A Case Of Cat And Mouse

chapter 7

I pulled out my phone and called Marcus. I explained what Russell had just told me.

“Can he come down to the station now?” Marcus asked. I pictured him sitting at his desk, papers piled everywhere.

I relayed the question to Russell, who nodded. I said good-bye to Marcus, gave Russell directions to the police station and then walked back to the community center with him so he could get his rental car. I spent the next couple of hours looking ahead at the show’s schedule with Eugenie and making notes on topics she wanted me to research. Dairy and Dessert Weeks were still ahead.

Maggie poked her head in Eugenie’s office about two thirty. She was carrying a plate with a green flowered napkin on top. “Caroline sent me with these,” she said, setting the plate in the middle of Eugenie’s desk.

“Wonderful,” Eugenie exclaimed. She peeked under the napkin and then lifted her gaze to Maggie. “Sourdough biscuits?”

She nodded. “With lemon curd.”

“I’m going to put the water on,” Eugenie said. “You’ll join us?” she asked Maggie over her shoulder as she went to fill her kettle.

“I would love to,” Maggie said. She smiled at me. There was a smudge of rust-colored paint on her left cheek. “I saw Peggy. She told me how much help you were to her.”

“All I did was give her some basic information,” I said. “She’s going to do a good job because of the kind of person she is. Adding her to the show was a good decision on Elias’s part.”

“Do you think Ruby had anything to do with Peggy getting the job?” Maggie asked.

“Ruby had everything to do with her getting it,” Eugenie said, coming back in with the kettle. “We needed another judge if the show was going to continue. Ruby suggested Marguerite—I mean Peggy.” She plugged in the kettle and set it on top of the bookcase. “That piece of information came right from the horse’s mouth, Elias being the horse, so to speak.”

“It was a good idea no matter whose suggestion it was,” I said. I gathered my notes into a pile and set them to one side.

“There isn’t any problem with the show continuing, is there?” Maggie asked.

“I don’t think so,” Eugenie said, reaching for a metal canister on the middle shelf of the bookcase. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I saw Elias leave about half an hour ago. He looked preoccupied. He didn’t speak to anyone. His energy felt off. Usually he comes in to say hello and to see what we’re all working on but this time he didn’t.”

“As my mother used to say, Elias has a lot of irons in the fire.” Eugenie dropped four teabags into her squat teapot. “I’m sure there’s no problem with the show.”

There was no problem with the show but there was a problem for Elias. Late in the day, Marcus arrested him for the murder of Kassie Tremayne.

Ruby arrived just as we were finishing the form at the end of tai chi. Her orchid-colored hair was disheveled, she was pale and she kept picking at the front of her sweater as she stood just inside the door waiting for us to finish. As soon as we were done she came across the floor.

“Kathleen, did you know Marcus arrested Elias?”

“What?” Maggie said, her green eyes narrowing.

Ruby nodded. “Just a little while ago.”

I put a hand on her shoulder. “I didn’t know, but my phone is in my bag so he probably left me a message.”

“This is some kind of stupid mistake. Elias couldn’t kill anyone. I know people think he’s some kind of thug because he worked for my grandfather a million years ago, but he’s not that kind of person. He’s filming the Baking Showdown here and he didn’t have to do that, but he did because he cares about this town.”

Maggie put an arm around Ruby’s shoulders. “Take a breath,” she said.

Ruby pressed the heel of her hand hard against her breastbone and took a couple of deep breaths.

Ruby and Marcus had clashed during the investigation into Agatha Shepherd’s death. It had taken her a long time to rebuild a friendship with him. Now it looked like all that work had been destroyed.

“First of all, Elias is a very smart man,” I said, “with an accomplished team of lawyers. They will have him out on bail in no time. Second, you know Marcus is a good detective and more importantly a good man.” I kept my eyes locked on hers until I saw an almost imperceptible nod. “Just because Elias—or anyone for that matter—has been arrested doesn’t mean he’s going to stop digging until he has incontrovertible proof of who killed Kassie.” What I didn’t say was that Marcus wouldn’t have arrested Elias in the first place if he didn’t have evidence that implicated the man.

“Find out who did it,” Ruby said.

“Elias’s lawyers have investigators who are probably already looking into the case.”

“I trust you.”

I pulled a hand over my neck. It was clammy with sweat. “I can’t do anything they won’t be doing, that the police won’t be doing,” I said.

Ruby’s eyes stayed locked on mine. “Please, Kathleen,” she said.

I thought about what a good friend she’d always been. I thought about how when it came to families I had won the life lottery no matter how crazy mine made me sometimes, and how Ruby hadn’t. Elias was Ruby’s family. Ruby was my friend. If the enemy of my enemy is my friend, what did that make the friend of my friend?

I took a breath and let it out slowly. “All right,” I said.

Ruby pressed her lips together and nodded. It was the closest I had ever seen her come to crying. She took a couple more deep breaths. “I have to go,” she said. “Thank you.”

Maggie gave her a quick hug and she was gone. We walked over to the tea table together.

“What did I just do?” I said.

She smiled. “You said you’d help a friend.”

I hoped it wasn’t a bad idea.

“He knew, didn’t he?” Maggie said as she leaned over to plug in the kettle for tea. “That’s why Elias seemed so off this afternoon.”

“Probably,” I said. I pulled the elastic off my ponytail and shook out my hair.

“Do you think he killed Kassie?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No, I don’t. Elias Braeden is too shrewd a businessman to have killed Kassie by suffocating her in a bowl of whipped cream. That makes no sense to me.” On the other hand, why had Marcus arrested him? “I need to check my phone and I need to go home and have a shower,” I said.

Maggie gave me a hug. “Call me if I can help. I’ll hold a good thought that the universe will work things out.”

I changed my shoes, grabbed my hoodie and headed down the stairs. I waited until I was in the truck before I checked my voice mail. As I’d expected, there was a message from Marcus.

“Hi, it’s me,” he said. “I wanted to be the first to tell you that we arrested Elias Braeden. I know Ruby is going to be upset but there’s evidence that he’s our killer and the prosecutor doesn’t want to wait.” I heard him turn away from the phone and speak to someone. Then he was back. “I have to go. I’ll try to call you when you’re done with class.”

I put the phone back in my bag and drove home. There was a welcoming party of two in the kitchen. I put my phone on the table, hung up my tai chi bag and went to the refrigerator for the milk. I filled a mug and put it in the microwave. Then I stuck a slice of Rebecca’s bread in the toaster and got the peanut butter, hot chocolate mix and marshmallows from the cupboard. Hot chocolate and peanut butter toast were my version of comfort food.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Owen and Hercules exchange a look. “Marcus arrested Elias Braeden,” I said. “Ruby is upset.”

“Merow,” Hercules said. His right ear twitched. He liked Ruby. So did Owen.

The microwave beeped. I made my hot chocolate, added three marshmallows and took a drink. I set the cup on the table and got two stinky crackers for Hercules and two for Owen—their version of comfort food.

Once the toast was made I sat at the table. Hercules lifted his head and eyed my messenger bag, which was hanging from the back of one of the chairs. Then he looked at me. “Yes, we’re going to help her,” I said, pulling my toast into two pieces. “But first I have to talk to Marcus.” Would he even tell me what evidence he had?

My cell phone warbled. Owen raised his head then, looked at me and meowed loudly. “Yes, I know it’s the phone,” I said, reaching across the table to grab it.

Owen dropped his head again, muttering almost under his breath as though he was saying, “I was only trying to help.”

It was Marcus. “I’m sorry I missed you earlier. I wanted to talk to you before you left for tai chi but the time got away from me.”

“It’s okay,” I said.

“I’m guessing you saw Ruby at class.” It wasn’t really a question.

I pulled one foot up onto my chair so I could prop my chin on my knee. “I did. She’s very upset.”

I heard him exhale. “Believe me, I get that,” he said. “I didn’t want to arrest Braeden. But I have to go where the evidence points. The prosecutor was ready to charge him.”

“It’s your job,” I said. “And I know you wouldn’t have done it if there wasn’t some kind of proof.”

Marcus lowered his voice. “His fingerprints were on the table.”

“Everyone’s fingerprints are probably on that table,” I said. “Including mine.”

“His were the only fingerprints on it other than Kassie Tremayne’s.”

I pushed my bangs off my forehead. “That doesn’t make sense. Everyone has been in that kitchen touching things.”

“It makes sense when you know that your friend Russell is a bit of a clean freak. After he made his little bowl of whipped cream he cleaned up after himself. I’m serious, Kathleen. The guy has some sort of obsession with clean kitchens. I think he scrubbed down every flat surface in there.”

“Okay, just because Elias’s fingerprints were on the table doesn’t mean he killed Kassie. He could have just gone into the kitchen looking for someone or to get a cup of coffee.” I felt compelled to be the counterpoint to Marcus’s evidence.

“His were the only other fingerprints. And it’s not like we had a long list of suspects. We eliminated the crew pretty quickly aside from one guy who couldn’t tell us where he was because he was so drunk he has no idea. Rebecca has an alibi as well, not that she was ever really a suspect.”

“Oh,” I said. I wasn’t sure what counterargument to make against all of that. “But you didn’t arrest him just because of those fingerprints.”

I guessed that he was rubbing the space between his eyebrows or swiping a hand over his stubbled chin right about now. “Elias was in the building.”

“But I don’t remember seeing his name in the book when I signed in. And why didn’t he come when I was yelling for help?” Both Hercules and Owen seemed to be listening to my side of the conversation.

“That’s because Braeden let himself into the building via another door, which was supposed to be locked.”

“Okay, that’s not good,” I said.

“No, it isn’t, and then add in the fact that Braeden told more than one person how much he regretted hiring Kassie Tremayne but that he was stuck with her now . . .” He let the end of the sentence trail off.

I could see why the prosecutor had pushed for an arrest. There was more than enough evidence to take to court.

“Look, I’m still asking questions. The investigation isn’t over yet. There are things we’ve discovered that I don’t even know whether they’re important.”

“Like,” I said. I wasn’t sure he’d tell me.

“Like she changed her name,” Marcus said. “Kassie Tremayne was Kelly-Anne Sullivan, daughter of Sean Sullivan, a politician and businessman with some dubious connections. He’s a boxing promoter and he owns a gym in Chicago among other things. His nickname for his daughter was Kassie from her initials, K, A, S. She wanted to distance herself from her father, but not too far, it seems.”

Marcus had said he had to go where the evidence points. And that the investigation was continuing. He hadn’t said he thought Elias Braeden was guilty.

“Do you think the name change is important?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Probably not. I do know that Sean Sullivan and Elias Braeden are acquainted with each other.”

“So maybe Elias was doing Kassie’s father a favor by hiring her.”

“Maybe.”

I heard a squeak, which told me Marcus was sitting at his desk. No matter what he’d tried he couldn’t seem to get his desk chair to stop squeaking.

“I am sorry Ruby is caught up in all of this.”

He couldn’t see me, but I nodded just the same. “Me too.”

“Before I forget, have you seen that key-chain knife I have?” Marcus asked. “I kept it in the car and now I can’t find it anywhere.”

He’d found the key-chain knife at a flea market in Red Wing. The tiny folding knife, shaped like a house key, had a very sharp blade and had been useful on occasion.

“I haven’t seen it,” I said, “but I’ll look around here.”

“I probably stuck it in a drawer somewhere at home. I’m getting forgetful in my old age.” Again, he turned away from the phone to speak to someone. “I have to go,” he said when he came back. “Be careful, and if you find out anything, promise you’ll let me know.”

Marcus knew I was going to try to figure out whether Elias was guilty or if someone else had killed Kassie, I realized. “Promise,” I said. “I love you.”

“You too,” he said and I could hear the smile in his voice.

I ended the call and set the phone back on the table.

I looked down at my two furry cohorts. It was time to get started.