Claws For Concern

THIRTY-THREE

While Jack and I waited for a response to my question, I could hear Diesel in the car meowing loudly and scratching at the window. Elizabeth Barber, her hands now over her face, continued to cry.

Since Diesel sounded more frantic as the seconds ticked by, I opened the door and let him out. He meowed again and climbed onto Elizabeth’s legs and butted his head against her hands. Obviously startled by the sudden weight on her legs and the pressure against her hands, she let her arms fall. Diesel butted his head against her chin. Elizabeth wrapped her arms around my cat and buried her face in the side of his neck.

Jack and I watched as the cat’s ministrations proved effective in calming the distressed woman. We waited as the sobs diminished in volume and Elizabeth’s breathing appeared to be normal again.

An unfamiliar voice from behind me startled me. “What’s going on here? Liz, honey, are you all right?”

A small woman, no more than five feet tall and whippet thin, pushed by me to get closer to Elizabeth. “Is something wrong with the cat? I got worried when you didn’t come back.”

“I’m okay, Louann.” Elizabeth raised her head from Diesel’s neck. Her reddened eyes and tear-stained appearance apparently did little to reassure her coworker, however. Louann glared at Jack and me in turn.

“What did y’all do to her car? The damage must be really bad for her to carry on like this.”

“My car is fine,” Elizabeth said. “They brought me some bad news, that’s all.”

“Judging by the way you look, honey, it must be pretty dang bad news. Who’s that cat belong to?”

“He’s mine,” I said. “Come on, Diesel, let the lady get up now.”

Diesel warbled as if in protest. Elizabeth offered a watery smile as she stroked his head.

“It’s okay, Diesel,” she said softly. “I’m okay.”

The cat meowed and climbed off her legs. He moved next to me, and I stroked his head. Elizabeth slowly raised herself off the pavement. Jack extended a hand to help her, but she ignored it.

“You come on back in the clinic,” Louann said. “Wash your face and have something to drink. Your makeup’s all streaky.”

“Thanks, but I’ll be fine,” Elizabeth said. “You go on back, Louann, and I’ll be there in a minute. Go on now, I mean it.”

Louann shot hard glances at Jack and me before she moved away, but she headed back to the clinic after one more plea to Elizabeth to come back inside. Elizabeth ignored her.

“You said Bill Delaney is in the hospital,” she said, addressing me. “How is he?”

“Not good,” I said. “His health was already bad, and that’s going to make it more difficult for him to recover from this. He’s in the ICU now.”

“I’m sorry he was hurt,” Elizabeth said.

She still hadn’t admitted that she was responsible. I thought we had shaken her enough that she would confess to it, but she was evidently made of sterner stuff than I expected.

“I’m sorry he’s in the hospital,” she said. “I hope he’s okay. There’s nothing I can do to help him. I really have to get back to work.” She made as if to push past me, but I didn’t budge.

“You do realize that we are going to have to tell the police that we have identified your SUV as the one that ran Bill Delaney down,” I said. “Don’t you have anything to say about that?”

“I’ll talk to the police if I have to,” Elizabeth said. “I don’t see that it’s any business of yours. I told you already that I wasn’t in Athena.”

“There were witnesses,” I said, “who saw the whole thing.”

That startled her. The mask of defiance slipped for a bare second but then was back.

“It’s nothing to do with me,” she said. “Whoever they saw that day, no one can prove it was me.”

“I guess you’ll just have to wait and see,” Jack said. “Several of the businesses around the square have security cameras, and some of them run twenty-four hours a day. I’d be willing to bet one of them caught the whole thing. Including the license plate of the SUV in question.”

I did my best to hide my surprise at Jack’s statement about the video cameras. As far as I knew, there were no such cameras around the square.

Jack’s bluff shook her. Her body stiffened at his words, but she didn’t reply to him. Instead, she pushed me out of the way and hurried back into the clinic.

“That was some performance,” Jack said. “Those tears may have fooled your cat, but they didn’t fool me. That woman is stone cold.”

“Maybe.” I wasn’t completely convinced that Elizabeth Barber’s display of emotion was totally calculated. Diesel responded to genuine emotion, not put-on feelings. He had seen Laura acting out tragic scenes from her favorite Shakespeare plays in my living room, and even as Juliet lay dying on my sofa, he didn’t budge an inch. At least some of what we saw Elizabeth Barber doing was genuine. Whether it was remorse, sympathy, or fear, I didn’t know. Perhaps it was a combination of all three.

“What now?” I asked.

Jack shrugged. “I think it’s time to go back to Elmer Lee and tell him everything we’ve heard. And especially about this SUV.” Jack tapped his knuckles against it. “I’m going to record the license plate.” He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

Diesel and I stood aside and let him get by to the rear of the SUV. He took a couple of pictures of the license plate. “Let’s have a look at the front. Which side hit Bill Delaney?”

“It would have been the passenger side.” I moved to the front of the SUV, and Diesel and Jack followed me. I bent to examine the front more closely. I couldn’t really see anything that indicated the vehicle had hit anyone. I moved aside to let Jack have a look.

He took my place and squatted to put himself at eye level with the bumper and the lights. I envied his knees the ability to do that without making noise. Mine creaked anytime I had to squat or get down on my hands and knees. Getting back up was also not pleasant.

Jack stayed in his squat for what seemed like several minutes. I was perspiring under the heat of the afternoon sun, and I knew Diesel must be getting uncomfortable. I put him back in the car where it was air-conditioned. I wanted badly to join him, but I would wait until Jack was finished.

Finally he stood. “Find anything?” I asked.

Jack shrugged. “I’m not sure. I think there may be some fibers snagged in the light surround, but it’s hard to tell without some kind of magnification. I’ll report it to Elmer Lee. It’ll be up to the Athena police, I guess, to have it examined.”

“If they’ll accept what we tell them. That reminds me, that bit about the video cameras around the square was a bluff, wasn’t it?”

“Mostly.” Jack grinned. “But you never know. Let’s head to the sheriff’s department. I’m about to burn up out here.”

Finally. I opened my door and slid into the wonderfully cool air. I wished I had a cloth of some kind to wipe my head with. The sweat would soon dry, however.

Before I drove away, I decided on impulse to call the hospital in Athena to check on Bill Delaney. I told Jack what I was going to do, and he nodded.

Within a minute I was connected to the nurses’ desk in the ICU, and I asked for an update on Delaney’s condition after identifying myself.

This time I was talking to a man who told me that Delaney’s condition had improved somewhat. He had rallied a bit and was alert and able to eat on his own. If he continued to improve they would be moving him out of the ICU later in the day, or by the next morning. I thanked the man for the update and ended the call.

I shared the information with Jack as we headed back to the sheriff’s department. On the way I was thinking about what I should do next. I decided I should go on home. Jack could easily handle the talk with the sheriff. I said as much to Jack.

“Sure,” he said. “In that case, head for the Kountry Kitchen. I can pick up my car and go to the sheriff’s department from there.”

Within a few minutes we reached the diner and I pulled into the parking lot behind Jack’s car. Before he got out I reminded him to take the folder of autopsy reports. I didn’t want to be tempted to look in the folder if I went home with them.

“I think we accomplished a lot today,” Jack said.

“Much more than I ever expected, frankly,” I replied.

“We’re getting close,” Jack said. “Keep me posted on Bill Delaney. Are you going to try to see him tonight?”

“I think I will,” I said. “I don’t want to risk causing a setback, though, so I’ll have to be careful.”

“I’ll let you know what Elmer Lee has to say,” Jack said.

“Please thank your wife for everything. It was a pleasure to meet her,” I said.

“Will do. She enjoyed meeting you and Diesel.” Jack opened the door and got out. He closed the door and bent to wave good-bye to Diesel. The cat meowed.

I decided to fill up the car before we left Tullahoma, and I found a gas station on the way. With the tank full, Diesel and I headed for home.

As I drove, I mulled over all that we had learned today. I tried to assimilate it all and put it into a plausible pattern. I came up with several scenarios, each of which might explain everything. The question was whether any of them contained the actual truth of what happened that night.

We made record time on the drive home, and I was surprised to see that it was only four thirty-three when we walked into the kitchen. Given all the activities of the day, I felt like it should be past my bedtime.

Azalea greeted us and asked how the day had gone. Before I could respond, Diesel started warbling and chirped, with a couple of meows thrown in. Azalea stared at his face in fascination, as if she understood every single sound.

“Is that so?” she said when Diesel finally stopped. He meowed once before he padded away in the direction of the utility room. Azalea looked at me. “I swear that cat thinks he’s a person like you and me.”

“I wouldn’t argue with you on that.” I chuckled. “I imagine what he was trying to tell you is that we had a pretty busy day. We talked to several different people today, and we learned a lot.”

“You reckon you got everything figured out now?” Azalea asked before she turned back to the stove. She stirred the contents of a pot that was emitting a tantalizing scent.

“In a way,” I said. “The problem is there are several potential answers, and I’m not sure which is the correct one. What is that you’re cooking?”

“The filling for a couple of pecan pies,” Azalea said. “Mr. Stewart’s been pestering me for one. Says he can’t make them like I do.”

“I don’t imagine anyone can.” I was never a huge fan of pecan pie until I tasted Azalea’s. She refused to divulge her secret recipe, however, despite all Stewart’s blandishments.

“What’s for dinner?” I asked.

“Roast beef,” she said. “Over there.” I followed the direction of her nod and saw the Crock-Pot on the counter. I sighed happily. Azalea made the most tender roast I’ve ever eaten. It would practically melt in your mouth.

“When will it be ready?” I asked.

“Around six,” she said. “I have to leave before then, but it’ll turn itself off. Stewart said he’ll whip up some mashed potatoes and gravy to go with it, and there’s a pot of green beans in the fridge that just needs warming up.”

“Sounds wonderful,” I said. “I’m going to the den for a while but I’ll see you before you go.”

She nodded, and I headed from the room.

A few minutes later I was comfortably settled on the sofa with my laptop and Diesel stretched out beside me. I opened my e-mail program and waited for it to load. My cell phone rang and I picked it up from the end table beside me. Jack Pemberton was calling.

“Hi, Jack,” I said. “How did it go with the sheriff?”

“It went fine,” Jack replied. “Look, I’m calling from my car. I’m tailing Elizabeth Barber, and she’s headed for Athena. I bet she’s planning to go to the hospital. She might be intending to make another attempt on Bill Delaney.”