Джанет Кантрелл - Fat Cat At Large

“We were at the cabin,” the man said. “Traffic was terrible.”

“Oh, you always say that, Dad. Mom, Dad.” Laci gestured around the room. “These are my bosses, Ms. Oliver and Mrs. Larson.”

After all four shook hands, Anna and Chase left Laci with her parents.

“Vi should have closed up by now,” said Chase. Weariness descended on her, pushing her down farther than the elevator was taking her. “Laci seems to have fairly normal parents. I wonder why she has to take up with a guy like Ted.”

“Who knows anything about anybody?” This wasn’t the cheerful, upbeat Anna that Chase knew.

“What do you mean?”

“It seems like you never really know someone, anyone. A person you think you know, a person close to you, could be, for instance, an embezzler.”

It was an effort for Chase to keep her jaw from dropping.

“Who wants to go over the books?” Anna asked, leaning against the rear wall of the elevator as the floors dinged past. “You or me?”

“I can. You’ve been doing it every night for a while.” Only because you suspect I’m pilfering our money.

“Go ahead. I’m whipped.”

Chase looked at Anna directly. She seemed tired, maybe even more tired than Chase felt. The elevator doors opened, and before Chase could say anything else, Anna hurried out to the emergency parking lot, where she’d left her car.

How was she ever going to find out what was bothering her dear Anna? How were they ever going to get back to their easy, relaxed relationship? How was Chase going to find out if Anna truly thought Chase was stealing money?

THIRTEEN

The cat rested in one of his favorite spots, his owner’s lap. The computer desk did make it a little cramped, but it would do until she came to and realized she hadn’t fed him yet. The sudden ringing of the bell was too much, though. He jumped down and began ignoring everything in favor of cleaning his whiskers.

Chase could tell, from Quincy’s swishing tail and his swiveled ears, that the doorbell on the back door startled him as much as it did her. It was an odd time of night for someone to be coming by from the parking lot.

When Chase opened the door, a frigid gust blasted her in the face. Julie burst in, slapping her arms with ungloved hands.

“A front came through,” Julie said. “I didn’t dress for this today.”

“You look like you’re dressed up for something,” said Chase, slamming and locking the door against the wind. “Come into the office. It’s toasty warm there. Or do you want a hot drink?”

“I’m still dressed for court. Do you have some of that orange spice herb tea?”

“You’d better come upstairs for that. I’m tired of doing these numbers anyway.”

Quincy followed them up the stairs to Chase’s apartment.

“I have so much to tell you.” Julie tossed her light jacket onto the back of Chase’s leather couch and rubbed her hands together.

“Me, too,” said Chase. “But you go first.” Chase scooped food into Quincy’s bowl. He gave her a sniff of disdain and stalked away.

Julie gave Chase a second look. “Are you in pain?”

“A little. It comes and goes. So, your case.”

“We went to court today. In fact, we’ve all been celebrating for the last couple of hours.”

“Hence, the odor of gin.”

“Just a couple of G and Ts. Or three. I took a cab here.”

“I would have picked you up. Why didn’t you call?”

“I’ve been trying to for ages.”

“Oh.” Chase remembered she’d turned her ringer off in the hospital. After she set her kettle on the burner, she turned her sound back on. “I’ll tell you about this. But go ahead. What’s your case?”

“You know who Bill Shandy is?”

Chase shook her head, rummaging in her pantry for the tea that Julie liked.

“You know. Bill. The guy with the pet store.” Quincy jumped into Julie’s lap.

“Oh, that Bill. The one Anna took the rats to.”

“Bill and Grandma knew each other in high school, and I think they were quite the item back then. But they married other people. Bill’s wife died about a year ago. I know that the stepchildren wanted half of Bill’s money at that time. They weren’t entitled to it, but he did give them some.”

“Some of this is beginning to sound familiar. I remember Anna talking about him. Didn’t the dead wife have some children before she married him?”

“Yah, she had two children by her first husband, a marriage that only lasted three years.”

“How old are the children?” The kettle whistled and Chase poured the water over the tea.

“One is forty-eight, the other fifty.”

“And you know this, how?”

“It’s our case. The oldest of Bill’s stepchildren, Marvin, has been in and out of politics most of his life. After his mother’s death, her son Marvin founded a charity organization called PCP, Pennies Can Provide.”

“An unfortunate acronym. It’s gotten a lot of press, though.”

“The whole thing is unfortunate. The group collected donations to buy books to give to hospitalized children. Only problem, no children ever got any books after the first month.”

“How did he think he could get away with that?” Chase handed Julie a steaming mug, redolent of citrus and cloves.

Julie cupped her hands around its warmth and sipped. “Marvin’s been skating on the edge for years. He was elected to the school board in Minnetonka, but they booted him because they suspected he was stealing money. They could never prove it, so no action was taken.”

“So I guess the legal people have been watching him.”

“Bill Shandy is just about continuously arguing with that stepson about money. It’s enough to give a person an ulcer.” Quincy butted his head against Julie’s wrist. She avoided spilling the tea, so he tried it again. “Bill feels he has to save something for his own son.”

“You know Bill well?”

“Grandma’s been dating him. She’s pretty smitten. And she’s awfully upset about this whole thing, since Bill is taking it so hard. She says he feels responsible for what Marvin does. After all, he did raise the guy for most of his life.”

Chase was surprised Anna had been able to keep this from her. Why hadn’t she told Chase she was dating Bill? “Is that what’s been bothering her?” It bothered Chase that Anna hadn’t said a word to her about this.

Julie nodded and gulped down the tea, now cool enough to drink. “It’s been bothering me, too, I have to tell you! I didn’t know they were dating when I was assigned to this case, otherwise I wouldn’t have worked on it. Grandma’s keeping it quiet, though, and this is a big chance for me. This is going to be in the headlines tomorrow. Well, probably on the TV tonight. It’s already all over the Internet. Then it’ll be worse than ever for Bill.”

“Is that all?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, is that all that’s bothering Anna? We’re having money problems in the shop. Has she said anything about that?”

“A little, but I’m not clear on the details.” Julie glanced at her wristwatch. “I’d better get going. Back in court tomorrow.” She rose and grabbed her jacket. “I don’t think she’s said anything about the shop being in trouble financially.”

“Can I drive you home?”

“We’ve both had long days. I’ll take another cab. No problem.”

After Julie left, Chase reflected on the fact that she hadn’t exactly answered the question about Anna and money problems. But maybe, just maybe, the embezzler Anna had mentioned was Marvin Shandy, and not Chase Oliver.

She returned downstairs to finish up and shut down the computer. As the screen closed, she wrinkled her nose in disgust.