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“Three years ago, Natalie Grimes was fatally stabbed in her small hometown of Ketchum, Idaho, located about a hundred miles east of Boise,” Andrew Milhone said, reading from his cell phone.
“I still can’t believe she was killed three years ago,” Kat said.
“Yep. June fourteen, 2013, to be exact.”
Kat stepped over Tom, her big black-and-brown cat, who kept running in front of her as she paced back and forth across her living room. The events of that morning had left her feeling restless, and as soon as her workday had ended at five she had phoned Andrew, her boyfriend and a detective with the Cherry Hills Police Department, hoping he could help her to make sense of things. But he didn’t seem to know much more than the little bit she had been able to glean online in between client meetings.
Thank goodness for Google.
Andrew continued reading. “It happened in her apartment. She was thirty-six years old.”
Kat narrowly avoided stepping on Tom as he dashed in front of her once more. He seemed to have mistook her constant movement for a game, one he could only win by knocking her off her feet. So far she had managed to avoid a face plant, but she wouldn’t be surprised if she succumbed before the evening was over.
“There were no defensive wounds found on her body,” Andrew said, “and the authorities believe she was knocked unconscious before she was killed.”
“That’s . . . awful.” Kat felt queasy imagining it.
Matty, Kat’s yellow-and-brown tortoiseshell, grunted her agreement from the cat tree by the window. Or perhaps she was merely encouraging Tom to double down on his efforts to trip their human.
“On the night of the murder, her neighbors reported hearing her arguing with someone,” Andrew went on. “It was later confirmed by looking at her online calendar that Grimes had an appointment scheduled with twenty-nine-year-old Zachary Lawson that evening. Lawson had been a Ketchum resident for about seven years at the time, having moved there after spending most of his life near Bend, Oregon. While he wasn’t as well-known as Natalie, enough people had seen him around town to recognize him on sight.”
“And the neighbors are positive Zack is the person who killed her?” Kat asked.
“This article doesn’t make any definitive accusations, but one neighbor claims she saw Lawson jumping into an old brown sedan parked outside Grimes’s apartment building around the time of the murder. And later, a brown sedan registered to Lawson was found abandoned in Boise. Not only that, but a bloody pocket knife with a blade size consistent with the dimensions of Grimes’s wounds was recovered from the passenger floorboard.”
Kat couldn’t deny the abundance of evidence was damning.
Andrew tapped the screen of his cell phone. “According to one neighbor, Lawson was a regular visitor of Grimes’s, especially in the weeks leading up to her death. It was later confirmed they were forming a start-up together.”
“What kind of start-up?”
“Their focus was on designing an app to match people who had been out drinking with designated drivers.”
Kat considered that. “Sounds like a good service.”
“You’re not the only one who thinks so.” Andrew looked up from the phone, his eyebrows crawling up his forehead. “Supposedly they had a couple financial backers lined up who were willing to invest six figures in technology development.”
“Whoa.”
Even Tom looked impressed. He let out a high-pitched chirp, then licked his lips, likely imagining all of the cat food such a huge sum could buy.
Andrew set his phone in his lap. “And to think Lawson’s been on the run this whole time.”
“He says he didn’t do it.”
Kat could still see the fear stamped on Zack’s face as Chief Kenny led him into the elevator, Officer Leon trailing close enough behind to intervene if Zack resisted. But Zack hadn’t tried to escape. His only reaction had been to glance back over his shoulder as the elevator doors were closing, a wild look in his eye as he cried out, ‘I didn’t do it!’
“I have no grounds to say whether he did it or not,” Andrew replied, “but the fact that he disappeared right after the murder and that nobody’s spotted him until now seems awfully suspicious.”
Matty licked one paw and dragged it over her ears, the motion making it appear as if her head were bobbing up and down in agreement.
Kat turned around to begin another lap around the room only for Tom to block her path by lying down with one paw stretched out in front of him. “How did Chief Kenny know he was wanted?”
“We got a call at the station. I was there when it came in. Chief probably wouldn’t have arrested Lawson himself, except he was having breakfast with Raoul right around the corner from your building at the time.”
“Is he getting you involved?” Kat asked. “I mean, you are CHPD’s star detective.”
Andrew’s lips quirked. “I’m not so sure about that. You seem to close out more cases than I do. But as far as this one is concerned, we’re both off the hook. The boondocks of Idaho is way outside my jurisdiction.”
“Will Zack be shipped back there?”
“Yep, since that’s where his arrest warrant was issued. It may take a couple days to work through the logistics of transferring him though.”
Matty caught Kat’s gaze, her ears pricking. Kat wasn’t positive, but the feline seemed to be asking if her human planned to do a little sleuthing while Zack was still detained in Cherry Hills.
Kat gave the tortoiseshell a head shake. Not only was Idaho miles away, but Natalie Grimes’s murder had happened three years ago. She wouldn’t even know where to begin if she chose to investigate.
Still, she couldn’t get Zack’s plea out of her head. Was he telling the truth when he said he didn’t do it, or was his protestation of innocence merely a last-ditch attempt to avoid going to jail?
“Who alerted the police to Zack’s presence in Cherry Hills?” she asked.
Andrew rested one ankle atop the opposite knee as he reclined against the couch. “I don’t have a name.”
Tom must have interpreted Andrew’s relaxed posture as an invitation to join him. With a yelp of delight, the feline trotted across the room and hopped onto Andrew’s lap. Chin in the air, he flashed Kat a look of complete and utter contentment.
“Someone in Cherry Hills must know Zack from Idaho,” Kat mused aloud. “How else would they know about that active arrest warrant?”
“Chief was scant on details, but I caught a glimpse of the call log.” Andrew lifted his eyebrows. “Kat, the incoming number had a prefix identical to your work number.”
Her mouth slipped open. “You’re saying someone I work with might have made that call?”
Tom meowed as though to echo Kat’s disbelief. Matty’s whiskers twitched, the discomfiting news evidently not sitting right with her either.
Kat thought back. Had any of her coworkers ever mentioned living in Idaho at one point? She didn’t think so. Then again, a casual comment to the fact could quite possibly have gone unnoticed.
She pivoted on her heel and snatched her cell phone off the coffee table.
Both Tom and Andrew regarded her with their heads tilted at the same questioning angle. “What are you doing?” Andrew asked.
“Pulling up the latest DataRightly office directory. They send these to us every six months.” Kat scrolled through her saved emails until she found what she was looking for, then flopped onto the couch next to Andrew. “Here it is.”
Andrew peered over her shoulder as she perused the list. Tom must have figured they were working on a meal plan for him or something equally exciting. He stretched his neck out in order to sniff the edge of her cell phone before rubbing his cheek against the corner.
“I’m hoping one of these names triggers a memory about a mention of Idaho,” Kat told Andrew. “Maybe that would give us a clue who turned in Zack.”
“And what are you going to do if you identify who made the call?” Andrew asked.
“I’m not sure yet. Ask them about it at work tomorrow, I guess.”
Although she still had her gaze fixed on her phone, Kat could feel Andrew’s eyes on her. The disapproval seemed to radiate from him.
She dared to peek at him. “What?”
He gave her a level look down the bridge of his nose. “You know what.”
She set her phone in her lap. “You think I should butt out and mind my own business.”
“Darn right I do. This is a murder we’re talking about, Kat. You have no business getting involved.”
“Zack said he’s innocent. I’m not sure if I can ignore that.”
“Did it ever occur to you he might have been lying?”
A hank of Andrew’s sandy hair had fallen over one eye while he was scolding her, and now Kat had to fight the urge to push it back. “Of course it occurred to me. But don’t you think a murder charge is serious enough to give him the benefit of the doubt? If I could just speak with the person who—”
“Kat.”
The single word was infused with so much admonishment even Tom looked chastised. He stood up and scooted over to Kat’s lap, sitting down on her cell phone before she had a chance to move it.
“Leave Natalie Grimes’s murder up to the Idaho authorities,” Andrew said.
Kat was about to tell him wanting to see justice served went beyond any professional responsibility, but a familiar swooping sound coming from her phone diverted her attention.
She poked Tom in the ribs. “What did you do?”
He adopted a guileless look, pleading his innocence with a chirp as he relocated back to Andrew’s lap.
Andrew nodded at her phone. “Did he do something?”
“He must have deleted my office directory. The email isn’t here anymore.” Kat tapped the screen a few times until she located the Trash folder. “Yup. Here it is.”
Andrew smirked. “Who knew cats were prone to butt-dialing?”
“More like butt-deleting.” Kat pressed a button to restore the email. “All better.”
Tom meowed before wrapping his tail around his paws. Kat figured the slight head tilt he affected as he gave her a doe-eyed look was the closest she would get to an apology.
She scratched his head. “Don’t worry, I’m not mad at you. No harm, no foul.”
Tom purred.
“You let him get away with too much,” Andrew commented.
From across the living room, Matty grunted her agreement. If the tortoiseshell were human, Kat suspected she would be an uncompromising disciplinarian.
“What am I supposed to do?” Kat asked, unsure whether she was addressing Andrew or Matty. “Send him to his room? I guarantee I would be the one suffering in that case. He hates closed doors and would spend his entire confinement trying to burrow his way out of the bedroom. Have you ever listened to the sound of claws tearing into carpet? It’s worse than nails on a chalkboard.”
Andrew grinned. “And all this time I thought that was your bedroom, not Tom’s.”
“Yeah, well, you thought wrong.”
Andrew’s phone buzzed. He glanced at it. “Chief wants me down at the station.”
“This late?” Kat’s stomach clenched. “It’s about Zack Lawson, isn’t it?”
“He just wants to brief everyone.”
“So there’s nothing new to report? He hasn’t made a confession or anything?”
“If he did, Chief is keeping that to himself, at least until I get down there.”
Andrew tried to nudge Tom aside, but the stubborn cat refused to budge, prompting Andrew to forcibly pick him up. Tom didn’t appreciate being manhandled. He released a meow of protest before attempting to bite Andrew’s hand.
Andrew set Tom on the floor, earning an irate tail flick from the feline. But he didn’t appear to notice. His gaze was on Kat.
“Extraditing a prisoner to another state is not something anyone at CHPD has done before,” he said. “I’m sure Chief just wants to make sure everyone is aware of the proper protocol.”
“Well, let me know if he tells you anything important,” Kat said.
Andrew slipped on his coat. “If I can, I will.”
She supposed that was the most she could ask for.
He set his palms on both her shoulders and leaned down for a goodbye kiss. When it was over, Kat spied Matty eyeing them with undisguised disgust.
For a brief second, she felt a laugh bubbling up her throat, but the events of the day had clearly taken their toll.
Somehow, no sound came out.
