Murder Is Uncooperative (24 page)

The kitten was asleep in one of the wire cages that lined the clinic walls when Ben and I entered, but he lifted his head when he heard our voices and gave us a slightly unfocused stare.

“Is he still sedated?” I asked.

“Not from the anesthetic, but we've been giving him some medication for pain. He'll be a little groggy for a while,” the vet told me. She handed me some liquid medication. “He should have this three times a day for the next two days. I'll just show you how to give it to him.”

The vet wielded the small dropper with expertise, and Maui was swallowing the yellow drops before he realized it. I had my doubts I would be able to do a comparable job, but I was willing to try.

“He needs to be kept as quiet as possible and not move around too much.” She sent me home with a large kennel, big
enough to contain Maui's cat bed, his litter box, and food dishes. “You can take him out and let him sit on your lap if he needs a cuddle, but he should be kept quiet the rest of the time.”

I managed to fit Maui's cat carrier and the large kennel, in pieces, in the back of the car.

Back home, I reassembled the kennel in Ben's room and placed the litter box at the back. I folded a towel for the kitten's bed and lifted him gently onto it.

Ben, who had been watching and softly petting his kitten while I assembled the kennel, grinned.

“Maui's in a cage like a lion,” he said.

I wondered where Ben had got the idea of lions in cages. I hadn't taken him to the zoo, although maybe his father had. Or was it from a cartoon or something else he'd seen on television? I felt guilty immediately. Was he watching too much TV? Should I be spending more time with him?

I'd much rather my son had an image of lions roaming free on the African veldt.

“Well, he won't feel like a lion for a while,” I said. “You'll have to be very gentle with him.”

Maui quickly went back to sleep. Ben looked disappointed that he couldn't play with his kitten but settled down to play with his toy cars. I reminded him to be quiet so Maui could rest.

I had thought about picking up some flowers and a card to thank Aaron and Kevin for helping with Maui. Then I realized that, while Kevin might appreciate flowers, they didn't really seem appropriate for Aaron.

I remembered I still had two of the bottles of white wine left from our Thanksgiving dinner. I didn't have a card, but I wrapped a bit of ribbon around the neck of one bottle to make it
look festive. I let Dad know I was just popping out for a moment and to check that he would watch Ben.

“You help out with Ben so much, Dad,” I said, “I don't know how we'd manage without you.”

“We all help each other,” he answered, smiling. “I don't imagine I'd be happy sitting by myself and eating lonely meals for one.

“I bet a handsome man like you would have the women beating down the doors to have dinner with you, if you let them,” I told him.

“Well, as a matter of fact, when Mariana phoned to find out about Maui, she invited me over to dinner tonight,” he said. “She said it was to thank me for when I took her out to that restaurant a while ago.”

“That's nice,” I said. “I know she's a great cook.”

Dad smiled. “And she's fun to be with. I hope it doesn't bother you, Becky. I mean, seeing me going out with someone who isn't your mother.”

“Oh, Dad, I know you loved Mom. But you need to make new friends and get on with your life. And Mom would have wanted you to be happy. I'm sure she'd be pleased if you found someone new in your life and weren't lonely.”

“Well, I enjoy talking to Mariana, and it's been nice the few times she's been over for drinks,” he said. “But it was a bit strange when we went out for dinner. She described the restaurant as kind of a spaghetti joint, sort of a neighborhood hangout. I imagined big family tables with lots of kids. And there were families there. But it was a bit fancier than I expected, with white tablecloths and candles. I found myself sitting at a candlelit table across from a woman who wasn't your mother, and suddenly I could barely breathe. I just wanted to get out of there. I managed
to keep up a conversation with Mariana, but I'm not sure I was making much sense.” I could see tears gathering in my father's eyes.

“Oh, Dad, I'm sure you were charming.” I patted his shoulder and smiled in a way I hoped was reassuring.

“Well, maybe it will be better having dinner at her home,” he said. “I guess I'm willing to try.”

“Well, I'll just be out for a few minutes then,” I told him. “You'll need time to get ready.”

Kevin seemed delighted when I turned up at their door with my gift. Aaron was gruff when I tried to thank him for helping Maui.

“It would take a pretty mean person to not help a poor little cat when he's hurt.”

I could have said it took a pretty mean person to yell at the co-op staff and make trouble for their neighbors. But maybe I'd been wrong about Aaron. And Kevin, as Anna had said, was a sweetie.

Before I went back to our apartment, I went down to the lobby to check our mailbox. I was hoping for a check from one of my clients. I didn't really expect it to have arrived yet but, with the unexpected bill from the animal emergency clinic, I could use the money as soon as possible.

The lobby of the co-op building was lined with mailboxes for each of the units. I unlocked our box and glanced through the envelopes. The check I was hoping for wasn't there. It was mostly just junk mail and a few bills. There was also a sheet of white paper folded up. I knew the co-op sometimes just pushed notices through the wide slots in each of the mailboxes. With no staff in the office, the co-op was only dealing with the most pressing business, but the board was trying to keep things running.

I unfolded the paper and glanced at it.

It was done with a computer printer but it wasn't a notice from the co-op.

“Too bad about your kitty,” the note said in large capital letters. “Next time it will be your son. Stay out of this.”

Dad had changed into a nice sweater and gray slacks when I got back. He was in the kitchen, looking into the fridge where I'd left the remaining bottle of wine.

“Okay if I take this wine to Mariana's?” he called out. “I should take something, but flowers don't seem quite right.”

He turned when I came in and gave me a questioning look. Then he noticed how white my face was.

“I found this in the mailbox,” I said, showing him the note.

“So it wasn't an accident that Maui got out?”

“I guess not. But it's hard to imagine someone could get in and take him, with you and Ben both here.”

“Well, I sleep pretty soundly and so does Ben, I guess,” Dad said. “You're the one who wakes up at the slightest noise.”

“It's the mother in me,” I replied. “And the mother in me thinks we should get out of this place. I know you and Ben didn't want to move, but I think we should start looking for somewhere else to live.”

Dad nodded. “That threat is pretty serious. You should tell that D'Onofrio guy. And we'll start looking for a new place tomorrow.”

“I'll call D'Onofrio right now,” I said. “And I'll ask Dave if Ben can stay with him for a while. That would be safer. I can't risk anything happening to him.”

“Do you want me to stay home with you tonight?” Dad asked. “I don't really feel comfortable leaving you alone.”

I almost agreed to his offer. I didn't want to be alone. But I had heard him laughing with Mariana this morning, sounding happier than he had in a long time. He needed to get out more.

“No, I'll be fine,” I told him. “You go and have dinner with Mariana. You'll be right next door if I need you.”

I finally convinced him to go next door. I was glad he was spending time with Mariana. Maybe he would keep on seeing her, even if we moved.

I thought about that. Dad and Ben were happy here. Dad was finding the accessible building easy to get around and he liked the neighborhood. Ben was making new friends. And he'd already had so much disruption in his young life. My separation from Dave, Mom's death, the moves, first into the condo with Dad and then the co-op. I wanted him to have a stable life and a home where he would feel secure. But obviously this co-op wasn't going to be the place.

I knew how hard it was going to be to find someplace else. There were other co-ops in Vancouver, but I knew most of them had long waiting lists. And finding something else I could afford and was wheelchair accessible would be even harder.

I could feel tears filling my eyes. But I blinked them back. I didn't want Ben seeing me cry. And there were things I could do to keep my family safe. I needed to call the police, and make arrangements with Dave to have Ben stay with him. And, if someone had gotten into our apartment to let our kitten out, I should probably have the locks changed.

I was moving toward the phone to call D'Onofrio when I heard Ben calling me from his room.

“Mommy, Maui's awake now but he's crying. I think his leg really hurts.”

I glanced at my watch. Maui was due for his pain medication. And he was probably hungry too.

I could hear Maui screeching in increasingly loud and indignant meows as I walked down the hall to Ben's room. Ben was distressed too, and starting to cry because his kitten was hurt. I remembered I'd promised Naomi I'd try to keep them both quieter.

The situation in Maui's kennel was even worse than I thought. The kitten had woken up at some point and tried to use his litter box. He was a good kitten and well trained. But he'd obviously had difficulty climbing into the litter box with his broken leg and then balancing on his three good legs. He'd missed the edge of the box, and the towel I'd used for his bed was wet with urine. Then he'd managed to kick the litter around the kennel, with some landing on the towel and some even in his food dish.

The kitten was obviously ready for his medication and his food, but I thought I should clean out the kennel first.

I lifted the meowing kitten out of the kennel, trying to support his broken leg. The kitten still yelped in pain.

“Ben, go get some of his crunchies,” I told him. When Ben returned moments later with a handful of dry kitten food, I asked him to sit on the bed and placed Maui gently on his lap. “Let him smell his food,” I told him. Maui was attracted by the smell of his food and interested in the novelty of being hand fed. I could hear him crunching the food and Ben giggling as the kitten nudged his hand for more.

“He likes this,” Ben said. “I should feed him like this all the time. But his whiskers tickle me.”

I managed to clean out the kennel and fold another clean towel for Maui's bed. I washed the plastic dishes we used for his food and filled them with new water and dry food. I added a spoonful of the canned food Maui loved. I passed a few more of the dry pellets to Ben to feed to his kitten.

Now it was time to give the kitten his medicine. The vet had made it look easy, but I wasn't so sure. I managed to fill the dropper with the liquid and lifted Maui onto my lap. I tipped his head back, pressed his mouth open the way the vet had showed me and squeezed the dropper.

And Maui jerked back. And howled. The yellow liquid sprayed out of his mouth, covering his fur and Ben's bed.

I tried again, this time managing to clamp his mouth together the way the vet had shown me. But Maui still wasn't swallowing, and the yellow liquid was bubbling out of the corners of his mouth. I remembered the vet had stroked his throat after she had placed the medicine in his mouth. I tried that.

That seemed to work. I think he swallowed. I wasn't sure if he had taken enough of the medicine.

I looked down at the struggling kitten in my lap. His fur was covered with the yellow medicine. I hoped he would lick it off and get the necessary dose. I didn't want to try the procedure again, and I also didn't want to give him too much.

I placed the kitten back in his kennel and was thankful when Maui settled down and started to eat his food.

I looked around the room. Sprays of yellow medicine covered Ben's bed and a few drops had landed on the wall. My own shirt and pants were splattered.

Ben was laughing. “That's Maui's medicine, Mommy, not yours.”

“Well, I hope he gets better at taking it,” I said. “Imagine if Grandpa did that every time he had to take his medicine. Just think what a mess our house would be.”

Ben considered this. My father took a lot of medication for his arthritis, both for pain and to reduce inflammation in his joints. “But Grandpa takes pills,” he said. “Maybe Maui should
take pills.” I wondered about that. A pill would have made less of a mess but it would have been harder for Maui to swallow. I'd just have to get better at giving the medicine. He was only supposed to take it for a few days anyway.

I cleaned up Ben's room and changed my own clothes. Then it was time for Ben's dinner and bath. As I tucked him into bed, I hugged him close, remembering the threatening note.

I needed to call D'Onofrio and Dave as soon as Ben was asleep. I was relieved to see that Maui had licked some of the medicine from his fur, although a few sticky yellow patches still stained it in places. I thought about trying to clean it off, then decided to let it go. I'd deal with it tomorrow, if Maui hadn't cleaned himself by then.

Right now I needed to let the police and Dave know about the threatening note.

I grabbed the card D'Onofrio had given me and called him first. I got his voicemail.

I explained about Maui's disappearance and the note I had received. “I don't really know if it's related to Les and Ruth's deaths, but it seems likely. Anyway, now they're threatening my son, so I'm taking this seriously. I can bring the note to you if you need to look at it. Um, for fingerprints or something.”

I left my number and hung up. I wondered what D'Onofrio was doing right now. He could be on duty, investigating another crime. Or he could be off duty. I didn't know anything about him, but I wondered how he spent his time off. Was he married? He didn't wear a wedding ring but some married men didn't. Or he could be single and out on a date. With his handsome face and great wardrobe, it was easier to picture him in a candlelit restaurant with a beautiful woman than home alone with TV, pizza, and beer. But, for some reason, I liked the pizza image better.