Framed in Cherry Hills (Cozy Cat Caper Mystery Book 2)

by Paige Sleuth

  “I can’t take him,” Imogene said. “Clover would claw his eyes out as soon as he came within paw’s reach.” She rolled her head along the back of her seat until she faced Kat. “He gets very jealous, more so than most cats.”

  Tom meowed from his prison behind them. Kat twisted around, spying the beautiful animal peering at her with enormous green eyes as he stuck his front paws through the carrier slots in an effort to reach her.

  Kat’s heart melted. She’d always had a soft spot for animals, especially those in need. Plus, Tom shared quite a few physical qualities with Matty, her own cat. They both had the same striking green eyes and a similar coloring, although Tom’s eyes were a deeper green and his fur was darker. Still, the resemblance caused her protective instincts to kick in, making her feel responsible for his fate.

  She turned toward Imogene. “I can see how Matty reacts to him. If they get along okay, I’m willing to foster him.”

  Imogene sat up straight. “Really? That would be splendid!”

  “I’m not sure if Matty has ever lived with another animal though,” Kat warned. “I really have no idea how she’ll react.”

  Imogene started the car. “We won’t know until we introduce them, now will we?”

  They lapsed into silence as Imogene backed out of the driveway and headed to her house, Tom meowing the whole way. Kat found her dread growing the more she thought about bringing another cat home. She’d only recently adopted Matilda after the feline’s previous owner had died not even two weeks ago. As far as she knew, Matty would be more inclined to maul poor Tom than Clover.

  Kat took a deep breath and forced herself to relax. Like Imogene had said, there really was no telling how the two would get along until she got Tom home. Matty really did have a mind of her own and was prone to surprising her human, as Kat had rapidly learned since taking the tortoiseshell in.

  Imogene pulled into her driveway next to Kat’s car, but made no move to shut off the engine. “Would you mind getting Tom settled in by yourself? I just can’t shake the notion that something’s happened to Willow, and I know my mind won’t rest until I pop over to her house.”

  “You think she could be at home?” Kat asked, dubious.

  “No, but her husband might know where she is.”

  “Okay.” Kat hoped her growing nervousness didn’t show as she unfastened her seat belt. “Let me transfer Tom’s things to my car.”

  Imogene unbuckled her own seat belt. “I’ll help. After I’ve been by the Wus’, I’ll work with you to introduce Tom to Matty. Until then, you can keep them separated.”

  Kat felt some of the tension leave her shoulders, relieved that she wasn’t being left completely alone to deal with two potentially combative cats. “Sounds good. I’ll give you my address.”

  Imogene flapped her hand. “I know where you live.”

  “Right.” Kat had forgotten that her former neighbor and Matty’s previous owner had been an active member of Furry Friends Foster Families before her tragic death.

  With the rain showing no sign of easing up, the women climbed out of the car and began transferring Tom’s things to Kat’s vehicle as quickly as they could. Tom amped up his cries when it was his turn to be relocated. If Kat didn’t know better, she would think he was being horribly abused.

  Of course, she considered as a raindrop plopped into her eye, perhaps this qualified as the feline equivalent of Chinese water torture.

  Imogene waved before she jumped back into her car and pulled out of the driveway. Kat settled into her seat and started the engine, eager to return home to change into some dry clothes.

  She looked at Tom in the rearview mirror. “I’m taking you home, little guy. Well, to your temporary home, anyway.”

  Kat drove slower than normal because of the rain, and arrived at her apartment building fifteen minutes later. Tom meowed the whole way. Kat wasn’t sure whether he was protesting his confinement or telling her to go faster.

  She parked close to the front entrance, unbuckled the carrier, and carried Tom inside. Tom started howling louder when she stepped off the elevator and onto her floor. Fortunately, she was the only resident currently occupying one of the third-story units and she didn’t need to worry about disturbing the neighbors.

  Matty was dozing in one corner of the couch, but she lifted her head when Kat entered the apartment. Tom’s wailing abruptly stopped, as if the sight of a fellow feline had rendered him mute.

  “This is Tom,” Kat said, holding up the carrier. “He’s going to be your roommate for a little while.”

  Matty tilted her head, the look on her face questioning why she hadn’t been brought in to help make this decision.

  Kat ducked down the hallway and set Tom in her bedroom. She closed the door before unlatching the entrance to the cat carrier. “This will be your area of the apartment until Imogene makes sure I introduce you to Matty properly.”

  Tom meowed in response. Then, evidently deciding he might as well make the most of this situation, he poked his head out of the carrier and looked around the bedroom with huge eyes. Once he’d verified it looked safe, he stepped delicately onto the carpet, moving so tentatively that Kat wondered if he thought the floor would cave in the second he put a substantial amount of weight on it.

  “I still have to get your stuff from the car,” Kat told Tom. “Wait here.”

  She rolled her eyes at herself. She really did need to find a boyfriend before her non-human conversational partners outnumbered her human ones.

  Kat eased the bedroom door open. Matty was sitting right outside the entrance. Kat had to nudge her out of the way with the toe of one shoe in order to step into the hall.

  Matty peered up at Kat with her emerald eyes and swished her tail across the carpet.

  “You can’t go in there,” Kat said, shutting the door behind her. “At least, not until I make sure you won’t kill Tom.”

  Matty stared at her. Kat swore the feline looked affronted by the barbaric suggestion.

  After setting up Tom’s litter box, bed, and food and water dishes, Kat changed clothes then left him alone. Matty refused to budge from her position outside the bedroom door. Kat wasn’t sure if she was keeping guard or just waiting for a chance to sneak in and attack, but she wasn’t willing to find out.

  Kat jumped when her cell phone rang. She fished it out of her jeans pocket, spotting Imogene’s name on the caller ID.

  “Hi, Imogene.”

  “Kat!” she screeched. “You’re never going to believe what happened to poor Willow!”

  Kat’s heart began to pound as her earlier fears about traffic accidents resurged. “What happened?”

  “She’s been arrested?”

  “She’s okay though?”

  “No, she’s not okay!” Imogene huffed loudly enough for Kat to pull the phone away from her ear. “Didn’t you hear me? She’s in jail!”

  Kat didn’t say anything, relieved that Willow hadn’t been injured—or worse.

  “Come over to the Wus’ house,” Imogene instructed. “We’ll tell you everything when you get here.”

  “Okay.”

  Kat got the address from Imogene then hung up and slipped her cell phone back into her pocket. Matty looked at her with her head angled to one side as if to ask what was wrong.

  “It looks like you’ll have to wait a little longer to meet Tom,” Kat told the feline.

  Tom meowed his disapproval from behind the closed bedroom door. Kat felt a pinch of sympathy for the animal, wishing she didn’t have to leave him alone and confined for however long she would be at the Wus’. She opened the door a crack so she could pet him goodbye. He licked her fingers, exacerbating her guilt.

  Matty perked up when she saw her opening. She slipped under Kat’s hand and poked her head through the doorway. Kat gripped the doorknob and shut Tom back inside before Matty could slither in.

  Tom cried pitifully, a sound that twisted Kat’s heart into a knot.

  “Sorry, Tom,” she m
urmured, leaning close to the door.

  She straightened and shook her head. He’s just a foster, she reminded herself.

  She forced her legs into gear, but couldn’t stop herself from looking back before leaving the apartment. Matty was lying flat on her back at the end of the hallway, all four legs stretched as far as they could go and her front paws wedged into the crack between the bedroom door and the carpet.

  Kat laughed, then caught herself. Don’t even think about it, she chided.

  No matter what, she vowed, she was not adopting another cat.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “I just can’t believe it!” Imogene said, pacing around the Wus’ living room. “It’s preposterous.”

  Kat settled into an armchair. “What happened?”

  “Willow’s been arrested,” Imogene said, shaking her head in disbelief.

  Kat looked over at Dan Wu, who remained seated on the sofa, his hands covering his face as he braced his elbows on his knees. At least, she assumed the man was Dan Wu. She hadn’t been officially introduced. It had been Imogene who had answered the door, causing Kat to wonder if Willow’s husband was too stunned by his wife’s arrest to even notice who was in his house.

  Figuring Dan didn’t feel up to talking, Kat turned back to Imogene. “Tell me how Willow came to be arrested. What exactly has she been charged with?”

  Imogene stomped over to the couch and flopped into it, but she almost immediately jumped back up as if she couldn’t sit still. “Drug possession! Can you believe that? It’s ridiculous.”

  Time seemed to stop as Kat absorbed Imogene’s words. It was impossible for anyone to mention drugs without her thinking of her own mother, a junkie whose situation had led to Kat being brought up in foster care. Even now, at the age of thirty-two, she still felt a visceral reaction whenever the topic was broached.

  Fortunately, Imogene didn’t seem to notice Kat’s unease. Her hands balled into fists, and she said, “Those accusations are baloney, and everybody who knows Willow can vouch for that. The police will have no choice but to drop the charges.”

  Kat took a deep breath and forced herself to focus on the situation at hand. Willow’s drug charge had nothing to do with her own mother’s habit, she told herself.

  “What evidence do they have against her?” Kat asked. She hated the way her voice trembled, but doubted Imogene noticed.

  Imogene screwed up her face, looking prepared to spit. “They found drugs in her car.”

  Kat didn’t say anything, eyeing Dan as he buried his face deeper in his hands. She couldn’t discern whether he was just as disbelieving of the charges, or if he was merely distraught that his wife had been caught.

  Returning her focus to Imogene, Kat wondered if it had occurred to her that Willow could be guilty. Of course, Kat didn’t know Willow like Imogene did, so maybe that contributed to her willingness to give the drug charges more merit.

  Imogene stomped her foot on the floor. “But I don’t care what the police say, those drugs aren’t Willow’s!” She marched over to Dan and tapped him on the shoulder. “Dan, you tell her.”

  Dan lifted his head up, affording Kat her first good look at his face. “The charges are garbage.”

  Kat blinked, taken aback by the Asian man’s pronunciation, which sounded like ‘The chah-ges ah gah-bage.’ If she had passed him on the street, she never would have pegged him as having a Boston accent.

  Dan sagged against the couch. “She told me to find her a lawyer, but I don’t know the first thing about that. I’ve never needed one before.” He twisted toward Imogene, his face bleak. “What am I supposed to do, trust her fate to somebody I’ve plucked outta the Yellow Pages?”

  Imogene tsked and patted his shoulder. “You ought to fill Kat in on what Willow told you. She could have some ideas on how to get her out of jail.”

  “Oh.” Kat stiffened when she spied the hopeful look that Imogene aimed in her direction. She had no idea what she was expected to do. Dig up the jailhouse blueprints and draft a plan to bust Willow out of the building when nobody was looking?

  But Dan didn’t seem to realize how ill-equipped Kat was to aid in the defense of a woman in jail. His face rotated in her direction like a flower seeking sunlight. “What has Imogene told you so far?”

  Kat spread her hands. “Nothing.”

  “Except for the part about the drug charges,” Imogene amended, apparently not wanting to be pegged as completely negligent.

  “Right.”

  Dan ran his fingers through his black hair. “I guess it all started when Willow left this morning for Easton’s Eats.”

  “Easton’s Eats?” Kat repeated.

  “Sam Easton’s catering business.”

  “For the 4F benefit dinner,” Imogene piped up. Although she had instructed Dan to relay the story, she was clearly too agitated to remain silent. “Sam was going to cater our benefit dinner next month.”

  Dan bobbed his head. “But I gather Willow opted not to go with him after all.”

  “Which was news to me,” Imogene said. “I thought all that was settled already.”

  “When she called from jail, I learned she had been on her way to Wenatchee, to interview some other caterers there.” Dan’s shoulders slumped. “That was when she was pulled over for not having any taillights.”

  “You mean she didn’t turn them on?” Kat asked.

  “No, she definitely turned them on,” Dan said. “Willow always turned her lights on, even in the middle of a sunny afternoon. The bulbs must have burnt out.”

  Kat nodded. Although Willow would have been pulled over during daylight hours, with this morning’s rain and dark clouds obscuring most of the sun’s rays, car lights would be mandatory.

  Imogene screwed up her face. “What was the name of the guy who stopped her?”

  “Leon,” Dan said. “I don’t know his last name.”

  Imogene tapped her chin with one finger. “I have half a mind to go down to the station and talk to this Leon myself.”

  “Um, let me hear the rest of the story first,” Kat interjected. Given Imogene’s escalating fury, she wasn’t in any frame of mind to be confronting police officers.

  Imogene’s mouth compressed into a thin line. She didn’t look happy about the delay in taking action, but she didn’t appear to be at risk of running off to police headquarters either.

  Kat shifted her attention back to Dan. “What else did Willow tell you?”

  “She said she waited for this Leon guy to come around and ask for her license and whatnot before she took them out.” Dan looked at her. “She’d read somewhere once that you were supposed to keep your hands on the steering wheel when you were pulled over, so the police wouldn’t think you were reaching for a weapon.”

  “Makes sense.”

  Dan took a deep, shuddering breath. “When she went to open the glove box for her registration, the bag fell out.”

  “Bag?” Kat inquired.

  “The bag of cocaine,” Dan clarified, dropping his face into his hands again.

  Kat’s mind churned. Although she didn’t know Willow and was undoubtedly more inclined to believe in her guilt than either Dan or Imogene, it struck her as odd that anyone would keep a bag of cocaine in the front of her glove compartment where someone else could easily find it. Wouldn’t most people store something like that in a less conspicuous spot?

  “Cocaine, can you believe that?” Imogene said, shaking her head. “It’s ludicrous.”

  Dan lifted his face up, his hands balling into fists. “Somebody’s framing her. I know it. This is why I told her she should always lock up her car. She’s too trusting.”

  “But who would want to frame her?” Imogene asked.

  “You tell me.” He hunched forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “You know more about her friends than I do.”

  Imogene snorted. “There’s no way a friend set her up like this.”

  “You probably know more about her enemies than I do too,” Dan amended
.

  Imogene straightened, looking indignant. “Willow doesn’t have any enemies.”

  Kat cleared her throat. “Dan, Willow doesn’t have any history of using drugs?”

  “Of course she doesn’t!” Imogene shouted with such ferocity that Kat recoiled. “Willow has never done a drug in her life! She’s a high school teacher, for heaven’s sake. DARE, and all that jazz.”

  Kat held her palms up in surrender. “I’m only trying to get a clear picture of what’s going on. I don’t know her like you do.”

  But her explanation didn’t seem to sit well with Imogene, who narrowed her eyes as she glowered at Kat. “You don’t think she’s guilty, do you?”

  Kat shrugged noncommittally.

  Imogene clearly wasn’t going to let her get away with her position on the fence. She stood in front of Kat and took on the stance of a battle commander with her feet planted two feet apart and her hands on her hips. “You believe Willow is innocent, right?”

  “I’ve never met her,” Kat replied, avoiding the question. “I don’t know anything about her except that she volunteers for 4F.”

  “Exactly.” Imogene looked triumphant. “How could anybody who devotes their free time to helping animals do drugs?”

  Kat didn’t see how the two things were related, but she only said, “Besides, it’s not me you have to convince, it’s the district attorney.”

  Imogene scrunched up her nose. “District attorney?”

  “Or a jury, if this thing goes to court.”

  Imogene’s mouth gaped open. “You think this will go all the way to court?” She whirled toward Dan. “Do you think this is going to trial?”

  Dan’s face looked unnaturally pale as he lifted one shoulder. “I’m trying to take things one step at a time.”

  Imogene nodded. “Right, right. That’s a good idea. What’s the next step?”

  “Finding her a lawyer,” Dan said.

  “What about bail?” Imogene asked.

  “She’ll probably have to wait until Monday for that,” Dan said, collapsing against the couch.