1 A Paw-sible Theory (19 page)

“It always gives me a shiver when I see a cat seeing what I can’t see.”

––
Eleanor Farjeon

CHAPTER
FORTY-ONE:
 
The Cats Help Prevent a Murder

The next day, Alyx moved a couple of pieces of light furniture away from the entrance and unlocked the door before Charvette arrived. Maggie had taken a couple of well-deserved days off to spend with George and Bernice had called in sick, so it was just the two of them and the three of us in the store. I instructed the girls to be on the lookout for a walrus mustache, and black button eyes, although I wasn’t sure of what or even if anything was going to happen. That meant no napping. They didn’t like that and I had to remind them that our job was to help our humans.

“The weather report I heard before I left the house said nothing about rain today…it sure looks like rain to me,” said Charvette, sounding a little angry about it.

“Personally,” said Alyx, “I think the weather people try to put a positive spin on the weather so as not to scare the tourists from going out and spending money.”

“I think it’s silly when they say there’s a twenty percent chance of rain and its pouring outside,” laughed Charvette unusually loud.

The day was slow, giving Alyx the time she needed to work on the projects that had fallen behind. A few regular customers had come in during the day to check for new merchandise and bring goodies for the cats, and we rewarded with loud purrs.

The threatening storm clouds swirling overhead all afternoon had gathered into a serious thunderstorm by early evening, releasing torrential rain with no sign of letting up. Charvette was with a customer when Rupert Moresby walked in and stood by the counter. Pooky let out a yowl and ran off somewhere, the reason unknown to anyone. Misty chased after her, and I took an Egyptian cat pose on the checkout counter. Charvette acknowledged Moresby’s presence with a clandestine nod and he left. Then, she left for her dinner break as soon as she finished with her customer.

On Friday evenings, employees had two hours for dinner. They could go whenever they chose as long as they were back by eight o’clock. Both Alyx and Maggie felt very strongly about two people always being in the store for closing, not because there had been any trouble but only because they wanted to play it safe.

While she waited for Charvette to get back, Alyx kept busy looking for the perfect place to hang the latest item George had dropped off that morning––a child’s chair turned into a shelf. The last customer had left half an hour earlier. Tired and bored, Alyx broke the store’s rule of always having two people in the store at closing, locked the front door, and started to close out the cash register.

She had just put the cash in a zippered bag and was stepping out from behind the counter when the back door opened and shut with a thud. She called out a greeting to Charvette, proceeding towards the office to secure the money in the safe until she could get it ready for deposit.

Suddenly, there was a sharp crack of thunder from above followed by another sound, a loud
pop. My natural instincts forced me to run for cover. A bullet whizzed by me and lodged in the back of the wing chair to Alyx’s right. Confused as to the direction of the shot, she dropped behind the couch in front of her.

I heard another shot fired, this time striking the wall behind her. Rain was still coming down hard but the thunder was moving away.

“If its money you want, you can have it.” She tossed the bag in the direction the last shot had come from. “You don’t have to kill me. I don’t know who you are or even what you look like. You have nothing to fear. Just take it and go.”

Alyx crawled on her hands and knees to the end of the couch and peered around the corner. Charvette, dripping wet hair, mascara running down her cheeks, was holding the handgun kept in the desk drawer in the office. She spoke in a strange, hollow voice from a place beyond my understanding:

“Money, that’s all everybody thinks about; you, Rupert, Novie. Well, guess what Alyx,” she hissed waving the gun around, “I don’t want your money.”

Alyx froze in place. “Then, what do you want?”

“It’s all your fault, you know. You ruined it all. He was going to divorce her and marry me,” she said with a sob.

I took a position on top of a tall bookshelf, just to the right of Charvette.

Alyx kept her voice level as she looked around for something she could use to defend herself.

“I don’t understand. What do I have to do with that?”

“Oh, you have plenty to do with it. It’s your fault she changed her mind,” Charvette kept babbling. “He was just waiting till she sold the building so he could get his business back up and running. You talked her out of it. She was going to sell until she heard you weren’t. She told him you discussed your reasons for not selling and she was inspired to hold on to her dream. What about my dreams, Alyx? What about my dreams?” she whimpered.

“Charvette, you’re wrong, I didn’t talk her out of anything.”

“Oh, yes, you did. I saw you and your stupid cat talking to her yesterday.”

Charvette was becoming more agitated now, waving the gun around.

Alyx quickly crawled to the end of the couch, grabbed the paperweight she had spied earlier and threw it, missing her by a couple of feet.

In that instant, I lunged at Charvette from the top of the bookshelf, knocking the gun out of her hand and batting it out of the way when it hit the floor. She didn’t see Pooky behind her heels, stepped back, lost her balance, and fell on her ample behind. Misty came out of the shadows and pounced on her, biting her everywhere, shredding her with her back feet while Charvette screamed, “Get them off of me!”

Alyx scrambled for the fallen weapon, picked it up, and leveled it at her until the police arrived.

Much later, Charvette told the police the whole story. She knew Rupert’s business was failing and that he had approached Dunne Development with the luxury condominium idea, investing heavily without Novie’s knowledge.

He promised Charvette he would divorce his wife and marry her when he received his share of the profit. James Dunne originally told Rupert the only way he could go forward with the project was to have at least one of the buildings next to one of his or it wouldn’t be worth it. When it looked like Alyx and Maggie weren’t going to sell, Rupert pressured his wife to sell. When he told Charvette that his wife had made her final decision after talking with Alyx, Charvette snapped. Some said that since she couldn’t get mad at him, she turned her anger against Alyx.

The
Beachside Journal
ran a full story on the incident, including what the writer called our
heroic
actions. Some people were skeptical about the role we played, arguing that we only reacted on instinct, while others joked that we knew exactly what we were doing and had planned the whole thing. Alyx could only speculate. All I can say is that if I’d acted on instinct alone, I’d still be cowering under a piece of furniture, and that goes for Misty and Pooky as well.

On the same page of the newspaper, Alyx read an article about a purse-snatching ring. The article said the Beachside police had solved a tri-city string of robberies that involved purse snatching, the purses being returned within the hour with nothing missing. The thieves, mostly teen juvenile delinquents, stole the purse, had a duplicate made of the owner’s house key and then looked for the purse owner’s home address, usually found in the wallet.

They had cracked the case when they found two men who looked like they had encountered attack cats at the last home they tried to burglarize. The officer who found them said they had had plenty of time to get away before he arrived, but apparently they had been too traumatized to make a move. Beachside Police arrested the accused ringleader––Dan Ramsey, owner of Ramsey’s Collectibles on Ocean Street––when they searched the store and found a notebook with a list of addresses that matched those of the homes burglarized.

“What greater gift than the love of a cat?”

––
Charles Dickens

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO:
 
The Dinner Party

The following day, I heard Alyx cancel the dinner at the restaurant. She opted, instead, to host a dinner party at home to celebrate Ethan’s release and all other good things that deserved a celebration.
 

“Murfy, you and your friends are invited too,” she said as she hung up the phone.

The night of the dinner party, Alyx paid more than the usual attention to her appearance. She couldn’t decide what to wear. She stood in front of her closet, pulling one outfit after another off the hangers, holding them up to her front, and then hanging them back up with disgust. The girls and I were getting dizzy watching her. Amazed at what she saw, Misty wondered if there was something wrong with Alyx. I said she was nervous about seeing that lawyer, David Hunter.

Misty and Pooky were all excited until Alyx decided on a generic black dress which, according to Misty was more suited for a funeral than a party. Alyx laid the dress out on the bed, undressed and stepped in the shower.

Misty immediately jumped on it, intent on destroying it, and invited Pooky and me to join her in the fun. I ran off, not wanting any part in what the girls were doing. Minutes later, I heard the water shut off and I sneaked back into the room. As I predicted, Alyx wasn’t happy when she came out of the shower and saw the felines resting comfortably on her dress.

“Oh, no!” she moaned, “Look what you’ve done to my dress. Now what am I going to wear?”

Alyx sat on the bed and dialed a number.

“Maggie, I don’t have anything to wear. I have thirty minutes to get ready for company, and I have nothing to wear. I had a dress picked out––that black sleeveless sheath I wear to all parties––laid it on the bed while I showered, and the cats got on it, bunched it all up and it’s full of cat hair. Any suggestions?”

Alyx laughed. “Yes, you’re right; the cats do have good taste, and yes, it is just a dinner and not a lifetime commitment. I’ll see you shortly.”

Maggie arrived and helped Alyx select a soft, flowered chiffon skirt, and a mauve, spaghetti strapped silk top, with a lacy, deep V-neckline. She wore no jewelry, but did wear sandals. Satisfied she didn’t look too dressed up, Alyx joined Ethan in the living room to wait for the rest of the guests.

Ethan didn’t bring a date. He told Alyx he wasn’t ready to bring anyone home to meet the family. He had finally called Lea and told her what was in his heart. As it turned out, she hadn’t lied to him after all. Her friend, Steve, had spent the night, but on the couch––he was just a friend as she had told Ethan. Ethan and Lea parted on a friendly note, recognizing they weren’t right for each other anymore.

“Thanks for the party, Mom.”

“I’m thankful we can do this. It could have just as easily gone the other way; I could be visiting you in jail or you could be visiting my grave.”

“I don’t ever want to go through that again if I can help it. The arrest alone was enough to traumatize me.”

“You haven’t told me what happened. Do you feel like talking about it?”

“I don’t mind talking about it. Two thoughts wiggled through my head when Smarts said I was under arrest. One consisted of
what if they never find who did it?
The other––
I didn’t do anything
. The latter made me mouthy, making me look even guiltier.

“My feelings were certainly not spared when we arrived at the police station. They roughed me out of the car, the handcuffs bruising the bones under my skin. Once inside, I was pressed against a cold wall with eight others. After standing in line for over three hours, I was finally called to the window, where there was the meanest woman I’ve ever had the misfortune of speaking to.

“Everything was taken out of my pockets and placed into a plastic container, sealed with its own special number, in case I ever got out to claim it. From there, they placed me in a holding cell for a good five hours before I was given any food, or allowed to make phone calls. From the conversations going on around me, it seemed everyone was eager to share their story of how and why they were there. It was like a social gathering of misfits, and I didn’t want any part of it. I patiently waited in the corner for one free phone call, thinking about whom to call.
Maggie said she would have called a lawyer
.
I thought about calling Dad
. In the end, I called no one.”

“We survived this, Ethan, and we’re the better for the experience.” She took his arm, “Come on. I’ll buy you a drink.”

Alyx looked over the table setting, making sure nothing was missing, lit the candles, and greeted everyone as they came in. The dinner––
shrimp scampi and rice
catered by Angelo’s on the River smelled delicious; the dessert, a bowl of fresh fruit and
cannoli
, not so much. She added croutons and cubed Feta cheese to the salad of mixed baby greens when her brother, Tom, arrived with his wife, Susan. Tom joined Ethan, who mixed him his drink of choice.

Maggie and George walked in with David Hunter. Alyx was talking to David when Bob arrived. Maggie, wearing a sleeveless, pale yellow, lightweight linen dress answered the door, looking uncomfortable in her role as greeter.

Alyx excused herself and went to her friend’s rescue.

“Hi, Bob; I’m glad you could make it,” and looking around him added, “Is Helen with you?”

“No, she couldn’t make it; she’s allergic to cats.”

Maggie appeared to stifle a laugh when Alyx glared at her. To everyone’s relief, Ethan approached his father and led him to where the bar was set up.

“Maggie, behave yourself. Give him a break,” Alyx pleaded, “Do it for Ethan’s sake.”

“Okay, you’re right; he has tried to redeem himself and who am I to hold a grudge if you and Ethan are willing to forgive him.”

Ethan asked everyone to take a seat around the table and Alyx raised her wine glass for a toast.

“Thank you all for coming to my celebration of all good things and for your help and support during a difficult period in my life and Ethan’s; I don’t know what I would have done without you.” She turned to Ethan, “Do you have anything you want to say?”

“What Mom said goes for me too. Thank you.”

My roommates and I strutted to the kitchen for the shrimp and rice that Alyx had spooned into our bowls before she sat down to dinner, and we had our own celebration.

THE END