When Susie had written, “Get rid of deeds,” on her yellow pad, she had meant to get rid of Travis Deeds, not to get rid of the deeds. But why did Susie want to do that? What had Travis Deeds done? That was the question. Bernie thought about it as she went through the rest of the pile of papers on the table. Just more flyers, unpaid and unopened bills, car magazines, old pizza boxes, and used paper plates. Basically, nothing of interest.
When she was done, Bernie snapped a picture of the label on the auto parts store flyer and sent it off to Libby. Then she walked over to the desk in the living room. There was a laptop sitting on it. She tried opening it, but it was password protected—not a big surprise—and after a few minutes of futzing around, Bernie abandoned the effort and started opening the desk drawers.
The left-hand drawer was full of computer cables, while the drawer in the middle held a couple of reams of computer paper, and the right-hand drawer held a folder labeled PETTY CASH AND ORDERS. Bernie remembered seeing it sitting on Susie’s desk. It was bright pink, with a picture of Grumpy Cat on it. Hard to forget.
Bernie wondered what the folder was doing in Travis’s desk as she opened it and started reading. The folder, as stated on the label, contained lists of household expenses, receipts for said items, and notations stating when Travis had been reimbursed for his expenses.
Nothing unusual in that, except that Susie had questioned half the expenses. Her comments ranged from See me to Where’s the receipt? to You have to pay more attention to Pennies count to See me immediately! The last comment referred to a lawn mower purchase. Susie had written a further notation, as well. Two? Double billing? Did you think I wouldn’t notice?
Okay, Bernie thought as she clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. What do we have here? Given the folder’s contents, she could only surmise that Susie believed that Travis had gone from carelessness to pilfering petty cash. When she looked at the receipts again, she noticed the date on Susie’s comment about the lawn mower. It was the day before the wedding. So, had Susie confronted Travis about it? Had she threatened to have him arrested if he didn’t pay her back the money? Knowing Susie, that seemed like a likely possibility.
And then what happened? Bernie came up with two scenarios. In either case, Travis had spent the night stewing about it. Then one of two things had happened: either he’d decided to get the receipt back, so he snuck into the house the following day, Susie caught him rifling through her desk, and Travis panicked and stabbed her; or Travis had decided to talk to Susie and they got into a fight and he stabbed her, at which point he panicked, fled the scene, and took the folder with him.
Either way, the results were the same. Travis had killed Susie. And then there was Ralph. Had he really seen Susie being killed? Was he blackmailing Travis, like Ricky had said he was? And if that was the case, did Travis have the money for a payoff, or was he just stringing Ralph along? Had Ralph finally realized that and confronted Travis?
Bernie decided she really had to get hold of Ralph. He was the key. She’d just decided to call Grace and see if Ralph had gone back to the house when she heard the front door open. She turned as Travis stepped into the room.
Chapter 44
“Oh, hi, Travis,” Bernie said, trying for casual as she pushed the folder closer to the laptop. “This is quite the place you have here.”
“Really?” Travis said as he moved across the floor, the door slamming shut behind him, while his eyes went from Bernie’s face to her hand and back again.
Bernie took a step away from the desk. “I was looking for Ralph. Grace said he was here, but I guess she was wrong.” Bernie gave Travis her brightest smile. “The door was unlocked, so I hope you don’t mind that I popped in.” She nodded toward it. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen Ralph?”
Travis folded his arms across his chest. “No, I haven’t.” But Bernie noticed Travis’s eyes strayed to the staircase at her mention of Ralph. It was just a momentary glance, but it was enough.
“Mice,” Travis explained as the scrabbling grew more insistent.
That’s Ralph up there, Bernie thought as she swallowed, and then she told herself to stay cool. She had to get out of here and get help. “That’s what I figured,” she told Travis, trying for nonchalance. “If you see Ralph, tell him I’m looking for him.” But she couldn’t help herself; like Travis, she glanced upstairs at the mention of Ralph’s name. Super. She shook her head. She could tell from the expression on Travis’s face that he knew that she knew. So much for plan A.
“What do you want to talk to Ralph for, anyway?” Travis asked.
“Just cat stuff,” Bernie replied, heading toward the door.
Travis moved in front of her. “I don’t believe you,” he said.
Bernie shrugged. “Have it your way, but it’s the truth.”
“Why were you looking through my stuff?” Travis demanded as he grabbed Bernie’s wrist. “Did you think Ralph was in one of my desk drawers?”
“Ha. Ha. I wasn’t looking.”
Travis stuck his face in Bernie’s. “So how did that folder get from the drawer to the desktop?”
“Levitation?”
Travis twisted Bernie’s wrist. “Wrong answer.”
“Ouch.” Bernie tried to pull away, but she couldn’t. Travis was too strong. His grip around her wrist was like a vise. Then he grabbed Bernie’s other wrist with his left hand, spun her around, pulled both wrists behind her, and bent her arms up, forcing her to lean forward.
“What have you done with Ralph?” Bernie asked through gritted teeth. There was no point in pretending now.
Travis didn’t say anything. Instead, he yanked Bernie’s arms farther up, putting pressure on her shoulders.
“He was blackmailing you, wasn’t he?” she managed to get out. Talking was distracting her from the pain. “But then he must have found out you don’t have any money. What did he do? Threaten to go to the police? Did he see you kill Susie, or did he figure it out later, when he came across the folder? Did he bring the folder here? Did he tell you he was going to take it to the cops?”
“You just don’t shut up, do you?” Travis said as he dragged Bernie toward one of the chairs by the dining-room table.
“Will you let me go if I do?”
“Funny lady,” Travis said. The sound of a door slamming and someone moaning took Travis’s attention off Bernie for a moment.
He turned to look. Then he cursed under his breath. Bernie looked, too. It was Ralph. He was staggering down the stairs. He was holding his side, and blood was leaking out from between his fingers. He took half a dozen steps and collapsed on the floor.
Momentarily distracted, Travis’s grip on Bernie loosened. Bernie decided it was now or never. She brought her foot back and stamped down on Travis’s instep with her high heel with as much force as she could muster. He screamed and let go of her. Bernie ran for the front door.
If she could reach the van, she’d have a chance. She was turning the doorknob when she felt Travis’s hand on her shoulder. He yanked her back, spun her around, and punched her in the face. She saw stars. Literally.
I thought that was a metaphor, Bernie later remembered thinking before everything went black. She came to a couple of minutes later. The first thing she was aware of was the throbbing in her jaw. The second thing she was aware of was that she couldn’t move her hands or feet. She looked down. They were zip-tied to a chair. She heard groaning and looked over. It was Ralph. He was lying on the floor, so weakened by blood loss that all he could do was groan. Then she looked up. Travis was pacing back and forth. Finally, he stopped and came over to her.
“You want to know why I killed Susie?” he asked.
“Why not?” Bernie said, reflecting on the irony of the situation. Indeed, timing was everything. Three hours ago, she would have been delighted to find out the particulars of Susie’s death, but now, not so much. First rule of detecting: never hear a confession when you can’t get away from the killer who’s making it
.
“Susie was going to fire me.”
“That’s because you stole from her,” Bernie couldn’t help herself from saying.
“So what?” Travis’s voice rose in indignation. “With all the money she had, she could have paid me a living wage. But she wouldn’t. She was too cheap. Everything went to those damned cats.”
“You could have gotten another job,” Bernie pointed out.
“I didn’t want another job. I like it here. I didn’t even take that much. Just a little here and there. Enough to take Grace out to a nice dinner once in a while.” He paused for a moment before going on. “I knew I shouldn’t have tried that thing with the lawn mower, but what could I do? My car needed work.”
“And a guy can’t be without a vehicle,” Bernie observed.
“Exactly,” Travis agreed. “Susie could have bought me an Infiniti if she wanted to. I just got so mad.”
“Of course you did,” Bernie told him, trying a different tactic. “Anyone would have in your position. Here was this wedding going on for cats, a wedding Susie was spending thousands and thousands on, and all you wanted was enough money to fix your ride.”
“That’s right.” Bernie could hear Travis’s voice softening. “One of those cat collars would have taken care of me and . . .” Travis stopped.
“Marie,” Bernie said, remembering she’d seen Travis coming out of her house. “It wasn’t only about the money. It was about Marie, too, wasn’t it?”
“So, what if it was?” Travis said. “Susie was wrecking Marie’s life, just like she was wrecking mine and Grace’s. I was doing everyone a favor. Susie got what she deserved.”
“Yes, she did,” Bernie agreed.
“She was a bitch,” Travis said.
“Undoubtedly. You didn’t mean to kill Susie. You just lost it. Anyone would have in your position. I’m sure the DA will charge you with manslaughter,” Bernie lied. “Maybe you’ll get house arrest. But not if you don’t prove your good intentions by letting us go. Ralph needs to get to a hospital.”
Travis set his jaw and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not spending my life in jail.”
“You won’t, not if Ralph is still alive. You’re not a murderer,” Bernie told him, despite the evidence to the contrary.
Travis chuckled. The sound sent shivers down Bernie’s spine. “You know,” he told her, “that’s what I would have said before I killed Susie, but it turned out I was wrong.”
“My sister knows where I am,” Bernie countered.
“That’s nice,” Travis said. “When she gets here, she’ll be able to collect what’s left of you.”
As Bernie watched, Travis went over to the stove and turned on the gas burners. Then he took her cell phone out of her tote and placed it on the counter next to the stove. “When I’m far enough away from the house, I’m going to call you and poof.” He sketched a cloud in the air with his hands. “It will be a tragic accident.” As Travis headed toward the front door, he detoured to kick Ralph in the ribs. “That’s for trying to blackmail me, you son of a bitch.”
Ralph groaned.
“Hang on, Ralph,” Bernie told him after Travis left. “I’m going to try to get us out of here.”
“Sooner would be better than later,” Ralph observed as the room spun in front of his eyes.
Looking around, Bernie spotted a kitchen knife on the table next to her. The knife was near the edge. If she could jiggle the table, maybe she could get the knife to fall off. Or, better still, to fall in her lap. Then all she’d have to do was somehow use the knife to cut one of the zip ties. Piece of cake. But first she had to get the knife off the table. Okay, it was a long shot, but it was better than sitting here waiting to asphyxiate. Of course, they could always blow up, but asphyxiating was the more likely possibility.
“Hurry up,” Ralph urged. He began to cough. “I’m having trouble breathing,” he managed to get out before he succumbed to the coughing fit.
“The joys of a well-insulated building,” Bernie noted as she began rocking in the chair to get it nearer to the table. The motion moved the chair only slightly. She had to get the chair close enough to move the slab of wood that was the tabletop and knock the knife down. She’d have to do better than she was doing. She’d have to get more motion going. She rocked the chair harder. Nothing. Then she rocked it even harder.
But she misjudged and moved too far forward and tipped over. Now she was on the floor, attached to the chair, with her behind pointing toward the ceiling. This was not what she had planned. Very dignified! She was trying to figure out how to get on her side when the front door flew open.
“It certainly took you long enough,” Bernie told Libby as she and Grace raced in.
Chapter 45
So, her gut had been right, after all, Libby thought as she saw her sister lying on the floor, with her butt pointed to the ceiling.
At first Libby had been annoyed; then she’d been worried and annoyed as lunchtime approached and Bernie still hadn’t shown up or called or answered Libby’s texts. But then Libby had reasoned that maybe her sister had forgotten to charge her phone battery, or she’d met someone at Costco and stopped to chat, or she was somewhere with no phone reception. There were still a few no-reception places left in Longely. Libby had told herself she shouldn’t be such a worrywart, she’d told herself she was overdramatizing, she’d told herself there was a reasonable explanation, but she hadn’t been able to shake off the niggling kernel of worry in her gut.
She’d been trying to decide what to do when Marvin walked into the shop for a chat, a cup of coffee, and a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich.
“I’m sure she’s fine, but let’s look,” Marvin had suggested to Libby after she’d confided her fears to him.
“Yeah,” Amber had said as she filled up the coffee grinder with French roast. “Go look. We’ve got everything covered.”
Libby remembered glancing around and concluding that Amber was correct, that everything was under control, before taking Marvin up on his offer. Thank heaven she had, she reflected as she caught sight of the knobs on the stove turned to high. She didn’t want to consider what would have happened if she were still back at the shop.
Even now, thinking about the ten minutes she and Marvin had spent driving around before they got here gave her the chills. She’d known Bernie had a list of errands, but what she hadn’t known was what order she’d done them in, so she and Marvin had started with the places that were closest. The Connor estate was their last stop.
They’d just reached the house when Grace stepped outside and flagged them down.
“Are you looking for Bernie?” she’d asked.
“Funny you should say that,” Libby had replied, “because that’s what I was going to ask you. Is she here?”
“She went to talk to Ralph up at the lodge, but I didn’t see her come back down. I just texted her, but she hasn’t answered.”
The niggle of doubt Libby had been feeling turned into a full-fledged feeling of panic. Marvin and Libby exchanged looks.
“Something isn’t right,” Grace added, not that she needed to.
“No kidding,” Libby said. Then she told Grace to get in the car. They needed to find out what was going on.
“Let’s go,” Grace replied after she opened the car door and jumped into the backseat. Then she leaned over and directed Marvin to the lodge.
On the way there, they passed a run-down tennis court, a gazebo that had seen better days, and a couple of utility sheds that looked as if they were ready to collapse.
“I guess this is the side of the estate no one sees,” Libby commented.
Grace nodded. “Susie said she didn’t play tennis or sit outside, so why bother to repair the court or the gazebo? There was enough for Travis to take care of as it was. Which is true. Anyway, she preferred to spend her money on her cats.”
Libby was about to answer, when she spotted Travis hurriedly walking toward them. He’d obviously just come
out of the lodge. “Look,” she said, pointing to him.
“I bet he’s going to the utility shed,” Grace said, guessing. “That’s where he keeps his car.”
But Grace was wrong. When he spotted Marvin’s car, he stood there for a minute, a look of panic on his face. Then he took off running toward the apple trees.
“That can’t be good,” Libby observed.
“No. It certainly is not,” Marvin agreed, jamming on the brakes and bringing his car to a dead stop in the middle of the road. He got out of the car. “Don’t worry,” he called over his shoulder. “I’ll get Travis. You see about Bernie.”
“And Ralph,” Grace added as Marvin took off after Travis. “I bet he’s in there, too.”
Libby nodded as she and Grace jumped out of the car.
“Oh, my God,” Grace cried as they got close to the lodge. “I think I smell gas.”
Libby sniffed. The odor was faint but unmistakable. And the closer she got, the stronger the smell became. When she got to the lodge, she took a deep breath and opened the door. The fumes rushed out as she and Grace rushed in. Grace headed for her brother, while Libby turned off the gas and opened all the windows before going over to her sister’s side.
“Nice position. You look like a snail,” she couldn’t help telling Bernie as she squatted down next to her.
“I’m glad you like it,” Bernie snapped. “Now, get me out.”
“You’re lucky you didn’t die,” Libby said, and then she became serious as she turned toward Ralph. “How bad is he?” she asked Grace.
“I think he looks worse than he is,” Grace responded. “But we have to get him outside.”
“We all have to get outside,” Libby said as she picked up the knife that was on the table, the knife Bernie had tried to get, and cut the zip ties away from Bernie’s wrists and ankles.
A Catered Cat Wedding Page 26