The Telltale Turtle (The Pet Psychic Mysteries)

by Jim Lavene;Joyce Lavene

Charlie didn't complain, even when she locked the door behind him. "I was hoping you'd had a change of heart. I didn't realize you'd changed this much."

  "I haven't changed anything," she told him briskly. "I need your help."

  Charlie studied the young man on the floor. "You like them young, huh?"

  She smirked. "I wouldn't need your help to get him off the floor if that were the case. Could you help me and save the smart remarks for later? I might have a client for you"

  "This guy?" He picked Colin up without her help and put him on the sofa. "He really needs a bath."

  She was surprised and a little thrilled watching him. Charlie was obviously one of those strong, wiry types like her third late husband had been. They could be deceptively strong.

  Baylor cautioned her about getting involved with anyone just because he could pick up a human as scrawny as Colin. If he could catch a mouse, that would be a different story.

  "This is Colin," she explained to Charlie. "Ferndelle Jamison's nephew."

  "Thanks, but no thanks. The Wilmington police and I have an agreement about open cases. They leave me alone to do what I do and I don't mess with their problems. What's he doing here anyway?"

  Mary Catherine explained about the threat to Colin's life and his inheritance. "He might've been set up by this Cousin Bob to take the fall for the deaths in his family so Bob can inherit everything."

  "Then why would Bob bother threatening him?" Charlie sat down at the kitchen table as he took in everything around the room. "If Colin goes to prison, it would all go to Bob anyway."

  She considered what he'd said. "Maybe he doesn't want to wait. Or maybe he's afraid the police will find Ferndelle's real killer and Colin would inherit everything anyway."

  "Got any coffee?" Charlie sat back in his chair. "What's your connection to Colin? I know you aren't letting him stay here because you work with him."

  "He needed someplace to go. Danny found him wandering around the radio station. I thought he'd be safe here," Mary Catherine said as she poured a cup of tea for Charlie.

  "So he's a puppy who needs shelter." He nodded. "I get it now."

  "I don't think he's a puppy and you don't have to sound so disparaging. What's so terrible about wanting to help people?"

  Colin moaned and Mary Catherine went to him, not noticing as Charlie used his camera phone to take pictures of the room. She wet a washcloth and used it to clean Colin's dirty face. He needed a good dunk in a tub, but that was going to have to wait.

  "You can't be right," Colin said. "Charlene can't be involved."

  "He knows Charlene Tate?" Charlie put away his phone and paid attention to the conversation.

  "Who's he?" Colin struggled to sit up. "Is he a cop?"

  "Man, you never lose the look." Charlie went to shake Colin's hand. "I used to be the police. Now I work for myself. Charlie Dowd. Are you by any chance sleeping with Charlene Tate?"

  Colin looked up at the older, larger man and passed out again.

  "Do you look like Charlene's husband by any chance?" Mary Catherine guessed.

  Charlie waited around for Colin to wake up. He drank some chamomile tea, but Mary Catherine could see he didn't enjoy it. "How well do you know Colin?" he asked.

  "I've worked with him for the last two years." She shrugged. "I guess I know him as well as you can know someone you work with."

  "Which means he could've killed his aunt and his parents and you wouldn't know the difference."

  "I suppose that's true. Do you know something about him that would make you think he could kill someone?"

  "Not really. At this point, I'm just fishing. He's obviously the man I've been looking for. Funny, I wouldn't have taken him to be Charlene's lover. Tom Wilson at the spa, I could see him. But this guy. What does a woman see in someone like this?"

  "My second husband was very sensitive, like Colin. He was a wonderful man. I'm sure Colin is nice to be with. A man like that doesn't take you for granted. He pays attention to what you need."

  He studied her. "I wouldn't have taken him to be attractive to a woman like you either. I guess you never know."

  Mary Catherine was dealing with his intent stare, feeling a little lightheaded thinking about what might happen between them. She was almost sorry when she heard Colin moan. Baylor made fun of her for thinking about Charlie that way. She ignored him, wishing their rapport wasn't quite so mutual. She'd been able to tell what animals were thinking since she was a child. Baylor was the only animal who could read her thoughts as well.

  "Maybe you better go over and talk to him," Charlie suggested. "I'd like a chance to get a few answers before I go."

  She agreed and sat by Colin's side, holding his smooth, manicured hand. That alone should've told the police something about him. Colin never did anything with his hands if he could help it. She wouldn't be surprised if she found out he'd hired someone to kill his aunt. But the idea that he physically killed the woman was preposterous.

  "Is he gone?" Colin whispered, not opening his eyes. "I didn't know Charlene's husband was so big. I was picturing him short. Maybe with a mustache."

  "You mean you've never met him?"

  "No! Why would I? You usually don't hang out with your lover's husband."

  Mary Catherine sighed. She was disappointed in Colin. She'd pictured him dating sweet, intelligent girls like Mindy. She wouldn't have taken him for a cheater. "Charlie isn't Charlene's husband. He's a private detective who was hired to look for her lover. I guess he was looking for you."

  Colin sat up quickly. "Don't tell him! I'll get dressed and get out of here before he comes back."

  Charlie smiled and waved. "Still here. I'm not going anywhere until I've had some questions answered, killer."

  "What did you call me?" Colin's face turned redder than Mary Catherine's furniture. "I've taken on men twice your size."

  "I'm sure you have" Charlie stood up. "On the polo field, right?"

  "I've never played polo. I was captain of my lacrosse team!"

  "Whatever. How long have you been banging Tate's wife?"

  Mary Catherine winced. "Could we have a little civility?"

  "Sure," Charlie agreed. "How long have you been boffing Charlene Tate?"

  "I don't see where that's any of your business," Colin defended himself. "What Charlene and I do has nothing to do with you."

  Charlie shrugged. "That works for me. I'll give her husband, Elmore, a call and he can ask the questions."

  "Elmore?" The name conjured up another man like Colin. Mary Catherine expected Charlene's husband to be named Jack or something with initials. Why would Charlene cheat on her husband with someone just like him?

  "He's a stockbroker," Charlie said, as though that explained everything.

  "Okay." Colin sat back down with a defeated look on his face. "What do you want to know?"

  Charlie took out his notebook. "How long have you been seeing Charlene?"

  "About three months. We met at the old Wilmington City Market. I was shopping for some handcrafted slippers for a friend and we bumped into each other. We've seen each other almost every week since then"

  "What kind of car do you drive?"

  "I have a sweet BMW convertible, if the weather's nice. During the winter, or if we have heavy rain, I have a Cadillac Escalade. I'm thinking about having that one painted. Black is so yesterday."

  Charlie put away his notebook. "Okay. That's all I need to know."

  Colin's mouth hung open. Mary Catherine shut it with one hand. "Is that all? Don't you want to beat him up or something?"

  "This isn't the time to be funny," Colin protested.

  "That's not what I was hired to do." Charlie sat down at the table again and drank a big gulp of tea. He made a face as though he'd forgotten what it tasted like. "My job is to give this information to my employer. He'll decide what to do with it. Smile!" He used his cell phone to take Colin's picture.

  "Great! Then he'll beat me up."

  "When you play, sometim
es you pay." Charlie pushed the teacup away from him. "Next time, don't sleep with a married woman. Especially one who looks like Charlene. They're always married, kid."

  "Always young, blond, and gorgeous" Mary Catherine bristled at the hint of testosterone in the air.

  "Yeah" Colin and Charlie both agreed at the same time.

  "She's awesome," Colin continued. "And you wouldn't believe what she can do with her tongue."

  "Clever of you not to bother telling me," Mary Catherine said. "What about Mindy? She's gorgeous."

  "Mindy's good looking," Colin agreed. "But she's not hot."

  "Not like Charlene," Charlie added.

  "You know Mindy? My Mindy?" Colin demanded.

  "Sure. She hired me about six weeks ago to find out who you were sleeping with." Charlie smiled. "I love getting a double."

  Colin dropped Mary Catherine's blanket on the floor. "Please! You can't tell Mindy about this. It would break her heart. She isn't worldly, you know. And I think she may have a serious medical condition. You wouldn't want to be responsible for killing her."

  Mary Catherine waved her hand. "She doesn't have anything wrong with her except for you. I'm sure she can take the strain."

  "We're supposed to be married next summer. She could tell the station owner. It could mean my job."

  Neither Charlie nor Mary Catherine were sympathetic to his plight. "As Charlie said," Mary Catherine quoted, "sometimes you play and you pay."

  "I was just kidding anyway, kid. I don't know your fiancee" Charlie laughed. "You should've seen the look on your face!"

  "That wasn't funny. I'm a man on the edge. I've been accused of murdering my aunt, and now someone wants to kill me." Colin paced the floor. "Since you're so good at finding people, maybe you could find the killer. It seems like that's the least you could do, considering you tried to ruin my life."

  Charlie thought about it. "Sure. Five hundred per day, plus mileage."

  Mary Catherine tried to intervene. "I don't think you need to hire him to find out what's going on."

  Colin laughed. "At least I can hear him, unlike your turtle friend. I need help. Cousin Bob wants that money. I think he'd do anything to get it."

  Charlie took out his notebook again. "What's Cousin Bob do? Is his name Jamison too? Where does he live?"

  "I think you're going about this the wrong way," Mary Catherine told Colin with a sweep of her apricot caftan as she sat down. "Maybe Charlene was involved with this. I know she was with you when your aunt was killed, Colin. But what if her husband is the one calling you? It's possible she didn't accidentally run into you. She and her husband may have set this whole thing up."

  "That would make more sense than Charlene wanting to sleep with him." Charlie glanced at Colin. "Maybe they thought they could kill off the old lady, Charlene would find some way to get the money from Colin, then they'd kill him too."

  "That could make sense," Mary Catherine agreed. "Except that Colin has already had a death threat. They wouldn't want to tip him off before everything was set up."

  "Would the two of you stop talking about me like I'm not here?"

  They both looked at Colin in his dirty, smelly clothes. "Maybe Cousin Bob thought he could intimidate Colin into signing over the money. That doesn't necessarily mean he killed the old lady," Charlie surmised.

  "I wish you wouldn't call Aunt Ferndelle an old lady," Colin protested.

  "It seems to me, even if Colin's parents' deaths were truly an accident," Mary Catherine theorized, "that someone has gone to a lot of trouble for Colin to end up with this money. Otherwise, why not kill him too?"

  "Mary Catherine!" Colin whined and threw himself on the sofa.

  "Who knows he's here?" Charlie asked.

  "No one except us and Danny. He won't say anything."

  "The taxi driver?" Charlie nodded. "Maybe we should dangle a little bait and see what comes out of the woodwork."

  "What are you talking about?" Colin demanded. "What woodwork?"

  Mary Catherine agreed. "He needs new clothes. He came here just as you see him. We could send him back to his place for a shower and some clean clothes. That should give Cousin Bob or Charlene and her husband enough time to do their worst."

  Charlie smiled. "It sounds like a plan to me."

  Mary Catherine! Hi! Are we on the air?

  My cat, Sythia, always seems to know when I'm going to be home from work. My friend said it was a learned response from coming home at the same time every day. But I came home early one day to trick her. She was still there waiting on the windowsill for me. I believe she and I have a close bond and that she psychically knows when I'll be home.

  What do you think?

  EIGHT

  MARY CATHERINE WAS STATIONED in her car across the street from Colin's apartment. It was dark, but a streetlight close to the doorway illuminated the area. Danny was in his taxi at the corner. Charlie was about to stroll from the corner past the door to the building.

  "Are you sure about this?" Colin looked at the scene from the passenger seat. "What if I'm killed or something? He doesn't have to be close to me if he has a gun."

  "Oh I think he would've killed you by now if he wanted to make it that easy," Mary Catherine tried to reassure him, but her words didn't have the desired effect.

  "Thanks. That makes me feel a lot better." Colin sighed and sat back in his seat. "I can't believe Cousin Bob would go to these lengths to get his hands on the family money. It's not like he's poor or something. All of the Jamisons are well off."

  "For some people, what they have is never enough. Oh look!" She pointed to Charlie strolling toward the door. "If you're ever going to have any cover until you find out what's going on, this is it."

  He nodded. "You're right. I can do this. Charlie has a gun, doesn't he?"

  She didn't know but wasn't going to stop the process by saying so. "I'm sure he'll take care of everything."

  Colin made his decision. He squared his shoulders and climbed out of the Mini Cooper. Baylor meowed from the back seat, jumping into the front as soon as Colin was gone.

  "He's not exactly the heroic type," she said to the cat. "I don't think he's a killer. I can't imagine him not fainting at the sight of blood. Whoever killed Ferndelle was made of stronger stuff."

  Baylor disagreed. Humans were not to be trusted, in his opinion. They lied and pretended to be things they weren't all the time.

  She glanced at him. "I didn't realize you had such a poor opinion of me."

  He pushed his head against her arm and purred loudly.

  "Well that's good to know. I was afraid you were basing your judgments of humanity on me" She picked up her binoculars and shushed the cat. "Look! He's almost to the door."

  Colin was stepping up on the curb as Charlie reached the side of the building. A few cars had gone by but none of them seemed to have murderous intentions. It all appeared safe and uneventful. Mary Catherine was beginning to wonder if their plan would work after all.

  "You see anything, MC?" Danny asked on the other end of the two-way radio he'd given her.

  "Not yet. You?"

  "Nope. I could take a siesta out here with all this excitement." He yawned. "Hey! What's that? I thought I saw someone."

  Mary Catherine scanned the street and sidewalk. There was a small park area on the right side of the old brick building. Like her home, Colin's building was reconstructed from an older space. It was closer to three stories than hers but they were small stories. "I don't see anything besides Charlie and Colin"

  Colin had reached the front door by this time. He looked around, then put his key in the door lock. Charlie was continuing to walk past as though he didn't know Colin. Another car crept by on the street and music came from another house with lighted windows and a white picket fence.

  Charlie was past the front door and Colin was stepping inside when suddenly, a dark figure came out of the shadows, yelling and throwing himself at Colin.

  "This is it!" Danny got out of his
taxi and ran to help Charlie grab Cousin Bob.

  Mary Catherine exited her car a little more slowly, hoping the event would be over before she got there. She wasn't dressed for tackling someone on a sidewalk. She wasn't sure what that would take, except for Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider, and she didn't have anything that looked like that costume.

  Charlie had jumped on the shadowed form after it was already on top of Colin. The three of them scrambled on the sidewalk looking like a trapped octopus, all arms and legs. Danny wasted no time jumping into the fray. Mary Catherine wondered how they could tell one from the other as they wrestled through the doorway.

  Playing her part, she called Detective Angellus from the number on the card he'd given her. It turned out to be his home number. He answered, sounding as though he was half asleep. "Someone is trying to kill Colin Jamison," she said. "Come quickly. He's at his home. Hurry."

  Detective Angellus got out one short query about who was calling before she hung up. She closed her cell phone and waited for another car to pass before she walked across the street. She hoped the detective would come quickly.

  It was a sultry night after the early storm, which meant mosquitoes. She shivered. She hated mosquitoes as much as they loved her. Her first late husband, Andrew Smith, always teased her about being mosquito bait. She often missed that dear man, but she had been very young then and didn't really appreciate all that life had given her. If she ever got another man like that, she'd be more careful with him.

  She could hear sirens coming their way and urged Charlie and Danny to finish what they were doing and get up. No one seemed to be listening. "You're all going to end up in jail if you don't stop fighting. This isn't part of the plan."

  No one responded. She wished she could make out faces and forms better in the dim light. How could such a bright light as the one on the top of the pole lose so much by the time it reached the street? Now if someone could solve that problem, think what they could do.

  Two Wilmington police cars screeched to a halt in the street and discharged three police officers who ran toward them, calling out for the men on the ground to stop fighting. Mary Catherine tried to explain what was going on, but no one paid any attention.