Six Cats A Slayin'

“I understand you performed CPR on Ms. Albritton,” Kanesha said. “Tell me everything you did.” She looked at Helen Louise.

“All right.” Helen Louise drew a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. “I had just started talking to Deirdre Thompson and Betty Camden when I saw Gerry moving in our direction. Next thing I knew, she stumbled into the table and knocked it over. I’m pretty sure she had the snifter in her hand. She went down with the table and was lying prone beside it.”

“Did you see her take a drink from the snifter?” Kanesha asked.

“Yes, during the couple of seconds, at the most, that I looked at her,” Helen Louise said.

“Did she choke or cough?” Kanesha asked.

Helen Louise considered the question. “No, I don’t think so. Like I said, it was a really brief glance.”

“Okay then, please continue,” Kanesha said.

“After she fell, I think everyone froze for a few seconds, we were all so shocked. I could see she wasn’t moving. I thought at first she’d only been stunned by the fall, but then I realized she might need help. I knelt beside her. I had to turn her over, of course. Charlie helped.”

“Take a moment and visualize the scene,” Kanesha said. “Do you remember seeing the snifter then?”

Helen Louise nodded slowly. “Yes, it had rolled several feet away, I think. But I barely noticed it. I was concentrating on Gerry and getting her turned so I could do CPR. Once we had her in position, I started. Charlie did chest compressions.”

Kanesha turned to me. “How about you? Do you recall seeing the snifter?”

“No, I don’t,” I said. “I didn’t actually see Gerry fall. I heard the noise she made when the table toppled over, but by the time I saw her, she was on the floor. If the snifter rolled several feet away like Helen Louise said, it was probably out of my line of sight.”

Kanesha nodded. “How long do you think you worked on her?”

“I can’t really say,” Helen Louise replied. “Five minutes, maybe as many as ten. We worked on her until the EMTs arrived, so however long it took for them to get here.”

“Were people standing close to you while you performed CPR?” Kanesha asked.

“I think so,” Helen Louise said. “You know what people are like when something happens, nobody wants to miss anything. But I was focused on what I was doing, so I didn’t think much about it.”

“I agree,” I said. “I was aware of the people crowded around us, but I didn’t have time to think about it. I didn’t waste energy on trying to get them to move back. I had to focus on what I was doing, because it’s been years since I performed CPR on anyone.”

“So anyone could have picked up the snifter and taken it away while everyone else was watching the two of you trying to revive the deceased,” Kanesha said.

“Wouldn’t someone have noticed the snifter being carried away?” I asked. “A champagne flute would be much easier to conceal under a jacket. A snifter would cause at least a small bulge.”

“People were distracted,” Kanesha said. “The person who removed it counted on that.”

“Probably so,” I replied. “Since the snifter disappeared, it must be important. Why steal it unless Gerry was poisoned? Right?”

Kanesha nodded reluctantly. “Poison is certainly a possibility, although we won’t know for sure until the toxicology report.”

“When could someone have put poison in the snifter?” Helen Louise asked.

“That’s what I have to try to find out,” Kanesha said. “I’ll be questioning everyone, and I want to find moments when she might have set it down somewhere, and if she did, for how long.”

“And who was in the room when she did,” I said.

Kanesha nodded. “I want you both to think back to the times you saw her tonight and whether she had the snifter with her.”

“We will.” Helen Louise and I exchanged a look. We were both thinking, I was certain, that we needed to tell Kanesha about the confrontations that Gerry had with Tammy Harville and Deirdre Thompson. I didn’t like bearing tales, but if it turned out that one of these women murdered Gerry Albritton, she should be held accountable. I didn’t see how Tammy could be responsible, though, unless she sneaked away from Milton and came back to the party without his being aware of it.

“We think there are some incidents at the party tonight that you need to know about,” I said.

“Because they could have some bearing on Gerry’s death,” Helen Louise added.

“Okay, I’m listening,” Kanesha said.

Helen Louise looked at me, and I interpreted that as her wish for me to do the talking, at least initially.

“Do you know Milton and Tammy Harville?” I asked.

Kanesha’s expression turned grim. “Yes, I do.”

“If you know much about them,” I said, trying to choose my words as diplomatically as possible, “you know that Tammy is really possessive of Milton. She is always suspicious of interactions he has with other women.”

“I’m aware of that, yes,” Kanesha said. “Go on.”