Leann Sweeney - The Cat, the Wife and the Weapon

Tom said, “We decided it was best not to let anyone know we were still in touch. Keep the peace, in other words.”

“You see, Mr. Roth was extremely controlling,” Karen said. “He wouldn’t allow Hilary to talk to me either, though she called me without his knowledge on more than one occasion. I have no issue with Hilary, even though Thomas is less, shall we say, open-minded when it comes to her.” She stared over at Tom, seated next to me in the wooden booth. “Thomas, can you explain why I had to find out via a phone call from Hilary that Finnian was in town? Oh, and I also heard you spent much of last night being interviewed by the police. Did you get all those cuts and bruises from fighting with one of the police officers for some reason?”

“No, Mom.” Tom squeezed my knee and I rested my hand over his. “I planned on calling you to explain the minute things settled down.”

“The newspaper said the man who died was driving your car. Did he steal it?” she asked.

“You could say that,” Tom said.

“How intentionally vague,” she replied. “You always think I’ll fall off the wagon if you involve me in less-than-happy aspects of your life. I won’t, Thomas. I’m stronger than you think.”

“Maybe you are, Mom. But I don’t like upsetting you. Anything involving Finn might make you, well… overreact.”

She looked at Finn, her eyes showing her affection for him. “Perhaps you’re right, Thomas. Did you have anything to do with the accident? Is that why the police kept you so long?”

“There was plenty to discuss,” Tom said.

I could tell he wasn’t about to elaborate because he might not want Karen hearing about Finn’s head injury right now. Maybe she’d be upset because Tom called on me to help Finn rather than her.

Finn’s gaze went back and forth between Tom and Karen. “He kept the police busy to help me, Nana. When Tom saw it was Nolan who crashed the car, Tom figured he came to town looking for me. See, I left Mom and Nolan to come here.”

Tom said, “Can we talk about something else?”

“You ran away?” Karen said. “Oh my goodness, I don’t know what to think.”

“I couldn’t stay there anymore, Nana. I was hoping Tom would let me live here.”

“So much for putting this conversation on the shelf for now.” Tom sounded exasperated.

Karen didn’t seem to hear Tom. She focused on Finn’s bruised forehead. “Did they hit you? Because if they did—”

“No. Nothing like that,” Finn said. “I don’t know how I got hurt. Wish I did. Anyway, it’s all part of why Tom ended up talking to the police for so many hours. With Nolan dead and the gun we found in my backpack—”

“Gun?” Karen, sounding aghast, glanced between Finn and Tom. “Was it one of your guns, Thomas?”

“Nope. That’s all I’m saying about it, too.” Tom looked at Finn. “Please let’s not talk about any of this until we know more. Words fly faster than hummingbirds around this town. We don’t want to start rumors.”

“I’m cool with that. But you better tell Bob, since he’s the one who found the gun to begin with,” Finn said.

Karen blanched. “Bob? Our Bob?”

“See, this is why I wanted to wait until I had all the facts before talking to you,” Tom said.

Karen said, “Did you call him? If so, why in God’s good name would you do such a thing?”

Tom held up a hand. “I haven’t figured out why Bob showed up here. But he’s at my house.”

Karen rested her hand over her heart. “Oh my.”

“You never liked him, did you, Nana?” Finn said. “How come?”

She put an arm around Finn. “You know, I believe Thomas is correct. We can talk about all this later. As for Hilary, I’m certain she’s quite distressed over losing her husband. Where will she stay? I could offer to—”

“Please don’t, Mom,” Tom said, his tone firm.

I said, “I understand she’ll be staying at the Pink House.”

“I take it you won’t be staying there with her, Finn?” Karen said.

“Um, no.” Finn focused on his empty plate.

“Then you can come to my house,” Karen said. “The place is small, but there’s always room for you.”

“Mom, he has a dog,” Tom said.

Karen blinked several times. “Oh. A dog. That would be a problem,” she said, obviously disappointed.

Tom looked at Finn. “Mom’s friend Ed—you remember I told you about him?—anyway, he’s afraid of dogs.”

“It’s okay, Nana,” Finn said. “I’ll find somewhere to stay.”

“You are more than welcome to continue on at my place,” I said.

“Thanks, Jillian,” Tom said, “but as soon as I get rid of Bob—which is next on my agenda—Finn can come to my house.”

“Poor Yoshi will have to get used to yet another cat,” I said, thinking of Dashiell. I pulled my phone from my pocket. “Check this out, Finn.” I showed him my cat cam and, sure enough, Yoshi and Merlot were sleeping in the living room. “They’re not snuggling up yet, but for only one day, this is progress.”

Finn took the phone and smiled. “This cat cam is one fine app.”

“Tom set it up for me so I can see what my cats are doing when I’m not at home,” I said.

Karen peered over at the display. “Toshi is cute,” she said.

“Yoshi,” Finn said, playing with the phone to see different angles of the room. Didn’t need any instruction, I noted.

Unfortunately I was being optimistic about Dashiell accepting a dog into his home. Tom seemed to have forgotten that Shawn Cuddahee, Allison’s husband and partner in running the Mercy Animal Sanctuary, rescued Dashiell right after he was attacked by two dogs.

“Before I go talk to Bob, I need to pick Dashiell up from the vet—that is, if he’s ready to come home,” Tom said.

“He is,” I said. “I called this morning and Dashiell is doing fine.”

“Good,” Tom said. “I’ll get him after we’re done here. Boy am I looking forward to seeing my big old cat, but I think telling my brother to take a hike will be the icing on the cake.”

“While you’re busy, perhaps Finn could come to my house for a while?” Karen said.

“Sure,” Finn said, still fiddling with my phone. “But not for too long. Yoshi will miss me.”

“Got any message for Bob?” Tom said to his mother.

Her blue eyes grew frosty. “No message.”

The silence hung like a thick cloud over all of us for several seconds. Tom broke the tension by saying, “Let’s go. Dashiell probably wants out of the vet clinic.”

After we left the restaurant and went our separate ways, I wondered what had happened between Tom and Bob, and between Bob and his mother. No one was offering any information, but then, I wasn’t sure I even wanted to know.

I drove home, the wonderful distraction of our conversation at the diner replaced by fatigue and worry. A man had been shot to death and Finn not only had a gun in his possession when we found him walking on the side of the road, he also had blood on his clothes. Candace would surely unearth something from the evidence to eliminate Finn as a suspect in Nolan Roth’s death. She had to. No way could she believe Finn was guilty of murder. As I approached my house, those thoughts slid to the back of my mind when I realized there was a car parked on the side of the road, one I didn’t recognize—an old banged-up blue sedan with South Carolina plates.

I pulled into the driveway and stopped about halfway up. A man immediately got out of the sedan and started toward my van. He wore no sweater or jacket in this chilly weather and his striped button-down shirt was wrinkled, his jeans baggy and his long sandy hair blew around his head in the autumn wind.