Mystery at the Pet Food Corp.

by Eleanor Kittering

  “Come on Roger, we're going to Joanie's coffee shop!”

  Chapter Two

  The next day was one of those beautiful days where everything seemed to be going right. The skies were blue and clear; the temperature a pleasant number, a perfect day for anything. Mandy's excitement today stemmed from the fact that today might be the day she wins the first commercial for Roger. She dressed up in business casual attire, dressy but not crazy dressy. Roger rubbed himself around her feet, hoping to get fed.

  “C'mon Roger, it's breakfast time!”

  She laid out one of Roger's favorite foods, which he proceeded to eat as if he thought it was going to disappear from the bowl.

  Mandy thought about the conversations she'd had yesterday about cat commercials. First, Stacy Parks on the phone and then her super fancy video, obviously, this would be the job to win, because apparently Hedon Pet Nutrition was a niche brand, but respected in the industry. But she also felt good about receiving a call from Loretta Gumble. It made her feel as though this had more potential than a one-shot deal. Maybe this whole cat commercial thing was bigger than she thought, and she just didn't know what opportunities were waiting for her. There may be non-pet food commercials, where they need a cat. Again, something she would have to explore.

  Checking the clock, Mandy thought, well, it's time to meet Stacy Parks, and she put the collar on Roger. She headed to the car a little nervous but excited about this new prospect. Once she and Roger were securely strapped in, she headed off in the direction of Hedon Pet Nutrition. When she arrived, she realized she'd passed this building many times while driving down this road.

  She pulled in the parking lot, parked the car, and let Roger out. She locked the car and took the leash and went walking over to the building. Inside were two guards who let people into the building. Once she told them Hedon was her destination, they allowed her to go upstairs. She took the elevator to the third floor, a large office with glass walls belonging to Hedon.

  It was a very fancy office, with a full glass wall showing a very well-designed corporate space, elegant and at the same time modern. Many companies had moved their offices from New York City to New Jersey over the years, and because the rents were lower, they could decorate their corporate spaces better.

  As she walked into the reception area, the secretary asked Mandy who she was there to see. Mandy said she had an appointment with Stacy Parks. The secretary checked her appointment book and invited Mandy to enter, Ms. Parks expected her and she should go right in. Mandy walked into an elegant combination office/personal space. Although the reception area had transparent walls, this office had regular walls, giving privacy to the occupants. The poor receptionist remained exposed out in the main reception area for everybody to see as they walked by. Fortunately, there weren't many people visiting this floor.

  The elegant room seemed to be empty, which gave Mandy a chance to explore the area. She looked at different awards Hedon had won in the past, and there were corporate pictures of Stacy Parks and several other people, no doubt part of her staff. There were a couple of pictures of Stacy with a man, probably her husband. The whole place gave off an aura of success and glamour. Stacy Parks belonged to that class of people that when asked her what her dreams were, she would say she's just dreaming bigger.

  Roger sniffed around as well, and he leaned against a delicate table with a long thin vase perched on top. Trying to forestall a potential disaster, Mandy cried out “Roger, honey, don't!” But the warning didn't happen with enough time to keep the vase from falling. Mandy watched the very expensive-looking, blue long, thin-necked vase with a bulbous base fall, thinking about when it broke, how much it would cost to replace it.

  As the vase hit the floor, Mandy expected a crash, but because of the thick carpets, it landed with a soft thud and rolled to the other side of the room. Mandy heaved a sigh of relief and ran after the vase, planning to pick it up and put it back before Stacy Parks showed up. Where was she anyway? Maybe she had to go to the bathroom. As she reached the other end of the room and bent down to pick up the vase, she saw a pair of feet sticking out from behind a long bookcase which filled her with dread. The feet belonged to Stacy Parks, and she appeared quite dead.

  For a moment, Mandy stood frozen in time. She just stood there, holding the vase by the neck in one hand, looking down at the body with her mouth open. Right there and then, the secretary walked in and asked “What are you doing?” She saw Mandy holding the vase in an upraised arm and looked down and saw the feet of Stacy Parks. Staring at Mandy, she asked with horror in her voice “What did you do? Did you hit Ms. Parks? Is she all right? I'm calling security,” she cried as she ran out. Mandy tried to explain, “Wait, I didn't do anything, I just found her!” but the secretary had run out of the room in a panic.

  Mandy thought the first thing to do was to put the vase back on its table. She frantically petted Roger and said to herself, I have to get out of here! Wait, no, let me call Fred, her police chief friend, before this gets crazy. She thought, maybe the woman just fainted, who knows? Mandy's thoughts began to run wild. She didn't need this, she lamented. She just came here to do a commercial with Roger and this woman fainted on her or worse yet, died. Did somebody kill her? Who would kill Stacy Parks?

  In the middle of Mandy's madness, the two security guards showed up. The secretary yelled out, “There she is, I think she attacked Ms. Parks!”

  “I didn't do anything,” Mandy protested. “I just found her there, I had an appointment with her!”

  The secretary asked. “Yeah? Why were you holding the vase in your hand?”

  “My cat knocked it over. We're here to set up a commercial with him. Listen, I hope you called a doctor or an ambulance because I don't know if she fainted or something else has happened to her, but she needs medical help now.”

  “Oh, I called the police! They're on their way right now.” The secretary sneered. “I've never seen you before and all of a sudden something bad has happened to Ms. Parks. I say that's very fishy. You probably got into an argument with her and hit her over the head with the vase when you couldn't get your way.”

  “What? I did no such thing! I came into the room and sat there waiting for her and afterwards I found her lying there on the floor. I had nothing to do with this and it's as much of a surprise to me as it is to you.”

  The guards approached her, one saying, “Miss, we're going to cuff you until the police get here.”

  Mandy in an outraged tone said “Cuff me? I didn't do anything!”

  But as they got closer, Roger made a low guttural sound, warning the two security guards. Mandy tried to control him, telling Roger to keep calm and to not get excited; she held him by the leash but the guards kept walking toward Mandy, and now Roger started to hiss at the guards.

  Mandy warned them, saying “If you get any closer, he thinks you're threatening me and he will attack. He's already taken down two other men.”

  Suddenly, one of the guards said, “Wait, I've seen this cat on YouTube; I'm not messing with him!”

  The second guard scoffed at his partner and said, “I'm not scared of a cat!” and lunged at him. Roger jumped on his arm with such force he knocked the guard over and scratched up his whole arm. Mandy tried to get control of Roger, saying “Roger, enough!”

  She turned to the fallen guard. “I told you not to get closer. Once he goes berserk, I can't control him.”

  The guard decided to go for a second round when the police finally arrived, in the form of Chief Fred Stone and his deputy Jimmy.

  “Police,” announced Fred. “What's going on here?”

  “Mandy” he said. “Can you tell me what's going on here? I got a call claiming you had attacked somebody, a Stacy Parks.”

  “What? I did nothing! This woman here has a very active imagination and is making all sorts of unfounded accusations. I came for my appointment with Ms. Parks and I found her lying on the floor.”

  “What about the vase? What about the vas
e? You hit her on the head,” the secretary repeated her accusation.

  “I didn't hit anybody on the head! Roger knocked the vase over, I picked it up, and I found Ms. Parks. And I really hope someone has called a doctor because it's possible this woman has more than fainted. She might even be dead,” Mandy stated flatly.

  During this exchange, Stacy Parks' personal doctor arrived. Fred and Jimmy both recognized him and Fred said, “Doc, can you see what state Ms. Parks is in?”

  The secretary started to get hysterical again and kept saying, “She did it, she did it.”

  Exasperated, Fred said, “Okay, enough out of you.” Pointing to the guards, he said “Can you two get her out of here? Actually, one of you.”

  Pointing to the second guard, he said “You go take care of the arm; no doubt you had a run-in with the cat.” Fred gave Roger a long look; meanwhile Roger sat there calm as could be, as though nothing had happened.

  The doctor reported, “Ms. Parks is dead. It appears to be a heart attack, but there is a bump on her head and I'm going to take her to my office to do a thorough examination. I will inform you of the results as soon as I finish.”

  Fred said, “No, Doc, we gotta test the body for prints and do a complete examination of this room.” He took out his radio and called the crime lab technicians and said “Come on down here, we have a possible murder and I want to you examine this place from top to bottom.”

  Returning his attention to the group in the room, he laid down the law. “Meanwhile, nobody leaves here until I say so; this whole place is on lockdown.”

  He turned to Mandy. “Mandy, why does the secretary keep saying you did it?”

  “Because when I found Stacy Parks, I was standing over the body with the vase in my hand, and she thinks I hit her over the head. I mean, really Fred, I came to sign a contract to start a series of commercials with Roger.”

  Fred shook his head and said, “No matter, Mandy, you got to come down to the station and make a statement, and until we know more about this, you're also a suspect. Sorry, but that's the way it is. Not that I think you killed her, but I gotta do things by the book. You'll be able to go home, but right now, things are very murky.”

  Mandy was astonished. “You don't really think I killed her?” Mandy began to freak out.

  “No. Mandy, but like I said, there are certain procedures we have to go through and unfortunately, you gotta stay put. Later we'll go to the station, you make a statement, and then you can go home.”

  Mandy and Roger moved to a seat out in the reception area. The secretary was still beside herself with grief but calmer. She had heard something to the effect Ms. Parks had a heart attack and started to realize maybe Mandy didn't kill Ms. Parks after all. She was definitely the emotional type.

  Amazingly, Roger sat by Mandy and put his head on her lap. One wouldn't believe this was the same cat attacking the security guard earlier. Mandy thought about making small talk with the secretary, but decided against it, in case the woman started thinking again that somehow Mandy was responsible for what happened to Stacy Parks.

  Mandy just came here for a chance to make some money, to start something new in her life, and here she was, staring at another dead body through no fault of her own. She could think back on all the years of her life, and other than her mother and husband, she had not had to face a dead body. And now here in the space of three weeks, she had had to face two: David Towsky and now Stacy Parks. Well, there goes a great opportunity. Of all things, this really took the dog biscuit.

  After the lab technicians performed all their tests, the doctor called an ambulance for the body. Two ambulance attendants arrived with a stretcher, placed Stacy Parks' body carefully on it and took her out of the room. The way they were taking their time, they obviously weren't trying to get anywhere in a hurry. Nobody needed to be saved. Ambulance drivers are all like that. Once they knew their passenger died, they took it easy, filled out all the paperwork and didn't go crazy trying to beat all the traffic. Only when there was a chance of saving someone that they got all crazy with traffic and with their sirens. The sooner they could get to the hospital, the greater the chance of the patient surviving.

  At one point, the manager of Hedon Pet Nutrition, Carol Stamis, arrived. She was a young brunette woman, in her late twenties, who had the look of a business school graduate - very well put together, attractive, confident and all business at all times.

  A little later, a second party arrived, Stacy Parks' husband, Thomas Parks. He was a man in his late fifties or early sixties, but you could tell he had been in business all his life. He wore a suit, was very well put together, and he still had most of his gray hair, which he wore fashionably cut and neatly combed.

  Thomas Parks asked a lot of questions: what had happened, when did this happen, was it an accident or was there the possibility of foul play - and if it was foul play, what were the police going to do about this murder?

  Fred said calmly “We don't know yet for sure if it is a murder, Mr. Parks, but we are taking this situation very seriously.”

  Just when Mandy thought she couldn't take another five minutes of waiting in this place, Fred motioned to her they could leave. “We'll take your car,” Fred said, “and I'll leave the police car for Jimmy; he's still filling in all the blanks and dealing with the various personalities.”

  Once in the car, Mandy started to fill Fred in on the situation. “I tell you Fred, just yesterday when I spoke to her, I thought this would become a new money-maker for me. I'm still out of a job, you know. I had absolutely no reason to kill Ms. Parks. If anything, I looked forward to this relationship because it meant I would make money in the future.

  “And now, she's dead. I hope it's from natural causes. Who knows if I'll get to make the commercial now. Luckily, I also got a call from another company, but they're smaller and they don't have the class of Hedon Foods, but the lady who runs it, Loretta Gumble, is very nice.”

  “You think she had reason to hurt Stacy Parks?” Fred asked.

  “No, she's a small business owner, selling products and toys, not a competitor, just a regular person. She even said, 'We're not as esoteric as Hedon.' So, she knew the size of her business.”

  “While you were in the office, did you touch anything else other than the vase?” Fred asked.

  “Nothing. The only reason I touched the vase was because Roger knocked it over. At the time, I was glad it didn't break, but the vase is what led me to Stacy Parks lying there. If that hadn't happened, I may have sat on a chair and kept wondering and asking myself, where is this woman?”

  “You know Mandy, it's strange; in the past you never had any contact with any murders, but since you solved the David Towsky case, here you are running into another dead body. Let's hope it's not a murder, but a heart attack like the doc says.”

  “I know, I thought the same thing earlier. I mean, you know me Fred, the last thing I want is this kind of excitement. A great new job, a lot of tarot reading and zodiac charts, that's exciting. Dead people - not so exciting. Actually it's pretty scary stuff. I thought I would never again have to go through what happened to me with David's death, but here I am again in the middle of another strange death.”

  “Well, so far the doctor is ruling it a heart attack. His thinking is going in the direction she was alone in the office, she had a heart attack in the back of the room, the secretary didn't hear her, and she fell down and hit her head on something. Me, I'm always looking for the logical answer, not for the supernatural answer. As far as we know, the woman didn't have any enemies to speak of and certainly nobody who would want to kill her. She has run a pretty clean business, so there's no reason to suspect foul play. And there's no evidence to support that either.”

  “Yes, I remember from David's situation.”

  “And you see, eventually you found evidence to the contrary. Whatever you do, don't get involved in this, okay? Let us handle it.” Fred's used a no-nonsense tone of voice.

  “Oh believe me
, I'm not touching this with a ten-foot pole. The situation with David was different; he was my friend, and I didn't believe his death was natural. However, I only talked to this woman yesterday and saw her for the first time today, unfortunately dead. So, I have no interest whatsoever in any replays.

  “This situation, as far as I'm concerned, is closed. If they call me back and want to do a commercial, fine, but meanwhile, I think I'm going to talk to Loretta Gumble. That sounds like a straight-up situation where Roger is filmed and everybody goes home at the end of the day and we all live happily ever after.

  “When I first dealt with Stacy Parks, she had me watch a company video about what they do, this is a VERY fancy operation. It's possible even the death of the owner may not affect business dealings. So, it's either a commercial with one company or the other. ” Mandy said.

  “I'm glad to hear it, Mandy. I didn't want you to have any more problems. Anyway, once at the station, give me a report and you can go home. I'm sure this was not the day you planned,” Fred said.

  “You got that right!” Mandy left no room for doubt.

  Chapter Three

  After Mandy got home from the police station, everything started to sink in. She and Roger went to interview for a cat food commercial. She arrived at Hedon's corporate offices only to find the woman who wanted to make the commercial with Roger had died. Mandy had nothing to do with it; why did it have to happen when she had her appointment? Why couldn't she have struck the deal with Stacy Parks before she died? She could have died a couple of days later, long after Mandy's appointment. Mandy couldn't understand all this death around her.

  It was all getting to be a little disturbing. And Roger had to protect her yet again. Well, she warned those guys, and they didn't listen to her. The one security guard just had a macho attitude like yeah, I can take this cat. Well, that's what he got for being cocky.