Drowned in Cherry Hills

by Paige Sleuth

  “That’s why the locker room was closed when I arrived this morning.”

  “Yeah.” Harvey tilted his head. “How’d you know about the blackmail, anyway?”

  “Dr. T told me about the letters he received. He thought Ellie had left them, but too much didn’t fit.”

  “Yet I’m the perfect culprit?”

  Kat didn’t dignify that with an answer. “Who else are you blackmailing?”

  Harvey smirked. “I’m not telling you that.”

  “What about Diana Feather? Are you blackmailing her?”

  “Nah. I have no leverage with her. I know she’s one of Dr. T’s clients.” He put a snide emphasis on the word clients. “But what would she care if word got out? In today’s world, you’re almost a hero if you admit to abusing prescription drugs. Look at all the celebrities struggling with pill addictions. They’re even doing tours to talk about it. And their fans eat it up.”

  “But Dr. T’s a supplier,” Kat said, trying to view the situation from Harvey’s perspective. “If the medical board or whoever knew what he was doing, he could lose his license.”

  “Exactly.”

  “What about the others?”

  “Same thing. I have something on each of them, something that would threaten their livelihood if it became public.”

  Kat quirked her lips. “There can’t be that many shady dealings going on here.”

  “You wouldn’t believe what you can find out if you can get your hands on people’s personal things. The people who leave their phones in their lockers are the best. If they don’t bother with a password, I have access to emails, pictures, voicemails, you name it. But even the passwords don’t stop me. Most phones, you don’t have to log in to read a new text message. And when I happen to stumble upon the phone of somebody maintaining an affair by text . . .” He trailed off with a shrug.

  Kat rubbed her hands up and down her arms. Although she didn’t have anything to hide, the idea of this man pawing through her things and reading private text messages while she worked out on the other side of the building, unaware, made her skin crawl.

  Harvey leaned against the wall and crossed his ankles. “Everybody’s got a secret. It’s just a matter of finding out what it is. And if it happens to be something juicy, that’s gold.”

  “How long has this been going on?”

  “Several months now, ever since I filched that key from Fred. It was easy enough. He lets anyone in his office. When I spied that key in one of his desk drawers, I saw an opportunity.”

  Kat wondered if Harvey had been going through Fred’s desk in search of something he could use to blackmail his boss. She doubted it, not because she thought Harvey felt any sense of loyalty to his employer but more so he could avoid the risk of cluing Fred in to his little side business. He had to fear Fred would rekey all the lockers or launch an investigation if he knew what was going on.

  “How come you chose the locker rooms to collect the payments?” Kat asked. “Wouldn’t somewhere off-site be safer?”

  “Nah. This was the safest method available to me. Nobody thinks twice about the maintenance man shutting down the locker room for a few minutes while he tidies up. Nobody notices me much at all. As long as things are running smoothly around here, I’m invisible. I’m the hired help, the guy people take for granted. I’m the guy who creeps along the edges, working in the shadows to make sure everything runs smoothly.”

  Kat flushed. As much as she wanted to protest, his description was accurate. After all, she hadn’t even known Harvey’s name until this morning.

  Harvey looked almost contrite when he eyed her next. “I’m sorry you figured things out.”

  Her heart skipped a beat when water sloshed over the sides of the yellow bucket as Harvey lifted up the mop.

  Without even thinking about it, she dropped into a squat. The wood of the mop handle smashed against the wall, where Kat’s head had been only a split second earlier. Her ear was so close to the impact point that she had no trouble hearing the sickening crack over the song currently playing.

  Adrenaline gushed into Kat’s bloodstream. She redistributed her weight to both her hands and feet, and started scrabbling down the hallway. On her way, she gulped down air, knowing she would have to yell if she hoped for anyone to hear her over the music.

  But the scream that ripped from her throat ended much sooner than she wanted when something hard collided with her shoulder. Stars exploded behind her eyes, and the force of the impact sent her sprawling flat on her face. She lay there for a moment, struggling to push past the pain long enough to gather her bearings.

  Her vision still hadn’t cleared completely when the panic set in. She had seen the determined gleam in Harvey’s eye, and given what he had at stake should Kat escape, she knew he didn’t plan to let her leave the gym alive.

  Acting on pure survival instinct, Kat rolled onto her back. Then she kicked her right foot out, followed by her left. The second time she connected with something—Harvey, she hoped. Encouraged, she lashed out again, running through all the aerobics moves she’d picked up in Mikaela’s Saturday morning classes over the past six weeks. She transitioned between front kicks and V-steps and whatever else she could remember in her panic. Sometimes she made contact, sometimes not. She thought Harvey might have gotten in a few return blows, but the adrenaline flowing through her body had dulled her ability to feel anything. Right now, all that mattered was that she didn’t stop kicking.

  At some point, Harvey stopped fighting back and she recovered her eyesight. She lifted her head high enough to spot him on the floor near her feet. He was curled up in a fetal position, his arms shielding his face. The mop lay on the floor next to him.

  Fearful he might be faking, Kat scooted away before struggling to her feet. Her legs felt wobbly, just as they did after a real aerobics class. Harvey’s mouth moved as if he might be moaning, but she couldn’t hear anything over the music.

  She clutched the wall, using it to guide her around the corner and down the corridor. Her gait was unsteady, but at least she was moving.

  “Kat!” Fred vaulted out of his seat behind the check-in desk, his face creased with concern. “What happened to you?”

  She collapsed onto the counter, the relief she felt at making it to safety draining the last of her strength. “Call the police. Harvey killed Ellie.”

  Fred didn’t hesitate. He grabbed the phone handset and began punching buttons. “I’m on it.”

  “And could you get me an ambulance while you’re at it?”

  She didn’t catch his reply. Her hearing faded right before her world went black.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Imogene crossed Kat’s living room and held out the ice pack she’d fetched from the kitchen. “Here. This should help your shoulder.”

  Kat took it, doing her best not to disturb Matty and Tom. The cats had her sandwiched between them, the three of them stretched out on the longer of Kat’s two couches. Both cats had stayed glued to her side ever since Andrew had driven her home from the hospital the night before. Kat figured they knew something bad had happened. Neither one looked as though they planned to let Kat out of their sight for a very long time.

  Imogene sat down on the sofa opposite them. “How are you feeling today?”

  “Better.” That wasn’t entirely true. After a fitful sleep—during which the hospital’s pain medication had worn off—Kat’s shoulder hurt more than it had the day before. But mentally she was in a much better place now that she knew Harvey was in jail.

  “Diana called to say she had her foster application completed,” Imogene said. “But I think she really wanted to find out how you were doing.”

  “What did you tell her?”

  “That you’re the strongest woman I know and you’ll get through this swimmingly.”

  Kat fussed with the ice pack to hide the blush that stained her cheeks, both pleased and embarrassed by Imogene’s praise. “Well, I seriously doubt I’m the strongest woman y
ou know, but I’m so grateful I never gave in to my urge to quit the gym. Who would have thought those aerobics classes would come in handy one day?”

  Imogene chuckled. “I heard through the grapevine that Fred is already thinking of ways to capitalize on your ordeal. Supposedly he’s going to start up a new women’s self-defense program. He’s organizing a whole recruitment campaign around it. Don’t be surprised if he asks you to be the program’s poster child.”

  “After he came to my rescue, I owe him.” Kat paused. “But I doubt he’ll approach me. Flaunting my escape means reminding people that one of his employees not only murdered one of his clients but blackmailed countless others. That isn’t exactly good publicity.”

  Someone knocked on the door.

  “That’s probably Andrew,” Kat said. “He told me he’d stop by after he wrapped up some things at the station.”

  Imogene stood up and opened the door. But it wasn’t Andrew standing outside, but Diana.

  “Hi, Imogene.” Diana peered past Imogene’s shoulder, offering Kat a small smile. “I hope you don’t mind that I came over.”

  “I gave her your address when we chatted earlier,” Imogene told Kat.

  “It’s fine,” Kat assured them.

  Tom’s tail thumped against the couch when he caught sight of their visitor. Usually he wasn’t one to let a guest through the doorway before wheedling a few pats out of them, but right now even the door seemed to be too far from Kat for his liking. She scratched his ears, touched by his concern.

  Diana held up the box in her hands. “I brought you some doughnuts from that place next to the gym.”

  Kat perked up. “How’d you know I’ve been craving those since yesterday?”

  Diana grinned. “Lucky guess.”

  Kat set the ice pack aside in order to take the box from Diana. Her mouth watered as she flipped the lid open and the delicious smell of deep-fried sugar filled her nostrils. She grabbed a jelly-filled doughnut and stuffed one corner into her mouth.

  “Oh my goodness,” she said, her eyes slipping shut as the sugar shot directly into her bloodstream. “This is heavenly.”

  Someone snatched the box out of her hands. Kat opened her eyes to the sight of Imogene smirking.

  “Surely you didn’t intend to hog the whole dozen,” Imogene said, carrying the box over to the opposite couch. “Besides, the way you were sitting there in a trance, Matty would have had all the glaze licked off the rest of these before you even noticed.”

  Kat laid one hand on Matty’s side, and the tortoiseshell twisted her head around to lick her human’s fingers. Kat wasn’t sure if the gesture was one of affection, or if Matty was merely hunting for doughnut crumbs.

  Imogene slid the box onto the coffee table and selected a chocolate glazed. “These are my favorite.”

  “Are you sure that’s vegan?” Kat asked.

  “Yes. I eat these all the time. I may not go to the gym, but I’m not one to drive by a doughnut store without stopping.” Imogene patted the cushion next to her. “Diana, come have a doughnut.”

  Diana perched next to Imogene but didn’t reach for the box. “I didn’t come over here just to bring doughnuts.”

  Kat stopped chewing. “Oh?”

  Diana looked down at her hands. “I wanted to apologize for not telling you how I got those pills when you asked about them yesterday. If I had come clean, maybe you wouldn’t have been hurt.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Kat said. “And I don’t think knowing about your arrangement with Dr. T would have changed anything.”

  Diana nodded, still staring at her hands. “I should tell you, I’m going to get help to beat my painkiller addiction.”

  Kat swallowed past the lump in her throat. “I’m sure Ellie would have liked that.”

  “She’s a big reason why I’m doing this.” Diana drew in a breath. “I just wish I would have gotten help when she first confronted me.”

  Imogene patted Diana’s leg. “She would be proud of you.”

  Diana flashed her a grateful smile. “I rearranged some of my things at the house. Maybe when Kat’s feeling better you both could come over to do another inspection.”

  “We’d love to,” Imogene said. “And I think I speak for the whole 4F board when I say I doubt we’ll have any trouble approving you this time around.”

  Diana’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

  “Yup. In fact, Kat and I discussed the matter, and we’re both confident you would make an excellent foster mother.”

  “I’m so excited,” Diana squealed, bouncing in her seat. “I’ve never had a cat, but I’ve always been drawn to them.”

  Kat ruffled Matty’s fur. “It’s hard not to love them, as cute as they are.”

  Matty rose to her feet and jumped to the floor. Kat grimaced when the tortoiseshell stretched her neck out low to the ground and emitted a cross between a wheeze and a cough.

  Diana frowned. “Is she okay?”

  “She’s fine,” Kat said, knowing what was coming next.

  They didn’t have to wait ten seconds before Matty extended her tongue as far as it would go and deposited a hairball on the carpet.

  Diana drew back against the couch. “Eww.”

  Kat offered Diana a rueful smile. “Like I said, they’re cute—most of the time.”

  Imogene plucked a handful of tissues from the box on the coffee table and pressed them into Diana’s hand. “Tell you what, you clean that up, and we’ll approve you to foster without another home inspection.”

  “Really?”

  “Really. In fact, if you do a good enough job, you can follow me back to my house and pick up Thunder as soon as I finish off this doughnut.”

  Diana eyed the hairball as if weighing whether the trade-off was worth it. Kat had to stifle a laugh at the horrified expression on her face.

  After a minute, Diana seemed to make her decision. She stood up and approached the hairball. When she knelt down to take a swipe at the carpet, Matty rejoined Kat on the couch. The tortoiseshell made sure she had a good view of her latest creation before getting comfortable. Knowing Matty, she was probably getting a kick out of watching their guest clean up her mess.

  “Your knee seems better,” Kat commented.

  “Yeah, it doesn’t hurt at all anymore, and I haven’t even taken a pain pill this morning.”

  “That’s great.”

  “I might need one after this though.” Diana looked a little green as she lifted up the tissue-encased hairball. “This is disgusting.”

  “You’d better get used to it,” Imogene said. “Cats have a tendency to spit those up wherever and whenever they please.”

  Diana’s lips puckered. “And it’s still worth it to have them around?”

  Kat smiled down at Matty and Tom. “Having cats is kind of like keeping up with aerobics classes or beating a substance addiction. Sometimes it can be painful, but the rewards are immeasurable.” She tipped her doughnut in Diana’s direction. “And that makes it all worthwhile.”

  NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

  Thank you for visiting Cherry Hills, home of Kat, Matty, and Tom! If you enjoyed their story, please consider leaving a book review on your favorite online retailer and/or review site. Also join my readers’ group so you’ll be one of the first to know when their next adventure is published.

  Please keep reading for an excerpt from Book Seventeen of the Cozy Cat Caper Mystery series, Orphaned in Cherry Hills. Thank you!

  ORPHANED IN CHERRY HILLS

  “You want me to what?” Katherine Harper said, sure she had misunderstood.

  “I’d like you to mentor this girl,” Willow Wu repeated.

  So she had heard right the first time. “But why?”

  “Because I think you have the potential to reach her in ways that I and her other teachers can’t.”

  Kat glanced at Matty and Tom, her two cats, as they sat face-to-face in the center of the living room. Matty had been in the middle of grooming Tom’s head, but no
w she paused to crook one eye in Kat’s direction. The yellow-and-brown tortoiseshell seemed just as skeptical of her human’s mentoring abilities as Kat herself.

  Willow leaned forward, her chin-length, black hair framing her Asian features. “Julie is headed in a bad direction,” she said. “The kids she’s chosen to hang around with, they’re not the best influences. I’m afraid if somebody doesn’t help to set her straight soon, she’ll eventually be too far gone to reach.”

  “But why me?” Kat asked. “I’m not really the mentoring type.”

  “Have you ever mentored anybody?”

  “No.” Kat sat up straighter. “But that just proves my point. I wouldn’t have a clue what I was doing. And I haven’t been in high school for fifteen years. I’m sure I’ve forgotten everything I learned back then.”

  “She needs a mentor, not a tutor.”

  “What’s the difference?”

  “A tutor helps with school curriculum. A mentor helps with forging a path to a bright future.”

  “Forging a path to a bright future?” Kat barked out a laugh. “I don’t know anything about that.”

  “Sure you do. You put yourself through college, then set out to build a career doing what you love, didn’t you?”

  Kat frowned. Put that way, she sounded much more competent than she felt.

  The cats interrupted the conversation when Tom pounced on Matty, sending them both rolling over Willow’s feet. When they stopped tumbling, Tom pinned Matty to the floor and clamped his jaws around her neck. Matty retaliated by grabbing his head so she could kick his chin using both of her hind feet. She didn’t hold back, and the resigned look on Tom’s face as he braced himself for the beating sent a bubble of laughter floating up Kat’s chest.

  Sometimes Kat wondered if the felines thought it was their duty to entertain apartment visitors. Before Willow showed up, they had both been sound asleep.