Independence Day in Cherry Hills

by Paige Sleuth

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Kat paced around her living room while she awaited Andrew’s call. She was dying to tell him about Clarissa’s affair with Floyd. But his cell phone had gone straight to voicemail, and the officer who had answered her call at the station said he was out on police business. The officer wouldn’t tell her what business he was attending to exactly, but he was quick to assure her he would have Andrew return her call at his earliest convenience.

  That had been over two hours ago.

  “I guess his earliest convenience isn’t too early,” she said to Tom as she checked the time on her cell phone for the umpteenth time.

  Tom meowed, then dashed in front of her as she spun around to start on another lap.

  Kat stopped walking to give him a pat. “I’ll tell you, Tom, Floyd might be the one with the gun, but if asked to choose the most likely suspect between him and Clarissa, I’d put my money on her. Floyd at least seemed upset Friday night.”

  Tom chirruped and rubbed his cheek against her fingers, a gesture that made Kat think of Habby.

  The orange prescription bottle Habby had dislodged in his haste to greet Floyd popped into her head. She had almost forgotten about it.

  “I wonder if whatever medication Clarissa is on could make her prone to violence,” she mused aloud.

  Tom rolled onto his back and looked at her with upside-down eyes.

  “That’s a good point, Tom. Drugs can make a person loopy too.” She paused, considering another possibility. “I guess the flip side is they can also make you numb. Do you think that’s why Clarissa seems so uncaring?”

  Kat shot a glance at Matty, who was resting on the couch. The tortoiseshell hadn’t offered an opinion yet, but she was keeping an eye on their exchange.

  “Matty, you’re another cool, calm, and collected one—except when it comes to fireworks. Do you think the medication Clarissa’s on explains why she seems so detached about everything?”

  Matty stretched her jaws in a large yawn, then licked her lips.

  “Hmm, I suppose exhaustion and dry mouth could also be side effects, but I’m not really sure that’s relevant. Right now I’m just trying to determine if Clarissa’s prescription might have either spurred her to shoot Jay, or could help explain why she doesn’t seem to care that he’s dead. When Andrew phones me back I’ll have to ask if he can find out what she’s taking—” She frowned as she checked the time on her cell phone again. “—if he ever phones me back.”

  Kat had just started arguing with herself over whether to try calling him again when the buzzer sounded.

  She jumped to her feet. “Speaking of the devil. That must be Andrew.”

  She buzzed him into the building, then went to wait for him by the door. Tom joined her, his tail thumping against the doorframe as if he knew one of his favorite people was on his way up.

  Kat smirked. “You know Andrew is here to see me, not you, don’t you, Tommy?”

  Tom didn’t budge. Clearly he was going to verify that for himself.

  The elevator dinged, and Andrew disembarked. Kat could see his dimples even from her end of the, albeit short, corridor.

  “You look happy,” she commented.

  “I am happy.”

  Andrew stooped to pet Tom before planting a kiss on Kat’s lips. Tom looked straight at her as he started grooming his chest. Maybe she was imagining things, but she swore the feline was preening over being acknowledged first.

  Andrew clutched Kat’s shoulders. “Guess what.”

  “What?”

  “Jay LaPierre’s killer is in jail.”

  Kat nearly dropped the cell phone she still had gripped in one hand. “You caught the killer?”

  “I sure did.” Andrew’s smile dimmed. “Well, I didn’t really catch her, per se. She confessed when I went over to her house to question her.”

  “She?” Kat pictured Clarissa sipping lemonade while she calmly recited how she’d gunned down her husband two nights ago.

  “Yes, she,” Andrew said. “Eunice Berkowitz.”

  Kat’s mental image disappeared in a poof. “Eunice killed Jay?”

  “She sure did. She admitted to everything. I was busy booking her when you called.”

  Kat struggled to process what he was saying. Although she hadn’t completely ruled out Eunice, she hadn’t seriously considered her to be involved either, not after seeing how caring she was with her neighbor’s abandoned cats.

  “Are you sure Clarissa didn’t kill Jay?” Kat asked, not willing to let go of the widow as a suspect yet. “She’s having an affair with her neighbor Floyd, you know.”

  Andrew’s brow furrowed. “No, I didn’t know that.” He shook his head, sending his hair flopping all over the place. “But that doesn’t matter now. Eunice gave me a full confession. Full. As in down to the details of how she stole her ex-husband’s gun from his house while he was on vacation, rode her son’s bike across town, and hid in the bushes until LaPierre returned home Friday night.”

  “Wow.” Obviously Kat had let Eunice’s compassion toward animals blind her to what else the woman was capable of.

  “She even told us where we could find the gun,” Andrew added.

  “Where is it?”

  “Dumped in a garbage bin at a park somewhere between her house and LaPierre’s. She couldn’t tell us the name of the park, but one of our officers is out checking all the ones she might have passed.”

  Kat leaned against the wall, needing a moment to process everything. “She never gave me a clue she killed Jay when I talked to her.”

  “Well, maybe you’re the reason she confessed. After you accidentally ran into her”—Andrew winked—“she probably developed a guilty conscience.”

  Now there was a theory that made some sense. Eunice definitely struck Kat as the type of person with a conscience. And people did snap, Kat reminded herself. Even Eunice herself had commented about how sometimes people were forced to do things that were out of character. Maybe she hadn’t meant the remark in reference to her neighbor’s abandonment of his cats or, more obliquely, to things she herself might have done when her depression was at its worst, but she was in fact seeking absolution for murdering a man.

  “But it’s not my job to ask why she had a change of heart,” Andrew went on. “My job now is to finish collecting all the evidence so we can hand it over to the D.A.”

  Before Kat could respond her cell phone rang. She glanced at it, registering Ani Bedrossian’s name on the face.

  “Hi, Ani,” she answered.

  “Kat, could you come over?”

  The anxiety in Ani’s voice made Kat forget all about Eunice. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  Andrew arched an eyebrow. Kat signaled him to hold on with one upraised forefinger.

  “I just got off the phone with Mitch.” Ani’s voice was shaky, and she sounded close to tears. “Kat, he’s upset about something, and he’s on his way over here. I’m afraid of what he’s going to do.”

  Kat was already herding Tom back into the apartment. “I’ll be right there. And I’m bringing backup.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Kat’s heart lurched when she saw Mitch Townsend pounding on Ani’s front door as Andrew pulled up to the curb in front of her house.

  “You ought to stay in the car,” Andrew said, turning off the ignition and unbuckling his seat belt.

  She touched his arm. “Please be safe.”

  “I will.” He gave her a reassuring smile, then climbed out of the driver’s seat.

  Kat couldn’t breathe as she watched him walk up the driveway. She could hear Mitch yelling even with the car windows rolled up. She couldn’t make out what he was saying, but he was clearly worked up about something.

  Andrew stopped a few yards away. He must have said something because Mitch whirled around. Mitch’s face was red, and he shouted something at Andrew. The wide gap between his feet and the tight set of his jaw made it clear he was spoiling for a fight.

  Andrew ex
tended his arm. Kat saw a brown square in his hand—his badge, most likely. But Mitch wasn’t paying that much attention. In his readiness for battle he must have assumed Andrew was taking a swing at him. It only took two seconds for Mitch to draw his arm back and throw his fist forward.

  Kat jerked toward the window, her breath catching in her throat. She pressed her fingertips against the glass as adrenaline gushed through her bloodstream. It wasn’t until she registered that Andrew had successfully deflected Mitch’s blow that she could inhale again.

  Then, before she even knew what was happening, Mitch was on the ground with Andrew’s knee pressed into his back. The metal handcuffs seemed to appear from out of nowhere. Andrew snapped them around Mitch’s wrists, leaving him immobilized.

  Kat scrambled for the door handle, figuring Andrew wouldn’t object to her getting out of the car now. She was racing up the driveway when Ani pried her front door open.

  “Kat,” Ani said, “thank goodness you came.”

  “Are you okay?” Kat asked. The contrast between Ani’s abnormally pale complexion and her abundance of black hair was startling.

  “I’m fine.” Ani pressed one hand to her chest. “Just shaken.”

  “This is police brutality!” Mitch yelled. “I’ll have your badge for this! You wait and see.”

  Andrew appeared unfazed as he used the handcuffs to haul Mitch to his feet. He looked at Kat and Ani. “I’ve got to go book him. Will you be okay?”

  Kat nodded. “I’ll get Ani to give me a ride home.” She shot a questioning glance at Ani, who bobbed her head in confirmation.

  “Stop by the station afterward and give them a statement,” Andrew told Ani. He was already walking Mitch down the driveway.

  “Thank you,” Ani said to Andrew.

  “You’ll pay for this!” Mitch bellowed over his shoulder.

  Kat couldn’t tell if he was talking to her or Ani, but the conviction in his voice made her shudder.

  Ani clutched Kat’s elbow. “Don’t listen to him. Let’s go inside.”

  Ani’s fingers were trembling and her touch was cold as she led Kat into the house. For her sake, Kat hoped Andrew found a reason to keep Mitch in jail for a while.

  Ani steered Kat down the hallway. “You might as well say hi to Bonnie and Clyde while you’re here. I’m telling you, Kat, they might be the only things keeping me from having a nervous breakdown right about now.”

  “Cats can be very soothing presences,” Kat agreed. “They show us how to live in the moment and enjoy life’s little pleasures, even when it feels like there isn’t much to celebrate.”

  “That’s for sure.”

  Bonnie and Clyde were both lying atop the blanket on the window seat again. Bonnie looked as if she were attempting to get some shut-eye while Clyde entertained himself by batting at her tail. As relaxed as they seemed, Kat figured they must not have heard the commotion outside—a small miracle given how loudly Mitch had been shouting.

  The sight of them loosened the knot in Kat’s chest. “I swear Clyde looks bigger than he did twenty-four hours ago.”

  “He’s growing amazingly fast.” Ani smiled at her charges. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s gained a pound since his last weigh-in.”

  Kat perched on the window seat and held her hand out to the kitten. Clyde scrambled over to her, his stubby little legs wobbling as the seat cushion yielded to the pressure of his footsteps.

  Unable to resist, Kat scooped him up and planted a kiss on the top of his tiny head. Then she set him in her lap, where he promptly rolled over onto his back and swatted at her fingers.

  “Ahh, those toes,” Kat said, making a game out of evading Clyde’s attempts to grab her finger while she tapped each of his impossibly small pink toe pads in turn.

  Bonnie roused herself with a yawn. She blinked her eyes, then watched Kat and Clyde for a moment. She must have decided Clyde was in good hands, because she settled back down with her paws folded underneath her chest.

  Ani sat down and stroked Bonnie from head to tail. “Kat, I hate to burden you with this, but would you go with me to the police station when I give my statement?”

  Kat glanced at her, but Ani wouldn’t meet her eye. “Sure.”

  “Thanks.”

  They petted the cats, the sound of Bonnie’s smooth and steady purr and Clyde’s stuttering one filling the room. Kat could tell from the crease in Ani’s brow that her thoughts were still on Mitch. She tried to think of something to say to help put her at ease, but everything she came up with sounded like a hollow platitude.

  It was Ani who finally broke the silence. “You and that police officer are close, huh?” she said.

  A snippet of last night’s conversation from Taste of Tuscany popped into her head. You two married? Not yet.

  “You could say that,” Kat replied.

  “Has he told you anything about that attorney’s murder? Jay LaPierre’s?”

  “Eunice Berkowitz, a former client of the opposition, confessed to killing him,” Kat told her, hoping she wasn’t expected to keep that information confidential.

  Ani finally looked up. “She did?”

  Kat nodded.

  “Oh, thank goodness.” Ani sagged against the windowpane behind her as if a hundred-pound weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

  “Do you know Eunice?” Kat asked.

  “No. And I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. I’m just relieved it wasn’t Mitch. Ever since yesterday when you were asking me all those questions about what time Mitch was here and whether he owned a gun I haven’t been able to shake the thought that maybe he was the one who did it. So to hear he didn’t . . . well, it greatly eases my conscience.”

  Kat could understand Ani’s relief. Having an ex-husband with anger management issues was one thing. Having an ex who was a murderer was quite another.

  Without warning, Bonnie jumped to her feet and rocketed across Kat’s lap. Kat leaned back with a gasp. Then she realized why Bonnie was so fired up. Clyde was making his way across the window seat and now tottered dangerously close to the edge. He was so lightweight Kat hadn’t noticed he’d even crawled out of her lap.

  Bonnie clamped her jaws around the scruff of the kitten’s neck, prompting him to release a tiny mew of protest. But Bonnie didn’t let go until she’d carried him back into the safe zone.

  Ani straightened the cats’ blanket. “She’s a good mama, very protective.”

  “I can see that.” Kat’s heart rate still hadn’t returned to normal.

  “She would do anything for Clyde. I guess she’s no different from any other mother, but this is the first time I’ve really gotten the chance to observe a cat and her kitten together.”

  Ani’s words bounced around in Kat’s head. There was something important to be gleaned from what she’d said, if Kat could just figure out what it was.

  And then it hit her. The realization was so obvious she couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen it before.

  Kat vaulted off the window seat. “Ani, I need to get to the police station.”

  Ani seemed startled by her sudden urgency, but she dutifully rose to her feet. “Is something wrong?”

  “Yes.” Kat started for the door. “Andrew arrested the wrong person for Jay LaPierre’s murder.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  For the second time that day Kat found herself pacing her living room as she impatiently waited for Andrew to phone. She had hoped to run into him when she was at the station with Ani, but with Eunice Berkowitz occupying CHPD’s lone jail cell, apparently he’d had to find another law enforcement agency that had room to hold Mitch.

  Matty emerged from the kitchen and ambled over to her.

  “Still no calls from Andrew,” Kat informed the feline.

  Matty didn’t seem concerned. She gave Kat a slow blink as if to communicate that everything would be all right.

  A knock sounded on the door, prompting Kat to frown at Matty. “Tell me you didn’t just conjure him up using your
magical tortie powers.”

  But Matty wasn’t one to give away her secrets. She merely swished her tail.

  Tom raced past them in his haste to be the first one at the door. Kat was close behind him.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” she said, swinging the door open.

  Except it wasn’t Andrew standing in the corridor but Presley Berkowitz.

  Kat’s mouth went dry, and her skin prickled. What was he doing here? With his mother in jail and his father out of town, she had figured he would be in the custody of child services.

  “You got my mom arrested,” he said.

  His words were startlingly harsh, and they knocked Kat backward a step. Even Tom, a cat who sought out attention from everyone and anyone, seemed to hesitate from getting any closer.

  Kat told herself to stay calm. “I didn’t have her arrested, Presley. She confessed.”

  Presley’s eyes flashed. “She didn’t do it.”

  “I know that.” Kat paused, then added, “I know you’re the one who really shot Jay.”

  Presley didn’t seem surprised she knew, and Kat wondered if he’d come here to silence her. He might only be fourteen, but he had already proven he could be dangerous.

  Kat took a quick step back into the apartment, but Presley grabbed her arm before she could slam the door shut. A scream ripped from her throat, a noise that served to scare Tom—and probably Matty behind her—but likely hadn’t been heard by anyone else. Only one other person lived on this floor, and Kat knew she was out of town for the holiday weekend.

  “Shh,” Presley hissed, yanking her into the corridor.

  Kat tried to push him away, but he was stronger.

  “Let go of me,” she said, fighting off the wave of panic that threatened to smother her.

  To her surprise, he did let go. She drew in a deep breath and rubbed her arm where his hand had been. She was vaguely aware of Tom sitting at the end of the hallway watching them with wide eyes. She wanted to tell the cat everything would be okay, but she wasn’t sure of that herself.

  “How’d you find out it was me?” Presley said.