Kittens and Killers

by Diana Xarissa

  “The kittens have been a huge hit,” Crystal told her. “We’d love to have them back again next week.”

  “Sure, I can do that,” Fenella agreed.

  “Are you, by any chance, free tomorrow?” Crystal asked. “We have another care home elsewhere in Douglas. I’m working there tomorrow and I think the kittens would be just as popular there as they have been here.”

  “Tomorrow? Why not?”

  “It’s less of a medical environment at that home, and the residents there are allowed to keep their own pets if they choose to do so. Maybe you’ll find new owners for the kittens there.”

  “I’d like to find a new owner for the mother cat, too.”

  Crystal looked at the animal in Fenella’s arms and shrugged. “She might be harder to, um, sell.”

  “She’s a bit beat-up looking, but she’s a lovely animal.”

  “Yes, well, I’ll do what I can to help. The address is on my card. I’ll see you there around nine, if that works for you.”

  “Nine will work for me.”

  The residents had great fun watching Fenella and Crystal trying to round up the kittens. More than one “accidentally” let a kitten hide under the blankets on their laps or inside their sweaters or shirts. After five minutes, Fenella had three kittens safely tucked up in their carrier. The mother cat was happy inside hers, which meant there was just one kitten left to find.

  “Just leave the last one here,” one of the residents suggested as Fenella dug out a box of kitty treats.

  “He or she isn’t old enough to leave mother cat yet,” Fenella said. “They haven’t finished weaning yet.”

  One of the older women sighed deeply. “I’d better let him go, then,” she said. She lifted up the blanket on her lap to reveal the missing kitten. The animal sat up and blinked and then snuggled back down on the woman’s lap.

  “Come on,” Fenella said. “It’s time to go home.”

  The kitten made a token protest as Fenella moved it into the crate with the others. Crystal thanked her again as she headed for the door, a carrier in each hand. Another member of the staff followed with the animals’ supplies. Fenella put everything into her car and then slid behind the wheel.

  “Thank you,” the woman from the home said. “That’s the brightest I’ve seen some of our patients in weeks. I hope you’ll visit again.”

  “Crystal already asked me to come back next week. The animals are all available for adoption, too, if the facility would like to consider keeping a few of them permanently.”

  “I wish I could have one, but my son is allergic. Having them here would be the next best thing. I’m going to have a word with the managers. Maybe they would consider adopting one or two of the kittens.”

  Fenella drove off with her fingers metaphorically crossed. The kittens appeared to have enjoyed their time at the home, and it seemed the perfect place for them to go once they were ready to leave their mother. Back at Poppy Drive, she unloaded the animals and their things and then let the kittens loose.

  “Do you want to come out and have a wander around?” she asked the mother cat.

  The animal replied by going and standing next to her pen and shouting loudly. Fenella took the hint and put the cat inside the pen. She made sure everyone had food and water before she headed for the door.

  “Good morning,” Daniel called as she made her way toward her car. “Or is it afternoon already? I have a split shift today, so I came home for lunch.”

  “It’s not quite afternoon,” Fenella told him. “I was going to call you later, though. I bumped into two of your witnesses today.”

  Daniel’s smile looked resigned. “Of course you did. Tell me more.”

  Fenella quickly explained about Mr. Stone’s request and her trip to the nursing home. She did her best to repeat everything that Marilyn and Clyde had told her before mentioning that she was due to visit another home the next day. “I don’t know if any of the other witnesses live there, but if they do, I’ll probably see them. That’s usually how my luck runs.”

  “It’s uncanny,” Daniel said with a sigh. “They both told you things that they didn’t tell me, as well.”

  “Clyde was hiding things.”

  “He refused to answer some of my questions and was evasive on others. I’m planning to talk to him again after I’ve spoken to everyone else.”

  “I couldn’t help but feel as if he holds the key to the whole thing.”

  “That would be nice, but it seems unlikely. His sister was murdered. If he knew who’d killed her, why would he have kept quiet for all these years?”

  “Maybe he killed her,” Fenella suggested.

  “He’s certainly on the short list.”

  “He didn’t seem guilty to me, at least not guilty of murder,” Fenella said, contradicting herself. “It just felt as if he had secrets.”

  “He wouldn’t tell you why he fought with Donna?”

  “At first he said he didn’t really remember. Later in the conversation he said something about deliberately cutting his ties with all of Mabel’s friends because it was too painful to remember her, or something like that.”

  Daniel nodded. “Thank you for telling me about the conversations. If you do meet anyone else tomorrow, you know I want to hear about it.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  Fenella climbed into her car and drove back to her apartment building. Shelly wasn’t home when she knocked, so she let herself into her own apartment and then headed for the kitchen.

  “How was your morning?” Mona asked as Fenella searched through the cupboards, trying to find something to make for her lunch.

  “It was interesting,” Fenella replied as she gave up and dug a frozen meal out of her freezer. Once it was cooking in the microwave, Fenella gave Mona a full accounting of her conversations with Marilyn and Clyde.

  “It does sound as if Clyde knows something,” Mona agreed when Fenella was finished. “I find it odd and sad that none of them are still speaking.”

  “I don’t think it’s as dramatic as that. Donna just said that they’d drifted apart.”

  “Except for her and Clyde,” Mona reminded her. “I wish I knew what they’d fought about. It may have nothing to do with the case, but I still want to know.”

  “If I meet any of the others, I’ll make getting an answer to that question a priority.”

  “I’d rather know who killed Mabel, of course. It’s interesting that Marilyn told you to talk to Clyde. If she and the others all think that he killed Mabel, that would explain why they fought.”

  “Surely, if they really thought he’d done it, they would have gone to the police, not simply stopped speaking to him.”

  “And Marilyn is still insisting that Mabel was seeing someone.”

  “Yes, that may be what she thinks Clyde is hiding.”

  “If she’s right, then the man in question must have been married or otherwise unacceptable,” Mona said thoughtfully.

  “That’s an interesting thought. Maybe Daniel should take a closer look at Howard Quinn.”

  “Unless Mabel was involved with a woman,” Mona added. “I’m sure Clyde would do everything in his power to hide that fact from the rest of the world.”

  “I can see that fifty years ago, but surely it doesn’t matter as much now. If he was keeping that a secret and his doing so was letting someone get away with murder, surely he’d be willing to talk now.”

  Mona shrugged. “Whatever the rest of the world thinks, if Clyde still finds the idea unacceptable, he may be keeping his mouth shut.”

  “Do you really think Mabel was involved with another woman?”

  “No, not really. That was just an example of something that I think that Clyde would hide from the police, that’s all. I can see Mabel getting involved with a married man, though. Many women do, after all.”

  Fenella nodded, wondering how many married men her aunt had been involved with over the years. Mona’s reputation suggested that she’d had an enormous nu
mber of relationships, but the more Fenella got to know the woman the more she came to realize that Mona’s reputation was largely fabricated. Max had never married, and Fenella was starting to think that he was the only man with whom Mona had ever actually been involved.

  “Did Max remember anything?” she asked.

  Mona shrugged. “I haven’t asked him yet. He gets confused and upset sometimes when we talk about the past. I may try to speak to him tonight. We’ll see.”

  Fenella ate her lunch in front of mindless television and then spent a few minutes tidying up the apartment. She was just about to go back over to see if Shelly had returned yet when the phone rang.

  10

  “Fenella, darling, how are you?” Donald’s voice came down the line.

  “I’m fine. How are you?”

  “I’m better, because I’m ringing from London. After much fuss and far too much bother, Phoebe and I are safely back on British soil.”

  “That’s good news.”

  “There’s a part of me that feels rather guilty about it all, because Phoebe loved her life in the US, but I needed to get back on the correct side of the pond, as it were.”

  “How is Phoebe?”

  “She’s, well, she’s adjusting. The journey was very difficult for her, but she’s always hated flying, even though she loved to travel. We flew over with a doctor, two nurses, and two aides, and between them all they were able to keep Phoebe calm on the flight, anyway. She’s going to need a few days to adjust to the time difference and recover from her jet lag before we resume her therapies.”

  “How was the journey for you?”

  “Long and incredibly tedious, but that’s how flying should be. I don’t want to an exciting flight, I just want to arrive safely at my destination.”

  “Do you think you’ll be able to move back to the island at some point?”

  “It’s far too soon to answer that question. I mean, I fully intend to come back one day, but I’m not sure whether Phoebe will be able to join me. In an ideal world, she’ll recover completely, but then she won’t want to join me. At the moment, we’re taking one day at a time.”

  “I can’t imagine how difficult this must be for you.”

  “I’m doing okay,” he told her. “Tell me what you’ve been doing lately.”

  Fenella made him laugh as she told him about Winston’s crazy barking and the totally unnecessary police presence at the storage shed. “And now I’m looking after an injured mother cat and four kittens,” she said. “That’s keeping me busy, I must say.”

  “It also suggests that this wouldn’t be a good time for you to fly over to London for a few days,” Donald sighed.

  “It really isn’t,” Fenella said apologetically. “Shelly can look after Katie for me, but I can’t saddle her with Katie and five other animals, not all at the same time.”

  “No, I don’t suppose you can, unfortunately.”

  “You can’t pop over here for a few days?”

  “Not at the moment. I can’t leave Phoebe until I’m sure she’s stable and settled here. That won’t be a quick or an easy process.”

  “At least we’re back in the same time zone,” Fenella said.

  Donald chuckled. “I suppose that’s something. You have my mobile number. Ring me once the kittens are sorted out and let me know. I’d really love to see you.”

  “I’d like to see you, too,” Fenella replied, wondering if she was being totally honest with him. She’d enjoyed spending time with him, but while he’d been away, she hadn’t really missed having him complicating her life. Maybe it would be better for both of them if she ended things now.

  “I’ll ring you again soon,” Donald said, interrupting her thoughts. “Take care.” He disconnected before she could reply.

  Fenella put the phone down and frowned at it. “Maybe I should just let the machine pick up every call,” she said. “I feel as if I’d rather avoid nearly everyone at the moment, anyway.”

  The words were hardly out of her mouth when the phone rang again. Frowning, Fenella answered it almost instinctively.

  “Maggie, my darling, how are you?”

  “I’m fine, Jack,” Fenella replied, feeling the familiar touch of annoyance with the man that seemed to surface whenever he called. Now that he’d been to visit, though, surely conversations between them would go better.

  “I just realized this morning that I never called you to let you know that I was home safely.”

  “That’s right, you didn’t,” Fenella agreed, feeing slightly guilty that she hadn’t really given the matter much thought.

  “I did think that you could have rung me to check,” Jack said, sounding hurt.

  “I wanted to give you time to recover from your jet lag before I called. Anyway, I wasn’t sure of your teaching schedule this semester. Calling and talking to your answering machine wouldn’t have made me any less worried, would it?”

  “So you were going to call me soon?”

  “I would have called you over the weekend if you hadn’t called,” Fenella said. Maybe, she added to herself.

  “My flight back to Buffalo was delayed twice.”

  “Yes, I know. I did watch the airport websites to make sure you were making good progress. From what I could see, it looked as if you landed in Buffalo about three hours late.”

  “Yes, that’s about right. The whole experience was nearly enough to put me off the idea of traveling again.”

  “I’m sure it was unpleasant, but think of all the fun you had on the island.”

  “Yes, I keep reminding myself of what a wonderful adventure it all was, in spite of the murder and the delayed flight.”

  Fenella smiled at the way Jack lumped the two things together as if they were of similar importance. “At least you’re home safe and sound.”

  “I am, and that’s why I’m calling, actually. I did think that you might call to make sure that I was home safely one of these days. As I’m not going to be home for a short while, I thought I would let you know so that you wouldn’t worry.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m taking another trip.”

  “You are? That’s great,” Fenella said, feeling surprised. “Where are you going?”

  “Las Vegas.”

  “Las Vegas,” Fenella echoed.

  “It’s in Nevada.”

  “Yes, I know where Las Vegas is. We even talked about it when you were here. You said there was a job there that you thought you might be interested in pursuing.”

  “Yes, well, do you remember the one night in your apartment when I borrowed your computer so that I could check my emails?”

  “Yes.”

  “While I was checking them, I happened to look at the job website again and this little voice in my head told me that I should apply. I sent off my application without really thinking about what I was doing.”

  “A voice in your head,” Fenella repeated, looking around for Mona.

  “It’s just a figure of speech,” Jack said. “Anyway, when I arrived home I discovered that the university had replied and invited me for an interview. They’re paying for me to fly to Las Vegas and stay for five days. At first, I wasn’t sure I should go, but then I decided that it’s really like a free vacation, isn’t it? I’ll have to spend some time at the university, meeting people and talking about the job, but they’ve promised me at least two free days to see Las Vegas.”

  “I’m sure that will be interesting,” Fenella said.

  “They’ve reserved me a room at one of the biggest hotels right in the middle of everything. It all sounds very exciting and not all the sort of thing I do.”

  Fenella laughed. “Not the sort of thing you used to do, but your visit to the island changed you. You’re much more adventurous now.”

  “I don’t know about that, really. When I was there, I felt as if I should be traveling and seeing the world and now that I’m home, I’m not sure why I felt that way.”

  “Vegas will be a gr
eat adventure. I hope you don’t stop there, either.”

  “Have you ever been to Las Vegas?”

  “No. You’ll have to tell me all about it.”

  “I was rather hoping you might like to join me.”

  “Join you? No,” Fenella replied firmly.

  Jack sighed. “I didn’t think you’d actually agree, but I thought it was worth asking. We had fun seeing the sights on the island together. I think we’d have fun seeing Las Vegas together, too.”

  And if you would have asked me five years ago, when we were a couple and I was always begging you to take a trip somewhere, I would have gone in a heartbeat, Fenella thought. “I’m still looking after those kittens and their mother,” she said. “I can’t get away, even if I wanted to join you.” Which I don’t, she added silently.

  “Right, well, okay then. I’ll call you next week and tell you all about the trip. Maybe you’ll want to come along on my next one.”

  “What else are you planning?”

  “Nothing specific at the moment, but I did apply for more than a dozen different positions when I was on the island. I may have more interviews in the near future.”

  “Are you that unhappy in Buffalo?”

  “Not unhappy, really, just willing to consider making a change. I don’t think the position in Las Vegas is going to be for me, but I might be surprised.”

  “You might,” Fenella muttered.

  “Anyway, I’ll call you when I get back and tell you all about everything. Do take care of yourself in the interim.”

  Jack hung up before Fenella could reply. She slowly put down the phone. What had Mona done to the man? No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t imagine Jack in Vegas. At least he seemed to have given up on wanting to get back together with her. Feeling weirdly sad, she headed for the door, hoping for a cuddle with Katie.

  “He’s going to Vegas,” she told the kitten a few minutes later. “I can’t imagine how he’ll cope with the crowds and the casinos and everything.”

  “He’ll be fine. He’s very smart, after all. Maybe he’ll fall in love with Vegas and decide to stay there forever,” Shelly said.