by Sofie Kelly
“Mrr,” he agreed.
I thought about how many times Owen had ended up at the building and not been on his best behavior. There was the first time, when he’d stowed away in my bag and then launched himself onto conductor Gregor Easton’s head. Of course, that had led, indirectly, to me meeting Marcus, so I couldn’t really be mad about that. And I knew that I was lucky to live in a place where people wouldn’t be that surprised by a cat at the library, where he really shouldn’t be.
Fifteen minutes later I was pulling into the library parking lot, just five minutes late in getting back.
“You have to get in the bag if you’re going inside,” I told Owen, reaching for the shopping bag I kept under the seat as much for wayward cats as for groceries.
I made my way across the lot and into the building, watching out for any patrons. It was one thing for the staff to know Owen was in the building, but I didn’t think it was a good idea to broadcast that information to everyone else.
There was no one near the circulation desk when I stepped inside. I waved to Mia, who was on the phone, and made it all the way to the top of the steps before I met Susan on her way down.
She grinned at me. “Hi, Kath, what’s in the bag? Did you bring something to share with the class?” she teased.
I knew she had to have guessed that I had a bag of cat, but all I said was, “Stuff.”
Susan slid her glasses down her nose and looked at me over the top of them. “What kind of stuff?”
I narrowed my gaze at her. “Librarian stuff.”
She glanced down at the bag and started to laugh. “Sorry, Kathleen,” she chortled, “but the cat’s out of the bag.”
It was.
Literally. Owen had managed to poke his head out, collar and all.
“Hey, Owen,” Susan said.
He meowed a hello back.
Susan headed down the steps laughing. Over her shoulder she said, “Cat’s out of the bag, Kathleen. I’ve been waiting months to use that one.”
She was having so much fun I couldn’t help laughing, and even Owen seemed to be amused.
• • •
Just before we closed the building I called Rebecca to ask if I could drop by with the parcel I’d signed for. I explained it was from Matthew.
“Of course you could,” she said. “Thank you for collecting it from Sandra. I wonder what he sent me.”
“I’ll see you soon, and you can find out,” I said.
“Kathleen, how’s Owen?” Rebecca asked.
“Roma just checked him out a little while ago,” I said. “He’s healing well. In fact right now he’s sitting in the middle of my desk pushing the pens on the floor.” I explained about the jackknifed truck holding up traffic.
“Don’t leave him in your truck. Bring him up to say hello.”
I hesitated. “You know what Owen is like,” I said. “He’ll nose around every inch of the apartment.”
“I don’t mind a bit,” she said. “And you know that cats are good for a person’s mental health. They lower stress levels and anxiety.”
Trying to win an argument with Rebecca was like trying to win one with Owen. It wasn’t going to happen. “All right,” I said. “I wouldn’t want you to be stressed and anxious.”
“Thank you, dear,” she said. “You’re so thoughtful.”
“And Owen does want to thank you for the chicken. This way he won’t have to write a thank-you note.”
Rebecca laughed. I told her we’d be there within a half hour and we said good-bye.
About fifteen minutes later I was doing my last quick survey of the main floor of the building when I noticed Mia standing by the main entrance, making a face at her phone. I walked over to her. “Is everything okay?” I asked.
“Dad’s still at his office and he wants me to meet him there.”
“It’s raining. I’ll give you a ride,” I said.
She smiled. “Thank you, but I really wanted to go see Grandpa.” She sighed. “Dad says he’ll only be another twenty minutes but I know what that means. I’ll be stuck there for at least an hour.” She made a face. “You know how Einstein proposed in the theory of relativity that time is a relative concept?”
I nodded. I did know that—from a college physics class years ago, and I was impressed that Mia did as well.
She glanced at her phone before looking at me again. “Well, when I’m waiting for Dad I definitely experience time dilation, because it definitely slows down for me.”
I smiled at her. “I’m going to take a package to Rebecca Henderson. She told me your grandfather is staying in the other apartment there. Text your dad and see if it’s okay if you come with me and he can pick you up there.”
A smile started to spread across the teen’s face. “Are you sure?” she asked.
“Positive.” There was a muffled meow from my canvas tote. “So is Owen.”
She laughed and bent her head over her phone to text Simon. Then she looked at me. “Five, four, three, two, one,” she counted down. Her phone rang. “Dad,” she said.
Mia answered the call, listened for a moment and then said, “Okay.” She held the phone out to me.
“Hi, Kathleen,” he said. “Are you sure you don’t mind dropping off Mia at her grandfather’s?”
“I don’t,” I said. “I have to take a parcel to Rebecca. And she didn’t ask. I offered, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
He laughed. “You’re getting to know me too well. I appreciate this, Kathleen.”
“It’s no problem,” I said, thinking that actually most of the time I felt as though I barely knew Simon Janes at all.
I handed the cell phone back to Mia, who told her father she’d see him later.
I finished my circuit of the main floor, shut off the lights, locked the doors and set the alarm. Then the three of us made a mad dash for the truck across the puddle-splattered parking lot. Once we were inside the truck I set the canvas tote on my lap and helped Owen out. “That collar makes a pretty good umbrella,” I said to him. He cocked his head as he seemed to consider the point.
I set the cat on the seat next to me and introduced him properly to Mia.
“Nice to meet you, Owen,” she said, as though she were meeting another person. Then again, both Owen and Hercules considered themselves to be people, so it wasn’t that odd, I told myself.
The rain pounded on the roof of the truck as we headed across town. Water was pooling in places on the road already.
“If Dad wasn’t so paranoid about me driving in the dark and the rain . . . and, well, ever . . . I just could have taken the car and gone back to get him later,” Mia said. “He’s so . . . old about some things.”
I laughed. “I think it’s a father/daughter thing. My dad was the same way when I was your age. The first time I drove from Boston to Cape Cod by myself—which is only about an hour-and-a-half drive—I found out later that he literally sat next to the phone until I got there and called to say I was fine, and when the phone rang he made Mom answer it so I wouldn’t know he’d been hovering there the whole time.”
“The first time I drove by myself at night—which was just down to the community center—I found out after that Dad borrowed someone’s car and followed me to make sure I made it safely.”
I glanced over at her. She rolled her eyes. “It’s a good thing he’s not a detective, because he sucked at it. I recognized the car right away. It belonged to his assistant. There’s a big Minnesota Wild bumper sticker on the front fender—‘Wild’ in big red letters.”
“He loves you,” I said.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw her smile. “Yeah, I know that,” she said. “It’s just, you know, sometimes it would be better if he could just do it from a distance.”
A vehicle passed us then, headed in the opposite direction, driving a
bit too fast for the weather. It sped through a large puddle in a low spot on the road, sending dirty water splashing on the windshield like it was thrown from a bucket. Just as the water hit, I realized it was Harry Taylor in the truck and wondered where he was going in such a rush. I didn’t think the storm was going to ease up like the forecast had predicted. My left wrist, which was a pretty good weather predictor since it had been broken, still ached, which told me that there was still more wet weather ahead.
I was about to turn the corner when a woman darted out in front of me. She was wearing a dark raincoat and holding a big black umbrella, head down, walking rapidly. I hit the brakes. Luckily I wasn’t going very fast thanks to the rain. The woman glanced in my direction but didn’t give any sign that she recognized how close she’d come to being hit. Beside me Mia put a hand on the dashboard and put her left arm out in front of Owen. He managed to right himself and stay on the seat despite the abrupt stop. But he was annoyed and made it very clear with a loud meow.
“What’s wrong with people?” Mia said. “She didn’t even look. You could have run her over.”
I nodded. “So remember to look both ways when you’re walking, especially when it’s raining.” I looked at her, realizing that I sounded like a preachy adult and gave her a sheepish smile. “Sorry. I think I was channeling my mother there.”
Mia smiled back at me. “It’s okay,” she said.
I glanced in the rearview mirror. There was something familiar about the hooded woman under the big umbrella heading down the street, something about the way she moved that I couldn’t place.
Finally, I pulled in at the curb in front of Everett’s house. Owen went into the bag without argument, first looking out the windshield and making a sour face at the rain.
Mia grabbed Rebecca’s parcel from the floor mat on her side. “I’ll bring this,” she said.
We made a mad dash for the door, sprinting through the raindrops, sending water splashing onto our jackets. I caught sight of something on the sidewalk—a scarf maybe, probably Rebecca’s. I grabbed the wet fabric and stuffed it in my pocket. Inside the entry Mia pushed her grandfather’s bell. I could hear Owen making grumbling noises in the bag. I pulled the scarf that I’d used to keep him dry off the top. “I think you’re fine,” I said. The look he gave me made it clear he didn’t agree.
We waited but Leo didn’t come to let us in. Mia pulled out her phone and sent her grandfather a text. There was no response. “He’s probably listening to music with the headphones on,” she said. “I’ll just go outside and knock on his window. That’s what I did the last time. He gets so caught up in the music he forgets about everything else.”
I put a hand on her arm. “It’s raining too hard to do that. Hang on a minute.” I leaned over to push Rebecca’s doorbell and in a moment I could see her through the glass in the door, coming down the stairs to let us in.
She opened the door and smiled at us. “Hello, Mia,” she said. “Did you come to see your grandfather?”
Mia nodded. “I think he has his headphones on. He didn’t hear when I rang his bell.”
Rebecca nodded. “I came up behind him yesterday when he was headed up the walkway and I almost scared him out of his shoes.” She leaned down and smiled at Owen. “Hello, Owen,” she said. “Thank you for coming to see me. Even injured you look as dashing as ever.” She straightened and I was the focus of her smile. “Hello, Kathleen. Thank you for making the trip over here on such a wet night.”
“I don’t mind,” I said.
We stepped inside and Mia handed Rebecca the padded envelope from Matthew.
“I wonder what he sent me this time,” she said, turning the package over in her hands.
I glanced down the hall, wondering why Leo hadn’t heard us by now and come out of the apartment. At that moment I felt the tote bag wriggle beside me. Before I could react Owen had jumped out and was heading down the hall to our left.
“Owen!” I called sharply.
He ignored me.
“It’s all right, Kathleen,” Rebecca said. “He can’t get outside. He just wants to explore.”
“I know. That’s what I’m afraid of,” I said.
We moved down the hall and found the cat sitting in front of the door to Leo Janes’s apartment in his green fabric collar. He turned to look up at me and made a low murp. I knew that sound. Something was wrong. I felt my chest get heavy, like a large rock had just settled on it.
“Kathleen, can I take Owen in so Grandpa can meet him?” Mia asked.
The apartment door was pulled to, but not actually closed, I realized.
The hairs rose on the back of my neck. I tried to keep my expression neutral as I put a hand on Mia’s arm. “Wait here with Rebecca for a minute,” I said.
She leaned around me. “Why?”
“Stay here. Just for a minute.”
I shifted my gaze to Rebecca, who put her hands on Mia’s shoulders. “What’s wrong?” the teen asked, fear making her voice sharp and loud. “Do you think something happened to Grandpa? Is he sick?” She tried to move forward but Rebecca slipped one arm around her shoulders and held her in place.
It seemed to me I could actually hear my own heart hammering in my chest. “Let me find out,” I said.
Mia pressed her lips together and I saw the tears standing in her eyes. She nodded.
I moved over to the door. “Stay with Rebecca,” I said to Owen, who had stayed in front of the door the whole time like he was guarding it. Now he moved over to stand next to Rebecca and Mia.
I knocked on the door. “Leo,” I called. “It’s Kathleen Paulson.”
There was no answer.
I pushed the door open and stepped inside. Please don’t let this be bad, I prayed silently. Please let me find Mia’s grandfather listening to John Coltrane with his headphones on.
But it was bad.
Leo was lying on the floor. I made my way carefully across the room to the man. I bent down and felt for a pulse and confirmed what I already knew.
Leo Janes was dead.
chapter 4
I took a slow, shaky breath and then another one. Leo was lying partly on his side, partly on his back, his head turned to the right. I could see some kind of injury to the back of his head. A sculpture about a foot and a half high lay on the floor nearby, two twists of angular metal curved around a central copper disk. There was blood on the curved edge of metal on one side. The sculpture had to be what had caused that injury.
My stomach clenched. I looked away and took another deep breath. “Safe journey,” I whispered.
I stood up and looked around. Nothing seemed to be disturbed in the small apartment other than a photo that was lying on its side on a dark wooden table behind Leo Janes’s body, knocked over maybe when he was attacked. The black-and-white, smiling image of a young woman in its inexpensive plastic department-store frame seemed a little out of place next to the other photo on the table—a candid shot of Simon and Mia. That photo had been matted and framed in a sleek metal frame. I wondered who the woman in the old photo was, maybe someone from Leo’s past he’d been hoping to reconnect with while he was in town. I felt the prickle of tears but I blinked them away. Rebecca and Mia were waiting.
I stepped back into the hallway. Rebecca still had her arms around Mia. The teen’s eyes darted all around. “Where’s Grandpa?” she immediately asked. She tried to pull away but Rebecca kept her arms around the teen.
“Kathleen, where’s Grandpa?” Mia asked again in a shaky voice.
I took both of her hands in mine. No matter what I said, the words were going to be wrong. “I’m sorry,” I began. I stopped and swallowed a couple of times.
Mia had gone rigid, so pale that I was afraid she was going to pass out.
“Sweetie, he’s gone.”
“No.” Her voice was so quiet I almost missed the word.
Mia shook her head, repeating “No” over and over as tears begin to slide down her face. She tried to take a step toward the apartment pulling against Rebecca’s grasp. I folded her into my arms and she slumped against me, trembling with silent sobs. Rebecca’s eyes met mine over the top of Mia’s head. She shook her own head and gently rubbed Mia’s back.
“My phone is in my pocket,” I said, poking the right side of my jacket with my elbow. Rebecca reached over, pulled out my cell and took a few steps away from us. Owen leaned against my leg. I laid my cheek against the top of Mia’s head and wished there was some way I could fix everything.
After a minute Rebecca walked back over to us. “The police are on the way,” she said. “And I hope you don’t mind, I called Marcus.”
“I’m glad you did,” I said. She slipped the phone back into my pocket.
“Take her upstairs, please,” I said.
Mia lifted her face. It was wet with tears and smudged makeup. “No,” she said vehemently. “I’m not going anywhere.” She fixed her gaze on me. “You can’t make me leave.”
I looked at Rebecca, who gave her head a little shake. I turned my attention back to Mia. “The police are coming. When they get here I’m going to need to talk to them. And it’s going to get really chaotic here. Please, go upstairs with Rebecca.”
“I won’t leave Grandpa by himself,” Mia said. I recognized the stubborn set of her jaw and the flash in her eyes. In that moment she reminded me so much of Simon. There was a lump in the back of my throat that I couldn’t seem to get rid of no matter how many times I tried to swallow it down. For a moment I was hit with the feeling that I couldn’t do this.
I imagined my mother, what she’d do and say if she were here, and then I steadied myself. I knew she would tell me to just put one foot in front of the other. “He won’t be alone. I’ll stay with him,” I said. I looked Mia in the eye. “I promise.”
I could hear the sirens getting closer. I wiped the tears from Mia’s face with my hand. “Go with Rebecca.”
Mia swallowed and pressed her lips together. Then she nodded. I handed her off to Rebecca. They headed for the stairs and Owen followed, looking back over his shoulder at me before making his way up the steps.
