Six Cats A Slayin'

Kanesha nodded. I noticed, with slightly bitter amusement, that Kanesha did not inform Helen Louise that she had already figured out that obvious point. Evidently the deputy reserved such remarks for me.

“One more question for now,” Kanesha said. “I might have others later. Tell me this, did either of you see Ms. Albritton again, before she collapsed?”

“No,” Helen Louise and I said in unison.

Kanesha stood. “All right then. Thank you. You can leave now.”

Helen Louise and I rose tiredly from our chairs. “We need to retrieve Helen Louise’s coat from the den,” I said. “Is that all right?”

“I’ll send Haskell for it,” Kanesha said. “I assume he would know which one it is.”

“He would,” Helen Louise replied. “Thank you. We’ll be waiting near the front door. Okay, Charlie?”

“Yes. Good night, Deputy Berry,” I said.

Kanesha nodded, and Helen Louise and I left the room. We didn’t have to wait long before Haskell brought the coat. I helped Helen Louise into it, and we thanked Haskell and bade him good night.

The temperature had dropped since we entered the house, and we hurried across the street to escape the chill. Helen Louise stopped at her car.

“Would you like to come in for a few minutes? Maybe have some coffee?” I said.

“No, thank you, sweetheart,” Helen Louise said. “I want to go home and get this dress off. I’m going to take something to help me sleep, and hopefully I’ll conk out quickly and not dream about this awful night.”

I hugged her and kissed her good night. “Drive carefully,” I said as I opened her door.

“I will,” she said. “Good night, love.”

I watched her back out and drive down the street. I had one last look at Gerry’s garish decorations before I went into the house. I hoped someone turned them off. I didn’t think I could bear looking at them again.

SEVENTEEN

After a restless night, during which bad dreams fractured my sleep, I woke with a dull headache and a stiff neck. I rubbed a pain-relieving lotion onto my neck and took a couple of aspirin for the headache. Diesel watched me attending to my neck, and his nose twitched. I didn’t think he cared for the aromatic scent of the lotion.

Downstairs, I poured a cup of coffee, added cream and sugar, and slowly began to sip at it. I was doing my best not to think about the disastrous party and the death—perhaps murder—of the hostess. It had dawned on me belatedly last night that, if Gerry had been poisoned, Helen Louise might have risked being poisoned herself by performing CPR. I supposed it depended on the type of poison used, whether there would be any residue on Gerry’s lips that could affect anyone else.

I had texted Helen Louise after that alarming thought had occurred to me and waited anxiously for an answer. I’d been on the point of calling her when I received her reply. She was fine and felt no ill effects. That had relieved me, but it hadn’t stopped my subconscious from fretting over it during the night, hence the bad dreams.

After a few more sips of coffee, I felt up to checking on the kittens. They would be ready for breakfast, I had no doubt. Diesel was already in the living room, sitting next to the cage and watching them. Upon seeing me they all crowded against the wall of the cage, meowing and batting at the wire mesh.

“Good morning, boys and girls,” I said. “Never fear, you’re not going to starve. I’m going to feed you, I promise.” I had to watch them carefully when I opened the door to slip inside and out again. Ramses wasn’t the only talented escape artist among them.

Somehow I managed to get in and out with the empty food dishes. When I returned with the food, they were too interested in eating to try to escape from the cage. They stayed engrossed in their breakfast long enough for me to freshen their water. When that was done I cleaned the two litter boxes, and then I stood outside and watched the kittens for several minutes. Their mischievous innocence provided the tonic I needed. I could so easily get used to having them around, I knew.

At least, my heart knew that, but my head knew that six cats in the house, even one as large as this, were five too many. Or maybe only four too many. Diesel might like to have a little companion.

Stop that, I told myself sternly. It would be time to think about that only once I found out where the kittens came from and whether they were truly in danger if they went back there.

Diesel came with me when I left the living room. I retrieved the paper from the walk, and I noticed that the Christmas display at Gerry’s house was no longer lit. Then I went back inside. The longer I stared at the house, the more my thoughts would turn to the events of last night. This was one unexplained death in which I did not want to be involved, other than as a witness. I knew Kanesha would come back with more questions before long, but once I answered them, I wouldn’t do anything more.