Fat Cat Takes The Cake

The show was perfect, both hilarious and dramatic, with snappy songs that Chase was sure would rattle around inside her head for days. In fact, as they were leaving the show, Chase realized she had forgotten about the whole Ron-North-murdered, Julie-Larson-suspected mess. Maybe Julie had, too.

“You know, that developer, Langton Hail, had an excellent motive to want Ron North dead,” Julie said, climbing into the backseat of Anna’s Volvo.

Chase, already belted in the front seat, realized that Julie hadn’t forgotten about a thing. She twisted around to talk to Julie. “Have you been thinking about this all during the show?”

“No. Well, a little bit. Detective Olson has to talk to me at the station again tomorrow.”

Chase turned to the front and tried not to let her dismay show.

“But developing property,” Julie went on, “buying cheap and making money on it, is Hail’s livelihood. He would have a lot to lose if Ron’s story cast him in a bad light. It might have made someone investigate what he’s doing. Even if it only shut him down for a while, it would hurt.”

“And,” Chase said, turning halfway around again as Anna started the car, “it looks like Hail was paying blackmail money to Ron. If so, he knows that what he’s doing is wrong.”

Anna cranked the heater up all the way. Chase stuck her hands next to the vent. She hadn’t been able to find her good gloves and hadn’t wanted to wear her disreputable everyday ones with the holes to the theater.

“You know, Eddie said that someone might have slept in his car all night after the reunion.”

“Someone who got awfully drunk, you mean,” Julie said.

“Yes, maybe he stayed there to sleep it off instead of driving.”

“It was cold that night,” Anna said.

“So,” Julie said, “this person might have spent part of the night killing Ron North, then slept in his car for a bit. What exactly did Eddie see?”

“You’re seeing a lot of Eddie,” Anna said to Chase.

Chase ignored Anna. “He saw a car and someone was in it.”

“That doesn’t mean anything, then, does it?” Julie said. “Someone could have killed Ron and he could have been too drunk to move after that. It’s a wonder he didn’t freeze to death.”

“God,” Anna said, “protects fools and drunks.”

“And if you’re both,” Chase added, “you’re doubly blessed, aren’t you?”

Chase hated the fact that Olson was continuing to badger Julie. She would call him first thing in the morning to tell him to take a closer look at who might have been in the car the morning after the reunion.

When she got home from the theater it was late and she had to open the shop in the morning.

The treat giver started to go into her bedroom. However, the cat ran ahead of her and started howling. When she noticed, he ran into the kitchen. That was when she realized that he hadn’t had a single treat today, only din dins. After the treat was warmed and put into his dish, he let her know what a transgression this was by turning his back, gulping down the treat, then, after a whisker cleanse, jumping onto the couch for the night.

“Oh, come on, you’re not so mad that you’re going to sleep on the couch, are you?” Chase said, her hands on her hips as she regarded the indignant cat. “I might as well have a husband.”

Once again, she headed for the bedroom. She always left the door open, so she figured Quincy would be in sooner or later, to sleep on the bed, which was made much cozier than the couch by having a human in it. As she began to drowse, she felt his warm body snuggle up to her back. She fell asleep to the sound of deep, throaty purring. The moment before she lost consciousness, she thought that maybe a cat would be better than ever having a husband. Especially one who stood you up to class reunions.

First thing in the morning, before she could call the police station, Mike rang her.

“It’s Friday,” he said.

“Yes, it is.”

“Hey, you’re not still mad, are you? I’d like to take you to dinner tonight. There’s a new place on the other side of campus. Small, Italian. One of my patient’s owners likes it, and she’s Italian, so it should be good.”

Was she to ignore the fact that he was shooting daggers at her yesterday? Or was he taking her to dinner to make it up to her?

“Sure,” she said. “That sounds nice.”

“You’re not busy with that other guy?”

Chase huffed into the phone. “He’s a business associate. It was a business meeting.” Sort of. If she said it enough times, maybe it would be true. Maybe she would forget that tingle she got when Eddie touched her. “What time tonight?”