Саманта Сильвер: The Purr-fect Crime

You could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Had Sophie really just threatened to kill Antonia?

“I’m not here to make enemies, I’m just here to let you know the lay of the land,” Antonia replied, shooting Sophie the darkest look she could muster while getting up out of her chair. It seemed Sophie’s threat was going to scare her off.

“Remember what I said, Angela. You’re a smart businesswoman, not like your friend here,” she continued, and I rolled my eyes.

“Bye, Antonia,” I told her as she left. “And good riddance,” I added as the door closed behind her.

“What a bitch,” Sophie muttered when the woman was safely out of earshot.

“Yeah, for sure,” I replied, but I couldn’t stop that nagging feeling that was starting to grow inside of me. What if Antonia was right? What if the town started avoiding my vet clinic? There was no way I could afford that.

Chapter 5

An hour later we picked an angry Bee up from her spot on the concrete in front of the vet clinic and walked over to the police station, where Sophie and I got ready to give our statements.

“I don’t see why I had to come,” Bee complained as we headed towards the old brick building at the far end of Main Street that served as the Willow Bay police station.

“Because you’re still my cat and it leaves a bad impression if I let you lie on the sidewalk downtown all day,” I hissed at the cat as we got to the door. “Now behave.”

Sophie laughed as we opened the door.

“Hopefully Antonia hasn’t gotten here first and told everyone about how you’re a murderer.”

“I hope not,” I sighed. Obviously I knew no one here was going to be accusing me, but Antonia spreading her dumb rumours wasn’t something I wanted to deal with.

“Oh, hey Angela, Sophie,” Casey the receptionist greeted us. “The chief told me to expect you. Sophie you’re supposed to go see Taylor and Angela Chief Gary wants to see you himself.”

Sophie perked up considerably at the knowledge that she was going to get to talk to the hot guy, and I shoved her gently.

“You’re incorrigible,” I teased. “He’s just going to interview you about this morning.”

“Whatever, you’re a prude. He can interview me about whatever he wants.”

“Try not to have sex with him on his desk, at least go to the bathroom,” I muttered as I walked past her towards Chief Gary’s office at the back of the building.

“Well duh, I’m not an animal,” Sophie retorted before heading over to the officer’s desks, where Taylor was sitting and trying not to look like he was actually pretty excited about getting to interview Sophie. I smiled to myself. She was probably going to come out of that interview with a recommendation for a bravery medal or something. Sophie had broken up with her last boyfriend a few months ago, and she never stayed single long.

Chief Gary was sitting in his office, typing away on his computer. I knocked on the doorframe lightly as I poked my head in.

“Hey Chief Gary, you wanted to take my statement?”

He looked up and smiled at me, but I could see from the lines on his face that the day had been a long and stressful one.

“Angela. Hey, thanks for coming in. Yeah, please, sit down.”

“How are things going?” I asked.

“Not great. We’ve identified the victim, but that’s about it for now.”

“Has there ever been a murder in Willow Bay before?”

Chief Gary nodded.

“Yeah, two of them.”

“Really? Sophie and I couldn’t think of any we’d ever heard of.”

“Well, they were a really long time ago. One was back in the 1830s, which I know absolutely nothing about other than the fact that it was a man just travelling through town, taken out by robbers, and there was one about a hundred years ago, basically a bar fight gone bad.”

“Wow,” I muttered. “So this is pretty rare, though.”

“Oh yeah. I’ve never worked a murder investigation before. Luckily the Portland PD is willing to lend me a couple guys to give me a hand if I need it, which is really nice of them.”

“Are you going to take them up on it?”

“For sure. I’m not proud. I know how to investigate a murder in theory, but having a few guys around who do it for a living won’t be a bad thing. Now stop quizzing me, I’m supposed to be the one asking the questions here.”

I laughed and sat upright, getting ready to give my statement.

Recounting my story and answering Chief Gary’s questions took a little over half an hour. After all, there wasn’t all that much to tell. I got to work, found a body, and called the police.

When we were finished, he leaned back in his chair.

“Strictly speaking I’m not supposed to tell you this, so don’t spread it around, but so far we’re thinking he was shot somewhere else, went to your clinic to try and stitch himself up, and didn’t manage it before he bled out.”

I nodded. The thought had occurred to me too.

“It was just bad luck that your vet clinic was where it was, if he was shot closer to the medical centre he probably would have gone there instead.”

“So he was a local?”

“Yeah, for about ten years. Tony Nyman, works construction. You know him?”

I shook my head. “He looked familiar, kind of like I’d seen him in town a few times, but not more than that, you know?”

“Yeah, I know. As far as we can tell he was just a normal guy. Single, no kids, no criminal record, worked decently hard.”

“Nothing quite like getting an actual challenge for your first murder case, right?” I replied, giving him a wry smile.

“Tell me about it. I’m going to go interview his coworkers tomorrow, see if I can get any insights as to his private life that might lead us in the right direction.”

“When do you think I can open up the clinic again?” I asked.

“You’ll be good tomorrow, I think. I’ll call you tonight to let you know for sure, but the crime scene guys seemed to think they were only going to be a couple more hours. I’ll send someone by tonight to put some wood over the window until you can get it fixed.”

“Thanks, Gary,” I told him. “I appreciate it.”

“No problem. Hopefully the place won’t be too much of a mess.”

“Hopefully this case isn’t, either,” I replied. He lifted his coffee mug in agreement and I left the office, finding Bee getting all the belly rubs she could handle from Casey.

“She’s the sweetest cat ever,” Casey told me, as Bee gave me a look of pure smugness from her spot on the table, spread out across about four different things Casey had been working on.

“Haha yeah, she can be. She likes you,” I replied.

“Leave me here. I don’t want to come home, ever,” Bee added, but I ignored her.

“Oh, Sophie wanted me to tell you she went out with Taylor, you know, so she could show him on the spot what happened. She said she’ll make her own way home.”

“Ok, thanks,” I told Casey, smiling to myself. There was no way the two of them went to the crime scene, my bet was if I went over to the Ship’s Anchor, the local bar whose food was surprisingly good, I’d find the two of them sharing a drink, at the very least.

“Come on, Bee,” I ordered, and the cat grudgingly got up from her spot on the table.

“I’m only doing this under protest,” she complained as she slithered over to my feet.

“See you, Casey,” I told her as I left the police station. I was so caught up with my own thoughts as I headed back towards the street that I didn’t see the guy coming towards me until it was too late. The next thing I knew I was on the ground, my butt felt like it was on fire and my cat was sitting there laughing at me.

“I’m so sorry!” I heard someone exclaim, and I looked up into the eyes of the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen. His eyes were as black as his hair, which had that just-got-out-of-bed look to it. He flashed me a smile that looked like it belonged on a billboard as he held out a hand.