Donally, Claire - Cat Nap (A SUNNY & SHADOW MYSTERY)

“Uh-huh.” Will’s voice was toneless “I figured I’d better get you alone in case there were any other surprises you had for me. Stuff that Jane’s lawyer shouldn’t hear.”

“No, that’s it, I promise,” Sunny assured him. “And from the way you’re acting, you can see I did it for your own good.”

He made a wordless noise, then glanced over at her. “Well, I guess this trumps taking you out and then—what was the word?—‘whining’ over an old girlfriend.”

Sunny jerked up straight in her seat. “You’re keeping score now?”

Will gave her a rueful smile. “Apparently, it’s the closest I can come to keeping track of you.”

They arrived at Sunny’s house, and she gave him an impulsive kiss on the cheek. “I really am sorry.”

Will looked at her for a long moment. “I wish you could expand on that.” Sunny wasn’t sure whether he meant the apology or the kiss. Then he went to open the door. “Got to ferry Tobe home.”

Sunny laughed. “There’s a ride where I’d like to be a fly on the wall. Don’t give him a shiner on the other eye.”

Will waited till Sunny was in the doorway. She waved good-bye and came into an empty downstairs. As he always did when Sunny went out, Mike had gone up early, leaving the living room lights on. Lately, though, when she’d come home from a date, Sunny had found a reception committee. Shadow had always greeted her.

Can’t think of that now, she thought. Got to get some sleep.

*

The next morning,Sunny groaned as she got out of bed. She’d hit the hay early enough, but her mind had kept racing around in circles. And then she’d had weird dreams, where Olek got in a fight with Shadow, and Shadow had knocked him down.

When Sunny came down the stairs, she found that Mike had made breakfast—a good thing. But he obviously hoped to hear something about last night. Sighing, Sunny gave him the whole story.

Mike stared. “You know, I’ve lived here all my life, and I never met people like you’re talking about.”

“Well, you were away a lot.” Sunny dropped the flip reply when she saw the look on her dad’s face. Yeah, thanks to his job Mike hadn’t been around for a lot of things . . . like the accident that took his wife’s life. “I mean, you’ve been lucky, Dad. These are people you wouldn’t want to run into. Besides, they’re Portsmouth people.”

The appeal to local pride won out. “Portsmouth,” Mike said in dismissive tones, as if that explained everything.

Sunny arrived at the office and settled into the usual Friday routine, where crowds of shoppers and couples called in with last-minute checks or disasters en route, and Sunny did her best to help them.

In a way, it was a comforting routine. Sunny was just sort of puttering mindlessly along when the office door opened and Dani Shostak came in. She sat, gawking, as he came up to her desk.

“The police, they start now to ask questions about the Dr. Rigsdale’s money,” he said. “Very soon now, I have to go somewhere like Montreal. I’d like to have my money back before I go there. Much less trouble.”

He tilted his head a little, his long, thin face contemplating Sunny. “You think whoever it was killed the doctor, they took the money? I keep on thinking it might still be in his house or office, but Olek says no. For a fellow with his size, he is very good at getting into places.”

“I’d say Olek is good at a lot of things,” Sunny said. “I just wonder if he went a little farther than he intended, asking Martin about the money.”

“Olek?” Dani shook his head. “One of the things he’s best at is hitting people. Look at that young fellow last night. Olek hits him just enough so it looks like maybe he falls down instead of getting punched. He is professional. He would be very hurt to hear you say these things.”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to hurt your feelings more,” Sunny told him. “I find myself wondering if Martin stole from you, you got your money back and killed him, and now you’re trying to double your money by going to Martin’s ex-wife.”

“That’s a smart idea,” Dani said. “I wonder if you get it from your cop boyfriend.”

Sunny forced herself to keep looking into Dani’s eyes, and not show her surprise that he knew about Will. She’d been out with Will often enough; anyone could have spotted them together. It was just a little unsettling that she had missed either the big Ukrainian or his skinny boss.

I guess there are things they’re good at.

“Well, I suppose these are things you must wonder. Some people I have done business with, they might do bad things like that. Me, I think that just makes trouble. I think maybe you believe me.”

He spread his hands, a man trying to make a point in a language that wasn’t his own. Then his face got a little chilly, his manner more direct. “But I got to have that much money. Or I end up in trouble.”

Dani nodded emphatically and went to the door, to discover Mrs. Martinson standing right outside. Dani opened the door and ushered her in with a little bow.

“Thank you,” Mrs. M. said.

She got another bow from Dani, and then he was on his way.

Sunny shook her head. You’ve got to appreciate a gangster with manners.

“So what brings you to this neck of the woods?” Sunny asked. “Are you picking up something at Judson’s?”

Helena Martinson shook her head. “I promised you I’d do some more quiet asking around about Christine Venables. Well, I heard something, very much in confidence. A friend of mine had been shopping in some of the Portsmouth art galleries a few weeks ago. She stopped off to have a cup of coffee in a little place in the artsy area. Anyway, she had just finished and was heading for the door when she noticed Christine in a quiet corner.”

“She hadn’t seen her before?” Sunny asked.

“That’s the thing that first struck my friend. She’d been sitting with her back to Christine, but Christine should have noticed her.” Helena cocked her head. “Let’s just say my friend is hard to miss. Christine could have stopped by to say hello—if she’d wanted to.”

Sunny nodded. “So maybe something was up.”

“My friend didn’t think about it at the time. She was almost to the door. Why should she go plowing back through this place to get to Christine?” The older woman leaned forward confidentially. “Actually, she was going to. But then her cell phone rang, so she stepped outside to answer it. That should have been the end of the story.”

From the lift in Mrs. Martinson’s voice, Sunny knew to add, “Except . . .”

“My friend crossed the street, walking back to her car. And who does she see opposite her, going into the café, but Martin Rigsdale?”

Sunny frowned in thought. “Did your friend mention the name of this café?”

Mrs. M. pursed her lips. “From the neighborhood, it had to be something to do with painting . . . or wells.”

“Wells?” Sunny echoed blankly.

“Café Artisan,” Helena Martinson suddenly said. “Whenever I hear the name, I think of artesian wells.”

“As long as it helps you remember,” Sunny told her, chuckling.

But her neighbor didn’t join in. Instead, Helena looked troubled. “There’s something else I should mention. Another friend of mine was up in the outlets last week. She mentioned seeing Carolyn Dowdey at that pet care place with a cat bed and a bag of food.”

“Well, we know it wasn’t a sale that brought her in,” Sunny said. “Maybe she’s getting an early start on preparing for that replacement cat she discussed with Jane.”

“Sunny, that pet adoption class isn’t for another month.” Mrs. Martinson’s voice was troubled as she spoke. “You know that Carolyn isn’t exactly what you’d call retiring. Whenever she got a cat, she quoted chapter and verse from this book on how to get the animals to trust you. It was all about setting aside an empty room where the cat was supposed to get acclimated, providing a bed where the cat could be private, and sitting in the room while they ate.”