Hooked On A Feline

chapter 14

I went back to the table to find that Maggie and Roma had given up trying to figure out who Zorro was and were now trying to pick a piece of music for Maggie to dance to if there was in fact another show.

“And I think you should give Sandra a call,” Roma was saying as I sat down again. “You could have a couple of lessons so you’d feel more comfortable onstage.”

After lunch we parted company on the sidewalk in front of the café. Maggie had a shift at the artists’ co-op store and Roma was on her way over to take lunch to Eddie. I hugged them both.

“You know, Sandra does take students for one-on-one lessons,” Roma teased. “I mean, if you happen to be interested.”

“You’re as persistent as Owen,” I said.

“Since I know the little furball, I’m going to take that as a compliment,” she said with a grin

“I don’t dance. I’ll hang posters. I’ll sell tickets. I’ll help make costumes. I’m not dancing.”

“Put her down as a maybe,” Maggie said. She grabbed Roma by the arm and pulled her down the sidewalk. I could hear them both laughing.

I was meeting Marcus at the bookstore in a little while. Mary had told him about a book on forgotten landmarks in the state that he wanted to get for his father. Since I knew Marcus should be there in less than half an hour, I decided to take a walk along the Riverwalk. It was too nice a day to go back to my office and do paperwork.

I hadn’t gone very far when I saw Johnny coming toward me. He smiled when he saw me. “I thought I was the only person who didn’t find it too warm to be out walking,” he said as we got closer to each other.

“The Riverwalk is one of my favorite places,” I said. “I did a lot of walking here when I first came to town. I’d go all the way to Wild Rose Bluff and back sometimes.”

“I’ve been walking down by the marina. Mike and I were working on a song and I keep going back there, hoping inspiration will hit so I can finish it.”

“I’m sure it will,” I said.

“I’m glad I saw you,” Johnny said. “I’m looking for some information on a former music academy in Red Wing. I’m hoping you might know of a reference book that could help.”

“You mean the property you tried to buy from Leitha.”

“Yes.” He looked a little surprised that I knew. “Kathleen, I’m angry about Mike’s death. So angry some days I could punch someone, which wouldn’t do me or anyone else any good. But I’m not sorry Leitha is dead and I won’t be a hypocrite and pretend I am now that it seems her death wasn’t an accident.”

“Leitha brought out strong feelings in a lot of people,” I said, matching his quiet tone.

“Very diplomatic,” he said.

“It doesn’t make the words any less true.”

“She was managing to estrange her whole family. Her daughter had very little to do with her. In fact she moved to the other side of the country. Lachlan avoided Leitha as much as he could and she and Mike were on the outs when she died but Mike didn’t even know what over. It’s hard to feel grief-stricken over someone who alienated so many people. Mike on the other hand, that wasn’t fair.”

I shook my head. “No, it wasn’t.”

I could hear my mother’s voice in my head saying, Life is not always fair, Katydid. Sometimes bad people win. Sometimes good people lose.

“She tried to sabotage your project.” We started walking back the way I’d just come.

“She went out of her way to try to make sure it didn’t happen. I offered her a good price for the property—ten percent over Everett’s offer and his was more than fair. But that wasn’t the only reason I didn’t like her,” he said. “I didn’t like the way she was always trying to interfere in Lachlan’s life. He’s a good kid.”

It was impossible not to hear the intensity in his voice and see the angry lines pulling at his mouth.

“I know she had some pretty rigid ideas about what he should do with his life.”

“In her mind there was a very limited list of careers for Finnamore men and anything related to music was out. I think Lachlan could have said he wanted to play for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra or the Berlin Philharmonic, and that wouldn’t have satisfied her. Jonas put up with way too much of her meddling and threats to hold back money for Lachlan’s college education. I like the guy, but he’s always been too much of a soft touch. I think he should have stood up to her. He always said he wanted to make sure that Leitha wouldn’t be able to interfere with Lachlan getting his money for college. I told him more than once that he should have told her to stuff her Finnamore money. Lachlan is really talented. Even if the old crab had somehow managed to hold back the trust money, Lachlan could get a scholarship.”

I’d had no idea Johnny had so much animosity for Leitha. In a moment of anger, could he have done something stupid? I didn’t want to believe it.

“You know I was at the library for the presentation the day of Leitha’s accident,” Johnny said. “I guess I shouldn’t say ‘accident’ anymore.”

“I remember seeing you.” I wanted to ask him what he was getting at, but I’d learned that if I just let people talk, sometimes I found out more than if I asked a lot of questions. It took patience I didn’t always have.

“Mary wasn’t the only person who had words with Leitha.” He exhaled loudly. “I did as well. It was the same old conversation about not letting me buy that building. She took great pleasure in telling me that she had sold the property to another developer.”

“You must have been angry,” I said.

He shrugged. “Some days you eat the bear. Some days the bear eats you. And so far the building is still standing, so you never know what might happen.”

The intensity that had been in his voice earlier was gone and the lines in his face had smoothed out. Why was he so calm now about something that had left him so angry when Leitha was alive? Leitha meddling in her great-great-nephew’s life had gotten more of a reaction from Johnny than that deal that had fallen through.

Johnny suddenly smiled. “We got tattoos, you know,” he said, “about a week before Leitha died.”

“You and Mike?” I didn’t see Harry going to get a tattoo. On the other hand, I’d been learning that Harry had layers I didn’t know about.

“Yeah,” he said. “Nothing wild. Just the sign language symbol for rock and roll.” He touched his left hip. “I have no idea how but Leitha found out. You can imagine how she reacted. Mike didn’t give a sh— Mike didn’t care. She blamed me. Mike told her it was his idea. She wouldn’t hear it.”

“But it was your idea, wasn’t it?”

He grinned. “Oh yeah!”

We stopped by a bench at the spot where I’d first crossed the street to reach the Riverwalk trail. I gave Johnny the name of the reference librarian in Red Wing. “They have an excellent collection of old photographs. I think it’s the first place you should start to try to document the building’s history. I’ll call her on Monday and tell her to expect to hear from you.”

“Thanks, Kathleen,” Johnny said. “I appreciate this.”

“This is probably going to sound a little odd, but do you know what Mike was doing on Wednesday night for the last few months?” I asked.

“As far as I know, working late, having supper and this time of year watching the Twins play on TV.” His eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“He’d been leaving the office on time on Wednesday and Thursday but he was only practicing on Thursday.”

He shrugged. “So? Maybe he was seeing someone or maybe he just wanted to watch the ball game with a beer.”

Something over my shoulder caught Johnny’s eye and his face darkened. “You can’t honestly think it had anything to do with Mike’s death. Mike wasn’t the kind of person to have secrets.” He raised his voice. “And if the police were working harder instead of manufacturing cases, maybe they’d have his killer by now.”

Marcus joined us, putting a hand on my back. “We are working hard on Mike’s case,” he said, his face devoid of emotion.

“Well, from my perspective, you seem to be spending all your efforts on Leitha Anderson’s death, which no one even knew was a crime. You’re wasting your time going down that road.”

“Leitha deserves justice just as much as Mike does,” Marcus said. “And I’m going to keep working so that they both get it.”

“Mike Bishop didn’t have an enemy in the world.” Johnny’s voice was getting angrier. “Mike made friends everywhere he went, unlike Leitha. He was ten times the person she was.” He stood with his feet apart, hands jammed in his pockets. “There were some break-ins and some vandalism to cars in the area of Mike’s house. Are you trying to find those people? Why aren’t you checking out people who got out of prison recently? Or known drug addicts?”

I lifted a hand to touch Johnny’s arm and then thought better of it. “Marcus knows how to do his job,” I said gently.

He didn’t look at me. “Then do it,” he said, his gaze locked on Marcus’s face.

“I am,” Marcus said. “I’m not going to insult you by telling you to trust me, but I am looking into all of those things. And more. I give you my word.”

Johnny couldn’t have known how serious a promise that was, but I did.

Johnny swiped a hand over his face. The anger seemed to drain out of him. “All I care about is bringing Mike’s killer to justice.”

Marcus nodded. “I get that. I want the same thing. But I have to put just as much effort in for everyone. Otherwise the whole system falls apart.”

They stared at each other for a long moment; then Johnny turned to me. “Thank you for the information,” he said. He turned and headed across the grass.

“ ‘Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both,’ ” I said in a quiet voice. I knew Marcus would agree with Eleanor Roosevelt’s words.

I watched Johnny cross the street and head into Eric’s. I turned back to Marcus. “Did it look as though Mike had walked in on a robbery, just between us?”

He shook his head. “It did look to me as though someone might have gone through his desk. Or maybe he was just someone who had a messy desk. What bothers me is, why was he killed? If Mike had walked in on someone, why not run? None of the break-ins and vandalism out there have been anything other than stupid kids showing off, not someone who would try to rob someone’s house and then kill the owner when he surprised them. And Mike was an average middle-aged person, not some big muscular guy or a martial arts expert. Killing him seems like an overreaction when it would have been so much easier to run.”

“Maybe the person couldn’t get away,” I said.

“If Mike had come in the front door to the house, the thief could have gone out through the kitchen or through the French doors to the deck. Someone who was looking for a few dollars or something to sell would have panicked and gotten the hell out. It doesn’t make sense.”

That was the problem. Everywhere I turned, nothing about this case made sense.