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Kat’s heart lurched when she saw Mitch Townsend pounding on Ani’s front door as Andrew pulled up to the curb in front of her house.
“You ought to stay in the car,” Andrew said, turning off the ignition and unbuckling his seat belt.
She touched his arm. “Please be safe.”
“I will.” He gave her a reassuring smile, then climbed out of the driver’s seat.
Kat couldn’t breathe as she watched him walk up the driveway. She could hear Mitch yelling even with the car windows rolled up. She couldn’t make out what he was saying, but he was clearly worked up about something.
Andrew stopped a few yards away. He must have said something because Mitch whirled around. Mitch’s face was red, and he shouted something at Andrew. The wide gap between his feet and the tight set of his jaw made it clear he was spoiling for a fight.
Andrew extended his arm. Kat saw a brown square in his hand—his badge, most likely. But Mitch wasn’t paying that much attention. In his readiness for battle he must have assumed Andrew was taking a swing at him. It only took two seconds for Mitch to draw his arm back and throw his fist forward.
Kat jerked toward the window, her breath catching in her throat. She pressed her fingertips against the glass as adrenaline gushed through her bloodstream. It wasn’t until she registered that Andrew had successfully deflected Mitch’s blow that she could inhale again.
Then, before she even knew what was happening, Mitch was on the ground with Andrew’s knee pressed into his back. The metal handcuffs seemed to appear from out of nowhere. Andrew snapped them around Mitch’s wrists, leaving him immobilized.
Kat scrambled for the door handle, figuring Andrew wouldn’t object to her getting out of the car now. She was racing up the driveway when Ani pried her front door open.
“Kat,” Ani said, “thank goodness you came.”
“Are you okay?” Kat asked. The contrast between Ani’s abnormally pale complexion and her abundance of black hair was startling.
“I’m fine.” Ani pressed one hand to her chest. “Just shaken.”
“This is police brutality!” Mitch yelled. “I’ll have your badge for this! You wait and see.”
Andrew appeared unfazed as he used the handcuffs to haul Mitch to his feet. He looked at Kat and Ani. “I’ve got to go book him. Will you be okay?”
Kat nodded. “I’ll get Ani to give me a ride home.” She shot a questioning glance at Ani, who bobbed her head in confirmation.
“Stop by the station afterward and give them a statement,” Andrew told Ani. He was already walking Mitch down the driveway.
“Thank you,” Ani said to Andrew.
“You’ll pay for this!” Mitch bellowed over his shoulder.
Kat couldn’t tell if he was talking to her or Ani, but the conviction in his voice made her shudder.
Ani clutched Kat’s elbow. “Don’t listen to him. Let’s go inside.”
Ani’s fingers were trembling and her touch was cold as she led Kat into the house. For her sake, Kat hoped Andrew found a reason to keep Mitch in jail for a while.
Ani steered Kat down the hallway. “You might as well say hi to Bonnie and Clyde while you’re here. I’m telling you, Kat, they might be the only things keeping me from having a nervous breakdown right about now.”
“Cats can be very soothing presences,” Kat agreed. “They show us how to live in the moment and enjoy life’s little pleasures, even when it feels like there isn’t much to celebrate.”
“That’s for sure.”
Bonnie and Clyde were both lying atop the blanket on the window seat again. Bonnie looked as if she were attempting to get some shut-eye while Clyde entertained himself by batting at her tail. As relaxed as they seemed, Kat figured they must not have heard the commotion outside—a small miracle given how loudly Mitch had been shouting.
The sight of them loosened the knot in Kat’s chest. “I swear Clyde looks bigger than he did twenty-four hours ago.”
“He’s growing amazingly fast.” Ani smiled at her charges. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s gained a pound since his last weigh-in.”
Kat perched on the window seat and held her hand out to the kitten. Clyde scrambled over to her, his stubby little legs wobbling as the seat cushion yielded to the pressure of his footsteps.
Unable to resist, Kat scooped him up and planted a kiss on the top of his tiny head. Then she set him in her lap, where he promptly rolled over onto his back and swatted at her fingers.
“Ahh, those toes,” Kat said, making a game out of evading Clyde’s attempts to grab her finger while she tapped each of his impossibly small pink toe pads in turn.
Bonnie roused herself with a yawn. She blinked her eyes, then watched Kat and Clyde for a moment. She must have decided Clyde was in good hands, because she settled back down with her paws folded underneath her chest.
Ani sat down and stroked Bonnie from head to tail. “Kat, I hate to burden you with this, but would you go with me to the police station when I give my statement?”
Kat glanced at her, but Ani wouldn’t meet her eye. “Sure.”
“Thanks.”
They petted the cats, the sound of Bonnie’s smooth and steady purr and Clyde’s stuttering one filling the room. Kat could tell from the crease in Ani’s brow that her thoughts were still on Mitch. She tried to think of something to say to help put her at ease, but everything she came up with sounded like a hollow platitude.
It was Ani who finally broke the silence. “You and that police officer are close, huh?” she said.
A snippet of last night’s conversation from Taste of Tuscany popped into her head. You two married? Not yet.
“You could say that,” Kat replied.
“Has he told you anything about that attorney’s murder? Jay LaPierre’s?”
“Eunice Berkowitz, a former client of the opposition, confessed to killing him,” Kat told her, hoping she wasn’t expected to keep that information confidential.
Ani finally looked up. “She did?”
Kat nodded.
“Oh, thank goodness.” Ani sagged against the windowpane behind her as if a hundred-pound weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
“Do you know Eunice?” Kat asked.
“No. And I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. I’m just relieved it wasn’t Mitch. Ever since yesterday when you were asking me all those questions about what time Mitch was here and whether he owned a gun I haven’t been able to shake the thought that maybe he was the one who did it. So to hear he didn’t . . . well, it greatly eases my conscience.”
Kat could understand Ani’s relief. Having an ex-husband with anger management issues was one thing. Having an ex who was a murderer was quite another.
Without warning, Bonnie jumped to her feet and rocketed across Kat’s lap. Kat leaned back with a gasp. Then she realized why Bonnie was so fired up. Clyde was making his way across the window seat and now tottered dangerously close to the edge. He was so lightweight Kat hadn’t noticed he’d even crawled out of her lap.
Bonnie clamped her jaws around the scruff of the kitten’s neck, prompting him to release a tiny mew of protest. But Bonnie didn’t let go until she’d carried him back into the safe zone.
Ani straightened the cats’ blanket. “She’s a good mama, very protective.”
“I can see that.” Kat’s heart rate still hadn’t returned to normal.
“She would do anything for Clyde. I guess she’s no different from any other mother, but this is the first time I’ve really gotten the chance to observe a cat and her kitten together.”
Ani’s words bounced around in Kat’s head. There was something important to be gleaned from what she’d said, if Kat could just figure out what it was.
And then it hit her. The realization was so obvious she couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen it before.
Kat vaulted off the window seat. “Ani, I need to get to the police station.”
Ani seemed startled by her sudden urgency, but she dutifully rose to her feet. “Is something wrong?”
“Yes.” Kat started for the door. “Andrew arrested the wrong person for Jay LaPierre’s murder.”
