Six Cats A Slayin'

On the way to my car, my cell phone sounded. I pulled it out and found a text message from Kanesha. She had new information and wanted to talk to me. She also asked if I could come to her office sometime in the next thirty or forty minutes.

I responded to say I would be there in less than ten.

I hurried to the car, put my newest purchases in the trunk, then drove to the sheriff’s department a few blocks away.

By now the deputies and personnel at the front desk knew me, and the deputy on duty today simply waved me on to Kanesha’s office. I headed down the hall.

Kanesha’s door was open, but I knocked to alert her to my presence. She seemed engrossed in her computer. She turned toward the door, frowning. The frown didn’t go away, but she motioned me in and asked me to shut the door.

“You’d better sit down,” she said. “What I’ve got to tell you is pretty shocking. Threw me for a loop, I can tell you.”

Alarmed, I almost stumbled into the chair and sank into it. I had never heard Kanesha say anything like this. “What is it?”

Kanesha said, “Got a short prelim report from the autopsy. Minimal information, but one significant thing. Gerry Albritton was born a male.”

TWENTY-SIX

Looking back, I felt grateful that Kanesha had warned me to sit before she shared her news. I didn’t know when I had been more shocked than I was at hearing that Gerry was evidently transgender. My mind began to clear, however, and questions occurred to me.

“She must have had surgery, correct?” I asked.

Kanesha nodded. “The information is only preliminary, like I said, but the pathologist estimates that it was done at least twenty years ago, probably longer.”

“I would never have guessed,” I said.

“In addition, she’d had plastic surgery on her face, but it’s difficult to say how extensive it was.”

“Maybe that’s why Melba thought she looked familiar. She might have known Gerry as a man, but she would never think to link the man she knew with Gerry.”

“For the moment, I don’t want this to go any further,” Kanesha said. “That’s a good point, though, about Melba. I might consult her on this to see if she can come up with potential names for me to check on.”

“I won’t say anything to Melba,” I said, “or to anyone else, though I don’t think I’ve ever sat on information this sensational before.”

“It’s a twist I would never have expected,” Kanesha said. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around it and figure out all the implications for her murder.”

“It will certainly add to the list of potential motives, I should think,” I said.

“If the killer knew it,” Kanesha said.

I felt chagrined. “Of course. I wonder if anyone involved in the case knew anything about her past.”

“So far no one has admitted to it,” Kanesha replied. “Finding out who this woman used to be may be an impossible task.”

“There must be a link somewhere,” I said. “Unless she systematically destroyed everything that could provide that link.”

“It’s possible she did,” Kanesha said. “I never met the woman when she was alive, so I really don’t have a grasp yet on her personality. Give me your take on her.”

“Let me think a minute.” I recalled my meetings with Gerry and tried to put together some cogent thoughts to share with Kanesha. What had Gerry’s personality really been like?

“The first thing I’ll say,” I told Kanesha, “is that Gerry was hard to read. She came across as brazen.” I gave a short description of the first time I met the woman. “At the time I was a bit freaked out, I guess, at her flirting. It’s not anything I’m used to. That put me off, I have to say, and I tried to stay away from her after that.”

“Did you see her again before the party?” Kanesha asked.

“A few times when I was out with Diesel, walking to work,” I said. “I always made the excuse of needing to get to work, though, so I could keep the conversations short. She wasn’t as flirtatious at those meetings.” I thought for a moment. “I also saw her the morning of the party. Someone had destroyed her decorations, and she was outside looking at the damage. I walked over to talk to her.”

“Did she have any idea who had caused the damage?” Kanesha asked.

“She said she had a few ideas, but she didn’t mention any names,” I said. “She asked me a few questions, like whether I was interested in selling my house and whether Helen Louise owned her building. Then she got a text message, and not long after that I left.”

“Before you went to the party, how would you have summed her up?” Kanesha asked.

“Forceful. Determined. Attractive. Intelligent.” I grimaced. “I didn’t think a lot of her taste in interior—or exterior—decoration. The inside of her house is way too modern for my taste, and that Christmas display is unbelievably tacky.”

“I agree with you on that,” Kanesha said. “Do you think that was deliberate?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I suspect it was,” I said. “I think she liked being provocative. She obviously had courage, too.”

“Why do you say that? About courage,” Kanesha said.