Fat Cat Takes the Cake

by Janet Cantrell

  “I suggested he consider all the stalking victims, not just me. I told him there was a code for the book, so he thinks I’m withholding evidence. He wouldn’t believe that we figured out the code. He thinks I have more evidence somewhere. My hearing is next Friday. Gerrold managed to put it off until then by insisting on a judge who is out of town right now. That’s when I’ll plead not guilty. I’m so glad I don’t have to sit in jail until then.”

  “Friday. This is Saturday. We have five whole days to find out who killed Ron North.”

  Chase nearly hung up before she remembered why she had called Julie in the first place. Finding Ron North’s killer seemed more urgent, but visiting poor Dillon was a good deed she felt she should do. If she wasn’t actually in a coma, she would appreciate a report on the reunion. Julie agreed.

  “Let’s go after I get off work on Monday. I’m going to have to go in Sunday to do all the stuff I was supposed to be catching up on today.”

  “I’ll get some flowers and a card, since I’m not working Monday,” Chase offered.

  “Deal. I’ll pick you up on my way.”

  “We probably shouldn’t mention the murder unless she’s already heard about it.”

  Chase couldn’t sit still after the call. Julie had actually been charged with the crime! She wished she had asked Julie whether or not she was going to call Anna. Anna had to be told. Chase waited ten minutes, checking the clock every fifteen to twenty seconds, then called Anna.

  “I just got off the phone with her,” Anna said. “This can’t be happening. It really can’t. Julie did not kill that man. Why would they think that?”

  Chase had no desire to go into the particulars on the phone. “Julie didn’t tell you?”

  “Not really. She only said that her scarf was there but I knew that already.”

  “He was strangled with it. But Ron took it from her earlier.”

  “There you go. She didn’t do it.”

  Chase agreed, but would that be enough for a judge? Chase doubted it. “There’s something else. The detective thinks Julie has evidence she’s withholding from him. I neglected to tell anyone we made copies of Ron’s notebook and have been trying to decipher his codes. We do think we’ve decoded some of it, but we don’t have anything more than the notebook itself.”

  “That doesn’t seem too awful. I would have made copies.”

  Chase could have kissed her if they hadn’t been on the phone. Even through her cell phone, though, she could hear the shakiness in Anna’s voice and could imagine the concern in her bright blue eyes.

  After she hung up, she felt like she was jumping out of her prickly skin. She couldn’t stay this way until Julie’s hearing. She gazed out at the roads. A snowplow rumbled by, scooping the snow to one side and half burying any hapless cars parked at the curbs. She felt like she had to move, had to get out of her apartment. It was so odd to have the shop closed on a Saturday afternoon. If the weather were better, she would take Quincy out for some leash training. He wouldn’t appreciate getting his paws soaked, though. She decided instead to take herself for a walk to try to calm her nerves.

  She had everything on—boots, scarf, coat, her old gloves—had gone down the stairs, and was opening the door when her cell phone rang. She stepped back inside to answer it.

  “Is everything all right over there?” Mike asked.

  “Yes. We closed the shop because I was afraid no one could get home if we stayed open until six.”

  “You have power? I lost mine at the clinic.”

  She poked her head into the kitchen. The clock lights glowed on the stove and microwave, one showing four thirty-five, the other showing four thirty-eight. She and Anna never managed to get all the clocks in sync. “We’re okay here.”

  “Can I bring some things over? My power has been out all day and I need to keep the insulin refrigerated overnight. My neighbor says power is out at the condo, too. I’m boarding two diabetic cats at the clinic this weekend. It’s not supposed to get extremely cold, so I think the cats will be all right. The insulin will be okay for a short time, but I don’t want it to get too warm or too cold. I loaned my generator to a friend for the weekend. Bad timing.”

  “Sure.” She knew those tiny vials wouldn’t take up much room. “When are you coming?”

  “I’ve canceled everyone but the next appointment, so in about an hour?”

  That would be plenty of time for a brisk walk to clear her head of her dark fears for Julie. She would tell Mike about her arrest when he got here. With a smile on her face at the thought of being comforted by Mike, she shuffled her boots through the parking lot to the cleared street. The snow had slowed to a light dusting that collected on her shoulders.

  She had gone only a few blocks when her cell rang again. It was Eddie.

  “Hey, it’s a beautiful day,” he said, his voice a little too loud in her ear.

  “For sled dogs. Did you lose power?”

  “Heck no. I’m in a strip mall. They’re not gonna lose power. Speaking of power, wanna go on a power walk with me? I like to walk whenever I can. The gym’s fine for bad weather, but there’s nothing like fresh air.”

  Power walking with Eddie was about the last thing on earth she wanted to do. She thought quickly. “I’d like that, but—”

  “I’ll be right over.”

  “No, I can’t. Eddie?” He was gone. She had planned to say she would like to, but she couldn’t. Because, well, maybe because she had just gone for a walk.

  She tried to call Eddie back, but he didn’t answer. Great. Just great. She’d have to get rid of him before Mike came over. She had thought the last thing she wanted to do was go on a power walk with Eddie, but now she’d changed her mind. The last thing she wanted to do was to have both Mike and Eddie in the same spot at the same time.

  SEVENTEEN

  She hurried toward home, hoping she could intercept Eddie and send him on his way quickly. He was too fast for her. His bright yellow Smart car was idling outside the door, the exhaust plumes swirling in a mad dance with the lazy snowflakes. For a moment she contemplated turning around and disappearing until he left. As she was formulating the thought, the car door opened. He’d spotted her.

  “Hey, Chase! You started without me?”

  She waded through the deep accumulation as fast as she could, out of breath by the time she got to him. “I tried to tell you,” she said between pants. “I’ve already walked today. You hung up too quick.”

  “Aw, gee, that’s too bad. Why don’t we go over to my shop for a drink?”

  She suppressed a shudder at the vision of a glass of green, viscous goo. “I can’t. Really. I have too much to do.”

  “No problem. I’ll call earlier in the day next time. You gonna be open tomorrow? Maybe we could meet up then.”

  “We should be open. The roads are being plowed and the snow is stopping.”

  “I gotta be getting back anyway. It’s been busy today.”

  With all this snow? Maybe his roads had been plowed earlier than hers. She breathed out a sigh of relief as he ducked to tuck himself into his tiny car. Then he straightened up.

  “I forgot. I was gonna tell you that Monique Byrd came into the shop today. That woman is crazy.”

  “How so?” She talked a lot and stuck with Dickie, which made her halfway crazy already as far as Chase was concerned.

  “She has a weird thing about not touching people. She won’t let anyone touch her skin.”

  Chase remembered that from high school, but it had seemed worse the few times she’d seen her lately. “She has a germ phobia.”

  “And that means she’s crazy in my book. Normal people don’t mind touching each other.”

  He put his ungloved hand on her cheek. Startled, Chase pulled away. The gesture seemed too intimate. She did get giddy in his presence, but there was all that emphasis on he
alth food and he didn’t seem to like Quincy very much.

  “Different people have different obsessions,” she said. Some are obsessed with quinoa sprouts. “Look, I have to get going.” She resisted glancing at the time on her phone.

  “Sure.” He shrugged and got into his car again. “See you around.”

  Was that a brush-off? After his car disappeared, she lifted her hand and felt her cheek, tingling and warm where his hand had been.

  She was still standing with her ratty glove to her face when Mike’s extended-cab pickup came around the corner. He pulled up to where she was standing—after she had whipped her hand down to her side.

  “Are you waiting out here to meet me?” His grin, with his raised eyebrows, was curious.

  “I’m returning from a walk.”

  “In this weather?”

  “What can I say? I love shuffling through the snow.”

  He got out of the truck holding a plastic bag. “You love shuffling through leaves, too. Is it shuffling you like? You’ll make a great old person.”

  She had to laugh. “Do you know anything about your power?”

  “The phone message says there’s a major failure in the western suburbs that includes the Minnetonka Mills area. They didn’t promise it will be on any sooner than tomorrow when I called the recording. The condo might get power earlier. They’re not saying. It’s so close to here, you’re lucky yours didn’t go out.”

  Chase led the way inside. She paused halfway across the kitchen floor when she heard voices out front. No one should be there now. The shop was closed and everyone had left.

  “I thought you had closed,” Mike said, echoing her thoughts.

  She held a finger to her lips to shush him so she could listen before she went out there.

  “I could get you disqualified, you know.” That was Grace Pilsen, she was sure, her voice dripping with vitriol. How did she get inside the Bar None? “You’ll get thrown out of the Minny Batter Battle.”

  “You just now said this isn’t the recipe you’re using.” Anna was here! And she was angry.

  Chase motioned for Mike to follow. He stuck his bag into the fridge first. Together, they pushed through the swinging doors.

  Anna and Grace were standing at the front door. Grace waved a piece of familiar-looking paper in Anna’s face, but Anna stood her ground, her arms folded and her chin out.

  “What’s going on?” Chase asked.

  When Grace whirled toward her, the venom she shot at Chase was so virulent that Chase was very glad Mike was beside her.

  “I suppose you helped her steal my recipe.”

  Chase shrank away involuntarily. As Chase feared, she held the copy that Patrice had made.

  “I had nothing to do with taking that,” Chase said. “And neither did Anna.” She felt her own anger rising. Who did this woman think she was, attacking Anna that way?

  “I don’t believe that for a minute,” Grace said with a sneer. She gave a mighty sneeze and Chase noticed how red her nose was. “How did this get into the bag of dessert bars my assistant bought here Thursday?”

  How did it? Chase frowned, trying to puzzle it out. She had put it into the pocket of her smock. Then she had gone out front to work. “What does your assistant look like?”

  “What does that matter?” Grace took a threatening step toward Chase. She sneezed again, this time in Chase’s face.

  Chase could feel Mike close behind her. “I’m trying to figure this out. It was in my pocket. Do you have a cold? Would you like a tissue?” She felt like washing her face immediately, but that wasn’t possible.

  “What’s important is how did you get it?” Grace’s red nose was almost touching Chase’s. It was raw, probably from wiping.

  “A well-meaning person thought we would like to see the recipe,” Chase said, taking a step away from Grace’s germs. She wasn’t going to drag Patrice into Grace’s sights. “That person brought it to me. I scolded her for doing it and never showed it to Anna. If you’ve shown it to her, that’s the first she’s seen of it.”

  Grace squinted at Chase, probably not buying any of her story. Mike stepped up beside Chase.

  “Wait a minute,” Chase added. “Didn’t everyone have to turn in their recipes already? A week ago, wasn’t it?”

  Grace nodded.

  Anna gave Chase an appreciative smile. “I see what you’re saying,” she said.

  “It doesn’t make one bit of difference who knows what now,” Chase went on. “The ingredients are finalized. You can’t make any changes now.”

  “If you want me to,” Anna said with a smug grin, “I’ll show you my recipe.”

  “I could easily deconstruct all your recipes from our samples. They’re not very complicated.” Grace gave a huff and stalked out the front door. She climbed into her car, which sat at the curb. Anna’s blue Volvo was parked behind it.

  “What just happened?” Chase asked. “What are you doing here and what was she doing here?”

  “I forgot to bring home Inger’s smock. I told her I’d make the ties longer to accommodate her baby bump as it grows. When I got here, I saw that Grace Pilsen’s car out front and—big mistake—let her in when she followed me to the front door.”

  “Maybe she didn’t know we closed today for the snow,” Chase said.

  “No, she thought we were open. She waltzed in right behind me.”

  “You have a sign on the door,” Mike pointed out. “It says you’re closed.”

  “Who knows what goes on in that woman’s mind?” Anna picked up Inger’s smock, which was sitting on one of the round display tables where she had set it when she opened the door. She stuffed it into her purse and headed out. “I’ll see you later, Charity,” she called with a wave.

  Mike shook his head. “What was that all about?”

  “Besides being exposed to a nasty cold? I can’t figure out how her assistant got the recipe. It had to have made its way into a bag of dessert bars somehow.”

  “Why was she—or he—here buying your products?”

  “Probably wanted to see how good they are. I don’t think Grace has ever had anything from our place.” Chase leaned against the glass case. It was empty and the lights were off, the glass polished, waiting for the shop to reopen on Monday. “I must have fished something out of my pocket, a pencil or even a tissue, and didn’t notice that the recipe copy came out of my pocket. I’ll have to ask Mallory and Inger if they remember anything about it.”

  At least Mike didn’t ask any more questions. She didn’t want to tell him his cousin was pilfering for her and Anna.

  EIGHTEEN

  If Chase had to be shut up somewhere during a snowstorm, inside her own apartment, cuddling with Dr. Michael Ramos, was a good place to be. He had obviously planned his foray to her refrigerator, because he dashed out to his car before he came upstairs and returned with a naturally chilled bottle of burgundy.

  The two of them, joined by a purring tabby cat, watched the snow fall from her leather couch, wrapped in an afghan Anna had made for her last Christmas, as they sipped the dark, ruby goodness and munched on a few toffee dessert bars. The snow had picked up again and was now thicker and faster than ever.

  After the snowplows made a second trip down Chase’s street, Mike thought he’d better get going before the streets filled up with snow again. “I’d love to stay much longer, but I should leave now.” He gazed into her face for a long moment. She searched his eyes, wondering how deep his feelings for her went. She thought she saw flickers of love, but wasn’t sure.

  “You won’t have any trouble with that big truck, will you?” Chase asked.

  “Probably not, but this isn’t going to let up anytime soon.”

  She had to agree with that. It was on the tip of her tongue to suggest he stay the night, but he gave her a peck on the cheek and left before she
could form the right phrase in her mind. How do you ask that, she wondered. Everything she thought of sounded wrong: Wanna stay over? Would you like to stay here? Are you sure you want to leave?

  Back on the couch, she was left with a cozy, warm glow. Part of it was the wine, but part was from the warmth of a big, strong man, whose arm had been around her for an hour. The only part that bothered her was the chaste peck he gave her when he left. It wasn’t a kiss, a real kiss. Was he pulling away from her? Was he interested in someone else?

  She wandered downstairs to work on the billing for the shop, since she had all this extra time. Switching on her monitor, she breathed a sigh of relief that it was working. At least she hadn’t lost power. Quincy padded after her and curled up on the floor beside her.

  This was where they were supposed to be now. The cat was content. He had been puzzled when everyone left the shop in the middle of the day. He was disappointed now that there were no baking smells coming from the kitchen. None of the women who slipped him tidbits were around. He missed them. This one, although she made delicious treats and din dins, never let loose with extras between scheduled meals and treats. She was rigid that way. He had enjoyed nestling with her and his vet upstairs, but it felt normal to be here in the office. He checked under the desk. The paper and his other treasures were where he had left them. He was too warm and comfy to make the effort of batting at any of them. Maybe some other time.

  Julie called when Chase was in the middle of paying some vendors online. What did businesses ever do before computers and the Internet?

  “Have they plowed your street?” Julie asked.

  “Twice. They don’t usually do that.”

  “It’s almost stopped snowing here.”

  “It keeps starting and stopping. Have you seen the weather forecast?” Chase clicked over to the weather site as she said it.

  “This should be the end of it,” she said. “I talked to Anna. She said you closed up early. What’ve you been doing?”

  Julie was trying to sound casual, so Chase chuckled.