Six Cats A Slayin'

I shrugged. “Friendly, at least. I don’t know that they’re particularly good friends. You know Melba, she seems to know everyone. You’re not thinking she could be protecting him by not telling you he was there, are you?”

Kanesha responded with a question of her own. “Did she know about the argument you overheard?”

“Yes,” I said. “I told her about it earlier, during the party. That was my first opportunity to talk to her about it in person.”

“Did she seem upset by it?”

“No, not at all,” I said. “Simply curious, like me. She told me she would talk to him again, though, and try to worm the truth out of him.”

A faint smile creased Kanesha’s lips. “If anyone can, Melba can. It’s a good thing she never went to law school. I wouldn’t want to face her in court.”

I had to laugh at that. “I wouldn’t, either, and she’s one of my closest friends.”

“I’ll have to talk to him,” Kanesha said. “Even if you can’t swear to it, it’s a possibility I have to explore. If he was there, he had the opportunity to poison her drink.”

Kanesha seemed to be in a cooperative mood, and as long as it lasted, I would try to find out what I could. “Did your deputies or the police ever find that snifter?” I asked.

“No. Whoever picked it up—and it had to be the killer, I think—managed to get it out of there without anyone noticing.”

“Do you think the killer left the party then?” I asked. “Surely he wouldn’t hang around.”

“It would have been the smart thing to do,” Kanesha replied. “I gathered from Ms. Bruce that guests were coming and going pretty steadily.”

“Unless,” I said slowly, “it would have looked odd if he was gone when the police arrived.”

“How do you mean?” Kanesha asked.

I thought about that briefly. “Okay, here’s a scenario. The killer has poisoned Gerry’s brandy. He could have left right after he managed to do it, but he might have wanted to stay and watch. Have the satisfaction of seeing her die.” Horrible thought. So cold-blooded. “If he did stay, he might have been having a conversation with a person or several people, and if he disappeared when Gerry collapsed, they might remember that and tell the police. It would look suspicious, wouldn’t it?”

“To me it would,” Kanesha said. “Good points. I’m going to be questioning a number of the guests for a second time, and I’m going to work that in. It might spark a memory.”

“I have to confess that I have done my best not to think about last night,” I said. “I wasn’t totally successful, of course, but I didn’t run through the events in my mind. I’ll do that, though, and if I come up with anything else that might be pertinent, I’ll let you know.”

“Thank you,” Kanesha replied. After scanning a couple of pages in her notebook, she stood. “I think that’s all for now. You’ve given me a promising new lead, and I’m going to follow that up.”

“Anything to help,” I said as I saw her to the front door. I called to Diesel once the door was shut. “She’s gone now, boy.”

Diesel emerged from the living room and trilled. He followed me into the kitchen, where I checked the clock. Enough time had passed since Azalea left, I decided. The roast should be ready by now.

Diesel watched me closely while I ate. I knew he wanted bites of the roast beef, but he couldn’t have any because of the onions Azalea put in the pot with the beef. Instead, I gave him an occasional green bean, and he made do with those. I really needed to stop feeding him from the table, but it was difficult to break the habit. Besides, he could put on the most pitiful look when he wanted something, and I felt powerless to resist.

After I cleaned up the kitchen and put away the leftovers, I thought about calling Melba to tell her about my conversation with Kanesha. Then I realized that Kanesha probably would not want me to do that. She might have already talked to Melba, but I figured if she had, Melba might have called me by now. I wished I could talk to Helen Louise, but this was one of her nights to close down the bistro. I wouldn’t be able to talk to her until around ten or ten thirty.

I decided to spend time with the kittens. They needed more interaction with people, and I probably hadn’t been giving them enough of that. I couldn’t let all of them out at once because I might be up all night long trying to find them once they got loose. Instead I settled on bringing two of them at a time out of the cage and playing with them. Two I could manage, and Diesel played with them, too.

Two hours passed before I was aware of it, and I was ready to turn out the lights and head upstairs. I left the hall light on for Haskell and Stewart. The latter had come back in with Dante and then had gone out again while I was talking to Kanesha. Diesel, after a visit to his litter box, came upstairs and joined me on the bed.