by Lyndsey Cole
“I hope Greta doesn’t have anyone else visiting her when we get there,” Annie said. “When I stopped earlier with Mia, she complained that a steady stream of people stopped by and overwhelmed her.”
They drove to Main Street. “It’s nice to get out and see something besides the view from my living room. Not that it’s a bad view. Quite the opposite, I couldn’t have a nicer view. What I mean is, it’s nice to see something different once in a while.”
“Doesn’t your son take you out for drives?” Annie asked. She knew he stopped over regularly to bring Thelma food, and she assumed he also took her out.
“Not often enough. He’s always busy. The last drive he took me on was in early October when the leaves were turning, so it’s been almost a month.”
Annie pulled into Greta’s short driveway and parked Thelma’s car behind Greta’s Honda Fit. They weren’t the only ones visiting, though. When Annie opened her door, she heard voices on the front porch.
“Cody visited you last night?” An angry voice carried across the short distance to where Annie stood with her hand still on the open car door.
Detective Christy Crank turned and stomped off Greta’s porch. Annie could almost see the steam pouring from Christy’s ears as she marched past Annie straight to her car.
Did Cody lie to the detective about where he went when he left Kitty’s party?
11
Annie got Thelma’s walker, helped her out of the car, and they walked slowly to Greta’s front door. Roxy trailed behind patiently.
“I’m going to walk next door to Kitty’s house and talk to her for a bit and then come back if that’s okay with you, Thelma.”
Thelma patted Annie’s arm. “I think that sounds like a good idea. I can chat with Greta and try to get her to relax. We can reminisce for a bit and talk about books; that’s always a safe subject.”
Greta actually smiled when she saw Thelma standing on the porch. “Well, this day isn’t a total wash-out after all. Come on in.”
Annie handed the box of sandwiches to Greta and said she’d be back.
With all the drama surrounding Brian’s murder, Annie never had a chance to talk to Kitty after Brian’s body was discovered. Kitty was at least a part of the reason Brian was in town so she must be completely devastated. And she wanted to make sure that Kitty’s cat made it safely through the chaos of the Halloween party.
Roxy arrived at Kitty’s door first and waited eagerly for Annie to knock. She looked around wondering if Kitty was gone. There was a car parked in her driveway in front of Brian’s black Porsche, which sat as a sad reminder of Saturday night’s horror. The front car most likely was Kitty’s car. Annie wondered if Cody would inherit the Porsche along with Brian’s share of the family farm. People killed for less than that. What about Cody?
The door suddenly opened, bringing Annie’s attention back to the person in front of her. “Kitty. How are you doing?”
Kitty’s face was puffy and her eyes were red. At least she had managed to remove the prom dress and pull on plaid flannel pajama pants and a turtleneck fleece. “Annie? What are you doing here?”
That was a bit of an awkward question, not wanting to bring Greta’s name into the conversation. Yet. She managed some graceful dodging. “I was in this part of town and just wanted to see how you are holding up.”
“I don’t even know how to answer that. Come on in, I guess.” Kitty started to pull the door open farther until she saw Roxy. “Can you leave your dog outside? I don’t want her to chase my cats. Now that they are all safely home after the stress from the party, I don’t want to upset them again.”
Annie couldn’t say no even though she knew Roxy wouldn’t bother Kitty’s precious Main Coon cats. “Wait here,” she told Roxy who dutifully sat outside by the door. Annie followed Kitty down the hall into the kitchen which was a total disaster with bottles, cans, bowls of food, and a mess of party items still strewn everywhere.
“Sorry about the mess. I can’t seem to get motivated to do anything.” She turned to look at Annie. “Is this all a huge terrible nightmare? Am I going to wake up and find Brian laughing and joking with Jason?” She pushed empty pizza boxes off a chair onto the floor and slumped on the cleared space. “Sit down if you can find a spot.”
“Do you want me to throw stuff in the trash?”
Kitty shrugged her shoulders. “Whatever.”
Annie found a box of plastic trash bags and busied herself throwing things away. It was the least she could do. Why hadn’t anyone come to help Kitty clean up? All those people at the party last night—gone without a thought apparently.
“I just can’t believe what happened,” Kitty said, more to herself than to Annie who kept moving around the kitchen, starting with the empty beer bottles. “I was thrilled when Brian said he was coming home for a visit and would time it so he wouldn’t miss my party.”
“When was the last time you saw him?”
“Huh?” Kitty looked at Annie almost as if she’d forgotten she wasn’t alone in her kitchen. “Last night.” Kitty’s eyes narrowed with a what-kind-of-question-is-that look.
“Before this visit, I mean.”
“Oh, after we all graduated. He came home twice after that, once for his mother’s funeral and once for his father’s funeral, but I was out of town both times and I didn’t see him.”
“But you kept in touch?” The cans and bottles clinked and rattled as Annie moved around the kitchen.
“Yeah, we had that kind of relationship where we could pick up our conversation where we left off even after a long passage of time. He told me about his girlfriends and I told him none of them were good enough for him.” She laughed. “It was our running joke. Of course, he was right when he told me the guy I decided to marry wasn’t good enough for me. We’re divorced now.”
“Did Brian tell you much about his latest girlfriend?” Annie wasn’t expecting the conversation to go in this direction, but since Kitty started down this path, it seemed like a good way to get information about Rachel.
“Rachel? Yeah, she sounded like a control freak from what Brian told me. Always putting demands on him, walking out, then apologizing and saying she’d do better. I told him to dump her but he was crazy about her even though she frustrated him to no end. I think that’s what made him decide to come home. He wanted a break and to reconnect.” She looked at Annie with her head tilted. “You know what I mean? He was drifting and needed to find his roots.”
“I know what you mean.” It reminded Annie of herself. She had left town for several years but coming home was the best decision she’d ever made. She couldn’t say the same for Brian.
Kitty stood and pulled a garbage bag from the box. She started stuffing empty potato chip bags and half empty dip containers in, copying what Annie was doing. “And then he decided he should apologize to Greta.” She stopped with a handful of soggy napkins and shook her head. “I thought Jason and I convinced him to let that idea go. Unfortunately, his stubborn I-always-do-want-I-want arrogance won that battle . . . and lost him his life.”
Annie was taken aback by the hostility in Kitty’s voice. “He’s a grown man. Did you really think he would be swayed by a couple of friends from his past?”
“I suppose you’re right.” A big light gray cat wandered into the kitchen. The tufts on the tips of his ears were at least an inch long. He wound his body around Kitty’s legs, looked at her expectantly, and raised one paw. “Good morning, Moby,” Kitty purred to her cat and the cat answered as she hefted him into her arms. “This is Annie.”
Annie put her trash bag down and stroked the cat’s long silky hair. “I saw this handsome guy the night of the party. He said hello when I was in the kitchen and I think I saw him outside, too.”
“That would be Moby, all right. He likes to wander, especially toward Greta’s house. I was searching all over for him the night of my party.”
“I’m glad he made it home safely. You raise Maine Coon cats?”
&
nbsp; Kitty let out a snort. “That’s what some people think, but I have a lot of trouble letting anyone adopt any of my babies. Very few homes meet my standards.” She held Moby’s body behind his front legs and stared into his face. “Right? Who wants to cook for their cat instead of buying processed kibble? Or groom you every day?”
“How many cats do you have?”
“Five at the moment. But Missy is having kittens soon. The problem is that she got outside at the wrong time and Greta’s cat, Lucky, is the proud father.” She wrinkled her nose snobbishly. “I will find homes for those kittens. I don’t know why Greta hasn’t gotten that stray fixed.”
Interesting comment, seeing as it sounded like Kitty didn’t get her cats fixed. She must think it was okay because they were her special babies. “I might know someone who would love a kitten.” She thought of Thelma and how the company would do her good. Annie had tried to have her cat Snowball live with Thelma, but Snowball kept returning home to Cobblestone Cottage. Thelma said it was okay but Annie sensed she was disappointed.
Kitty set Moby down and opened her refrigerator. More cats streamed in. “Here they come; they know the sound of the fridge door.” Kitty set five bowls on the counter and portioned out something from a covered bowl. “This is a homemade chicken recipe. They love it. I also make various fish concoctions but they tend to be kind of smelly . . . to me but not the cats.” She set the bowls on the floor and the cats wasted no time enjoying their feast.
Annie brought the conversation back to the reason she decided to visit on the spur of the moment. “How long was Brian planning to stay in town?”
Kitty shrugged while she stood at the sink and rinsed the empty cat food bowl. “I’m not sure, although I was going to try to convince him to move back. Cody might know more about that. Or, maybe not. Brian wasn’t even staying with him. I’m not sure what was going on with those two, but I did hear them arguing last night. Of course, it was about Greta.”
“And Brian’s girlfriend, Rachel? I ran into her this morning. Did you know she was in town?”
Kitty whipped her head around, her mouth open and her forehead wrinkled. “What was she doing in Catfish Cove?”
“Rachel told me she wanted to patch up an argument she had with Brian and she knew he was coming here for a Halloween party. She has friends on the lake and is staying with them.”
“I wonder if she was here last night,” Kitty mused.
“At your party?”
“Yeah. There were so many people wandering in and out. Everyone having a great time. Until . . .” She shrugged. “I assumed if I didn’t know someone, they came with someone I did know. I’m known for my parties and word spreads. She could have slipped in without anyone giving it a second thought as to who she was. Maybe she followed Brian to Greta’s house? Is that completely out of the question?”
Kitty fiddled with a necklace—a silver cat. She still wore the skeleton earrings Brian gave her that danced eerily as her body moved. A bracelet jingled with several silver cats dangling from a band. It reminded Annie of the old-fashioned charm bracelet that her grandmother had with the names of her kids and grandkids. In Kitty’s case, all the charms were cats in various poses.
Apparently, Kitty took her cat obsession to a very serious level.
Kitty’s phone rang. Perfect, Annie thought, an excuse to make her exit. She tied the top of the garbage bag and waved to Kitty. “I’ll let myself out,” she said, not even sure if Kitty was paying attention to her anymore.
As she walked back to Greta’s house, she took the shortest route between the two houses. No light came on which seemed a little odd. She waved her arms like she had the night before but nothing happened. She could see the fixture on the side of Kitty’s house. Maybe it was a solar light and hadn’t had enough sunshine to get recharged.
Annie tapped on the kitchen door and waited for Greta to open it. Greta’s smile disappeared as soon as she saw Annie. “You came from her house?” Annie knew the her Greta referred to was Kitty. Maybe, in hindsight, she should have walked to the front door.
“Did you know that Brian and Cody argued about you last night?”
“You’d better come in.” Greta stood to one side, making space for Annie to enter.
12
Annie asked if she could have a glass of water. She saw the sandwich wrappers on the table and figured that Thelma and Greta had eaten everything already.
Greta nodded and pointed to the cupboard to the left of the sink. “Help yourself.”
While Annie stood at the sink and filled the glass, she also used the opportunity to study Kitty’s house from Greta’s window. Kitty’s outline was visible as she paced back and forth with her hand to her ear. Still on the phone? As Annie watched, Kitty walked to the window and stared out. Right at Annie.
Greta sat at the table next to Thelma. Lucky jumped in Greta’s lap, kneaded vigorously, and curled up.
“Greta? About Cody?” Annie prompted.
“I’m trying to figure out how to explain what happened.” She sipped her tea, buying herself more time for silence.
She finally began. “While Cody was at my front door, there was a knock on this kitchen door where you just came in. Cody heard it too and he left. I don’t think he could have known who it was.”
Annie realized she was holding her breath and forced herself to exhale.
“It was Brian on the porch at the kitchen door.” Greta sighed, tilted her head, and looked off into space. “When he smiled, I was transported back twenty years to when he showed up in his light blue tuxedo to take me to the prom. He gave me a corsage of pink rose buds and baby’s breath. I still have those dried flowers.” She looked at Annie. “Pathetic, right?”
Annie was at a loss for words but Thelma, who always knew the right thing to say, comforted Greta. “No, Greta. You’re entitled to hang on to a happy memory.”
Greta snorted. “Brian at the door twenty years ago was a happy memory, but the next day ruined that whole wonderful evening. Do you know what Kitty said to me?”
Thelma shook her head.
“She said, ‘Thanks for the fifty bucks.’ When I asked her what she was talking about, she said, ‘I won the bet’. She bet Brian to ask me to the date but he didn’t have to pay her unless I actually showed up.” Greta’s shoulders dropped, her hand stroked Lucky, and a tear slid down her cheek, which she didn’t even bother to wipe away. It disappeared into Lucky’s black fur.
“Did you talk to Brian last night?” Annie asked.
“I was pretty much tongue tied when I saw him standing at my door, but Brian launched right in with an apology that sounded like he had rehearsed it a couple of times. I nodded and then he told me that he and Cody argued about whether he should come over. When he stopped talking he said, ‘Please say something, Greta.’”
“I thanked him for the apology but told him it would have been nice to hear it twenty years ago. He said he was sorry for waiting so long and then he turned around and headed back in the direction of Kitty’s house.”
“Did you watch him walk away?”
“Only until he was off the porch. I couldn’t bear to watch any longer, plus I felt my legs getting shaky and realized that I better sit down before I landed in a heap on the floor.” She patted the chair she was sitting on. “I sat right here.”
“You poor dear.” Thelma leaned toward Greta and patted her arm.
“When I heard voices outside, I went to the kitchen window and looked out, but I couldn’t see anything in the dark so I went out on the porch. That’s when Cody’s Jeep roared away and I saw a shape on the ground.”
“Are you sure it was Cody’s Jeep? Black Jeeps aren’t that uncommon around here,” Annie said.
“Now that you ask, I’m not positive. I jumped to that conclusion because, well, Cody was here and I know what he drives. For that matter, whoever roared away might not have had anything to do with Brian. There was a lot of coming and going last night with all the people at Kitty’s
party.”
So, Cody did go to Greta’s house but the Jeep might not have been his. Cody was at the front of Greta’s house while Brian knocked at the side door. Did Cody walk around to see who was knocking on Greta’s kitchen door? He might have suspected it could be Brian. If he did, what then? Did they argue? Did he use the red walking stick that Brian had playfully pretended to stab Cody with to stab his own brother?
“How much of this have you told Detective Crank?” Annie asked.
“Only that Cody did come over last night. I’ve decided I have to answer any questions honestly, but I don’t have to offer more, do I?” Greta’s eyes met Annie’s with a pleading hope for confirmation.
“You might have to tell her that you did speak to Brian. At some point. Someone from the party might have seen him walk over here and they could tell Detective Crank they saw him talk to you. It’s probably better if she finds that out from you so it doesn’t look like you’re hiding information.”
“I thought of that, too. Either way, it’s going to look like I killed Brian.” Greta bit her lower lip. She released it and lowered her head so she seemed to be talking to Lucky. Her words came out in barely a whisper. “I didn’t kill him. I would never hurt Brian. His apology made my heart soar and for a few seconds, I even thought I saw something in his gaze. Something that said maybe we could at least be friends.”
Annie believed Greta. She was the type of person who couldn’t deceive anyone. Or was she so good at deception that she only came across as being completely honest? Both Greta and Cody were near the scene of the crime.
But what about Rachel? Where was she last night?
Thelma patted Greta’s arm again. “I’m glad you shared all that, dear. It’s no good to keep it inside. Would you like it if we stop by again?”
Greta blinked her eyes as if this question puzzled her. “I don’t get many visitors.”
Thelma chuckled. “That doesn’t really answer the question, does it, dear?”