Shirley Murphy: Cat Under Fire

Onetime art critic Kendrick Mahl, now a gallery owner, had made a big name of Lake, though Lake's work wasn't much. Village gossip had it that Mahl took Lake into his stable to spite Janet. And who could blame Lake for jumping at the chance? Mahl was a big name in California art circles.

Mahl promoted one-man shows for Lake, pressed for articles in art publications, ran full-page, full-color ads in those same journals. Until the murder, Lake had been well on his way to becoming a big name. Now, except for the attention of sensation seekers, Lake's career was on hold. Rob Lake's world had shrunk overnight to the size of his jail cell.

Lake didn't have a solid alibi for the night Janet died. There was no witness to his movements once he left San Francisco. After the reception at the de Young, he had parried with friends. He returned home to Molena Point about 4 A.M. and went to bed. Two witnesses testified that he left San Francisco shortly after two in the morning. Lake had had keys to Janet's studio from the days when they were dating, as well as keys to her four-year-old Chevy van. He testified that for sentimental reasons he hadn't returned them, that he kept them in his dresser drawer.

But Janet's agent, Sicily Aronson, also had a set of keys, to both the studio and the van. And so had Kendrick Mahl at one time. Mahl, in court testimony, said he'd given them back and that he hadn't made copies.

Rob stroked Dulcie through the wire. "You know, cat, I never had pets. I always laughed at people with pets. I thought it was stupid, dogs fawning and whining, that having an animal was just a big bother.

"I figured cats were totally aloof, that cats just used a person. But you're not like that."

He looked at her intently. "I give you nothing, I can't even pet you properly, and still you come to see me. Why?"

Dulcie purred.

"Sometimes, cat, I don't think even my attorney gives a damn. I wish… But what the hell. Maybe all attorneys are like that." He was silent for a few moments, his gaze boyish and innocent. "Maybe if I could paint in here, if they'd let me have paints and some canvas, maybe I could relax." He pressed both hands against the mesh, his palms flat.

"But what good would it be to paint? Truth is, I'm not sure if I want to go on painting when I-if I get out of here."

She gave him a surprised look, then quickly she nibbled at her paw.

He studied her, frowning. "I'm not like Janet; I'm not a passionate painter like Janet was." He grinned at the word. "But it's true. Janet painted because she had to, she was driven to paint. But me-I never had that kind of passion.

"And ever since she died, cat, I really don't give a damn."

He leaned his forehead against the concrete. "I envied her talent, cat. But you know I couldn't have killed her." He looked up at her searchingly. "I hope you know it. I guess you're the only one who does know it." He looked sheepish suddenly, then he laughed.

"I've really lost it, telling my troubles to a cat. But, I don't know…" He frowned, shook his head. "I feel like you really do care. Like you know I didn't kill her."

She purred louder, wishing she could speak to him, could comfort him.

That would really tear it - send Joe into complete orbit.

"Even when Mahl took me into his gallery, cat, when he made me a part of that exclusive stable, I knew I wasn't in the same league as Janet.

"Right from the start, I knew that Mahl did it to hurt her. I was ashamed of that," he said softly. "But not ashamed enough to stop him. I let him do it, and I didn't complain, I didn't have the guts. All I wanted was to be famous."

Lake turned away again to pace the cell, then whirled to Dulcie so suddenly she started and nearly fell off the narrow ledge.

"I wasn't ashamed enough to stop," he shouted. "Not ashamed enough to turn away from one big ego trip."

She stared at him until he calmed down. This guy could, without too much effort, become a real basket case.

"If I hadn't let Mahl build me into a big name, hadn't let him use me to hurt her, maybe she'd still be alive. Maybe we would never have broken up, maybe we'd still be together." He sat down on the rumpled bunk, looked up at Dulcie.

"Maybe we would have been together that night, and I might have prevented what happened." He stared up at her bleakly. "I didn't kill her, cat. But maybe it's my fault she died."

Dulcie was stricken with pity for him, but she was irritated, too. Right from the start he had stirred every ounce of her sympathy, yet his total lack of hope enraged her. He seemed to have given up already. Sometimes he was so negative she wondered why she bothered.

Maybe she was suffering from misguided mothering instincts, but one thing she knew for sure-Lake was innocent. He was in there because of Marritt's sloppy investigation. Captain Harper wouldn't keep Marritt on the force for a minute if the mayor and city council hadn't threatened Harper's own job. She thought Harper was biding his time, waiting for a good way to dump Marritt, one the city couldn't argue with.

And as for the prosecuting attorney, what could you say? The county attorney wanted a conviction.

But it was her dreams that had really convinced her of Rob's innocence. Three times she had dreamed of Janet's white cat, and he was trying to tell her something, show her something important.

Before the fire she and Joe had occasionally seen the white cat as they hunted the hills, and had glimpsed him leaping out through Janet's studio window, which the artist had kept open for him. They didn't see him often, and Dulcie thought he must have spent a lot of time in the house, sleeping. He was not a young cat.

After the fire, crews of villagers and SPCA volunteers had searched the hills for all the missing animals. They had found most of the dogs and cats, but they had found no trace of Janet's cat. Joe said he probably died in the fire; but no remains were found. It was a terrible thing to die in a fire; Dulcie was sickened to imagine such a death.

It was a week after the fire when she began to dream of the white cat. He was a longhaired torn, very elegant, with deep blue eyes. Her dreams were so clear that she could see the rabies tag fixed to his blue collar, and the small brass plate with Janet's name. In each dream he wanted her to follow him, he would turn looking back at her, giving a switch of his tail and a flick of his ears. But each time, when she tried to follow, she woke.

Rob stood looking out into the hall through his barred door, then returned to the window. "The police are going up to Janet's this morning; they're going to look for her diary. God knows what's in it, cat. God knows what she said about me."

She stared at him, puzzled, galvanized with interest. She'd heard nothing about a diary.

"Late yesterday a witness testified about the diary. That skinny old lady who said she saw my Suburban at Janet's the morning she was killed. She testified again, told the court that Janet had a diary."

The witness was Elisa Trest. Dulcie had thought Elisa wasn't going on the stand until this morning. If she'd known that, she would have stayed later yesterday afternoon.

"That Trest woman used to clean for Janet. I remember her up there poking around. Dried-up, nosy old biddy. She couldn't have seen my car. Why would she lie about it? She's saying Janet kept her diary on the shelf in the bedroom, but I never saw it. If there was a diary, I bet the old woman read every word, the way her face turned pink."

He sighed. "After we broke up, and I went with Mahl, I can imagine what Janet must have written about me. Well, it's out of my hands. But if the cops find it, that could mean another delay. Sometimes I think the delays are worse than a conviction; it's the delays that drain you, drag you down.