Murder, of Course

by Diane Weiner

  “Yes, and you thought it was too soon.”

  “I know, but I’m beginning to think it’s not such a bad idea.” Of all moments, she wasn’t sure why she felt compelled to revisit adoption at just this point in time.

  “It would give her a sense of stability, I suppose.” He began clearing the table. “And then she’d have to listen to us. Kids listen to their parents, right?” He winked at her.

  “Sure they do.” She lingered on the word sure. “Maybe after she gets past the start of the school year we can discuss it with her.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  Chapter 9

  Friday came quickly. Maddy and Emily spent the week researching pet auditions and Maddy had spent time at Coralee’s every day after school preparing Max for the big day. She’d been up since dawn brushing Max until she could see herself in his shiny coat.

  “Maddy, I made scrambled eggs. Come and eat something.”

  “I’m too nervous. Should I bring food for Max? I packed his water bowl, his brush, and his favorite toy.”

  “Sure. Put some in a sandwich bag.” While Emily tossed the box to Maddy, she grabbed a handful of chewy granola bars from the pantry in case Maddy got hungry later.

  Emily parked in front of the three-story office building and helped Maddy get Max out of the car. The modern glass building looked out of place nestled between an old fashioned book store and an artsy boutique which hadn’t yet opened for the day. Emily watched Maddy twist a strand of hair around her finger and knew she was nervous about the audition. They walked past a law office and a mortgage office into a conference room where Sheila, Winnie, and Pete sat waiting with their cats.

  “Good morning,” said Sheila. Her teal pantsuit and matching headband brought out her eyes. “Is Max ready? They will be starting any minute.”

  Emily looked at Max who was asleep in his carrier. “Ready as ever.”

  Pete Gaver stood up. “Well, good morning. Who’s this pretty little lady? I met your mom at the inn but I didn’t meet you. Pete Gaver.” He extended his hand to Maddy. “Max doesn’t get phased by this Hollywood stuff. Danielle had to coax him out of the cage for the semi-finals. He doesn’t like having his naps interrupted.”

  Maddy peeked in the carrier next to Pete’s chair. “What’s his name?”

  “Floyd, like on Green Acres.”

  Maddy said, “Huh?”

  “The TV show. Never mind. You’re way too young to have seen it.”

  A young man carrying a clipboard opened the door. “Are we ready? First up we need Tiara.”

  Sheila said, “Wish us luck,” and followed the young man down the hall.

  “I wonder if they’ll let us know who wins today.” said Maddy.

  Winnie said, “I hope so. I have a flight out this afternoon. Whoever wins I’m sure will have to go to their headquarters and look through the contract. I’m anxious to get home. Today would have been my Mom’s ninetieth birthday and I told my sister I’d spend the evening with her.”

  “I’m so sorry,” said Emily.

  “The three of us were very close and my sister took her death even harder than I did. After she spent all that money on the case and then we lost! Neither of us has recovered, but she wound up having to sell her house.”

  Emily could relate to the sister bond. “That’s terrible. What case was that?” Emily’s reporter instincts kicked in.

  “Mom died from heat exhaustion when the air conditioning went out at her assisted living residence. Three days and the place kept it secret while they tried to get it repaired. She wasn’t the only one who died either.”

  “I’m sure you miss her a lot.”

  “Only good that came out of it was my sister moved to Oklahoma and lives down the street. Cost of living is much cheaper there than it was in D.C. And I found a great job.”

  “What’s your cat’s name?” asked Maddy.

  “Gertrude. I named her after my mother.” A tear appeared on her cheek and she dabbed it with a handkerchief she pulled out of her purse.

  Pete flipped through a magazine; Maddy scrolled through her phone. Emily was surprised by her own anxiety. After all, she wasn’t the one auditioning. She knew Maddy would be disappointed if Max wasn’t picked, but if he did win, their schedules would be thrown into a tailspin with school starting. Would Mair Rose outright fire her if she needed time off to take the cat to his obligations?

  The man with the clipboard reappeared. “Next up is Gertrude.”

  Winnie said, “Best of luck to all. May the best cat win.”

  Emily sat down next to Pete. “Do you know the case she was talking about?”

  “I don’t get too caught up in the chit chat, but I heard her tell Sheila something about a lawsuit involving a nursing home. Some sort of negligence.”

  Emily pulled out her Kindle and savored the time to catch up on her reading. Maddy gave Max a pep talk, then took him out and brushed him once again till he shined. Finally, it was Max’s turn. They followed the young man into a conference room where two women sat behind a table with a Feline Feast banner draped over it. A makeshift living room was set up at one end of the room. An older gentleman gave the instructions.

  “I’ll open the can of food, and you let the cat out of his carrier. We have trainers to work with whoever wins the part. For today, we want to see how he does around people and how he responds to directions.”

  He opened the food and Maddy opened the cage. Max sauntered out and immediately went for the food. The man dangled a cat toy and watched Max bat at it. Then, he wound up a noisy, animated mouse. Emily supposed they wanted to know if Max was easily spooked. She knew Chester would have run for the hills the moment he was let out of confinement. Max handled it like a pro.

  “He’s a handsome fella. Good temperament, too. We’ll be making a decision after we’ve seen all the finalists. Is this the correct phone number?” He showed her what he had written on the clipboard.

  Emily scanned the page trying to read the notes he’d made. ‘trainable, good presence…’

  “Is it correct?” The man clutched the clipboard to his chest.

  “Yes, that’s it.”

  “Thank you for bringing him by.”

  In the car, Maddy couldn’t stop talking about how great Max had done. Emily shared the comments she read, giving both hope that just maybe Max would become a star. They stopped at the inn to drop off Max and eat a late lunch. Coralee ran to them.

  “How’d it go? Did they love our boy?”

  Maddy said, “He was great. Calmly ate the food, played, wasn’t spooked by a noisy toy.”

  “Let’s just say we were proud of him,” said Emily.

  Winnie, carrying a suitcase and colorful cat carrier, spotted them. “How’d Max do?”

  Maddy said, “He did great. How about Gertrude?”

  “She was a little wound up. She ran away when the noisy mouse started across the room. I doubt she’ll be picked for this one, but we started working with a trainer back home so there will be other chances.”

  Maddy rubbed her hand over a felt applique on the cat’s carrier. “Where’d you get the cool sticker?”

  “At the stationery store downtown. There’s a big crack underneath it which I couldn’t glue together so this was Plan B.”

  Brody came out of the dining room. “Coralee, can I get some extra towels?”

  “Sure. Wait right here and I’ll get them.”

  Winnie’s expression hardened and she shifted her weight back and forth. Emily felt Winnie was restraining herself from saying something to Brody, for whatever reason. Brody didn’t seem to notice.

  “I’ve got a plane to catch,” said Winnie. “Tell Coralee goodbye for me. And good luck. Maybe I’ll see Max’s face on a can of Feline Feast one day.”

  When Maddy and Emily went into the dining room, they spotted Sheila sipping a cup of coffee.

  “Well, how’d Max do?” asked Sheila.

  “I was proud of him,” said Emily. �
�How about Tiara?”

  “Also proud. She snuggled right up to the guy with the clipboard when he was verifying our information. She’s used to auditions. I’ve been bringing her to them since she was a kitten. She’s registered with an agency and every now and then they call us. She got a photo shoot for a catalog last year.”

  “That’s super,” said Emily. She wondered if she should search for such an agency. If there was one at all, the nearest would probably be in Burlington.

  “Have a seat. Were you the last to go?”

  “Pete was after us. We are starving; did you eat?”

  “Ate and polished off dessert too but I’ll sit with you and finish my coffee. Tiara’s sleeping on the bed.”

  Maddy and Emily ordered veggie paninis.

  “Sheila, Pete said he heard you and Winnie talking about a law suit she was involved in.”

  “Yes, it involved her mother. Remember the heat spell back a few years ago? The whole eastern coast had record temperatures.”

  “I do remember. We were living in Westbrook, New York, back then with no air-conditioning!”

  “Her mother was in an assisted living facility and the AC stopped working. Brand new building. Anyhow, she died of heatstroke along with a handful of other residents. The nursing home blamed the air conditioning company. The company swore they’d followed code and in turn blamed the owners of the facility for overloading the circuits. It was all over the news.”

  “Now I remember. Our newspaper covered it. I take it Winnie lost.”

  “It gets worse. The home required all assets to be signed over to the facility before the patient entered to insure payment.”

  “Never heard of such a thing.”

  “It’s not as bad as it sounds. If and when the resident runs out of funds, the company still keeps them on for life. It’s like having insurance against outliving your savings.”

  “So how does that relate to Winnie’s mother?”

  “Winnie and her sister lost their inheritance. All their family money now belonged to the facility and after losing the law suit, Winnie and her sister were out of luck. The facility even kept the jewelry and rare coins Winnie’s mother kept in her room. Those items had sentimental value and were supposed to be passed on to the girls. I feel so bad for Winnie.”

  Coralee brought the paninis to the table.

  “I’ll leave you girls to eat. I’m going to go join Tiara for a nap. It feels like midnight. Such an exciting morning.”

  Emily bit into the panini, melted cheese oozing out from the toast. She wondered why Winnie had an issue with Brody. Then again, isn’t Falls Church close to D.C? Was it possible they’d met before?

  Chapter 10

  Emily and Maddy fell asleep early, exhausted from the day’s excitement. They woke to a beautiful day for a barbeque—warm but not summery hot. After breakfast, they straightened up the house while Henry mowed the lawn and cleaned the grill. Megan and Pat arrived at noon.

  Henry flipped over the veggie burgers, promising he would cook them before actual meat touched the rack. Emily carried out a bowl of potato salad. A small slab of concrete served as the backyard patio, and Maddy, Pat, and Megan sat at the same homemade picnic table Henry’s father had made so many years ago.

  “So are we going to see Max on TV anytime soon?” asked Pat.

  “No,” said Maddy. “He did a great job, but he lost to a cat named Tiara.

  “I’m sorry to hear that. You must be disappointed.”

  “It’s okay. Tiara is a veteran in the business. We aren’t at all sure how much or if Max ever even worked with a trainer.”

  Megan, hair pulled back in a red, white, and blue bow, said, “I hear they hardly make any money doing those commercials. And it must be stressful for the owner as well as the cat.”

  “Max seems perfectly happy living at the inn with Coralee,” said Henry. “I don’t think he’s upset about losing.”

  Emily passed out paper plates. “Maddy and I both start classes tomorrow. We’re going to have our hands full. Can you believe Maddy is starting high school?” She felt awkward saying that. After all, it’s not like she was there when Maddy started kindergarten or middle school. Then again, she would be at her high school graduation, and college, and when she graduated medical school…no, veterinary school would be more likely. She and Henry would be beside Maddy for all the important milestones from now on.

  “Who likes their burgers rare?” called Henry. When no one responded, he tried again. “Medium…going once, going twice…” Both Pat and Megan raised their hands like school kids.

  Henry brought over the burgers. “So what’s Detective Ron doing today?”

  “He’s with his parents,” said Megan. “He’s going to meet his new nephew for the first time. He’s been showing pictures all week down at the station. The baby looks just like his sister.”

  “Megan, what ever happened with Danielle’s boyfriend? Is he still in town?” asked Emily.

  “He says last time he saw her was at the D.C. audition. They had a big fight, and as far as he knew, they were over as a couple. Says Danielle didn’t return any of his calls and he figured it was time to move on. We have nothing tying him to the murder.”

  “Did he have an alibi?”

  “Says he was home alone. We have no reason to doubt him. We checked his credit card records—no plane tickets or hotel stays. His boss said he was on a conference call with him the afternoon after Danielle was killed.”

  “There was this woman, Winnie Cole, at the audition,” said Emily. “She acted strange when she saw him. I think they lived near each other at one time. She’s in Oklahoma now. Seemed like there was a history there.”

  “Like they were once a couple?”

  “She’s quite a bit older than him. I don’t think it was that. Just a gut feeling.”

  “Speaking of guts,” said Henry. “I’m still hungry. Maddy made brownies for dessert.”

  Maddy went inside to retrieve the brownies. Megan grabbed the ice cream they’d bought. Inside the kitchen, Megan asked, “Are you excited about starting school?”

  “Not really. I don’t know anybody here.”

  “I know it’s hard. My parents moved right when I was starting high school. I hated them for it, but by Christmas I had some friends that I clicked with. You like animals. The school has an excellent 4-H program, and I know some of the local kids have horses. It’ll be okay. If you need anything, let me know. Anybody gives you trouble, tell them you have a detective looking out for you.”

  Megan grabbed the ice cream and followed Maddy back outside.

  “Max!” shouted Maddy. Coralee and her son Noah walked into the yard.

  Coralee, wearing a flag-colored skort with white tennis shoes said, “I wanted to drop by and tell you how much the guests are loving having Max around. And he revels in the company. When he started going into the dining area I said ‘no’ and clapped my hands loudly. Guess what? He turned around. I tried it every time he went near. That cat knows the word no.”

  Emily said, “That’s wonderful. I’ll bet Danielle trained him or had a professional do it. Sheila said most cats doing the commercial circuit are professionally trained.”

  “Anyhow, the guests just love him. Maddy, I wanted to thank you again for trusting me to take him.”

  “I’m glad he’s happy. Chester sure is happier.”

  “Noah’s working on building him a cat tree. We’ll paint it to look like a real tree and put it in the corner of the lobby.”

  Noah said, “Franklin had some leftover supplies. I’m even cushioning the branches. You’ll have to come see it.”

  Kurt Olav walked into the yard with Prancer.

  “Glad you made it, buddy,” said Henry. “You’re just in time for dessert.”

  Henry dished out the ice cream and Maddy passed around the brownies. After barking at Max became boring, Prancer settled down on the lawn and closed his eyes.

  “Detective, I was going to drop by the
station tomorrow but you saved me the trip. I was cutting the low branches at the cabin––you know the ones that fall against the roof when the snow gets heavy in the winter. It’s probably nothing.”

  Detective Megan said, “The most insignificant observations in my experience have cracked cases.”

  “I pulled the ladder out of the shed and the bottom rung had dried mud on it, like someone used it to rub the mud off this shoe. On the next step you can see an impression if you look hard. More like a boot than a shoe I’d say. I haven’t used that ladder since last winter and it was right after a snowstorm I’m sure I didn’t have mud on my shoes.”

  “You didn’t try to clean it, did you?”

  “Naw, I knew better. Thought it might be something you could use.”

  Megan said, “Detective Ron and I assumed the murderer used the wood pile next to the housetop to get to the roof, but we could be wrong. We’ll check it out first thing in the morning.”

  Emily said, “Winnie lives in Oklahoma, and she was wearing cowboy boots the other day.”

  Henry said, “I saw her at the emergency room. She’s in good shape for her age. I’ll bet she’d have been able to climb up to the roof without much problem.”

  “And Brody is young and fit. If he snuck in…”

  “Megan said he wasn’t in town,” said Pat.

  “No,” said Emily, “she said they didn’t find a plane ticket or credit card receipts. There’s more than one way to travel.”

  Storm clouds had moved in and a clap of thunder brought Prancer to his feet. Rain fell from the sky and everyone grabbed what they could carry, running into the house before the storm.

  Chapter 11

  “Are you ready for your first day of school?” asked Henry. Anxious over Maddy’s first day, he hadn’t slept well, and got up early to make whole wheat pancakes. Back in high school, he had been bullied and he worried that being an outsider, Maddy could be a target. When he looked at Maddy, she seemed so vulnerable. She’d been moping around the cabin for a week and last night he peeked in to find her crying and hugging her mother’s picture.