Джанет Кантрелл - Fat Cat At Large

Chase took that friendly conversation as Mike trying to make up for his lame joke.

As she walked through the outer waiting room, a tall, svelte redhead with a short, spiky hairdo rose to greet Dr. Ramos. He met her with a huge smile and put a hand on her arm. Chase noticed that she didn’t have a pet with her.

So Dr. Ramos had a girlfriend. She was disappointed, she had to admit. The man was devilishly attractive.

• • •

Anna had leftby the time Chase got home, but there was a sticky note from her on the apartment door: “See me in the morning about the accounts.”

The note was like a splash of cold water in her face. Were they short of money again?

Quincy started meowing the moment she came in. She poured diet food into his bowl. He turned away and meowed again.

“What is the matter with you?” Chase caught herself. It wouldn’t do any good to yell at a cat. Especially at Quincy. He replied to her with a disdainful nose lift and disappeared into the bedroom.

Chase kicked off her shoes and sat in her favorite armchair to make a mental list of what she needed to worry about: Quincy, Anna, the missing money, her prints on the murder weapon, Laci and Vi squabbling. Anything else? Oh yes, the unexpected arrival of Shaun Everly. That was probably her most immediate problem right now.

As she reached for the TV remote to take her mind off her worries, her cell phone rang. She saw Laci Carlson’s ID.

“Ms. Oliver?” She sounded worried, upset. “Could you do me a huge favor? I need to talk to you.”

Now what? “I’ll try. What do you need?”

“I need to tell you . . . to talk to you. Can you meet me somewhere?”

“Tonight?” She was so comfortable.

“Maybe early tomorrow? Al’s Breakfast opens at six.”

Chase groaned inwardly. Laci’s voice was growing higher, tighter. Distress was obvious in her tone. Had Anna fired her? She was so itching to get rid of one of them—or both. Chase thought she had better meet the young woman. “How about six thirty?”

“Sure. I’ll get there earlier to get a table.”

“See you.” Al’s Breakfast had only fourteen stools at the counter, so even arriving at 6:30 didn’t assure you a seat. But it gave you a fighting chance.

Chase checked her clock. Six thirty would arrive in a few short hours. She drew a bath after she ended the call, promising to show up, and wondering what had gotten Laci so upset. A nice, long, soaky bath with bath oil and a scented candle would help put her to sleep better than television. Anna would probably get to the shop at around 7:30, her usual time. Chase had to be there to answer Anna’s summons, but surely, talking to Laci wouldn’t take more than an hour.

In spite of her steamy bath, accompanied by a cup of chamomile tea, Chase slept fitfully.

EIGHT

Chase had finally fallen into a deep sleep at five, so the alarm startled her at 6:15. It startled Quincy, too, who stiffened beside Chase, then jumped off the bed and scooted out of the room.

Chase groaned and slapped the alarm off, then got up, dressed, threw food into Quincy’s bowl, and stumbled down the stairs. She was looking forward to the university classes starting on Tuesday and the parents going home so she could relax and maybe get more sleep.

Al’s Breakfast, a tiny place but a Dinkytown institution, was across the street and down a couple of doors from the Bar None. Chase went through her shop and out the front door, locking it behind her, and made it to the restaurant a few minutes after 6:30.

Laci sat on one of the red-vinyl-covered stools, halfway down the narrow dining room. She had done her hair up again, in spite of the early hour. How long must it take to fix it that way? She was staring down at the counter. Chase suspected she wasn’t seeing the napkins standing at attention in their basket, or the plastic dinosaur that, inexplicably, lived on the counter. She had on a high-necked dark red blouse with lace on the collar and cuffs. She looked like a child playing dress-up, trying to be Queen Victoria.

Chase lifted Laci’s huge cloth purse off the seat next to her and gave her the best greeting smile she could this early in the morning. Laci merely tented her eyebrows. Her eyes glittered, full of tears ready to spill.

“What is it, Laci? What’s wrong?”

Before she could answer, they were interrupted by the server, a middle-aged woman in a white shirt as plain as Laci’s blouse was fancy. Laci sighed and ordered coffee and toast. Chase gazed longingly at the eggs Benedict on the plate of the man beside her, but ordered the buttermilk pancakes. If they were going to do a lot of talking, she wouldn’t have time to do justice to her favorite.

“It’s Violet,” Laci began, then halted with a loud sniff.

“Just a couple more days. It’s Saturday and classes start Tuesday. We need you both there until then. After Monday, why don’t you take—”

“No, it’s not that. I’ll work when you need me. It’s Ted.”

“All right.” Chase was puzzled. She sipped her coffee. Laci had just said “it” was Vi. Now “it” was Ted?

“She’s spreading rumors. It’s not true!”

“What rumors? What’s not true?”

“About him stealing things.”

Chase braced herself. “Laci, dear, he was taking the boxed merchandise. I saw him.”

“Not that. The money. Oh, I’m not explaining anything, am I? Vi says Ted is taking money from the cash register.”

Anna had said she would talk to the young man about that. Chase wondered if she’d had time to do that yet.

“He’s not,” said Laci, still on the verge of tears. “He wouldn’t do that.”

What world did Laci live in where Ted would shoplift at college and steal boxes of cookie bars, but wouldn’t steal money?

“Ted’s always felt so out of place and awkward, he says. He was a late baby and his parents are more the age of grandparents. I think that affects him psychologically.”

Sure, thought Chase. That makes perfect sense. Most late babies steal things and flunk out of college. Not.

Their food arrived and Chase busied herself applying butter and syrup to her pancakes.

“Can you please tell Violet to stop? She’s upsetting Ted.” Laci bit into her toast as if she were biting off Vi’s ear. Chase knew that Ted was a sensitive soul in Laci’s world.

“I’ll speak to Vi.” She lifted her fork. The first bite was always the best. She closed her eyes so she could taste the buttery, syrupy concoction to the fullest.

“Hm.” Laci looked suspicious, as though she understood that Chase wasn’t going to tell Vi to stop spreading rumors just because Laci asked her to. “The stuff with his parents is so devastating. Ted has so much anger toward his father. Sometimes he scares me when he talks about him.”

“Laci, I said I’ll talk to her. That’s all I can do. When the rush is over, you won’t have to work together.”

Laci’s half smile and nod made Chase sad. She probably thought they were going to fire Vi, when Laci seemed to be the one Anna most wanted to fire. Chase finished as quickly as she could and hurried to the store for her next confrontation, this one with Anna.

Even at this early hour, the sidewalks were filling with college students and their families, moving their children into the dorms. At the end of the street, a number 6 bus rumbled along University Avenue, flashing its blue and yellow stripe in a stray band of light from the newly risen sun. In an hour or so, the sun would climb above the buildings where it now hid behind the Bar None. This would be a beautiful day if Chase didn’t have so much on her mind. She squared her shoulders as she unlocked the door and entered her shop from the front.