Джанет Кантрелл - Fat Cat At Large

“I’m rested, Mrs. Larson.” Laci’s smile made her look as lighthearted as Chase had ever seen her. “It’s been nearly a week. I’m bored.”

“What does your doctor say?” asked Chase. “Should you get a clearance to come back to work?”

Laci pouted like a four-year-old. “Yes, I’m supposed to.”

“Did you think we wouldn’t ask about that?” Anna’s tone was gentle, solicitous. “Tomorrow is Monday. We’ll be closed Monday and Tuesday. Maybe you can get in to see your doctor and come back to work on Wednesday.”

“I guess so. I mean, I do have an appointment on Tuesday.”

“That’s settled, then.” Anna pulled out a stool. “Have a seat and I’ll get you a Peanut Butter Fudge Bar.” They were Laci’s favorite. Chase flinched. They’d been Gabe’s favorite, too.

TWENTY-ONE

After they closed, Chase put off doing the books and decided to go out and treat herself to a frozen yogurt. She would get to balancing the books later. After enjoying her solitary creamy treat, she returned to her parking lot to find an old red Saab pulled up next to the place where she always parked her own little Fusion. Laci Carlson got out of the passenger side and waved to Ted as he drove off.

Chase said hi, noting that Laci’s eyes were red-rimmed. “Are you all right?” Laci must have been waiting here to intercept Chase.

“I guess so,” Laci said, not convincing Chase. “It’s Ted. I think he’s two-timing me. It’s not his fault, though. He’s just so distraught.”

Chase wanted to shake Laci by her thin shoulders. Instead, she stepped within inches, invading the young woman’s physical space so she couldn’t ignore Chase’s words. “Listen to me. If a guy is two-timing you, it’s his fault. There’s no excuse for not working out the problems between you.”

“Oh, we don’t have any problems between us. Ted is just, well . . .”

“Ted is just what?” Ted is just a first-class jerk?

“He’s so upset about his mother, and that jacket thing.” She fingered the pearl button on the frilly cuff of her blouse.

“Why is he upset?” The jacket didn’t seem to incriminate his mother, having tomato sauce on it as it did, and not blood.

“He moved it from the bushes so no one would find it, then the cops did find it. They questioned his mother, and him, for hours and hours.” She kept twisting the button. It was coming loose.

“ He moved it? He’s the one who stashed it behind my store?”

“He didn’t want his mother harassed.” The button fell to the ground with a soft ping. Laci didn’t seem to notice it, but started fiddling with the one on her other sleeve.

“Questioning her is not harassment. She was one of the last people to see her husband alive. The police are just doing their job.”

Laci shrugged, looking at the pavement.

“Laci, listen to me. It might be a good idea for you to stay away from Ted until the authorities find out who killed his father.”

Laci’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?”

Should she say it? Yes, she should. “I mean, what if Ted killed his father?”

Laci’s took a sharp intake of breath. “He couldn’t, could he?”

Chase shrugged one shoulder. “Who knows? What are you doing here? Did you come to see me?”

Laci nodded, still not meeting Chase’s eyes.

“What about?”

“About working. I need to get back to work. My rent won’t pay itself.”

Chase knew she and Anna couldn’t fire both Vi and Laci, at least not until they hired one or two other clerks to replace them. She hoped they wouldn’t fire either one. “I can’t talk right now. I’m on my way to . . . an important . . . meeting. Come over later and Anna and I will look at the schedule.”

Laci sank a bit toward the pavement she still stared at.

“We’ll get you going right away, okay?”

She murmured an assent and turned away to walk to her nearby apartment.

Why did Chase feel so rotten watching her small, thin form slowly trudge across the parking lot? How could Anna think about firing her?

• • •

Sunday crawled byso slowly, Chase wished they’d decided to close that day. The people of Dinkytown and the U students must have had much better things to do that day than shop for dessert bars.

After she’d eaten lunch, she got a phone call from Detective Olson.

“I want you to come to the station, Ms. Oliver, as soon as possible.”

He sounded stiff and official, and he called her Ms. Oliver. That wasn’t good.

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

“How soon can you get here?”

His voice was not only stiff, it was cold. A shiver clawed at her, slithered around her torso, and tore at her stomach.

“Am I in trouble?”

He didn’t answer, so she said she’d be right down. She called out to Anna that she had to go out for a few moments, not wanting to tell her what she feared—that she might be arrested for Gabe’s murder.

She went upstairs first, to get her purse with her car keys. The chill she’d gotten when Detective Olson called was still with her. She slid her favorite soft gray cashmere sweater over her blouse, then donned her jacket and went downstairs.

• • •

Chase didn’t breakdown in the parking lot outside the police station. She waited until she was in Julie’s pickup truck.

Julie’s own periwinkle blues filled with tears. Chase swiped at her own tears, feeling guilty she was making Julie cry, her shoulders heaving with the attempt to stifle her blubbering.

“Was it horrible?” Julie asked.

“Worse than horrible,” Chase wailed through her sobs. “I was in that ghastly room for hours and hours after they let me call you. There was a table and a couple of very uncomfortable chairs. They locked the door. I had no idea what was going on. I didn’t know if I’d have to spend days and days there.”

“I wasn’t sure what to do when you said you were being detained.”

“Who was that good-looking guy that got me out?”

Julie waved a hand toward the car leaving the police station parking lot. “Oh, that’s Jay.”

“Jay? Jay who?”

“Jay Wright. I went to law school with him. When you said they were questioning you and had told you to make a phone call, I thought for sure you’d been arrested.”

“I didn’t know what to think. They didn’t tell me much.”

“Jay is working as a criminal lawyer, so I figured he’d be able to do something.”

“He’s awfully good looking.”

“We . . . dated for a while, before we both got so busy in our new jobs. Anyway, he was glad to do me a favor. I’m just thankful you’re not still in there.”

“Me, too,” wailed Chase. She sobbed with Julie’s arms around her, awkwardly, in the bucket seats of the small pickup. Eventually, her sobs turned to snuffles. Julie handed Chase some tissues from the box on the floor and drove Chase to her apartment as quickly as she could without getting a speeding ticket.

After a cup of hot chocolate, topped liberally with miniature marshmallows, Chase slumped in her cinnamon and mocha overstuffed chair while Julie sat on the hassock, warming Chase’s hands, still cold, between hers.

“It was awful,” Chase said. “That was worse than I could ever imagine.”

“You poor thing. What exactly happened?”

“Detective Olson hammered at me for a long time. He was trying to make me say I murdered Gabe Naughtly! I think he was trying to railroad me.”

“Did he say why he thinks you did?”

“He kept asking me if I was sure about the time when I was at the condo. How did I know it was that time? Wasn’t I there earlier? He made me say everything I’ve already said. Over and over and over. The longer I sat there, the more my back hurt.”