The Cats that Played the Market (The Cats that . . . Cozy Mystery Book 4) (13 page)

Katherine said, “You can trust us.”

Linda continued, “We also know the Federal Trade Commission and the FBI were ready to make an arrest.”

Katherine said, surprised. “The FBI? Why?”

“Our new financial advisor in town was running a pyramid scheme.”

“Fascinating,” Katherine said, and remembered nearly breaking an ankle tripping over a heavy book on the Egyptian pyramids. One of Iris’s pastimes is pulling books off the bookcase shelves. Then she remembered the Siamese stampede.  She thought,
my smart cats knew he was a fraud. That’s why they didn’t let me sign any documents.

“What’s a pyramid scheme?” Colleen asked.

“Also called a Ponzi scheme,” Linda said. “In a nutshell, a Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investing scam promising high rates of return with little risk to investors. Usually these schemes collapse when the pool of new investors dries up. Money from new investors is distributed to investors who bought in first, to sustain the illusion of real profits.”

“This is terrible! I wonder how many people in Erie will lose their money?” Katherine asked, thinking of Mark and Cokey, but not mentioning their names.

Colleen dipped a chip in the salsa and said, “Maybe someone lost big-time and murdered Robbie.”

Katherine agreed. “Linda, you have to remember, I saw the crime scene. Someone strangled Robbie and then stuffed dollar bills in his mouth. It seems to me to be symbolic of something — perhaps greed. I think Colleen has a point.”

Linda offered, “We have a suspect in custody for Robbie’s strangulation. His prints are on Robbie’s necktie. But he didn’t
kill
him because Robbie was already dead based on the coroner’s preliminary findings.”

Katherine and Colleen exchanged confused looks.

“The plot thickens,” Colleen said.

Linda changed the subject. “Katz, let’s get back to Emily. Why are you interested in her?”

Katherine took a sip of her margarita. “Well, because Cokey said when he went to the museum to return Margie’s cell phone, Emily nearly knocked him down running out of the place. He said she looked very upset.”

“I know. That’s what he told me. He also said Nick Miller was at the crime scene, as well. This is public knowledge. But you didn’t answer the question,” Linda pursued. “Why are you interested in Emily?”

Katherine gave an angry look. “Figuratively speaking, if I were Emily, I’d want to strangle the jerk, as well —”

Colleen finished, “With the Hawaiian necktie the poor girl probably gave him when they met in Hawaii.” She crossed herself and said, “The saints preserve us. It’s wrong to talk about the newly departed.”

Katherine continued, “He conned her into moving to Indiana, then he takes up with a married woman. Who does that? Emily was nuts about him.”

“Nuts, perhaps, but not in the way you mentioned,” Linda posed. She reached for her bag, which was hanging on the aluminum side chair. She unzipped it, then removed her cell phone. She began panning through pictures. “I need to check something. Colleen, when you mentioned stepping on the cat toys, it made me think of something odd at the crime scene. We found a small plastic cap, sort of like a pen cap, on the floor, but didn’t know what it was. Let me enlarge this. Yes, yes,” she said excitedly. “There it is.” She showed the picture to Katherine and Colleen.

“It looks exactly like the cap on the syringe Abby brought in,” Katherine said knowingly. She had suspected Emily all along. She remembered Scout’s half-hearted Halloween dance in front of the young graphic artist.

Linda got up and swiftly put on her coat. “Excuse me, ladies. I need to make a few calls. I need to find Emily Bradworth.”

Abby, who was now sitting demurely on the counter with her front paw on a yarn mouse, was watching the women with great interest.

Katherine said, “Wait just a second. If Emily did murder Robbie by injecting him with poison, how did she get it? It’s not like she walked into the drug store and bought it.”

Linda answered, “We need to find out where Emily’s mom works, and as a marine biologist, if she has access to some fast-acting poison. If she does, we need to find out how Emily got it.”

Colleen said, “That’s easy. Emily stole it!”

Katherine asked, “But how did she know what to steal?”

Colleen tossed her head back and said, “I just watched this show on Animal Planet about these poisonous sea creatures from
Hawaii
that can kill a human in five minutes. Katz, you said Emily told you she visited Hawaii. Maybe she found out about it there, or from her mom.”

“Whoa! That’s a good lead. The CSI lab needs to test the cap found at the crime scene for a toxic substance. I’ll make sure they know the aquarium connection. I’ll talk to you guys later, but in the meantime, would you two brainstorming sleuths please keep quiet about this new theory?” Linda asked, rising to leave.

Katherine followed Linda to the door and said, “Keep me posted.”

“Will do. See you later,” Linda left and got in her car. Katherine went back to the kitchen.

Colleen was dipping another chip. “I may be a little buzzed from that margarita, but did we just solve a crime?”

Katherine laughed. “I’m not sure. We suspect Emily was that woman scorned. We know that Julie Miller was having an affair with Robbie. Our friend, Detective Martin, mentioned a male suspect being held at the jail. We know it’s not Cokey because he’s home with Margie and the kids. I’m banking the male suspect is Julie Miller’s husband, Nick.”

Colleen shook her head. “That wouldn’t explain the dollar bills stuffed in Robbie’s mouth. Nick’s motive was simple. His wife was cheating with Robbie.”

Katherine thought for a moment, then said, “Maybe Julie invested lots of money with Robbie and when Nick found out, he confronted Robbie at the museum. When I first went to meet Robbie at his office, while I was heading out, I bumped into Nick. I didn’t know him at the time, but met him at the museum opening. I heard him threaten to break someone’s neck. I’m assuming it was Robbie’s neck. Also, Cokey saw him leave the utility room where Robbie was murdered. But what I’m saying is pure conjecture. I’m not the detective. Just an interested bystander.”

Colleen rubbed her forehead. “My brain’s a bit fuzzy right now. Emily and Nick killed Robbie, but who stabbed him?”

“Multiple stab wounds indicate a hate crime. I learned that in my criminology class at NYU. Maybe Emily came back to finish the job,” Katherine said.

“Just in case the toxin didn’t work.”

“Yes, does this remind you of anything?” Katherine asked sadly.

“Déjà vu! That Marston woman and how she killed Gary. I’m sorry, Katz.”

Katherine then thought about the movie
Gosford Park
, and how one of the cats had surfed up that page. “Colleen, care to join me in the living room for a movie? I can Netflix it.”

“Sure,” Colleen said, getting up. “What movie?”

“
Gosford Park
.”

“Oh, the saints preserve us,” Colleen said, shocked. “The movie was about a murder committed by multiple people by different ways. Katz, sometimes your cats can be a little bit too eerie!”

Katherine smiled. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Chapter Eight

On Monday after lunch, Katherine drove downtown to the Erie police headquarters, and asked the officer at the front desk if Chief London was available. The officer, a middle-aged man with a military-style haircut, was one she didn’t recognize, new to the Erie force. He nodded and directed her to Chief London’s office. The chief was sitting behind his desk with his feet up, drinking from a giant bottle of water. Between gulps he said, “Thanks, Bill,” to the officer, and then to Katherine, “Did you come to chew me out about taking Cokey into custody?” He pointed toward a chair.

Katz sat down and folded her jacket on her lap. “Actually, I’m here to discuss business. Do you have a few minutes?”

“Sure,” he said with a rising intonation, tugging at his beard. He threw the now-empty water bottle into the waste can. “Two points,” he boasted.

“Initially the evidence did point to Cokey. I understand why you suspected him and brought him in for questioning. What I didn’t count on was the number of ways Robbie Brentwood died.”

“Yep, poisoned, strangled and stabbed.” The chief shook his head. “Poisoned by his jilted girlfriend, strangled by a disgruntled husband, and then the grand finale — psycho girlfriend comes back and stabs him. Pure rage. Erie has become a regular Peyton Place,” he spitted. “Cokey screwed up by leaving the crime scene and not calling 911.”

“True, but if it’s any consolation, Cokey is now the star witness. He saw both Emily and Nick leave the crime scene. By the way, Chief, is Emily behind bars?”

The chief nodded. “She’s in custody, and her defense lawyer is arranging to have her mental competency evaluated.” Changing the subject, the chief said, “Detective Martin told me how your cat was instrumental in solving the case. That’s pretty damn extraordinary.”

Not wanting the chief to know about her cats’ special talents, Katherine downplayed the remark. “My cat thought the syringe was a toy.”

“Which cat was it? The big Siamese that springs up and down like a Halloween cat?” The chief referred to Scout’s death dance in front of the body of former housekeeper, Vivian Marston.

“No, not my Siamese, Scout. This time it was my great aunt’s cat, Abigail. She’s a bit of a thief and stole it out of Emily’s camera case. You’re not going to arrest Abby, are you?”

The chief emitted a laugh punctuated with short snorts. “No, I don’t think I can. I don’t have any cuffs that would fit her.” He slapped his knee. “That was a good one,” he added.

“Just out of curiosity, and you probably can’t tell me, but did you hear from the lab about what kind of poison it was?”

“Actually, I can tell you. I just approved a press release and you’ll hear it on the news. Emily Bradworth stole the poison from the lab where her mother works.”

“At the Heartland Aquarium, right?”

The chief nodded. He sorted through some papers, picked one up and read, “South sea cone shell. Toxic, poisonous and deadly. Seems Emily wasn’t as innocent as everyone thought. She stole the poison before she moved to Indiana.”

“How do you know that?”

“Her mother told me. She didn’t want to be fired from her job so she kept it quiet.”

“So she knew her daughter had stolen it?”

“No, she suspected she did, but when she confronted her, Emily denied it.”

“Emily must have suspected Robbie was a womanizer, yet she still moved here to be close to him,” Katherine said.

“There’s no accounting for taste. You’ve got to admit, for someone who is nuttier than a fruitcake, Emily was pretty clever.”

“I feel sorry for her,” Katherine said, and then came to the point, “I didn’t come here to talk about Cokey or Emily. Soon I’ll be inheriting the rest of my great aunt’s estate. I’m asking various people to sit on the board — ”

“Board?” he interrupted. “Oh, and by the way, congratulations. My ole buddy Mark told me you just got a check for five million.”

“Is there anything in this town that’s private?” she kidded, knowing that the chief and the estate attorney were close friends. “I guess it’s not exactly secret. I’m thinking everyone in Erie knows it by now.”

“What kind of board?” the chief asked again.

“I’m forming a board to help me distribute my money to various agencies, causes, and charities. I’ll be the head of it, of course, but I want people whom I trust sitting on the board. I’ve grown to trust your judgment.”

“I’d be honored,” the chief said, flattered. Before he had time to say more, the landline rang. He reached over and put the call on speaker. “Yes,” he answered gruffly in his usual police-chief way.

“Chief London, this is Sheriff Goodman. I just got a call from the Indy Women’s Correctional Facility. My deputy, who was transporting a prisoner from our jail to Indy, never showed up. Prisoner’s last name: Marston. Patricia. She managed to escape at the I-74 rest stop west of Brownsburg. Subject is at large and armed. She stole my deputy’s gun and hit him on the head with it.”

Katherine leaned forward in her seat with obvious alarm.

“What?” the chief barked into the speaker. “When was this?”

“Earlier this morning, sometime around nine o’clock. I just found out a few minutes ago. I wanted to let you know the suspect might be headed to her old stomping grounds.”

“Okay, let’s back up. What the hell happened?”

The Sheriff continued, “Deputy Jones was found by a couple from Illinois, slumped over in the driver’s seat of the county vehicle. He was unconscious, but when he came to, he said it happened about an hour earlier. He’s suffering from a concussion but is going to be okay. The Marston woman was seen by a trucker, still at the rest stop, jumping into a red pickup truck, driving across the median, and speeding northwest. I’ve notified the state police.”

“Damn,” the chief exploded. “How does a trained officer get disarmed by an
unarmed
woman riding in the back seat? Did the dumbass let her sit up front?”