh.

  The proud part of me said he liked making me laugh. But the practical side of me always insisted that he was doing it to show how much smarter he was than me. I never had a head for book smarts.

  “It was okay, I guess,” I replied to Jake’s question.

  “You guess? Tell me straight, Cath. Was she mean to you? I’ll make sure no matter where she goes, she’ll be racking up the speeding tickets.”

  “No.” I smiled. “You aren’t that kind of cop, Jake. I wouldn’t expect you to do that for me. Besides, maybe she was having a bad day. Sometimes you can be excited about something and you get a flat tire or bad hair. Suddenly, that thing you were waiting to do has become a big burden.”

  “What did she say to you?” Blake asked. He looked as if he really wanted to know. I didn’t want to get so far into it with him. So I just repeated the part about the doctor and lawyer spouses.

  “I guess working at the Brew-Ha-Ha isn’t high-end enough.” I shrugged.

  “But Tom doesn’t have a problem with it at all,” Bea said. “He knows what you are and what you are all about, and he accepts it.”

  “He did. I don’t know if he still does. Mothers can be very persuasive.”

  I didn’t want to say anything, but Tom had also said he was going to call me tonight, but he hadn’t. Sure, he was a cop, and their hours were not set in stone. But I knew it wasn’t because of work.

  Right now, Tom was probably sitting with a couple of his buddies, going over our date and saying the exact same things.

  “You know, Cath, I’m going to tell you something that might help,” Jake said. “You know how Bea worries about me every day when I go out of this house. For years, while I was still a beat cop, she fussed over me every morning or every night before I stepped out of the house. What would you do while I was gone, honey?”

  “I’d stay busy.”

  “Right. She’d busy herself with cooking fantastic meals, working at the café, and all her other hobbies until I came home. She is my wife. We’ve been together for a decade, but she will never know me as long as my mother has. Can you imagine being the mother of a police officer?”

  I smiled at Jake. His explanation for Patience’s attitude came into clearer focus.

  “Every day, she’s away from him. She can’t let her life stand still, so she goes on her trips and does her shopping and maybe dotes on the other siblings a little more. Not because she really loves them more. But in her way, she wants Tom to leave law enforcement. If he wants the attention she’s giving the others, he’ll leave law enforcement.”

  “I don’t think Tom will ever do that,” I said.

  “Probably not. He’s a good cop and well respected.”

  Even Blake nodded at this fact.

  “But that won’t stop his mother from trying to get him to leave it. Not because she doesn’t love him but because she does.”

  I didn’t say anything. But I felt a little bit like dirt.

  “Just imagine every day when the phone rings, wondering if this is that call. The one that says her boy has been shot. It would kill her. It would kill any mother.”

  “Thanks, Jake. Now I feel like a real jerk for complaining.” I looked at my cousin’s tear-streaked face. “And you made Bea cry. Good going.”

  Jake looked at Bea, smiled, took her hand, and kissed it.

  “I’m just telling you, Cath, to give the woman a break. It isn’t you. It’s the fact that you accept Tom as a cop. I think you kind of like it that he’s a cop. Since you and your cousin are always sticking your noses in police business, it helps to know a few guys on the force.”

  “I do accept him as a cop,” I admitted. “What am I supposed to do? Tell him to change his career for me?”

  “If you did, I guarantee his mother would be buying the wedding ring for Tom to give to you.”

  “Do you think you guys will be getting married?” Blake blurted out.

  “No.” I shook my head. “There has been no talk about that except from Bea and Aunt Astrid. They talk marriage a lot more than me.”

  “Aunt Astrid is talking about you getting married to Tom?” Blake looked shocked, as if that was something he’d never expect my aunt to talk about, along with flashing gang signs.

  “Actually, now that you mention it, it is really only Bea who is pushing it.” I smirked at her.

  “I can’t help it. You are perfect together. Tom’s mom will see how wonderful you are the next time you visit her.” Bea snapped her fingers. “In fact, you should make a point to see her, maybe without Tom.”

  “That would be a nice gesture,” Jake said. “Just remember that a mother never stops worrying. Even more so the mother of a cop.”

  “Thanks, Jake.” I gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Maybe I will do that. I could bring her some flowers. The grocery store has beautiful roses this time of year.”

  Just then, the timer went off for Bea’s vegetable lasagna.

  Blake helped me set the dishes around the table, which was next to the patio door. I didn’t want to talk about Niles Freudenfur anymore until I had Bea alone. So I sat back and listened to the details about another case that Blake and Jake were involved in.

  “This was one of those typical robberies gone wrong. But the interesting thing was our suspect is over sixty years old. He’s built like Bruce Lee. I mean, there isn’t an ounce of fat on his body, and here he is, robbing stores.”

  “That’s motivation to get in shape if I ever heard it.” Bea laughed. “When the bad guys are working out more than you, you need to climb aboard the pain train.” She poked Jake in the side.

  “They caught him carrying three thirty-six-inch televisions from Dave’s House of Electronics using nothing more than his hands.”

  “Did he have Bruce Lee’s moves?” I asked.

  “Thank goodness, no.” Jake laughed. “I’d be in big trouble if he had.”

  “Do you like Bruce Lee movies?” Blake asked.

  “I do. It’s a guilty passion. I love kung fu. I just love the stories. I know they are all the same, but they are so much fun.”

 
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kung fu movie,” Bea piped up.

  “Bea only likes a movie if you need a hankie while watching it,” I said.

  “That’s not true.” She pouted while pulling aluminum foil off the dish that had been in the oven.

  “What’s your favorite movie?” I prodded.

  “Steel Magnolias.”

  “Cry-fest. Second favorite?”

  “Fried Green Tomatoes.”

  “Pass the tissues, please!” I laughed. “Okay, when no one is around, what is your favorite movie to watch when you can’t sleep?”

  She thought for a moment then started to laugh.

  “Little Women.” She giggled.

  “The one with Elizabeth Taylor?” I asked.

  “There is no other one.”

  “Right. Let me just use my sleeve as I try to control the waterworks.”

  We laughed as we all sat down to eat.

  Dinner was fun, but as the guys hung around, I was getting antsy to talk to Bea alone. It was obvious she could sense it. But I didn’t really like her method of getting us some privacy.

  “Cath needs to talk to me, so if you guys will excuse us,” she blurted out.

  “About what?” Jake asked, knowing it would make me embarrassed.

  “Um… cramps.” Bea stuttered.

  I glared at her as she grabbed my hand and pulled me upstairs to her bedroom.

  “Cramps? That’s the best you could do?” I put my hand to my cheek to try to bring the bright-red color down.

  “Well, at least you know they won’t come up here if they think that is what we are talking about.”

  My cousin had a point there. So I shrugged then proceeded to tell her what I heard from Dot.

  “A form of a man in the dirt? That’s weird.”

  “Have you ever heard of such a thing?” I asked.

  “No, but I’ll bet Mom has. And how much do you want to bet that it has something to do with The Sequence of Ursaken?”

  Bea and I talked for a little while longer then decided to call it a night. We’d tell Aunt Astrid what we talked about in the morning. So I gave an awkward farewell to the boys, and wouldn’t you know it, Blake decided he was leaving too.