The Whole Cat Аnd Caboodle

Chapter 8

I heard the words but for a moment they were only words, and then the meaning sank in. Arthur Fenety had been murdered, just as I’d suspected.

“I thought Arthur had a heart attack,” Rose said. “I can’t believe someone killed him. Could it be a mistake?”

I shook my head. I knew Nick wouldn’t make that kind of a mistake.

“Maddie didn’t kill Arthur, Sarah,” Charlotte said. “How could they arrest her? It’s ridiculous.”

I put a hand on her arm. “What happened, exactly?”

She was twisting her watch around and around her left wrist. “The bell rang. When I went to the door it was Michelle Andrews and another police officer. They asked to speak to Maddie. I took them into the living room. Michelle asked Maddie some questions and then she arrested her. They put handcuffs on her!” Anger flashed in her eyes. “She’s seventy-three years old. They didn’t need to do that.”

“Maddie will be fine,” Rose said. “She’s strong.” She flashed a look at Avery, who had been leaning on the counter, listening to everything, and the teen headed for the stairs.

“Does she have a lawyer?” Mac asked.

Charlotte shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“She needs a lawyer, Sarah,” Mac said quietly.

“The Evans boy,” Rose said at once.

“Josh Evans?” I said. I held my hand out at my waist, palm down. “Little Josh is a lawyer?”

“He’s not little anymore, dear,” Rose said.

Mac had already moved behind the counter and pulled out the phone book. Avery was coming down the stairs, carrying a china cup and saucer.

“Charlotte, did you call Nick?” I asked, raking one hand back through my hair.

She nodded, one hand still twisting her watch. “All I got was his voice mail. Not that he can do anything, anyway. I just wanted to know what on earth was going on and why he hadn’t called me.”

It struck me that while we were standing there talking, Maddie was at the police station, probably without a lawyer. I felt certain she was hiding something, but I just couldn’t believe she had killed Arthur Fenety. Not deliberately.

“Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll see what I can do,” I said.

Charlotte opened her mouth to say something else, but Rose didn’t give her a chance. “Let Sarah see what she can do to help,” she said, steering Charlotte in the direction of the tub chair.

Avery handed Charlotte the cup of tea she’d brought downstairs, and then she leaned against the bottom stair post.

Mac gestured at her. “Avery, go get a cup of tea for Rose, too, please.” She nodded and ran up the steps again.

I rubbed the space between my eyebrows with the heel of one hand. Then I checked the number Mac had looked up and reached for the phone, crossing my fingers—literally—that little Josh Evans would remember me.

He did. I explained about Maddie being arrested and filled in what few details I knew.

“I’ll go,” he said. “Give me a number and I’ll call you when I know what’s going on. It’ll probably be a while, though.”

“I understand,” I said, feeling some of the tension seep out of my body. I gave him my cell number. “Thank you,” I added.

“I’m happy to help,” he said. “You can buy me dinner when this gets straightened out, and catch me up on your life.”

“Absolutely,” I said.

I thanked him again. He repeated his promise to call me when he had news, and I hung up.

“Maddie has a lawyer,” I announced.

Rose smiled at Charlotte and gave her arm a squeeze. “See?” she said. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

Charlotte got to her feet, still holding her cup of tea. “Thank you, Sarah. I don’t understand what the police are thinking. And Nicolas.” She shook her head. “He’s known Maddie since he was a little boy.” She smoothed the sleeve of her jacket. “I should go down to the police station.”

Rose leaned just a little to the left, caught my eye and shook her head almost imperceptibly.

I walked over to Charlotte and put my arm around her shoulders, leaning my head against her. “I care about Maddie, too,” I said. “I’ve known her since I was a little girl. But right now we need to let Josh handle things.”

She looked at me, lips pressed together. “Maddie didn’t kill Arthur Fenety,” she said. I could see the fear etched into the tight lines on her face but there was no trace of it in her voice.

“I know that,” I said. I glanced at my watch. Everyone was looking at me. I wished Gram wasn’t on her honeymoon. She’d handle this a whole lot better than I could. I took a deep breath and pasted on a positive face, even though I didn’t exactly feel it.

“It’s time to close up,” I said, grateful there hadn’t been any customers in the past fifteen minutes or so. “It’ll be a while before I hear from Josh. There isn’t anything that we can do right now that will help Maddie.” I gave Charlotte’s shoulders another squeeze. “I’m going to Sam’s for supper. Who wants to come with me?”

“Meow,” Elvis said. He was sitting on the stairs about halfway down. His enthusiastic response broke the tension.

“Elvis is in,” I said, looking around. “Anyone else?”

“I’ll come,” Mac said.

I shot him a look of gratitude.

“Me too,” Avery chimed in.

Rose got to her feet. “What a good idea,” she said, tugging the bottom of her apron to straighten it out. “Everything will look better once we’ve had something to eat.”

“You always say that,” Charlotte said, and I thought I saw a tiny hint of a smile.

Rose shrugged. “I’m old. I repeat myself sometimes.”

Charlotte shook her head and this time I did see a smile.

“Since you’re here you could help me refold the quilts,” Rose said.

“The front window needs a little rearranging, too,” Charlotte said.

Rose turned, hands on her hips, to consider the wide, high window behind her.

Mac caught my eye. “I have some things to put away.” He pointed toward the back.

I nodded. “I’ll get the deposit ready.” Avery was already pulling out the vacuum without even being asked.

“Thank you,” Charlotte said softly to me.

I smiled. “Anytime,” I said. “Once when we were kids, Josh got five of us free chocolate-dip cones at Hawthorne’s because he argued that their sign was deceptive. It read FREE KIDS’ CONE WITH ADULT PURCHASE. They forgot to put the apostrophe before the s in kid’s.”

I couldn’t help smiling at the memory of a ten-year-old Josh, with his spiky haircut, standing his ground with an annoyed Nathan Hawthorne. “Josh was smarter than most adults when he was ten,” I said. “Maddie will be okay.” I headed over to the cash register.

Avery was plugging in the vacuum cleaner. “Nonna’s going to pick me up,” she said, shaking her hair back off her face. “Is it okay if she comes, too?”

“Of course,” I said. I knew Liz would help lighten the mood.

I had the deposit ready when Mac came back in. “Shed’s locked,” he said. “And I can drop off the deposit on the way to Sam’s.”

“Thanks,” I said, leaning against the counter, “and thanks for coming with us for supper. I know you probably have better things to do.” When Mac wasn’t working he was generally crewing for someone or hanging around the boatyard, learning everything he could about wooden boats so he could eventually build his own. He was a very private person. I’d never been to his apartment in the four months we’d worked together, and if he was seeing anyone, I had no idea who it was.

“I like Charlotte,” he said, looking over to where she and Rose were rearranging several stone flower urns in the window to the left of the door. “There isn’t anywhere else I want to be.” He smiled at me. “And Sam makes a great cheeseburger.”

“Oh yeah, he does,” I agreed, thinking about Sam’s cheeseburger with two kinds of cheese, onions, mushrooms and a spicy tomato sauce that could spoil you forever for generic ketchup.

“So, you and this lawyer, Josh Evans, knew each other when you were kids?” Mac asked, pulling a hand over his neck.

“Yeah.” I traced the curved edge of the counter with one finger. “He was a summer kid like I was at first, and then his parents moved here full-time. Josh was a pretty persuasive little guy.” I sighed and pushed myself upright. “I hope he can convince the police that Maddie didn’t do this.”

Mac looked down at the floor for a moment and I heard him exhale softly.

“What is it?” I asked.

His dark eyes met mine. “Sarah, please don’t take this the wrong way, but are you one hundred percent positive she didn’t?”