Shirley Murphy: Cat Under Fire

"But what do you care?" he said crossly. "What would a dumb cat care?"

Dulcie blinked.

He was like this sometimes, sweet and needing one minute, and angry the next. Well, the young man hurt; and he was afraid. And she was the only one available to yell at. She narrowed her eyes, thinking about the diary, wondering if such evidence would help Rob or would strengthen the case against him. Wondering, if Detective Marritt found the journal, what he would do. And if Deonne Baron got hold of the diary, if she thought it would win the case, she was the kind of woman who would spread Janet's personal life all over the papers. Ms. Baron didn't care about Rob, Dulcie was convinced of that, but she was boldly aggressive about winning.

Dulcie lashed her tail, dunking. She wanted to see Janet's journal; she wanted a look at it before the police found it.

She turned, looking down into the police parking area. The officers' private cars were damp with overnight dew, the windshields fogged over. The shift hadn't changed. It wasn't yet eight o'clock, when the day watch came on, when Marritt would arrive at work and maybe head right up to Janet's to look for the diary.

She gave Rob a long look and left him, leaping across the three-story drop into the oak tree, scattering pigeons. Clinging to the branches, digging her claws deep into the rough bark, she backed down and took off, running.

A slash of morning sun careened across the kitchen table, warming Joe's fur where he lay sprawled on the morning paper. Below him Barney, the golden, and Rube, the Lab, fussed and paced waiting for their breakfasts. The cats had settled down, hunched, hungry, pretending patience. He glanced across through the wide window above the kitchen sink. A hummingbird flitted at the glass, then was gone. The neighborhood rooftops gleamed with slanting light as the sun lifted above the hills and far mountains. When he heard Clyde coming down the hall he stretched out more fully across the sports page, though he had already pretty much trashed it with his muddy feet, leaving long, satisfying streaks of soil and wet grass that obliterated portions of the text.

Clyde pushed open the kitchen door, carrying his empty coffee mug and a clean white lab coat. The dogs leaped at him, whining, and the three cats wound around his ankles, preening and purring. He dropped the lab coat over the back of a chair and knelt, hugging and baby talking the fawning beasts as if he hadn't seen them in months. Dressed in faded jeans and a red polo shirt, he was well scrubbed, freshly shaven, his cheeks still faintly damp. His black hair, handsomely blow-dried, would within an hour be wild as a squirrel's first try at nest building. Rising from his kneeling position, he straightened the pristine lab coat until it hung without a wrinkle. The starched white coat was a gross affectation-it would look fine on a doctor. Clyde had taken to wearing these garments only recently: Clyde Damen, Physician of Foreign Engines, resident M.D. to Molena Point's ailing Rolls Royces and Mercedeses. He even had the damned coats commercially laundered and starched.

Clyde acknowledged Joe with a soft shove to the shoulder and stood studying Joe's sprawled form draped across the sports page. "You have mud on your paws. Can't you wash before you come in the house? And why the hell do you always have to lie on the sports page? What's wrong with the editorials? You've left half the yard on it."

"Why should I lie on the editorials? You don't read the editorials. Your life would be incredibly dull without my little homey touches."

"My breakfast table would be cleaner, too." Clyde gave him a long look and set about opening cans of dog food and cat food and boxes of kibble. He filled five separate bowls, setting them down on the linoleum far enough apart to maintain a semblance of peace among the three cats and two dogs, to avoid unnecessary snapping. As the beasts ate, he propped open the door to the backyard so they could have a run when they were finished. He filled his coffee cup, pulled a box of cereal from the cupboard, dumped some into a bowl, and poured on milk Every morning, watching him do this, Joe wondered what would happen if he absently dumped in dog kibble. But hey, add a little sugar, who would know? Clyde set the bowl on the table. "What do you want to eat?"

"Thanks, I've had breakfast."

"I can imagine. Blood and intestines." He sucked at his coffee, reaching for the front page. " 'Baron's call for delay denied.' Damned lawyers would string it out forever." He looked up at Joe. "I suppose Dulcie's down there again this morning. Tell me why she's so determined. Where did she get this fixation that Lake's innocent?"

Joe sighed and rolled over, then sat up irritably, biting at a flea. "It's her dreams," he said uneasily. "Those dreams about Janet's white cat. I told you, she's convinced the cat is still alive, that he's trying to tell her something." He licked a whisker. "I wish those searchers had found the cat either dead or alive, then maybe she wouldn't be dreaming about him."

"The white cat's dead. He's dead or he'd have gone home-what's left of home. The neighbors would have seen him."

Joe preferred to think the cat was alive, that Dulcie was at least dreaming of a live cat and not a ghost.

The white cat's picture had been in the papers, as reporters dredged up every detail of Janet's life. If anyone in Molena Point had seen him, they would have taken him in, or notified the animal shelter, or called the Gazette.

"I find it interesting." Joe said, "that Janet's sister Beverly didn't make a fuss about the cat, that she didn't go out herself to look for him."

"The cat's dead," Clyde repeated.

"Maybe," Joe said uncomfortably.

"Dulcie's lost her head over this. Look at the evidence. Lake's Suburban was seen that morning in Janet's driveway-who could mistake that old heap. And after Janet and Lake broke up, Lake was so vindictive that Janet refused to talk to him. Don't you think that made him mad? These days, people kill for less."

Joe snorted. "If you murdered every woman you broke up with, Molena Point would be half-empty." He licked mud off his leg. "Anyway, the car is circumstantial. The witness only said it looked like Lake's Suburban-there are plenty of those old Chevys around. It was still dark, how much could she see?"

Clyde spooned more sugar onto his cereal. "Anyway the grand jury had to think there was sufficient evidence to indict Lake. They don't take a man to trial for nothing."

Joe shrugged. "Grand jury thinks he could be guilty. Dulcie swears he's not. What am I supposed to say to her? She won't listen."

"Just because she's gotten friendly with Lake, hanging out in his cell-just because Lake is a cat lover…"

"She doesn't go into the jail. She watches from his window," he said, hissing. He might be critical of Dulcie, but when Clyde started trashing her he got angry. "She doesn't think he's a cat lover; she just thinks he's innocent. And it's not only from listening to Lake," he said defensively. "It's from other stuff she's heard."

"Like what?"

Joe shrugged. "Like there might be another witness, who hasn't come forward."

"Who said?"

"Talk around the village."

"Well of course that's reliable. Village gossip is always…"

"Maybe it's not gossip. Maybe there's something to it. You can pick up a lot of information hanging around the restaurants and shops."

Clyde stopped eating. "What, exactly, do you mean by hanging around? Is that like the morning I caught you two cadging scraps under the table at Mollie's?" He fixed Joe with a hard look. "Have you two been in the shops again? Sneaking around into the restaurants? Don't you know there's a health law?"