Curiosity Killed The Cat Sitter

“So why did you go apeshit just because you knew I was taking care of Marilee’s cat? You said, ‘I know nothing about this!’ What was it you knew nothing about?”

His Adam’s apple did a nervous bobble, and I got a whiff of sour breath. “Marilee and Shuga sometimes got involved in money-making schemes that turned out to be bogus. I guess I thought they were doing something shady again, and that you thought I was involved in it, too. Because I’d been involved with Marilee.”

I turned the key and started the Bronco. “Dr. Coffey, that’s about the lamest lie I’ve ever heard in my life. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”

He gave me a long-searching look, then opened his door. “I didn’t kill her,” he said. “I really did love her.”

I didn’t answer, and he shut the door softly and walked across the parking lot. I watched carefully, but his car wasn’t black. It was a red Porsche that fairly screamed man with little dick. Dr. Coffey might have been telling the truth about being with Marilee when she bought Ghost’s collar. He might even have been telling the truth about recognizing it on my wrist. But he sure as hell wasn’t telling the truth about why he’d jumped up and threatened to call the police when I spoke to him. He’d had some other fear in mind.

Thirty

I still had two more cats to see, and then I drove to the hospital to visit Phillip. I took the elevator to his floor and followed the arrows to the ICU. Even before I got there, I could hear the beeps of heart monitors and the occasional squeal of an IV or blood bag that had emptied. Doctors were making rounds, and the head nurse darted from cubicle to cubicle as private duty nurses stood aside like penitents at Mass while the doctors leaned over their patients. Fluorescent lights gave everybody a washed-out look. I turned toward Phillip’s cubicle, hoping he’d look better than he had before.

He wasn’t there. His entire room had been stripped, even to the wall cabinet unit that had held medical supplies.

I must have looked stricken, because the head nurse jogged over and put his hand on my shoulder.

“It’s all right,” he said. “He went home.”

“I was afraid he had—”

“I know. It’s this place. It makes you expect the worst. To tell the truth, I don’t know why they put him here. His injuries weren’t that critical.”

“It was for the extra security. I’m surprised the doctor dismissed him so soon.”

He looked uncomfortable. “Well, she didn’t. His father came and took him against the doctor’s advice. He said he could recuperate at home just as well as here, and he took him. We couldn’t legally keep him.”

I could feel myself going pale. I felt as if I’d just heard Phillip had been shipped off to hell.

The nurse read my face and shrugged. “We did all we could to change his mind, but once the Sheriff’s Department removed him from protective custody, we were helpless.”

“Did anybody contact Lieutenant Guidry?”

An alarm sounded in one of the cubicles, and he skittered backward a few steps with an apologetic smile. “I’m not sure. We’re so busy.”

He ran to help somebody whose condition was truly critical, and I retraced my steps down the hall, dialing Guidry as I walked. He wasn’t in, so I left a message on his voice mail, telling him that Phillip wasn’t safely tucked away in the hospital any longer, but with his parents.

Morosely, I drove to Bayfront Village, where I found Cora up and dressed. She looked worn, but a lot stronger.

“I decided to go downstairs and have a bite in the dining room,” she said. “I guess I’ve been in this room by myself long enough.”

“That’s good, Cora. Is there anything I can do for you while I’m here?”

“No, dear, I’m all right for now. You’ve been very sweet to look in on me, Dixie. You’re a good girl.”

We went into the hall, and as I helped her lock her door, I said, “Cora, what do you know about Dr. Coffey?”

She smiled. “Oh, he’s a strange man, dear. I don’t go to him anymore, not since he and Marilee split up. They were engaged, you know.”

We started walking toward the elevator, Cora taking teensy steps and me slowing down to such a slow pace that I felt off balance.

I said, “I talked to him this morning and he said he had been so jealous of Marilee that he would hide in the bushes and watch her house. I’m wondering if he kept doing that even after they broke off their engagement.”

“You’re wondering if he killed Harrison and Marilee?”

“I’ve thought about that, yes.”

“Dixie, I told you before, Harrison Frazier killed Marilee. Now I don’t know who killed Harrison, and I can’t say that I care a whole lot. That’s awful, I know, but it’s the truth.”

“Was Dr. Coffey always your doctor?”