by Diane Meier
Rounding up her cats just didn’t seem like enough justice for all the damage Butler had done with that blog. Suddenly she thought of another way to pay Sharon Butler back.
She went to her bedroom closet and grabbed the brick etched with In Memory of Freddy. When Gary’s poodle, Freddy, passed away, Tina had never seen Gary so depressed. She tried to think of some way to make him feel better. Finally she thought of a memorial brick.
She had searched online and found a company that made memorial bricks. They offered her a free brick to use as a sample so she had them put the name of Gary’s poodle on it. Gary was so touched by that. And he liked the idea of the fundraiser. They took a photo of the Freddy brick and put it on the web site. She wrote the promotional information to go with the photo. An amazing number of people ordered bricks.
Gary had Tina come to an SPCA Board meeting to report on the brick program. Tina was thrilled. After the meeting she talked to the Board Chairman and told him how much she would like to serve on the Board. Sharon Butler was going to resign so a seat would be open. Tina wrote up a resume that described her career and volunteer work at the SPCA.
She was invited to interviews with each Board member. She bought a new dress at the outlet mall and got her roots touched up. The Board members were very cold to her in the interviews. She was baffled. They knew how dedicated she was to the SPCA. But they rejected her application.
She realized that they were all big shots in the community, but she hadn’t known that they were such snobs. After all she had done for the SPCA, it really hurt to be treated like that. The Board Chairman was kind of sheepish when he told her that the vote had been to turn down Tina’s application for the Board. He tried to explain that fundraising was so critical that Board members needed to either have money or connections to other people with money. He didn’t say it, but obviously they felt that she was in neither category.
Gary said he was sorry about Tina being rejected, but he said it was out of his hands. Tina tried not to show how bitter she was about those Board members.
Now she had a chance to get some justice. Sharon Butler had been on the Board as well as being the blogger. It didn’t matter that Butler would never know what Tina was going to do. It would give Tina some satisfaction. And maybe there was life after death as she had been taught as a child so Butler would know.
Tina put the Freddy brick in her bag and drove over to the bike trail entrance behind the outlet mall. She didn’t want anyone in the neighborhood to see her car. The trail wasn’t lit so Tina got her flashlight and headed down the trail. When she came to the trail section behind Butler’s house she cut through the trees and walked over to the cat traps.
Three cats had already gone in for the tuna and gotten trapped. They meowed angrily at Tina as if they knew she had set the traps. She felt a little sorry for them but trapping them and putting them down was the right thing to do. They had such awful lives. Tina placed the brick on the ground near one of the traps. She would come back in the morning to help the animal control officers and make sure that they found the brick. They would remember that Gary’s dog was named Freddy. She would advise them to call the state troopers. She didn’t want them calling the Rehoboth cop, Matt Thomas, since he was dating Clara Butler.
Tina couldn’t resist the urge to go look in the window and see Clara Butler. She tried not to do it but found herself sneaking over to the house. She’d be careful, she told herself. She peered in and saw a young woman working at her computer. That bitch was probably working on the blog right now.
Tina was so angry that she got careless and tripped over a pot of dead geraniums. The clunk made Tina fear that she would be caught. She was paralyzed with fear.
Dad,” called Henry. “Somebody’s out on the patio.”
Tina heard the kid and looked up. He was staring at her from the upper window. Who the hell was that? Tina needed to get away but she couldn’t seem to move. She cursed her stupidity. Finally she pulled up her hood and raced across the yard to the trees.
Matt came to the window. He didn’t see anyone but knew Henry wouldn’t make up something like that. “Are you sure it wasn’t Clara?”
Henry sighed. “Dad, I know what Clara looks like. It wasn’t Clara. But it was a woman.”
That’s strange, thought Matt. Why would a woman be looking into Clara’s window?
“So you got a good look at her? Can you tell me what she looked like?”
“I don’t know. She had blond hair like Clara but she was bigger. Sort of fat. She looked a lot older than Clara.”
“What was she wearing?”
“I saw her pull her hoodie up over her head when she ran back toward the trees.”
That got Matt’s attention. Of course lots of people wore hoodies so it could just be a coincidence that the person caught on the SPCA security tape was wearing a hoodie. But Matt didn’t believe in coincidences when a murderer was loose. Since they believed the killer was a woman it was even more disturbing. Why would the murderer look into Clara’s window? It didn’t make sense.
He should tell Clara. They hadn’t spoken since their argument about the blog. She was avoiding him. Matt had told Henry that he shouldn’t go over there after school because Clara wasn’t feeling well.
“Henry, I’m going to call Clara and tell her.”
“Okay, Dad. Why do you think the woman was looking in Clara’s window?”
“It may have been a homeless person. Sometimes they break into houses of the summer people and squat there to get out of the cold. I’m sure you scared her away. She’ll just go look into other houses until she finds an empty one.”
“That’s weird. Why didn’t she see the cars out front? That would tell her that the house wasn’t empty.”
“I don’t know. Maybe she has mental problems like a lot of homeless people. That doesn’t mean she would hurt you. She’d be afraid of you. Anyway, I’ve got to call Clara.” Matt picked up the phone and steeled himself for the call.
Clara recognized his number. “Matt, what do you want?”
Matt explained what had happened.
“Thank you for telling me,” Clara said icily and hung up.
Dammit, Matt thought. She obviously hated him. And no wonder. She slept with him and then he accused her of being a liar and implied that she might be a murderer. He didn’t think she killed Randolph. She had every right to be furious. He had ruined everything.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Tina had trouble sleeping that night. She was worried about that kid who had seen her. She drove over to check the cat traps at 7 a.m. Nine cats had gone into the traps. A big white cat skittered away when she approached. Too bad they didn’t get that one but Tina was delighted to get nine cats. A half hour later the animal control officers showed up.
“Guys, my back is killing me,” said Tina. “I’m not going to be much help, but I came to keep an eye out for the cats’ caretaker so we don’t have to deal with that.”
“I don’t know why you bothered to come over. We’ve got this,” said Donald Block, who was a big guy with a mustache.
The other animal control officer, Gerry Dewald, was counting the cats. “Just nine. Hope that’s enough for Sasso.”
“It’s better than nothing,” said Block, picking up a trap. “Let’s get this done.”
The two officers lugged the traps over to their van. The cats were bounced back and forth against the metal traps.
No Kill Station They hadn’t noticed the brick, so Tina called out to them as if she was surprised. “Hey look at this.”
Block came over while Dewald loaded another trap. “In memory of Freddy. So what?”
“That was the name of Gary’s dog,” said Tina. “I had a brick made up for him to say that. Remember? It was on his desk.”
“Maybe these people had a dog named Freddy, too. It could be a coincidence.”
“I handled all the brick sales. I remember every name etched on the bricks. There was only one Freddy.”
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“So what? You think somebody stole the brick? Why would anybody do that?”
Tina couldn’t believe it. This idiot wasn’t getting it. “Maybe the murderer hid the brick out here after using it to smash Gary in the head.”
Finally he seemed to understand. “So what should we do?”
“We need to call the police,” said Tina.
Block thought about that for a minute. “First we’ve got to transport the cats out of here. Sasso wants that done right now.”
“How about having Dewald take the cats and then we’ll call the cops.”
Block nodded. He told Dewald about the brick. “You take the cats to New Castle. I have to stay with Tina while we call the cops.”
“Sure” said Dewald, dumping the last trap on top of another one and slamming the door of the van. He drove away with the cats.
“So call the police,” said Block.
“No it would be better if you do it.”
That made him suspicious. “Why?”
Tina was coming up empty, but then she had an idea. “I don’t want them to think I was involved in the cat round-up because it’s probably against some regulation for me to help you guys. You know how stupid the regulations are. Call Sasso. I bet he’ll agree with me on that.”
Block made the call and Sasso quickly answered. He was afraid something had gone wrong with the trapping of the cats. He really needed to get cats to Mahoney.
“Doug, we found the Freddy memorial brick hidden out here. We think that whoever killed Gary may have used the brick as the murder weapon. At least that’s what Tina thinks.”
“I really don’t give a shit about finding the killer. Where are the cats? They have to be delivered today.”
“Yes, of course. Dewald is transporting them.”
“That’s good. Then go ahead and call the cops. The sooner they close the case and stop snooping around the better.”
“Will do. Tina says she should leave because the cops will ask why she’s here and there’s probably some regulation against a civilian helping animal control.”
“She may be right. Tell her to get out of there.”
“How will I get back after the cops arrive?”
“Block, are you that stupid? Call a cab.”
“Fine, but I’m putting in a receipt for reimbursement.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Clara got the cats’ feeding bowls out on the counter and the bag of cat food. She looked out the window and saw Marlon the white cat but none of the others. “This is a first. Marlon is the only one here. The other cats are late for breakfast.”
Sharon rushed to the window. “That makes no sense. Something must have happened to the rest of them.“ They hurried out into the backyard. They saw state troopers and an animal control officer walking through the meadow.
“I’m looking for my cats. What are you doing here?” Clara demanded.
“Do you live there?” Aidan asked, pointing to their house.
“Yes, I do. Where are my cats?”
Aidan pointed to the Freddy brick on the ground. “Do you know anything about this brick?”
Clara looked down and shook her head. “I’ve never seen it before.”
“Can you think of any reason why it would be here?”
Sharon grabbed Clara’s arm. “They must have rounded up our cats.”
“No, I’ve never seen the damn brick. Why is animal control here? What has happened to my cats?”
Aidan pointed to the brick again. “You’ve never seen this before? How do you think it got here?”
“I have no idea and I don’t care.” Clara turned to Block. “Why are you here? My cats are missing. Did you take them away?”
Block smirked at Clara. “Are you going to tell me that all those cats are your pets? We trapped them because they are clearly feral cats not your pets. We have a responsibility to protect the community. Feral cats are diseased.”
“You bastard,” Clara yelled.
Sharon grabbed her arm again. “You have to get over to the SPCA before Sasso kills them.”
Sharon and Clara both ran back to the house.
Block turned to Aidan. “Aren’t you going to arrest the woman? She must have killed Randolph.”
Aidan walked away. “That is not your call, buster. You’re not a cop.”
Clara grabbed her purse in the house and headed for the car. Sharon was following. “You stay here. You’ve never left the house since you died. It might make you disappear.”
Sharon realized that might be true. “Okay. Get going. But be careful. That Sasso is mean as hell.”
Clara sped to the SPCA. She ran into the lobby and ignored the staffer at the counter who told her to stop. Clara stormed into Sasso’s office. He looked up from his computer in surprise.
“Where are my cats?” she cried.
Sasso realized that this must be Sharon Butler’s daughter. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Calm down.”
“If you killed them, you’re in deep shit, Sasso.” Clara ran to the cat room and searched every cage, but none of her cats were there. She raced out of the building over to the dumpster. She clambered up the side of it and tumbled onto a bunch of lumpy trash bags. She knew the bags contained dead cats and dogs. After being killed they were stuffed into trash bags.
She found her footing. She was sickened by the fact that she was probably standing on a dead animal. When she ripped the first bag open she saw a stiff tabby cat. It’s eyes and mouth were open as if it was screaming in pain. “You bastards,” she screamed. She tore into the next bag and found a dead Pit Bull. She threw up. She ripped open ten bags. All of them had dead animals but none were her cats. She had gone through every damn bag. Where the hell were her cats?
Suddenly she realized that the cats must have been sold to dog fighters.
Sasso walked up to the dumpster. “Get out of there before I call the cops, you crazy bitch.”
Clara climbed out of the dumpster and paused at the top for a second. Then she jumped down onto Sasso. She exulted in his look of horror as she flattened him on the asphalt. She made a fist and smashed his face. He howled in pain. She was about to hit him again but then stopped herself. She couldn’t waste time on Sasso. She had to find her cats.
Sasso struggled to his feet and yelled “I’m going to have you charged with assault. They’re going to throw the book at you.”
Clara turned around. “Shut up or I’ll beat you to death, you evil piece of shit.” She dialed Matt’s number. He would know what to do. He picked up on the first ring.
“Clara, I’m so glad you called. I want to ….”
“Matt, they stole the cats. I searched the shelter. I got into the dumpster and tore through every damn garbage bag of dead cats and dogs but our cats weren’t there. These bastards must have taken the cats to be sold as bait. Please, you’ve got to save them.”
Matt was horrified. “Damn that Sasso! I think I know where they are taking the cats. I’ll go and get them right now. Now take a deep breath and then drive home. I’ll call you as soon as I find them. I’m hanging up now. Don’t worry.”
Clara collapsed on the ground and sobbed in anguish.
An elderly couple stopped beside her. “Are you okay? Should we help you into the building?”
Clara stared blankly at them. She stood up and walked to her car. She slid into the seat slowly. Then she lay her head down on the steering wheel. She wept bitterly for all the animals slaughtered at shelters.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
A s he hung up the phone, Matt put on his siren. He was closer to the New Castle kennel so he’d go there first. As he pulled into the parking lot, he saw the animal control van driving away. The cats were stacked up in the cages outside the door. He jumped out of the car. The cats seemed to be okay, although they were crying their misery at being in the cages.
Matt threw open the door to the kennel lobby. An overweight woman sitting at the desk was so startled that she dropped
her plastic box of food onto herself. Chinese food slopped all over. The shock on the woman’s face turned to fury. “Look what you did,” she yelled belligerently at Matt.
Matt struggled to keep his temper. “I’m here for the cats. Is that your van out front?”
She realized that he was a cop and nodded.
“Get the keys. You’re going to help me load the cats into it.”
“Now look, Officer, those are the SPCA’s cats……”
“Get the keys,” Matt yelled.
She lumbered over to her purse and pulled out her keys. He grabbed them and motioned for her to go outside. Matt opened the van door and picked up the first cage. “Start lifting these trap into the van.”
“Those cats will stink up my van,” she whined. Then she saw the murderous look in his eyes and lifted a cat trap.
After loading the traps, Matt said fiercely, “Go back inside.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” she blustered. “You have no right to…..”
“Shut up. Dog fighting is a felony.” Matt yelled. “Go call your contact and tell him that the SPCA van didn’t arrive. Do you understand me?”
The woman nodded. She waddled back into the lobby and dialed the phone while Matt followed.
“This is Rebecca. I just got a call from Sasso and he says the cats can’t be delivered today.”
Matt could hear the guy yelling from five feet away.
“I can’t help that. I just take orders,” she said looking over at Matt as she hung up. She was hoping he would believe that she wasn’t really involved
“Write down that phone number,” said Matt. He looked around for the door to the kennels. “Do you have any dogs back there?”
“No, they didn’t bring in any dogs today. I didn’t want to be involved in this. I told Sasso that but they brought the cats anyway.”
Matt opened the kennel door to check for dogs. He pulled out his handcuffs. “You are under arrest for animal cruelty. Go over to that radiator and sit down on the floor.”