The Very Killer Caterpillar

by Samantha Silver

  “That makes sense,” Cat nodded. “He once tried to explain to me the chemical reactions that occurred when coffee was roasted, but I’m pretty sure he gave up when he saw the blank look on my face. Anyway, I won’t keep you from the second part of your date, what kind of cupcake do you want?”

  I ordered a chocolate fudge brownie cupcake for Chase–the frosting was topped with actual brownie bits!–and a chocolate peanut butter one for myself, which was a chocolate cupcake, with peanut butter frosting and a Reese’s cup on top, then covered in chocolate drizzle.

  “Now go finish your weirdest date ever, seeing as you’ve been to the hospital and now you’re going to go check out a dead guy.”

  “This isn’t a date,” I muttered to Cat. “Besides, it’s not like you’re hitting up the dating scene.”

  “By choice, none of the guys in this town are good enough for me,” Cat said with a wink, and I shook my head with exasperation, told her I would see her later, and then left.

  By the time I made it up to the apartment, there was yellow police tape across the door and a young looking officer blocking it.

  “Um, hi, I have something for Chief Griffin,” I said nervously, peering my head through the door. Inside the apartment was all hustle-and-bustle, it seemed like the entire Sapphire Village police force was in there. Of course, that was like, four people, but still!

  “Wait here,” the man said, turning and entering the apartment. I waited nervously, feeling out-of-place, feeling like maybe I should have waited until later. But when Chase came out a minute later, stooping under the police tape with a small grimace, he flashed me an easy smile as soon as he noticed me.

  “Hey,” he said. “It looks like I might have to take a rain-check on that cupcake. This is looking like a little bit more than just your typical, run-of-the-mill natural death.”

  “Oh yeah?” I asked, my curiosity piqued, but Chase shot me a look.

  “Don’t you start thinking you can get involved,” Chase told me. “I know you got lucky a couple of times already, but you also almost got killed a couple of times.”

  “No, nothing like that,” I said. “I’m just curious.”

  “Well, the initial report was that it was natural causes. But I found a strange marking on the man, and then Officer Carter, who was first on the scene, found a super weird looking bug. He trapped it under a glass, and we called one of Professor Gordon’s associates. He’s in the other room now. He identified it as something called… hold on.” Chase pulled his notebook out of his pocket and flipped it open. “It’s called the Lonomia caterpillar.”

  “I’ve never heard of it,” I said, my eyebrows rising.

  “I don’t imagine you would have,” Chase said, a small smile creeping onto his face. “It’s native to South America, not here. More specifically, southern Brazil. Not exactly an Oregon native. It’s the most poisonous caterpillar in the world. It appears it stung Mr. Gordon multiple times, causing internal haemorrhaging that led to his death.”

  My eyes widened. “But how do you know it’s murder? I mean, you said Mr. Gordon was a biology professor, right? Maybe he just kept it for fun. That seems like the sort of thing crazy retired professors would do.”

  Chase laughed. “It does, yeah. But there’s no indication at all that he kept any kind of caterpillar here. This wasn’t a five-year-old trying to hatch a butterfly in a Mason jar; if Professor Gordon had been keeping the caterpillar here there would be proof of it.”

  I shivered. “So, it’s being declared a homicide?”

  “It won’t be official until the medical examiner makes her finding, but I’m treating it as a homicide, yes.”

  He took the cupcake I offered. “Thanks for the cupcake. I’m going to need it after today.”

  “No problem. Sorry for, you know, maiming you and all,” I replied, and Chase laughed.

  “I’ll be fine. I’ve definitely been through a lot worse than this.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, but don’t tell my mom. I’ve always kept my injuries a secret from her. Maybe I’ll tell you about them another time.”

  “Sure,” I said, my heart pounding in my chest. I really didn’t want him to ask me out again. I had told him I didn’t want to go on a date, and there was still that innate fear inside of me of men who didn’t take no for an answer.

  “I’ll let you get on with your day,” he replied. “If you want to go out skiing again, your pass is good for the rest of the day,” he added with a wink, and I held up my hands.

  “Absolutely not! I think I’ve destroyed enough bodies that aren’t my own for one day.”

  Chase laughed. “All right, see you around. And keep your nose out of my murder investigation.”

  “Will do,” I replied, crossing my fingers behind my back. Maybe Chase didn’t want to admit it, but he was definitely not at one hundred percent, and it was all my fault.

  The least I could do was find his murderer for him, right?

  Chapter 3

  The first thing I did when I left the apartment was go and pick up the skis and boots from where I’d left them; Chase had his own equipment and I’d borrowed his sister’s gear for the day, since her and I were around the same size. I went and dropped them off at the police station, which was empty of anyone, except for Andi, the receptionist and a friend of Cat’s.

  “Hey, mind if I just leave Chief Griffin’s gear here?” I asked her. “I don’t know where he lives, and I’m sure he’ll come back here when he’s done at his crime scene.”

  “Oooh, crime scene, I thought it was just a run-of-the-mill death,” Andi said, putting down her phone.

  “No, it’s a murder after all,” I said. I wasn’t exactly the gossiping type, but seeing as Andi worked in the police station, I figured it was ok to tell her. She was inevitably going to find out, after all.

  “So how was the date?”

  “It was just as friends,” I said, a blush creeping up my face. “But uh, it didn’t go that well. I skied straight into Chase and managed to tear his MCL, now he has to wear a brace on it for a few weeks while it heals.”

  Andi snorted a laugh. “Sorry. That’s hilarious. I’ve never actually seen Chase even remotely injured before. Although once he sprained his wrist chasing a vandal he’d caught red-handed, and he tried to hide it from everyone. He had me writing down all of his notes for two weeks and pretended he was just ‘delegating’.”

  “I’m not surprised, he’s pretending it’s nothing now too,” I told her.

  “Well, I’m sure you haven’t scared him off. He’s not the type to be afraid of a strong woman,” Andi said.

  “Oh, I’m not interested in him that way,” I said. “We’re just friends.”

  “Of course, I’m sure you think that right now,” Andi said with a wink, and I shook my head as I left. Everyone, it seemed, seemed to think that Chase and I would make a good couple.

  As I made my way back to Cat’s shop, wanting to talk things over with her, I couldn’t help but think about what Andi had said, about Chase needing a strong woman. That definitely wasn’t me. I’d proven that in the past.

  Despite the fact that May was more of the shoulder season in Sapphire Village, almost every table in Cat’s Cupcakes was filled, a testament to her reputation. I saw her in the kitchen at the back through the window leading to it, sitting at her computer doing paperwork. Maddie, one of the regular employees, flashed me a smile.

  “Need a cupcake today?” she asked, and I held up my take-away box, still holding my cupcake.

  “I’m taken care of for now, thanks. I’m just going to go to the back and see Cat.”

  “Sounds good,” Maddie said, as she turned to help a little boy decide what kind of cupcake he wanted.

  As soon as I walked through the back Cat looked up from her computer. “So, did the bribe work?”

  “Well, he doesn’t hate me. Or at least, if he does, he’s not showing it.”

  “That’s always a plus,” Cat laughed.r />
  “But I can also tell you that Professor Gordon was murdered. He died from the bite of some caterpillar from Brazil.”

  “Really?” Cat asked, and I nodded. “That sounds like the kind of thing you would make up.”

  “If I were making it up I’d say he was shot, something that sounds even remotely plausible. Who makes up a story about a weird Brazilian caterpillar stinging a guy to death?”

  Cat shrugged. “Someone who watches too many episodes of the X-Files? That’s so weird though. Is Chase sure that the guy wasn’t keeping the caterpillar there himself? After all, scientists are a bit weird that way.”

  “Yeah, he’s pretty sure. Says there was no indication whatsoever that he was keeping animals in his apartment.”

  “Weird. You’re thinking of getting involved again, aren’t you,” she asked with a sly smile, and I shrugged.

  “Well, I did explode his knee. The least I can do is solve this case for him. I suppose you’re going to tell me this is a bad idea.”

  “Of course not!” Cat grinned. “I think it’s a great plan. And I’m going to help.”

  “Cool,” I replied. To be honest, I was pretty glad Cat was going to help me investigate this. She was so much better at magic than I was, and that had come in handy more than once in the past.

  “Let’s go to the college later,” she suggested. “We actually have the perfect reason to be there; the first Mayor’s debate is happening in the auditorium there.”

  “Oh, yeah, I forgot about that,” I said. Sapphire Village was holding elections for a new mayor. There were four candidates this year, and the front-runners were Frank Harding and Denise Williams. Frank was a decent guy, he worked in the marketing department for the company that owned and ran Sapphire Mountain. Denise Williams, on the other hand, was the worst person I’d met since moving to Sapphire Village. She’d accused Cat of murdering a woman whose body we stumbled upon while driving back from the airport when I first arrived in Sapphire Village about a month ago, and hadn’t gotten nicer since.

  I sincerely hoped Frank was going to win the election.

  “Ok,” I nodded. “Sounds good.”

  “Meet me here at five and we’ll take my car. Peaches can come if she wants, too.”

  Peaches was my other cousin, Cat’s sister. Despite not being twins, they looked almost identical, except for their hair–Peaches’ was a nice pastel coral color that was almost, well, the color of a peach. She was currently living with me, after a group of mysterious beings called The Others, who got their energy by feeding on the souls of witches, had apparently put me in their crosshairs. Since witches were more powerful in groups, it was decided that Peaches would stay in the second bedroom of my apartment until further notice.

  “Peaches won’t come,” Cat said. “She hates politics and thinks they’re all liars.”

  “And you?”

  “I agree with her, it doesn’t mean they’re not entertaining. Besides, liars or not, the mayor affects a lot of what’s going to happen in Sapphire Village, and with the development not completely off the table, whoever gets elected as mayor will probably affect a great deal of Sapphire Village’s future.”

  I nodded in agreement. The company that was the majority owner of the ski resort–and several other businesses here in town–was trying to expand the mountain with a project they referred to as the ‘Renaissance’. It was a controversial project for sure, with some of the town welcoming the expected influx of visitors, and others worried that the project would kill the quaint vibe of Sapphire Village.

  “Agreed. Ok, we’ll meet back here at five, and then head down to the meeting.”

  “See you then,” Cat said as I got up to leave. I was going to head back to my bookstore, eat my cupcake, and then hunt a murderer. All in an afternoon’s work.

  When I arrived back at the cupcake shop a few minutes after five–Peaches bowed out from attending the debate with us, using the very thin excuse that someone had to be at the apartment to feed Muffin, the cat I’d inherited–Cat was all packed up and ready to go.

  “So, the meeting isn’t until six,” she said. “I thought we could maybe wander around the halls of the college and see if we can gather any information until then.”

  “Sure thing,” I nodded as we walked to her car, parked a few minutes away in one of the nearby lots. The entire Main Street of Sapphire Village was pedestrian only, and all the better for it. As Chase had said, the college wasn’t very far. We drove the three minutes or so to the turn-off for Sapphire Lake, then about a minute later turned down another road leading to the left and deep into the forest. The road was narrow—a single lane for cars coming in both directions—but at least it was paved.

  Emerging from the woods suddenly was a gorgeous red brick building, about three stories high, with white Corinthian columns along the front. A few students were enjoying the last of the light on a large manicured lawn out the front, and I admired the gorgeous building as Cat parked the car in a large lot to the right that was mostly hidden by a thin layer of forest.

  “This place is pretty cool,” she said. “I was never into the sciences, but if I was, this is definitely where I would have wanted to go to school.”

  “No kidding,” I agreed. “Now, how do we find out about this Professor Gordon guy? After all, it’s not like we can casually go up to random college kids and be like ‘Hey, what can you tell me about this dead guy?’ after all.”

  “Why not? Follow me,” Cat said, and we made our way across the big lawn and into the building. Following the signs to the library, we found a coffee shop on the main floor, and got in line. There were about fifteen people in front of us, I doubted we’d get to order our coffee before the Mayoral candidates’ debate started.

  “Did you hear about Mr. Gordon?” a pretty black-haired girl in front of me asked her brunette friend.

  “No, what happened?”

  “Apparently, he was murdered today!”

  “Oh, are you talking about Mr. Gordon’s murder?” Cat asked in a conspiratorial whisper. “I heard the police think it was someone from here who did it.”

  “Really?” the black-haired girl asked, her eyes widening.

  “Well it makes sense, doesn’t it?” the brunette asked. “After all, Mr. Gordon was going for the dean of the faculty job. I know Professor Little was really angry about it, I went to her office a few days ago and overheard her talking on the phone to someone about it. She thought it was ridiculous that someone like him–her words, not mine–would be considered for the position over her.”

  “Wow. That sounds serious,” I said. “Are there a lot of people going for the job?”

  “As far as I know there’s Professor Little and Professor Gilmore, but I can’t see him killing anybody over the job. He’s as passive a person as you can get.”

  “He is, isn’t he?” Cat replied. “I don’t know though, I can’t really see a professor killing another professor, especially not over a job. Especially not here. I mean, I love it here and all, but we have to admit it’s not exactly Harvard.”

  I had to hand it to her, Cat was good at this whole ‘casual interrogation’ thing. The girls we were talking to thought we were just gossiping, when really, we were getting as much information as possible. The two girls exchanged a glance, and Cat grinned.

  “I knew it,” she said. “You guys think it’s someone else.”

  The black-haired girl shook her head. “I don’t know for sure. But there were rumors, you know.”

  “Rumors about what?”

  “About Mr. Gordon finding out about Black Magic,” the brunette replied. But before we had a chance to ask what ‘Black Magic’ was, the cashier asked the two ladies what they wanted, and they ordered their drinks.

  “They can’t know… about us, can they?” I asked Cat in a whisper, referencing our magical powers.

  Cat shook her head. “No, definitely not. It has to be in reference to something else. I don’t think we should ask them though, I th
ink we’ve asked just enough that they’re going to get suspicious if we keep prying.”

  “Agreed,” I said as the other two girls moved out of the way and Cat and I ordered a couple of lattes. At least there was no chance of me falling asleep during the mayoral debates now!

  “Either way, we have two good suspects already,” Cat said.

  “Professors Little and Gilmore.” I pulled out my phone and Googled the school name and the last name ‘Little’. The first thing that popped up was the official school website, and I clicked on the link.

  “Professor Annette Little: PhD, specialty of zoology–University of California Berkeley. Currently teaching: conservational biology, vertebrate zoology, invertebrate zoology, insect zoology,” I read out. The woman in the picture was a smiling woman who looked to be about forty. She was pretty, with blonde hair and an impish smile, I couldn’t help but think she looked nothing like a stereotypical college biology professor.

  Cat’s eyebrows rose. “I’m not an expert, but those course titles and that PhD certainly sound like she would know about poisonous caterpillars.”

  “Agreed,” I nodded. “I think we have our number one suspect. Unless, of course, it turns out Professor Gilmore got his degree in caterpillar poisons.” Repeating the same Google search but with Gilmore’s name returned a very similar result.

  “This guy’s Canadian, it looks like,” I said. “His PhD comes from the University of British Columbia. He specializes in conservation biology, and he’s currently teaching conservation biology, animal and insect ecology, and environmental microbiology.”

  “Well you can cross him off the list, everyone knows Canadians are too polite to murder people,” Cat joked as the barista called up our names. I put my phone away and grabbed my coffee.

  “It would have been nice if he specialized in like, plants or something, though,” I said. “Conservational biology and insect ecology sound like things that would give you a lot of knowledge about caterpillars, and South American biology, what with the Amazon rainforest being so important and all.”