Софи Келли - Hooked On A Feline

“I think you should do it,” Maggie said, gesturing with her fork. “I’m not sure if The Brick is the best venue, though. You might get a larger audience if you held the show somewhere else.”

“I thought about that,” Roma said. “There are other possibilities.” She looked at me.

“I’m sorry, not the library,” I said.

She and Maggie laughed. “No, not the library, but what do you think about the idea?”

“I think it could work. Could you get enough performers?”

Roma grinned. “Well, apparently Maggie is in.”

Maggie looked up from her salad. “I am.”

“Sandra has really taken to the dancing since Mary got her started. She’s done more than one workshop herself and she’s been teaching a few women the art of erotic dancing over the past few months. I don’t think there would be a problem getting enough participants.”

“What, no would-be Zorros?” Maggie asked.

“Maggie’s right,” I said. “If you could get Zorro again, whoever he was, that would be a big draw.”

“I think it was Burtis,” Maggie said.

“Did Brady say something to you?” I asked.

She shook her head and her blond curls bounced. “No, but Burtis does love animals and the body type was right.”

I held up one hand. “No, no, no. I don’t want to think about Burtis in a cape. Now that’s going to be in my head all day.”

“What about Thorsten?” Roma asked.

Maggie wrinkled her nose. “Too tall.”

“Maybe Everett?”

Even I had to laugh at that suggestion. I couldn’t imagine Everett dancing in a mask and a cape. “I’m not going there,” I said. “I have to work with the man and I don’t want to be in a meeting and suddenly find myself wondering if that was him in that cape and mask. Besides, I don’t believe Rebecca would have been able to keep the secret from everyone.”

Maggie and Roma continued to speculate as I spotted Eric and got up to talk to him. “I’ll be right back,” I said.

Eric smiled when he caught sight of me walking toward him. “How are you?” he said. “I haven’t seen you since the funeral.”

“I’m well, thank you. I wanted to thank you for sending the extra cookies from the service over for the Reading Club kids. They were a big hit.”

Eric smiled. “Hey, no problem. There were two plates that didn’t even have the tops removed and I didn’t want to see them go to waste. And you know Mike was a softie when it came to kids. I figured he’d be happy that they got the leftovers.” He looked away for a moment and then his gaze came back to me. “It’s funny, you know. He was in here a lot in the weeks before he died. I keep expecting to see him come through the door, telling me he needs the largest cup of coffee I have.”

“I know what you mean,” I said. “Mike was at the library working on his family tree. I keep expecting to come around a corner and see him at a table with a stack of reference books.”

“He told me about that. He’d come in after work every Wednesday for takeout, and if it wasn’t busy, we’d talk for a few minutes. I didn’t think of it at the time, but it’s clear in retrospect that he was going to practice with the rest of the band.” He shook his head. “Marcus is going to catch whoever did this, right?”

“He’s doing his best,” I said. “Hold a good thought.”

We talked for a minute or two longer and then I went back to the table. So Mike had been getting takeout every Wednesday night. Eric’s words matched what Caroline had told me. Mike had been doing something on Wednesday nights. I had no idea what it was but he’d definitely had a secret. Had it gotten him killed?

chapter 14

I went back to the table to find that Maggie and Roma had given up trying to figure out who Zorro was and were now trying to pick a piece of music for Maggie to dance to if there was in fact another show.

“And I think you should give Sandra a call,” Roma was saying as I sat down again. “You could have a couple of lessons so you’d feel more comfortable onstage.”

After lunch we parted company on the sidewalk in front of the café. Maggie had a shift at the artists’ co-op store and Roma was on her way over to take lunch to Eddie. I hugged them both.

“You know, Sandra does take students for one-on-one lessons,” Roma teased. “I mean, if you happen to be interested.”

“You’re as persistent as Owen,” I said.

“Since I know the little furball, I’m going to take that as a compliment,” she said with a grin

“I don’t dance. I’ll hang posters. I’ll sell tickets. I’ll help make costumes. I’m not dancing. ”

“Put her down as a maybe,” Maggie said. She grabbed Roma by the arm and pulled her down the sidewalk. I could hear them both laughing.

I was meeting Marcus at the bookstore in a little while. Mary had told him about a book on forgotten landmarks in the state that he wanted to get for his father. Since I knew Marcus should be there in less than half an hour, I decided to take a walk along the Riverwalk. It was too nice a day to go back to my office and do paperwork.

I hadn’t gone very far when I saw Johnny coming toward me. He smiled when he saw me. “I thought I was the only person who didn’t find it too warm to be out walking,” he said as we got closer to each other.

“The Riverwalk is one of my favorite places,” I said. “I did a lot of walking here when I first came to town. I’d go all the way to Wild Rose Bluff and back sometimes.”

“I’ve been walking down by the marina. Mike and I were working on a song and I keep going back there, hoping inspiration will hit so I can finish it.”

“I’m sure it will,” I said.

“I’m glad I saw you,” Johnny said. “I’m looking for some information on a former music academy in Red Wing. I’m hoping you might know of a reference book that could help.”

“You mean the property you tried to buy from Leitha.”

“Yes.” He looked a little surprised that I knew. “Kathleen, I’m angry about Mike’s death. So angry some days I could punch someone, which wouldn’t do me or anyone else any good. But I’m not sorry Leitha is dead and I won’t be a hypocrite and pretend I am now that it seems her death wasn’t an accident.”

“Leitha brought out strong feelings in a lot of people,” I said, matching his quiet tone.

“Very diplomatic,” he said.

“It doesn’t make the words any less true.”

“She was managing to estrange her whole family. Her daughter had very little to do with her. In fact she moved to the other side of the country. Lachlan avoided Leitha as much as he could and she and Mike were on the outs when she died but Mike didn’t even know what over. It’s hard to feel grief-stricken over someone who alienated so many people. Mike on the other hand, that wasn’t fair.”

I shook my head. “No, it wasn’t.”

I could hear my mother’s voice in my head saying, Life is not always fair, Katydid. Sometimes bad people win. Sometimes good people lose.

“She tried to sabotage your project.” We started walking back the way I’d just come.

“She went out of her way to try to make sure it didn’t happen. I offered her a good price for the property—ten percent over Everett’s offer and his was more than fair. But that wasn’t the only reason I didn’t like her,” he said. “I didn’t like the way she was always trying to interfere in Lachlan’s life. He’s a good kid.”

It was impossible not to hear the intensity in his voice and see the angry lines pulling at his mouth.

“I know she had some pretty rigid ideas about what he should do with his life.”

“In her mind there was a very limited list of careers for Finnamore men and anything related to music was out. I think Lachlan could have said he wanted to play for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra or the Berlin Philharmonic, and that wouldn’t have satisfied her. Jonas put up with way too much of her meddling and threats to hold back money for Lachlan’s college education. I like the guy, but he’s always been too much of a soft touch. I think he should have stood up to her. He always said he wanted to make sure that Leitha wouldn’t be able to interfere with Lachlan getting his money for college. I told him more than once that he should have told her to stuff her Finnamore money. Lachlan is really talented. Even if the old crab had somehow managed to hold back the trust money, Lachlan could get a scholarship.”