Six Cats a Slayin' Page 4

  Melba glowered at me. “I’ve got a good mind not to tell you what I found out.”

  I grinned. “You’ll bust a blood vessel if you don’t, and you know it.”

  She snorted with laughter. “You’re right about that.”

  “So spill, what did you find out?”

  Melba hesitated, and I could see that she was choosing her words before she responded. “Nothing concrete,” she said after a moment. “I tried asking her questions, but she deflected them. I even mentioned Billy Albritton, but she pretended not to hear me. I didn’t learn anything much.” She paused and shook her head. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her before, but there’s something about her that’s so familiar. It’s driving me crazy, but I can’t figure out what it is.”

  “Maybe she looks a little like somebody else you know,” I said. “I get those feelings sometimes because of a superficial resemblance. Now you, I’ve always thought, remind me a little bit of Paulette Goddard.”

  “Really?” Melba said, looking pleased. “I loved her in that Bob Hope movie, the one with the haunted castle.”

  “The Ghost Breakers,” I said. “That’s a fun movie, but we’re getting off the track.”

  “It’s no use right now getting back on track,” Melba replied. “The harder I try to figure out who that woman reminds me of, the more confused I feel.”

  “Tell me this, do you think she’s really an Albritton?” I asked.

  Melba shrugged. “No. I think she just picked a name out of the Athena phone book, and that one must have sounded good to her. She sure didn’t act like she knows anything about the family.” She rose from the chair. “I’d better get back downstairs before Andrea starts looking for me. If I get busy with work, maybe it’ll come to me about who she reminds me of.”

  “See you later,” I called after her as she headed out the door.

  I busied myself with my own work. I needed to focus on the tasks at hand, not spend time thinking about two mysteries, the origin of the five kittens and the truth about Gerry Albritton.

  For about half an hour I managed to stick to my resolve while I cataloged more of the collection I’d been working on before lunch, but after that my mind began to wander. Then one question came to the forefront of my consciousness.

  Should I make a concerted effort to find out who left the kittens on my doorstep?

  If I did manage to track down the child who had done it, would I cause trouble for her or him? Perhaps I was being oversensitive, but the wording of the note left with the kittens—especially the emphasis on the word he—made me hesitate. I had thought about going door-to-door in the neighborhood to inquire whether anyone’s cat had recently given birth to a litter. I knew most of the families within a couple of blocks on my street and part of the street behind my house, but not so many in the surrounding streets, other than to say hello when I encountered them somewhere in town.

  One idea struck me. Gerry Albritton’s holiday party was coming up next week. If most people in the neighborhood turned out for it, I could work my way through the crowd asking innocuous questions. Everyone always wanted to talk to me about Diesel anyway, and discussing my cat would serve as a natural opening to a more general chat on the subject of house pets.

  That provided me with one excellent reason to attend a function that otherwise I wanted to avoid. I could enlist Helen Louise in the campaign to dig for information as well. Between us, we ought to be able to find out something, or at least eliminate families from the inquiry.

  With that decided, I could get back to work and actually do the job I was supposed to be doing. Though I missed having Diesel in the office with me, I worked happily until three thirty. Then I gathered my things, turned out the lights, and locked the door behind me.

  There was no sign of Melba downstairs. I would catch up with her later. I knew that when she figured out why Gerry Albritton seemed familiar, I would be the first to hear about it. I headed out to my car to drive home.

  When I neared my driveway, I spotted my daughter-in-law’s car parked on the street in front of the house. My granddaughter was barely two months old, and Alex hadn’t been venturing out of the house much since Charlotte Rose had made her appearance. Sean hadn’t said much, but I figured that Alex was struggling a bit with motherhood. I knew that Rosie, as we called her, was not the happy baby that her little cousin Charlie was. Rosie was more fretful and demanding, and I thought caring for the baby was wearing Alex down.

  Sean was helping with Rosie as much as he could, but he had a law office to run—a job he usually shared with Alex. They couldn’t afford to shut down the office while Alex was on maternity leave so Sean could be at home, too. Alex’s father, Q. C. Pendergrast, had un-retired, as he called it, in order to help, but he had suffered a stroke a few months ago and was still recovering from its effects. He could only do so much.

  I thought Sean and Alex needed to bring another lawyer into the firm, but they had been reluctant to do that. Now, however, it seemed more imperative to me than ever. I had expressed my opinion when it was solicited, so both my son and daughter-in-law knew how I felt. Now it was up to them to act on my suggestion.

  As I was getting out of the car, I realized I had completely forgotten about the pet store. I hesitated a moment. I really ought to get this taken care of today. But I wavered. My granddaughter was here. I decided the pet store could wait.

  When I walked through the door into the kitchen, I immediately spotted Alex at the table feeding Rosie. I stopped and watched for a moment. I didn’t think Alex had heard me enter the room, her attention appeared so fixed upon her child. I glanced to my right and saw Azalea standing near the stove. She was also watching Alex and the baby, and her expression was unreadable.

  “Hello, Alex,” I said, my voice low. I greeted Azalea, and she nodded in response.

  Alex offered me a wan smile as I bent to kiss her cheek. “Hi, Dad, how are you?” Rosie continued her noisy suckling at her mother’s breast.

  “I’m fine,” I said. “How are you? Did you get all your errands done?” She nodded. “That’s good. Nice to have a break.” Alex nodded again. She seemed as dispirited as I had ever seen her.

  I tried again. “Rosie seems to be doing fine, too. You’re taking such good care of her.”

  Alex sighed. “Seems to me that she’s almost always hungry. The rate she’s going, she’ll be an Amazon by the time she’s sixteen.”

  I squeezed her shoulder. I could see that she was tired, and I figured she wasn’t sleeping well. Laura had been a fussy baby, too, and I remembered the many nights of fractured sleep that her mother and I endured before she finally grew out of that stage.

  “She’s like her aunt, Laura, that’s for sure,” I said as I took a chair opposite Alex and Rosie.

  “How on earth did you manage with Laura?” Alex said, interest sparking briefly in her eyes.

  “Jackie and I both went around dazed for months,” I said. “Eventually Laura started sleeping through the night, and we were able to get back to sleeping ourselves.”

  “I hope Rosie starts sleeping more soon. All the trouble she has with colic, I guess.” Alex sighed. “I am so exhausted now, I don’t know what I’m doing half the time.”

  I hesitated before I responded because I knew Alex was sensitive on the issue I was about to broach. Looking at her drawn face, though, I felt I had to speak up.

  “I think you and Sean really need to rethink your decision about a nanny,” I said.

  Azalea spoke before Alex could respond. “Now Miss Alex, you listen to Mr. Charlie. You’re wearing yourself out, and my cousin Lurene’s daughter Cherelle loves babies and would love to help you out. Don’t mean you’re not a good mama because you need help.” She smiled. “I had to have help with Kanesha, because the good Lord knows that child was a handful from the moment she came into this world and hasn’t stopped being one sinc
e. If I hadn’t had my own mama to help, I swear I would have left Kanesha on somebody’s doorstep just so I could sleep.”

  Alex had started shaking her head the moment I began to speak, but she stilled the movement as Azalea talked. I hoped Azalea’s words would get through to my daughter-in-law. She obviously needed help with the baby, but she was a proud young woman who always wanted to show that she could do anything and do it well. But in this small bundle of fussiness I thought she finally had to realize that there were some challenges she might not be able to handle alone.

  “You’re right.” Alex sighed. “Sean has been begging me to let him find help, but I wouldn’t let him.” Tears began to roll down her face. “I feel like such a failure.”

  Azalea moved quickly to put an arm around Alex’s shoulders. She stroked Alex’s head, now bent toward her nursing child. “Now see here, you are not any kind of failure, you just hush that kind of talk. Looking after a fretful baby is a trial to anyone, and you stop feeling like it’s your fault.”

  “Azalea’s right, sweetheart,” I said. “The best thing you can do for yourself is to have the strength to admit you need help. No one is going to fault you for that.”

  “Thank you, Dad.” Alex didn’t appear to be wholly convinced by our assurances, but I hoped if we continued to encourage her, she would accept help.

  Before I could say anything further, we all heard loud meows coming from another room. Only Diesel could produce that decibel level, and after a glance of apology to Alex and Azalea, I hurried from the room.

  I took a couple of steps into the living room before I halted in amazement. Diesel sat on his hind legs in front of the drapes at the large picture window, batting futilely at kittens climbing the drapes. I counted quickly. Yes, all five of them clung to the drapes at various points about three feet high.

  Diesel successfully batted one loose—George, I thought—and warbled in a threatening tone. He placed a large paw on top of the wriggling kitten and pinned him to the floor, even as he gazed up at the remaining four mountaineers.

  “I’m here, boy.” I hurried to join Diesel at the drapes and started extracting the other kittens from the drapes and placing them inside their obviously ineffective corral.

  “What am I going to do with you little monsters?” I said to the kittens, all of whom were now tussling with one another. Beside me Diesel chirped and meowed, no doubt in agreement. These kittens were proving more challenging than I had expected, and I had to get the situation under control.

  SIX

  I posed my question about the kittens to Stewart and Haskell later in the day. “I was planning to go to the pet store this afternoon but didn’t make it there. I simply forgot, I guess.” I shook my head. “I don’t know what my memory’s coming to these days. Anyway, I called them about half an hour ago, and they don’t have a big enough cage in stock at present. They said it would take a week or so to get one, and I told them I’d think about it. I’m not sure what to do, but I obviously need to do something sooner than that.”

  “Haskell and I were discussing that ourselves,” Stewart said, sounding a bit smug. “I think we’ve found, well, Haskell has found the solution.”

  “Really? What’s your idea?” I asked, turning to Haskell.

  “I can build something for you that ought to do what you want,” he replied. “You buy the materials, and I’ll supply the design and the labor. With Stewart’s assistance.” He glanced at his partner, and Stewart nodded, smiling.

  “Sounds great to me. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this,” I said.

  “Glad to help out,” Haskell replied.

  “How long do you think it will take?”

  “A few hours, I reckon. I can do it tomorrow,” Haskell said. “Long as I don’t get called in for anything.” His work schedule could be unpredictable, I knew. He sometimes got called to fill in for another deputy or in cases of emergency.

  “Wonderful,” I replied. “Write down what you need, and I’ll get it this evening.”

  After that, we discussed the dimensions of the enclosure Haskell proposed to build, and once we had settled on those, Haskell started jotting down the items he needed. He made a few calculations as he went, and within half an hour he had completed his list.

  I drove to the building supply store right away. I estimated that by the time I located everything and had it loaded and paid for, I’d be home again in time for dinner. Helen Louise was joining us tonight, and I was looking forward to talking to her about the upcoming holiday party at Gerry Albritton’s house. I was able to spend a little more time with Helen Louise since she had made the decision a couple of months ago to start cutting back on her hours at the bistro. I didn’t think she had cut back as much as she really needed, for the sake of her own general well-being, but she was slowly making progress.

  At the store I simply handed over Haskell’s list, and store personnel found everything for me. I went to high school with the owner of the place. His family had owned the business since the early part of the last century, and customer service was a priority for them. The whole errand took less than an hour, and they delivered everything about thirty minutes after I got home. Haskell and Stewart helped unload it all, and Haskell assured me they would have the enclosure assembled by the following afternoon.

  Later, over the dinner table, Helen Louise and I, along with Stewart and Haskell, enjoyed the chicken salad Helen Louise had made. We talked about the party while we ate.

  “I’ve already had a call from Milton Harville,” I told the others. “He didn’t sound all that keen on the party.”

  “Because of Tammy, I’m sure,” Helen Louise said. “I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone as possessive as she is. Poor Milton can hardly talk to women customers at the pharmacy without her going crazy.”

  Stewart laughed. “I know this will sound bitchy, but I can’t imagine any woman besides Tammy ever looking twice at Milton. He is the kindest, most generous man I know, but he doesn’t exactly have the most sparkling personality. Plus he talks and talks and talks, and you end up spending three times as much time at the pharmacy as you need.”

  “I know what she sees. A healthy paycheck.” Haskell scowled. “I knew her in high school, and the only guys who interested her were the ones with money. Back then Milton was already working for his dad and his grandfather, and he always had a little cash to throw around. Unlike some of us.”

  “According to Milton, Gerry Albritton was mighty friendly to him.” I glanced at Helen Louise. “As she was with me.”

  Helen Louise grimaced. “I think she plays up to men as a matter of course. No telling what she’s really after.”

  “I can see why you don’t want to go to her party, Charlie.” Stewart grinned at me. “Our Charlie doesn’t like the man-eater type.”

  “No, our Charlie doesn’t.” I frowned at Stewart. “There will be plenty of men at the party, I have no doubt, and she’s welcome to lavish her attention on them.”

  Helen Louise laughed. “Most of them will be with their wives, at least if the guests are all from the immediate neighborhood. I can’t think of any single men, offhand.”

  “Will the grande dame of the neighborhood be there, do you think?” Stewart asked.

  I looked at him, puzzled. “Who is the grande dame of the neighborhood?”

  “Deirdre Thompson,” Stewart and Helen Louise said in unison. They laughed.

  “I’m sure she was invited,” Helen Louise said. “Our hostess must know by now who Deirdre is.”

  “And surely Deirdre has condescended enough to call upon the new addition to the neighborhood,” Stewart said. “She always has done in the past.”

  “She did when I moved in to the house after my aunt’s death.” I recalled the occasion with grim amusement. Deirdre and Diesel had taken one look at each other, and Diesel had left the room. Deirdre hadn’t lingered,
either. I shared this with the others.

  Hearing his name, Diesel warbled loudly from the doorway. I looked over to see him accompanied by Fred and George. I groaned and pointed to the trio. “This is why I desperately need a way to pen up these miscreants.” Even before I finished speaking, the two kittens had galloped across the floor and made as if to climb up Haskell’s legs, which, fortunately for him, were covered in denim.

  Haskell grabbed the kittens before they had ascended to the table. He grinned at them. “Maybe I should start on their corral tonight instead of waiting for tomorrow.”

  “Thanks, but I suppose the house will survive one more night,” I said. Diesel lay down beside my chair. The poor boy looked exhausted. I said as much to the others.

  “Babysitting is a tough job,” Helen Louise said. “Especially when there are five of them. Poor Diesel. He’s such a sweet boy, looking after the kittens.”

  Diesel raised his head and chirped. I reached down and rubbed his head.

  Haskell rose from the table, Fred and George cradled in his arms. “Back in a minute.” He left the kitchen.

  Diesel didn’t stir. I thought he had gone to sleep.

  “Do you think Haskell and I are included in the invitation?” Stewart asked. “I’d give a lot to see Deirdre in action with all the lesser mortals from the neighborhood.”

  “I don’t see why not,” I said. “The more the merrier.”

  “I haven’t seen dear Deirdre around much lately,” Stewart said. “Not since her third husband died. I suppose she’s been busy shopping for number four.”

  Helen Louise laughed. “How many eligible men her age are there with enough money to interest her?”

  Stewart grinned. “Oh, I imagine she has widened her field for this one. I heard somewhere that she’s been spending a lot of time in Memphis lately.”

  Haskell returned, sans kittens. “Who’re you talking about?” He resumed his seat.

  “Deirdre,” Stewart said. “On the prowl for a new husband.”