The Cat, The Professor and the Poison

by Leann Sweeney

  “Why did you and Evan decide to go there in the first place?” I asked.

  “The notebook. We thought we could find it and solve everything,” Kara said. “But Patrick told us that Lieber took any evidence of his relationship to VanKleet with him the day he killed the professor.”

  “And probably destroyed everything the minute he got the chance,” Candace said. “Guess you didn’t think we knew how to search a house, huh?”

  “I was so focused on gathering evidence myself—for the book—that I put both Evan and me in danger. We made a dumb move,” Kara said.

  “Do you trust me now?” Candace said.

  “Absolutely,” Kara said. “I trust both of you—and, believe me, I haven’t trusted anyone in a very long time. It feels good to know that you guys had my back.”

  I reached over and squeezed her hand. “I will always have your back.” I looked at Candace, who seemed more relaxed than I’d seen her in days. Bet she loved taking Hoffman in.

  “I heard Hoffman shouting that he didn’t kill anyone,” I said, looking at Candace. “That’s apparently true, because Lieber told me right to my face that he killed two people. Tom probably heard him, too, though I’m not sure he remembers.”

  She said, “Good. When Lieber clams up—and I’m sure he will—we’ve got you to talk about that admission. Hoffman told us he bought the strychnine from Rufus but he gave it to Lieber. He said Rufus had no idea what it was for, but Lieber offered about twice what it was worth. Rufus couldn’t refuse with business down. When Lieber went into the house to visit the so-called lab VanKleet had created in the farmhouse, he had the poison with him.”

  “Lieber was the one who rang the doorbell during VanKleet’s call to Robin about getting more cow’s milk,” I said.

  “That’s right. I forgot about that. Anyway, I believe that when Lieber saw that filthy place and realized what he’d feared—that it was no research lab at all—he decided to use the poison. He was mad as hell and made sure VanKleet paid a horrible price for wasting his money.”

  “But Lieber seemed like such an intelligent person,” I said. “How could he have fallen for what VanKleet was selling?”

  “There may have been some good research at first,” Kara said. “According to what both Brandt and Evan told me, their father was a genius until he started skipping his meds.”

  I swished what little was left in my Coke can. “And that’s what brought Lieber down. He refused to give up on VanKleet until he was flat broke. I can see that. Being book smart doesn’t mean you’re people smart.”

  Kara and Candace nodded their agreement.

  “Poor Rufus Bowen,” I said. “I feel like I set events in motion. He got worried that the strychnine could be traced back to him, and instead of coming to you, he called Hoffman.”

  “Right,” Kara said. “When you started asking questions, Patrick told me that Rufus called him immediately and they set up a meeting. Lieber was waiting for him, not Patrick. He also said that Lieber ordered him to scare you. Patrick heard talk when he visited Belle’s Beans that you and Candace were tight, so he made a phone call to Candace’s house, too.”

  “He was hanging around town?” I said. “And Belle didn’t notice him?”

  “Guess she missed him. He claims he got familiar with the town on Lieber’s orders,” Candace said. “Lieber had something on Hoffman, but we don’t know what that is yet. I’m betting that Hoffman shouldn’t have been hired as a campus cop. Probably had an arrest in his past. When Lieber finds out that Hoffman has spilled everything, he’ll be telling us what a bad guy Hoffman is.”

  Candace said, “Lieber’s going down, but Patrick Hoffman’s not making any sweet deal where he gets off scot-free. Even if he didn’t kill anyone, he knew everything. And I saw what he did to Jillian.”

  “You collected evidence,” I said. “I’m thinking of that ski-mask fiber. Will it be used to convict Hoffman?”

  “I doubt it,” Candace said. “Confessions and guilty pleas are the best evidence we can get. But don’t think for one minute I’ll ever stop collecting anything I find that’s even remotely connected to a crime. You never know what might come in handy.”

  “Then there’s poor Sarah,” I said. “She sure knows how to pick them.”

  Kara looked at me. “Make sure I choose someone exactly like my dad, okay?”

  “There will never be another John. But you can come close.” I put my hand over hers.

  We sat in the waiting room for another two hours before the surgeon, Dr. Ellis, came to talk to us. She was a tall, commanding woman and told us about the screws and the bone repairs she had to make on Tom’s ankle. But as long as he was okay, that’s all that mattered. He would have to remain overnight but could go home tomorrow afternoon.

  “Can I stay with him?” I asked.

  “You’d do better to get some rest yourself. He’ll be well sedated and probably need your help a lot more tomorrow,” she said.

  “She’s right,” Candace said.

  I reluctantly agreed and was allowed to see Tom once he was brought to his hospital room. But he didn’t wake up when I kissed his cheek, and I could tell he’d never remember I was here. I tiptoed out, and Kara and I took the van while Candace drove the Prius back to Mercy.

  Once we reached town, Candace called me on her cell and said she’d rather stay at my place one more night. But she was stopping off for food. A cheeseburger for her, a chicken sandwich for me, and as it turned out, even Kara was hungry. But her chicken sandwich had to be grilled, not fried.

  Kara and I came in the back and were immediately met by three cats. I knelt for a petting session and praised Chablis for her help in solving the mystery. But soon she was racing down the basement stairs, no doubt to take up her vigil outside Dame Wiggins’s door.

  “What will Chablis do without Dame Wiggins?” I said as I poured dry food into the nearly empty cat bowl.

  Syrah and Merlot appreciated fresh kibble and began eating.

  “That’s what I forgot to tell you,” Kara said, smiling.

  I took a bottled water out of the pantry and tossed one to Kara. “What did you forget?”

  “Dame Wiggins,” she said. “When Evan and I met at the farmhouse, he told me that his father’s cat was named Dame Wiggins and that he hoped to find her at that shelter where the cats were taken. I told him you had her, and he got so excited.”

  “He wants her?” I said.

  She was swigging her water but nodded yes.

  “No wonder the professor chose her shoulder to implant that microchip,” I said. “I thought he just realized she was the most mellow cat on the planet. Obviously he was entrusting valuable information to a good friend.”

  “Cats are like people to you, aren’t they?” Kara said.

  “They’ve helped me more than I could ever tell you,” I said, glancing fondly down on Syrah and Merlot.

  Candace arrived a few seconds later with the bags of fast food. I swear it was the best chicken sandwich I ever ate.

  Thirty-three

  Tom still had trouble driving even six weeks after the double murders in Mercy had been solved. But he could hold kittens while I drove down Robin West’s bumpy driveway. Jack was waiting on the porch for our arrival and actually started jumping up and down with excitement before we even got out of the car.

  The two cats that had come to Robin’s barn had been scanned and examined a few weeks earlier. Shawn convinced Robin that grown outdoor cats such as the ones that had shown up on her farm might do better to remain outdoor cats.

  She was ready to give up on the idea of an indoor cat completely. But when Jack found out I had kittens that needed good homes—which I let slip accidentally on purpose—he did not stop asking his mother about them. She liked cats, so that wasn’t the issue. She worried about the mess in her house—the cat hair, the litter and the possibility of damage to her furniture. So I worked on her pretty hard, telling her Jack needed the responsibility, not to mention the
chance at having two great friends. She finally caved.

  Jack had come to my house and chosen the two tabbies, and that’s what we dropped off with him. I don’t think I’d ever seen a happier kid. He didn’t even seem to notice when we left.

  But there were two more kittens that needed a home, and off we went on our second mission—the trip to Candace’s apartment building. We weren’t taking the kittens to Candace, however. She wasn’t home enough, she said.

  Even though I’d tried to convince Kara that she could stay with me, she’d rented an apartment in Candace’s building. I could understand that. She needed her own space. I carried the kittens because Tom had to practically hop up the small stoop and limp down the hall that led to Kara’s new apartment. She and Tom had spent time together in the last six weeks. She was working for him while he was off his feet. Tom said she was a quick study and could now install an alarm almost as well as he could.

  I knocked on her door, and she answered right away. I held out the kittens, and she smiled from ear to ear.

  “They are so precious,” she said, taking them from me.

  She let us in—her apartment was almost as bare as Candace’s, but she at least had a few easy chairs and a sofa. Tom hopped over and sat down on the sofa.

  I pulled out a quilt from my big shoulder bag, exactly like the one I’d also given to Jack’s new babies. She sat in one of the chairs, the quilt on her lap, and the kittens immediately sat down and looked up at her with their cute little whiskers twitching. The calico looked more like Wiggins every day, and the orange and white one was a real clown.

  “I talked to Evan just yesterday,” Kara said, not taking her eyes off the kittens. “He is so glad to have Dame Wiggins with him. It eases the pain a little to have something of his father’s. He really loved his dad, even though he knows he was a troubled man.”

  I sat next to Tom. “He didn’t deserve to be murdered, and I hope this book you’re writing will address that. Is that why you decided to stay in Mercy? To write the book?” I asked. I’d been afraid to ask that question ever since Kara told me she was staying, but Tom had encouraged me to ask.

  “I needed a job, and I found it here, but I also need family. That’s you, Jillian. You’re the reason I’m staying.”

  I smiled and felt tears sting behind my eyes. “Wow. Thank you. That means so much to me.” I never thought I’d have children, but now I had a daughter, one who had so much of John in her.

  Tom turned and gave me an “I told you so” look.

  “And I also needed an investment,” she said. “I’ve been clinging to what Dad left me like it would keep me connected to him,” she said. “But that’s crazy. He would have wanted me to do something with all that money.”

  “What’s the investment plan?” I asked, blinking enough to stave off the tears.

  “The farm,” she said. “Professor VanKleet’s farm. Evan will benefit from the sale, and he needs the money for school. And I saw potential there. But that house has to go. It was too darn creepy, and falling down to boot. You want to help me design a little house where these two little kids can keep me company?” She wiggled her finger in front of the kittens, and one of them batted at it.

  “I guess I could,” I said.

  “You know you could,” Tom said. “You’ve got style. Share it with Kara.” He reached over and lifted my chin and gave me a small kiss.

  “Keep it clean, you two,” Kara said with a laugh.

  There was a knock on the door, and Kara called, “Come in.”

  Candace walked in carrying a brown bag. She was wearing her uniform. “Hey, everyone.” She saw the kittens, came over and picked one up. She held the calico up to her face. “Aren’t you the cutest thing?” She rubbed her nose against the kitten and then gave it back to Kara. “Did you tell them your plan?”

  Kara said, “I did. And they don’t want me to leave town on the next train.”

  “There are no trains in Mercy, but you knew that,” Candace said.

  “Just good people.” Then I added, “And family.”

  Candace pulled a bottle of champagne out of her bag. “I’m officially off duty, so this is okay.”

  I smiled. “Time for a celebration. New homes for kittens, and a new home for Kara.”

  Tom reached for my hand, and I tried again not to cry at the thought of how lucky I was to have these three people and my three wonderful cats in my life.

  Also Available

  Leann Sweeney

  The Cat, the Quilt and the Corpse

  A Cats in Trouble Mystery

  Jill’s quiet life is shattered when her house is broken into and her Abyssinian, Syrah, goes missing. Jill’s convinced her kitty’s been catnapped. But when her cat-crime-solving leads her to a dead body, suddenly all paws are pointing to Jill.

  Soon, Jill discovers that Syrah isn’t the only purebred who’s been stolen. Now she has to find these furry felines before they all become the prey of a cold-blooded killer—and she gets nabbed for a crime she didn’t commit.

  “A welcome new voice in mystery fiction.”—Jeff Abbott, bestselling author of Collision

  Available wherever books are sold or at penguin.com

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