Kitten Kaboodle (Zoe Donovan Mystery Book 20) (6 page)

“You should poke your head in to say hello before you leave again. It is the polite thing to do.”

“I would, but I’m really late. I’ll say hi to everyone when I get back.”

With that, I ran up the stairs with Charlie on my heels. I transferred the kittens into a travel crate and then Charlie and I headed back to the car. Knowing Mother Zimmerman would find a reason to detain me if I dallied in the least, I headed toward the main highway and then pulled over when I felt it was safe and tried to call Zak again.

“Please pick up, please pick up, please pick up,” I chanted as I waited for him to answer his cell.

He didn’t pick up.

I left a rather abrupt and slightly less than loving message before hanging up and deciding what to do. The only thing I could do was to continue on to the veterinary hospital and hope the reason Zak hadn’t picked up was because he was flying home. I was about to restart the car when my phone rang and Zak’s number flashed across the screen.

“Donovan here.”

“Ouch. I guess you got the flowers.”

“I did, just before I came home to find out your mother and cousins had settled into our house for the remainder of the summer.”

“Didn’t you get my message?”

“What message?”

“I tried to warn you. I called and left a message on both the house phone and your cell after I received my mother’s message this morning.”

I glanced at my cell. There
was
a message I hadn’t yet checked, and I hadn’t been home to retrieve the message from the house phone. “I didn’t get the message. I was busy playing with the kittens.”

“Kittens?”

“I’ll explain later. Please tell me you’re on your way home because if I have to deal with your relatives on my own in addition to keeping an eye on Nona, blood is going to be shed.”

“I’m trying to get home as soon as I possibly can, but I’ve run into some problems and I really can’t get there any sooner than Friday. When I found out what my mother planned I tried to call her back to tell her to check into a hotel, but she didn’t pick up.”

“Of course she didn’t. Did she know you’re out of town?”

“She did.”

“So the timing of her visit was intentional.”

“It looks like it. I’m so sorry.”

“She said she was here to help with Nona. How did she even know what happened with Nona?”

“I may have mentioned it when I spoke to her yesterday,” Zak said sheepishly. “You know I love you more than anything. I’ll figure out a way to get her out of the house and into a rental as soon as I get home.”

I sighed but didn’t respond.

“If I could get home sooner I would.”

“Yeah, I know. We’ll be fine.”

“I was supposed to meet with my client twenty minutes ago, so I really have to run. I’ll call you this evening.”

“Okay.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

I remembered a friend telling me, before I married Zak, that when you got married you weren’t only marrying the man you loved but his family as well. Boy, was she right. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and then pulled back onto the highway. My stress over Mother Zimmerman and the cousins was quickly replaced by fear about the kittens in the backseat and the reason Scott wanted me to bring them in.

Scott was an awesome man I considered to be not only my veterinarian but a friend. He was currently dating Tiffany Middleton. Scott had donated much of his time to us, especially when we were first starting out and didn’t have a big budget.

“So?” I asked anxiously after walking into Scott’s office with my cat carrier.

“Several of the kittens have an elevated level of white blood cells. There could be many reasons for that, but the most common is infection. Given the overall health of the kittens, I want to start them all on an antibiotic. I’ll have you bring them back in a couple days and we can do another blood test to see if they’re responding to the drug. How are they eating?”

“Pretty well.” I picked up the smallest kitten. “This little guy needs quite a bit of coaxing, but I think we’re making progress.”

“The formula I gave you to supplement their food is high in both nutrients and calories. They should all be gaining weight. I’m going to weigh them all again today. We’ll need to keep an eye on their progress. If the antibiotics don’t take care of the white blood cell issue we’ll need to look for other causes.”

Scott weighed each kitten as well as doing a complete exam for them. Then he gave me the medication I would need and encouraged me to get as much formula into the babies as they would tolerate. We arranged to meet up again on Friday and I left the animal hospital, debating what to do next. Twyla’s children reminded me of a Tasmanian devil: They were loud, undisciplined, and overly energetic. I figured the family cats knew plenty of hiding places to stay out of harm’s way, and Zak’s dog, Bella, and Scooter’s dog, Digger, were both large enough to be capable of fending for themselves, but I had an overwhelming need to protect Charlie and the kittens. I could keep Charlie with me, but I couldn’t crate the kittens all over town while I went about my daily chores. I could leave them at the Zoo, but Jeremy had his hands full, and the kittens really did need extra attention. After some thought I decided to see if Ellie would keep them for a few days. The boathouse she lived in with her dog Shep was small, but the kittens really didn’t take up much space and Ellie was the most nurturing person I knew.

Ellie’s home had originally been converted by my grandfather for me. When I’d moved in with Zak I rented the boathouse to Ellie rather than sell it. I loved the small space that was my first home away from home. It’s weathered and unconventional, with a large living area, a small loft bedroom, and a modern yet cozy kitchen. The entire wall facing the lake had been replaced with glass to give the space an open, airy feel.

I called ahead to make sure Ellie was there and willing to foster the kittens for the time being, so she was waiting for me on the deck, which looks out over the lake. As I pulled up in front of the boathouse I suddenly had a flashback to a year earlier, when the Zimmerman clan had descended on the house and I’d likewise run to Ellie for shelter. So much had happened since then. I felt I had grown as a person, and my love for Zak was stronger than ever. I vowed in that instant not to let Mother Zimmerman drive a wedge between us now as she had back then.

“Sorry to hear you’ve been invaded.” Ellie hugged me as Charlie, the kittens, and I joined her on the deck.

“Yeah, me too. Can you believe they plan to stay three weeks? What am I going to do?”

“Zak managed to get them moved once he returned home last summer. I’m sure he can do the same now as well. Chances are Mrs. Zimmerman knows Zak will ask her to move into a rental, which will make him feel guilty, thereby giving her leverage over him for whatever she’s really after.”

“You think so?”

“That’d be my guess. The woman is crafty.”

Yeah, I realized, she really was. “I still need to go back to the house to pick up the medicine and supplements Scott gave me in the beginning, but I didn’t want to risk Twyla’s spawn seeing the kittens and insisting on playing with them, so I brought them by here first.”

“That was probably a good idea. The kittens are welcome to bunk with Shep and me for as long as they need to. You and Charlie are as well.”

“Thanks; I just might take you up on that. Zak won’t be home until Friday. That’s two whole days for me to go completely over the edge and strangle his mother.”

Ellie laughed. “I trust you to control yourself, but really, if it gets bad come over.”

I chatted with Ellie for a few more minutes before I headed home to get the supplies she’d need for the kittens. Everyone was outside either in the pool or on the beach, so I was able to sneak in and out without anyone noticing. I did notice Nona’s bike was still gone, which had me mildly concerned. After I got the kittens settled in with Ellie, Charlie and I would have to try to track her down.

Finding Nona proved to be a futile task. She wasn’t answering her cell, Aspen hadn’t seen her, and I didn’t find her downing shots at her favorite bar. The only thing to do was to leave a message on her voice mail and then focus my energy on interviewing the new suspects I’d identified. I only had a few hours to snoop around because Mother Zimmerman had requested my presence at dinner, and while I’d rather walk across hot coals than attend, I knew it would be rude to ignore the woman completely.

I figured Wanda would be the easiest to track down because I was pretty sure she’d be at work on a weekday afternoon. Of course I had no idea how I was going to broach the subject of her husband’s infidelity with the woman who’d been murdered, so I ran into the local dress shop, bought the least expensive item I could find that required dry cleaning, and then drizzled the soda I had in my car down the front of it. Then I headed to the dry cleaner and prayed Wanda would be in and I hadn’t just ruined a perfectly good dress for nothing. Luckily, Wanda was both at the counter and alone when I arrived.

“Hey, Zoe; Charlie. It’s not often we see you in here.”

“Yeah, well, jeans and T-shirts don’t really need dry cleaning. I do have this dress, however. I spilled something on it and just as I was about to toss it in the washer I noticed the dry-clean-only tag.”

Wanda looked at the label. “It’s a good thing you didn’t wash it. It would have been ruined for sure. What did you spill on it?”

“Grape soda. Do you think you can get the stain out?”

Wanda frowned as she studied the stain, which had dried quickly thanks to the afternoon’s heat. “It’ll take some work, but I can get it out. Next week okay?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

Wanda began to write up a ticket.

“I don’t suppose you’ve seen Zak’s grandmother this afternoon,” I said as I waited for my receipt.

“You mean the one who rides the pink Harley?”

“Yeah, that’s her.”

Wanda shook her head. “Been here all day, and I have a clear view of the street. I didn’t notice her pass by. She missing?”

“Not really, but she got some upsetting news and I want to make sure she’s okay. I guess you heard she was arrested for Edna Leech’s murder.”

Wanda didn’t say anything, but her eyes got big. It seemed obvious this fact was news to her.

“Salinger let her go because he didn’t have enough to hold her, but I’m pretty sure she’s the main suspect unless they track someone else down,” I added. “I don’t suppose you have any idea who might have wanted Edna dead?”

Wanda furrowed her brow, stopped what she was doing, and looked at me with an expression of suspicion on her face. “Why would you think I would know? I barely knew the woman.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I saw Edna and Pete together a while back and I guess I just assumed Edna was a friend of the family.”

I watched Wanda’s face as it turned bright red. She visibly fought for control before she spoke. “Pete was simply discussing a business deal with Edna. We aren’t personal friends, although if you ask me, the world is better off without the likes of Edna Leech in it. Still, I’m sorry to hear about Zak’s grandmother. If she’s innocent I’m sure things will get straightened out when they find the real killer.”

“That’s what I’m counting on.” I lowered my voice, as if I was about to share a secret. “I heard the killer left some DNA on the shovel used to kill Edna. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until Nona is cleared.”

Wanda frowned. “DNA?”

I picked a piece of candy out of the dish on the counter and tried to appear disinterested and casual as I unwrapped it and popped it into my mouth. “I don’t have all the details, but it seems there was blood from two different people on the shovel: Edna’s and someone else’s. Salinger is assuming Edna fought back and the killer was injured.”

I studied Wanda’s face as she processed this piece of information. She appeared to be interested but not panicked. Maybe she wasn’t the killer I was looking for. Of course if it got back to Salinger that I was making up fake evidence he’d be the one killing me. “Of course,” I added, “it may be that the whole story of the DNA is simply a rumor. You know how people like to make things up.”

Wanda handed me my ticket and promised to call me when the dress was ready. It was obvious she no longer wanted to talk about the murder, and if her husband had been sleeping with Edna, she seemed to want to cover that up as well, but I wasn’t picking up the guilty vibe.

I left the store and headed over to Pete’s insurance office to see if his reaction to my fake news was different from that of his wife. Maybe Pete was the bad guy. It could be that he was sleeping with Edna but had decided to break if off and she hadn’t taken it well. A love affair gone wrong had certainly been the motive for murder many times before.

Pete Ferguson hadn’t always been an insurance salesman. When he and Wanda first moved to Ashton Falls he’d worked for the power company as a meter reader. Several years ago he was bitten by a dog while on duty, and he’d insisted he was unable to do his job as a result of the trauma he’d suffered. He’d sued the power company and was awarded a small settlement, which he used to open his own insurance office. Zak and I personally don’t buy our insurance from Pete, but he seemed to get by, so I could only assume there were others in the community who were willing to look past the fact that he tended to deal in fly-by-night insurers in order to take advantage of the cutthroat prices he was able to come up with.

“Afternoon, Pete,” I greeted as Charlie and I walked into his office.

“Surprised to see you here. Last time I talked to your old man he accused me of writing phony policies.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not here about insurance.” I decided the direct approach might be my best option in this instance; Pete still held a grudge against Zak and I could see small talk wasn’t an option. “I’m here to talk about a murder.”

“Should’ve known you’d be snooping around in Edna’s death. Never in my life have I met anyone who’s as much of a busybody as you.”

“Yup, that’s me, Zoe the meddler.”

“Well, whatever it is you think you know, you’re wrong. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”

“Look, I know all about your affair with Edna and the way you tried to break it off and she went all
Single White Female
on you.” Taking a huge leap and making this particular allegation was a risk, but sometimes you just had to toss bait in the water and wait to see who bit. “What happened? Did you try to talk some sense into Edna? I bet she went berserk, it got physical, and in your own defense you picked up the shovel and hit her.”

“No matter what you think you might know, I didn’t hit Edna. In fact, I wasn’t anywhere near her place at the time she was killed.”

“But you were involved with her?”

Pete sighed. “Hooking up with Edna was a huge mistake. It cost me my marriage and a good chunk of my savings. It isn’t something I want to discuss with you or anyone else.”

“Your savings?”

“Did you miss the part about my not wanting to discuss this?”

“You can talk to me or I can tell Salinger what I know and you can talk to him.”

Pete took a deep breath that he let out very slowly. Then he motioned for me to have a seat. “I guess if you’re intent on meddling you should have the whole story, but I’m going to ask that you refrain from repeating this. It really is both embarrassing and demoralizing.”

“As long as what you tell me doesn’t lead me to believe you’re guilty of Edna’s murder, I agree not to repeat it.” I sat down on the chair on the visitor side of Pete’s desk.

“It all started back in June,” Pete began. “I met Edna when she came in about some insurance to cover her livestock.”

“Livestock? You mean the cats?”

“Yes, the cats. Do you have any idea how much they’re worth?”

“Quite a lot. Go on.”

“We seemed to hit it off. At that point there was nothing inappropriate going on, but it seemed over the next few weeks that we kept running into each other. Every time we met Edna would flirt a little and I would flirt right back. A few days before the big Fourth of July celebration she called and asked me to meet her at the River Ranch Motor Lodge outside of town. She said her car had broken down and she needed a ride. When I arrived she greeted me in a skimpy nightie.”

“So you slept with her.”

Pete ran his fingers nervously through his hair. “Yes, I slept with her. I hadn’t gone to the motel with that intention, but Edna was an attractive woman and my marriage had been on the rocks for quite some time. I knew right off it was the wrong thing to do. In spite of the problems we’ve been having I love my wife. I tried to break it off with Edna, but instead of understanding and walking away she informed me that she had photos of our time together and she would show them to Wanda unless I gave her five thousand dollars.”

“What did you do?”

“I panicked and paid her off.”

“And did that end things?”

“For a while. And then a few weeks ago she called me and said she needed another five thousand dollars. She wanted me to bring it to the motor lodge. When I arrived there I told her I didn’t have that kind of money, and if she showed the photos to Wanda or tried to get more out of me I’d prove she’d blackmailed me. She seemed surprised that I’d turn the tables on her, and in the end we agreed to call it even and move on with our lives. The problem was that one of Wanda’s friends saw Edna and me leave the room at the motor lodge at the same time and she went directly back to Ashton Falls and told her.”

“And then?”

“And then Wanda hit me with a frying pan.”

I had to fight the urge to laugh.

“After she threw half the dishes in the cupboard at me we talked about what had happened and agreed to take a break while we figured out whether our marriage could be saved. I made it clear I wanted us to work on our relationship and put the whole thing behind us, but I could tell Wanda didn’t believe I was really through with Edna. During that time-out Wanda ran into Edna in the grocery store, and I guess you heard what happened there.”

“Yes, their fight has been the topic of conversation on the Ashton Falls gossip network ever since Edna died.”

“I know it seems as if Wanda has a tendency toward violence. First she hits me with a frying pan and then she attacked Edna. But I promise you she wouldn’t have hit Edna with a shovel, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Actually, I hadn’t been thinking that, but now that he mentioned it, it did seem Wanda had a habit of striking out at people who angered her.

“I feel like such an idiot. Wanda wouldn’t be dealing with any of this if I hadn’t let Edna seduce me.”

“Well, maybe now that Edna’s gone you have a chance at saving your marriage.”

“I sure hope so. The woman means the world to me. I’m lost without her.”

I looked directly at Pete. “If you didn’t kill Edna and Wanda didn’t kill Edna, do you know who might have?”

“You might want to talk to Donald Jacobs.”

Donald’s was one of the names Aspen had given me. I remembered her saying Edna had been stalking him, but I wanted to see what Pete might say. “Why would Donald kill Edna?”

“Because the crazy bitch was stalking him the way, I now realize, she’d been stalking me. I was gullible and I really believed she just happened to need groceries at the same time I did, and that it was just a coincidence that we ended up in the same line at the DMV. I’ve been married a long time and having a single woman flirting with me fed my ego. I was such a fool. After I gave her the five grand and broke things off she began stalking Donald and I could see the whole thing was a con. She wasn’t into me at all. It seemed to be her pattern to find men to sleep with and then blackmail them. I was going to warn Donald, but I didn’t need to. He wasn’t as gullible as me. He made it clear to her from the beginning that he wanted nothing to do with her.”

“Yet it sounded like she continued to stalk him.”

“Yeah. As odd as it seems, the more he resisted her charms, the more determined she seemed to be to conquer him. If you ask me that woman was about to send him over the deep end.”

“So you think he finally flipped out and killed her?”

Pete appeared to be considering my question. “Edna could get under your skin. She had a way of making a person do things he might not otherwise have done. If you talk to Donald keep in mind that if he did kill Edna, in my mind he was totally justified.”

As Charlie and I walked back to my car, I had to wonder how the murder of a kitten mill owner had turned into something so much more. If it wasn’t for the fact that the kittens had been left on my doorstep shortly after Edna was killed, I’d go out on a limb and theorize that the kitten mill didn’t play into her death at all.

I was tempted to try to track down Donald right then, but a quick glance at the clock on my dashboard informed me that I’d best leave that interview until the following day if I didn’t want to be late for my dinner with Mother Zimmerman and the Zimmerman cousins. Of course by the time I endured a dinner out with the Zimmermans it might be me in jail for murder. I know it seems as if I absolutely hate my mother-in-law. It isn’t really that I hate her. She’d brought Zak into the world and for that I would always be grateful. It was more that the woman seemed to know exactly which buttons to push to make me want to run from the room screaming every time I talked to her. When Zak and I had married I’d vowed to find a way to get along with his mother, but there were times, like now, when I truly doubted my ability to keep that vow.