Catnip (Dunbarton Mysteries Book 1) (19 page)

It had been a relief for James to
get into the office and work. Thankfully, Pete and the others had kept things
going through the weeks of the lawsuit and he was pleased to find a number of
substantial orders waiting for him. But try as he might, he couldn’t put
thoughts of the murder out of his mind. He believed Dave when he said the
police didn’t have any real evidence against them, but even so, the sooner the
case was solved and the real murderer named, the better. They’d been living
under a cloud of suspicion for too long. It was time to get their lives back to
normal.

On his way home that afternoon,
he pulled into the gas station to fill up. At the next pump he could see an
expensive-looking sports car and a scowling woman fighting the blustery
November wind as she tried to pump her own gas. Realizing that the woman was
Jennifer Abbot, he saw his chance to make a contribution to the investigation.

Making the gallant gesture, he
went over and offered to pump the gas for her. She smiled briefly, until she
realized who he was.

“We’ve never actually been
introduced, Mrs. Abbot. I’m James Dunbar.”

“I know who you are,” was her
surly reply.

Ignoring the animosity in her
tone, he continued. “I want you to know how sorry my family and I are for your
loss.”

“I’ll bet you’re sorry!”

“Of course we are. There’s no
denying that your husband caused us a great deal of grief, but none of us would
have wished to see him killed.”

She thawed a little at his
obvious sincerity. Pressing his advantage, James went on. “It must be dreadful
for you. I hope that you have the support of friends and family at this time.”

She clutched her coat closer. “I
don’t have any family in this area but our friends have been kind,” she
admitted grudgingly.

“Was the last time you saw him in
the courtroom that day?” he asked, knowing full well it wasn’t.

“No, I had to go to the police
station to bail him out.” She sounded annoyed. “They didn’t release him until
evening. Then he wanted to stop by his office on the way home to get a few
personal belongings. But when we got there, the police had been and searched
it, looking for evidence I guess. Anyway, he decided to stay a while and clean
up. He said I should go home. He’d use the Society van to drive home later. He
could return it the next morning before anyone needed it.” She was choosing her
words carefully, afraid perhaps of giving the wrong impression. However, he
couldn’t tell if it was her husband’s reputation she was trying to protect or
her own.

“But when he didn’t come home,”
he said gently, “what did you do?”

She looked up, “Oh, I didn’t know
he hadn’t come home. When I got home I was exhausted but also really upset, so
I just took a sleeping pill and went to bed. It wasn’t until I woke up the next
morning that I discovered he hadn’t come home. And even then I wasn’t worried.
I just thought he’d spent the night at the office. There’s a cot in case they
have a dog or cat that needs round-the-clock care. I phoned him, but there was
no answer, so I thought he was on his way home. He didn’t answer his cell,
either, but I just thought he’d turned it off. I was having breakfast when the
police arrived to tell me what happened. I still can’t believe it.”

*  *  *

“She sounded completely
believable,” James reported later. “I don’t know, we may be on the wrong track.”

Even Alicia seemed depressed by
his news. “I was so sure ...” She flopped back disconsolately in her chair and
ran her hands through her hair as she thought about the information her father
had relayed. How could they have been so wrong?

“Wait a minute.” She sat up
quickly. “We are so gullible. Just because she sounds believable doesn’t mean
she is telling the truth. We assume because we are transparent and truthful
that everyone else is too. She may just be a very good liar. Can anyone back up
her story? Did anyone see her leave, call her at home?”

“Well I couldn’t exactly ask her
that,” James remarked, looking at the others for affirmation. “I’m sure the
police will have asked her those questions.”

“I wish we knew what she told
them,” she replied as she resolutely added her father’s information under the ‘Suspects’
heading.

“I somehow doubt they’d be
willing to share that information with us,” her mother said waspishly.

“I know. It’s really annoying
that they can ask those questions and we can’t,” she went on, knowing she was
being unreasonable.

“That’s because they’re the
POLICE,” Alice snipped with an echo of the acidic tone they used to know so
well. She wanted to add ‘duh’, but refrained.

Alicia, ignoring the sarcasm,
said, “You’re right. Anyway, it’s good to know what story she’s telling. Now we
know what we have to disprove. Good work, Dad!”

Shae read over the notes on the ‘Murder
Board’, as Alicia liked to call it. “Well, I’d say she has motive and
opportunity. She was unhappy in her marriage and he carried a large insurance
policy. They were going to lose a lot, if not everything, if he was convicted
of fraud and embezzlement. That’s motive. She was the one who picked him up
from the police station and drove him to the shelter. That’s opportunity. She
says she just dropped him off but she could have killed him, and then gone home
and taken the sleeping pill. She has no one to verify her alibi, at least not
that we know of.”

“Neither do the rest of us, “Alicia
pointed out.

“Yes, well, we can use it for
reasonable doubt if they end up charging you,” Shae replied, only half-joking.

Alicia wrote it on the whiteboard
under ‘Opportunity’.

“There’s no physical evidence,”
she pointed out. “You always need physical evidence. The only fingerprints are
Abbots’ and mine. And there’s no DNA.”

“The police may have physical
evidence that we don’t know about.”

Alicia put a question mark under ‘Physical
Evidence’.

She hadn’t mentioned the
conversation she’d had with Hugh that morning. She’d reached him on his cell
and asked him if the police had talked to him too.

“Yes, the police have been to see
me. I can’t believe they really suspect us. I guess it doesn’t help that our
fingerprints are all over the office,” he added ruefully.

“I know. The next time I search a
place, I’ll be sure to wear gloves.”

“How often do you think that will
happen?” he asked, thinking she was joking.

“You never know when the need
might arise. I’m going to buy a box of latex gloves, just in case. What did you
tell the police?” she continued, trying to sound casual.

“I told them the truth. When I
left your place I went straight home to bed. Alone. I had to get up early the
next morning to help with the horses we’d brought in. Not much of an alibi. I’m
hoping that one of my neighbors might remember seeing my truck in the driveway.”

It didn’t sound good, but then
she remembered that her alibi was the same as his, and so was Chris’s and Shae’s,
and probably that of 90% of the population of the town for that matter. And
surely, if he had something to hide, he would have come up with a better story
than that.”

Alicia planned to visit the APS
shelter the next morning. She really did want to find out if there was any news
of Horace. She felt badly that he’d been turned back out on the street when
Abbot had substituted Marmalade for him, but mostly she was hoping that the
staff out there would be in a mood to talk about the former director and his
wife.

While she was getting ready, the
doorbell rang. Mrs. Stuart opened the door ready to do battle with the nosy
reporter who had been pestering them for an interview. Instead she saw a woman
in her mid-twenties with the slim, muscular build of a dancer or an athlete.
Her chestnut hair was close-cropped, hugging her well-shaped head and the
perfect oval of her face. Her smile revealed straight white teeth and dimples.

“Hi! Sorry to bother you so
early. Is Ali home?”

“Ali?”

“Alicia,” she amended.

There was the sound of footsteps
on the stairs. “Who is it, Mrs. Stuart? If it’s that reporter again, I’m
getting my gun.”

“You have a gun?” the girl on the
doorstep said with a grin.

“Alex!” Alicia ran down the rest
of the stairs, dragged her friend into the house and hugged her madly. “Oh, why
are you here? I’ve missed you so much! Did you bring your horse?”

Alex laughed in delight. “Oh, I’ve
missed you too. And no, she’s back home on the farm. And as to why I’m here, I
came to find out just what is going on in this little town of yours. First we
read about you in all the papers because your very wealthy cat has disappeared,
and then we learn that the kidnapper has been murdered and that you have been
questioned by the police. I couldn’t stand it anymore. As soon as I got back
from Germany, I had to come and see you and hear the details first-hand. So
spill it.”

And Alicia did, not just the
details, but all the fears and frustrations that she hadn’t liked to burden her
family with because she knew how hard it was for them too. But this was Alex
and she could tell her anything. They sat together, curled up on the couch in
the library, drinking coffee and eating fresh-baked cranberry muffins. By the
time she was done, the tears that she’d kept bottled up were flowing freely. “And
it’s almost Christmas and we’ve been so busy with the investigation that I
haven’t bought a single present or put up a single decoration.”

Alex let her talk herself out
before saying, “Well it’s a good thing I’m here to help.”

“With the decorating?” Alicia
asked, blowing her nose.

“No, silly, with the investigation.
I can only stay a few days because we’re getting ready to go to West Palm Beach
for the winter Florida circuit in January. I’d put it off if I could, but I
need the scores for the Olympic qualifiers.”

“Don’t apologize. It’s wonderful
you’re here now. And you’ll stay with us. We have plenty of room. Shae’s
staying with us too. You’ll meet her this evening. And of course, you’ll meet
Chris.”

“I absolutely have to meet Chris,”
her friend agreed wholeheartedly.

“And you’ll absolutely have to be
my maid-of-honor.”

“You’re getting married?”

Alicia nodded.

“Whoopee! At least some good has
come out of all of this.” And she hugged her once more. “So tell me what I can
do to help,” Alex said, suddenly all business.

“Well, to start with, you can
come with me to the animal shelter. You’ll give me the perfect excuse for
going. I’ll tell them that you want to see where it all happened and,
hopefully, we can get them to talk about Abbot and his wife.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. I’ll
just bring my case in and freshen up, and then we can go.”

Half an hour later they drove off
together in Alex’s SUV. Alicia was pleased to see that there were no other cars
in the visitors’ car park at the shelter when they arrived. It was much more
likely that someone would open up and speak freely if there was no one else
around to hear.

Once inside, they walked up to
the reception desk. A young woman with ‘Dani’ on her name tag was working
busily on her computer. She looked up at their approach and immediately
recognized Alicia.

“Hi, Miss Dunbar,” she said in a
friendly manner.

Alicia smiled back. “Hi, Dani. Is
Hugh here by any chance?”

“No, he’s off on a raid. We had a
report of a suspected puppy mill being operated on a farm a few miles out of
town. It’s a place we’ve removed dogs from before but the laws are so lax that
they just start up again. I don’t know how long he’ll be. You could leave a
message.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary. I just
thought I’d introduce him to Alex if he was around. Actually I’m here for two
reasons. First, has Horace been found?”

“Sorry, Miss Dunbar, no sign of
him yet. We’ll be sure and call you the minute there is any news of him.”

“I know. I’m just worried about
him. And please call me Alicia. This is my friend, Alex. She’s visiting for a
few days. She’s the other reason I’m here. She’d like to see where all the
excitement took place.”

Dani looked a little shocked and
Alicia hurried to correct her mistaken assumption. “Oh, I didn’t mean about Mr.
Abbot. I meant where we found Marmalade.”

“Oh, well that’s all right then.
Sure you can show her around the back. Maybe she’d like to adopt a dog or cat.
We’re going to be really pressed to find room if they come back with a lot of
rescued puppies.”

“I just might do that,” Alex
agreed. “My mother has been wanting a new puppy.”

Dani, looking hopeful, opened the
door for them to go through to the kennels.

Alicia made a big deal of showing
Alex where they were when they heard the howling and scratching, and then took
her back to the corner cage where Marmalade had been found. His room-mates were
still not adopted. Alicia commented on that to Dani when they had returned to
the reception area.

“Yes, it can take a long time to
find homes for older cats.” she admitted sadly.

“Actually, though, it was lucky
for us because otherwise we might never have gotten Marmalade back,” Alicia
said, wanting to steer the conversation around to a discussion of Bill Abbot.

“You’re right there. Fancy Mr.
Abbot doing anything like that! It was such a shock for us and then of course,
his being murdered was even worse.”

“Were you the one who found him?”
Alex asked, taking her cue from Alicia.

“Yes,” the girl said quietly,
still shaken at the memory.

Alicia felt guilty about
reminding her but pressed on. “You poor thing! It must have been dreadful
seeing him like that. Do you have any idea who might have done it? Did he have
any enemies? Had anyone ever threatened him? Had he had any loud arguments with
anyone?”

“Well ...” Shaken or not, Dani
couldn’t resist a little gossip. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I
wouldn’t have put it past that wife of his.”

BINGO!
Alicia pressed her
carefully. “Really, his wife Jennifer? What makes you think so?”

“She has a wicked temper. The
walls here aren’t all that thick and we’ve all heard them going at it from time
to time. She was always wanting money for something and he was always telling
her he couldn’t afford it. Still, all couples have arguments.”

‘Yes,’ Alicia thought without
saying, ‘but one of them doesn’t usually end up with his head bashed in.’
Instead she asked, “Have you told the police this?”

“Oh, sure. They asked me the same
thing you did about enemies and arguments. They didn’t seem to set much store
by what I told them, though.” She seemed a little put out. “They did question everyone
who works here and all of the volunteers, especially Nancy Webster.”

“Why especially her?” Alicia
asked, remembering number three on her list of possible suspects - shelter
staff and volunteers.

Dani leaned in and said softly,
even though there was no one else to hear, “They found some blood on the sleeve
of her volunteer’s smock.” She waited a second for effect and added, “Mr. Abbot’s
blood!”

“Really?” Alicia and Alex
exchanged looks. Another BINGO.

Dani looked very pleased at the
reaction her bit of gossip received. “Yes, they even took her to the police
station for questioning but they had to bring her back,” she said, as if
speaking about a puppy or a kitten being returned to the shelter.

“Why was that?” Alex couldn’t
help but ask.

“She has an iron clad alibi, as
they say.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, Nancy and her husband went
to visit their daughter in Goderich and stayed the night. She didn’t even find
out about Marmalade until she read it in the morning papers.”

“Where did the police find her
smock?”

“It was hanging on the coat rack
by the door. You see,” she went on, “normally the volunteers take their smocks
home with them, but Nancy was in a hurry because they were driving to Goderich,
and she forgot it when she changed into her coat. The police think the killer
put it on to protect his clothes from blood spatter, not that there was much
blood,” she added, grimacing.

Alicia was about to say it was
time they left when Dani said, “Oh, I almost forgot about the scruffy man.”

“What scruffy man?”

“There was some man here one day
not too long ago. He and Mr. Abbot had a big fight.”

Alicia sent Alex a significant
look. Another good suspect.

“Do you know who the man was?”

“No. As I said, he was a
scruffy-looking fellow. His clothes were old and he needed a shave and a
haircut. I wasn’t going to let him in to see Mr. Abbot but he just barged past
me and pounded on the door to the office. When Mr. Abbot opened the door and
saw who it was, he said it was OK and he let him in and closed the door.”

“Could you hear what the fight
was about?”

“I’ll say. They could have heard
it in town. The man was saying he wanted more money. Mr. Abbot kept telling him
that he’d been paid and he wouldn’t get another penny. The man stormed out
shouting that he’d be sorry. I asked Mr. Abbot if he wanted me to call the
police but he said no, it was just a guy who’d done an odd job for him and
wanted more than the amount they’d agreed on.”

JACKPOT!
It had to be Ray
Price.

“And did you tell the police
about what you heard?”

“Yes. They wrote it down but they
didn’t seem too interested.”

Alex nudged Alicia. A family had
just driven in and were parking their car. Time to go.

“Well, Dani, thanks for your
time. I know you’re busy. Let me know if you hear anything about Horace,”
Alicia said sincerely, turning to go.

“Sure thing. We miss him too.”
She turned to greet the newcomers, and Alex and Alicia hurried out the door and
back to their car.

It had been a profitable trip.