A Case Of Cat And Mouse

chapter 19

Maybe I could bluff.

“Kate, you scared me,” I said. “Could you put that down, please?”

She smiled but there was nothing warm about it. “Seeing as how I’m planning on shooting you, no, I can’t,” she said. She held out her free hand. “Give me your phone.”

Bluffing wasn’t going to work.

I handed her my cell. She turned it off and put it in her pocket.

I glanced over my shoulder. The stairs were half a hall away. “Harry will hear you if you shoot me.”

“I’m not going to shoot you here,” she said. “C’mon, I’m smarter than that. After all, I killed Kassie and no one figured out it was me—well, except for you.” She was wearing another of her long loose sweaters and her free arm hugged her midsection. “Besides, at this time of night Harry will have closed the doors at the bottom of the stairs. They’re fire doors. You could kill someone up here and no one would hear a thing. Ask me how I know.”

“You found out that Kassie was connected to the woman who owned the skincare company that made the mask you had the allergic reaction to,” I said.

“Monique Le Clair. They’d been friends since high school. Kassie told my lawyer that she had no idea where Monique was, but I knew that was a lie.”

“That morning when you were all filming the promo on the set and Kassie was on Caroline about being a helicopter parent, she mentioned Saint Barthélemy. You finally knew where Monique Le Clair was.”

“Eugenie showed you the video this morning. I walked past the door. Neither one of you noticed me.” Her eyes narrowed. “How did you figure it out? I knew it was just a matter of time before you did, but what gave me away?”

My mouth was dry. “The glass jar you dropped.” Maybe if I kept her talking Harry would wonder what was taking me so long.

Kate frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“I kept thinking about what happened. Caroline upended the bowl over Kassie’s head; the jar slipped out of your hands; Ray pulled a pot off his stove and bolted toward Caroline. I was replaying it over and over in my head and I realized that the sound of the jar hitting the floor came just a fraction of a second before Caroline tipped over that bowl. It was like a storm. You always see the lightning before you hear the thunder because light travels faster than sound.”

“She said, ‘No harm was done,’” Kate said. “She was the one who suggested putting chemicals in what was supposed to be a natural product. Kassie and her friend ruined my life and it was like it was nothing. And she was trying to do it again. She was trying to undermine me on the show, for no good reason, just because she liked to stir up trouble.”

“The show was your way to get close to Kassie. To find out what she knew. You paid Dorrie Park to drop out of the qualifying competition so you’d be in the top three.”

Kate gave a sigh of exasperation. “And she just had to go to Paris and put a whole bunch of photos online. What is wrong with people?” She gestured with the gun and I put my free arm protectively around Hercules as if it could somehow stop a bullet.

Kate noticed the gesture. “I won’t hurt him.” She seemed almost offended. “I’m not a monster. Kassie was the monster.”

“Why didn’t you tell Elias, tell everyone?”

She gave a snort of derision. “Like that would do a lot of good. Elias wouldn’t have done a thing. Do you know what Kassie’s real name is? Do you know who her father is?”

I nodded. “I do.”

“Then you know telling Elias, telling everyone, would have been a waste of time. It’s not like I had any actual proof.”

I glanced over my shoulder again.

“Mr. Taylor isn’t coming to rescue you,” she said. “And as far as he’s concerned I left a little while ago. I was on the sidewalk when you got here. I had a feeling you’d figured everything out so I came back.”

“How did you get back in the building just now without Harry seeing you?” I asked. At some point soon Harry had to wonder why I hadn’t come back out.

Kate smiled again. “There’s an alarm on the other door now. But not on the windows. Sloppy, don’t you think?”

The only thing I could think of was to keep her talking. Maybe she’d have second thoughts about killing me if she had some time to think about what she was planning on doing. “So what happened the night Kassie died?” I said. “I know you’d taken her phone earlier in the day and then pretended to find it.”

“Oh, so we’re going to do the Miss Marple thing.” Kate looked around. “Well, it’s not an English country manor house but this will have to do. Yes, I borrowed her phone. There wasn’t anything useful on it.”

“But that’s how you knew Kassie had a son.”

“I knew that was a mistake as soon as I spoke.”

“You went down to Eric’s with everyone else.” I glanced at the nearest office door. What were the chances it would be unlocked?

“Yes. Then I walked back because I didn’t feel like socializing. The thing is, when you’re quiet, people don’t notice when you’re gone.”

“Why did you come back here? Why didn’t you just go back to where you’re staying?”

She brushed a stray wisp of hair off of her face. “Because I wanted to bake. It’s what I do when things or people make me feel crazy. And by the way, I’m not crazy.”

“I know that,” I said. “You’re smart. You can think on your feet. So why did you come here to cook?”

She held up her free hand. “Because the oven in my apartment isn’t working right. You know, if it had been, I would have just gone home and Kassie might be alive now. Imagine that.” She studied my face for a moment. “How does that saying go? ‘For want of a nail the shoe was lost?’”

“For want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of the shoe, the horse was lost; for want of the horse, the rider was lost; for want of the rider, the battle was lost; for want of the battle, the kingdom was lost; and all from the want of a horseshoe nail.”

She nodded. “That’s it. Benjamin Franklin?”

“He often gets the credit,” I said, “but there are variations of the words in both German and French literature that go back hundred of years before him.”

“I knew you would know that.” Kate smiled. “For want of an oven a life was lost.”

Something was broken inside her.

I shifted Hercules from one arm to the other. His head was cocked to one side now and he seemed to be listening to every word Kate said. “One thing I couldn’t figure out was how did you get in that night? I knew there was some confusion when everyone left at the same time and Zach wasn’t good at keeping track of people. But how did you get past him the second time?”

“Did you know Elias has a master key so he can use that other door?”

I nodded.

She shrugged. “He should have taken better care of it. Anyone could have copied it.”

“Why didn’t you show up on the security footage the way Elias did?”

She answered my question with a question. “Did you know there’s a basement door into this building? No cameras there. Not then, anyway.”

“Somehow you drugged Kassie.” It was a detail I hadn’t been able to figure out.

“No, I didn’t,” Kate said. “Not on purpose.” Anger flashed in her eyes and the gun jerked in her hand. “Not on purpose. I’d start shaking whenever I thought about what Kassie had done to me. When Stacey first gave me those pills I . . . I didn’t want to take them, but I didn’t think I would ever be able to stop the shaking if I didn’t.”

Her hand was starting to tremble a little now. Even though she was holding a gun on me, even though she wanted to kill me, part of me just wanted to wrap my arms around her.

“So what happened?” I asked. “How did Kassie end up taking them?”

“I don’t like to swallow pills so I made hot chocolate and I put them in it. Then I realized I’d left my bag in the washroom. I went to get it and when I came back Kassie had my drink. She thought everything was hers. I guess she didn’t have the same tolerance for that kind of medication as I do.”

I shook my head. “I would have been so angry at her.”

She nodded in agreement. “See, you get it, don’t you? I told her what she’d done to me. How she ruined my life. Those pills, they were making her sleepy, but she was the same as she always was. She didn’t care. She didn’t care about anyone but herself.”

Hercules leaned his head against my chin. I reminded myself we’d been in worse situations—or close to it. Somehow I was going to figure something out.

“Do you know what Kassie said?” Kate asked. “She said I didn’t have what it takes to be a model unless maybe it was walking a runway at the mall. And then she said I was going to be eliminated in the next episode of the show. I said she couldn’t do that but I knew she could. She was slurring her words by then and she started to slump forward. She was next to the table and there was a bowl of whipped cream on it. I don’t even know where it came from. It was so easy to just put my hand on the back of her head and hold it down. She didn’t even struggle.” She tugged the front of her sweater a little closer around her body.

Hercules gave a soft mrrr.

“I took the cup with me and I smashed it later and put the pieces in the garbage. Then I just started walking. What had happened didn’t even seem real. So I pretended that it wasn’t.”

“And then you happened to come across Caroline.”

Kate nodded. “I was just walking. I wasn’t pay attention to where I was going. When I met Caroline I knew where she’d come from. I realized Caroline wanted it to seem like we’d been together and so I just went along with it. I put Kassie and all the bad stuff out of my head the way I always do.”

She took a step toward me and she smiled at Hercules. “I like your cat,” she said. “Maybe I could keep him when you’re gone.”

She reached out to take him and the gun dipped toward the floor. I started to tell her not to, but the words died on my lips.

Hercules yowled and slashed one paw at Kate. His claws caught the back of her hand and drew blood.

She yelped, grabbed her hand, and the gun hit the floor, skittering along the tile.

Hercules launched himself out of my arms.

“Run!” I yelled and we both bolted down the corridor and around the corner. We made it out to the main hallway and I realized the mistake I’d made. I should have gone the other way, past Kate, toward Harry and safety.

It was too late now. I pulled an office door a tiny bit ajar and hoped that would distract Kate for a few seconds.

Hercules was all the way at the end of the hallway. I could just barely make him out. We needed to get to the other set of doors, the one with the alarm. I realized the best way to do that was to go through the kitchen. I could feel my way there in the almost total darkness.

I felt my way past more offices, all of them locked. We made it to the kitchen and I worked my way around the room. The door that led to the back corridor that would take me to the main doors was blocked—probably for security reasons.

Hercules rubbed against my ankle. I knew Kate wasn’t very far behind us. We had to find somewhere to hide.

I pictured the layout of the kitchen There was a closet on the left side of the room. It was filled with supplies like birthday candles, muffin cups and parchment paper but it was too small for me to fit inside. So was the pantry cupboard stacked with flour and sugar and other supplies at the other end of the long counter.

I felt a bubble of panic expanding in my chest. Standing in the middle of the room the way I was made me an easy target.

I bent down and picked up Hercules. He nuzzled my neck. I looked around. I could just make out the table where I’d found Kassie’s body. A stack of what looked to be folded tablecloths was at one end. Part of the table extended into a small alcove. It was better than nothing. At least I’d be out of sight when Kate opened the door. I scrambled onto the table and pressed myself into the back corner.

I knew Kate was coming. I could hear her opening office doors. She was methodical, careful. That bought me a little time.

What I needed was a distraction, something else like Hercules attacking so we could run back the way we came in. What my mother, when she was on stage, called smoke and mirrors.

There was a recycling bin next to me, pushed against the end wall of the alcove.

Smoke and mirrors.

I had an idea. I felt around inside the plastic bin and found a glass mayonnaise jar. That would work. I patted my pocket. I still had Marcus’s gum along with his lighter. I set Hercules on the table. “Stay here,” I whispered. I slid along the tabletop, leaned over and managed, somehow, to open the pantry door and grab the side of a bag of flour. At least that’s what I hoped it was. I teetered on the edge of the table and almost lost my grip on the bag. I stuck my foot out to brace myself against the counter but I’d misjudged where I was and instead I hit the edge of the bottom cupboard. My foot turned in and a sharp pain sliced through my ankle. I bit down hard on my tongue to keep from making any noise. Somehow I managed to roll onto my side still clutching the flour, then righted myself and crawled back to my corner.

I tried to breathe through the pain. I kept one arm hooked around the bag of flour. This wasn’t good.

Hercules crawled onto my lap.

I still needed one more thing. I should have climbed down and gotten the flour. I should have slipped over to the other cupboard first. I swiped a hand over my face. I wasn’t going to give up now.

“I need you to get me a birthday candle,” I whispered to Hercules. “They’re in the other closet.”

Did he know what a birthday candle was? I was certain he knew what birthday cake was. I reminded myself that Hercules was smart, smarter than the average cat because he wasn’t an average cat. I set him on the table beside me. He jumped silently to the floor.

I fished a piece of gum out of my pocket and started chewing. I wasn’t going to think about the possibility that this wasn’t going to work. I also had Marcus’s tiny key-chain knife in my pocket. I used it to open the top of the flour and make a slit about a third of the way down the front of the bag. As soon as I picked it up the flour would go everywhere. Which was exactly what I wanted.

Flour and some other carbohydrates can explode if they’re hanging in the air as dust. All I needed to do was ignite that dust and I should be able to make enough of an explosion to distract and maybe momentarily blind Kate.

I felt Hercules land on the table beside me. He bumped my arm with his head and spit two small birthday candles into my lap. I pressed my face next to his. “Good job,” I whispered.

I managed to reach the stack of tablecloths. I pulled one off the top of the pile. Then I got to work.

I used the gum to fix the birthday candle inside the jar. The flour, which was a special organic brand, had a foil liner between the two layers of the bag. I’d noticed that when Rebecca was using it. I tore off enough to cover the top of the jar. I figured I had maybe fifteen seconds maximum after I covered the opening to throw the jar and have it break before the candle went out. I lit it now with the stolen lighter and hid the jar by my leg. The pain in my ankle had subsided to a steady throbbing ache. As long as it would hold me we were good.

I held Hercules with one arm and arranged the tablecloth over the two of us. I gripped the flour sack with my other arm. I let my legs hang over the edge of the table and I waited. I didn’t have to wait long.

I’d estimated that I had less than ten seconds for Kate to find the light switch. I hoped it was enough time.

She stepped into the kitchen and I swung the flour bag in a huge, satisfying arc, sending flour everywhere. It hung like a cloud of dust in the air. I jammed the scrap of foil on the jar and threw it toward the flour cloud with every ounce of strength I had.

Kate yelled something. The jar smashed on the floor. There was a second’s pause, maybe less than that, and the flour ignited and exploded.

I jumped from the table, sucking in a breath as my foot hit the floor. I pulled the linen cloth further over my head and ran through the sparks to the door. I dropped the tablecloth in the hall and kept moving. Pain shot up my leg with every step but I kept on going.

I ran headlong into Harry as I came around the last corner. He caught me by the shoulders. His ball cap was skewed sideways and I could see the concern etched in the lines on his face.

“We have to get out of here,” I said. For all I knew, Kate and her gun could be right behind me.

I took one limping step and Harry put his arm around my shoulders. I leaned against him and he half dragged me down the corridor and down the stairs.

“What happened?” he said.

Police cars with sirens screaming and lights flashing were pulling into the lot as we came out the door. We were safe.

“I made a bomb,” I said.

Marcus skidded to a stop right in front of us. I set Hercules on the hood of his SUV and leaned against the front bumper to catch my breath. Marcus got out of the car, leaving the driver’s door wide open.

“Are you all right?” he said.

I nodded. “Yes.”

Hercules meowed loudly.

“Him too,” I said.

Marcus shifted his gaze to Harry. “What about you?”

“I’m fine,” Harry said. His eyes flicked to me and his head bent slightly in my direction. “I think she may have hit her head. She said she made a bomb.”

“Kate killed Kassie,” I said. Hercules was leaning against me and I put my arm around him.

“I know,” Marcus said. He gestured to a couple of police officers and they made their way into the building. He put a hand on my shoulder. “Elias figured out that she had to have copied his key. He got here early this morning and she was in the kitchen. He called me. Then Maggie called and said you hadn’t shown up for tai chi. I listened to your message and I was worried. Right after that Abigail called to say you didn’t make it to the library, either. When she told me where you were I knew you were in trouble.”

I held up my free hand. “How did she know where I was?”

“She heard Russell Perry talking to you.”

He reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “What happened?”

“Kate had a gun,” I said. “She tried to kill us but Hercules and I made a flour bomb.”

The cat meowed his acknowledgment.

Marcus frowned. “You know how to make a bomb?”

“I’m a librarian,” I said. “I know all sorts of things.”