She suddenly stopped talking as if she’d said more than she wanted to say.
“That’s enough about Jonathan Steel. What’s up with you?”
“I just spoke with George, and we’ll be leaving for the Keys this Friday––back in a few days. I asked Nelda if she could help you with Althea’s estate sale Saturday, and she said she would. Now, are you sure you’re okay with this?”
“Yes, don’t worry. Go have fun. And don’t forget; I’m here when you’re ready to talk.”
Maggie hugged her. “I’m hopeful that it will be resolved by the time we get back.”
“‘What’s your name?’ Coraline asked the cat. ‘Look, I’m Coraline. Okay? ‘Cats don’t have names,’ it said. ‘No?’ said Coraline. ‘No,’ said the cat. ‘Now you people have names. That’s because you don’t know who you are. We know who we are, so we don’t need names.’”
––Neil Gaiman, Coraline
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: Murfy’s List of Suspects
Althea’s next-door neighbor, Bill, was talking to a woman with tomato red hair, wearing a pink sleeveless housedress, the hot pink nail polish a perfect match to her lips. We drove up in front of Althea’s condominium.
“Hi, Bill,” said Alyx. “How are you doing?”
“Fine. Fine. At my age, what else can I say that won’t bore you to death?”
Alyx introduced herself to the red haired woman.
“Wanda, here, was telling me about Althea’s niece,” Bill said.
“What about Althea’s niece?” asked Alyx.
He looked at Wanda for an answer. “She and a young man were here earlier today,” she answered in a gravelly smoker’s voice.
“She must have decided she wanted something before the estate sale,” suggested Alyx.
“If she did, she didn’t take it with her. It looked to me like they were angry about something,” said Wanda. “They came out, slamming the front door shut, and then slamming their car doors.”
“Did they say anything?”
“I heard her son say something about it not being his fault.”
“How did you know it was Carole’s son?”
“I happened to be outside when they came over one day,” explained Wanda, “and when they left, Althea told me who they were, and she didn’t seem too happy about the visit, either. The young man––Carole’s son––was here with another man the night before her body was found.”
“What did the other man look like?” asked Alyx.
“I was walking my dog, and not paying attention. All I noticed about him was that he was rather portly.”
“Did the police talk to you?”
“Yes, and I told them all this.”
Alyx chatted with Bill and Wanda for a few more minutes before we went inside.
“Okay, fur-baby,” she said to me, “let’s see what else you can find today.”
She stood in the living room thinking aloud. “What were they looking for––do you think it was that pill case–– or something else?”
I raced up the stairs and she followed slowly talking to herself.
“Okay, let’s think about this. As things stand, Carole will inherit quite a sum of money, and due to her family’s financial problems, she had motive to kill Althea. For the same reason, Carole’s son could have killed her so his mother could get access to the money; that pill case could belong to either one of them, and they came back looking for it.”
I agreed with her assessment. It was also possible that Althea’s long-lost son had gotten in touch with Carole––she would be, after all, his cousin and only family. Maybe Carole was worried that Althea’s son would contest the will, and so she came back looking for something having to do with that.
Carole and her son weren’t the only suspects on my list. There was also Carole’s husband––his own financial situation could be worse than Carole knew or admitted to. He could have killed Althea.
Finally, although I had nothing concrete to go on yet, there was one other person who had motive and opportunity––Althea’s son. According to the letter from the private investigation firm, he’d planned to see Althea. He could be the murderer––his motive the same as the others––money.
Alyx had her question answered as to what Carole and her son were looking for as soon as she entered Althea’s room and saw the contents of the lingerie chest she’d previously boxed, spilled on the bed.
“They most definitely were looking for something, weren’t they, Murfy?”
I meowed in agreement. No sense in looking through that; it looked like they did a good job. Regardless, she quickly went through it as she put it all back into the box, not bothering to sort it this time, and found nothing to back-up the scenarios she’d mentioned––or mine––for that matter.
“Well, that’s that. The only thing left to do is to go to Carole’s house and find out if either her son or husband has a heart problem.”
Alyx paused in the living room, and her eyes fell on a small Imari porcelain bowl sitting on a console table against the stairwell. The bowl didn’t have a tag, and she picked it up for closer inspection. When she did, an amber bead fell out.
I figured the bead had broken off of something, and when I saw a basket of jewelry sitting on the coffee table, I called attention to it with my ‘I want something’ meow that I’d trained her to recognize.
She rifled through it, didn’t find anything to match the amber bead, and dropped it in the basket. Something must have popped in her mind as she did that. She shook her head as if to clear it, and said, “Come on, Murfy, let’s get out of here,” expecting me to follow. I wasn’t ready to go yet though, and I turned my back, and quickly pawed through the jewelry until I found the bead that Alyx had tossed in the basket. I secreted it in my mouth thinking it would serve as evidence later, if needed.
“The dog has a human master; the cat is the master of his human.”
––Murfy
CHAPTER THIRTY: Antiques & Designs–A Midnight Visit
Alyx sat up in bed, none of us sure what she’d heard until the doorbell rang again. She grabbed her robe and peered out the kitchen window before going to the door or turning on any lights. A Beachside police cruiser was in her driveway and she hurried to the front door.
The shorter of the two officers spoke first,” Are you Alyx Hille?”
“Yes. What’s wrong? Did something happen to my son, Ethan?”
The officer introduced himself and his partner.
“No, ma’am, we’re here to report a break-in at your store on Ocean Street.”
She took a deep breath, “Okay, tell me what happened,” she said, opening the door wider, inviting them into the foyer.
“We were patrolling the area and didn’t see anything outstanding until we drove around to the parking area in the rear of the stores and saw the back door to your establishment wide open. We investigated and found no one inside. We believe the perpetrator or perpetrators fled when they saw us. We’d like you to come with us and identify any missing items for our report.”
She wished Maggie were around. As if he read her mind, the taller officer said, “We also tried to contact Maggie Broeck; there was no answer.”
“Maggie is my business partner and she’s out of town, but you already know that, don’t you?”
They gave her one of those polite smiles that isn’t a real smile and fools no one.
She started to walk away and remembered her manners. “Excuse me while I put some clothes on. I’ll meet you there.”
“A cat sees no good reason why it should obey another animal, even if it does stand on two legs.”