“Maybe you could explain something to me,” Vanessa went on.
“I’ll do my best,” Andrea replied, “but I can’t make any promises.”
“You must understand how the foundation makes its money,” Vanessa remarked.
Andrea cocked her head to one side. “We are a non-profit foundation.”
“I must be confused.” Vanessa returned. “I heard Frank tell Jerry he would receive a big payout.”
Vanessa waited, but when Andrea didn’t answer, she tried to explain further. “What I mean is, Jerry was ready to quit the foundation. He seemed upset about how the foundation was making its money.”
Andrea stopped, and her focus moved away from Vanessa. She stared into space. Then she flew into action and whirled away. “Jerry was the best part of the foundation. Without him, it’s going to be hard to do our mission. I really must be going.”
Andrea raced to her car. A moment later, the buzz of the Bug faded down the road. AngelPie slid her shoulder across Vanessa’s shins. Henry stepped out of the bushes on the other side of the yard. He glanced down the driveway where the red car had disappeared. Then he trotted up the steps and jumped up onto one of the deck chairs. “Well, I just don’t know what to think of that.”
Vanessa stood at the empty driveway with the conversation still running in her head.
Chapter 4
Henry stretched and yawned as he sat atop Vanessa’s cookbook.
“I asked you before, Henry,” Vanessa minced. “I need to read the last part of that recipe.”
Henry jumped up and settled down on the chair and started licking his chest.
“If you know something, just tell me.” Vanessa directed, “You’ve been acting strange every since Andrea left.”
Henry fixed his green eyes on her and stared her down without blinking.
“How exactly do you know that?” Vanessa asked.
Henry closed his eyes and tucked his head into the fur on his side.
“I have to finish preparing dinner,” Vanessa told him, “I don’t have time to chase down Andrea and start asking personal questions.”
Henry didn’t move. He showed no sign of hearing her. His ears didn’t even twitch.
Vanessa looked at him and waited, but when he didn’t respond, she sighed and turned away.
“Okay, I’ll head down the road to see if I can catch up with her.”
She ducked into the front hall and grabbed her car keys. She left the door open and jumped off the porch without using the steps. Flossy sat up from where she lay nestled in a flowerpot in front of the house. “Keep an eye on things, will you Flossy? I’ll be right back. No, I turned the saucepan off before I left. Nothing’s on. Just look after the other cats. I know you will. That’s my girl.”
Vanessa jumped into her car and started the motor. While she buckled her seat belt, AngelPie came over to the open driver’s door and meowed up at her.
“Do you want to come?” Vanessa asked. “All right. Come on. But sit tight, because I need to concentrate on the road.”
AngelPie jumped into Vanessa’s lap and found a place in the passenger’s seat. Vanessa slammed her door and peeled out of the driveway with a cloud of dust rising in her wake. She hit the main road and dropped her foot on the accelerator pedal.
“Now,” she told AngelPie, “keep your eyes open for a red Volkswagen Bug.”
AngelPie looked up at her face.
“I know you can’t see through the windows,” Vanessa told her. “I’m just talking to myself.”
AngelPie lay down on the seat and dozed off. Vanessa scanned the road ahead, but she hadn’t gone more than a mile or two when she spotted the car parked by the side of the road.
“I can’t believe Henry was right. I will have to make him something special when I get back.”
She pulled to a stop behind the Bug and stepped out.
Andrea looked up with her eyes red from crying. “What do you want?”
“When you left, I felt that something might be wrong.” Vanessa explained as she approached Andrea who sat on the back bumper of her Bug. The headlights of the station wagon illuminated Andrea as she wiped her eyes and sat up right.
“It just hit me on the way back to town. Jerry’s dead.” Andrea stressed as tears swelled up.
AngelPie strolled from the car and jumped onto Andrea’s lap. Andrea looked down and ran her hand along the top of AngelPie’s back.
“Was Jerry more than a co-worker?” Vanessa spoke softly.
Andrea scratched AngelPie behind the ears.
“Jerry and I had been having an affair.” Andrea revealed.
“Did Frank know about it?” Vanessa inquired. “Could he have been jealous enough to kill Jerry?”
Andrea was shocked. “No. Frank barely comes home anymore. He is too busy with the foundation, sometimes working late into the night, or who knows what else?”
“Do you think he was also involved with someone else? Maybe Sabrina?”
Andrea frowned. “No. For all Frank’s faults, he would never cheat on me. Anyway, Sabrina spends most of her time taking care of her boyfriend at the hospital.”
“When did you become involved with Jerry?” Vanessa asked.
“A year ago, when we were both at a medical convention out of town. I wasn’t looking to have an affair. It just happened,” Andrea choked through her words. “Jerry was just such an amazing person. When we were looking to hire him, everyone would tell us a different story of how he was able to find a donor when no else could. He was dedicated to his patients and I admired that about him.”
“If it has been a year, were you going to leave Frank?”
“I had been thinking about it, but it never seemed like the right time.” Andrea whispered. “I can’t believe he is gone.”
A cloud of dust approached the two women. Bright headlights blinded them as a car raced towards them down the windy, dirt road.
“Perhaps this is Pete. He’s coming to my house for dinner. You should really tell him what you told me.” Vanessa remarked.
A dust covered silver Mercedes skidded to a halt in front of them. Frank Morton jumped out of his car and rushed over to Andrea.
“Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you at home.” Frank snarled.
Andrea collected herself. “I was just at the sanctuary looking for my medication.”
“What are you two doing in the middle of the road? What are you two talking about?” Frank hissed at Andrea.
Vanessa looked over at her. Andrea smiled and rubbed the top of AngelPie’s head one last time.
“This cat crawled into my car while I was looking around the picnic site.” Andrea fibbed. “Vanessa was able to stop me on my way home to you.”
Andrea picked up AngelPie and handed her over to Vanessa.
Frank huffed. “I will see you at home.” He turned, jumped back into his car and veered off leaving the two women in a cloud of dust.
“Goodbye, Vanessa.” Andrea spoke right before she headed off down the road.
Vanessa stroked AngelPie who rested in her arms, as she watched the two cars disappear into the distance.
Chapter 5
A battered Toyota Corolla pulled into the driveway and Pete Wheeler got out.
Vanessa opened the kitchen window and called out to Pete. “You’re early,” Vanessa told him. “I haven’t finished preparing dinner yet.”
“Let me help out. Do you need any vegetables chopped or peeled?” Pete replied as he made his way up the porch steps. “In the meantime, I would like to go over the case with you.”
Pete entered the kitchen as Vanessa added tomatoes to her saucepan. “Would you like something to drink?”
“A glass of water would be nice.” Pete replied.
“Andrea made a visit to the sanctuary.” Vanessa remarked. “She was looking for her medication. Do you know if it was put into evidence?”
“No.” Pete perked up. “That does help explain the results of the toxicology rep
ort.”
Vanessa handed a glass of water to Pete. “I can’t wait to hear all about it. You think Andrea might have had something to do with Jerry’s death?”
Vanessa raised a wooden spoon to her mouth to taste the marinara sauce. She then sprinkled oregano over the saucepan.
“By the way, Andrea was having an affair with Jerry.” Vanessa announced.
“Wait. Slow down. I just arrived.” Pete chuckled.
Vanessa made her way around Pete as he washed his hands in the sink. She stood over the stove and stirred the sauce. Pete dried his hands and sat down at the kitchen table.
“What can I help you with?” Pete asked.
“Why don’t you prepare the salad?” Vanessa brought over a head of lettuce and some tomatoes. “Tell me more about this toxicology report.”
“I was right. Jerry was poisoned. It was a pharmaceutical-grade vasoconstrictor called Prohiborol. The sandwiches had trace amounts of the drug.” Pete spoke as he sliced through the tomatoes.
“Vaso-what?” She asked.
Pete laughed. “Vasoconstrictor. That’s a drug that causes your veins to narrow and constrict blood flow. With a high enough dose, it would force blood back to your lungs and heart, flooding the air sacs in your lungs. You would essentially drown in your own blood, and if you foamed at the mouth, the foam would turn pink like when Jerry was on the ground.”
Vanessa turned away. “This case is so strange.”
“It’s very strange. Prohiborol is a very mild vasoconstrictor. It isn’t strong enough on its own to cause the kind of lung congestion and death you saw in Jerry.”
“Then it couldn’t have kill him,” Vanessa pointed out. “Something else must have killed him.”
“No, it did,” Pete replied. “According to the autopsy, it reacted to another medication Jerry was taking. You remember when I said he wouldn’t have fallen down like that and died of a seizure without warning? It turns out Jerry was an epileptic after all.”
“What?” Vanessa cried.
“That’s right,” Pete continued. “He was taking an anti-seizure medication called Nevasprohil. It reacted with the Prohiborol. That’s what killed him. The combination of the two drugs caused a massive seizure and also caused blood and fluid to back up into his lungs. He died of asphyxiation.”
“How awful.” Vanessa remarked.
“We have the same problem with this case that we have with every other murder case involved with poison,” Pete told her. “How could the killer slip the poison into the food Jerry would eat?”
“Andrea told me that Steve made all the food from scratch.” Vanessa remarked.
“That would make it easy enough. Prohiborol isn’t strong enough to kill on its own,” Pete added. “The killer could have known Jerry’s medical history. Perhaps they added enough of the drug to cause a fatal reaction to his medication but it wouldn’t harm anyone else at the picnic. Then they wouldn’t have to worry about adding it to one person’s food and not another.”
AngelPie appeared in the door and twitched her nose in approval of the aroma that filled the kitchen. She strode across the kitchen floor and sat at Vanessa’s feet.
“Did Andrea tell you the name of the medication she lost?” Pete asked.
“No.” Vanessa replied. “I didn’t bother to ask. Do you suspect her?”
“Everyone is a suspect at this point. Perhaps Andrea was lying to you about losing her medication,” Pete told her. “She might have tossed the bottle when she saw the police show up.”
“Andrea seemed shocked when I told her that Jerry might have been murdered. I found her by the side of the road pretty broken up about it.” Vanessa took the chopped salad and placed it into a bowl.
“Is that when she told you about their relationship?” Pete inquired, “if our friend Jerry had an affair with the boss’s wife. Frank must have known and wanted revenge, but he didn’t want to harm the reputation of his foundation.”
Vanessa nodded. “Okay. I’m willing to play along with that as a working hypothesis. Andrea expressed to me that Frank had no idea about the affair, and she barely saw him at home anymore.”
“It almost sounds like Frank was having his own affair at the office. Perhaps with Sabrina?” Pete guessed.
“I thought the same thing” Vanessa remarked. “But Andrea was adamant that Frank would never have an affair.”
Henry came in through the cat door and hopped onto the shelf. He perched himself above Vanessa and Pete.
“Hello, Henry.” Pete called out. “How is life in the country?”
Henry stretched out and his tail began to sway.
“He loves it out here.” Vanessa relayed. “All the cats are really enjoying exploring the open fields and woods of the Sanctuary.”
Pete smiled. “Yes, I can imagine how much freedom they have now that they are out of town.”
Pete broke off a piece of bread from a basket in the center of the table and smeared it with a pad of butter.
“How long was Andrea having an affair with Jerry?” Pete asked taking a bite of the bread.
Vanessa stirred the tomato sauce. “It was around a year. She had been planning to leave Frank.”
“Really?” Pete responded.
Vanessa continued. “Frank did seem pretty upset when he caught Andrea and I talking in the middle of the road.”
“Wait, you didn’t tell me that Frank showed up as well?” Pete exclaimed.
“It has been quite the eventful evening.” Vanessa remarked. “Frank was very upset. But after Andrea told him she had been at the sanctuary, he was more concerned about the subject of our conversation. Flossy and Aurora told me about the picnic. Aurora told me that the foundation might be under investigation. Perhaps Frank is nervous about people talking to much.”
“I know our department isn’t investigating the foundation.” Pete responded. “By the way, did I mention the name of their foundation?”
“The Frank Morton foundation,” Vanessa moaned.
“The guy seems pretty full of himself.” Pete rolled his eyes. “Did you get any other information from your cats about what they were talking about at the picnic?”
Vanessa turned around. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t get too much out of them. Flossy was sitting with them the whole time, but she says they spoke about a lot of business nonsense she didn’t understand. Aurora was hiding most of the day. You know what she’s like. When she isn’t stuffing herself with cat food, she is running around in circles. I was finally able to get Aurora to mention that they were discussing a list at the picnic. It’s what caused Jerry to walk off.” Vanessa added. “I’m assuming that it is a list of transplant recipients.”
“They must be profiting off that list.” Pete concluded. “You didn’t happen to ask Andrea about that, did you?”
“Not exactly,” she replied, “but Andrea was very reluctant to explain to me exactly how the foundation earns its money. I think she’s hiding something because she avoided answering the question and rushed off.”
“Jerry was threatening to expose them,” Vanessa replied. “He blamed Steve for corrupting the foundation. I wonder how Steve fits into this case. He did make all the food but how did he swipe the Prohiborol from Andrea?”
“Perhaps Steve and Frank planned the murder together. Frank could have easily taken the Prohiborol from Andrea. Perhaps this is all about money and not about affairs. Steve is the treasurer. He must have figured out a way to extort money from the hospitals or the patients. If the foundation was exposed, they would both end up with nothing.” Pete surmised.
Vanessa sucked her wooden spoon in thought. “Maybe. But at the picnic, Sabrina was helping Steve out with the food as well. If Frank and Sabrina are an item, perhaps they are the ones who conspired to poison Jerry. They both were at risk of ending up with nothing if something happened to the foundation.”
Vanessa closed her eyes. “You were right before. Everyone is a suspect.”
“Tomorrow morning,�
� Pete told her, “I’ll start going through the records of the foundation. One of them must have some medical training. How else could they have known the two drugs would react with each other?”
“They have all worked at hospitals for years,” Vanessa suggested. “They all probably have some understanding of drug interactions.”
“That’s a good point,” Pete replied. “I guess we can’t eliminate anyone yet. It is safe to assume Andrea’s medication was the Prohiborol but I will take a look at everyone’s medical records. It’s only available by prescription. The killer couldn’t have walked into the nearest grocery store and bought it off the shelf.”
Un-Fur-tunate Events (Vanessa Abbot Cat Cozy Mystery Series Book 4) Page 3
