The Cat, the Wife and the Weapon: A Cats in Trouble Mystery

by Leann Sweeney

  “I figured as much,” he said.

  “Did you see Rory Gannon in Tom’s backyard?” I asked.

  “N-no,” he answered.

  For the first time, I knew Finn was lying. Knew it as sure as I knew my own name. I placed my forearms on Allison’s desk and leaned toward Finn. “You can tell me. Please, trust me. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me the truth.”

  Finn released a heavy sigh. “All right, he was standing there when I went outside. Just standing like a scarecrow or something. Freaked me out.”

  “What did you do?” I asked quietly. He couldn’t have harmed Gannon. I was certain he couldn’t.

  “We stared at each other for what seemed like forever,” Finn replied. “Then he said, ‘I have to tell you something. It’s real important.’”

  “What did he tell you?” I said.

  “Nothing. I was… okay, afraid. I told him Tom needed to hear whatever it was he had to say and I was going to get him. That’s when he took off.”

  “Did you tell Tom about this?” I asked.

  “No. He was in such a good mood. We were having a great time and I only went out in his backyard for a minute. He has this creek running along his backyard and I wanted to see if there were fish in there.” Finn hung his head. “Did I have something to do with getting the guy killed?”

  “Of course not,” I said. “Did he happen to show you anything—like your phone, maybe?”

  “My phone? The one I lost?” Finn said.

  “Yes. See, the police found your phone in his pocket when they searched his body. I thought maybe you’d had contact with Gannon at some point and he took your phone or—”

  “Why would you think something like that? He creeped me out.” Finn was getting agitated, but I had to plow through all this before I took him to town for a meeting with Candace.

  “Here’s the problem,” I said. “They looked at your call log and apparently you phoned Mr. Gannon at the halfway house where he was living before you hitched rides to Mercy.”

  Finn pulled Yoshi closer and started shaking his head. “No way. I never called him. Sure, I found out where he was living. Thought about contacting him, but—”

  “How did you find him?” I asked.

  “Internet search,” he said. “Rory Gannon’s not a name like John Smith. Pretty easy search to get results for his name. I found newspaper archives about what he’d done to a police officer a long time ago. I’d thought about contacting him. See, once I decided I couldn’t live with Mom and Nolan anymore, I thought he might want me. But I swear, after I read what he’d done, I knew he was probably a worse choice than staying at home.”

  I considered this for a few seconds and then said, “Did you delete the search about Gannon from your computer?”

  “If you know anything about computers, you know you can never really delete anything completely. Why?”

  I couldn’t talk around it anymore. “Nolan searched your computer. He was probably checking it regularly. Pretty much spying on you.”

  “No way. The guy was a complete luddite. He wouldn’t know how to get by my password.” But after a moment of thought, I saw Finn’s expression transform from scorn to understanding. “Unless he figured it out because he knew where I got Yoshi’s name. My password was from a Mario Brothers game, and since Nolan ended up in this town he must have figured it out and discovered I e-mailed Tom saying I was thinking about coming to Mercy. No firm plans—just considering it. Maybe that pissed Nolan off.”

  I nodded in agreement. “And made him head straight for Mercy when you disappeared. So the password had something to do with the Mario Brothers game? I can see how he might have figured it out.”

  “Yup. So he came here and ended up dying in Tom’s car,” Finn said. “Why in Tom’s car, though?”

  “Because he drove Tom’s Prius from North Carolina,” I said.

  “Huh?” Finn squinted at me, completely confused.

  “Candace found a text luring you to the Prius. See, Nolan had Tom’s phone. We know you were injured in the car and now we know how you got there.”

  Finn said, “I might have gotten into Tom’s car willingly, huh? Pretty stupid thing to do.

  “But even though I hated Nolan, I didn’t shoot him. Deputy Carson hasn’t changed her mind about that, has she? Or does she think I’m guilty of something because I ran?”

  “No, she hasn’t changed her mind,” I said. “She knows you were sitting next to Nolan in the car. What we think happened is that Rory Gannon came upon the accident, or more likely caused the accident. He knocked you out and killed Nolan while you were sitting right there and unconscious. Then he took your phone and wallet. He probably didn’t even know who you were until he opened up your wallet and saw your ID.”

  The color drained from Finn’s face. “My father could have killed me. Instead, he tried to frame me by putting the gun in my backpack. Did he keep trying to find me afterward to confess because he felt guilty for setting me up?”

  I blinked, thinking this was quite possible. “As far as what he wanted to tell you the day he was murdered? I have no idea.”

  Finn’s eyes were closed and he was shaking his head. Yoshi sensed his rising anguish and licked his face. Finally Finn said, “I still don’t understand. Why was Nolan in Tom’s car? They hated each other. Or was Tom there, too?”

  “Tom was with me. See, there’s more you don’t know, mostly because Tom has been protecting you, afraid for you to hear what Nolan did to him.”

  “He’s not here to protect me now, so tell me,” Finn said.

  I did, including all the details about Nolan strong-arming Tom, making him drive to North Carolina. Finn’s eyes stayed wide the whole time I talked. When I finished, I said, “Let me ask you this. Did you know about a large amount of money your mother and Nolan might have wanted to get their hands on?”

  Finn said, “Tom and I have a bank account together. Did Nolan beat up Tom to get the money?”

  I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “How much money did you and Tom have in the account he set up for you?”

  “Four thousand, three hundred twenty-nine dollars after what we took out yesterday. See, I needed a new cell, so we stopped at the bank for cash. I never got a chance to buy one, though.”

  Yoshi began to squirm and Finn released his hold on the dog. He jumped down and began sniffing around the office.

  I said, “I’m not sure a few thousand dollars would have brought Nolan to town,” I said.

  “What money are you talking about, then?” he said.

  “I’m not sure,” I said. Not sure it was my place to tell him how much money Karen had saved up for him. “Let me ask you this. During the time before you ran away, could Nolan or your mother have made a call to Rory Gannon using your phone?”

  “Why would they?” he asked.

  Why indeed.

  Twenty-eight

  The rain had picked up again by the time we were on the road back to my house to drop Yoshi off. I called Tom’s new cell and it went straight to voice mail. I even tried his landline without any luck. He must still be out cold from exhaustion. So I called Candace to tell her Finn was with me.

  “What a relief,” she said. “Is he okay?”

  “He’s tired, but seems fine,” I said, glancing at him and Yoshi sitting next to me. I smiled, so glad Allison called me before Finn took off again. I’d feel better, however, if the killer were in custody.

  “Where are you?” Candace said.

  “Driving to my place to drop off the dog. Then we’re coming to see you. Is Tom there by any chance? I couldn’t reach him.”

  “I just talked to him and he planned to take a shower and then come to the station,” she said.

  “Tell him about Finn as soon as he gets there. We plan on driving to the station right away because Finn wants to give a statement. He saw Gannon yesterday afternoon, but I’ll let him tell you what happened.”

  “Saw him? Uh-oh,” she said.r />
  “It was a brief encounter. Like I said, Finn can tell you what happened.”

  “Okay, make me wait,” she said with a sigh. “Tom will be so happy to see Finn. I’m sure the answers to who killed Gannon are hiding somewhere in these two telephone logs. I’ve been searching through these calls for hours. It looks like Gannon was even trying to get to Finn through Hilary. A call was made to the Pink House yesterday on Finn’s phone.”

  “How did Gannon know Hilary was staying there?” I asked.

  “How did he know where you lived? Where Karen lived? Where Tom lived? Some of the texts on Finn’s phone might help explain it. Finn asked Tom for his address in a text that went way back, well before he left to hitchhike here. But this texting jargon Finn used is making me crazy. I need a social networking workshop to understand this stuff.”

  “Ah, so Gannon read through old texts and found Tom’s address on Finn’s phone? Maybe hung around and started following whoever came and went from Tom’s house?” I said.

  “Very possible,” she said. “Tom’s gonna be pretty upset when he finds out his dear brother messed with his cameras, though. See, we tried to download the videos, hoping to see if they caught the killer on tape. But Bob managed to screw them up and we got nothing. He claims it wasn’t intentional; he was just curious. But I’m not so sure.”

  “Hmm. That seems suspicious,” I said. “Listen, we might try Tom one more time. In fact, I think I’ll let Finn try to reach him this time.”

  I disconnected and handed my phone to Finn. Yoshi sniffed at it, but since my phone obviously didn’t smell like bacon, he turned his attention to the passenger-side window.

  “Call Tom,” I said. “He programmed his new number into my phone this morning.”

  I didn’t have to give Finn any instructions. Soon he was talking to Tom and, from the kid’s expression, this was the best thing in the world for Finn—and probably for Tom, too.

  As we pulled into my driveway, Finn said, “No, Tom. Don’t come to Jillian’s. We’re dropping off the dog and we’ll meet you at the weird police station—” Finn looked at me. “How long will it take?”

  I said, “We’ll get the dog settled, make sure Dashiell is okay—oh, tell Tom I have his cat. His mom couldn’t quite manage a diabetic cat right now. We should be at the police station within thirty minutes, tops.”

  Finn said, “Did you hear what she said?” A pause and then Finn said, “Good deal. We’ll see you soon.”

  I pulled up close to the back door and Finn took Yoshi to pee before we went inside. No cats greeted me when I went inside. They were probably all downstairs waiting patiently for the door to Dashiell’s guest suite to open.

  I hurried down the stairs.

  Sure enough, my fur kids were parked outside the door and I cracked it hoping to see how Dashiell was faring. The second I did, the waiting Dashiell escaped and made a beeline for the stairs.

  My three raced after him.

  I followed, wishing I had the energy of four cats.

  Finn and Yoshi were just coming inside and the dog decided to join this game of chase.

  “This isn’t how I planned our homecoming,” I said. “Can you corral Yoshi?”

  The animals were all after each other’s tails in my living room. Yoshi was barking, cats were hissing and Finn was shouting commands to his dog. Obedience class works only to a point, I decided. The dog was having way too much fun to obey.

  The pursuit went down the hall and ended up in my bedroom. I arrived on Finn’s heels in time to see Chablis dart under the bed, but Syrah and Merlot have never shown much in the way of fear. They were on my bed, while Yoshi stood on the floor keeping a safe distance. He was barking like crazy. I had no idea where Dashiell was hiding.

  Finally Finn was able to grab Yoshi and hoist him into his arms. “No, Yoshi. You stay with me.”

  Just then, I heard a voice calling my name. Karen’s voice. What the heck was she doing here?

  Finn heard it, too, and we both went out into the hall, with him calling, “Nana? Is that you?”

  She stood at the end of the hall. She’d changed since I’d seen her this morning and wore a pink fuzzy sweater. Mohair? Really?

  She said, “I knew you’d come back and I knew exactly where you’d come. Jillian has been a rock while the rest of us were embroiled in emotion.”

  Just then Hilary Roth appeared behind Karen. “Hope you don’t mind I came along. I’ve been so worried about Finn, but I knew he’d show up here sooner or later.” She looked like she was wearing one of Karen’s skirts—a gray tweed—with the black sweater I’d seen her in the first day we met.

  I walked toward them, but Finn hung back. He said, “I forgot to lock the stupid door.”

  “Finn, don’t be upset with me,” Karen said. “I know you don’t want to see your mother, but we have something so special to tell you. Please. Talk to us? For me, if not for your mother?”

  I was standing halfway between Finn and a confrontation he might not be ready for. I turned to him. “You’re the only one who can decide what’s best for you. If you don’t want to sit down with your mother right now, you need to tell her.”

  Finn’s lips tightened and Yoshi whimpered as he looked up at him. He didn’t look ready, not at all. But Finn and his mother surely had to talk sometime.

  He surprised me by saying, “I’ll hear you out. But only because Nana and Jillian think I should.”

  I led everyone into the living room. Hoping to make this visit brief and to the point, I didn’t offer them tea.

  Finn set Yoshi down by the couch at his feet and told him to stay. His tone was harsher than usual with his beloved friend, but I knew this had more to do with Hilary’s presence than with Yoshi’s earlier failure to obey.

  I chose to sit next to Finn for support, and Hilary and Karen sat in my two easy chairs opposite the sofa. I was still holding my phone and held it beneath my thigh. If this conversation got out of hand, I was ready to call Tom.

  “What lies has she told you, Nana?” Finn said.

  I closed my eyes. Not a great way to begin the conversation. I said, “Why don’t we start with how you knew Finn would be here. I’m not sure I really understand.”

  “Oh, we weren’t sure,” Karen said. “But if Finn would contact anyone, it would be you or Tom. Since Tom has very hard feelings concerning anything involving Hilary, meeting here is perfect. Since you know about the money I’ve saved for Finn, we’re hoping you can convince Tom I have a wonderful plan.” She smiled.

  I was observing Hilary, and something about this whole thing didn’t seem right. Karen’s comment about the money with Hilary present suggested Hilary knew about it. My question was, how long had she known?

  “What money? What plan?” Finn said warily.

  “A plan where you get to go to college,” Hilary said. “I know you want to go, and I’m so sorry I haven’t been—”

  “Save it, Mom,” Finn said.

  I looked at Karen. “So Hilary knows you’ve been saving for Finn?”

  “Oh yes,” Karen said. “When Hilary and Thomas divorced, I assured her I would take care of Finn, though I didn’t get specific except to say he would be comfortable for the rest of his life. Today, we’ve talked about how best to use the money and I’ve decided college seems a wonderful place to start.”

  Her naive smile made my chest tighten. Because Karen had no idea.

  But I suddenly knew exactly who was behind everything.

  I sidled closer to Finn, keeping my hand on my phone and hopefully out of sight. I looked at Finn, who seemed a tad confused at me edging so near. “You want to go to college, don’t you?” I said. I tried to speak to him with my eyes, tried to warn him.

  He knew the truth, probably the same instant I’d figured it out, because he said, “You did all these horrible things. Didn’t you, Mom?”

  I tried to swallow, but my mouth had gone completely dry. I thought, Only one extremely angry kid would be fearless enough t
o confront a murderer.

  Twenty-nine

  Karen said, “Whatever are you talking about, Finn? Your mother is contrite. She knows she’s done wrong by you. But now she’s ready to put her personal problems aside and focus on your future. She suggested once before she could manage any money I chose to share with you and we’ve agreed your college fund is a good place to start. Once you graduate, then of course, you’ll be in charge. And you need a car, of course. She’ll get you a car once you return to North Carolina. A little birdie named Tom said you wanted to attend a good college and your mother wants to work with me to make that happen.”

  Poor Karen, I thought, as I stared at Hilary. She has no clue.

  Hilary’s eyes hardened and her sweet Carolina drawl almost disappeared when she said, “Finn and Jillian don’t believe a word of what you’re saying. I could fool you, but not these two.” She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a gun.

  Karen gasped and Finn’s arm, so close to mine, tensed.

  “Do you plan to shoot all of us?” I said, trying to sound bold when I felt anything but. “How will you get your hands on Finn’s money then?”

  “Shut up and let me think,” she said.

  I heard a low growl from Yoshi and was troubled about what he might do.

  Finn must have been worried too, because he started to get up. He looked like he wanted to attack before harm could come to us or his dog.

  If I hadn’t grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back down to the sofa, he probably would have gone after Hilary with fists flying. Yoshi, however, wasn’t about to back down.

  He stood and started barking at Hilary, ears erect. This was a ferocious bark, like none I’d heard from him before.

  “Shut the stupid dog up, Finnian.” Hilary pointed the gun at Yoshi.

  Karen was leaning away from Hilary, her expression one of pure terror.

  “Don’t hurt him,” Finn said. “I’ll tie him up.”

  Hilary was glancing around and locked on to the pantry door in the kitchen beyond. Then she looked at me. “Is that a broom closet?”