That sounded pretty good, right? Still, I’d be the first to admit I was hoping like crazy that she wouldn’t take me up on it. So what if what she was about to confess had nothing to do with me? By now she had me curious as hell. In fact, if Minnie changed her mind and walked away, I’d probably have to go digging around in her past and find out this stuff for myself.
“Steve and I had an affair,” Minnie blurted out.
I waited, hoping she would add something more. She didn’t.
That was it? I thought. That was the big secret? Based on the way they behaved around one another, I’d suspected as much already. I also couldn’t see why the news made any difference.
“People have affairs all the time,” I said.
“Steve’s an idiot.”
That surprised a laugh out of me. “You wouldn’t be the first woman to say that after the fact.”
“Yes, well, it took me a while to figure it out. And before I did, we were pretty close.”
“How long were you together?”
“Fifteen months. At one point, I even thought we might be heading toward getting married.”
“Did Steve think so, too?”
“Apparently not,” Minnie said with a frown. “We had a bit of a blowup over the subject. That was the beginning of the end.”
The slats of the bench felt warm against my back. I leaned back and rested my arm along the top. Faith and Coach were lying nose to nose at our feet, both of them snoozing in the sun. There were worse ways to spend a sunny spring afternoon.
“So how come you still train with him?”
“Why not?” asked Minnie. “He’s good; the best in Fairfield County, anyway. Why should I give that up just because we’re not sleeping together anymore?”
“Maybe because it’s obvious that the two of you don’t get along very well?”
“If we don’t get along, that’s Steve’s problem, not mine.”
I sat in silence and enjoyed the view.
“Besides,” she added after a minute, “maybe I enjoy needling him a bit every now and then.”
Yes, I thought, remembering back to the first class Faith and I had attended. She did.
On the other hand, if an educated guess on my part would have told me that Steve and Minnie had a past, a second conjecture might have brought me to the conclusion that Steve and Kelly Marx were sharing a present. Right under Minnie’s nose.
“And maybe he enjoys needling you, too,” I said.
“You mean Kelly?”
I nodded.
“I told you he was an idiot.”
That was a cheap shot.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Kelly seems nice enough.”
“I imagine she is nice enough,” Minnie said in a dismissive tone. “Why wouldn’t she be? It’s that dog of hers that’s ridiculous. Steve would never put up with behavior like that from one of his own dogs. Or from Coach, for that matter. That’s how I know he isn’t serious about her. He’s just biding his time with Kelly, waiting for something better to come along.”
“And do you think she’s biding her time with him?”
Minnie shrugged. “How should I know? Why should I even care?”
Good question. If I knew the answer to that, I might even have known why the two of us were sitting on a bench in the sun discussing the topic in the first place. Since Minnie didn’t seem inclined to enlighten me, I decided to prod her along.
“What does all this have to do with Mary Livingston?”
“I’m getting to that,” Minnie said. “I just wanted to give you some background first. You know, so you’ll understand the context.”
I nodded in what I hoped was an encouraging way. Minnie folded and unfolded her hands in her lap.
“When I was with Steve,” she said, “I told him some things about my past. Things that I assumed he’d keep in confidence. But now we’re obviously not together anymore, and it’s beginning to look like my secrets are fair game.”
“So we’re back to what he said the other night?” In the interim, I’d been replaying the scene in my mind. “Steve was talking about how any one of us could be a suspect. And he implied that the police might want to take a closer look at some of us than others.”
Minnie nodded. “That was his not-so-subtle way of taking a jab at me. The main thing you need to know about Steve is that he’s a control freak. He has to have everything exactly his own way or he gets all bent out of shape. That’s probably why he and Kelly get along. She doesn’t seem like the kind of woman who’s capable of much independent thought.”
That was cheap shot number two, in case you’re keeping track. And as it happened, I was. For a woman who was supposedly over her past love, Minnie sure enjoyed slipping in a few jabs of her own.
“And you refused to let Steve control you,” I guessed.
“You have to understand, he starts out like this really nice guy. The whole ‘I’m in charge’ thing doesn’t happen overnight. But little by little things happen that eat away at you. In the beginning, I didn’t even realize what was going on. When I did, of course, I stood up to him. I had to stand up to him….”
When her voice trailed away, I turned to look at her. Minnie wouldn’t meet my gaze. Her lower lip was trembling, as though she might be on the verge of tears. Deliberately, I looked away again, giving her time to collect herself and her thoughts.
“I was involved in an abusive relationship once before,” Minnie said when she was ready. “I knew the signs, damn it. I was stupid enough to ignore them the first time, but I certainly wasn’t about to let it happen again.”
“Was Steve physically abusive to you?” I asked gently.
“No.” She gave her head a firm shake. “Never. And seeing the way he handles the dogs, I doubt that he ever would have been. In fact, that was one of the things that attracted me to him in the first place, his gentleness. With Steve, it’s more of a mind game. He likes to believe he can outthink people, outplay them, if you will. That’s what he’s trying to do now, manipulate me with the threat of revealing something I told him about my past.”
“About the other relationship you were involved in before him?”
Minnie gazed out over the lawn. “I was married when I was very young.”
“And now you’re divorced?”
“Widowed.”
That was a surprise. I’d assumed Minnie was only a couple of years older than me. She was young to have lost a husband.
When I didn’t comment right away, she drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. Then, for the first time since we’d sat down, Minnie shifted around to look me straight in the eye.
“I killed him,” she said.
I guess I’m not very good at hiding my emotions. Because not only did I start in my seat, I also managed to inadvertently kick Faith. The Poodle leaped up in response. For some reason, that made Minnie laugh.
“Don’t rush off,” she said. “Despite some evidence to the contrary, I’m not actually dangerous.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled, settling Faith back down at my feet. “I didn’t think you were. You just surprised me, that’s all.”
“Shocked is more like it.” Minnie looked satisfied by the reaction her words had produced.
Since she didn’t mind discussing the event, there didn’t seem to be any need for reticence on my part. “How did your husband die?”
“I shot him. The bastard deserved it.”
“The earlier, abusive relationship?”
Minnie nodded. “Except with Dan, when the time came that I realized I needed to get out, he refused to let me go. Like it was his choice, instead of mine. I packed my bags and filed for divorce. That’s when he started stalking me. I reported him to the police; I took out a restraining order. None of it did a damn bit of good. The authorities didn’t do a thing to help.”
“So you took matters into your own hands.”
“Damn straight. And trust me, in my shoes you would have done the same thing. I went out
and bought a gun for protection. I took some lessons and learned how to use it. The next time Dan came after me, I was ready. It was time he learned how it felt to be on the receiving end for a change.”
Ready for revenge, I thought. And holding a loaded gun.
While I would like to think that I would never let a man walk all over me, I wasn’t at all sure that in her position I would have reacted the same way. “You shot him in self-defense.”
“Exactly. There was only one problem.”
I lifted a brow.
“As it happened, I shot him in the back.”
Oh.
“I was arrested,” said Minnie, “but never arraigned. I had a good lawyer, the gun was legal, and there was plenty of supporting evidence that Dan had been harassing me. My lawyer made it clear that if the police wanted to pursue a case against me, we would feel obliged to go to the press and make it known how little they’d done to protect me, when they’d been aware for months that I was in danger. Eventually, they decided to simply drop the investigation and move on.”
“And you moved on as well.”
“To Steve. How’s that for history repeating itself?”
“Not your best choice,” I admitted.
“It could be worse,” Minnie said matter-of-factly. “At least he’s not stalking me. In fact, up until last week, I thought we were managing pretty well.”
In a thoroughly dysfunctional way. Then again, considering some of the things my family had been up to, who was I to throw stones?
“And now?” I asked.
“My lawyer got the arrest record expunged. That’s supposed to mean that it doesn’t exist anymore. It’s off the books. But of course some enterprising police detective could probably still find it, if he was tipped off where to look. That’s what Steve’s been threatening me with, revealing something that I told him in confidence that could potentially get me in a whole lot of trouble.”
“But you were never charged,” I said.
“Like that would matter. I was arrested for manslaughter. Judging by what I read in the newspaper, the police don’t have any idea who killed Mary Livingston. You don’t think they’d love to have a suspect hand delivered to them? Someone who’d admitted to committing an earlier murder, and who was on the grounds at the time? They’d be all over me in a minute.
“You were right about what you said earlier, I have moved on. I have a good job, a new circle of friends. None of them know anything about my past. None of them need to. Bringing it all back out in the open now would ruin my life. And for what possible purpose? I didn’t kill Mary. I don’t have any idea who did. All I want is to be left alone to live my life in peace.”
Abruptly, Minnie stood up. She nudged Coach with her toe and the Schnauzer rose, too. She hesitated before walking away, though. She seemed to be thinking about something.
“I’m not the only one in that obedience class with skeletons in her closet,” she said finally.
“Who else?” I asked. If Minnie wanted to supply me with leads, I didn’t see any reason why I shouldn’t take them.
“Talk to Julie.” Minnie cued Coach into position by her side. “That’s all I’m saying, all right? Just talk to Julie.”
16
“I’ve been thinking,” Sam said later that night. “We should invite Amber and James to dinner. You know, to welcome them to the neighborhood. We could ask the Brickmans to come, too.”
Alice and Joe Brickman lived down the street. Their son, Joey, was Davey’s best friend, and Alice and I had been pals since we bonded over baby playdates eight years earlier.
“Great idea,” I said. “But we’ll have to figure out a time when James is actually here. What do you suppose is really going on with him?”
“What do you mean?”
“For starters, where is he?”
“On the road somewhere, apparently.”
“Even on weekends?”
Sam shrugged. “I’m just glad I don’t have his job.”
“Whatever it is,” I muttered.
Sam shot me a look.
“Import/export,” I said. “Could Amber have been any more vague? Actually, she didn’t sound as though she even knows what he does for a living. He’s probably into money laundering, or he’s an illegal bookie—”
“I doubt it,” Sam said with a laugh. “James probably has a normal, perfectly boring job, and you’re letting your imagination run away with you.”
“Like that would be something new. You’ve had years,” I said. “Haven’t you ever noticed that trait before?”
“Before was different.” Sam reached out and pulled me closer. “Before you weren’t my wife.”
I leaned into him, perfectly happy to snuggle closer. “And now?”
“Now I want to know everything there is to know about you.”
“I hate to have to tell you this, but I’m no great mystery. I think you’ve pretty much figured me out already.”
Sam chuckled again. I could feel his chest rumble beneath my cheek. “Trust me, Mel, there isn’t a man in the world who would believe that.”
I tipped my head back and tried out an innocent look. “I can’t imagine why not.”
Sam started to reply, but I missed what he wanted to say. Abruptly, I drew back and sneezed. Once, twice, then again. By the third sneeze, Sam was looking at me with concern. My eyes had begun to water.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I think so.” My nose was still tingling. “I can’t imagine what brought that on.”
“Look, Mom,” Davey said from the doorway.
I turned to see what he was up to. Then froze. Davey was holding Felix, the big, fluffy orange cat from next door, in his arms. The feline was nestled against my son’s chest, eyes half closed, purring loudly. Felix looked utterly content. As his hooded eyes fastened briefly on mine, the cat also looked thoroughly smug.
I pushed away from Sam and stood up. “Davey, what’s that cat doing in here?”
“I had a great idea.”
It was not very likely, I thought, that any idea involving cats inside my house was going to sound great to me. Davey, however, was looking very pleased with himself. I figured I might as well hear him out.
“What was it?” I asked.
“You know how Mrs. Fine’s cats were bothering you?”
“Yes.”
“I figured it probably wasn’t the cats that were the problem. It was that they kept coming over here and making the Poodles bark and run around. That’s what was making you nuts.”
Aside from the nuts part—which was a vast overstatement of the facts—my son was very astute for an eight-year-old. Then the full implication of his words hit me.
“Hey, wait a minute,” I said, looking around the living room.
Four of our five Poodles were lying on the floor around the couch. Only Tar was missing; I could hear him drinking water out in the kitchen. Several of the dogs had lifted their heads when Davey entered the room, but none had bothered to get up. Though they had to have noticed Felix, they hadn’t reacted at all.
“How come nobody’s barking?” I asked.
“That was my idea,” Davey said importantly. “I brought the cats in the house and introduced them to the Poodles. You know, so the dogs would understand that the cats were their friends and it was okay.”
“You brought the cats inside…?” I repeated faintly.
Davey nodded. Felix had begun to squirm in his arms. The big cat wanted down.
“How many cats?”
“Six. I was going to bring all seven, but I couldn’t find Bunny.”
“Bunny.” I was beginning to sound like an echo. Probably because, at that moment, I was incapable of thinking of anything else to say.
“Bunny’s the calico,” Davey informed me. “She has big ears. Mrs. Fine said she was probably out catching mice. She’s a very good mouser.”
“How nice for her.” The last word ended on a sneeze. It was followed by another. Beneath m
y shirt, my arms were beginning to itch.
Sam looked back and forth between my son and me. Tears were now running down my cheeks. “Davey, let’s take Felix outside, okay?”
“Okay,” Davey agreed. “But I just wanted Mom to know that she doesn’t have to worry anymore. The Poodles met the cats and now they’re all friends. So it won’t matter if they live next door and they come and visit, because everything is just—”
Growing increasingly impatient with confinement, Felix tried the same trick on Davey that he had with me. He braced both back paws against my son’s chest and pushed off hard. The cat went rocketing out of Davey’s arms and landed on the hardwood floor in the hall.
Unfortunately, Tar had chosen that moment to finish what he was doing in the kitchen and come looking for the rest of his family. He was trotting down the hallway from the other direction, minding his own business, when the fluffy orange cat came flying out of nowhere and landed right in front of him.
Tar wasn’t the brightest Poodle, and thinking fast wasn’t his forte. Another Poodle might have processed the information; Tar merely reacted. He slid to a stop, his head jerking up in the air. His eyes opened wide. His startled bark shook the walls.
Felix responded by humping his back, waving his bushy tail over his body, and hissing loudly.
“No!” I cried, leaping toward them.
Felix had his claws out and ready. One well-aimed swat across the nose from those sharp talons and Tar would be out of the show ring for a month.
My sudden move didn’t help matters any. Not only did the other four Poodles jump up to see what was going on, but Felix apparently decided he was under attack from the rear. He spun around and dashed between my legs.
Standing face to face with Felix, Tar had been frozen in indecision. But once the cat ran, instinct kicked in, and the big Poodle chased after him.
Under normal circumstances, the hallway would have been wide enough for him to go past me. But Tar was so focused on his quarry, that he barely even noticed I was there. As he scrambled by, his shoulder caught my leg and sent me sprawling onto Davey. The two of us went down in a heap.
Felix, meanwhile, dashed into the living room—a strategy that launched him out of the frying pan and into the fire. It didn’t take him long to figure that out. Especially since all five dogs were now milling around barking.
Raining Cats & Dogs (A Melanie Travis Mystery) Page 14
