Un-Fur-tunate Events (Vanessa Abbot Cat Cozy Mystery Series Book 4) (4 page)

“Do you think he was also involved with
someone else? Maybe Sabrina?”

Andrea frowned. “No. For all Frank’s
faults, he would never cheat on me. Anyway, Sabrina spends most of her time
taking care of her boyfriend at the hospital.”

“When did you become involved with
Jerry?” Vanessa asked.

“A year ago, when we were both at a medical
convention out of town. I wasn’t looking to have an affair. It just happened,”
Andrea choked through her words. “Jerry was just such an amazing person. When
we were looking to hire him, everyone would tell us a different story of how he
was able to find a donor when no else could. He was dedicated to his patients
and I admired that about him.”

“If it has been a year, were you going
to leave Frank?”

“I had been thinking about it, but it
never seemed like the right time.” Andrea whispered. “I can’t believe he is
gone.”

A cloud of dust approached the two
women. Bright headlights blinded them as a car raced towards them down the
windy, dirt road.

“Perhaps this is Pete. He’s coming to
my house for dinner. You should really tell him what you told me.” Vanessa
remarked.

A dust covered silver Mercedes skidded
to a halt in front of them. Frank Morton jumped out of his car and rushed over
to Andrea.

“Where have you been? I’ve been waiting
for you at home.” Frank snarled.

Andrea collected herself. “I was just
at the sanctuary looking for my medication.”

“What are you two doing in the middle of
the road? What are you two talking about?” Frank hissed at Andrea.

Vanessa looked over at her. Andrea
smiled and rubbed the top of AngelPie’s head one last time.

“This cat crawled into my car while I
was looking around the picnic site.” Andrea fibbed. “Vanessa was able to stop
me on my way home to you.”

Andrea picked up AngelPie and handed
her over to Vanessa.

Frank huffed. “I will see you at home.”
He turned, jumped back into his car and veered off leaving the two women in a
cloud of dust.

“Goodbye, Vanessa.” Andrea spoke right
before she headed off down the road.

Vanessa stroked AngelPie who rested in
her arms, as she watched the two cars disappear into the distance. 

A battered Toyota Corolla pulled into
the driveway and Pete Wheeler got out.

Vanessa opened the kitchen window and
called out to Pete. “You’re early,” Vanessa told him. “I haven’t finished
preparing dinner yet.”

“Let me help out. Do you need any
vegetables chopped or peeled?” Pete replied as he made his way up the porch
steps. “In the meantime, I would like to go over the case with you.”

Pete entered the kitchen as Vanessa
added tomatoes to her saucepan. “Would you like something to drink?”

“A glass of water would be nice.” Pete
replied.

“Andrea made a visit to the sanctuary.”
Vanessa remarked. “She was looking for her medication. Do you know if it was
put into evidence?”

 “No.”
Pete perked up. “That does help explain the results of the toxicology report.”

Vanessa handed a glass of water to Pete.
“I can’t wait to hear all about it. You think Andrea might have had something
to do with Jerry’s death?”

Vanessa raised a wooden spoon to her
mouth to taste the marinara sauce. She then sprinkled oregano over the saucepan.

“By the way, Andrea was having an
affair with Jerry.” Vanessa announced.

“Wait. Slow down. I just arrived.” Pete
chuckled.

Vanessa made her way around Pete as he
washed his hands in the sink. She stood over the stove and stirred the sauce.
Pete dried his hands and sat down at the kitchen table.

“What can I help you with?” Pete asked.

“Why don’t you prepare the salad?”
Vanessa brought over a head of lettuce and some tomatoes. “Tell me more about
this toxicology report.”

“I was right. Jerry was poisoned. It was
a pharmaceutical-grade vasoconstrictor called
Prohiborol
. The sandwiches had trace amounts of the drug.” Pete
spoke as he sliced through the tomatoes.

“Vaso-what?” She asked.

Pete laughed. “Vasoconstrictor. That’s
a drug that causes your veins to narrow and constrict blood flow. With a high
enough dose, it would force blood back to your lungs and heart, flooding the
air sacs in your lungs. You would essentially drown in your own blood, and if
you foamed at the mouth, the foam would turn pink like when Jerry was on the
ground.”

Vanessa turned away. “This case is so
strange.”

 “It’s
very strange.
Prohiborol
is a very
mild vasoconstrictor. It isn’t strong enough on its own to cause the kind of
lung congestion and death you saw in Jerry.”

“Then it couldn’t have kill him,”
Vanessa pointed out. “Something else must have killed him.”

“No, it did,” Pete replied. “According
to the autopsy, it reacted to another medication Jerry was taking. You remember
when I said he wouldn’t have fallen down like that and died of a seizure
without warning? It turns out Jerry was an epileptic after all.”

“What?” Vanessa cried.

“That’s right,” Pete continued. “He was
taking an anti-seizure medication called
Nevasprohil
.
It reacted with the
Prohiborol
.
That’s what killed him. The combination of the two drugs caused a massive
seizure and also caused blood and fluid to back up into his lungs. He died of
asphyxiation.”

“How awful.” Vanessa remarked.

“We have the same problem with this
case that we have with every other murder case involved with poison,” Pete told
her. “How could the killer slip the poison into the food Jerry would eat?”

“Andrea told me that Steve made all the
food from scratch.” Vanessa remarked.

“That would make it easy enough.
Prohiborol
isn’t strong enough to kill
on its own,” Pete added. “The killer could have known Jerry’s medical history. Perhaps
they added enough of the drug to cause a fatal reaction to his medication but
it wouldn’t harm anyone else at the picnic. Then they wouldn’t have to worry
about adding it to one person’s food and not another.”

AngelPie appeared in the door and
twitched her nose in approval of the aroma that filled the kitchen. She strode
across the kitchen floor and sat at Vanessa’s feet.   

“Did Andrea tell you the name of the
medication she lost?” Pete asked.

“No.” Vanessa replied. “I didn’t bother
to ask. Do you suspect her?”

“Everyone is a suspect at this point. Perhaps
Andrea was lying to you about losing her medication,” Pete told her. “She might
have tossed the bottle when she saw the police show up.”

“Andrea seemed shocked when I told her
that Jerry might have been murdered. I found her by the side of the road pretty
broken up about it.” Vanessa took the chopped salad and placed it into a bowl.

“Is that when she told you about their
relationship?” Pete inquired, “if our friend Jerry had an affair with the
boss’s wife. Frank must have known and wanted revenge, but he didn’t want to
harm the reputation of his foundation.”

Vanessa nodded. “Okay. I’m willing to
play along with that as a working hypothesis. Andrea expressed to me that Frank
had no idea about the affair, and she barely saw him at home anymore.”

“It almost sounds like Frank was having
his own affair at the office. Perhaps with Sabrina?” Pete guessed.

“I thought the same thing” Vanessa remarked.
“But Andrea was adamant that Frank would never have an affair.”

Henry came in through the cat door and
hopped onto the shelf. He perched himself above Vanessa and Pete.

“Hello, Henry.” Pete called out. “How
is life in the country?”

Henry stretched out and his tail began
to sway.

“He loves it out here.” Vanessa relayed.
“All the cats are really enjoying exploring the open fields and woods of the
Sanctuary.”

Pete smiled. “Yes, I can imagine how
much freedom they have now that they are out of town.”

Pete broke off a piece of bread from a
basket in the center of the table and smeared it with a pad of butter.

“How long was Andrea having an affair
with Jerry?” Pete asked taking a bite of the bread.

Vanessa stirred the tomato sauce. “It
was around a year. She had been planning to leave Frank.”

“Really?” Pete responded.

Vanessa continued. “Frank did seem
pretty upset when he caught Andrea and I talking in the middle of the road.”

“Wait, you didn’t tell me that Frank showed
up as well?” Pete exclaimed.

“It has been quite the eventful
evening.” Vanessa remarked. “Frank was very upset. But after Andrea told him
she had been at the sanctuary, he was more concerned about the subject of our
conversation. Flossy and Aurora told me about the picnic. Aurora told me that
the foundation might be under investigation. Perhaps Frank is nervous about
people talking to much.”

 “I
know our department isn’t investigating the foundation.” Pete responded. “By
the way, did I mention the name of their foundation?”

“The Frank Morton foundation,” Vanessa moaned.

“The guy seems pretty full of himself.”
Pete rolled his eyes. “Did you get any other information from your cats about
what they were talking about at the picnic?”

Vanessa turned around. “To tell you the
truth, I didn’t get too much out of them. Flossy was sitting with them the
whole time, but she says they spoke about a lot of business nonsense she didn’t
understand. Aurora was hiding most of the day. You know what she’s like. When she
isn’t stuffing herself with cat food, she is running around in circles. I was
finally able to get Aurora to mention that they were discussing a list at the
picnic. It’s what caused Jerry to walk off.” Vanessa added. “I’m assuming that
it is a list of transplant recipients.”

“They must be profiting off that list.”
Pete concluded. “You didn’t happen to ask Andrea about that, did you?”

“Not exactly,” she replied, “but Andrea
was very reluctant to explain to me exactly how the foundation earns its money.
I think she’s hiding something because she avoided answering the question and
rushed off.”

 “Jerry
was threatening to expose them,” Vanessa replied. “He blamed Steve for
corrupting the foundation. I wonder how Steve fits into this case. He did make
all the food but how did he swipe the
Prohiborol
from Andrea?”

“Perhaps Steve and Frank planned the
murder together. Frank could have easily taken the
Prohiborol
from Andrea. Perhaps this is all about money and not
about affairs. Steve is the treasurer. He must have figured out a way to extort
money from the hospitals or the patients. If the foundation was exposed, they
would both end up with nothing.” Pete surmised.

Vanessa sucked her wooden spoon in
thought. “Maybe. But at the picnic, Sabrina was helping Steve out with the food
as well. If Frank and Sabrina are an item, perhaps they are the ones who conspired
to poison Jerry. They both were at risk of ending up with nothing if something
happened to the foundation.”

Vanessa closed her eyes. “You were
right before. Everyone is a suspect.”

 “Tomorrow
morning,” Pete told her, “I’ll start going through the records of the
foundation. One of them must have some medical training. How else could they have
known the two drugs would react with each other?”

“They have all worked at hospitals for
years,” Vanessa suggested. “They all probably have some understanding of drug
interactions.”

“That’s a good point,” Pete replied. “I
guess we can’t eliminate anyone yet. It is safe to assume Andrea’s medication
was the
Prohiborol
but I will take a
look at everyone’s medical records. It’s only available by prescription. The
killer couldn’t have walked into the nearest grocery store and bought it off
the shelf.”

“Could you please set the table, Pete?”
Vanessa asked. “Dinner is ready.”

Pete and Vanessa sat across from each
other at the dinner table. Two candles flickered illuminating the dining room and
shone in their eyes. Pete lifted his wine glass and held it aloft. “Here’s to
you and the new home of the Cat Protection League. May it be a resounding
success and bring you all great happiness in the years to come.”

Vanessa beamed and raised her glass.
“To Harvest Home.”

“To Harvest Home,” he echoed.

They drank the toast and started on the
pasta.

“This sauce is delicious,” Pete told
Vanessa. “I think you missed your calling. You should have been a chef.”

Vanessa smiled and shook her head. “I
think it’s a little late in life to change careers.”

“You wouldn’t have to change careers,”
he explained. “You could just expand your ideas for the sanctuary. You could
offer parties and events, and you could cater them yourself.”