Catnip (Dunbarton Mysteries Book 1) (22 page)

“Surprise!” Jennifer said
pleasantly, shifting the weight of the ax. It was an incongruous accessory to
her fur-trimmed snow-bunny jacket, skinny jeans and Button UGGS, the handle an
ominous blood-red against the white fabric.

Alicia swallowed, smiled, and
tried to sound normal while surreptitiously pulling off the latex gloves. “Oh
Jennifer, there you are. We knocked but there was no answer, so we just popped
in to see if you were here.”

“No you didn’t,” the other woman
contradicted calmly. “You’re here to do what you did at my husband’s office.
You’re here to snoop, to pry into things that are none of your business.” An
angry tone had crept into her voice.

“I wouldn’t say that what
happened in your husband’s office was none of our business. He had our cat. He
was trying to steal from us.” Any friendly pretense was gone and the gloves
were off, metaphorically as well.

“That damn cat.” She spat the
words out. “I kept telling him to get rid of it, to kill it, but no, he knew
better. He said he might need to produce it at some time if things went wrong.
The fool! He just didn’t have the stomach for it. He was pretty useless that
way. It was the same with that other one, Horace. He just let him go. He should
have wrung their necks and incinerated their bodies. I’d have done it.” Chris
had no difficulty believing that.

She was becoming increasingly
agitated. The knuckles on the hands holding the ax were white with tension. “Do
you know what he told me I had to do?” she went on, furiously. “He said we had
to sell the house and my jewelry, and turn in the cars. He said if he paid the
money back, it would go easier on him. As if I cared about that. It was bad
enough that he had dragged me to this hole-in-the-wall town. Now he wanted me
to give up all my lovely things.” Her face registered the utter shock and
disbelief she had felt at the suggestion. “I told him if he’d killed the damn
cat when I wanted him to, they could never have proved that he had done
anything wrong. What did I care if he went to prison? Then he said he was going
to tell them that I had been in on the whole plan, and that if he went to
prison, I would too. That’s when I knew what I had to do.” A cunning look came
over her face. “I said I would help him tidy the place up, and we could go home
and talk about it. I put on a pair of those latex gloves they use with the sick
animals and a smock that was hanging up outside the office, and I pretended to
help him clean up. When he turned his back for a moment, I grabbed that stupid
golf trophy that he was so proud of, and smashed him over the head with it.
Then I hit him a couple of more times just to make sure.” She said this with
particular relish.

Alicia got a sick feeling in her
stomach seeing the pleasure the other woman felt at the memory.

“It was really quite easy. There
wasn’t even that much blood, just a little on the trophy and some on the floor.
It was a good thing I’d put the smock on, though, because I got some on the
sleeve when I put the trophy back. I wouldn’t have wanted to get any on my
suit.”

Chris was trying to edge his way
slowly in front of Alicia, hoping that Jennifer was too caught up in her story
to notice. She wasn’t.

“That won’t do you any good. I’m
planning on killing you first anyway.” The statement was as matter-of-fact as
if she were saying, ‘I’m planning on having you over for dinner.’

Alicia was wishing she’d taken
that martial arts class they were offering at the Community Center, and
wondering if it would be possible for her to kick the ax from her hand anyway.

“You both think you’ve been so
clever. Well, I heard about the questions you’ve been asking about me.” She
laughed at Alicia’s startled look. “Don’t look so surprised. This is a small
town. Everybody talks, especially those old biddies in the tea shop.” She
nodded pointedly and Alicia’s eyes widened in memory of that moment when they’d
seen Jennifer look through the tea-shop window. She’d been looking at them! She’d
known the whole time that they were following her. “I knew it was only a matter
of time before you tried to snoop around here too, so I made it easy for you. I
even left the doors unlocked so you could get in.”

“You won’t get away with this,
you know,” Chris said, trying to buy time, hoping that Alex had called for help
by now.

“Of course I will,” she said with
calm assurance. “I returned home to get my wallet which I’d left on the kitchen
table, and discovered you had broken into my house while I was out …”

“We didn’t break in, the door was
unlocked,” Alicia corrected her.

“By the time the cops get here,
all of the doors will be locked except for the one I came in, and there will be
a broken window at the back. Anyway, after what had happened to my husband, I
was scared. I thought you had probably killed him since you people so conveniently
left your fingerprints all over the office, and I wasn’t taking any chances. I
got my ax from the garage for protection and came in to ask what you were doing
in my house. You attacked me and I struck you in self-defense.”

Alicia snorted derisively. “Why
would we attack you?” she asked.

“Why would you kill my husband?
Why would you break into my house?” Jennifer countered.

“The police will be suspicious
when they find you’ve packed your bags and are leaving town.”

“I’ve let it be known around town
that I can’t bear to be alone right now and that I’m going home to be with my
family. I need support and comfort in this time of terrible loss,” she recited
glibly. “There’s nothing left for me here now that Bill is gone. This house is
too full of painful memories of him. After the funeral I’ll have my lawyer sell
everything. I need to make a fresh start.”

Alicia could almost hear the
violins. Surely no one would believe that story. “My friend Alex knows the
truth.” She said confidently. “She’s outside in the car. She’ll have seen you
return and called the police.”

“But she couldn’t have seen me. I
made sure of that. I saw you drive up and park, just like you did yesterday.”
Like a cobra mesmerizing its prey, she was looking them steadily in the eyes as
she slowly moved towards them as she talked. “I thought you were going to
follow me again. But then I got that call from the police. I realized it was a
fake and that you were going to try to search the house, so I decided it was
time to take care of you once and for all.”

Chris worked to calm his
breathing. He knew she was about to make her move and he would have only a
split-second to react.

“I drove around the block, parked
and then walked around and in the back way. No one saw me.”

He braced for the blow, his heart
pounding in his ears.

“There’s no help coming. Once
your brains are splattered across my lovely hardwood, I’ll make a suitably
hysterical call to that oaf Samuel. I’ll be found in tears and full of remorse
for what I had been forced to do to save my own life. I’ve had plenty of
practice ‘faking it’ over the years. It will be an Oscar-worthy performance, I
assure you. It’s too bad you two won’t be around to enjoy it.”

She made her move with the speed
of the cobra, so fast that Chris was almost caught off-guard as the ax came
hurtling towards his head. Shoving Alicia backwards with one hand, he ducked
and caught the handle of the ax, grappling with the enraged woman.

At that exact moment, a loud
voice from the doorway shouted, “Police! Drop that weapon!” and Detective
Samuel burst in, followed by two other officers, guns raised. Chris and
Jennifer halted, frozen in a tableau of thwarted death.

Bloodshed interruptus!

“It’s all over, Mrs. Abbot,”
Detective Samuel said. “Now, give me the ax.’ He spoke with the quiet authority
of years of experience dealing with people in crisis, walking slowly towards
her with one hand outstretched. Seeing no way out, she reluctantly let the ax
be taken from her clenched hands. One of the officers put handcuffs on and she
was led away, all the while protesting her innocence.

Alicia collapsed against Chris
and hugged him with relief. “My hero!” she said in all seriousness, clutching
him fiercely with all the fear she had felt watching him battling for their
lives.

Turning to Samuel, she added, “Thank
God you got here when you did,” thinking she would have liked to hug him too.
Catching murderers was a lot scarier in real life than in books.

The detective smiled a little
apologetically. “Well, actually, we’ve been here a while, listening at the
door. We’d hoped she would incriminate herself and she did.”

“So Alex was able to reach you.
She must have seen Jennifer after all.”

“No, she hadn’t seen anything
until we pulled up. She’s waiting for you outside.”

“Then how did you get here?”

“We have been watching Mrs. Abbot
ever since the murder.” Seeing the look of surprise on their faces, he added, “Contrary
to what you read in popular fiction, the police do know what they’re doing,
most of the time. We’ve been watching you, too.”

“Us?” Their faces mirrored
outraged disbelief.

“Yes, and it has been quite
interesting. You and your family and friends have been very busy: the APS
shelter, Ray Price ...” he gave her a thoroughly disapproving look at that one,
“... the hairdresser, the insurance company and even the dress shops in
Toronto. I must admit, that was a new one on me. Very good thinking. An
extremely thorough investigation.”

“Thank you,” Alicia said, still
shocked that he knew about everything they had been doing, and especially about
Ray Price. “You must have had our phones tapped as well.”

“We did. Oh, and by the way, the
guys said to tell you that we liked your paranoia joke. We made a banner of it
and put it up in the station.”

She looked triumphantly at Chris.
“And you thought I was being paranoid.” She turned back to the detective. “If
you knew all this, why didn’t you stop us?”

“I think I know,” Chris answered,
looking thoughtfully at the detective. “Because the evidence against her was
all circumstantial and he was hoping that we would do just what we did do,
bring Jennifer Abbot out into the open, get her to confess, force her to take
some action to stop us. Am I right?”

“Just so,” Samuel smiled
approvingly. “And thank you. Although we don’t condone vigilantism and amateur
sleuthing, in this case we’re grateful. It was a ‘perfect storm’ for her – your
…” looking sternly at Alicia, “fingerprints on the murder weapon, blood
evidence on the volunteer’s smock, any other physical evidence easily explained
by previous visits to the shelter, no witnesses and no way to prove she didn’t
go straight home to bed as she claimed. If it hadn’t been for you two and your ‘team’
rattling her cage, she would have flown the coop, free as a bird, and there
would have been nothing we could have done about it. We couldn’t even prove she
was complicit in her husband’s fraud and the kidnapping. Thanks to your
interference, we’ll have no trouble getting a conviction.”

“But we could have been killed,”
Alicia protested, unfairly.

“You were never in any real
danger.” Remembering the flash of steel as the razor-sharp ax blade flew
towards his head, Chris wasn’t so sure about that. “As I said, you have all
been under surveillance. The officers watching the house saw Mrs. Abbot leave
and you two go in. Then the officer who followed her reported that she had
gotten out of her car around the corner and that she appeared to be heading
back to the house. We came immediately, just in time to overhear her
confession.”

“Lucky for us,” Alicia said,
shuddering at the memory of Chris grappling with the deranged woman.

He fixed a sober look on the two
of them. “Yes, it was. It was very foolish of you to think you could do our job
better than we could. You could have been killed if we hadn’t been watching
you, and we would far rather she got off Scot free than have that happen. And
then there is the little matter of the breaking-and-entering,” another stern
look, “which we are prepared to overlook since you have been of some help. But
don’t let this happen again, understood?”

Chris and Alicia both nodded
humbly.

“Good. Now, we’ll need a
statement from you both, and you will probably need to testify, unless she
shows sense and pleads guilty. But otherwise, you are out of this. It is over
for you. Go home and get back to your lives. And remember, no more playing
detectives. In the future, leave it to the professionals.” He dismissed them
with a final, grateful smile, and was turning to his men and the task of
clearing up the last of the case, when he stopped and looked at Alicia once
more. “I suppose we’ll find both your fingerprints all over the house.”

“Not this time,” Alicia said
proudly, pulling the latex gloves from her pockets.

Samuel just shook his head and
walked away.

Chris chuckled and, putting his
arm around Alicia, led her to the door where Alex could be seen, standing by
the curb, watching anxiously for them.

They waved reassuringly and Chris
turned to Alicia. “What do you say, Nora? Shall we go home?”

“Anything you say, Nicky dear. I’d
say this case is a wrap.”

“A good thing too.” He pulled her
close, oblivious of the grins of the officers and the spectators who had
gathered outside by the road and were craning their necks for a better view. “He’s
right. It’s time we forgot about sleuthing and started planning our wedding.”

“You’re right. We do need to
start planning the wedding,” she said, admiring the glittering ring on her
finger. “We’ll forget about detecting.” She reached up and kissed him. “For
now. Right now I could use a martini, and then I think I’ll go to the Community
Center and sign us up for Karate or perhaps Tae Kwon Do, or ...” she took a
quick, excited breath, “kick-boxing. Do you suppose they have kick-boxing at
the Community Center?”