PAWtners in Crime (Klepto Cat Mystery Book 10)

by Patricia Fry

  “Hi, sweet thing,” Iris said, rushing to her. She kissed the top of her head. “Having breakfast?” she asked.

  Savannah smiled down at her daughter. “Yes, pears and sweet potatoes.” She looked at Iris. “There’s enough in the fridge for her lunch. Her baby treats are on the kitchen counter. I laid out her jacket in case you want to take her for a walk.”

  “Okeydokey,” Iris said. “Here, let me finish feeding her. You go get ready.”

  “All ready,” Savannah said, rising and grabbing her purse and sweater. She kissed Lily on the cheek before addressing the others. “Shall we go? Have fun, you, two,” she called as they prepared to step out through the door.

  “Wish I could say the same for you guys,” Iris said. “Sounds like the prelim trial has been grueling.”

  “Yeah,” Craig said, as he opened the front door for Savannah and Ruth, “and sometimes boring.”

  “I find it rather fascinating,” Arthur said, “at least when I can keep from getting caught up in the drama.”

  ****

  It was after the lunch break and everyone had reconvened in the small courtroom.

  “The prosecution would like to call a new witness.”

  All eyes were on Prosecutor Lester Schofield as he walked toward a door, opened it, and stepped back, allowing someone to enter. It took a moment for the identity of the witness to register with those in the courtroom. A loud collective gasp was heard and chatter erupted. The judge slammed his gavel. “Order!” he demanded. “Order!”

  Savannah watched as the surprise witness walked toward the judge. Who is that? she wondered. She strained to get a better view. She could see that it was a woman, but she didn’t immediately recognize her. After being sworn in, the mystery woman stepped into the witness box and turned to face the courtroom audience. That’s when Savannah recognized her. Pearl! She looked at Arthur and Ruth. They appeared to be as stunned as she was. Craig raised his eyebrows and dipped his head in disbelief.

  “Would you state your name for the court, please?” the prosecutor said.

  “Pearl Peyton-Smith.”

  “Are you related to anyone in the courtroom here today?”

  “Charles Peyton is my son,” she said quietly.

  “Anyone else?” he asked.

  The woman shook her head and looked down at her hands in her lap.

  “What about Henrietta Peyton? She’s your daughter-in-law, is she not?”

  Pearl nodded.

  “Answer, please.”

  “Yes,” she said barely audibly.

  Savannah could see Henrietta’s profile and noticed that she looked pale—as if she’d been drained of every bit of life’s blood.

  The attorney turned his attention to the audience and pointed at Arthur. “Please stand, would you, young man?”

  Arthur slowly stood.

  “And this is your grandson, is he not?” Schofield asked.

  Pearl shook her head.

  The attorney corrected himself: “Okay, your stepgrandson.”

  Pearl glanced at Arthur for a split second and said, “I believe so.”

  “You believe so?”

  “I haven’t seen him for years—he’s older and has those scars, so I can’t be sure it’s Arthur.”

  “Well, I can tell you that he is Arthur Spence, Mrs. Peyton’s son and your stepgrandson.”

  She glanced at Arthur and then looked down and nodded.

  “Mrs. Smith, where have you been these past weeks?”

  “Jail,” she said.

  “In a regular jail cell?”

  She shook her head. “No. Isolation.”

  “Why, Mrs. Smith? Why were you being kept in isolation?”

  At that point, Pearl glared in Henrietta Peyton’s direction. “I was recovering from…an attack. They thought I needed protection.”

  “You were thought to be dead, right?” he asked.

  “Yes, I believe so.”

  “Do you know who tried to kill you?”

  “Objection,” Henrietta’s attorney called out.

  “Overruled,” the judge said. “You know better than that. Your client is not on trial here.”

  Mr. Schofield addressed Pearl again. “Answer the question, Mrs. Smith. Who tried to kill you?”

  Pearl spoke quietly. “A woman in the jail.”

  “Did she act on her own or did someone pay her to do that?”

  “I believe my daughter-in-law is charged with my murder…a…attempted murder.”

  “And why do you think she wants you dead, Mrs. Smith?”

  There was a long silence before Pearl answered. She glared at Henrietta. “I don’t know. Maybe she thinks I know her secret.”

  “Secret?” he asked. “Can you explain that?”

  “About what happened to the children.”

  At that moment, Henrietta stood and shouted, “That’s a lie!” Her attorney pulled her down into her seat, leaned over, and spoke to her. Henrietta, however, continued to shout. “I don’t want to be still! She’s a liar! I have no such secret. I’m no ordinary criminal and everyone knows it. I’m respected in this community.”

  When Mrs. Peyton wouldn’t settle down, the judge motioned for the bailiff to remove her from the courtroom.

  Once it was quiet, the prosecuting attorney asked his witness, “Do you know what happened to the child Karen Spence?”

  Pearl glanced at her son, then looked the attorney straight in the eyes. “It was an accident,” she said, breaking down in tears. She pointed at Arthur. “He knows I didn’t do anything wrong. It was an accident. Why would I want to hurt those children? They were like my own.”

  Savannah glanced at Arthur and noticed him looking down and shaking his head back and forth slowly.

  “Why, indeed?” the prosecutor said. “That’s a good question.” He turned and looked at Charles Peyton, then scanned the audience. “That’s something I’ve asked myself over and over again. And the most valid reason I can come up with is…” he paused dramatically before saying, “…money.”

  There was a rumble in the courtroom.

  “Order!” the judge said, tapping his gavel repeatedly.

  The prosecutor continued, “…but it’s hard for me to believe that a mother would want her own children dead or that their stepgrandmother would want to harm them. That doesn’t make sense to me. What does make sense, however, is that the stepfather, who is going to lose all the wealth he married into if the children live past the age of eighteen, would consider eliminating the obstacles. Now that’s what makes sense to me, doesn’t it to you, Mrs. Smith?”

  The witness sat staring into her lap without speaking.

  Prosecutor Schofield waved one hand in the air dramatically, saying, “Your witness.”

  At that point, Alan Harmonson, one of Charles Peyton’s attorneys, approached the witness stand. “Mrs. Smith, where do you live?”

  “4485 Henderson Avenue.”

  “How many square feet is your home?”

  “About fifteen hundred.”

  “When’s the last time you went on a luxury vacation?” he asked.

  Pearl let out a guffaw. “Never,” she said.

  “So your lifestyle is what, standard?”

  “Yes. I’m retired on a nurse’s pension.”

  “Do you have a luxury car?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “I don’t own a car.”

  “When’s the last time you owned a car?”

  “I’d say about five years ago.”

  “What kind of car was it?”

  She thought for a moment before saying, “A 1990 Toyota sedan.”

  “How much money do you have in the bank, Mrs. Smith?”

  Again, Pearl laughed a little. “Around $2,500.”

  The attorney pulled something out of a file folder, saying, “I submit Pearl Peyton-Smith’s bank statement into evidence.” He then said to the judge, “As you can see, there�
�s no evidence that Mrs. Peyton-Smith has profited by the little girl’s death and the young man’s…accident. It doesn’t appear that she was paid a large sum of money by Mrs. Peyton or Mr. Peyton or anyone else, for that matter.” He paused. “Neither does it make sense that she would act on her own to destroy the children’s lives. She had no reason to harm the children. In fact, after the accidents, she gave up her former profession and her active lifestyle. She’s considered by some to be a hermit who lives with a bunch of cats in the boonies. I maintain that this is strong evidence that my client Charles Peyton did not hire his mother to harm the children who, as we all know, were under Mrs. Smith’s care when the…tragic accidents occurred.”

  Harmonson walked back and forth in front of the witness stand a few times before saying to the judge, “However…” he peered at Pearl for a moment, “…it has never been refuted that Mrs. Smith acted independently on her son’s behalf without his knowledge.”

  At that, Pearl’s court-appointed attorney abruptly stood and hollered, “Judge!”“Overruled. Anything else, Mr. Harmonson?”

  Charles Peyton’s attorney paced in front of the judge and then turned to face him again. “We’ve already established that the Peytons were nowhere in the vicinity at the time of the little girl’s drowning or the fire that nearly took the boy’s life. As was determined in the trial seven years ago, these were unfortunate accidents. Even the boy helped to establish this fact when he was questioned. As you recall, he could not provide us with any concrete evidence or even valid testimony proving that these tragedies were anything but accidents. This should be enough to exonerate my client with an enormous apology.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Harmonson,” the judge said. He then addressed the court, “Court is adjourned; however,” he said sternly, “I want to see the attorneys and the prosecutor in my chambers now.”

  ****

  “It just doesn’t seem right,” Arthur said on the way home that afternoon.

  “Why do you say that, Arthur?” Craig asked.

  “I don’t know—something is just not right. There’s something missing—something that hasn’t been revealed.” He thought for a moment and said, “Or maybe it’s just that I don’t understand it all yet. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

  From the backseat, Savannah put her hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Maybe you should have another session with Rochelle.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that…only…”

  “Only what?” she asked.

  “Only that last time, I came away feeling…kinda scared…like something was about to happen.”

  Suddenly, Savannah’s focus shifted from Arthur. “What’s wrong, Craig?”

  “Huh? Oh…well, I think someone’s following us,” he said, keeping an eye on the rearview mirror. When Savannah and Arthur started to turn around and peer out the back window, he said, “No, don’t look. We don’t want him to know we’re on to him.”

  “Probably paparazzi,” Arthur said, disgustedly. “They’re everywhere.”

  “Could be, but he’s not going to find out where we’re going,” Craig said, quickly changing lanes. He pulled into an alley and then turned right on the next street, crossing over to the left lane and turning again. He drove for a few blocks before moving in front of a row of cars and veering off to the right. He ducked into an industrial parking lot and pulled behind a Dumpster, where he stayed parked for several minutes.

  “Yes,” Arthur said, turning to look at Savannah. “I want another session with Ms. Rochelle.”

  “Craig, okay if we do it before we head back to the house?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Sure. Give her a call.”

  ****

  “We ditched a tail,” Arthur told Rochelle and Peter excitedly, when he and the others arrived at the gallery. “Craig can drive like a crazy man. But we lost the guy. It was like being on “CHiPs” or in that movie where they wrecked all those cars…Dukes of Hazzard…”

  He had everyone laughing at his antics as he described the wild car ride. “First we’re all leaning to the left,” he said gesturing. “Next thing we knew, we are practically falling out the right side doors. He didn’t even slow down for the driveways—bump…bump!” he mimicked.

  “Are you ladies okay?” Peter asked, sounding concerned.

  “Yes,” Ruth said. “Detective Craig is a good driver, actually. We had no mishaps during the wild ride.”

  “Iris might argue with you,” Craig said, smirking. He then turned to Peter. “Ready to take us out for coffee and pie?”

  “Sure,” Peter said. He looked at Rochelle. “I guess you and Arthur have work to do.”

  She nodded.

  ****

  Arthur was more talkative than usual on the ride home. “I saw things more clearly today during my session with Ms. Rochelle. Usually, everything’s kind of fuzzy when I get to the part where Karen…drowned, and the fire, but today it was clear—like someone had turned on a light. I saw the same scenes, but there was more detail.”

  “So, did you see anything new?” Savannah asked.

  Arthur shook his head. “No, but I still have the feeling that it’s there, I’m just not able to see it, yet.” He glanced at the two women in the backseat. “Does that sound crazy?”

  “No,” Craig said. “It sounds like you’re making progress, wouldn’t you say?” he asked the others.

  “Yes, I think so,” Savannah said.

  Ruth nodded.

  Craig continued, “I’ve worked with hypnotists over the years and found that each client has a different experience. But I’ve noticed that when the…shall we say…issue is very emotional and there’s a lot of pain involved, it can often be harder and take longer to get to the truth.” He glanced at Arthur. “You’ve kept this stuffed for a long time. If there’s something that your subconscious mind knows, that your conscious mind is still in denial about, hypnosis—or perhaps terror—can usually reveal the truth.”

  Arthur frowned. “Terror?”

  “Yes, it’s like a shock of some sort can cause memory loss and an equally devastating shock can sometimes bring it back.”

  “Oh yeah, I’ve seen that happen in movies,” Arthur looked at Craig and said quietly, “My life is becoming like a movie, isn’t it?”

  Chapter 5

  “Well, they don’t have enough evidence to hold Charles Peyton,” Craig told Savannah into the phone the following morning. “We can pack up and head home.”

  “Oh, so we don’t get our day in court?” Savannah asked, tongue in cheek.

  “I guess not,” he said, chuckling.

  “They’re just going to turn him loose?” she asked.

  “Looks that way. So far, all the evidence leans in Henrietta’s and maybe Pearl’s direction. Henrietta will at least get a sentence for plotting to kill her mother-in-law, if there’s anyone left to testify truthfully after she pays everyone off.”

  “That’s pretty darn telling in and of itself, wouldn’t you say, Craig? I mean if witnesses conveniently forget what they saw…” Suddenly, Savannah said, “Just a minute, Craig.” She then hollered, “What’s wrong?” When she came back to the phone, she said, “Gotta go. I’ll call you back.”

  What she saw made her cringe. She rushed through the front door of Ruth’s home, shouting, “Leave him alone. Get out of here or I’ll call the police.” She then lifted Lily out of the stroller and told Arthur to get in the house. She followed him and closed the door.

  Ruth quickly closed the wood blinds.

  By then, Lily was crying into Savannah’s shoulder. “Oh honey, it’s okay. You’re okay,” Savannah comforted.

  Lily raised her head and squirmed to see Arthur, reaching out to him with both hands.

  “She wants you,” Savannah said.

  “Oh, poor little baby,” Arthur murmured as he took her from Savannah. “That scared you, didn’t it?” he said in a soft voice. “It’s okay. No one’s going to hurt you.”

&
nbsp; “I think she was more concerned for you,” Savannah said, rubbing the baby’s back as Arthur held her. “She’s awfully fond of you.”

  Arthur looked at Savannah, tears welling in his eyes. He couldn’t speak. He just held the baby close.

  “And you thought she’d be afraid of you,” Savannah said, grinning.

  Arthur was silent and then he said, “Oh no…”

  “What?” Savannah and Ruth asked.

  “What if she doesn’t recognize me after I have my surgery? She might not like me anymore.”

  “Oh, Arthur, you’re too much,” Savannah said. “She probably won’t even notice. It’s your essence—the person you are inside—that she has connected with.”

  Suddenly he remembered the paparazzi outside, who had interrupted his walk with Lily. He rushed to the window with the baby. “Are they gone?” he asked, peeking through a slat in the blinds.

  “Probably waiting in the trees for you to go outside again,” Ruth said.

  “Where did they see you? Where did you and Lily go for your walk this morning?” Savannah asked.

  “The usual route. We were just leaving the housing tract up the street when they came along. I don’t think they got any good shots. I put Lily’s blanket over the stroller canopy and pulled my hood over my face. Then we hurried home.” He was quiet for a moment before asking, “When do you think they’ll stop this?”

  “Hard to tell,” Savannah said.

  Just then her phone rang. “Oh, it’s Craig,” she said to Ruth and Arthur. “I told him I’d call him back.” Into the phone, she said, “Hi, Craig. Sorry about that. The paparazzi followed Arthur and Lily home from their walk just now and we were trying to get them inside before the photo-hounds got any pictures.”

  “Everyone okay?” he asked, concern in his voice.

  “Yeah.” She chuckled. “Arthur did some quick thinking. He covered Lily with a blanket and pulled his hood up.”

  “Good,” he said. “You don’t want Lily’s cute face splashed across the front page of a scandal magazine.”

  “Sure don’t.”

  “So are you ready to go home?” he asked.