The Cats that Surfed the Web (18 page)

”This is starting to gel. Patricia is an agronomy student. Of course, she’d know that the seeds were toxic and could kill.”

“So, don’t you think we should tell the police?”

“Hang on,” he said, taking his Blackberry out of his shirt pocket. “I’ll send the chief
a text.”

“You text the chief?  Are you best friends or something?”

Mark was amused and said, “We’re friends. We play golf together.”

“Figures,” Katherine said. “Everyone in this town is connected somehow.”

“Speak of the devil,” Mark said, putting down the phone. “The chief just pulled up outside.”

Katherine looked outside to see the chief’s vehicle with its lights whirling. She moved to open the door. The chief came in and stamped his boots on the floor mat.

“Good evening, Ms. Kendall,” he said, and then to Mark, “Hey, glad to see you made it.”

“The roads were a glare of ice,” Mark said.

“Yeah, I know. I just saw the vet in the ditch. I pulled over to see if I could help him, but he said he’d already called a tow truck. He said I needed to take something to you, Ms. Kendall.”

Katherine looked confused. “And what was that?” she asked.

“I promised Dr. Sonny to make a delivery.” He opened his jacket and out popped Abby’s head. “Chirp,” the little rusty colored cat said.

“Oh, my sweet little girl,” Katherine said, forcing back a sob. She gathered the small bundle of fur in her arms and held her close. Lilac sauntered over and began me-yowling loudly. Katherine took Abby into the next room and sat down. Lilac jumped up and licked the ruddy cat on the nose.

The chief and Mark came in. Mark sat down, but the chief remained standing. “Ms. Kendall, the second reason for my visit, I need to update you on the latest information regarding your intruder this morning.”

“Won’t you have a seat?” Katherine offered.

“No, thanks. I’ll come right down to business. We have a suspect in custody. She’s being held until her initial court appearance, when bail will be set or denied.”

Mark and Katherine exchanged inquisitive glances.

“Patricia Marston confessed to killing Mr. DeSutter,” the chief said.

Katherine gasped.

The chief continued, “She also confessed to trying to poison members of this household.”

“What’s she being charged with?” Mark asked.

The chief answered, “Criminal homicide. Murder, that is, along with various other charges.”

“But why did she kill Gary?” Katherine asked.

“She confessed to wanting to murder you, Ms. Kendall. Judging by the rage I observed when I mentioned your name, I’d say you’re one lucky young lady.”

“But please, you didn’t answer my question?”

“Here’s the story as I see it,” the chief explained. “Mr. DeSutter stayed at the Erie Hotel last night. This morning Ms. Marston was his waitress. They started chatting and he told her he was trying to win you back. Patricia thought Gary was a threat to her inheritance. She thought she had to get rid of him because you two might get married and she’d really have a challenge on her hands. She said she put some kind of poisonous mushroom in his omelet at the hotel this morning.”

“But she stabbed him with a knife,” Katherine said surprised.

“I guess she didn’t think the mushrooms were working fast enough,” the chief said cynically. “Okay, here’s the bizarre part. Patricia assumed Mr. DeSutter would go back to his room and die at the hotel. But Mr. DeSutter got in his rental car and drove over here. Patricia had already arrived; she somehow lured him into the basement. She confessed to wanting to murder Cokey, but when Mr. DeSutter startled her, she killed him instead. Her twisted plan was to kill your great aunt’s cat, kill Cokey, and then you. That’s it in a nutshell. No pun intended,” the chief said, starting to leave.

“But wait, I think Patricia poisoned her mother and my great aunt as well,” Katherine said, getting up.

“She confessed to a lot, but killing her mother or your great aunt was not one of them. So . . . case closed,” the chief said, tipping his hat. “I want to apologize to you, Ms. Kendall. I’m truly sorry for the events of this past week, and hope that your stay here in the future will be free of any incidents.”

“Thank you,” Katherine said, still cradling Abby. “But, what tipped you off that Patricia was the murderer?”

“The gold cigarette lighter stuck in Mr. DeSutter’s mouth. When I reached the station to talk to her, I pulled the evidence bag with the lighter out of my jacket and showed it to her. At first she went into such a rage about how much she hated Cokey and you, I had to cuff her to the chair. She then seemed to calm down and started crying. After that, she started talking. So, are we good here?” he asked.

“Yes,” Katherine and Mark answered.

“Then good evening,” he said, as he walked out the door.

Colleen hurried into the room, “What’s going on? I saw the flashing lights and then got up to see what the heck was going on. What did the chief want?”

“Murder solved,” Katherine said. “Patricia Marston confessed.”

“Oh, the saints preserve us,” Colleen said, finding the nearest chair to collapse in.

Mark looked at Katherine and said, “Do you still want to forfeit your inheritance?”

“No,” Katherine said. “I’m going to stay.”

“But I’m not,” Colleen winked. “I’ve got a flight out of Indy, and I certainly hope this weather lets up so I can go home.”

“I feel both relief and sadness,” Mark said, getting up. “Relief that we know who the killer is, but sadness that a woman as brilliant as Patricia could so mess up her life.”

“Are you not staying?” Katherine asked, somewhat disappointed.

“No need to now. I’ll call it an evening. Good night, Ladies,” he said. “And that also includes you, Miss Abby and Lilac.”

After Mark left, Colleen said, “Katz, I’m really going to miss you. But promise me you’ll come out for St. Patrick’s Day.”

“Yes, I promise, but I’m definitely buying a new car. I don’t think the Toyota would make another trip,” she laughed.

Scout and Iris marched into the room shoulder-to-shoulder. Judging by their demeanor, it looked like they had been up to something. “Waugh,” Scout announced. She began doing figure eights in the middle of the room. Abby and Lilac jumped off Katherine’s lap, which startled the Siamese. Scout’s fur bristled out like a Halloween cat, and Iris growled. Then all four cats galloped out of the room, with Lilac in the lead.

“Off to the races,” Colleen said.

“Waugh,” Scout cried loudly from the back office.

“We’d better check it out,” Katherine said. Colleen and Katherine made their way to the office to find Lilac proudly standing next to the computer monitor.

Colleen walked over for a closer look and said, “Katz, you’d better take a look at this.”

Katherine glanced over and studied the web page. Then she said to the lilac-point Siamese. “Oh, no you didn’t?”

On the monitor screen was the Facebook page of Patricia Marston. Lilac me-yowled guiltily and dashed out of the room with the other three at her heels.

Colleen said excitedly, “We’ve got to post this online. This is incredible! A cat who surfs the Web!”

“Oh, hold on there, Missy! Let’s just wait until the cats set up their own Facebook pages, okay?” She brought her hand up and covered her mouth so Colleen wouldn’t see the smirk on her face. “I’m thinking that all the cats had a paw in this. Now, let’s call it a day,” Katherine said, shutting down the computer.

“I vote for sleeping in tomorrow,” Colleen said drowsily.

“I’m not getting up until the cows come home.”

They both giggled and went upstairs with the cats close behind.

The End

Dear Reader:

Thank you so much for reading my book.  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it.  If you liked
The Cats that Surfed the Web
, I would appreciate it if you would help others enjoy this book, too, by recommending it to your friends, family and book clubs and/or by writing a review on Amazon.

If you do write a review, please send me an email at [email protected].  I’d like to add you to my e-newsletter list so that you can get updates on upcoming releases.

Thank you.

Karen Anne Golden

P.S. If you find any mistakes, please email me.  Before publication, so many read the novel, but sometimes the gremlins eat words!