Софи Райан: The Whole Cat Аnd Caboodle

Maddie nodded. “I was just telling Charlotte not to fuss.”

Liz made a dismissive wave with one perfectly manicured hand. “Nobody’s fussing,” she said. She glanced at me again.

I held up both hands. “I’m just making tea. Have a seat.”

“Heaven help us,” Liz muttered almost under her breath. She sat down at the end of the table, reached across and gave Elvis a scratch on the top of his head, and then took one of Maddie’s hands. “What can I do?” she asked.

I took the container of tea bags out of Charlotte’s hands and all but pushed her toward the table. “I’ve got this,” I said. I warmed the teapot with a little hot water from the kettle, dropped the tea bags inside and turned around to find Charlotte poking her head in the refrigerator.

I leaned over her shoulder. “What are you doing?” I hissed.

“I’m looking for the chicken.” She straightened up, holding a small blue-and-white casserole dish.

“Of course,” I said. “Tea with milk and sugar, tea with lemon or tea with chicken.”

“Isabel obviously fell down on the job when it came to teaching you some respect for your elders,” she said tartly. I knew from the gleam in her eye that she wasn’t really annoyed with me. And I knew why she’d gone foraging for that chicken.

“I failed that day,” I countered, taking the container from her. “Number one, that cat does not need a piece of chicken. Number two, sit down, please.”

“It’s not fair for all of us to have something and not give Elvis a little treat.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” I muttered. She glared at me. I glared at her. I won. She sat.

I could see Elvis out of the corner of my eye. He had a nose like a truffle hog and it was twitching in my direction. I put the chicken on the counter, put the cookies Liz had brought on a plate, made the tea, poured the tea and served everything to the ladies, the whole time being followed by a pair of deep green eyes. I knew if I didn’t give the cat a piece of that chicken Charlotte would be on my case. She may have been as tough as a boiled owl, to use one of my grandmother’s expressions, but I knew her well enough to know that she’d been shaken at finding Maddie with Arthur Fenety’s body.

I cut four tiny bites of chicken for Elvis, set them on a piece of paper towel on the floor and crooked my index finger at the cat. He rubbed the side of his face against Maddie’s wrist, jumped down and came across the floor to me. Being a well-mannered cat, he gave a soft meow of thanks before he started eating.

I poured a cup of tea for myself, added lots of milk and sugar and took the last seat at Charlotte’s table. Liz lifted her cup and nodded with what I took to be approval of my tea-making abilities. I hadn’t been exaggerating when I’d told Charlotte it was the only thing Gram had been able to teach me to do in the kitchen.

“Sarah, what’s going to happen now?” Maddie asked. Both of her hands were wrapped around the china teacup. She had long fingers, the nails cut short and square, the opposite of Liz’s immaculate manicure.

I ran my finger around the rim of the cup. I didn’t want to tell Maddie or the others about my suspicions. “There’ll be an autopsy,” I said, finally. “The police will have more questions for you. They’ll need to contact his family.”

Maddie put a hand to her throat. “Oh, my word,” she said, the color that had come back to her face draining away. “I forgot about Daisy.”

I looked at Liz, raising an eyebrow.

“Arthur Fenety’s sister,” she whispered.

Charlotte put a hand on Maddie’s arm. “The police will take care of that,” she said.

“I should call her.”

Charlotte shook her head. “You can call her later.”

“Why don’t you tell us what happened?” Liz said, tracing the loop of the teacup handle with one finger.

Maddie exhaled slowly. “I don’t really know what to tell you,” she said. “I invited Arthur for brunch. He says it’s the best parts of breakfast and lunch put together and the time is more civilized.” Her voice trailed away. She cleared her throat and when she spoke again her voice was stronger. “He arrived between quarter after twelve and twelve thirty. We talked for a few minutes; then I went in to start cooking. I was going to make an omelet for the two of us to share when the phone rang. Everything took longer than I meant it to. When the omelet was ready and I went back outside, Arthur was . . . gone.” She looked across the table at me. “I couldn’t find a pulse. I . . . I should have called an ambulance. I don’t know what came over me. It was only a couple of minutes and you and Charlotte showed up, thank heavens.”

“How long were you in the house?” I asked. Elvis had finished his snack and had started washing his face. He paused, one paw raised, as though he wanted to hear Maddie’s answer, too.

She turned to look at me, fingering the collar of her tailored yellow blouse. “I don’t know, really. I didn’t look at the clock. No more than about fifteen or twenty minutes, I’m guessing. I . . . I shouldn’t have left him alone for so long.”

Liz immediately spoke up. “Don’t think like that. Arthur wasn’t a young man. This kind of thing can happen at our age.” She’d put a cookie on her napkin and broken it into several pieces, but I noticed she hadn’t eaten any of them.

I nodded agreement that I didn’t completely feel. I didn’t see the point in saying that I didn’t think Arthur Fenety had died of natural causes. “Liz is right,” I said. “There’s no point in speculating. Let the police do their job.” I glanced at my watch. “Is there anything else I can do for you before I head back to the store?”

She shook her head. “No. I’m in good hands here.” She looked at Liz and Charlotte before her gaze met mine again.

I pushed back my chair and got to my feet. Charlotte stood up as well and came around the table, wrapping me in a hug. “Thank you, sweetie,” she whispered against my ear.

“If you need anything, call me,” I said softly.

She nodded.

I leaned down and put my arm around Maddie’s shoulders. “I’m so sorry this happened,” I said. “But I’m very glad that I got to see you.”

She reached up and covered my hand with hers. “I’m glad I got to see you, too, Sarah,” she said.

I straightened up and Liz was on her feet. “I’ll walk out with you,” she said. “I think I blocked you in.”

I scooped Elvis up off the floor, gave Maddie and Charlotte one last smile and headed for the front door with Liz right behind me.

Liz’s car was parked at the curb. It wasn’t blocking my truck in any way.

“I can back out just fine,” I said to her.

She crossed one arm over her midsection. “Well, look at that,” she said. She gave a small shrug.

“Yes, look at that,” I repeated. Elvis leaned sideways in my arms and gave Liz a look that could only be described as skeptical.

“I’m glad you were with Charlotte,” she said.

I opened the driver’s door of the truck and set Elvis on the seat. He immediately sat down and looked expectantly up at Liz.

I turned to face her. “Okay, what’s going on?” I said.

She brushed a stray thread off her lavender shirt. “Nothing’s going on. I just wanted to ask you what happened without Maddie sitting right there.”

I explained how Charlotte and I had ended up at the little stone house, how we’d gone looking for Maddie and found her in the backyard with Arthur Fenety’s body.

“Why didn’t she call for help?”

I’d wondered the same thing myself. “I don’t know,” I said. “Shock, I guess.”

Liz narrowed her blue eyes. “Do you think he had a heart attack?”