A Tale of Two Tabbies (13 page)

Cliff didn’t say anything.

“Now that I’ve answered your questions, would you mind telling me why you dragged me out here?”

I hoped my voice held just the right amount of indignation. If I didn’t know what was really going on and I really had been simply coming to ask Cliff to play for us, I would have had a high level of indignation in my voice.

Cliff didn’t answer. He just stared at me. I could hear a car pull into the parking lot. I hoped it was Finn, although it could have been Cody arriving late. Either way, someone would be looking for me very shortly.

“Is it okay if I return to practice now?” I asked. “Cody’s late tonight, so the kids are in the choir room without supervision. You know if I don’t get back soon they’re going to make a mess.”

“Did you ever figure out who killed Theresa?” Cliff asked.

“Actually, we did. It turns out it was one of her blackmail victims. A woman named Nina Gold.” I made up the first name that came to mind.

“Did she confess?”

“No. But Finn thinks he has a good case against her. Can we go back inside now? It’s freezing out here.”

Cliff seemed to relax. “Yeah. We can go inside. Sorry I was a little rough.”

“No problem. So what do you think about the choir gig? Are you in?”

Cliff opened the door to the shed. I stepped outside. He stepped out behind me. I thought I’d averted a crisis until Cliff noticed Finn’s car in the parking lot.

“I knew you were lying.” He grabbed my hair and pulled me back against his body.

“Finn!” I yelled as loudly as I could.

The next few seconds seemed to pass in slow motion. Cliff slapped me. Finn appeared from the parking lot with his gun drawn. Cliff pulled out a knife and threatened to slit my throat, there was the sound of a gunshot, and then Cliff fell to the ground.

“Is he dead?” I asked.

Finn felt for a pulse. “No, he’ll live. Run inside and call 911. Tell them to send an ambulance. I’m afraid I dropped my radio when you screamed.”

I ran over and hugged Finn. “Thank you.”

“Any time, little sis.”

“Wow, that’s quite some story,” Siobhan said later that evening. Cody had shown up shortly after Finn arrived. We’d called all the parents and had the kids picked up early and then the two of us returned to my cabin while Finn saw to booking Cliff. “I still can’t believe Cliff killed Theresa. He seems like such a pussycat.”

“I guess when he found out that Theresa had been bugging the confessionals he realized she knew Felicity’s secret and she’d eventually find out he was involved as well. They were alone at the church between the women’s group leaving and Cody and me arriving, so he killed her, put her in the trunk of her car, and drove her home.”

“He must have trashed her house looking for any evidence she might have regarding the car accident. What I don’t get is why he put Sydney in the confessional.”

“That’s the weird thing. He swears he didn’t.”

“So who did it?” Siobhan asked.

“I have no idea. I suppose we may never know.”

“I don’t get why Felicity was protecting Cliff,” Siobhan said, wondering the same thing that had gone through my mind more than once. I just assumed her partner in crime was someone she cared enough about to protect. I doubted she cared about Cliff one way or another.

“I think I can answer that,” Cody said as he joined us. He’d been on the phone while we were chatting. “It seems Felicity was pregnant on the night of the accident.”

“With Brad’s baby?” I wondered.

“With Brad’s baby. She said she was stupid and told Cliff, and then, the next day, she realized she didn’t want Brad to know about the baby, so she made a deal with him that she would never tell anyone that he was actually the one driving if he didn’t tell anyone about the baby.”

I frowned. “Felicity has a baby?”

“She gave her up for adoption. She knew Brad would never agree to the adoption, so she never told him about the baby. She faked the identity of the father on the adoption paperwork, but Cliff knew the truth and she was afraid he would tell Brad. I suppose Brad could have had some rights in the situation. I guess she didn’t want to risk it.”

“So she was willing to go to jail? Her sentence would have been greatly reduced if she had given up Cliff.”

“The baby was adopted by a friend of hers. She’s an honorary aunt and gets to see her daughter all the time. She couldn’t risk Brad messing up the life she’d given her child.”

I guess that made sense. She wasn’t really protecting Cliff; she was protecting her baby. I had to wonder what would happen to that child when Brad was informed that he had a daughter he’d never known about.

Now that Theresa’s killer had been caught I knew it was time to find a permanent home for Sydney. Finn had informed me that he’d spoken to Theresa’s daughter, who’d confirmed she didn’t want the cat, so I was free to do with it what I pleased. I called Miranda’s grandmother, who was still interested in adopting Sydney as long as Miranda and Sydney continued to demonstrate the bond they’d shown that first day in the choir room. I made arrangements to bring him by after Miranda got home from school.

Miranda’s grandmother lived in a small house in Harthaven. It was a nice, older neighborhood, and most of the residents had lived there for quite some time, so they tended to be seniors like her. I felt bad that there weren’t other children in the area for Miranda to play with, but I understood the grandmother couldn’t just up and move after all this time.

Miranda opened the door when I knocked. She smiled when she saw me holding Sydney.

“Is it okay if I come in?”

Miranda stepped to the side.

I set Sydney down on the floor and he immediately ran to where Miranda was standing. She dropped to the floor and began to pet him.

“It seems,” I began after Miranda’s grandmother joined us, “that Sydney is in need of a new home. I don’t suppose you know anyone who would be interested in adopting a cat?”

Miranda looked at her grandmother, a look of longing on her face.

“I guess you need to be sure he goes to a home where there’s someone who will take good care of him,” Grandma responded.

“Yes. Someone to take care of him will be very important.”

“I can take care of him,” Miranda said aloud.

I noticed tears forming in the corners of Grandma’s eyes. She struggled to control them, I imagined for Miranda’s sake. “I guess we could work something out with Miss Cait if you’re sure. It’s a big commitment.”

“I’m sure. I’ll take good care of him. I promise.”

“Well, okay. If you’re sure.”

Grandma looked at me.

I glanced at Miranda. “I guess if you promise to take very good care of him I can let you adopt him.”

“Oh, I will.” Miranda looked at her grandmother. “Can he sleep in my room?”

“If you’d like.”

“Come on, Sydney.” Miranda picked up the cat and started down the hall. “I’ll show you where you’re going to sleep. It’s scary when your mom dies and you have to move to a new house, but I’ll be your new mom. I think you’ll like it here.”

It took everything in my power not to start bawling myself. I really loved it when one of the cats in my care found its perfect match.

“That’s the first time Miranda has spoken since her parents’ death,” Grandma shared after Miranda went into her room. “I was beginning to fear her inability to speak was going to be permanent. It’s been such a long time.”

I could hear Miranda in the distance, chatting with the cat. “I guess she was just waiting to have something important to say.”

“Yes.” Grandma smiled. “I guess that was it all along.”

After I left Miranda’s I headed back to the peninsula. I was exhausted after everything that had happened in the past week, so Tara suggested I take the afternoon off. Destiny was there to help her, and the two of them planned to begin training a new part-time employee to help out with the summer crowd. When I arrived at the cabin I noticed Maggie out tending her rose garden.

“Seeing you in the garden has confirmed my suspicion that spring is finally here.”

Maggie sat back on her knees and smiled. “I do love this time of year, when everything that’s been dormant is reborn and the world is alive with color.”

“Seems like you’re in a good mood.” I knelt down beside her and began to pull at random weeds that were just starting to poke through the rich soil.

“I am.” Maggie wiped a hair off her face, leaving a smudge of dirt across her cheek. “In fact, I think this is one of the best moods I’ve been in for quite some time. I feel as light as a butterfly.”

“Any particular reason for the lift in spirits?” I wondered. “Other than the chance to get out in the garden, that is.”

“I decided to tell Siobhan my secret.”

I had to admit that surprised me.

“It didn’t seem right to ask you to keep such a big secret from your own sister. I was nervous at first, but she seemed to understand, and she’s promised to keep my secret until an announcement can be made.”

“An announcement?”

“Michael has decided to retire after the end of the year.”

“And…?”

“And we agreed that once a replacement is found and put into place we’ll give it six months, maybe more, before he announces his plan to leave the priesthood.”

“So you’re going to do it? You’re finally going to be together?”

“Yes.” Maggie smiled. “We finally are. In the meantime, we agreed not to spend time together outside of church and family events. Our trips away have accomplished what they were intended to. Anything more would be self-indulgent.”

“Wow. If you wait until a replacement is found and settled in, you could be looking at two years. Maybe more.”

“It’s the right thing to do, and we can wait.”

I remembered a saying I’d read. I couldn’t remember where, maybe in a book. But it seemed to sum up the love affair between Maggie and Michael Kilian exactly:

Love in its purest form is selfless and eternal. It endures all things and exists independently of the opinion of others. Love that is born in the soul and lives in the heart, will thrive and prosper in spite of the challenges it must face and the hardships it must endure.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line cupcake pan with 12 liners.

Crust:

1½ cups graham cracker crumbs (or crushed cookie crumbs)

6 tbs. butter or margarine, melted

6 tbs. sugar

Mix together and fill bottom of 12 cupcakes.

Filling:

2 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese, softened

¾ cup white granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 tbs. vanilla

Mix together until smooth and free of lumps. Divide between 12 cupcakes. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until set.

Let mini cheesecakes cool completely, then top with cherry pie (or other fruit) filling.

2 small boxes strawberry Jell-O

16 oz. (about 2 cups) sliced strawberries

1 cup chopped walnuts

16 oz. sour cream

Mix:

1 small box strawberry Jell-O (made per directions on box)

1 pt. (16 oz.) sliced strawberries

1 cup chopped walnuts (add more if you really like nuts)

Pour into bottom of 9 x 13 glass baking dish. Chill until set (about 2 hours).

After first layer is set:

Spread 16-oz. container of sour cream over the top (do not use low fat). Chill for 30 minutes.

Make second small box of strawberry Jell-O according to directions. Carefully pour or ladle the Jell-O on top of sour cream layer; be careful when placing this layer on top or you’ll mess up the sour cream. Chill for 2 hours.