Chapter 19

Chapter

Nineteen

C at got a returned text from Grace just after lunch. She laughed and held the phone up for Shauna to see. “Someone must have alerted Grace that there was an arrest here this morning. She wants to know if we’re okay.”

“Before you answer, ask her about the dresses again. Let’s see if she’ll play tit for tat,” Shauna stood and took her plate to the sink.

“Good idea,” Cat re-asked Grace the question. Then waited. When she didn’t answer after a few minutes, Cat set the phone down. “I guess only Grace can ask questions.”

Shauna had returned to the table. “I should start cleaning but I’m going to wait until tomorrow. Somehow, I’m worn out. I guess it was a lot of excitement this morning.”

“Well, I’m glad we got that messenger bag out of her room and into my office before he showed up this morning.” Cat picked up her sandwich and then sat it down again. “Sorry, I’m not very hungry.”

“I didn’t take it to your office. I thought he might look there if he caught on to you having moved stuff. That was a good red herring, telling him she’d already packed most everything up and it must have been in her car.” Shauna grabbed a cookie and broke it in half. “When you’re upset you usually eat more.”

Cat took the cookie, then looked up, “Wait, where did you take it then?”

“I put it in the dryer. You have to walk through the laundry room when you go to the back stairs so I hoped he didn’t know about those stairs and tucked the bag there. It worked.”

“You’re amazing,” Cat ate the half of cookie. “I’m going to call the hospital and see if Maggie’s ready to go home. Now that her husband is locked up, I guess it’s safe.”

“Yeah, but she’s going to have to move soon. Isn’t that house a perk for the college president?”

Cat reached for her phone and realized she had text messages. “I must still have this thing on do not disturb.”

“What did she say?”

Cat opened the first text and read it aloud. “See the picture of all the women. Maggie always gets one at every event. She calls it the power behind the throne. Huh, she didn’t ask me to pose with the group.”

“Maybe you were in the bathroom. Open the picture,” Shauna handed me my iPod. “You can see it better on this device.”

Cat opened the text message and then clicked on the picture to make it full screen. “Okay, here’s the wives, and there are three red dresses in the sea of blue and black.”

“That’s Clara, her husband is vice-chair of the English department, there’s Agnes whose husband is the head of the math department. Both of those women have to be in their seventies. And there’s one more. Isn’t that Kim Stage from the development office?”

Cat nodded. “And she’s wearing Lucy’s dress—the one with a stain on it. I think we found our killer. Sorry, Grace, I can’t play informant right now, I need to send this to my uncle.”

“You didn’t just type that, did you?” Shauna was smirking.

“No, but I wanted to. Anyway, she’ll find out what happened way before anyone else in town. She’s got her finger on the pulse of Aspen Hills.” Cat forwarded the photo to her uncle and then called him to tell him her theory.

After a few minutes of back and forth, Cat hung up and looked at Shauna. “He said he’d be over for Sunday dinner and wondered what you’re making.”

“He already knew about the dress?”

Cat nodded, “A crime tech had found it when they searched Lucy’s house. They also found a few legal and illegal drugs in her bedroom. I think Kim has been keeping Lucy drugged up so it would look like she was crazy.”

“I don’t understand why though. Why would Kim kill Allen? Why would she send Lucy after Maggie with a knife?”

Shauna stood and took a roast out of the fridge. “Maybe she was helping Martin cover up his misdeeds. Maybe she wanted to be the power behind the throne.”

“Well, the way Martin started to backtrack as he was taken out of here, I wonder if he’ll blame Kim for all of this.” Cat heard the knock on the door and opened it. Dante stood there. He looked at the plywood covering the glass. “Come on in.”

“You’ve had a busy couple of weeks. I wanted to visit to make sure you all were okay.” He stepped inside and took off his fedora. “I saw Seth leaving to deliver your guests to the airport. I didn’t want to step on any toes.”

“Seth’s fine with you coming by,” Cat shut the door behind him. “Well, it looks like your name is going to be cleared soon. Do you know why John Martin focused on you?”

“He was hired by my brother, which says a lot right there.” He smiled at Shauna as she offered him a cup of coffee. “Thank you.”

“Take off your coat,” she sat the cup done on the table and reached for his long woolen coat. “Did you walk here?”

He unwrapped the red scarf and slipped off his gloves, tucking both into his coat pockets. “I did, but there’s a car outside waiting for me. I’m on my way to the airport as well. I have some people I need to update on all the goings on and start the search for the next president. Please let Mrs. Martin know she’s welcome to use the house until we finalize hiring the next president. That will probably take six months to a year. I stopped by the hospital to tell her, but I could tell she wasn’t feeling well.”

“I have a feeling that Maggie will do what’s best for Maggie,” Cat sipped her coffee. “But I’m sure she appreciates the time you’re giving her.”

“I’m still not sure why they killed Allen,” Shauna sat down with us, the roast for dinner left waiting on the counter.

“He had asked Kim to set up a meeting with me three times, but she never did. That night, he’d pulled me aside and we’d set a time to talk on that next Monday. I think he must have discovered the missing money.” Dante smiled sadly. “No one wants to be falsely accused of theft. Especially here at Covington. Allen might not have been a great fundraiser or a good man, but he was a good soldier. He did what he was told and ignored the rest. I think he believed I was taking the money and wanted to know if he should tell anyone.”

“You don’t need the money,” Shauna refilled the coffee cups on the table. The kitchen was chilly, even with the plywood up.

“Need is sometimes a vague concept,” he smiled at her. Cat wondered if the spark was still there. They’d started dating way too soon after Kevin’s death and Shauna had ended the relationship before it could develop into anything. Dante was complicated. His world was not only complicated but dangerous. Things that Shauna had left behind when she’d moved here from California and her bartending jobs at the biker bars.

But maybe someday.

Cat always held out hope for love. For her, for her friends, and the world. Which was why Kim and John Martin’s lies had hit her so hard. Kim had ruined two marriages. Lucy and Allen’s, and John and Maggie’s. But in that one, there was plenty of blame to go around, especially for John.

Dante glanced at his watch. “Anyway, I have a thank you present for your help in clearing my name and helping me host that party last week.”

Cat held up her hand. “I don’t need a thank you present. Besides, you let the writers come and they were all excited to see your house. Especially Debra. I’m sure your house is going to be a setting for a whole new historical romance series.”

“Well, you kind of need this,” Dante stood as a knock sounded on the back door. He went over and let a man inside. “Cat, Shauna, this is Henry Sales. He’s going to replace your door and set up an entry code lock for this door and security cameras for all of the doors and entry spots. He’ll work with Seth to set up your security system. Right now, you just need to pick a door.”

Henry came inside and spread out five different door types with pictures and descriptions. “I’ve already measured the entryway and all five of these will fit. I brought them with me based on the pictures that Mr. Cordova sent with the order. Your house was built at the same time as his, so it was an easy match. The camera system should be up later this afternoon. Seth will be back by then? Correct?”

“He should be, depending on the roads,” Shauna hugged Dante. “You didn’t have to do this. The doors are beautiful.”

“And the security system is way too expensive,” Cat couldn’t help herself, she was staring at one specific door with stained glass on the top. Shauna saw where she was looking and grabbed the paper.

“This one, right Cat?”

Cat nodded and gave in. Dante did what he wanted and she never looked a gift horse in the mouth. Especially this one.

When Seth got home, he and Henry went around and checked out all the camera placings and set up the computer part of the system. At dinner, Seth was explaining it all to Uncle Pete and how the security company had guys who watched for alerts. “So you’ll be hearing from them before the alarm even wakes one of us up if the house is broken into. It’s a good system.” He rolled his eyes at Cat. “Especially due to who paid for it.”

“Well, since he kind of brought the fight to Cat’s house, I think Dante should be paying for the new door. The security system is a little over the top, but I’ve never known that man to be cheap on anything.” Uncle Pete took a bite of the seasoned beef. “Shauna, I don’t know how you get this pot roast so tender, but it’s magic.”

Shauna blushed at the compliment. “I just add the right seasoning, a lot of time, and care. Cooking is love.”

“Well, I’m blessed to be at this table tonight, with all of you,” Uncle Pete squeezed my hand. “I know you all were out of the house when Maggie was attacked, but my heart sank when we were called out here. Now that Lucy is coming down off the drugs, she was able to tell us what happened. She followed Martin into the house, he’d left the door open for her, which was their plan, but when she got upstairs, instead of freaking out on Maggie, she was trying to stop Martin from hurting his wife. She got cut from putting herself between him and Maggie.”

“Then John had to attack Maggie himself. Why didn’t he kill her?” Cat dished up more mashed potatoes.

“Lucy went running, saying she was going to get Maggie help. He went to find her, but she hid. Then the police arrived so he had to get out of the house.” He took the bowl of mashed potatoes from Cat and refilled his plate. “Mrs. Rice’s nosy neighbor trait saved Maggie’s life. Seeing his car here both days and to get a license number was smart.”

“Mrs. Rice saves the day,” Shauna grinned. “I’ve got apple pie for dessert, so save some room.”

Cat didn’t feel bad about having some help in putting together all the pieces. Even the Scooby Doo gang worked together. But Mrs. Rice should be on the villain side of the story, not the hero side.

“I need pie after this week,” Cat focused on finishing her dinner, knowing there was a treat waiting at the end. Kim Stage and John Martin were in jail. Dante was off the hook and his reputation was solid again. Or at least as solid as it was possible. And their family was together at the table life for Sunday dinner.

Then Shauna tried to ruin her mood. “It’s Mrs. Rice’s recipe.”

Cat blew out a breath. Gratitude in all things. Even when Mrs. Rice was involved. Cat changed the subject, “When is Shirley coming to visit?”

Looking for more Cat Latimer in your life? Check out A Killer Christmas Wish – a Cat Latimer novel - My Book