Murder at the Pet Spa Read online

  “He definitely is a great cat, and I feel very fortunate to have found him. Mandy said, feeling great about Roger.

  Vance asked, “Mandy, is it possible to have a play date with Roger? I'm thinking in the yard in front of my house. I just want to see him run and chase some toys things like that? It's a large space and he will have plenty of room to run and chase after birds.”

  Mandy found this request a little unusual, but considering Vance was a special needs person, she thought she should consider it.

  “On what day did you want to do this?”

  “Maybe this Saturday.”

  “Ok, let me check my schedule and I'll get back to you today.”

  “Thank you Mandy. I used to play with my cat Twinkles in the yard, ever since he passed on, it's something I haven't done.” Vance looked very happy at the prospect.

  “Ok, we'll talk later.” Mandy said. As she walked away, she thought of checking with Cynthia to see if this was normal behavior and a harmless request. She had mostly made up her mind to do it if only to make Vance happy. She figured, it's outside, it's in a yard, not much could go wrong. She figured it would be her good deed for the week.

  Jill showed up shortly thereafter. “I stopped to get a coffee and snacks, I wasn't sure how long we were going to be here.”

  Cynthia saw them as they came into the main lobby “Oh, I'm so glad you both could make it. I tried doing some stuff, but while I'm taking care of one animal, the others are looking at me, as though they're saying, hey, how about me?”

  “Yeah, I got a lot of that treatment at the shelter, so I know exactly what mean. I'd be tending to an animal, and the animal in the cage next door would be looking at me with big doe eyes saying 'Don't you like me?' I know the look.” Jill said jokingly.

  “Meanwhile, I think Vance is in love with Roger. He asked me for a playdate with Roger. Does that sound like something that's ok to do with him Cynthia?” Mandy asked.

  “Oh yes, Vance is a sweetheart, he's still hurting over his cat. They had to put it down because the poor thing had sickened far more than Vance knew.” Cynthia explained.

  “It's such a shame when you have to put an animal down. Especially when the pet belongs to someone like Vance, I'm sure he formed a strong emotional attachment to the cat.” Mandy said.

  “Yep. Vance sure loved his Twinkles, a sweet cat too. Twinkles was a frequent visitor to the office but we could tell the animal was sick. Karen knew a vet who did pro bono work and Vance brought him in. I forget what the vet diagnosed him with, but the cat was seriously sick and in a lot of pain. Vance was ignorant of how bad off the cat was.”

  “He must have been devastated.” Mandy said.

  “Oh yes. He moped around quite a bit and went to the clinic often during that period so he could cope with the loss. I know he still hasn't gotten over it. But you're doing a good thing giving him a 'playdate' with Roger. That's very nice of you Mandy.” Cynthia said.

  “Well, he is reminiscent of an expectant child when he asks, as though he is getting his pony for Christmas. It's hard to say no to the look on his face, and remembering the condition he was in last night, and seeing him today was like night and day, so I figured this would help his mental health. And it gives Roger an excuse to go running.” Mandy said.

  “It definitely helps his state of mind. He doesn't get too much understanding in his daily life. People do the bare minimum when dealing with him and don't give him a chance. I always try to make sure he's ok and most of the time he is. But little things like this make me feel there are other understanding people in the world too.” Cynthia said with a smile.

  “Believe me, I know how I felt when I lost my Fluffy.” Mandy said.

  “You had a cat before Roger?” Cynthia asked.

  “Oh yes, I had Fluffy for a full fifteen years. A long hair orange tabby, I had grown very attached to over the years. After his passing, I didn't get a cat for another seven years afterwards. Jill suggested on many occasions after a couple of years to get a new cat. She finally prodded me into getting a new cat since she knew it would make me happy.” Mandy explained.

  Jill said, “Yeah, you should have seen the first day when she came to the shelter. I wasn't sure if she'd punk out on me. I let her in a half hour earlier so she had plenty of time and nobody to disturb her. And unbeknownst to her, Roger was waiting for her in his little cage.”

  “Yes, that was one of the best things that ever happened to me. At first, I felt like a traitor to Fluffy for getting a new cat, but when I saw Roger, I knew he was the perfect cat for me. Something definitely clicked when he and I got together.” Mandy said.

  “That's great. I love hearing stories like that, of people finding their perfect pets. I hope I find a new dog in my future, but I'm not there yet.” Cynthia added.

  “We understand, and we can tell you from experience, when the time comes, there will be a great dog waiting for you.” Mandy said with Jill nodding. “So, what can we help you with today?”

  “Well, I have one dog needing brushing and Lana needs tending to.”

  “I'll take Lana since she and Roger seemed to bond yesterday.” Mandy said.

  “I'll take the dog. I've done this kind of work before.” Jill said, being very familiar with all kinds of pets.

  Chapter Nine

  Jeffrey left before Mandy and Jill arrived. He told Cynthia that in light of Karen's death, he needed to have a meeting with his business partners regarding the spa. That was partially true. Jeffrey had not been entirely forthright with the police or with Cynthia. Something happened and somebody killed Karen and he had a good idea as to who it was. But this was something he needed to discuss with his “partners” and not with the police. The meeting took place at Jeffrey's apartment, and on the surface, it appeared to be a group of guys getting together. Jeffrey called the meeting to order.

  Attending the meeting were the following: there was Jack, who was an internet marketer who didn't make much money, but it gave him an excuse to not look for a real job and live off his parents. The next member was Wesley, who had a dry cleaning business surviving on life support, but dangerously close to flatline. Last but not least was Peter, who owned a small deli that was struggling from day to day.

  “As I'm sure you've heard by now, Karen's been killed. The police are under the impression her boyfriend killed her and I want them to continue thinking that's what happened and to go chasing after him. However, I have a pretty good idea of who killed her and other things going on.”

  The other guys at the table looked at each other. Finally, Jack asked “Who was it Jeffrey?”

  Jeffrey continued “You probably noticed the absence of Mikey lately. Mikey was always a pain in the neck, always asking for more of his share, because he feels he was instrumental in hooking us up with the bank. I've engaged in a series of shouting matches with him where he wants a larger cut because of his contribution. It was great that he had this connection with the bank, that aspect of his involvement has worked very well in our favor. But after that, Mikey hasn't done anything else.

  “I don't have to explain to you that, we're not in any of our supposed businesses, we're in the money laundering business, and we're a satellite for a large syndicate whose main income is from heroin. We deposit the money, as though we're “buying” supplies for the business, and we get a cut of the money as new “customers”. Our connection in the bank has been very helpful with that. However, even the guy from the bank doesn't like Mikey. What the bank guy does enjoy is making regular side money.

  “Karen's been doing the books for us because I'm a lousy bookkeeper and she's been doing a great job. She's a girl who can be trusted, keeps her mouth shut, and she has been a great asset to the organization ever since she joined. I was really fond Karen. It's no secret we were involved a couple of months back. But because of her constant flirting, I had to put a stop to our relationship. It's hard having a relationship with somebody who wants as much attention as Karen did. Nevertheless, i
n spite of that, I kept hoping she would dump her new boyfriend soon and maybe we could try the relationship again.

  “But personal feelings aside, somebody killed her and that somebody is Mikey. Why did Mikey kill her you ask? Because he robbed the spa. When the cops came over to investigate the murder, they asked me if I noticed something missing. The safe was open and there were $25 thousand grand missing, our share of this month's money laundering. I didn't mention this to the cops because that money is part of our relationship with the syndicate. It was a real struggle not to get angry on the spot because I knew right then and there what had happened. If I was an actor, they would have given me an academy award.” (The others at the table laughed imagining Jeffrey accepting his award up at the podium.)

  “This is what probably happened. Mikey came at a time when he thought nobody would be around, to rob the safe. He came prepared for anything and even brought in the props to frame somebody in case he had to kill anyone in the process. He manages to get inside the pet spa and gets inside the office. He's in the middle of robbing us and Karen catches him. I'm sure Karen didn't threaten him or act aggressive in any way, but she tried to talk him down, played it real cool. She's very smart. Most likely, he played along with her until she trusted him and the minute her back was turned, he stabbed her. He did this with an army knife to frame the boyfriend and take the heat off himself. He takes the money and now he's on the run.

  “I've already discussed this with the syndicate and they're going to take care of the Mikey problem. They hire professionals that deal with this type of situations. When they find him, Mikey is just going to disappear. The money is another issue. We don't know if we'll ever get back the money he stole, which is more likely than not what he's living on right now. If we lose the money, it's our share, the syndicate has theirs, so we're ok. We want to avoid getting on the bad side of the syndicate. In their viewpoint, we need to exercise more care in choosing our partners. It was a poor business decision bringing Mikey into the group and the loss is ours.”

  Peter who had been listening to this asked, “Well, why don't we deal with the Mikey problem ourselves? He's more likely to trust us than the syndicate?”

  “I understand Peter, I'm as angry as you are with Mikey. But that's not who we are, we're not hired killers. We could kill him, theoretically, and maybe get part of our money back. The truth is, none of us became involved in this enterprise to become killers, we got into this to make extra money. So far, it's been and it will continue to be good as long as we continue to do what we've always done. As far as Mikey is concerned, the syndicate hires professionals whose full time job is to remediate situations such as this, and it takes the heat off us.” Jeffrey explained.

  The others nodded in understanding. Wesley added “Speaking for myself, I got involved with this for the money aspect. I'm not interested in murder or circumstances where we kill people.”

  “I understand perfectly Wesley. I keep asking myself why did he kill Karen? It was such a senseless death. He had so many other options. Hitting her over the head was one, using chloroform to knock her out is two, he could have done a hundred different things to subdue her without killing her. Did he really think we weren't going to figure out it was him who stole the money? It just goes to show how stupid he is. So, to be honest, yes, I have a personal stake in seeing Mikey dead, but I'm not going to be the one to kill him, even though he killed a good person for no good reason, other than he's crazy.

  “So, that's our position right now. Karen's dead, Mikey is on the run with the money. There's additional loose ends I'll make you aware of. The day before she died, Karen met an old friend of hers from high school, a Mandy Cummings. Now it's likely nothing happened and I'm sure Karen did not speak of our operation, she was never the kind to gossip regularly. But sometimes people re-connect with these old friends, they ask them what they've been doing and they feel they need to confess their recent doings to a comparative stranger. So Karen may have told them something of the operation, I don't know.

  “Normally, I wouldn't entertain these kinds of thoughts, but it turns out this Mandy is buddies with the chief of police in this county. So, it's pure speculation if Karen spoke with Mandy regarding our operation. Chances are she doesn't know anything. But to be on the safe side, Jack, I'm going to ask you to tail her for a while.

  “Why me?” Jack asked.

  “Well, for one, you have more free time, than Wesley and Peter. I would tail her, were it not for the fact she's met me and she can recognize me. She doesn't know you, so you could follow her for a while and she wouldn't be the wiser. If she ran into you, she wouldn't recognize you, you'd be another stranger in a sea of thousands. You don't need to engage her in any way. Keep tabs on her, take note of how many times she goes to the police station, what else she does. After a couple of days, we'll have more knowledge if she poses a threat to us or not. Chances are, nothing will happen and there's no reason to tail her any longer.

  “The other loose end we need to resolve is actually more important and dangerous. That also is being looked after by the syndicate. You see, in order for there not to be any record of our activities, Karen did the bookkeeping in a notebook. She figured if we were ever audited, they would look at our computer records and those would be on the up and up. But the notebook was where the creative bookkeeping took place, and if that falls into the wrong hands, we're up the creek without a paddle because it shows where the money is going and it incriminates us and the syndicate. Therefore, they're very concerned about the book. Aside from me looking in the spa, the syndicate also hires pros for these matters and they're going to search Karen's apartment. They figure, it's gotta be there or it's gotta be at the spa.

  “I'll look in the spa and I'll put Cynthia on the lookout for my notebook. She knows nothing regarding the business, I couldn't trust her to come into the group, but she's good at doing stuff at the spa and if she sees a notebook, she'll figure it's one of my personal things. She wouldn't give it a second thought.

  “So, that's where we stand and why I called you over for this meeting. We definitely did not need this and we've lost a valuable partner, thanks to some loser psychopath. The only satisfaction I'll get is when they tell me Mikey's dead. I could deal with him stealing the money, because we would catch him sooner or later and get the money back, or just make some more money. However, losing Karen, that's someone we're never going to get back.”

  The other men commiserated among themselves and told Jeffrey at how bad they felt knowing Karen was dead. Jack said, “Jeffrey, I'll keep an eye on this woman, you got a picture of her so I can recognize her later?”

  “Not right now, but she's supposed to visit the spa again. I'll call you when that happens and you can keep an eye out for her when she leaves the building. I don't believe she's a problem, but it doesn't hurt to be on the careful side. As a plus to us, if the syndicate sees we're being proactive in looking for problems, we can continue doing business with them in the future. So far, this has been a good money maker for us, and we don't want to lose this opportunity, because who knows if we'll ever get something similar to this again.”

  The other men nodded in agreement, they knew this was the easiest money they've made in their lives, and if they had to depend on their regular businesses, they wouldn't be making a living at all.

  Chapter Ten

  Back at the spa, Mandy, Jill and Cynthia were taking care of business with the customers and pets. Most of the pets were picked up, some customers expressed their sympathies for Karen and they hoped the police would catch whoever did it. Others picked up their pets and looked freaked out at having their pets exposed to a murder. She wondered if they would ever be back. Cynthia thought, well, if it comes to that, we'll put ads in the paper and get new customers.

  Mandy was overseeing Roger and Lana getting together, and Jill was in the last stages of grooming a poodle. In the middle of this, Jeffrey came back.

  “Hi Cynthia, how's it going. Did anybody come int
o work? Did the customers come to pick up their pets?”

  “Well, I got a hold of most of the customers who had their pets here. The bad news is, nobody wanted to come into work. I enlisted the aid of Mandy and Jill, Karen's friends who you met yesterday.” Cynthia explained.

  “They came in to work? Do they have any experience with animals?” Jeffrey asked surprised.

  “Oh yes, Jill has worked for years at an animal shelter and Mandy is another animal lover, so they're both taking care of whatever animals are left while we're waiting on their owners to come pick them up.” Cynthia said.

  “Well Cynthia, I'm glad you got things to work, even getting outside people on a moment's notice, that's pretty remarkable. Great job.” Jeffrey said.

  In the background, there were still a couple of lab guys from the police station finishing up whatever tests and searches for evidence that still needed to be done. Jeffrey went to the back of the spa to speak with Mandy and Jill.

  “Hi there. Listen, I wanted to thank you so much for pitching in and helping out. Your generosity is so out of the ordinary I truly am at a loss for words. The last thing I expected is that total strangers would come in to help the spa as opposed to my regular employees. With what happened to Karen I felt things would only get worse, so this is a real silver lining.”

  Mandy said “Oh, it's no problem. I could tell Cynthia was really stressed out and we love animals. It's really not a big deal for us to get involved where we can help animals out.”

  Jill said “Believe me, I've cleaned and groomed more animals than I can remember, so this is like riding a bike after a short while, you get the hang of it in no time at all.”

  “Well, thank you again, and if you ever need jobs, talk to me about working at the spa.” Jeffrey said.

  “We'll keep that in mind.” Mandy said.

  Then turning to Cynthia, Jeffrey said.