Софи Келли - A Tale Оf Two Kitties

“You have a very . . . fanciful imagination, Kathleen,” she said.

I may have rattled her a little when I’d first appeared at the table, but she seemed completely composed now. “What I don’t understand is if there’s something that you feel you need to hide in that letter then why show it to Leo or Simon at all?”

“And as I already said, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

I studied her for a moment, hoping I seemed as unconcerned as she did, when I realized she wasn’t quite as calm as she seemed at first glance. Her hands were folded in her lap, left over right, and I noticed she was fingering something in her right hand. I caught a flash of something round and purple and suddenly a lot of things began to make sense.

“You’re working the twelve steps,” I said.

Something shifted in Celia’s face. She reached up and set the purple nine-month AA coin she had been fingering on the table. “Yes,” she said. “I wanted to make amends with Leo.”

I remembered what Oren had told me. “Because you helped break up his marriage.”

Wordlessly, she nodded.

“But you didn’t tell Leo or Simon the truth.”

Celia took a deep breath and let it out. “Kathleen, do you know the twelve steps?”

“Yes,” I said. Susan’s husband, Eric, was in AA.

“Then you know that it’s important to make amends but not if that will hurt the person or someone else.” She picked up the purple token and set it down again. “I’ve been sober for ten months,” she said. “I know what a cliché it is, but I really am a different person—a better person. What I did to Leo and Simon was unforgivable and forgiveness wasn’t what I was looking for. I wanted them both to know that Meredith wouldn’t have left them if it hadn’t been for me. If I hadn’t told Victor what to say to win her over.”

She closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again I could see regret and shame in them. “I was all set to tell Leo the truth and let him read the letter from Meredith. Yes, there’s another page. And then he told me that Victor was here and that he’s sick.”

I understood then. “And you knew if you told Leo the truth that any chance of the two of them reconciling would be gone.”

She nodded. “He’s sick, Kathleen. He could die. I couldn’t do it. No matter what he did—what we did—I couldn’t take away his chance to have a relationship with the only family he has left.”

“But you’d already told Leo about the letter.”

“Yes.” She studied the purple token for a moment and set it on the table once more. “Then I realized I could just remove the middle page. The letter still made sense.”

“Why did you push to show it to Simon?”

“A reporter who is doing an article about the mail that was found contacted me. I made the mistake of telling her that I had received a letter from an old friend. I was afraid Simon would put two and two together and figure out the friend was his mother. This way I could . . . control what he—what everyone—found out.” She looked past me for a moment and then her gaze met mine again. “And because, selfishly, it made me feel a little better.”

“What’s on the missing page?” I asked.

She reached for her purse tucked next to her hip in the upholstered chair, removed the pink envelope and handed it across the table to me. I took out the three sheets of paper and read the letter, the whole letter, from the beginning.

Dear Celia,

I hope you don’t throw this letter away as soon as you see it’s from me. You probably hate me for what I’ve done, but you couldn’t hate me more than I hate myself. Victor and Leo may look the same but they’re very different men. I thought Victor was exciting, and he seemed to know what I was thinking in a way Leo didn’t, as if he could see into my heart somehow. But I was wrong. I’ve learned that Victor is selfish, manipulative and cruel. He doesn’t really care about me. He doesn’t love me. I think the only reason he showed any interest in me at all was to hurt Leo. He’s so jealous of his brother and I have proof of that now. I miss Simon so much. Victor is going out of town in a couple of weeks. I’ll be able to leave then. I was a childish fool. I don’t know if Leo will ever forgive me but I have to find out.

I love him. I will see you soon.

Love, Merry

I set the pages down on the cream tablecloth. I had to swallow down the lump in the back of my throat. “She was coming home to them.”

Celia nodded. “And I know I have to let Simon read this. Not telling him leaves him with more pain than telling will cause Victor.”

“I think so,” I said. I put the pages back in the envelope and handed it back to her. “Thank you for telling me the truth.”

“I should have told it from the beginning,” she said.

“You were doing what you thought was right,” I told her. “I can’t fault you for that. I don’t think anyone can. I do have one more question, though. Did you know Leo also received a piece of that lost mail?”

Celia shook her head. “He didn’t say anything to me.”

Nothing in her face or her body language made me think she wasn’t telling the truth. “Was it from Meredith?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Can you think of any reason she might have sent him a key?”

A frown formed between her perfectly groomed eyebrows. “A key?”

I nodded.

“No. That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know,” I said. I reached into my bag, pulled out a pen and a small notepad and wrote down my cell phone number. “If you think of anything, anything, please call me.”

“I will,” she said. “And I promise you I’ll call Simon and let him read the letter.”

“He’s in Minneapolis with his daughter for a couple of days,” I said. “They’ll be back Tuesday. That’s soon enough.” I got up and made my way across the room.

Levi was at another table. I waited by the door and when he turned I raised a hand. He came right over to me. I gave him my credit card and paid for our tea with a generous tip. After what I’d learned from Celia it seemed the least I could do.

It was still raining when I stepped outside. I ran through the rain back to the truck, sliding onto the front seat, shaking the water off my hair. Then I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. Marcus would be in Red Wing until late. There was nothing he could do with what I’d learned from Celia. At least not right now. I put my phone away.

I was glad Simon and Mia were in Minneapolis for a couple of days. Because as soon as Simon read that letter he was going to suspect what I was starting to strongly suspect—that Victor Janes had killed his own brother.

chapter 16

I called Marcus as soon as I got home. It went to voice mail but he called me back about half an hour later. I gave him the information I’d gotten from Elias and I told him about the missing page of the letter.

He stayed silent until I finished talking. “I agree that it doesn’t make Victor Janes look good,” he said.

“What’s the but?” I asked, walking out into the porch with the phone.

“It doesn’t change the fact that he has an alibi. And I saw him write his name in the guest book at Gunnerson’s. He’s right -handed. Whoever killed Leo Janes was left-handed, remember?”

“So what are you thinking?” I asked as I dropped down onto the bench under the porch window. “Do you think he hired someone to kill Leo?”

Marcus made an exasperated sound on the other end of the phone. “I don’t know,” he said. “Just promise me you’ll stay away from the man until we figure this out.”