Fat Cat Takes The Cake

“Yes, yes. She calls him Nelson, but that’s the one. I ran right in and asked her what had happened.”

“She did promise not to sign anything, right?”

“That’s what she said.” His hair had dripped melted snow onto his glasses. He took them off again and rubbed them against the sleeve of his sweater, then stuck them back on his nose. “That’s what she agreed to then, when you were talking to her. But she said today the man had a paper she needed to sign immediately.”

“She signed it?” Chase sat up straight, her eyes wide. “Did you see it?”

“Yes, she signed. And no, she doesn’t have a copy.”

“No copy. This is bad. I need to call Julie.” Chase jumped up and almost tripped over Quincy, who was curled at Professor Fear’s feet. Her cell phone was in the kitchen on the charger. She left it plugged in and stood beside the counter, since it probably didn’t have much charge on it yet. Her body thrummed as she listened to Julie’s phone ring and ring. And ring.

As soon as Chase broke the connection, Julie returned her call, much to her relief.

“Hi, I was on another call,” she said. “It was Gerry.”

“Gerrold Gustafson?” Julie’s lawyer.

“Yes, he wants to meet me after work to go over some things.”

“What does he think?” She stopped to sneeze.

“What was that?” Julie asked.

“I’m getting a cold.” It came out sounding more like “I’m geddig a code.” She continued. “Does he think they’ll charge you with murder?”

“He doesn’t really say. But I know he’ll do everything he can. What did you call about?”

“Oh, Julie. This is bad. Hilda Bjorn signed a paper for Van Snelson. Professor Fear is here and he says Snelson was leaving this morning when he arrived and Hilda had just signed something.”

“Well, what did she sign? A contract?”

Chase called to the man in the living room. “Did she say anything about what the paper was?”

“She has no idea,” he said, coming into the kitchen. “But I’ve talked to some others on our block. Some have signed contracts with him and some are refusing. More have signed than not and they’re mostly elderly. That man should be locked up. I think he was going to come to my house next, but he saw how angry I was that he was at Hilda’s.”

For the scheme to work for Snelson and Hail, they would have to acquire all the houses on the block. Chase wondered if they truly thought they could do that. “I wonder how he thinks he’s going to get you and some of the others to sign,” Chase said.

“Listen,” Julie said. “I’ll tell Gerry that I’ll be a little late. I’ll stop by Hilda’s right after work and see if I can find out anything. Oh, I have an idea. Maybe he’ll come there with me.”

“It might be better if both of you showed up on Snelson’s doorstep,” Chase said. “You could double-team him and maybe frighten him enough to tear up whatever it was he tricked her into signing.”

“That’s an idea. I’ll call Gerry back right now. And you should gargle some salt water.”

“Call me and let me know what happens. Good luck.”

Chase broke the connection and told Professor Fear that Julie and another lawyer were going to work on it. “They’ll either talk to Hilda or to Snelson.” A coughing fit overcame her.

“Or both, I hope. Thanks for your help. And thank your friend Julie, too. That’s a nasty cough. You should take a hot, steamy shower.”

“I’ll thank her.” Maybe she would try the shower, too. She followed him downstairs, locked the door, and trudged back up.

Quincy meowed to greet her, then dug a Go Go Ball out from under the stove and purred.

“You shouldn’t hide things like that,” Chase said to the cat. “You always forget where you put them. Speaking of hiding things, I wish I knew where my gloves are. I’ll bet you hid them, too.” She was getting tired of wearing the ones with holes in them. When she felt better, she would search her place for Quincy’s hidey-holes.

TWENTY-FOUR

Maybe Professor Fear knew what he was talking about. It was worth a try. She spent the next hour, after a steamy shower that temporarily stopped her cough, blowing her nose and sucking cough drops. She was starting to get sick to her stomach from them. Oh well, he probably wasn’t a professor of medicine. Come to think of it, she had no idea what his field was.

She took a moment to direct a few dark thoughts at Grace Pilsen. Why had that woman come into the shop and sneezed all over Chase like that last week? Anna had never liked her and Chase was fully on Anna’s side with that now.

Julie had had a suggestion, so she would try it, too. She salted some water and tried gargling in the bathroom. Unfortunately, she swallowed some. After that, she had a hard time keeping it from coming back up, so she quickly gave up on that idea. Shuffling to the kitchen, she fixed another cup of tea with honey and retreated to her bed.

Before she fell asleep, though, Mike Ramos called. She dreaded answering it. How could she explain that she’d been walking with Eddie Heath today? The phone stopped ringing, but started up again a half minute later.