Deadly Diamond

“If a cat does something, we call it instinct; if we do the same thing, for the same reason, we call it intelligence.”

––Will Cuppy

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE: The Cat Genius

Alyx left with Hunter for a late breakfast. Trying to catch up on some of the sleep I’d missed, I lay flat on my back, feet up in the air in my favorite chair while my housemates paced the perimeter of the room, eager to discuss the events of the previous night. I reluctantly gave up my quest for sleep, stretched my sore body, and faced my inquisitors.

I explained that Carole Berth’s husband, Michael, had confessed to killing Althea, and also to trying to kill Alyx, who’d been on the right track from the beginning.

Michael was having financial problems worse than his wife knew. He and his son went to Althea to ask for help, but she refused because she thought he’d tried to talk Carole into declaring her incompetent and put her away in a nursing home and take control of her money. His frustration led to rage and he killed her.

At first, Carole didn’t know who killed Althea; the night of the murder, her husband and son were supposed to have gone to a basketball game. She became suspicious when Smarts questioned her about the pill case. Then, she questioned her son and he confessed that the pill case had broken off when his father was struggling with Althea. Carole and her son searched the condominium one last time before the estate sale. Her son was looking for the pill case, and Carole was looking for another will or codicil leaving the money to Althea’s son, Jonathan, intending to destroy it, if she found it.

Michael never wanted to kill Alyx, but when she showed up in Umatilla asking leading questions, he knew that it was only a matter of time before she figured everything out. He followed her to the train station to convince her of the danger she faced.

He was also the one who broke-into the store in an effort to throw suspicion on Jonathan Steele. Michael Berth sells and installs security systems, so getting into the store was no problem. He intended to push the theory that Steele believed Althea had made another will, leaving everything to him and he was looking for that will.

Misty didn’t consider that smart thinking on Michael’s part, and she had a good point. How would Jonathan Steele know what furniture was Althea’s anyway? The only answer I could give her was that desperate men don’t think smart, and consequently do desperate things. In this case, however, all of Althea’s things were marked ‘Burns Estate’ and mostly, all in one place, but no one knew that.

Pooky questioned how I knew that’s what happened. I could have said that according to my mother, I’m not an ordinary tabby and the M on my forehead is the proof. A simpler truth is that I’m pretty good at processing information. Misty wondered if that meant I was a genius cat.

I don’t know the answer to that question and that makes it an excellent question. I venture to say that all animals possess some level of intelligence––humans call it instinct. Some humans agree with my observation and they will probably one day design an IQ test that is not human-centric and appropriate for animals in scope and scale according to their species. Maybe then, the age-old question of who’s more intelligent––a cat or a dog––now based on the number of words they recognize, will be forever settled.

In the small hours of the morning, I made my last trip to the abandoned shed. If Simon thought the group of about thirty cats would intimidate or persuade me to leave with them, he was wrong on both counts. I was right about his fake altruism––he was forming his own clowder, had heard about my tactical fighting prowess, and wanted me to help him conquer other clowders and territory.

I made it clear that I was living out my life with Alyx, to comfort her and protect her and those she loved, and, if possible, I intended to do it to the best of my ability.

Simon and I are bound to meet again someday, maybe under different circumstances. But that will probably be the last life for one of us.

THE END