“But that doesn’t tell us anything,” Nat pointed out. “We already know the killer started the fire with a fuel cartridge.”
“But there’s another smell on the cartridge, too,” Chester replied. “Come have a whiff.”
Willow put her nose against the metal and took a deep sniff. “It smells like alcohol.”
“That smell, my dear little house cat,” Chester intoned, “is what human beings call perfume. It’s a chemical they use to make themselves smell a certain way. It’s like spray, but it’s artificial. It’s designed to disguise how they really smell.”
Willow frowned. “But what’s the point of that? Their natural smells send signals back and forth so they can find suitable mates. Why would they want to disguise that?”
“My point exactly,” Chester growled. “They use these smells to make each other think they’re more suitable than they really are. Sometimes the strategy works, but more often than not, it fails. Humans are much more attracted to their mates’ natural smells than even they realize or would be willing to admit.”
“What my esteemed colleague of the alley hasn’t told you, though,” Nat countered, “is that perfume is most often used by women, which would confirm my theory that Annika planted the camping fuel to frame Jason.”
“What my esteemed colleague of the police department doesn’t realize,” Chester shot back, “is that this is a special kind of perfume known in the human world as cologne. It is used by men.”
Willow and Bella looked back and forth between the two cats.
“Roy could have been wearing that cologne,” Nat argued.
Chester drew himself up. “Are you telling me Roy Avino handled the fuel cartridge that took his life?”
“If Josephine is right,” Willow added, “he could have left the cartridge here and left his cologne on it.”
“But,” Chester pointed out, “we already determined that Roy didn’t go camping. I can also personally testify that he never wore cologne. He was a sloven, and you can take my word that the term is a very generous one.”
Bella tittered. “Look who’s talking.”
Chester ignored her. “Jason, on the other hand, always went about the town drenched in cologne of this variety. He fancied himself some kind of dandy. I can only imagine his fling with his boss’s wife colored his imagination.”
“That still doesn’t rule out the possibility that Annika planted the cartridge to frame Jason,” Nat pointed out. “She could have selected a cartridge that had Jason’s cologne on it, or she could have put his cologne on it herself to make it look like he put the cartridge in the bakery.”
Willow blinked. “This Annika would have to be pretty devious to plan something like that. I wonder what she’s like.”
“You won’t have to wonder,” Nat told her. “We’re going to visit her tomorrow, right after we interview Marlena Rappaport.”
“We?” Willow asked. “We interview Marlena?”
Nat shrugged and turned away. “You know what I mean.”
Chester waved his paw the other way. “One more thing. Over here, we have another distinct chemical smell.”
“What is it?” Willow asked.
“It belongs to a certain class of explosives known as blasting caps,” Chester told her. “I would say the killer planted them close to the fuel cartridge to set it off. I haven’t seen the cartridge in its whole state, so maybe it had a safety device that prevented it from igniting on its own. The killer needed something to ignite it.”
Nat spun around. “But who would have access to that?”
Chester poked the debris with his nose. “These blasting caps are military grade. They contain traces of ignition fuels found only in the military. Whoever used them had a military background.”
“That should help us narrow down the list of suspects,” Willow remarked. “Which of them had a military background, Nat?”
Chester turned to Nat. “Yes, Nat. Please tell us which of the suspects had a military background.”
Nat kept walking. “Let’s go, Willow. We're done here for tonight.”
Chester chuckled, and he and the other cats followed Nat to the edge of the crime scene. They walked under the yellow police cordon tape warning everybody to stay out. The cats stopped, and Willow looked back. “We didn’t find the clues to solve the case.”
“The important thing is to collect all the pieces of the puzzle,” Nat told her. “Only after you have them all do you start fitting them together to make a complete picture of what happened.”
Willow turned to Bella. “What will you two do for the rest of the night?”
“I’m meeting friends near the movie theater,” Bella replied. “I’m not sure, but I think Chester is meeting the other toms for choir practice on the roof of the apartment building at the end of the alley. They have twenty toms who get together to test their voices against each other.”
Willow giggled. “I’ll bet the people in the apartment building love that.”
“They do,” Bella told her. “They always come to their windows to listen, and they even shout encouragement. Some even throw presents.”
“I wish we didn’t have to go so soon,” Willow exclaimed. “We only just met, and I have so many things I want to ask you about.”
Bella laughed. “I bet you never thought you’d want to spend any time with an alley cat.”
Willow blushed. “You’re right. You’ve completely changed my opinion. I’m sorry for judging you the way I did.”
“Never mind,” Bella replied. “We can be friends now. And don’t worry about leaving. If you want to talk again, you know where to find me.”
Willow waved her tail in the air. “Thanks. It sure helps to know I have someone out in the field I can count on.”
Nat called to her over his shoulder. “Come on, let’s get going.”
Chapter 8
Willow followed Nat, and Chester and Bella disappeared into their alley. Willow cast one last look at them before they vanished into the shadows. “They really are an amazing pair.”
“No police cat could solve a case without them,” Nat agreed. “There’s an old saying. ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.' They’ve helped me a dozen times or more. They can tell you things you would never be able to figure out on your own.”
“You mean like finding that cologne?” Willow asked.
Nat made a face. “I don’t think that cologne contributed much to the case, but Chester did, and I defer to his expertise. We can add it to our store of information about the suspects, but it does seem to point very strongly to Jason and Annika. Those two have the highest likelihood, in my opinion, of being the killers.”
“Maybe they did it together,” Willow suggested.
Nat cast her a sidelong glance. “I wouldn’t be surprised. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Josephine and Jason did it together. When people cheat on their spouses, they don’t have very far to go before they decide to rid themselves of their old partners altogether. The temptation to murder can become overwhelming.”
He turned a corner and climbed a set of concrete stairs to the roof of the Motel building. “Look at that,” Willow remarked. “I didn’t know we’d been out so long, but the sky is getting light. We better get back to the station to meet up with Carl and Naya. We don’t want to miss out on Marlena’s interview.”
“We aren’t going back to the station,” Nat informed her.
“What?” she cried. “Why not? Did you decide not to interview Marlena after all.”
“We’re going to interview her,” Nat told her. “We just won’t bother to go back to the station first.”
Willow blinked. “I don’t understand you.”
“Do you see that building over there?” Nat asked. “That’s the Montague Estates Apartments. I know it well, because the Nelson Toms Choir used to meet there every second Sunday of the month.”
“Is that the group Chester belongs to?” Willow asked.
“Yes, and I
used to belong to it, too,” he told her. “That was before I joined the Highland Golf Course Toms Choir. But what I really wanted to tell you is that Marlena lives at the Montague Estates Apartments. We can get there much faster from here. Going back to the station would only waste our time, and we would probably both fall asleep there and miss the interview.”
“But we have hours to wait before Carl and Naya come to interview Marlena,” Willow pointed out. “We could have a nap in the meantime and still get out in time for the interview.”
Nat shook his head. “Even if we did wake up in time to leave the station, we would attract too much attention leaving at the same time Carl and Naya did. Our best bet it to hunker down somewhere near Marlena’s apartment so we’re on the spot when they show up. As it happens, I know the perfect spot.”
“Where?” Willow asked.
Nat trotted across the street toward the building. “Follow me.”
Willow joined him.
“Do you see that alley next to the building?” Nat Asked.
Willow caught her breath. “There’s a cat.”
“That’s Thorndale Alley,” Nat told her. “It’s full of cats. It’s one of the strongest alleys in town. If you ever need alley cats and can’t find Chester and Bella to help you, call on the Thorndales. They’re a very powerful family, and they can do pretty much whatever they have to do. They’ll be good cats for you to get to know.”
Willow hesitated. “I don’t think I want to go in there.”
“We’re not going in there,” Nat told her, “not right now, anyway. I just want you to know about it. There’s another alley on the other side of the building. That’s Stevenson Alley, and it’s full of cats, too.”
“Are they friends with Thorndale Alley?” Willow asked.
“No,” Nat snapped. “Not by a mile. They hate each other, and it’s taken years of work by cats like Chester and Rondo James to stop them warring in the streets.”
“Who’s Rondo James?” Willow asked.
“He’s another very old and very powerful alley cat,” Nat told her. “He and Chester negotiated a partial truce between Stevenson and Thorndale, just to keep the bloodshed to a minimum, but the two families still don’t like each other. They stick to their own alleys, or they would kill each other on sight.”
Willow shuddered. “I think we should go back to the station.”
“Keep your shorts on,” Nat growled. “You aren’t in any danger from either one of them, and you might need them one day. This neighborhood is crawling with cats. That will come in handy for us this morning.”
He found an iron staircase running up the side of the building, and he and Willow climbed up a series of fire escapes to a balcony.
“This is Marlena’s apartment,” Nat told her. “We can settle down here and take a nap before Carl and Naya get here. Marlena sees cats on her balcony all the time, so she won’t suspect us of anything. In fact, she might even give us something to eat.”
Willow tried to peer through the window, but the curtains were shut. “How will we hear the interview?”
“Once the sun comes up and the heat rises,” Nat explained, “Marlena will open the window. We’ll be able to hear every word they say. If that doesn’t work, we can claw at the window and beg for food.”
“Does that work?” Willow asked.
“All the time,” Nat replied. “The instant she opens the door, you run inside like you own the place and start meowing as loud as you can. You pace back and forth in front of the refrigerator until she gets the idea. Nine times out of ten, she’ll feed you right there in the kitchen. People don’t want to walk all the way back out to the balcony to feed you. We’ll be in the apartment while Carl and Naya question her.”
“That sounds like a perfect plan,” Willow exclaimed. “You’re a genius, Nat.”
“Hardly,” he muttered. “Any cat could tell you the same thing. All you have to do to get a human being to do what you want is pretend to be a tame house cat. Humans are used to that. They like feeding house cats and having them in their houses.”
Willow sat down in the corner of the balcony and narrowed her eyelids. “This is nice. I could get comfortable here.”
“Take a nap, but don’t get comfortable,” Nat ordered. “After Carl and Naya interview Marlena, we’ll go see what we can find out about Annika. You’ll need all your resources for that. We don’t know what we’ll find.”
Willow curled up in a ball in the corner and closed her eyes. She didn’t realize how much her night in the field exhausted her. She wasn’t used to all the excitement, and the adventure wasn’t over yet. In an instant, she fell asleep.
Nat sat to one side and gazed at her for a while. He didn’t usually go for those immaculate house cats, but he couldn’t deny his attachment to Willow. Her plucky determination to master the art and skill of police work endeared her to him beyond anything he ever would have expected. Pride and paternal protection filled his being when he introduced her to his alley cat friends.
She snoozed away, and her delicate fur rippled when she breathed. He could sit up all morning and watch her sleep, but he needed to rest himself. He watched her for another ten minutes. Then he sighed and curled up next to her. She stirred in her sleep and sank back into the depths of slumber. Nat closed his eyes and dropped off, too.
Two hours passed, and the sun rose against the side of the apartment building. The heat woke up Nat, but Willow slept on. In the end, he nudged her with his paw. She stirred, but she didn’t open her eyes. “Go away.”
Nat sighed. “Wake up, Willow. It’s almost ten o’clock.”
Willow blinked and sat up. She looked around and yawned. “Where are we?”
“Don’t you remember?” he asked. “We’re on Marlena Rappaport’s balcony, and Carl and Naya just showed up to interview her.”
Willow looked around again. “How can you tell?”
Nat peered through the apartment window. “They’re in there right now. If you look, you’ll see them.”
Chapter 9
A stately woman with straight blonde hair carried her dewy glass across the main room of the apartment and slid open the window. “I can’t stand when it gets so hot in here. I need air.”
Carl and Naya exchanged a grin. The lace curtains hid Nat and Willow on the balcony right outside the window, so they didn’t see their own station cats listening to their interview.
“We just want to ask you a few questions, Marlena,” Naya began. “You may have heard that Roy Avino was killed yesterday morning.”
Marlena waved her hand. “I don’t appreciate you calling me by my first name, Detective. You can call me Miss Rappaport until we’re on a first name basis.”
“We could be on a first name basis now, if you like,” Naya replied. “I don’t mind you calling me Naya.”
“I don’t think so,” Marlena growled.
Naya shrugged. “That’s okay. We all know you had a relationship with Roy, so that gives you a motive to kill him.”
“Everybody had a motive to kill Roy,” Marlena told her. “That guy had more enemies than whiskers.”
Carl snorted. “That’s a good one.”
Marlena turned a withering stare at him. “I’m not joking. Anybody could tell you Roy Avino was going to wind up at the bottom of the harbor wearing concrete sneakers.”
Naya bit her lip to stop herself from smiling. “That’s interesting, but Roy didn’t drown wearing concrete sneakers. Someone burned down his bakery with him inside it.”
Marlena narrowed her eyes. “Then it must have been started by someone who worked there.”
Carl and Naya looked at each other. “What makes you say that?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Marlena asked. “Whoever lit the fire had to get into the bakery somehow. How could they do that if they didn’t work there?”
Carl shrugged. “Good point.”
“Did you know anyone who worked there?” Naya asked.
Marlena rubbed the drop
s of condensation on her glass. “Only Roy. I don’t mix with plebeians.”
“We’re plebeians.,” Naya pointed out.
“I wouldn’t mix with you, either, Detective,” Marlena replied.
“Roy was a plebeian,” Naya went on. “You definitely mixed with him. You ever let the local paper print a picture of the two of you together at the Metro opening.”
Marlena waved her bejeweled hand. “That was nothing, and Roy was nothing. I’m sure the world is a much better place without him.”
“That’s the kind of thing I would expect to hear from the person who killed him,” Naya told her.
Marlena shrugged. “I didn’t kill him. I wouldn’t stoop so low. If I wanted Roy dead, I could have taken any number of opportunities over the years to bump him off. I know enough heavyweights in organized crime that you detectives wouldn’t come knocking on my door to find out who killed him. You would never even know he’d been murdered. Whoever got rid of Roy did a very amateurish job, if you ask me.”
“Where were you yesterday morning, Marlena?” Naya asked. “Where were you between the hours of seven and nine?”
Marlena fixed Naya with an icy glare, but she didn’t bother to correct her for calling her by her first name. “I was in a meeting with my agent. He can vouch for me.”
Naya’s eyebrows went up. “You were in a meeting at seven o’clock in the morning? I find that hard to believe.”
“If you don’t want to take my word for it,” Marlena replied, “you can check with his secretary. His building has security cameras over the doors and in the elevators and in all the hallways. You can check them for yourself, and you’ll see that I was with him all morning.”
Nat turned away from the window and whispered to Willow. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
“But the interview isn’t over,” Willow pointed out.
Nat jumped onto the fire escape and started picking his way down to the ground. “The interview doesn’t matter anymore. Marlena has an ironclad alibi. We don’t have to waste any more time on her.”
Cats on the Prowl (A Cat Detective cozy mystery series Book 1) Page 5