Блейз Клемент - The Cat Sitter's Whiskers

“Stepbrothers?”

“Oh. I assumed your friend Mr. Crane would have told you.”

I shook my head. I remembered Ethan had been a little reluctant to tell me he was the executor of Levi’s father’s estate, so I don’t know why it surprised me he might have withheld other facts about the case.

I said, “Actually, no, he didn’t. Maybe he thought it would be a violation of attorney-client privilege or something like that.”

“Well, I suppose that disproves the theory that in the bedchamber there are no secrets.”

I felt my cheeks flush. I didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or proud, but mainly I didn’t know how in the world she knew Ethan and I were, for lack of a better word, “together.” But then again, it’s a tiny island. Word gets around. Why it wasn’t getting around in my bedchamber I had no idea—I’d have to take that up with my friend Mr. Crane later.

McKenzie continued, “It’s commendable on Mr. Crane’s part that he didn’t tell you, but I can’t imagine why it would matter at this point. Levi does indeed have two stepbrothers, both from his father’s second marriage. It’s all laid out in the will. Mona doesn’t seem to know anything about them except their names, and considering what you’ve just told me, that makes a little more sense now. She’s convinced they had something to do with Levi’s death. He apparently hated them both…”

While McKenzie spoke, I looked out the window to my left. There was a man with a bushy white beard leaning over the railing of the bridge. He was dressed in traditional Amish garb—dark blue trousers, light blue dress shirt, suspenders, and a wide-brimmed straw hat with a black grosgrain hatband. Lined up along the railing next to him were four bamboo fishing rods, and he was gently tugging on each of the lines that ran down into the water below.

I closed my eyes and shook my head slowly.

Most of the time I go around thinking the entire world and everything in it revolves around me, but now I was beginning to think I’d let my imagination run right off the tracks. It was obvious. Levi’s death had absolutely nothing to do with me or my masked attacker or stolen figurines or anything else that had happened in the Kellers’ house. Levi’s death had been nothing more than the result of coldhearted sibling rivalry—pure and simple.

I said, “So … these stepbrothers, let me guess—they’re named in Levi’s father’s will.”

“You don’t know them, do you?”

I thought, I sure as hell hope not. “Who are they?”

“Paul Radcliff. He lives just outside Bradenton with his girlfriend, I don’t know much more about him yet, but I’m meeting him today. The other man’s name is Ruben. He lives here in Sarasota. I believe he’s a student at State College.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “No. I’ve never heard of them.”

“And their mother, Abina Radcliff?”

“Sorry, no. I don’t know her, either.”

“I’m curious. Did Mona tell you why she lied about Levi?”

I nodded. “Yeah. It was so her grandmother wouldn’t worry about her. She’s apparently quite ill and she’s afraid Mona won’t be able to take care of herself after she passes away. Frankly, after spending a little time with Mona this morning, I can’t really blame her.”

McKenzie sighed. “I believe I’d better have a talk with Mona’s grandmother. Dixie, you seem to have a talent for drawing things out of people.”

I said, “Tell me about it. Plus, Mona’s not very fond of cops.”

“Yes. I got that impression. Do you know if she’s aware that Levi’s father killed himself?”

“I’m not sure, but she definitely knew about his money. That was the main reason she lied. She wanted her grandmother to think she’d be rich one day.”

There was a long pause. I could almost hear McKenzie thinking over the phone, and I wondered if she was considering the same thing I was. This whole time, I’d thought the only person who might have been in a position to get Levi’s inheritance was Mona, but now with Levi’s stepbrothers in the mix …

McKenzie said, “Dixie … if Ms. Duffy contacts you again, I want you to call me right away.”

I said, “Um, okay, of course…”

“I don’t want to alarm you, but I don’t think she should be trusted.”

“You don’t think she’s a suspect, do you?”

She sighed. “Before your call, no. But now…”

“Wait, I don’t understand.”

“I would hope you wouldn’t. Unfortunately, it’s my job to think like a murderer. Levi’s stepbrothers are indeed named in their father’s will, but only as contingent beneficiaries.”

Now it was her turn to pause for dramatic effect, but unfortunately my legalese is a bit rusty. I said, “I have no idea what that means.”

“Their mother comes from a very wealthy family herself, so it means they were set for life with or without their father’s riches. Levi, on the other hand…”

My jaw dropped open. “Wait. You mean Levi was the sole inheritor?”

“He was. But now it all goes to his stepbrothers. It’s to be divided among them equally.”

“So Mona was right to suspect them.”

“Perhaps, except until now I hadn’t considered … well, I don’t know about you, but if I was going to kill a man who stood to inherit his father’s fortune, I think I might wait until after I was married to him. When I thought she and Levi were engaged, I considered his murder to be counterproductive to her motives.”

I felt my heart sink. “But if she wasn’t after his money, why would you suspect her at all?”

There was a pause. “You said it yourself. She loved him.”

Just then I heard the familiar clang of the bridge-keeper’s bell up ahead as the bridge began its slow descent down.

“Dixie, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that, in the heat of passion, people can be moved to consider all kinds of terrible things … things they’d never dream of doing in their right mind.”

I turned the key in the ignition of the Bronco and nodded slowly as I raised my seat back in place.

I said, “Good point.”

25

When I turned off Old Wharf Way down the main drag of Grand Pelican Commons, the first thing I noticed was the dirt road leading to Levi’s trailer. It was blocked off. Before, there’d been a whole line of emergency response vehicles, but now there were only two—a department cruiser and the new mobile forensics unit. They were parked side by side at the front of the road, and just behind them was a string of black and yellow police tape hung between two trees on either side of the entrance.

The fact that Levi’s road was now off limits to anyone other than authorized personnel meant that somebody, probably McKenzie, had decided it was a potential source of evidence, although I wondered what in the world she hoped to find there after so many vehicles (including my own) had rolled over it.

The second thing I noticed was a gray Nissan coupe at the end of the street on the left, right in front of the trailer I’d originally thought might be Tanisha’s. Its round taillights were glowing red, but then they went out and Mona rose up from the driver’s side. She went around to the back of the car and pulled a grocery bag out of the trunk, and then hurried up the narrow path to the front door.

I slowed down a bit, hoping she’d go inside before she saw me. Not that I wasn’t expected, but I needed some time to think. For one, when Detective McKenzie had asked me to call her if I heard from Mona again, I had conveniently neglected to mention that I was on my way to Mona’s house that very minute. I know it wasn’t the most honest decision on my part, but I knew she’d try to talk me out of it, and I didn’t think I’d be able to stop her.