A Paw-sible Theory

“If man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.”

––Mark Twain

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: A Shopping Trip Remembered

I worried about Alyx, and I visited as often as possible, and so far, I’d missed detection. I was there early Wednesday morning when the nurse checking her vital signs woke her up.

“How are you feeling this morning?”

“I feel fine, but I’m a little hungry.”

“Sorry, breakfast won’t be served for a while; let me see if I can find something for you.” Sara, the nurse, smiled and said she would be right back.

On my previous visits, I had observed that Alyx did her best to be a model patient, cooperating with the staff, doing what they said without argument and had earned a good reputation among the staff.

Although everyone was kind to her, Nurse Sara Jones, a pleasant-looking woman about ten years older than Alyx, was especially so. Sara told her that having raised two children on her own, she understood a mother’s emotional investment in her children. She told Alyx that she knew Ethan had been charged with attempted murder and she could imagine just how she’d feel if that had been one of her children in jail––guilty or not. Sara was back a few minutes later with a glass of orange juice and a package of saltine crackers. Seeing the crackers must have reminded Alyx of something. She immediately called David Hunter and left a message that she needed to speak to him as soon as possible.

A short time later that morning, Hunter’s assistant, Dorinda, returned her call to let her know that Hunter had her message and that he would be in to see her before nine. In the meantime, Alyx flipped through all the reading material that Maggie had brought for her but not even her favorite mystery writer’s new book could hold her interest for more than a few minutes. She put the book down and looked up expectantly when she heard someone come in.

“Dr. Casey will be in to talk to you when he makes his rounds later today, but I thought you’d be happy to know, he’s going to let you go home tomorrow,” Sara announced cheerfully.

“You don’t know how happy I am to hear that.”

“Yes, I do, sweetie,” Sara said fluffing up her pillow. “I’m going home soon and I won’t be on duty for the next two days. I just want to wish you and your son the best. I hope things work out for him. I’ve seen him at your side; I’ve heard him talking to you, and I don’t believe he’s guilty.”

“Thank you for that, and for everything. When all this is over, Sara, please stop by Antiques & Designs and I’ll treat you to coffee and the best homemade muffins in the city from the Ocean Street Café.”

“You can count on it, if you’ll make the coffee, green tea.”

“You got it!”

Later, after she was back from her mid-morning stroll down the hospital corridors, Alyx had just slipped under the covers when David Hunter finally walked in. I, of course, was at my guard position behind the screen. Alyx visually relaxed when Hunter entered the hospital room. I don’t know what that was all about, but whatever it was, she was glad to see him.

“Good morning, Alyx. How are you?”

“I feel fine now that the headaches have lessened. I’ve been allowed to walk around and I just learned I’ll be released tomorrow.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” He took a small notebook from his briefcase, and pulled up a chair next to her.

“Thank you for coming so quickly. I was anxious to tell you about my purse being stolen recently.”

“Actually,” said Hunter, “Ethan told me about it and I had planned on coming to see you anyway. He said someone took your purse from your shopping cart at the grocery store and returned it within the hour with nothing missing. No one saw who took it or who returned it. Do you have anything to add to that?”

“It happened on a Saturday about three weeks ago; I don’t know the date…as Ethan said, my purse was stolen from my grocery cart and returned within the hour, with nothing missing––not even the bills I had in the wallet. I thought it strange that someone would steal it and then return it with money and credit cards still there.”

Hunter agreed.

“I don’t usually put my purse in the cart while shopping, but the wheat crackers I wanted were on the top shelf and out of my reach. I put my purse in the cart so I could balance myself better as I stepped on the bottom shelf and reached up. When I put the box in the cart, I noticed my purse was gone.”

“Did you see anyone walking away?”

“Yes; there were several people pushing their carts down the aisle; but no, I didn’t see anyone carrying my purse or anyone who looked suspicious. That’s pretty much it, except, it was obvious someone had looked at everything in my purse, especially my wallet. I found things in different places than they had been.”

“What kind of information did they have access to?”

“Literally, my life!”

David raised a questioning eyebrow, “How do you mean?”

“My driver’s license, credit cards, debit, and ATM cards were in my purse. My checkbook was in it, as well as my house and car keys. Because my business cards were also in my purse, they would know about that part of my life too.”

“What did you do to protect yourself from identity theft?”

“I reported the theft to the police and made calls to have my accounts closed and new cards issued. I called Ethan to bring a spare set of keys and asked him to replace the lock on the front door.”

“Did he change the lock?”

“No; I told him not to bother, because right after I got home, the grocery store called to tell me that someone had found my purse. Since whoever took it, returned it within the hour with nothing missing I didn’t think it was necessary.”

“Did the store get the name of the person who turned it in?”

“The store manager said it just appeared on the Customer Service counter; the clerk behind the counter didn’t see anyone put it down.”

“Whoever took your purse could have had another key made during that hour that it was missing.”

“At the time, I thought whoever took it had a change of heart and decided to return it.”

“And now?”

“Now I’m not sure. You think someone had a key made and tried to rob me Saturday morning?”

“That may have been the original intent of the thief, but it seems unlikely that he/they would have tried to rob you in broad daylight, key or no key…I’m going to look further into this, and I’ll call you if I need any more information. In the meantime, I strongly suggest you have the lock changed immediately, before you go home, in fact.”

“I like to believe the best of people, but I know there are criminals out there. I’ll ask Maggie to take care of that.”

“Good.” He reviewed his notes once more. “There is just one more thing that needs clearing up. Do you remember specifically locking both locks on your door when you retrieved your paper Saturday morning?”

She bit her lower lip, deep in concentration. “I don’t remember. I’m in the habit of always locking the door when I’m home, but I don’t remember specifically if I locked either lock, or any for that matter. I’m sorry.”

It sounded like David Hunter was out of questions. He put his notebook away, and stood to leave. “I’m meeting with a private investigator I use for tough cases, and I’ll have him look into this also. I’ll be in my office for the next couple of hours if you have anything else.”