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Nobody moved, the man’s gleeful announcement leaving Kat, Imogene, and Veronica stunned speechless.
“Why the long faces, everyone?” He threw his hands toward the ceiling. “Praise the Lord, the nag is dead!”
Clementine reared back in Veronica’s arms, her blue eyes wide with alarm. She must have decided it would be better to put some distance between her and this bizarre man because she scrambled out of Veronica’s hold. Once her feet touched the floor she scampered down the hallway.
The man’s female companion hurried into the living room and tugged on his arm. “Melburn!”
“What?” He glided away from her. If anything, the smile on his face only seemed to have grown since he’d first stepped inside. “I’m not going to pretend I liked that intolerable shrew. You ask me, she deserved what she got.”
“Mellie!” the woman scolded again, more loudly this time. Her cheeks turned crimson as her eyes met Kat’s.
“It’s okay,” Veronica said, closing the door and reclaiming her seat on the wingback chair. “It’s no secret that none of us were fond of Lenora.”
Melburn looked between Imogene and Kat. “Did y’all know Lenora too?”
“Not well,” Imogene said as Kat shook her head.
“Imogene, Kat, this is the couple who lives directly west of Lenora, Melburn and Audrey Duncan,” Veronica said. To the Duncans, she added, “Imogene is a friend of mine. She’s helping me to get Mustang fixed.”
Melburn stabbed one forefinger in Imogene’s direction. “You’re the woman who killed her!”
Imogene tensed. “I most certainly am not.”
“Audrey said she heard you two arguing when she was tending to her flowers earlier,” Melburn went on. “Except she called you the cat trapper.” He lurched across the room and grabbed Imogene’s right hand, pumping it between his own. “I’m so pleased to make your acquaintance. And my sincere thanks for offing that infuriating woman.”
Imogene yanked her hand from Melburn’s. “I didn’t off anybody!”
The white cat turned cool, blue eyes toward Melburn as his tail began thumping against the paisley chair. Although the feline seemed to dislike Melburn’s loud tone, he didn’t appear to be distressed by the man’s presence. Kat wondered if Melburn visited often. Perhaps the white cat was used to his boisterous nature.
“Don’t be ashamed,” Melburn said to Imogene as he plopped onto the loveseat. “Why, you should be proud of yourself! You had the guts to do what all of us wanted to at one time or another.”
Veronica rolled her eyes. “Melburn, Imogene didn’t kill Lenora.”
“Oh, right.” He winked. “Can’t have the police knowing the truth, can we? Well, I’m just happy that miserable termite finally got what was coming to her. Believe me, I thought about sending her off to take a dirt nap myself a few times.”
Audrey reached over and pinched his arm. “Mellie!”
Melburn made a face. “You’re one to talk. You hated her as much as the next person, even if you’re too polite to say so. Don’t deny it.”
Audrey ignored Melburn, shifting her attention to Veronica as she sat down next to her husband. “I suppose there’ll be a funeral.”
Melburn snorted. “A funeral? For that wretched woman? We should throw a party!”
Before Audrey could pinch him again, he vaulted off the loveseat and plucked the white cat off of the chair. The feline’s eyes expanded to the size of watermelons as Melburn started dancing him around the living room. He released a desperate meow, then turned pleading eyes toward the other humans.
Audrey popped off the s0fa, her hands landing on her hips. “Mellie! You stop this crazy behavior right now! If you’re not careful, everybody is going to think you’re the one who killed Lenora.”
“Let them think what they want,” Melburn said, waltzing past her. “Imogene here is going to need someone else for the police to focus on anyway. Can’t have her going to jail for making this neighborhood a nicer place to live.”
Kat realized her mouth was hanging open and snapped it shut. Watching Melburn twirl around with Veronica’s cat as his hostage, she had to question whether the man was all there.
Audrey sank back onto the loveseat, shriveling against the side as though she hoped it would swallow her whole. Kat felt for her. She would be horribly embarrassed if it were Andrew making such a spectacle of himself. Melburn was bound to shoot straight to the top of the police’s suspect list if he acted like this in front of them.
Although, Kat considered, would he have thanked Imogene for her supposed role in the murder if he himself were guilty? She supposed his show of gratitude could have been an act to deflect suspicion away from himself. Then again, Melburn’s grasp on reality seemed tenuous at best. Maybe he had killed Lenora during a delusional moment and had promptly forgotten the incident.
“You’ll have to excuse him,” Audrey said, looking between Imogene and Kat. “It’s just that Lenora has been a thorn in his side since she bought that house last year.”
“Tell them about your cherry blossom tree,” Veronica said to Audrey.
Audrey groaned. “That darn tree. I should have chopped it down when Lenora first complained about it. That would have saved us all a lot of angst.”
Melburn came to an abrupt stop. “I love that tree. No way were we cutting it down because of that whiny she-devil.”
The white cat took advantage of Melburn’s momentary stillness to wriggle his way to freedom. With a meow of relief, he raced down the hallway to take refuge with the other cats.
“The Duncans have this gorgeous cherry blossom tree in their backyard,” Veronica told Imogene and Kat. “But it’s rather high-maintenance. Come autumn, it sheds leaves. Come spring, it sheds blossoms. Come summer, it sheds cherries.”
“Let me guess,” Imogene said. “Some of these leaves, blossoms, and cherries ended up on Lenora’s property.”
Melburn’s eyes flashed. “I volunteered to clean up that harpy’s yard, but did she thank me? No, she was too busy going off about how she shouldn’t have to look at the mess at all. And she most certainly doesn’t want me hanging around her backyard, peeping through the cracks in the curtains while she’s changing clothes.” He huffed. “As if I have any interest in seeing that harridan naked!”
Imogene shook her head. “Ridiculous.”
Melburn flopped onto the loveseat. “I had half a mind to circulate a petition after that run-in.”
“Melburn had it in his head to collect signatures to have Lenora forcibly removed from Cherry Hills,” Audrey told them. “But I talked him out of it.”
“Don’t know why,” Melburn grumbled. “Everybody on this side of the country would have signed.”
“I doubt a petition would have made a difference,” Veronica said. “Lenora owns—owned—her home outright. As much as we all wanted to, I don’t think any one of us could have forced her out of there against her will.”
Unless they were willing to resort to murder, Kat thought. But could a dispute over a cherry blossom tree really foster so much hatred between two neighbors that one would kill the other? It seemed ludicrous, but she supposed people had been killed over less.
Imogene slapped her thighs and stood up. “Well, I suppose we should get going, huh, Kat?”
Veronica leaped to her feet. “I’ll walk you out.”
Audrey gave them a little wave. “It was nice meeting you.”
“Likewise,” Kat replied.
She hoped Audrey couldn’t detect the waver in her voice. As friendly as the woman seemed, that didn’t mean she wasn’t a murderess.
