“Jill, listen to me I can't go into any explanations right now. First of all, I found Cynthia and she's safe. A little beat up, but safe.”
“What happened?” Jill asked.
“I'll tell to you later, but there's something very important you have to do. Agent Erin Brookdale of the FBI is going to go by the house. Give her the notebook.” Mandy said.
“The FBI!? How did you get involved with the FBI.”
“I'll explain later, it's a long story. Also, this will come as a surprise to you but Lana works for the FBI as well.” Mandy said.
“What!?” Jill said.
“Let Agent Brookdale see Lana, she's her owner and I'm sure she'd like to see her.”
“Oh. I want to hear everything.” Jill said.
“You will, it's just that things are complicated right now.” Mandy explained.
While Mandy explained things to Jill, Agent Johnson had called Agent Brookdale and apprised her of recent developments. She could pick up the notebook at Mandy's house. In the distance, you heard the sirens of the police as they approached the house. Fred showed up along with paramedics.
“Mandy where's Cynthia?” Fred asked.
“Right here Fred, she definitely needs help.”
Although Cynthia had perked up a bit, she'd been tied up all night and had nothing to drink or eat and had been smacked periodically by Vance.
“Where's Vance.” Fred asked.
Vance was on the floor, curled up, making non-sensical noises and looking very deranged.
“Let me take my cuffs off him, so you can apply yours Captain Stone.” Agent Johnson said.
“Thanks Agent Johnson. How did you happen to be here?” Fred asked.
“I've been following Ms. Cummings since a member of this motley crew of law breakers has been trailing her. We were concerned for her safety. Apparently, my black car stuck out and not theirs.”
“See Mandy, you weren't crazy, somebody was following you, and it's a good thing he did.” Fred said.
“I'm very grateful to Agent Johnson coming at the nick of time.” Mandy said.
“I gotta be honest, I think that cat of yours was giving law enforcement a run for its money. If we hadn't stopped him, he would have finished Vance off.” He said jokingly.
“Ah yes, I can see the tell tale marks of Roger.” Fred said, looking at the scratches and the blood. Other paramedics were tending to Vance, who had regressed further into his own world, his eye in pretty bad shape and a slew of scratches on his face and hands.
“It's not the first time he does this?” Agent Johnson asked.
“Roger is very protective of me.” Mandy said, still not believing everything that had happened.
“I'll remember not to mess with you.” Agent Johnson said jokingly.
“Well Captain Stone, I believe you have things under control here. I have to go to the next phase of our investigation where we can actually arrest people.” Agent Johnson said.
“Thank you again Agent Johnson, I'll take it from here.” Fred said. “And Mandy, I'll get a brief description of what happened here from you, you can make a statement tomorrow. It's probably best if you accompany Cynthia to the hospital.”
“Ok Fred. I was thinking of going provided it didn't interfere with the process.”
“No, you're good. You caught the killer. Again.” Fred smiled, shook his head and gave Mandy's arm a squeeze of appreciation.
Mandy checked on Cynthia to see how she was doing.
“How are you holding up kiddo?”
“I've been better. I really thought that he was going to kill me. Never in a million years did I think that Vance would ever hurt anyone, but I guess, once he's off his medication, he really is not himself and becomes this other horrible person. It's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Cynthia said.
“Yes, it's a terrible shame all around. Poor Karen's dead over nothing and now Vance will be in jail for the rest of his life.” Mandy said.
“At least the nightmare is over, and we now know why certain things were happening.” Cynthia said.
“Yes, and this marks a new beginning for you, since the pet spa is going out of operation.” Mandy said.
“The best thing we did was get all those animals out of the spa. And Lana. Who'd have thought that Lana really worked for the FBI undercover. We just thought of her as a beautiful white cat with horrible owners. All the while, she eavesdropped on us for the FBI.” Cynthia said.
“Well, at least they know you had nothing to do with them.” Mandy said.
“I had no idea. I'm sure when Karen had a romantic relationship with Jeffrey he invited her to the money laundering scheme. Too bad she fell for it. But she valued money immensely and all the things she could buy with it. Ironically, that's not why she died. She died because she tried to help somebody who didn't understand.” Cynthia said.
“Yeah, I didn't see that one coming. I wonder what happened to Allen. It's possible he's dead too?” Mandy said.
“Yeah, I wonder.” Cynthia said.
“Well, Fred will find out sooner or later.” Mandy said.
Epilogue
A week later, things started to settle into place. The FBI rounded up Jeffrey and his associates, Wesley, Peter and Jack. Agent Johnson also invited Cynthia to their offices and had her answer a couple of questions. The conversation went something like this:
“Thank you for coming over Ms. Donofrio. I believe you've met my partner, Agent Brookdale?”
“Ah yes, Lana's owner. I wondered why you left her at the spa for so long.” Cynthia said.
“Well, by now I'm sure you've heard Lana was working with us.” Agent Brookdale said.
“That was a new one for me. A cat working for the FBI.” And they all laughed.
After this they asked more serious questions of Cynthia.
“Ms Donofrio, how long did you work for the pet spa?” Agent Brookdale asked.
“I'd say approximately two years, give or take a month.”
“Did you ever notice suspicious activity while working there?”
“The only thing I couldn't figure out is how we had such a small number of animals and yet the place managed to stay open. I speculated Jeffrey thought somehow the business would turn around, but the money wasn't coming in. I thought to myself, hey, I had a job, I got paid, and I took care of the animals. I figured the spa created an investment hobby for a rich guy. I thought Jeffrey was rich. Now that you say he engaged in money laundering, it explains what didn't make sense.” Cynthia explained.
“Anything else?” asked Agent Johnson.
“Well, from time to time, Jeffrey would leave and say he had to talk to his 'business partners' and I always wondered why they never came around the spa. I figured, if you're a business partner, you come by the business and see how it's doing. But I never saw anyone.”
After a couple more questions, the agents thanked her for her time and that's all she ever heard from them. She wasn't asked to testify. The FBI tried to track down other members of the local money laundering group. In their investigation, they located one Michael Gugglietta, known to friends as Mikey. He wound up in Las Vegas and after making further inquiries, the FBI found his body at the local morgue. Apparently, he had a traffic accident, a hit and run. The driver of the vehicle was never identified.
Vance also progressed through the legal system. First off, they sent him to a psychiatric detention house. He continued to deteriorate mentally. In spite of everything, Cynthia went to visit him. She got in touch with the clinic and the people who were helping him there and asked if his condition would ever improve. They explained to her that before he got on his meds regularly, Vance had a history of rage and violence over the silliest things. He hadn't had any of those spells for years, but somehow he regressed.
Everybody that worked with him felt terrible because he had been making real progress as a mentally challenged person. They figured the worse that could happen was they either change his medicine or change the dosage now and then.
They never thought he would commit a murder.
Even though Cynthia had been his victim, she wanted to make sure he didn't receive capital punishment or be sent to normal prison. She tried to contact groups supporting mentally challenged people to speak in his favor to be kept in a mental institution. At least there, even if he were medicated the whole day long, he wouldn't be placed in a regular jail situation where his special needs weren't met. Yes, he had killed someone, but Cynthia knew that although he appeared to be a bad person, he was just mentally ill.
Mandy visited Fred, now that a week had passed since Vance had been captured and the money laundering group rounded up..
“Hi Fred, I'm glad you finally got free time.”
“Yes, we managed to tie all the loose ends in this case. Who knew this would get so complicated. What first appeared as a domestic violence episode gone horribly wrong, turned out to be something in the psychopathic world. Nobody ever suspected the security guard. He was a sort of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Terrible shame about Karen. FBI told me she was helping them capture the criminal gang. Made a wrong decision and went down a wrong path, but on the way to redeem herself, she died for something else entirely. Truly an ironic situation.”
“Well, I'm glad I got to meet Karen one time the day before she died. What are the chances of that happening?” Mandy said.
“And again Mandy, I know you didn't investigate, but somehow, you discovered the murderer, while exposing yourself to a real risk there. Lucky for you Roger intervened and Agent Johnson was close by.” Fred said.
“Yes, Roger saved my life once again. I don't think Roger would have let up unless we interrupted him. Agent Johnson intervened and Roger stopped attacking. For a moment there though, he considered attacking Agent Johnson. But he sensed that this was the good guy. Also, Agent Johnson complimented him on the good job he did, not that I think he understood.” Mandy said.
“At least we now know Allen was innocent.” Fred explained
“What happened to him? How come he never called back?”
“Well, it turns out after the big blowout with Karen, he got called on a special assignment. Even though he's technically with the National Guard, he's with a special group overseeing national security. He used to be a Navy Seal. Once members of the team are called on an assignment, they're not allowed their personal phones. They're given special cell phones so they can communicate only with other team members regarding the mission. The National Guard wasn't allowed to speak on his assignment or his location.
Eventually, the mission finished, and he got his phone back. In the course of checking his phone, he received all the messages regarding Karen and her death. He came over to visit me to explain himself and make inquiries. He is a genuinely nice guy, unusually proper and polite. I understand now why Cynthia kept sticking up for him, she knew he wasn't a villain. He almost cried while I told him what had happened. He had real feelings for Karen. I tell you something else, I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of his anger. He's big and amazingly strong. I'm glad someone like him is guarding our national security.” Fred said.
“Who knew? While we thought he was the murderer, he had no idea what was going on. He thought he'd finish his assignment and go out with his girlfriend again.” Mandy said sadly.
“But it was a strange mismatch, him and Karen, from what you tell me. You tell me he's polite and proper, I could see why their relationship had issues. Karen was very insecure and was making up for her younger years by constantly showing off her body and flirting with every guy she met, even in front of Allen. Although they had verbal fights, he was not the type to engage in physical violence with women. He would have ended the relationship when he saw it wasn't working out. I'm sure was in love with her, but wasn't aware she still had mental issues that weren't resolved.” Mandy shared her thoughts on the Allen and Karen relationship.
“Well, you can tell he's a nice guy. I'd have left her after the second time she behaved in that manner in public. How's Cynthia holding up?” Fred asked.
“She's using this situation to re-invent herself. She figures there's not a lot of opportunity in this area, so she's going to look for a job in Manhattan. She wants find employment with a large company where she's not the focus of attention, but at the same time she can advance within the company. She never wants to work for a small business again. She feels she can't trust who she's working for when you work in a small business environment, after the experience with Jeffrey. Also, to show you what a good hearted person she is, she's actually trying to help Vance. She's doing as much as she can so he winds up in a mental health facility and not in jail.”
“It takes a big heart to forgive like that. She truly is a great person.” Fred said.
“She is, I'm glad she turned this into a positive. Have you learned what's going to happen to Vance?”
“Well, that's a bit confusing. I'm not sure if there's even going to be a trial. He confessed he killed Karen, in moments of lucidity. He's at the mental institution, supposedly for observation, this is a case of somebody who's mentally disturbed committing a murder because of his mental state. He'll most likely become institutionalized for the rest of his life, as an alternative to jail. People from the clinic spoke with me regarding his progress over the last couple of years, and they told me this was an act of insanity, not murder. Cynthia even offered to testify on his behalf, speak of her experiences with him while working at the spa. I wasn't aware that in addition to this, she is trying to find people to help him get a mental problem conviction.” Fred explained.
“In my initial impression I thought of him as a mentally challenged person who had gotten his life together, nothing amiss and very nice. He asked for a play date with Roger and acted child like when he requested that activity. However, thanks to that supposed play date, is how I discovered Cynthia and what happened. Had we not set that up, he might have killed Cynthia as well.” Mandy said.
“Once again Mandy, you managed to solve the murder and catch the killer, without investigating. Even though you just got involved with people who were a part of the murder, the pieces fell on your lap. I'm glad nothing happened to you when you discovered Vance was the killer. That could have gone very wrong.” Fred said.
“You're telling me. I'm glad things worked out the way they did. Also, I meant to ask you, are you free tomorrow so we could get together at Joanie's?” Mandy asked.
“Yes, now that this case is pretty much wound up. Always look forward to getting together with you, it has helped me a lot.” Fred said.
“I'm so glad. I worried about you when you first came to me, but I can tell you're in a better place now.” Mandy said.
“Yes, I truly got in this rut where my whole life revolved around my job, and I wasn't even aware it had come to that. Now, I'm happy to announce the first concert of my singing lessons group is in two weeks. So that should be great fun.” Fred said.
“Oh that's great. I'd love to see you perform. I'm going to tell Jill, I'm sure she'd love to come and check this out.” Mandy said.
“Well, the more the merrier. It's always a good feeling to be performing in a full house as opposed to an empty space.” Fred said.
Mandy realized she needed to go to the stores before they closed. She figured now was a good time to bid Fred goodbye for the time being.
“Listen Fred, I going to catch up on some shopping while I still have time. I just wanted to find out how things had progressed since the last time I saw you, shortly after I made my statement here. Although just a week ago, it seems so much longer.”
“Sure, no problem. It's always good to see you Mandy. I still have work to do as well before I can call it a day so it works out perfectly.” Fred said.
Mandy left and headed for the mall. On her way she thought of everything that had happened and how she got into this whole mess because her and Jill were entertaining the idea of opening up a pet spa. She hadn't discussed what Jill's feelings were on the matter. Eventually, she'd sp
eak to her and sound her out. In the middle of her reverie, her phone rang with Jill calling.
“Hi there, I was just thinking about you.”
“I headed over to Joanie's and I wondered if you wanted to join me?” Jill asked.
“Sure, I'm right close by at the mall, I was just visiting Fred at the station. Checking on how things have evolved since last week.”
“Well, I'll meet you there.”
Mandy thought of the things she still needed to get at the mall. She figured she'd meet Jill and leave Joanie's sooner than later to buy the different items she needed before she got home. She walked the two blocks over to Joanie's restaurant. When she got there, Joanie greeted her as she walked in.
“Oh hi Mandy. What no Roger?” Joanie asked.
“I was at the police station, and it's always awkward to bring a cat there. I figured I could take him out tomorrow.” Mandy explained.
“Well, you know he's always welcome here. Is there something special you want to get?” Joanie asked.
“I'm waiting for Jill, and we'll see what we wind up ordering.” Mandy replied.
While they were talking, Jill arrived.
“And here she is.”
“Hi Jill, we were just talking about you.”
“Well, I'm here and I'm starving, I hope you made special goodies today.” Jill said.
“I do have some specials I'm sure you'll enjoy.” Joanie replied. Mandy and Jill sat at a booth.
“So, how did it go at Fred's?” Jill asked.
“He told me how things were progressing thus far and how some things were turning out. They still don't know what to do with Vance. Chances are he's headed for a mental institution forever. Even Cynthia's is trying to get that arranged.”
“Did you learn anything regarding the FBI and what they're doing?” Jill asked.
“What I've learned thus far is Cynthia met with them and they let her go. Apparently, they're sure she had nothing to do with the criminal activities and they don't want to drag her into that mess. Other than that, I have no other information. I'm glad Agent Johnson didn't mention the notebook to Fred. I did learn they arrested Jeffrey and his accomplices.” Mandy said.
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