by Clea Simon
“Vi?” I stood, momentarily stunned, and another three people used the occasion to push past me. “Wait!” I was slick enough to slide between two beefy gents, but in a moment she was gone. I was dumbfounded. Was Violet the source? All the coincidences began to run together. She had been the one to tell me that Rachel was a fake, and that was right about the time that Lee was reporting the same rumors in the Wag. She had always run a real “no-kill” shelter, while Rachel did euthanasia. And Bunny and Cal had made another argument, pointing out that Violet was the only one who stood to gain if Rachel’s campaign were discredited. Or she were killed.
“What’s going on?” I clawed my way through the last of the crowd and grabbed Lee by his shoulder. “Where did Violet go?” I shook him, or tried to. The shoulder I’d grabbed was more muscular than I’d thought. “What are you up to?”
He reached up and grabbed my wrist. “Calm down. What are you talking about?” But even as he said it, he was smiling. He knew something, I could tell. If Violet was involved, so was he. I wouldn’t put anything past him.
“Violet, is she your source? What did she tell you? Do you know who Rachel’s ex was?” I tried to pull my arm back, but he held it firm. “You’ve got to tell me!”
“I do? Why, so you can find someone else to blame? Because I got the story and you lost your gig?” He was still smiling, the only man in the room who looked cool. I was sweating and still he held me.
“Let go of me!” I pulled back, but I couldn’t get free.
“Or what? You’ll stab me, too?” He had my right arm, but at that I swung with my left. He didn’t expect it and his glasses went flying, my punch more a roundhouse slap than anything else. “Whoa!” He let go and turned away.
“Okay, now, that’s enough!” Strong arms wrapped around me and I started to kick back when I recognized that voice. “Come on, Theda. That’s enough!” It was Bill, and he was pulling me away from the bar in bear hug. The crowd parted for him, and before I knew it, we were in the front room and then out the door.
“I’m okay, Bill. I’m okay.” I let my legs and arms hang limp, but he continued to stand behind me on the sidewalk, arms wrapped around me.
Bill held me close and spoke in my ear. “Look, I know you’re upset.”
“Upset?” I was furious, but I fought the urge to start struggling again.
“You’ve just lost a friend. It’s natural.”
He must have felt the tension in me. I had to explain. “And I’m being blamed for it, Bill. And now that little—”
“Theda, stop a moment. Just stop.” He released me, but kept his hands on my arms as he moved to stand in front of me. I stood waiting. “You’re angry, sad, grieving. I get it. I’ve been trying hard, Theda, trying to give you slack. But starting a fight isn’t going to solve anything.”
I nodded. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not just that this is my bar.” I saw the ghost of a smile and relaxed a little. “But, Theda, be reasonable. He could have you up for assault. And you’re out on bail.”
The last of the fight went out of me like air from a balloon, and I slumped against him. “Oh. Right.”
“Come on, babe.” He held me close and this time it felt good. We stayed like that for a few moments. I could have fallen asleep leaning against him, but too soon he cleared his throat. My cue to stand up on my own.
“I’ve got to get back, babe.”
I nodded. “May I come back, too?”
That smile again.
“I promise not to beat up anyone in your club.” Before he could respond, I added. “I won’t even try to talk to him anymore tonight. I’ll talk to Violet, instead.”
He checked his watch. “You’re going to have to wait, babe. She’s going on soon.” He opened the door and walked me back in, letting everyone see that we were together as we passed through the crowd. I hoped Lee was watching. “Besides, we’ve got other things to worry about besides keeping you out of jail.”
“Oh?” I looked up at him. “Is it something with Tess?” I knew I should’ve gone to her apartment.
He nodded, his long face set in grim lines. “It is indeed. I’ve been over what’s gone missing, who was working. Everything. And I think she’s been stealing. Small items, petty cash, but stealing.”
I felt my face go slack with shock. This couldn’t be. I looked up. “Have you talked to her?”
“She still hasn’t shown up.” On stage, Violet’s drummer had started the countdown. Bill leaned in to my ear. “And I really hope I’m wrong, but I think Ellis has gone missing, too.”
I stood there, taking a moment to consider what he’d said. Ellis? Had the noise gotten too much? Had he seen that back door and used it? And Tess? That strange message ran through my mind, and I shook my head to clear it. No help for it now. On stage, Violet and her bassist joined in, prompting the crowd to dance and sway. I looked over toward the bar but I couldn’t make out Lee. Maybe he had left. Maybe he was still looking for his glasses. I saw someone fly by, a modified stage dive from a bar stool, the bouncer from the front door hot on his heels. If there was any justice at all, one of them would have crushed Lee Wellner’s glasses.
Chapter Twenty
Bill must have gotten in around four. He’d kicked me out as soon as the music ended, muttering something about “banned for life” that I didn’t take too seriously. But he had his hands full. The night had been a success, and the Last Stand was the worse for wear, and so I hightailed it home. It was enough to hear him come in and to feel him spoon up against me. Even Musetta, who seemed to have survived the lack of dinner, obliged, walking over my legs to take up the opposite corner of the bed. I figured I’d hear all the dirt in the morning.
The alarm rang way too early, but fear of waking Bill made me grab it and get out of bed. Musetta was on her window sill by then, getting an early morning start on her birdwatching. But after I dressed, she came over, expecting the food that had been denied the night before.
“Sorry, kitty.” I lifted her around her soft middle and she gave a soft mew of protest. “Time to go to the dentist.” She lashed her tail twice as I lowered her into her carrier, but accepted the inevitable.
“Meh.” As complaints go, that was mild.
“I know. A full meal as soon as you come home. Believe me, I’m not any happier about this than you are.” As if in response, she settled down, not even looking up as I carried her out to the street. Violet pulled up two minutes later and as I settled Musetta’s carrier in the back, she handed me a large coffee.
“Thought you might need this. There are muffins in the bag.” I opened the brown paper bag between us and the heavenly scent of lemon and poppyseed rose to greet me. “Made a stop at the Mug Shot.”
“Wonderful, thanks.” I broke off a chunk of muffin. It was still warm and moist in the center. I’d been ready to jump on Violet when I saw her. I needed to know if she was Lee Wellner’s source, or, if not, why she was so deep in conversation with him. But it’s hard to argue with your mouth full. Plus, I thought as I chewed, Violet was escorting us both back to the shelter clinic at an ungodly hour. I’d start gently. “Did you get any sleep last night?”
She shrugged. “A bit. Besides, spring break is over. I’ve got to get used to sleep deprivation again.”
I took a sip. She’d gotten me a latté, a double shot it tasted like. “Still thinking about grad school?”
Another shrug and she reached for her own coffee. “Be nice to have the grades to keep it an option.”
I didn’t want to push. Besides, I had my own agenda. “So, what did you think of Francesca?” I just wasn’t sure how to work up to it.
“She’s got the songs, for sure. Did you catch her set?” Violet reached for the bag so I held it up for her.
“Most of it.” I paused. Maybe I could work around to Lee? “Great songs, but she sure ran off quickly.” I thought of Lee watching her from behind the amp. Had he been the lost lover of the song, or had it all been about th
e cat?
“Don’t be too hard on Francesca. I know she’s sort of a know-it-all, but she’s had a rough couple of months.”
“I know, I’m sorry.” A wave of guilt washed over me. I knew that grief first hand. “I heard about her cat.”
“Yeah, that was pretty awful. Last week she got a notice about picking up the cremains and that just brought it all up again. You know.” I did. Much as I loved Musetta, I still had twinges when I looked at the photo of James on my fridge, and that had been from when he was still sleek and young and healthy. But Violet was saying something about other troubles. “There was a job she thought she was sure to get, and that fell through. She was seeing some guy, too, who turned out to be a jerk.”
“Could it have been Lee Wellner?” I couldn’t get the image of him hidden, staring, out of my mind. “The writer?”
“No, I don’t think so. She never said, but I don’t think he’s her type.” I nodded. Creepy geek isn’t particularly sexy.
“Speaking of which, Vi, I wanted to ask you about him.” She looked up. “I saw you two talking last night, before your set.” Violet was first and foremost my friend, but I had to ask. “And, well, you were the first person I heard saying anything about Rachel, about her dropping the no-kill plan, and that was right when his stories started appearing in the Wag.”
“Huh.” She seemed lost in thought. At least I hadn’t offended her. “I do remember seeing those stories, but I’m pretty sure I knew already. Someone had been telling me about the shelter, saying that it was all faked and that they’d keep on killing cats, even healthy ones, for the slightest of excuses.”
I gave her a look.
“Okay, and I was pissed off. I mean, Helmhold House has been no-kill since Lillian started it, and here was Rachel getting all this attention. I know, I know,” she held up her hands to silence my protest. “It’s a different thing. They get tons more animals than we do, and they get the really sick ones, too. But still…”
“So, you weren’t Wellner’s source?” I had to push. “That wasn’t what you were talking to him about last night?”
She laughed. “Is that what you thought? No way.”
“It looked pretty intense.”
“Oh, ye of little faith! He was pitching me, don’t you know? He was telling me that he could write a big piece on the Violet Haze Experience, like you never could because we’re friends. All he wanted was some inside info about some of the women on the scene. Who was seeing who.”
“Whom.” At least I said it quietly. “So he wanted gossip?”
“He was pretending it would be for the column, but he was just macking on the ladies. Pretty obvious, actually.”
Violet was off the hook. I wasn’t as sure that Lee’s intentions were quite so simple. But by then we’d arrived at the shelter. I reached for Musetta’s carrier and spent a moment looking at the building, noting the locked back door as well as the path around to the front. Today the loading dock looked quiet and closed.
My lawyer had commented on all these exits as part of my defense. I hadn’t run for it, he’d said. But looking at the building now, I couldn’t help noticing how easy someone could have. Three exits that I knew of. A busy shelter with an overworked staff, and a warren of hallways and connecting offices. If Lee Wellner or some anonymous ex had been in here, it wouldn’t have taken them much to duck out again. The question was why? And why, after brutally attacking an innocent woman, replace my cat in her cage? I looked down at Musetta. She was looking up at me. Her look was eloquent. “Please, let me out of this enclosed space,” her green eyes said. Unfortunately, our communication capabilities were limited to the obvious. If Musetta had witnessed the murder, she hadn’t yet figured out how to tell me or I to hear.
“Theda?” Violet was waiting, so I joined her up the walk to the front door. We’d agreed that she would handle the exchange. I just wanted to stay with my pet as long as possible.
“It’ll be okay, Musetta. I promise.” The crime scene tape was gone, but the reception area was still quiet for a weekday morning. Only two families and Amy at the front desk. One of the moms was holding the leash of a very large German shepherd, and I could feel Musetta tense in her carrier, suddenly on full alert.
“Hey, Amy.” Violet walked up to the front desk while I turned toward the corner, using my body to shield Musetta. “We’re here for Dr. Massio? Musetta, uh, Krakow.”
Even with my back to the desk, I could feel the intensity of Amy’s stare. I turned to smile and she looked away. I guess I could understand how she felt, but it still hurt. Amy murmured something and within thirty seconds a short, stout man in a white coat pushed open the inner door.
“Miss Krakow?” I took in his round face, the touch of gray that lightened his dark hair at the temples, and told myself he looked kindly.
“Dr. Massio?” I stepped forward extending my hand, but caught myself when I saw him step back. Violet stepped between us.
“Dr. Massio. This is Musetta, my friend Theda’s cat.” She took the carrier from my other hand and brought it to the man in the doorway.
“Ah yes.” He looked down at the carrier and up at me again before responding to Violet. “The dental appointment. Very good.” Another quick glance at me and then back to Violet. “You should be able to pick her up after two today. If there’s any delay, I’ll have Amy call you.” He backed away and the door closed behind him.
Violet pushed me through the lobby and back out the door. “Wait here.”
Five long minutes and she was out again. I’d gone around to the parking lot but couldn’t sit still. Instead, she found me leaning back up against her van, trying to enjoy the weak morning sun.
“Well, that was interesting.”
I sprang at her. “What? Tell?”
“It’s not Musetta. She’s fine.” Violet unlocked the van and we both climbed in. “But for a private practice guy, Dr. Massio’s not bad. He says he’d been looking at trying to do some kind of partnership with the shelter. Turns out, he and Rachel knew each other. They met doing dissections.”
“But he looks so much older. You think he might have been a boyfriend?”
“Or one of her teachers.” She shrugged. “Though he could be prematurely gray. If I let my natural color show through, I’d have a ton of white in here.” I looked over at my friend’s purple mop as Violet put the old van in gear. I couldn’t see it.
“He didn’t even ask if I’d fed her since midnight.” Violet just sighed and pulled into traffic.
***
“You sure you don’t want to hang out?” Violet pulled up to my building. “It’s going to be lonely in there.”
I grinned. “Maybe not. Bill came over last night.” Despite all the drama, it wasn’t even ten.
“Enjoy! Come over when you want to, we’ll go rescue our girl.” With a wave, she was off, and I climbed the stairs, wondering what would be cooking for breakfast.
The answer was nothing, though I did find a note and coffee still warm in the pot. “Gotta finish cleaning up,” Bill had written. “Call me.”
The blinking light on my answering machine was a little more satisfying.
“Good news, Theda.” It was Pilchard. I gathered we were still on speaking terms, despite the dinner. At any rate, he still seemed to be handling my case. “The Fed Ex guy might have seen someone else. My investigator got him to admit that he might have spent a few more minutes in the back of his van than he’d told the cops. And just maybe he saw another doctor go out that exit. Well, he said ‘doctor,’ but that just means someone who looked official, which means just about anyone. So we’re going after the staff again. Someone’s alibi is going to be as full of holes as a cashmere cardigan at a moth convention.”
I knew I should call him back. If nothing else, I had Violet’s nugget to pass along. But the idea of setting up someone else as a suspect, particularly what that someone else was a vet who had Musetta in his hands, just didn’t appeal. I’d wait until I found out more,
or at least had my kitty home. In the meantime, I tried Bill.
He wasn’t at his place or the club office, but I reached him finally on his cell.
“What’s up?” He sounded breathless.
“Touching base. You at the gym?” I settled onto the sofa for a chat. It wasn’t the same without my feline companion.
“Nope. The club. Back room.”
“Wow, still cleaning?” I poured myself the last of the coffee. “Was there any permanent damage?”
“Not cleaning. I’m searching.” I heard something go thud, but Bill kept talking. “Ellis never showed.”
“You think he got out? He’s microchipped, right?” When I rubbed Musetta right behind her ruff, I could still feel the pea-sized chip. But Bill was silent. So much had been going on, I hadn’t even asked before. “Nevermind, we’ll take care of that when he turns up. Do you want me to make up some posters?”
Bill sighed and I pictured him sitting down for a rest. “Not yet. This place is full of corners and cubby holes. I’m hoping last night was just too much for him and that he’s wedged someplace that he thinks is safe. I’m just a little concerned, you know? I mean, he’s a big cat.”
“Say no more.” I drained my mug and was already walking toward the closet. “I’ll be over in ten, and I’m bringing Greenies.”
***
Two hours later, the cat treats were still untouched. We’d ruled out the basement, at least for now. The only door down went from the busy bar area, and it seemed unlikely that a spooked cat would have darted into the crowd to find a hiding place. Instead, I’d met Bill backstage, where Ellis usually hung out, and held the flashlight while he’d looked inside the old upright piano. Next, he steadied a ladder for me up to poke through the broken acoustic tiles.