Leann Sweeney (9 page)

I ended up at Wilkerson’s head, knelt and searched for his carotid artery. He skin was still warm. I bent my head to feel for any hint of breath against my cheek. No pulse. No breath. No life. He wasn’t cold yet, but he was very dead.

Sadness filled me then. A life cut short, this one by man-made violence. Why did I feel so sorry for him? Especially after our encounter yesterday? Didn’t matter now.

I sat back on my heels and reached into my pocket with a shaky hand for my cell phone, surprised that a sheen of tears blurred my vision. I couldn’t even seem to find the number nine, but finally I managed to make the call. I blinked hard, fighting back tears. But the dispatcher wasn’t answering, and while I was waiting I heard a tiny meow. A softness brushed my wrist; a whiskered face nuzzled my hand.

I looked down and saw Syrah.

When I touched him, he raised his head to meet my fingers. Seemed both of us were looking for comfort.

That tender moment was cut short when I heard, “What the hell happened?” in a deep baritone—a sound that made my stomach jump because it wasn’t coming from the phone.

I started and dropped my cell phone. It closed and disconnected. Tom Stewart stood in the arched entry.

“He—he’s dead,” I managed, picking up my phone and gathering Syrah into my arms. I stood, clutching my cat close.

“No kidding.”

I held out my phone. “I—I was trying to call 911, but—”

“I’ll do that. You take a seat.” He nodded at the furniture in an adjoining parlor that seemed about a mile away. “And stay where I can keep an eye on you.”

I had trouble processing what he’d said, but then made my way to a settee in the parlor. Once I sat down, it dawned on me that he’d told me to stay put. Why? My God, did he think I’d had something to do with Mr. Wilkerson’s death?

“Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere. This man is dead and his house is full of cats that need help.”

“Good, because you’ll have plenty of questions to answer once the police arrive.” He jabbed at his keypad, then started tapping his foot and muttering, “Come on, come on.”

“There’s a house fire. The entire town probably went to help. See, that’s why I was depending on
you
to arrive—in
five minutes
.”

“I tried,” he said. But then the dispatcher apparently answered, and he gave her the unfortunate news about Flake Wilkerson.

While he talked, I decided I couldn’t wait around with those cats calling for help. With Syrah still in my arms, I started for the hallway where I’d seen the streaker a few minutes ago.

Tom barked at me to stop.

But I couldn’t. Once the police arrived, they would clear the house. I might be the only one who cared about those cats, and right now I had a window of opportunity to help them.

I reached a large foyer and saw a fluffy tail disappear into the hall closet. I calmly called, “Here, kitty. Come on, baby.”

Syrah wiggled, probably anxious to help out. But I held on and he didn’t resist much, no doubt appreciating the safety of my embrace. I didn’t have to wait more than two seconds before a small Persian peeked out from behind the cracked door beneath the stairs. Not the cat we’d seen yesterday in the window. Then Tom’s “What do you think you’re doing?” sent the poor scared thing retreating into the safety of the closet.

He entered the foyer, his cell pressed to his ear. “No, not you,” he said into the phone. “It’s the person I told you about, the one I discovered by Wilkerson’s body.”

The person? Discovered?
Like he didn’t know I’d be here? “I have a name, you know,” I said, heading for the closet.

“Quit moving around, Jillian.” This time he held the phone pressed against his thigh.

“I saw a cat. And there’s more of them. Can’t you hear?”

Tom cocked his head and finally tuned in to the sounds coming from upstairs.

“Wilkerson had a bunch of cats,” he said. “Everyone knows that.”

I crouched in front of the closet and whispered, “Here, baby. It’s okay.”

Persians are friendly and affectionate, and I figured this one would come out again with a little coaxing. But Syrah might not like sharing me during this stressful time, so before I rescued the little one, I put Syrah in Tom’s free arm. He sputtered, but I gave him no chance to refuse.

I went back to the closet, knelt and soon gathered up the scared cat. I sat on the floor to better examine the animal’s paws with their long, matted fur. The blood on the floor was probably from Syrah walking around the dead man, but I had to make sure this one wasn’t hurt. Didn’t seem to be. And I couldn’t tell if this was a boy or girl—too much hair. The cat purred through my examination, probably more out of stress than from feeling affectionate.

Then I rose and went toward the stairs, Persian in arms.

“Come on, Jillian,” Tom said. “Stop walking around. We’re in the middle of a damn crime scene.”

I halted on the bottom stair. “But the man is dead and obviously the cats upstairs are not.” I felt much calmer now that he was here. “Someone else might be hurt. And I’m not talking only about animals. What if another person has been stabbed or injured?”

“Please wait,” he said, sounding more like himself rather than the control freak he’d been acting like since he got here. “The police will arrive any minute. You’re a smart woman, so be smart about this,” he said.

“The police are busy dealing with an emergency. You have no idea how long it will take for them to get here. Ask Billy Sue or whatever that dispatcher’s name is.” I nodded at the phone still pressed against his leg.

He brought it to his ear, and it immediately started blaring a country song I did not recognize. Must be his ringtone.

“Damn,” he muttered before answering the phone. “Guess I lost you, Barbara. What’s our status?” He listened for a second before saying, “Yeah, I promise to stay on the line.”

“How long before they get here?” I cast an anxious glance toward the landing, where I could still hear mournful cat music.

Tom said, “Don’t know. The chief is on his way since everyone else is at the fire. And a county sheriff deputy’s been called, too.”

Yup, just as I thought. Chaos would soon reign. I was certain no one would let me upstairs then. Nor would anyone care about the cats. So I bolted before Tom could even blink.

The Persian did not appreciate being held by a running woman and told me so by digging its claws into my shoulder and leaping from my arms. It took off back down the stairs. Since I would probably find it in that closet in a few minutes, I wasn’t too worried.

I made my way toward the cat meows coming from a room at the end of a long, dark hallway. One cat was surely a Siamese; one of their sounds mimics the cry of a human infant, and that was what I was hearing.

The door was ajar, and inside what was once a bedroom I found three anxious cats in individual cages on a large table. There seemed to be more cages disassembled and propped against a wall papered with what looked like a 1930s design.

Each of the cats offered its own distinct and loud voice when I walked in. I murmured, “It’s gonna be okay” over and over, and they seemed to calm a little. As I approached, I noticed two black canvas carriers—the kind that zip at the top. They were both partially open. Could have been how Syrah and the Persian escaped.

At that point I noticed something that had somehow escaped my first glance into the room. I stared in disbelief, not at the cats but at what was with them. Each had a quilt to lie on—one of
my
quilts.

Where had Wilkerson gotten them? Had he stolen them from my sewing room when he snatched Syrah?

But when I took a closer look I saw that the quilts were made from fabrics I’d purchased months ago. I fingered one quilt corner through the wire cage—a log cabin design. I hadn’t made that pattern since right after John’s death. I’d been doing nine patch and crow’s nest designs lately.

The exotic shorthair in that cage rubbed against my fingers, and I scratched its small head. “You’ll be okay, smoosh-face,” I whispered. “I’m here to help you.”

I bent and peered into one canvas carrier. I could see a quilt in there, too, one that appeared to be covered with Syrah’s amber fur. The other carrier was coated with long dark hairs. Syrah must have figured out the zipper and helped the Persian escape. Persians are one of the sweetest breeds, but some of them aren’t exactly the brightest matches in the box.

“Jillian, get back down here,” shouted Tom.

“You come up,” I called back. “I need to check the other rooms.”

“Please don’t do that,” he answered. “Every step you take up there might compromise evidence.”

I’ve already compromised plenty, then
, I thought.
Might as well make sure no other person or animal was hurt, or worse, dead.
I ran from one room to another—big house, lots of musty bedrooms—all of them filled with ancient furniture. I found no people and no more cats—unless they’d found excellent hiding places.

I returned to the caged kitties. Besides the exotic there was a Tonkinese—could have been a show cat with its platinum mink points—and of course the louder-than-loud lilac-point Siamese. I was about to reach my fingers inside the Tonkinese’s cage and offer some much-needed reassurance, but a man’s voice stopped me.

“Mercy Police. Don’t touch anything, ma’am.”

I turned and briefly took in the dark green uniform before the gun he held in his right hand grabbed the better part of my attention. I pressed my back against the cages and gripped the scarred table the cat prisons sat on.

“I
told
you not to touch anything.” He sounded calm despite my mistake, and I looked up into a face that seemed far kinder than that huge gun. He was about Tom’s age, with sandy hair and warm brown eyes.

“Then put the AK-47 away,” I said. “You might accidentally shoot a cat.” Though I sounded flip, I was scared out of my gourd. I mean, I’d never had a gun pointed at me in my life.

“This is no AK-47, and if I were to shoot anything, it wouldn’t be an accident. Put your hands where I can see them,” he said. “It’s Jillian Hart, right?”

I intertwined my fingers in front of me. “It is. But do you honestly believe you have to defend yourself against me?”

“Let’s go downstairs, Ms. Hart,” he said evenly.

I heard several voices in the other rooms shouting “clear” over and over. Meanwhile, I seemed stuck to the spot like someone had superglued the soles of my shoes.

“I’m Chief Baca of the Mercy Police. You’re looking chalky, Ms. Hart. We need to go downstairs, okay? Then you can sit down and tell me exactly what went on here.”

Now that I was sure the cats were all right, I decided this was a reasonable request—and his delivery was a lot gentler than Tom Stewart’s had been initially. But I hated leaving these terrified cats.

“What about the animals?” I said.

“They’ll be taken care of,” he said.

“By whom?”

“SPCA or—”

I shook my head vehemently. “No. The SPCA is too far away. Call Shawn or Allison at the Mercy Animal Sanctuary. Please?”

Through the open bedroom door I saw several more green-uniformed people disappearing down the stairs.

“Come with me and then we’ll make arrangements for the cats,” he said.

“C-could you put the gun away?” I had begun to tremble, the pick-me-up power of adrenaline suddenly abandoning me.

He holstered the weapon. “There. Now come on.”

I put one hesitant foot in front of the other and made it across the room. Good thing, too, because then my knees buckled.

Chief Baca caught me before I hit the floor.

Eight

T
he house fire in town must have finally been contained because the Wilkerson property now became the hub of Mercy’s police and paramedic activity. From my vantage point in the parlor that adjoined the dining room, I even caught a glimpse of Billy Cranor, the handyman and volunteer fireman. Apparently the fire department needed a presence here as well—why, I had no idea.

When Candace arrived she didn’t seem to notice me. She began firing away with her camera before saying a word to anyone, moving around the crime scene with a constant whir of
click, click, click
. Next she knelt by the body, and I saw her tweeze something off Flake Wilkerson’s pants.

Then Chief Baca spotted her and ordered her to “watch Ms. Hart.”

I needed watching? Did he think I would head upstairs again after he’d practically had to carry me down? I still felt too stunned and sick to my stomach to do much more than sit here.

When Candace turned and saw me in the parlor, her blue eyes widened in disbelief. “What are you doing here?” she said as she took a spot beside me on the very uncomfortable gold satin settee.

The chief had put me here, and I suddenly wondered if maybe he thought I wouldn’t faint again if I sat in the most uncomfortable spot possible. “I already told your boss, but you need to know, too. First, though, I understand I never should have come inside this house. But Syrah was here. I found him outside in the driveway and then he ran back inside. I couldn’t help myself. I had to follow him.” As I spoke, I was again consumed by worry. Tom had let Syrah go, and I could only hope my boy hadn’t slipped out an open door. He surely would have had the opportunity, since this place was crowded enough to remind me of a departure gate at Houston Intercontinental Airport.

Syrah’s disappearance wasn’t a priority to anyone except me, and my emotions had been running wild—I was glad I’d found him, but now I was desperate to find him again. Plus I’d gotten the distinct feeling as I’d related what had happened to the soft-spoken Baca that he actually suspected I might have had something to do with the murder.

I was more at ease explaining the situation to Candace. She seemed receptive and kind as I summarized the morning’s events.