Catnip (Dunbarton Mysteries Book 1) (16 page)

They returned to the house the
way they’d left, across the lawn and in the back door. James and Alice met them
in the kitchen.

Alice grabbed her daughter and
gave her a hug. “Thank God you’re back. We’ve been so worried. It’s taken much
longer than we thought.” Then she noticed the cat carrier. “What have you got
there?”

“You’d better sit down, Mom. It’s
Marmalade.”

And with that, Chris opened the
carrier door and a large ball of orange fur exploded out. Alice collapsed into
the nearest chair and he jumped straight into her lap. It was a testimony to
the strain she had been under that she immediately buried her face in his fur
and burst into tears; and it was a testimony to the happiness he felt at being
home that Marmalade let her.

When Alice had control of herself
once more, they had to explain everything. But first, they put food in
Marmalade’s waiting bowl and watched him devour it. Then they all went to the
library and collapsed. Marmalade curled up in his bed by the fireplace and
promptly fell asleep.

It was late, so celebrations had
to wait. They had court early the next morning. When their tale was done, Chris
said his goodnights and prepared to leave. James accompanied him to the door.
The last thing Chris said before leaving was, “Put a bolt on that cat door.”

Monday dawned cold and gray, and
weather reports predicted the season’s first snowfall within twenty-four hours.
Shae and Hugh were meeting them at the courthouse. Chris picked the others up
at the house. Thankfully, there were no pickets that morning and they were able
to sneak the cat carrier out and into the car.

Chris had called Dave when he got
home the night before. He let his partner complain about getting him out of bed
before giving him the good news and gave him a shortened version of what had
happened, promising him the whole story the next morning. Then he filled him in
on their plan of attack. Dave agreed and they both went to bed and slept more
soundly than they had for weeks.

They got to the courthouse early.
Dave met them in the parking lot. He had arranged to have Marmalade hidden in
one of the conference rooms until the moment was ripe to produce him, so they
covered the cat carrier with a coat and went quickly up the steps and in the
back door. People were used to seeing them in the courthouse by now, so no-one
paid any attention as they walked quickly through the halls. Once inside the
conference room, they locked the door and waited. When it was time, they left
the room, locked the door and told the guard that Dave had arranged to let
no-one in but Dave, Chris or a family member.

Shae and Hugh met them at the
courtroom door. As they were going in, Bill Abbot and the Society attorney,
Jarrod Inglis, joined them. Abbot was smiling smugly as he started through the
door. He looked a little surprised at seeing Hugh with them, but before he
could comment, he noticed Shae standing behind him.

“What are you doing here?” he
asked, looking wildly from her to the Dunbars, and back again. “What is she
doing here?”

Chris smiled benignly. “Oh,
sorry, Abbot. I don’t believe I’ve introduced my old friend, Shae O’Neil.”

“Who you calling ‘old’, Chris?”
Shae drawled and winked broadly at Abbot. “See you in court,” she added as she
walked past him into the courtroom and sat down at the front, behind the
defense table.

Abbot, looking pale, followed her.

“Is there a problem, Bill?”
Inglis asked. The other man shook his head and sat down.

Chris and James sat with Dave at
the defense table while Alice, Alicia, Shae and Hugh sat behind.

“Who’s that woman sitting behind
Abbot?” Shae asked Alicia, indicating a well-dressed woman behind the plaintiff’s
desk. She was slim with chestnut hair cut in a sleek page. It was difficult to
tell her age. Her skin was smooth and unlined, with artfully applied make-up.
She wore a beige suit that rivaled Shae’s designer rags.

It was Hugh that replied. “That’s
Jennifer Abbot, Bill’s wife.”

Shae looked closely at the
stylish woman. “Well, no wonder he needed money. Look at that suit,” she
whispered.

They all looked.

“What about it?” Hugh asked,
bewildered.

The three women exchanged glances
and smiled smugly. “Armani,” Shae announced.

Hugh continued to look
bewildered. “What does that mean?”

“Expensive,” the three whispered
together and giggled, which drew a squelching glance from Dave just as the
judge entered.

They all stood. Abbot barely
seemed to notice as things got rolling. He kept darting nervous glances at
Shae, and jumped as if stung when the judge asked Dave if he was ready to
present their case.

Dave stood and began. “We are,
your Honor. The evidence presented in this case thus far has been purely
circumstantial. There are no witnesses that can say they have ever seen my
clients harm the cat named Marmalade in any way. The entire case rests solely
on the assumption that the cat disappeared because of the terms of the late
Mrs. Amanda Dunbar’s will leaving her entire estate to him. And we agree with
this assumption, your Honor.”

There was a shocked silence as
everyone in the courtroom digested this, followed by a cacophony of excited
chatter as spectators debated what had been said.

“Silence in the court! Please
continue, Mr. Jukes.”

“However, we disagree with the
assumption that it is the Dunbar family who has the most to gain from this, and
in fact we have evidence to show that it is the APS that stands to gain, and we
intend to prove that it’s Director, William Abbot, has been embezzling funds
from the Society and needs the money from the estate to cover his theft before
the scheduled audit in the new year.” He paused and waited for the expected
outburst.

Bill Abbot leaped to his feet
shouting, “That’s a lie!”

Jarrod Inglis leaped to his feet
shouting, “I object!”

Most of the spectators leaped to
their feet to get a better look.

The judge banged his gavel
uselessly, unable to be heard above the din.

When things had died down, Dave
addressed the judge once more. “If I may continue, your Honor, I would like to
call Shae O’Neil as our first witness.”

Shae walked forward, was duly
sworn in, and sat in the witness box.

“Miss O’Neil, can you please
explain why you have come to our town?”

Shae explained her relationship
to Chris and the reason for her coming to help. “The Dunbars knew that they
weren’t responsible for Marmalade’s disappearance and felt that the APS had the
most to gain. They did a little digging around and discovered that Bill Abbot
appeared to be living far above his means. We decided that we needed to see the
books, and so I agreed to approach Bill Abbot. We told him that a large
corporate donation was available but that the company wanted to look at the
books before writing a check. He bought it and gave me a copy. I forwarded the
disc to a friend of mine who is a forensic accountant.”

Abbot had been the picture of
self-righteous indignation until the mention of the accountant, at which time
the color drained from his face.

“Who is your friend and what
exactly does he do?”

“His name is Anthony Kennedy. His
job is to follow the trail of financial transactions. This is done when illegal
operations are suspected.”

“What kind of illegal operations?”

“Fraud, embezzlement, money
laundering. He has worked for private firms and banks, and even certain
government departments. He has appeared as an expert witness in a number of
high-profile cases, and is willing to do so here.”

There was a lot of excited
whispering as dozens of pairs of eyes sought out Bill Abbot’s face to see how
he was reacting. The gavel banged once more.

“And what did he find?”

Inglis jumped to his feet. “I
object, your Honor. This is hearsay.”

“Your Honor, we are prepared to
arrange for Mr. Kennedy’s presence in this courtroom but we have evidence that
we feel will make that unnecessary.”

“You may continue for now.”

Dave took the report from the
defense table and handed it to Shae.

“Can you please explain to the
court what this document is and where it came from?”

“Yes. This is his preliminary
report. It says that, although the financial records have been amateurishly
doctored, there is clear evidence of theft.”

The courtroom exploded in sound.

“It’s a lie!” Abbot croaked
frantically.

This time, Inglis didn’t bother
to object. He took the report and started reading. The judge quieted the room
once more.

“Those are all the questions that
I have for Miss O’Neil, your Honor.”

“Does opposing council wish to
cross-examine?” The Judge turned to Inglis.

Looking up from the report,
tight-lipped, Inglis replied, “Not at this time, your Honor.”

Dave smiled at Shae. “Thank you,
Miss O’Neil. At this time we would like to call Investigator Hugh Jameson.”

Abbot was sweating profusely as
he watched Hugh take the stand. No-one appeared to notice when Alicia quietly
left the room.

“Mr. Jameson, would you please
explain your involvement in this affair.”

Hugh cleared his throat
nervously. “I’m an investigator for the APS. I get called in when there is a
suspected case of animal neglect or abuse. I was the one who was called when
the cat, Marmalade, disappeared.”

“And who did you believe was
responsible for the disappearance?”

Hugh looked apologetically at the
Dunbars. “At the time, I thought that the Dunbars were responsible.”

“Do you still feel this way?”

“No, I don’t.”

“What caused you to change your
mind?”

Hugh told of the phone call from
Alicia and the revelations about Abbot and the doctored books.

“Who do you now feel is
responsible?”

“William Abbot, the director.”

“Do you have any other reason for
believing this, other than the accountant’s report?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Would you please explain?”

“Yesterday evening Chris Mallory,
Alicia Dunbar, Shae O’Neil and I visited the Society’s shelter to look for any
evidence that might support the accountant’s report.”

The spectators, who had been
listening in stunned silence, gasped.

Abbot jumped up once more,
shouting, “That’s trespass and breaking and entering.” His attorney grabbed his
arm and pulled him back into his chair.

“I have the security codes and
keys to the buildings,” Hugh explained. “I often go at night to check on
animals that have just come in.”

“And did you find anything?”

“We did. We found receipts for
work supposedly done at the shelter which I know was never done. We faxed
copies of those receipts to the accountant.”

“Are these the photocopies?” Dave
asked, passing several sheets of papers to him.

Hugh looked at the papers and
said they were.

Dave passed them on to the Judge
and Jarrod Inglis. Abbot seemed to wilt visibly.

“Did you find anything else?”

“We did.”

Dave nodded to the guard at the
door who turned and opened it. “We found Marmalade.”

And with that, Alicia walked in
carrying the subject of so much commotion tightly in her arms.

The courtroom exploded with
sound. Spectators shrieked. Abbot shouted, “That’s not Marmalade, that’s
Horace!” The judge pounded his gavel. Alicia walked calmly forward and stood
before the judge.

Jarrod Inglis stood and spoke
above the din. “Your Honor!” His voice achieved what the judge’s gavel had been
unable to do. The hub-bub quieted as no-one wanted to miss what was going to
happen next.

“Your Honor, this cat is
obviously not Marmalade. This cat is completely orange. Marmalade has a white
stripe. I must object to this obvious attempt to mislead the court.” He looked
contemptuously at Dave.

Hugh continued. “I didn’t think
that it was either.” He explained about Horace and his history with the APS. “It
was Alicia who recognized him, and he recognized her, howling and trying to
claw his way out of the cage to get to her. If you look closely, you will see
that the hair under his chin and down his stomach has been dyed.”

Both the judge and Inglis
examined the cat closely. Inglis’ eyes grew flinty and he turned and looked
pointedly at his client.

“And there is more proof.
Marmalade was micro-chipped when he inherited the estate.”

“And does this cat have a
microchip?”

“He does. I brought our computer
and wand with me. You can check it for yourselves.”

Dave had the computer rolled in.
Hugh took the wand and passed it over the cat’s neck. Everyone in the courtroom
craned their necks to try to read the computer screen. When Marmalade’s named
came up, cheers erupted among the spectators and a number of them rushed over
to pat the Dunbars’ backs and shake their hands.

“Quiet, please, or I will clear
the courtroom.” The judge’s stern warning restored order. No-one wanted to have
to leave. This was better than ‘Law and Order’.

Inglis made one last attempt. “Your
Honor, how do we know that this machine hasn’t been tampered with?”

“There is one final, indisputable
piece of evidence,” Hugh continued triumphantly. “This morning I sent a DNA
sample to the lab that made a DNA record of Marmalade following his
inheritance. They will have the results in a day or so.’

“I have no more questions of this
witness, your Honor.” Dave said.

“Mr. Inglis, do you wish to
question this witness?”

Inglis was beaten and he knew it.
“No, your Honor.”

“Very well. With the evidence
that has been presented and the return of the cat, this court finds for the
defendants. This case is dismissed. And officers, please put Mr. Abbot under
arrest. The charges are theft and extortion,” the judge look balefully at
Abbot,” to start with.”