Блейз Клемент - The Cat Sitter's Whiskers

She whispered, “Now, hold on a minute. What if she tries to hurt you?”

I tried to sound as confident as possible. “No, if she wanted to do something crazy she wouldn’t have come here. But we shouldn’t take any chances. Just go on.”

She closed her eyes. “Oh, Lord. I knew I should’ve stayed in bed this morning.”

“You and me both. And by the way, you owe me for this. I’ll expect a couple of those cheese biscuits every morning from now on.”

“Girl, unless you plan on windin’ up fat as me you better think of some other options.”

She hustled back to the kitchen while I took a deep breath and thought, Well, this should be interesting.

For some fool reason, I grabbed the morning newspaper off the end of the counter as I went by. I needed something to do with my hands. When I folded it under my arm I felt a quick jab of pain in the center of my chest, as if someone had poked me with the tip of their index finger, and then I figured out what it was: the Herald-Tribune had already found a replacement for Levi.

Sasquatch was sitting with her arms in her lap and her eyes fixed on the back of the head of the man in the next booth. Her gaze didn’t waver, even as I came to a stop at the table. Anybody else would have looked up, but she didn’t. Her jaw was set like a vise.

I said, “Umm…”

Without looking up, she said “I’m Mona Duffy. We met before.”

She was wearing tight black leggings and a large blouse buttoned up to the neck. It was white, with pink and red dots in crisscrossing lines forming a faded plaid pattern, and I noticed the dots were actually tiny cartoon strawberries. Her dyed magenta hair was messed and flattened on one side, and her eyes were bloodshot and puffy.

She extended her hand. “Tanisha told me I could find you here.”

For once in my life I couldn’t think of anything to say, so I just shook her hand limply and nodded. There was a purple canvas handbag on the bench next to her, with black fringe along the seams, and I noticed it was propped open. The shoulder strap was gathered into a neat coil next to it.

She said, “I need to talk to you.”

I laid the newspaper down on the bench and slid in next to it, glancing at the headline on the front page. It read: “Ringling Circus to Hold Local Clown Auditions!” in big bold letters, and for a few blissful nanoseconds I wondered what my chances were. I glanced around the diner looking for Judy, but luckily she was already headed to the table with a pot of coffee and two menus.

My eyes met Mona’s, and for a few surreal seconds I think we both realized how strange it was to be sitting across the table from one another, especially considering how we’d met. Emotions were moving across her face like storms across a continent—fear, grief, anger—and I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d been up all night crying.

I said, “Mona, I can’t tell you how sorry I am about Levi.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Oh, really?”

Before I could react, Judy interrupted, her voice bright and cheerful. “Coffee?”

I nodded as she laid the menus on the table and flashed us a big toothy smile, as if everything in the world was completely hunky-dory. She filled Mona’s cup first and then mine.

“You ladies know what you want or do you need some time to think?”

I said, “Maybe just a few minutes, thanks.”

Judy nodded pleasantly, but as she turned to leave I could tell she was watching me out of the corner of her eye. As soon as she was out of hearing range, I said, “Look, I know we didn’t get off to a very good start, and I don’t blame you for being suspicious, but you have to trust me. I had absolutely nothing to do with what happened to Levi.”

She was quiet for a moment. “Then what were you doing there?”

“I told you. I was just checking on him.”

“Why? What did he tell you?”

I could hear a note of desperation in her voice, and it occurred to me that she wasn’t here for revenge or a confrontation or anything like that. Just like me, she was looking for answers.

I said, “He didn’t say anything. I didn’t even talk to him that morning. I was just worried something was wrong.”

A blush of scarlet appeared on her neck. “I don’t get it. What do you care?”

“Well, I’ve known Levi for a long time. We went to high school together, and—”

Her lips curled, “Oh, I get it.”

“No, it’s nothing like that. We were just friends, and we weren’t even that close.”

“Then how’d you know something was wrong?”

I sighed. “That morning, I was at a client’s house and somebody attacked me, at least I thought they did, and I was worried Levi might have seen something. I was worried that whoever attacked me might have followed him home, and…”

Tears suddenly welled up in her eyes and her lips began to quiver.

“Oh, honey, I’m sorry. I know how hard this must be…”

She squeezed her eyes shut. “You don’t know.”

I took a breath. “I do. I was married once … I know what it’s like to lose someone you love.”

She shook her head and her voice dropped to a whisper. “It ain’t like that … and anyway, it don’t matter now…”

She put her elbows on the table and buried her face in her hands just as Judy went past the booth to the back corner. There was a wooden high chair and a couple of folding trays leaned up against the wall, and as she clattered the trays around pretending to organize them, she caught my eye and mouthed, You okay?

I gave her a quick nod and said, “Judy, can you do me a favor and tell Tanisha I said never mind?”

She came around the corner of the booth with one of the trays. “Never mind?”

“Yeah, when I came in I gave her … my order. Can you just tell her I don’t need it anymore?”

She glanced at Mona and then back at me. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.”

“Okay, I’ll tell her.”

As she headed back for the kitchen, I looked back at Mona. She’d taken her hands away from her face and put them on the table in front of her. There were red stripes running down her cheeks where her fingers had pressed into them.

I said, “You told me someone came home with Levi the night before…”

She nodded slowly. “Yeah, he always had different girls. Always out drinking with his friends and partying. I tried to ignore it, but…”

“Do you know who she was?”

Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t know. Maybe. He was going through a rough time.”

“Was it about his father?”

Her face darkened. “What do you know about it?”

“I have a friend who’s an attorney. He represents Levi’s father with some stuff.”

She didn’t look completely convinced. “Well, I don’t trust lawyers any more than I trust cops.”

“I trust this one. He’s a very good friend.”

Her voice flat, she said, “I lied to that detective.”

I said, “I know you told them it was me, but there’s no need to apologize. I probably would have thought the exact same thing. And anyway, I used to be a sheriff’s deputy. I promise you no one thinks I had anything to do with—”

“No … I mean I lied about me and Levi.”

The blush of pink on her neck had spread across her face, and now her entire body started to tremble like a volcano about to explode. It took me a second to comprehend the weight of what she was trying to tell me, but then I felt my heart kick into high gear as a rush of adrenaline shot through my bloodstream. I looked over my shoulder to see if I could still catch Judy, but she’d already disappeared into the kitchen. I was beginning to think maybe I’d called off the cops too soon.

Mona was staring straight ahead, unblinking. I noted her hands were under the table and her purse was standing open on the seat next to her, and as I glanced around the diner I heard Tanisha’s voice in my head, What if she tries to hurt you? If Mona was about to confess what she’d done, there was no telling what she might do next. At this point, she seemed completely, utterly capable of anything.