Shirley Murphy - Cat in the Dark

"The autopsy will tell us," Harper said.

"I don't know how to tell Greeley that Dora… She's his only child. She-he didn't see her often, but she's-she was all he had." Mavity shook her head. "Greeley will think it's his fault."

"Why?" Harper said.

"Because they fought, because he left the house angry."

"And you have no idea what they fought about?"

"It was going on when I got home. I guess they didn't hear the car. Greeley was shouting at Dora, that she was making trouble for nothing, that they had no right-then they heard me on the porch and that was the end of it, when I came in. Greeley stomped out with that cat following him, and then Dora and Ralph left all dressed up again, wouldn't say anything more."

Charlie rose, stepped into the kitchen, rinsed out the coffeepot, and refilled it. Mavity said, "It was only a family tiff. Maybe Dora and Ralph, going out alone, made Greeley mad. Who would they go with? They don't know anyone in Molena Point."

"And Greeley was out all night," Harper said.

"I would have heard him come in. He sleeps on the couch right here, and me on the cot. And he always leaves his bed unmade, leaves a mess for me to straighten, sheets half on the floor."

"Are his clothes still here? His luggage?"

"He only has the one bag." She rose and peered in between the recliner chair and the television. "It's here." She picked up the bag, looked in. "Full of clothes." She went to check the bathroom.

"Shaving kit's there on the sink."

Harper said, "Does he always travel so light?"

She nodded. "He never packs much in the way of clothes, says he can buy what he needs. He would have checked the one bag, though, because he carried that cat on board. Right in the cabin, in its cage-one of those carrier things." She opened the washing machine, which stood in a corner of the kitchen, and peered in.

"Left a shirt to be washed, some socks, and a pair of shorts." She looked across at Harper. "Greeley wouldn't go away for good-back to Panama-and not tell me." She pressed her fist to her lips. "Captain Harper, where is Greeley? Greeley has to be all right-Greeley's all I have now."

"We don't know where he is," Harper said. "I'm sure he'll turn up. My officers are looking for him."

They drank their coffee in silence. Max did not light a cigarette but Charlie could tell he wanted one. He asked Mavity if he could search Dora and Ralph's belongings.

"Yes. But what for? Well, it don't matter. They can't complain now," she said, her voice shaking.

"Maybe I'll find something to tell us where they went last night, maybe some scrap of paper with an address, something to help us understand what happened."

"Their bags are in the bedroom-their clothes are in the closet and scattered all over."

Harper rose. "I'd like both of you to come in while I search."

They made a little procession, carrying their coffee cups into the small bedroom. Harper's lean figure moved neatly among the clutter. Charlie stood in the bedroom doorway sipping her coffee, watching Max search for drugs as well as for evidence of the Sleuders' dinner destination. She didn't like having to witness this. The necessity for a search, coupled with Mavity's own distress, made her feel frightened and sick.

She watched him examine each item of clothing, going through pockets, sorting carefully through the contents of each of the Sleuders' five bags and examining the bags themselves, the pockets and the lining. It was in the last bag, a big duffle, that he withdrew a thick packet of legal-size papers divided into two stacks, each held by a metal clip.

"Mavity, I'd like to keep these as evidence. I'll give you a receipt for them."

"Sure you can keep them. What are they?"

Harper looked at her, surprised. "Didn't you know that Dora had your financial statements?" He handed one of the packets to her.

She stared at the papers, at her name and address beneath Winthrop Jergen's letterhead. "These are my statements, from Mr. Jergen." She looked at Harper, puzzled. "Dora took my statements? Why would she do that? These are none of her business. Dora wouldn't…"

She hurried to the front room. They watched her open the bottom desk drawer, removing a similar stack of legal-size papers.

"But my statements are here."

She looked hard at Harper. Carefully she examined the two stacks.

"She copied them. See where I made some little notes? On the copies, you can barely see the pencil marks."

She sat down on the couch, looking very small. "Why would Dora do that? What could she want with my statements?"

Harper handed her the other set of legal-size papers that he had taken from the Sleuders' duffle bag. These statements had a different letterhead, under the name Cumming, and were dated the previous year, detailing the Sleuders' own stock earnings.

She looked at them, looked up at him. "I don't understand. Dora and Ralph had some investment problems last year, about the time these are dated."

"What kind of problems?"

"They were cheated of a lot of money. The men were caught, and one of them went to prison."

"Is that the name of the firm that cheated them?"

"It could be. Yes, I think it is."

"You said only one of the members was convicted?"

"Yes. Dora was very upset because the other man, Warren Cumming, went free."

"Did Greeley know about the swindle?"

"Oh, yes. He wrote me all about it-he was furious. And of course Dora called me several times. She'd get so angry, with the trial and all." She looked again at the Sleuders' statements.

"Look here, at Dora's little squiggly marks beside some of these stocks. I have some of the same stock. Coca-Cola, Home Depot. Maybe," she said, "maybe Dora was comparing how much she and Ralph made on that stock-before they were swindled- with how much I've made. It doesn't really make sense, but Dora's-was funny that way. And she was so bitter about their loss. Well, anyone would be bitter!"

Harper put his arm around her. "Later today, when you feel up to it, would you come down to the station and give me a formal statement?"

"Yes, if I have to." She was very pale. "I'll look for Greeley first, and then I'll come. I-I'll need to make arrangements- funeral arrangements."

"Not yet," Harper said. "I'll let you know when you can do that. You don't have any idea where Greeley might have gone? Where he might have stayed last night?"

"No. He's a night owl. But he can't go very far without a car- he's too cheap to take a cab."

She moved away from Harper, looking up at him. "Thank you, Captain Harper. Soon as I get myself together I'll drive around the village, see if I can find him. I don't know how I'm going to tell him about Dora."

Charlie stayed with Mavity for a while after Harper left, making her a cup of tea and fetching her an aspirin from the medicine cabinet. When Mavity felt better, she drove Charlie up to work, then went to look for Greeley.

Charlie, getting back to work, kept puzzling over Dora and Ralph. They had seemed such simple folk, plain and uncomplicated, not the kind to deceive Mavity, and surely not the kind to be into drugs. That strange twist, if it was true, put a whole new light on Dora and Ralph Sleuder.

Pulling on her painting shirt and climbing back on the ladder, she was unable to stop worrying over the Sleuders, unable to stop wondering what Harper would uncover when he looked into their background-wondering how much Mavity might not have known about her dead niece.

YOU'D THINK he'd have the courtesy to call me," Mavity complained, "but not Greeley. Always been that way. Walk out, gone a couple of days, and then home again and never a word." She'd pulled herself from the shocked, quiet state she'd been in that morning and was herself again, cross and abrasive, and Charlie was glad to hear the little woman grousing. They were in the back apartment, in the kitchen-office. It was three-thirty in the afternoon and Mavity, after searching futilely for Greeley, had just gotten to work.