The Last Lies (Kate Murphy Mystery Book 1)

by C. C. Jameson

  Another voice chimed in on the walkie-talkie as she made her way toward the toy poodle. “We have another collapsed dog between checkpoints twenty-two and twenty-three.”

  When Kate reached the toy poodle, she placed her hand on the owner’s shoulder. The petite woman in pink Spandex gear was bawling.

  “Duke Westshire, wake up! Wake up, sweetie!” She wiped tears from her cheeks with one hand as she petted her furry friend with the other.

  “What happened here?” Kate asked. “I saw your dog collapse.”

  “I don’t know!” she cried. “Duke Westshire! Wake up!”

  “I already requested a vet. Let’s try to calm down. Deep breaths. Did you feed him something special today?”

  As the woman in pink grew hysterical, rocking her dog in her arms, another woman spoke up. She, too, had taken her small dog in her hands, and a vertical line separated her eyebrows. “All sorts of people have been petting and offering treats to various dogs. With all due respect, Officer, I don’t think Elsa will be able to answer your questions.”

  Kate nodded and thanked the woman before standing up.

  “Shit,” Kate muttered under her breath as bloody drool dripped from the poor poodle’s mouth. His eyes were moving erratically, as though possessed by an evil spirit.

  Johnston spoke next on the walkie-talkie, first identifying himself, then reporting, “We have a serious situation on our hands. I just saw a veterinarian pronounce two dogs dead. I believe someone’s targeting the animals here tonight. Possibly with poisoned treats. Whatever it is, it’s fast-acting.”

  Thirty long seconds elapsed before anyone else came on the air.

  Nearby runners, who’d stopped to observe the scene and overheard the last radio transmission, stared in stunned silence, holding their dogs for dear life. Bystanders around Kate started weeping. Hysterical screams pierced the air as Kate tried to reassure them.

  But how could she? What could she say that would reassure anyone when she didn’t know anything herself?

  “The race is officially canceled,” a male voice reported on the walkie-talkie. “All safety personnel are to immediately spread the news and instruct people to leave the race and not let anyone feed their dogs anything. Once runners have cleared the path, all race personnel are to report to the starting line as soon as possible.”

  A series of “affirmatives” filled the airwaves, and Kate lowered her walkie-talkie volume before getting on her police radio.

  “This is Harry-145. Following my previous report. The Happy Doggy Race is officially canceled. Several dogs have died. Causes of deaths unknown. No human casualties have been reported, only dogs. I repeat negative on human casualties, just dogs.”

  Then Kate began to follow the orders announced by the race officials, strongly encouraging people to head home right away.

  She returned toward the woman in pink Spandex. She was now rocking her immobile dog in her arms, bawling her eyes out.

  It was clear her dog had stopped moving and breathing.

  “I’m sorry for your loss,” Kate said before kneeling next to her. “I’m going to need you to leave this area now. The race is officially canceled. Please go back home. I’m certain the organizers will be in touch as soon as they have some information to report back to you.”

  The woman was deaf to Kate’s words, but Kate knew it wasn’t out of spite. The woman was just in shock.

  Kate gave the woman time to register the information and was glad to see the woman’s friend coming toward her, her phone against her ear.

  The other runners had left, signaling to Kate that the safety personnel manning prior checkpoints had advised everyone of the situation. So, other than helping the woman who’d just lost her dog, Kate’s tasks for the race were mostly over.

  And just as the woman finally managed to get up, a TV reporter wearing jeans, a white shirt, and a navy blazer showed up with his cameraman. The red light on the camera indicated it was rolling.

  Shit. Is this live footage?

  “I’m near Ronan Park where the Happy Doggy Race was holding its annual fundraiser to help rescue animals, but this evening turned out to be far from happy. We just heard that several dogs collapsed and died during the race.”

  The reporter then moved his attention to Kate, his microphone tilting toward her as he stepped closer. The cameraman followed him.

  “Officer, can you give us more information?” the reporter asked Kate.

  She shook her head, then moved her hand to block her face, her palm facing the camera. “I’m sorry. I have no information to share.”

  She knew that talking to the media without permission, or without being briefed ahead of time was a big no-no. Handling public relations or any other PR jobs like news interviews was a role left to leadership. Not her. And she was already in plenty of trouble with her colleagues and supervisor without adding this to the list.

  No way she was going to make it worse.

  Then her police radio crackled again with another report by Johnston, so she returned to the privacy of her vehicle to keep the discussion out of the range of the reporter or his microphone.

  She had to talk to her colleagues and see how they were going to handle their report on the race that had gone all wrong.

  By the time Kate parked near the starting line and entered the school where race officials had gathered, the air was buzzing with alarm.

  Johnston spotted Kate, waved at her, and then approached.

  “How fucking crazy is this shit?” he asked. “So much for a quiet assignment.”

  His phone beeped before Kate had time to say anything. Not that she knew what to say anyway.

  “Argh!” Johnston exclaimed.

  “What’s wrong?” Kate asked.

  “My son. I hate that he has a cellphone. He managed to talk his mom into getting one. He’s nine fucking years old! He doesn’t need a cellphone!”

  Kate’s eyebrows and shoulders went up, but she kept silent as Johnston texted his son back. Once he finished his message, he looked at Kate again.

  “So, he knows about the dead dogs. He’s worried about Rory, our dog.” He shook his head before adding, “Fuck!”

  Kate nudged him on the shoulder with her fist. “Come on. Not much you can do about it. A lot of crazy energy around here. You want to step outside for a sec?”

  Johnston nodded as he put his phone away.

  The two of them exited the building just as a now-familiar face from Animal Control walked in.

  “Hey, Jerry!” Kate said, stopping in the doorway, surprised to see him again.

  “Officer Murphy… We seem to cross paths a lot these days. About that—”

  “No. I wanted to thank you for reporting it.”

  “I couldn’t not report it. Hope it didn’t make things worse for you, though.”

  Kate didn’t want Johnston to overhear, so she changed topics. “You’re here for the dogs I assume.”

  “Yep. It’s getting worse by the day, I swear.”

  “Didn’t you say you hired two other people? Why is it that I only see you?”

  He giggled before answering. “I’m the one in charge, so I get to pick and choose who gets what. Safe to say I no longer handle skunks and other stinky roadkill. I choose the calls that excite my curiosity instead. Like the one at your station, and now this…”

  “So, what’s your take?” Kate asked.

  “Crazy. I probably won’t be collecting any carcasses tonight unless some of the owners abandoned their dead pets behind, but I had to come as soon as I heard.”

  Kate leaned closer to Jerry and lowered her voice, careful to avoid being be overheard by the handful of civilians standing near them. “Between us, what do you think happened here?”

  “Most likely poisoned. I’ve seen a shitload of large food bits and crumbs around dead birds, ducks, and squirrels. Probably some really fast-acting poison.”

  “So, what now?” Johnston asked Jerry.

  “No idea. I’ll j
ust report to the race organizers. I doubt I’m needed here tonight, but when I saw it on the news, I simply couldn’t ignore it. Is the BPD doing anything about it now?”

  Kate raised her hands in the air as she shook her head.

  Johnston and her exchanged looks.

  “Don’t know,” he said. “I’m afraid this is well beyond our pay grade.”

  Kate knew she wouldn’t make it home anytime soon. Not with the dead dogs. Not with the late shift she’d just finished. But it was for the best, really. She wasn’t ready to confront Matt about the sugar pills in his drawer.

  So instead, while sitting in her Subaru at the station, she got her phone out and started googling community health clinics and abortions.

  She appreciated her uncle’s advice to keep the baby, but her husband’s lack of scruples and respect toward her changed everything.

  With all the debates she’d had to listen and participate in while at school, she never thought she’d find herself in a situation where she’d have to choose. Heck, she wasn’t even sure she knew where she stood in terms of whether or not a fetus was a life. But assuming it was, would she be ready to kill another human being to keep her job?

  Presenting it as a choice between a job and a human life would be phrasing it very poorly, though.

  What kind of a monster would I be for even considering this?

  No, job versus life wasn’t an accurate summary of her conundrum. More than two options existed, and she’d be able to keep her job, baby or not. Nowadays, the force would get in big trouble if they fired her for getting pregnant.

  No, she’d keep her job, but be temporarily stuck behind a desk, pushing paper until she’d physically recover.

  The real obstacle wasn’t her job.

  Her childhood wounds were the real reasons why she couldn’t decide right now.

  Since Kate had lost her parents so early in life, she couldn’t even entertain the idea of going back to work after the baby’s birth. Keeping the baby meant becoming a stay-at-home mom, so her baby would get the attention she herself lost when she was only thirteen. She’d have to forget about her dreams, her ambition…

  But Matt didn’t treat her with respect as it was, so why would he start treating her any differently after a kid entered the picture?

  She could already hear him in her head, saying, “Woman, your baby’s crying. Make him shut up!”

  No, she didn’t want that.

  Her marriage was falling apart. If she were honest with herself, she’d acknowledge that it had been falling apart for months. Had it been built on a shaky foundation? Did she really know him before they tied the knot? Had he fooled her for two whole years while they were dating?

  Where had the real Matt been during that time? Where did the sweet, romantic man she knew and fell in love with disappear to?

  She shook her head, unable to answer her own questions.

  So many things had gone wrong between the two of them. So many fights and arguments in the last year alone.

  The pill tampering was far from the only thing on her mind. There was still that woman. Kate needed to know if Matt was sleeping with Sam. And Kate really had to decide what to do with the life growing inside of her.

  Time was ticking.

  What if she kept the baby, became a stay-at-home mom, then found out Matt was cheating on her? What if her husband were to leave her and the baby? Would Kate be able or willing to raise a kid alone?

  And just like that, the mental image of her dead baby brother popped to mind again.

  Would she be able to protect her own child? If someone broke into their apartment while they were sleeping or while a babysitter was taking care of her future son or daughter, could she live with losing her child? She’d barely survived losing her parents and baby brother…

  Oh shit. What am I going to do?

  And just then, Kate knew.

  Instead of going home and dealing with an angry, unscrupulous, and manipulative husband who’d for sure complain about the absence of a hot dinner waiting for him, she would go talk to the only trustworthy person in her life.

  Kenny poured himself some Old Crow whiskey over ice in a coffee mug.

  “Glasses are all dirty,” he said when Kate tilted her head at him.

  Finding this statement unacceptable, Kate got up, ready to help him by doing the dishes when he stopped her in her tracks.

  “No, don’t worry about it,” he said, tapping the cushion where Kate had been sitting a second ago.

  She faced him before replying. “You know I can’t let your lack of clean dishes go on. And it’ll just take a few minutes. Why don’t you come with me? We’ll talk there.”

  Kenny appeared hesitant. He looked at the cup, then the kitchen entrance, and then his cup again.

  “It’ll just take a few minutes.”

  “Okay, okay,” said Kenny before getting up from the worn-out brown velvety sofa, leaving the decade-old butt print visible for the wallflowers to see.

  Once in the kitchen, Kate started emptying the sink that was overflowing with dirty dishes. At least it had yet to reach the point where cockroaches moved in.

  I have to come by more often. Not just for company, but to help him clean up.

  “So, tell me, what’s going on?” Kenny asked as Kate plugged the now empty sink.

  She turned on the hot water and squirted in some dish soap. “It’s just that I don’t know what to do anymore. When I got married, I expected certain things. I had a vision of what married life would be like. Maybe I romanticized the concept.”

  “Not everything you thought it would be, eh?”

  “To say the least.” Although she felt tears building behind her eyes, she forced them back by inhaling then exhaling deeply.

  “Let me tell you. Marriage is a long-term commitment that comes with its fair share of debates, arguments, fights, and compromises. With the wrong person, it can be a life sentence. But with the right person, it’s all worth it in the end.”

  “How did you know Lucy was the right person for you?”

  “From the moment I first saw her. I just knew.”

  Kate almost dropped the plate she was washing. “What?”

  “But it doesn’t mean it would be the same for everyone. Not everyone feels this instant attraction, or dare I say love, at first sight.” He paused. “Lucy and I were lucky. And times were different back then. Simpler. Much simpler. But we still fought now and then.”

  Another dish in hand, Kate kept her eyes on the soapy water. “Can I ask for your honest opinion?”

  “Of course. You know that.”

  Kate turned to Kenny. “And can you swear to absolute secrecy? I don’t want other people to know what I’m about to tell you.”

  “Katie, of course. That’s a given.” He placed a firm hand on her shoulder.

  Kate rested her head against the back of his hand for a few seconds. Already, she felt better for coming to see her uncle. She continued dishwashing on autopilot while words poured out. She revealed what Matt had done with the pills and even her suspicions about Sam.

  A few minutes later, with the last piece of clean cutlery added to the drying rack next to the sink, Kate asked, “What do you think I should do?”

  First, he kept quiet, but then he went in for a full-body hug.

  “Katie, my dear. I’m so sorry you have to live with this major-league asshole.”

  Her uncle’s words surprised her, snapping her out of her funk. “What?” She almost wanted to smile. Major-league asshole?

  “Let’s go back to the living room. I’ll tell you what I think of Matt. My honest opinion.”

  With the dishes done and nothing left for her to do in the kitchen, Kate followed her uncle back to the living room.

  Once they were both seated, Kenny resumed talking.

  “I never told you because I respected your choices. I could see you falling in love with him, and I wouldn’t have gotten in the way of love. But this… All of what you just reve
aled to me… Those actions are not coming from love. So here goes. I never liked the guy. Not at all. Sure, he’s charismatic as hell, but he’s two-faced. And now we know he’s also controlling and manipulative.”

  “You think I should get an abortion now?”

  Kenny shook his head. “No! His being the world’s greatest ass doesn’t change my mind on that. But maybe you should consider raising your baby on your own or giving him or her up for adoption.”

  Kate furrowed her brow, considering it.

  “It’s a whole lot better to be alone than in sleazy company,” Kenny said. “While I believe in the sanctity of marriage, I think your situation warrants an exception. I never thought I’d say these words, but maybe you should consider getting a divorce. Especially if your suspicion about this Sam woman turns out to be true. Marriage requires trust and respect. The way I see it, both are missing on his part.”

  When Kate arrived home, intent on having a well-needed heart-to-heart with Matt, she once again found him in the shower and was forced to wait.

  This time, she decided to fight a proper battle, which meant getting all the information she could get her hands on.

  The thought of going through Matt’s private messages no longer seemed wrong. If he’d had the balls to mess with her contraception, then peeking at his private text conversations with Sam seemed fair.

  It was the surest way to know if he’d been cheating.

  And as she thought about the large-breasted devil, she heard Matt’s phone beep, making it easier for Kate to locate it. It was on top of the dresser.

  Sam had just texted him.

  Miss you already.

  Fucker.

  Kate entered Matt’s password and unlocked his phone, navigating to his text message history with Sam.

  The evidence was clear. They’d exchanged naked photos. Matt’s engorged dick, then her naked breasts. Scrolling past a long string of sexting messages, she even found a photo of Sam with her legs spread open, her fully-shaven, most intimate parts on display.

  Anger overtook the sadness in Kate’s confused heart.

  How could he?

  Why did he?

  Is there something wrong with me that forced him to look for someone else?