Copycat Killing

10

My face clearly gave me away because Rebecca’s eyes narrowed. “Did I say something wrong?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No,” I said. “It’s just that Jaeger slipped on the basement stairs at the co-op store. He, uh…he’s dead.”

Rebecca closed her eyes for a moment. “Oh my word,” she said. “That poor man.”

“Why were you meeting him?” I asked. “If I’m not being too nosy by asking.”

“You’re not,” she said. “I was at the café having lunch with Lita, the day we’d gone out to Wisteria Hill. I was telling her about breaking my old apple peeler just as Jaeger showed up with our food. He asked if I still had it. He said he could take it apart and use some of the pieces in his masks. We started talking and I realized I had some other things—what I thought of as, well, junk really—that he might be able to use. So I told him I’d look around and see what I could find. That was just a couple of days ago.”

She exhaled slowly. Then she looked at me. “How’s Maggie? I know there was water in the building and she had to close the store. Now this.”

Hercules had come out and was leaning against my leg. I bent to pick him up. “She’s okay. A little overwhelmed, but okay.”

“Does she like cabbage?” Rebecca asked.

For a moment I felt like I was talking to Marcus, the way the conversation had veered off in a completely new direction. “I’ve seen her eat coleslaw,” I offered, wondering what Maggie liking coleslaw had to do with the store basement flooding and Jaeger falling on the steps.

“Good,” Rebecca said, zipping up her jacket. “I have a lovely cabbage and pork stir fry recipe. I think I’ll make her a little care package.”

I squeezed her arm with my free hand. “She’ll love that. She’s going to be here for supper.”

“Even better,” Rebecca said. “Don’t cook. I’ll bring dinner for both of you.”

“You don’t have to do that,” I said. Hercules immediately meowed his objection to my objection.

Rebecca patted my hand. “I’m sorry my dear. You’ve been outvoted. Dinner will be here at six o’clock.”

“Will you at least join us?” I asked.

She smiled. “Thank you, but I already have dinner plans.”

I knew by that smile that her plans had to be with Everett. She waggled her fingers at Hercules and left.

I carried Herc back into the kitchen. Owen had disappeared. “Tell your brother Rebecca is making supper,” I told the little black-and-white cat as I put him back down on the floor.

I gathered the plates and cups and started running water in the sink. Maggie liked to tease me because I always did the dishes by hand. I’d told her that was because we hadn’t had a dishwasher when I was growing up so it was habit—which was true. It had also been the only time I could get some time to myself in my crazy family. I did my best thinking while scrubbing crud off the bottom of a pot.

I’d just filled the sink with bubbles and water and was trying to figure out how I was going to wash everything one-handed when I heard something fall behind me. I turned around and Hercules was sitting on the edge of a kitchen chair, his head in the box Rebecca had brought over, the lid on the floor.

“Hercules!” I said sharply. He looked up, all confused innocence. “Get your head out of that box now and get off that chair.”

He hesitated, looking from whatever it was in the box that intrigued him to me.

“Now!” I repeated.

He lifted a paw as though he were going to climb into the carton. I rang out the dishcloth just a little and held it up. “You really want to do this?” I asked. “From this distance there’s no way I can miss.”

He made a noise that was halfway between a yowl and a grumble—Roma insisted that sound was cat-speak for “Bite me”—and jumped down. “Wise choice,” I called after him as he stalked away muttering under his breath.

I dried my hands and put the lid back on the box. Hercules kind of had a thing for boxes and bags. He liked to climb in the canvas grocery bags. He liked to ride around in the new messenger bag I’d bought to replace the one I’d lost last winter. In fact, the bag actually was a cat carrier bag since I knew that Owen and Hercules were going to end up in it as much as my towel and tai chi shoes did.

I took the box upstairs, setting it on top of my tall chest of drawers where I knew neither cat could get into it. Then I went back downstairs, put Barry Manilow on the CD player and cranked up the volume before I went back to the kitchen.

Halfway through the chorus of “Ready to Take a Chance Again,” Hercules appeared on the edge of my vision, in the doorway to the living room, head bobbing blissfully to the music.

Owen didn’t reappear until a few minutes before Maggie arrived. A gray paw slid around the basement door and nudged it open, and then he poked his head out.

“You’re safe,” I said. “No more Barry Manilow for now.”

Owen squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head vigorously. He didn’t share my and Hercules’s appreciation for the man who wrote the songs that made the whole world sing.

I’d just set the table when Maggie tapped on the porch door. Owen, who had been lolling under the kitchen table, leaped to his feet and to his surprise went skidding across the freshly washed kitchen floor in his haste to say hello to her. He shook himself and then had to stop to give a couple of swipes to his face with his paw.

I picked him up. “You look like a million bucks,” I assured him, smoothing the fur on the top of his head. “You look like a cat version of Brad Pitt.”

Maggie smiled when I opened the door but I saw at once that she was tired. There were dark circles under her eyes and tiny frown lines on her forehead. “Hey Fuzz Face,” she said to Owen. He immediately started to purr. Maggie let out a long sigh and leaned in toward the cat. “Owen, you are the only male in any species that I like right now,” she said. That just made him purr louder.

She kicked off her boots, I took her jacket and she padded behind me into the kitchen. I set Owen down and hung up her jacket. Maggie dropped into one of the kitchen chairs and Owen took up his position of adoration at her feet.

“Long afternoon?” I asked, leaning against the counter.

“Very,” she said. “Ruby told me about Jaeger Merrill really being Christian Ellis. How bizarre is that?”

“Ruby kept saying she remembered him, but I thought they’d just been in a class together or maybe they’d met at an exhibition.”

Maggie leaned an elbow on the table and propped her head on her hand. “I don’t see why he felt he needed to lie,” she said.

I shrugged. “Maybe he was embarrassed. Maybe he didn’t want people to know what he’d done. Would you want to tell other artists that you’d been a forger?”

She made a face. “Good point. On the other hand, did Jaeger—I’m sorry, in my mind he’s Jaeger Merrill—strike you as the kind of person who cared what people thought?”

“No,” I said slowly. “Ruby asked me the same thing, but I didn’t really know him.”

“I guess none of us did,” Maggie said. She looked around the kitchen, frowning. “Hey, Kath, I don’t mean to be rude, but you do remember that you invited me for dinner, don’t you?”

Owen gave a loud, enthusiastic “meow” before I could answer. “Yes, we know you remember,” I said. I smiled at Maggie. “Rebecca is making dinner for us. You do like cabbage, don’t you? I said you did.”

Maggie looked at Owen. “What do you think?” she asked. “Coleslaw maybe?”

He seemed to make a face.

“You’re right,” Maggie said. “Coleslaw is more of a July/August kind of thing. It could be egg rolls? Or sausage and cabbage soup?”

Owen looked up at her, his head cocked to one side as though he was trying to decide which choice sounded the best. There was a knock on the door then.

“That’ll be Rebecca,” I said, heading for the porch.

Maggie leaned down toward Owen. “Maybe it’s corned beef and cabbage,” I heard her say to him.

It wasn’t Rebecca at the back door; it was Everett, in jeans and a black windbreaker, carrying a large, insulated cooler bag and a smaller canvas tote. “Hello, Kathleen,” he said. Even in casual clothes, he reminded me of actor Sean Connery, without the Scottish accent.

I smiled. “Hi, Everett.” I moved aside and he stepped into the porch, setting the cooler on the bench by the door and handing me the canvas bag.

He leaned in for a closer look at my face, frowning at my scraped forehead. His dark eyes met mine and his expression was serious. “Kathleen, are you sure you weren’t hurt?” he asked.

I nodded. “I appreciate your concern, Everett,” I said. “But I really am okay. The paramedics checked me over very carefully. It looks much worse than it feels.”

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “I had no idea that bank was in danger of collapsing.”

“There’s no way you could have known,” I said. “I heard Harry Taylor say that this is the wettest spring this area’s seen in more than forty years. Please don’t worry about it.”

His expression softened just a little. “If you need anything, I want you to call the office. Lita will take care of it.”

“Thank you,” I said. I reached for the nylon cooler. “And please thank Rebecca for this.”

“I will,” Everett said. His face closed in again and he lowered his voice. “I heard about Jaeger Merrill, Kathleen. Please tell Maggie if the co-op has any problems. Lita will know how to find me.”

“I’ll tell her,” I said.

He nodded and left. I carried everything into the kitchen. Hercules had joined Maggie and Owen and all three of them looked expectantly at me.

I handed the canvas bag to Maggie. “See what’s in there,” I said. I put the nylon cooler on the counter and unzipped the top. Inside there was a large casserole dish. I lifted it out, took the lid off and inhaled the delicious smell of onions and spices. A small dish held Rebecca’s homemade noodles.

“There’s apple crumble in here,” Maggie crowed behind me. “And cinnamon rolls.”

I put both casserole dishes on the table, stuck the apple crumble in the oven to warm and stashed the cinnamon rolls on the counter. “Let’s eat,” I said to Maggie.

She glanced down at Owen and Hercules sitting next to her chair like two furry guardians. “You’re not even going to give them a taste?” she asked.

“Roma told me to stop giving them so much people food,” I said. “She told you the same thing or did you forget?”

She looked at the cats again. “I don’t see Roma anywhere, do you?” Owen actually looked around the kitchen much to Maggie’s delight. She made a sweeping gesture around the kitchen. “Nope. No sign of her anywhere.”

I sighed and got a couple of small bowls from the cupboard. “Number one, I’m telling Roma next time I see her.” I put a few noodles and a bit of meat and sauce into each bowl. There was no way I was giving the cats cabbage. That had to be a bad idea. “And number two, when they hack up something disgusting tomorrow, I’m calling you to come clean it up.”

I handed her the bowls and she set them on the floor, one in front of each cat. That even got her an adoring look from Hercules. Maggie unfolded her napkin and smiled sweetly at me as she reached for the noodles.

Rebecca was an outstanding cook. I’d had meals at five-star restaurants that weren’t as good as the meal she’d sent.

“Did you talk to Marcus?” I asked over my second helping of apple crumble. Owen was still by Maggie’s chair, carefully washing his face. Hercules had wandered off to do whatever it was he did after supper.

She nodded. “I did. He wanted to know how Jaeger could have ended up on those basement stairs.” She sighed. “I’d like to know that myself.”

“Maybe he picked the lock.” I didn’t add that it was something I knew how to do—depending on the lock.

“Maybe he did. He didn’t have my keys and he didn’t have Ruby’s.” She pulled one leg up underneath her and leaned against the back of the chair. “Have you ever noticed that Marcus asks you a question and then a few minutes later he asks the same question again, in a slightly different way?”

“I noticed,” I said. “I don’t know if it’s a cop thing, or just a Marcus thing.”

“It’s like he’s testing you to see if you’ll give the same answer every time.”

I set my spoon down and pushed my dish away before I ended up with a third helping of apple crumble. “So what was it he kept asking you about?”

Maggie’s cheeks went pink and she looked down at the table. “He heard about the fight I had with Jaeger.”

“You mean at the meeting?”

“No. I mean the fight.” She lifted her head and looked at me. “I didn’t tell you.”

“Why?”

“Because I was embarrassed.”

Owen had stopped washing his face and was staring intently at Maggie, as though he could feel her discomfort.

She played with the crimson and silver scarf at her neck. “I usually handle things better than this, but Jaeger got under my skin. Between the flooding at the store, the flooding period, trying to rearrange the yoga and tai chi classes and keep up with the Web site orders and deal with him trying to incite a rebellion—” She stopped, and slid a hand over her hair. “I’m making excuses.”

I shook my head. “No you’re not. You’ve been running on herbal tea and very little sleep for over a week. I’ve at least had caffeine.”

“I don’t think any amount of caffeine would have made dealing with Jaeger any easier,” she said.

There was a tiny bit of apple left in her dish. She scooped it up with her spoon, leaned over and held it out to Owen. He sniffed it carefully and instead of putting it on the floor so he could investigate it like a crime scene technician, he actually ate from the spoon.

“And, if you’re wondering if I pushed Jaeger down those stairs, the answer is no.”

“Let me guess. Marcus actually asked you that.”

She gave me a wry smile as she straightened up. “He did. He also asked if I’d given Jaeger my keys.” She held up a hand before I could say anything. “And don’t call him a dipwad. He’s just doing his job.”

“I know,” I said. “I just wish he could be a little more human when he does it.” I got up from the table and put the kettle on to boil so I could make Maggie some tea. “And I wish he’d put his focus back on those remains—whoever they are—out at Wisteria Hill. Jaeger’s death was an accident.”

Maggie stretched, stood up, and started clearing the table. “I should call Roma,” she said. “Do you think it actually is her father’s body out there?”

“That ring is his. He disappeared a long, long time ago. It does make sense.” I got a cup and the peppermint teabags I kept just for Maggie out of the cupboard. “I did a little research in the newspaper’s archives. Thomas Karlsson had a job with a landscaping company for a while—Sam’s father’s company. Maybe he was working at Wisteria Hill.”

Just then the phone rang. “Go ahead and make your tea,” I said to Maggie as I headed for the living room.

I leaned across the wing chair, and grabbed the receiver.

“Hi, Kathleen,” Roma said.

There was something flat and off about her voice. I dropped onto the footstool.

“Dr. Abbott got someone she knows who’s a forensic dentist to come look at the…remains.”

My chest tightened. “And?” I said.

“And…and I don’t know how he did it so fast but Marcus got my—Tom’s dental records.”

I knew what was coming before she said the words.

“It’s him, Kathleen. That’s my father who was buried out at Wisteria Hill.”