Софи Райан - The Whole Cat Аnd Caboodle

“He was poisoned?”

She nodded. “The police said it was in his coffee, some kind of pesticide that was banned a couple of years ago.”

I heard Charlotte catch her breath, and at the end of the table Rose was shaking her head. Charlotte cleared her throat. “What kind of pesticide?” she asked.

Maddie played with the strap of her watch. “I don’t know,” she said, looking at her friend. “Something they used to sell to keep slugs off roses, I think.” She shook her head. “They think because of the garden that I had whatever chemical it was, even though you can’t buy it anymore. But I didn’t. I’ve never used any chemicals on my plants and I didn’t put anything in Arthur’s coffee.”

I bent down, put my arms around her shoulders and gave her a hug. “Everyone here knows that,” I said. “And when Josh shows that you don’t have any connection to that pesticide, whatever it is, that will go a long way to proving your innocence.”

I finished clearing the table and carried everything up to the staff room. When I came down, Maddie had her jacket on and she and Liz were standing by the front door with Charlotte.

“We’re going now,” Liz said. “I’m going to walk Maddie to Charlotte’s house.”

“I’ll drive you,” I said. “Just let me run upstairs and get my purse and my keys.”

Maddie caught my arm. “Thank you,” she said, “but I really want to walk after being . . . inside all night.”

“Okay,” I said.

“Thank you for everything, Sarah,” she said, folding me into a hug.

“You’d do the same for me,” I whispered against her cheek.

Maddie and Liz headed off down the sidewalk, and I was about to go back up to my office to deal with a morning’s worth of messages, when I caught sight of another tour bus pulling into the parking lot.

Charlotte was already showing a man and woman a washstand I’d painted black and stenciled with silver stars. Avery and Rose were with a young woman with spiky lime green hair, looking at a pretty decent beginner-level guitar. Elvis was sitting in the tub chair, washing his face. The messages would have to wait.

The second bunch of leaf peepers spent even more than the first had and I wished I’d planted more teacup gardens. They’d all sold and I probably could have sold half a dozen more if I’d had them. Once the store cleared Mac went out to work on the table a little more. I sent Avery to plant some more cups, and left Rose dusting.

“Yell if you need me,” I told her. She waved her dust cloth at me and I headed up the stairs.

When I came back down about an hour and a half later Liz was back. She’d changed into black trousers and a loose white shirt with a denim jacket. She and Rose were sitting in the tub chair with Elvis between them. Avery was cross-legged on the floor at their feet, and Charlotte was leaning against the cash desk.

“What’s going on?” I asked, even though I was pretty sure I knew what the topic of conversation was.

“We were just talking about Maddie,” Rose said. She folded her hands primly in her lap.

“Okay,” I said.

Her eyes darted to Charlotte and then Liz before she looked at me again. “Whoever killed Arthur Fenety has to be connected to those women he scammed.”

“That makes sense,” I said. The coatrack in the window display was crooked. I turned it so the vintage baby bonnets on its hooks could be seen from outside. When I turned back around I noticed that Charlotte had Tuesday’s paper on the counter next to her.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You heard what Maddie said. Josh has an investigator. He’ll look at everything.”

“One investigator,” Charlotte said. “How many clients does that office have?”

I closed my eyes for a moment. It didn’t matter how many deep breaths I took; I still felt frustrated.

“I know that you all want to help Maddie,” I said. “But you’re not detectives. You don’t have the skills to do this.”

“But we do,” Rose said. There was a determined gleam in her eyes that I knew was trouble. “Together we have more expertise that any retired police officer.” She stuck out her chin and stared defiantly at me. Charlotte folded her arms. Liz leaned against the back of the oversize tub chair and a small smile played on her lips. Avery nodded, and even Elvis got into the act, resting one black paw on Rose’s leg.

I shook my head and narrowed my eyes at them. “Okay, explain this expertise to me,” I said.

Rose pointed at Charlotte. “Charlotte was a school principal and I was a teacher. Between the two of us we’ve heard every excuse and made-up story there is, and we can see through all of them.” She looked at Liz. “Liz ran the Emmerson Foundation for years. She can follow the money trail.”

Avery raised her hand then. “And I’m a master at underhanded and sneaky.” She said the words with a certain amount of pride. “I can spot a fake a mile away.” She pulled herself up a little straighter. “And, by the way, when that Arthur Fenety guy came in here last week I said he was off, and you all said I was rude.”

Liz gave her head a tiny shake. “Next time we’ll pay more attention to your judgment.”

Avery inclined her head in her grandmother’s direction like she was royalty. “Thank you, Nonna,” she said. She glanced at Rose, who gave her an encouraging smile.

They’d practiced this, I realized. I sighed and pulled a hand over the back of my neck.

“We have life experience, Sarah,” Rose said.

They were going to do this whether I liked it or not. And whether Nick liked it or not. Maybe I could at least keep them out of trouble. I seemed to be the only responsible adult in the room.

“There’s no way I can talk you out of this, is there?” I said.

Liz and Avery shook their heads.

“No,” Charlotte said.

Elvis chimed in with a loud meow while Rose watched my face.

I sighed. “Just don’t do anything illegal,” I warned. “There isn’t enough in petty cash to bail anyone out.”

Rose beamed at me. She got to her feet and wrapped me in a hug. “You are the dearest, dearest girl,” she said.

“I’m the craziest girl,” I said.

She pulled back and smiled. “I think you should tell Nicolas. He’ll just try to give his mother orders and you know how that will turn out.”

“In other words, you’re sticking me with the job no one else wants.”

Rose put a hand to her chest and looked offended. I knew it was an act. “Of course not,” she said. “It’s just that I think Nicolas will respond a lot better to your charm than he would, say, to mine.”

I leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “I’m glad you use your powers for the good guys and not for the evil empire,” I said.

We closed the shop, and Liz gave everyone a drive home. Actually, Avery drove, sitting exaggeratedly upright with her hands at ten and two on the steering wheel as she pulled out of the parking lot, her latest act of rebellion over her grandmother’s comments about her driving.

I collected Elvis and we headed home. The first thing I did was change into the gray sweatpants I used for running and a long-sleeved orange T-shirt so I was easy to see.

“Want to come running?” I said to the cat as I tied my shoes. He yawned, flopped to the floor and rolled onto his back. “So not funny,” I said.

I stretched and turned south so I could run around the water tower. I hoped the running would help me figure out how I was going to explain to Nick that I hadn’t exactly talked his mother out of nosing around in Arthur Fenety’s murder.

I took a shower when I got back, pulled on jeans and a sweater and sat down to make the promised phone call to my grandmother. I could hear the relief in her voice when I told her Maddie was out on bail and staying with Charlotte. After I talked to Gram I tried my mom and dad but the call went to voice mail. The same thing happened when I tried my brother, Liam. I knew Jess was on a date, although I couldn’t remember who with. Elvis was watching Jeopardy! I was restless, wired, with no one to talk to, and when I looked in the refrigerator I remembered that I still hadn’t gotten to the grocery store. Maybe I should take Rose up on her offer of cooking lessons, I thought. I was getting tired of scrambled eggs and toast. I grabbed my jacket and purse. “I’m going out,” I called. I felt a little silly letting a cat know I was leaving. Then I heard an answering meow and it didn’t seem quite so ridiculous.