Софи Келли - A Case Of Cat And Mouse

“Whatever that family emergency was, everything was all right pretty quickly,” I said to Owen.

I took a quick look at some of Dorrie’s other photos. She was a student at the University of Minnesota Duluth, living in a basement apartment with three other young women. She didn’t have a car and she could get pretty creative with ramen. In other words, she seemed like a typical broke student.

“So how did she afford a trip to Paris?” I said.

Owen cocked his head to one side, considering my question, at least from my perspective.

“What if someone gave her the money?”

“Mrrr,” Owen said. That made sense. At least to him.

“What if Ray gave her the money?”

I didn’t trust him. He was an opportunist. I was convinced he had used his past connection with Kassie to help him make it onto the show. So why wouldn’t he get rid of the competition? And while it seemed that Ray had an alibi for Kassie’s murder, I couldn’t help thinking it was possible he’d manipulated that somehow, too.

I decided to send Dorrie Park a message via social media. It was a long shot but I couldn’t think of any other way to find out if my suspicions about Ray were correct.

I explained I was a researcher with the show and I had a few questions for her. I added my phone number and crossed my fingers I’d hear back from her.

Owen had gotten bored at some point in the process and jumped off my lap. He was lying on the floor now, fishing under the refrigerator with one paw.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

He didn’t answer. He just continued his efforts to reach something under the fridge.

“Did you lose that frog Marcus got you under there?”

“Mrrr,” he said. I didn’t know if that was a yes or a no. Mostly it just sounded like aggravation.

The small space under the refrigerator seemed like a tight fit for Ferdinand the Funky Frog, but nonetheless I got one of my extra-long cooking chopsticks, crouched down next to Owen and poked around underneath. I didn’t find a catnip frog or even a dusty stinky cracker but I did realize there was a piece of paper under there. After some finessing and a lot of cat commentary I managed to slide the paper out onto the kitchen floor.

“Is this what you were after?” I said to Owen. There was a clump of dust on his paw and I reached over to brush it off.

The page looked to be the image of a check that had been deposited electronically. I picked it up for a closer look. The check was made out to a holding company: Mulberry Hill Holdings. There was something familiar about that name but I couldn’t place it. I did recognize who wrote the check. It came from Sullivan Enterprises. Sullivan Enterprises was Sean Sullivan, gym owner and Kassie’s father. I looked at the amount. Five hundred thousand dollars. Sean Sullivan had written a check to someone for half a million dollars. The page must have slid under the refrigerator when Owen knocked down some of the papers that had come from Kassie’s desk. How had she gotten this? Was Kassie Mulberry Hill Holdings or . . . ?

I got to my feet, picked up my phone and scrolled through the list of contacts. Lita answered on the third ring.

“Hi, Lita,” I said. “I’m sorry to bother you at this time of night.”

“Kathleen, it’s eight thirty,” she said, an edge of laughter in her voice. “What time do you think I go to bed?”

“Umm, after eight thirty?”

She did laugh then. “Sometimes after nine. What do you need?”

“Have you ever heard of a company called Mulberry Hill Holdings?” I crossed my fingers.

“Of course. That’s one of Elias Braeden’s companies.”

I gave a small fist pump.

“I think he named it after that piece of land Idris Blackthorne owned out by Wisteria Hill,” she said. “Ruby would own it now, I think.”

Mulberry Hill. Rebecca had mentioned it when we were talking about Everett’s family homestead. That’s why the name had seemed familiar to me.

“Thanks, Lita,” I said.

“You’re welcome,” she said. I heard the rumble of Burtis’s voice in the background. “Burtis says to tell you he has the house high score at the moment.”

“Tell him I said that all good things must come to an end and his end is nigh.”

Lita was still laughing when she hung up.

I pulled out a chair and sat down. Owen leapt onto my lap and put two paws on my chest.

“Elias,” I said. “He’s Mulberry Hill Holdings.”

One ear turned sideways and his expression soured a little bit. I stroked his soft fur. There was another dust bunny on his tail and I picked it off. “I can’t find anything that points to someone else being Kassie’s killer, and there are random things like his fingerprints and the fact that Elias was in the building that suggest he did it. And I don’t know what to make of this check.”

Ruby was a strong person, but if Elias really had killed Kassie, I didn’t see how she would ever get over the betrayal.

And just that quickly I was angry. Angry at Elias for only telling part of the truth or maybe even none of it. Angry that Ruby had put her trust in someone I didn’t think deserved it, even if he hadn’t killed anyone. Angry at the prevarications and omissions from just about everyone involved with the show.

I set Owen on the floor and grabbed my keys and my wallet. “I’ll be back,” I told him. I didn’t think about whether or not it was a good idea to go confront Elias. I just went.

It wasn’t hard to find the man. His fancy SUV was in the parking lot at the community center. I signed in with Thorsten and on a hunch climbed the stairs to the second floor. I didn’t see Elias giving up his private workspace. The hallway was dark with just a bit of light spilling out from one open doorway.

I was right. Elias was in the office, talking on his cell phone. “I’m going to have to call you back,” he said to the person on the other end of the call when he noticed me standing in the doorway.

I set the image of the check in front of him. He looked at it and the only reaction I saw was a tiny twitch at one corner of his mouth. “Where did you get this?”

I had the urge to say from under my refrigerator, but I resisted the impulse. “Kassie had it.”

He leaned back in the chair. “She kept hinting she had something.”

“Sean Sullivan gave you half a million dollars.”

“He invested half a million dollars in my company .”

“It’s the same thing.”

Elias shook his head. “No, it’s not. Half a million dollars to me is a gift. Half a million dollars to my company gets him a tiny piece of it. In theory.”

I remembered what Eugenie had said to Russell and me: “I do have more than enough money to relieve Elias of any financial obligation he might have to Sean Sullivan, Kassie’s father.” Would she have spent half a million dollars?

He gestured to the chair in front of the desk. “Have a seat, Kathleen.”

I sat down, picking up the piece of paper as I did. “Kassie thought this was important. Why?”

“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “You would have to ask her and since she’s dead, you can’t.”

I thought about doing something dramatic like slapping my hand on the desktop. Instead I stared silently at him for a moment. Then I said, “You’re lying.” I leaned across the desk. “If it weren’t for Ruby, I would take this to the police and wash my hands of you. I would leave you to twist in the wind. But I can’t do that. You’re the closest thing to a father Ruby has. And that more than anything tells me what a kick in the head life has given her that you . . . you of all people . . . get that honor.” I struggled to keep my voice under control and shook the paper at him. “This is just one more thing that makes you look bad. One more thing in a long list. You better be innocent, Elias.” My voice cracked. “You damn well better be innocent, because if you’re not, you’re going to break Ruby’s heart.”