Leann Sweeney - The Cat, the Lady and the Liar

Mike had a grip on Candace’s elbow. “George, this one needs to sit down, lie down or—

“I’m fine, Chief,” Candace said. “You can’t shut me out of this one.”

Mike inhaled and let it out in a huff. “All right, but you sit, you stay quiet, you—”

“I promise,” Candace said.

Then Mike led us to the dining room.

Ritaestelle was sitting at the table talking to a Woodcrest officer, my cat held close to her chest. Her face was ashen.

When she saw me, she said, “I am so very sorry, Miss Jillian. But your precious Chablis is fine. She is a little afraid, but she’s fine.”

We all sat down, and Mike said to the Woodcrest officer, “Thanks for letting us talk in here, Deputy Franklin.”

“Miss Longworth has quite the tale to tell,” Franklin said. “You up to starting over?”

Ritaestelle smiled wanly. “I most certainly am, Malcolm.” She scanned all our faces. “I remember when Malcolm was just a baby. I was at his baptism.”

Candace said, “What happened, Miss Longworth?”

“Let us ask the questions, Candy—I mean Candace,” Mike said. “We can handle this. You’ve been—”

“I am fine. Do go on, Miss Longworth,” Candace said.

“First,” Ritaestelle said, looking down at Chablis. “I expect someone wants to be in familiar arms.”

She held my cat out, and I took Chablis from her and held her close. She began to purr—and shed clumps of hair that stuck to my wet blouse. When cats are afraid some of them do shed like this.

I sat down, and Ritaestelle began to speak. “This all began many years ago, when Nancy and I were very young and matters of the heart left both of us scarred. We both hid our scars well—but they were always there.”

“This was about Desmond Holloway, wasn’t it?” I said.

“Yes, but about so much more. I thought I was being a kind person, a generous person, but I was wrong. I have hurt others. As Mr. Stewart so aptly put it”—she smiled at Tom—“I have lived my life wearing blinders.”

She went on to talk about Desmond, how he told her when they first became romantically involved decades ago that he was done with Shelton—and all the others. “I never knew how hurt Nancy was when he chose me. Of course, he only chose me because I had money. When he returned to Woodcrest two months ago, Nancy informed me tonight that he did not even recognize her. She had to tell him who she was. You can imagine how upset that made her.”

Tom nodded. “I’d substitute ‘enraged’ for ‘upset.’ That rage is what started everything.”

“Yes,” Ritaestelle said. “When she reminded him who she was, he compounded the problem by telling her that he’d come back to be with me.”

George entered the room with a blanket over his arm and carrying a tray. I flashed back to earlier in the day. So much had happened since.

Once he’d set down coffee and sweet rolls and homemade chocolate chip cookies, he stopped by Ritaestelle’s chair at the head of the table. “I am so happy to have my lady home.” Then he took the blanket to Candace, helped her remove the raincoat and draped the blanket around her shoulders.

Ritaestelle smiled at him—such a sweet, gentle smile—before he turned and left.

“We pushed Shelton tonight,” Mike said. “We gave her enough information about the case—that we had a print on the medicine bottle, one in the car, that the financials were coming in tomorrow, that Miss Longworth probably didn’t order the tranquilizers, and—”

“But Shelton wasn’t in this house day and night,” I said. “How could she drug Ritaestelle, hide stolen items and—” I stopped, picturing Muriel in handcuffs. “Oh. She had help.”

“Yes,” Ritaestelle said. “The way Muriel acted at the funeral home, the way she was apologizing? Nancy told me she knew Muriel would . . . what was the word she used? Fold. Yes. She said that Muriel would fold.”

“Okay, I get all this,” Candace said. “But what happened in here? What happened tonight? I don’t get any of that.”

Ritaestelle closed her eyes briefly. “Yes. That was quite terrifying. Chief Baca, would you mind pouring me a cup of coffee? And if anyone would care for something stronger?” She raised her eyebrows. “George would be happy to bring you anything you would like. Brandy? A cocktail? Wine?”

Even though wine sounded wonderfully medicinal, I opted for coffee. We all did. I even poured half-and-half from the little china pitcher into a saucer for Chablis. I held the saucer so she could lap up the treat.

“This coffee is great,” Candace said, nodding. Then she winced and touched the back of her head. “Remind me not to nod. Nancy Shelton sure knows how to take someone down. But why me?”

“You printed everyone yesterday,” I said. “I think she stole your print cards because she knew Muriel might have left print evidence somewhere it shouldn’t have been—like in the Caddy. But deep down she knew this was all coming to an end.” I looked at Mike. “Right, Chief?”

“Yup. Things were spinning out of control, and tonight she decided to make one last headline by making a splash. She wanted to humiliate you, Miss Longworth. Make sure people in town talked about you for a long time.”

“I sort of remember taking the fingerprints,” Candace murmured. She still wasn’t my normal Candace. “Sorry. What happened when she brought you here?”

Ritaestelle looked at me. “I am so grateful she did not harm you.” Then she stared at the wall straight ahead. “When Nancy brought me inside at gunpoint, she threatened to kill anyone who came near us or anyone who tried to leave. She told George to line everyone up in the hallway and that she would know if anyone tried to leave. Then we went into the study. Of course George called the police immediately, though I did not know that at the time.”

“This is the confusing part. What did she want?” I asked.

“Like Chief Baca said,” Ritaestelle replied, “she wanted to make an exit that would forever link us. She wanted me to kill her.”

“What?” I said. “Shoot her?”

“Yes. I ended up doing so, too. But only because she was about to . . . to harm your precious cat. I could not have that. As soon as we sat down in the study, she held your poor cat so tightly, and then she produced another gun, one she had strapped to her ankle.”

“Even bad cops don’t go anywhere without their backup weapons, I guess,” Tom said.

“She set the gun on the table between us and told me that I was going to kill her. That was to be my legacy, she said—that I had killed a crazy woman in my fancy house. And if I did not pick up the gun and shoot her, then she would kill poor Chablis and then shoot herself. Whatever scenario I chose, the damage would be done.”

Ritaestelle released a tremulous breath, the first time I’d seen her less than calm. “But first, she wanted me to know about all the harm I’d done. How I had driven Justine to drink, spoiled Farley, supported my freeloading cousins. Then she told me how she had enlisted Muriel to help her make me look like a fool to everyone—and that Muriel was happy to help. Ruining my reputation, she said, was the best revenge for stealing the only man she had ever cared about and for acting like I was running Woodcrest—even though being in charge was her job as police chief. She said she truly enjoyed every minute of listening to people talk about me when the shoplifting became known. Everyone was whispering and shaking their heads in confusion and contempt at what Nancy called my fall from grace.”

“What about Evie?” I said softly. “Why did she kill her?”

Ritaestelle lifted her coffee cup to her lips with shaky hands and sipped. “That is the saddest part of all this. Nancy told me that she was simply in the way. Evie came here the night I left to seek your help, Jillian, though I had no idea. When I drove out of the garage and away from the house, I never even saw Evie’s car parked near the front door.”