Meow or Never (Vanessa Abbot Cat Protection League Cat Cozy Mystery Series Book 3) Read online

  Meow or Never

  Nancy C. Davis

  ©2015 Nancy C. Davis

  Copyright © 2015

  No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known, hereinafter invented, without express written permission from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Thank you

  Your Gifts

  Books in the Series

  Chapter 1

  Vanessa Abbot and Pete Wheeler strolled down the main street of Caspar Crossing. Their joined hands swung to the rhythm of their stride. Pete stopped in front of the bank. “I should get back to work. My lunch break is over.”

  Vanessa nodded. “Will I see you later?”

  “I have to go to a department meeting tonight,” he told her. “Why don’t we put it off until tomorrow?”

  “I can’t see you tomorrow,” she replied. “I’m meeting the state representative from the Cat Protection League. What about Friday?”

  He laughed. “Listen to us. We have to plan our meetings around our social schedules.” His phone jingled in his pocket and he examined the screen.

  “I have to go. There’s been an accident over at the aluminum plant.”

  “What happened?” Vanessa asked.

  He held up his phone. “The call-out says a ruptured gas line caught fire. Someone has been killed, and two others wounded.”

  Vanessa grimaced. “How awful.”

  “Why don’t you come with me?” he asked. “You can help me with the investigation.”

  Vanessa backed away. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. What would Captain Jameson say?”

  “He won’t mind,” Pete replied. “He knows you helped solve the last two cases. Besides, you’re just coming along. You won’t be doing any real police work.”

  “Are you sure about this?” she asked. “What if you get into trouble?”

  “I won’t,” he replied. “I wouldn’t offer if there was any chance of that happening. Come on.”

  Vanessa smiled. “All right.” She fell in at his side.

  “But we won’t be able to hold hands,” he told her. “We have to keep it strictly professional.”

  “Right,” she replied.

  They crossed the town, passed the rail station, and arrived at the aluminum plant. Police cars and uniformed officers cordoned off the site, but they waved Pete and Vanessa through. Pete checked in with the guard at the front gate, who directed them to the foundry on the east side of the plant.

  Fire trucks, ambulances, water tankers, and dozens of people surrounded the building as a dense black cloud of smoke billowed out of the roof. Pete sidled up to another plain-clothes detective. “Do you know what happened?”

  The other detective shrugged. “One of the gas lines blew. It was one of the lines supplying the main furnace, and when the line gave out, the pilot light of the furnace ignited the gas. There was one huge explosion. The first victim was Ronald Eastman, one of the pipe fitters. He was fixing a hinge on the cover of the main forge. The impact knocked him off his scaffolding and he fell fifty feet onto the floor below. The fall killed him instantly. The other victims were already on the floor, and they were only injured.”

  “Does anyone know what caused the line to fail?” Pete asked.

  “It could have been anything,” the other detective replied. “Maybe it had some weakness. Who knows?”

  “Is the building secure?” Pete asked.

  The man gestured toward the fire crew. “Ask them. I haven’t been inside to find out.”

  Pete nodded and went to talk to the fire crew. He came back to Vanessa’s side. “They say it’s secure. Let’s go in.”

  Vanessa glanced up at the smoke. “Are you sure this is a good idea? The place could explode again.”

  He shook his head. “The gas is turned off. The power is turned off. The whole plant has been shut down until we find out what caused the accident. Now come on.”

  He led her through the bustle of emergency personnel to the main door. They tiptoed into the foundry and peered around. Everywhere on all sides, gleaming metal equipment towered to the ceiling. Only one giant container with pipes running all around it stood black and destroyed in the middle of the main floor.

  “I guess that’s the forge that blew up,” Vanessa remarked.

  Pete nodded. “I don’t think we’re going to get a chance to inspect the gas line that broke either. It must have blown up in the explosion.”

  “So how can you investigate the accident?” she asked. “You have no clues.”

  He shot her a grin. “There is one thing I’m sure of, though. Even if we can’t look at it to find out, I would say this explosion was no accident.”

  “What makes you say that?” she asked.

  He led her to the blackened forge.

  “Look at this.” He rubbed his thumb over a thin tub of metal. The soot smeared away under his touch, and bright orange metal gleamed underneath.

  “Copper. The gas lines that feed into this forge are manufactured to a very narrow specification range. They don’t leave the factory with weaknesses. That gas line didn’t just fail by itself. Someone must have tampered with it.”

  “How do you know someone didn’t accidentally bang it, dent it and weaken it?” she asked. “The gas lines in this foundry must have been installed a while ago. Anything could have happened.”

  “That just goes to show how it is when you’re President of the Cat Protection League instead of a detective,” he told her. “The plant owner put in all new gas lines two years ago. And look at this.” He gestured toward a wall behind her.

  Huge posters covered the wall. They listed every detail of the plant’s safety regulations, including where and under what circumstances scaffolding could be erected around the forge to conduct repairs.

  “See this?” Pete asked. “This is a roster of all the fitters and engineers who worked on the forge. It lists the times and locations of all their repairs. None of them could have accidentally damaged that gas line.”

  “But you’re saying someone deliberately sabotaged the gas line to make it leak and blow up,” Vanessa pointed out. “That would be.....”

  Pete nodded. “That would make this accident a murder scene.”

  Vanessa caught her breath. “What do we know about the victim, Ronald Eastman?”

  Pete checked the wall chart. “He was one of ten pipe fitters on shift at the time. He was working over there, on the other side of the secondary forge.”

  “But that’s nowhere near this forge,” Vanessa pointed out. “It must have been an incredible explosion to throw him off a scaffold all the way over there.”

  “
Here’s what I don’t understand,” Pete replied. “Let’s say someone tampered with the gas line to make it blow up. How could they know it would blow right at the moment Eastman was on the scaffold? They couldn’t have timed the explosion that perfectly unless they had some kind of explosive device planted on the gas line to make it blow right at that moment. See what I mean?”

  Vanessa nodded. “Maybe they didn’t care who they killed. Maybe this is a case like Ollie Fleetwood planting that poisoned wine in Sergio’s restaurant. Maybe the killer only wanted to kill somebody, anybody, to discredit the plant.”

  “I don’t think so,” he replied. “I don’t think they would go to all that trouble. Look at this place. This plant takes safety very seriously. They couldn’t operate if they didn’t. Everyone in this plant is highly trained and regulations are tight. How could the killer sneak in here to sabotage that gas line?”

  “We’re assuming the killer was after Eastman,” Vanessa added. “Maybe he wasn’t the intended victim at all. Maybe the killer was after someone else in the plant.”

  Pete stroked his chin. “We can ask the foreman if Eastman was scheduled to be working on that scaffold, or if he was taking someone else’s place. In the meantime, we can look into Eastman’s personal life and find out if he had any enemies.”

  “We should also look into the plant owners and managers,” Vanessa suggested. “Maybe they have an ex-employee who wanted to damage the plant or hurt someone.”

  “That’s a good idea,” he replied. “But that could be anyone. You know how it is when someone gets fired or leaves under a black cloud.”

  “We can still check,” she told him. “I’m sure the plant employment records will tell us if anyone got fired recently.”

  “There could also be employees with behavior problems still working at the plant,” Pete replied. “We could see if any of the current employees are under disciplinary review or have been given warnings. There’s no one who would have a better opportunity to sabotage the plant than the current employees.”

  The sound of voices interrupted their conversation, and four men in yellow hard hats crossed the floor. The man in the lead waved his hand. “You can’t be in here. This is an accident scene. The place could blow up again at any moment. You’ll have to leave.”

  Detective Wheeler pulled himself up and faced the man. “I’m a homicide detective, and I’m investigating this accident. The fire crew told me the place was secure.”

  The other man bristled. “I don’t care if you’re the President of the United States. I’m Douglas Middleton. I’m the manager of this plant, and I’ll be the one to decide who comes and who goes. Now get out of here before.....”

  Pete cut him off. “Before what? Before you call the police? Go ahead. I am the police, and I’m investigating a homicide here. Now, you get out and stop obstructing justice or I’ll arrest you.”

  The plant manager frowned. “This was not a homicide. It was an accident.”

  Pete shook his head. “No, it wasn’t. Someone must have tampered with the gas line.”

  “You’re an idiot and we have work to do. We don’t have time to stand around arguing with you about it.” The plant manager waved to his men. “You men get to work to restart the forge. We have a dozen orders waiting, and every hour the plant stands idle is money lost.”

  Pete raised his hand and his voice thundered through the plant. “Stop right there. Any man who lays a finger on any piece of equipment in this foundry is contaminating the scene of a crime. Middleton, get your men out of here before I have all of you hauled away in a paddy wagon.”

  Middleton glared at Pete, but his men backed away and disappeared out the door. Middleton growled in disgust. “You won’t get away with this.” He followed his men outside.

  “Wow,” Vanessa murmured. “He didn’t want you investigating this crime, did he?”

  Pete shrugged. “He’s probably just anxious about getting the plant up and running again. That’s only natural.”

  “I don’t know,” Vanessa countered. “He’s the plant manager. He should be as concerned about safety as he is about production. Besides, he should have known as well as you did that the gas line didn’t just fail by itself. Maybe he has something to hide.”

  Pete elbowed her with a playful grin. “You let me know if you spot any other potential suspects.” He pulled out his phone. “I better call Captain Jameson and tell him what we found. We should get the crime lab over here to go over the building.”

  “What can they hope to find?” she asked. “Everything will have been destroyed in the blast.”

  “They have protocols for reconstructing explosions,” he told her. “They can piece a whole building back together from twisted scraps of metal.”

  Chapter 2

  Pete Wheeler sat down at Vanessa’s kitchen table and sighed. “What a day I’ve had!”

  Vanessa set down a cup of tea at his elbow. “It wasn’t the department meeting, was it?”

  “That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” he replied. “No, I just had a long meeting with the crime scene investigator assigned to the aluminum plant case. He gave me this.” He held up a narrow, paper-sized box.

  “What’s in it?” she asked.

  “It’s all the evidence they took from the blast site,” he told her. “I was hoping you could go over it with me.”

  “I’d love to,” she replied. “You know how much I like helping you with your cases.”

  Pete set the box down on the table and looked around. “Where’s Henry? Maybe he’d like to have a look, too.”

  Vanessa laughed. “Funny. No, he’s camped out in front of the fire with Aurora.”

  “Aurora?” he asked. “I thought Alexis Fleetwood adopted her.”

  “She did,” Vanessa replied. “After Ollie was arrested for killing Sergio and Angus Furley, she wanted a kitten for her children. She thought it would cheer them up. Everything was going well, and Aurora and the children really loved each other. But then Alexis decided to sell the house and move back to Ohio to live closer to her family.”

  “I can’t really blame her,” Pete remarked. “She’ll need all the help she can get when it comes to raising two children by herself.”

  “Exactly,” Vanessa agreed. “So she couldn’t take Aurora after all. I have to find another home for her.”

  “That’s too bad,” Pete exclaimed. “She’s such a nice kitten.”

  “She’s lovely,” Vanessa agreed. “She needs the social contact of young people. She doesn’t belong in this dingy old apartment with a cat lady and a bunch of old cats.”

  “I would take her myself if I thought she would be happy,” Pete went on.

  “You!” Vanessa cried. “You live in a rented room in a boarding house. You couldn’t take a cat.”

  Pete shrugged. “Mrs. Harris wouldn’t mind. She’d love a cat. But as you say, Aurora is a young cat who needs young people. She wouldn’t be happy at Mrs. Harris’s house.”

  Vanessa turned back to the box. “Let’s have a look at what you brought.”

  Pete slid the lid off the box and lifted out the first page of the documents inside. “Right. Here we have a photograph of the gas line in question.”

  “I thought you said there would be nothing left of it,” Vanessa reminded him.

  “That’s what I thought,” he replied. “Those crazy crime scene investigators found it and put the whole puzzle back together. They’re amazing, really. Just look at this, I was right. It was tampered with.”

  “How can you tell?” she asked. “All I see is a piece of torn metal.”

  He put his finger on the photograph. “See that right there? That circle is the indentation of a drill bit. Someone drilled into the wall of the copper tubing to weaken it.”

  “But the tubing didn’t give way right there,” Vanessa pointed out. “If it had, we wouldn’t be looking at it. See? It tore away over here, half an inch away.”

  “That’s right,” he replied. �
��That’s because the weakness in this part of the tubing put added stress on the copper farther along the line. It buckled here and tore out there. That’s the way it works.”

  Vanessa shook her head. “I don’t understand it, but I’ll take your word for it. So we have evidence that Eastman was murdered. Now how are we going to find out who did it?”

  He set the photograph aside. “Here we have a schedule of everyone who went in and out of the foundry in the last month. This roster lists a hundred and fifty names.”

  Vanessa gasped. “How are we going to go through all those? We’d be sitting here until doomsday.”

  “We’re not going to go through it all,” he replied. “We’re going to make a priority list of potential suspects and cross-match it with what we know about anyone else who might have had a motive to blow up the forge.”

  “But that list doesn’t even count people from outside the plant who might have wanted to kill Eastman,” she pointed out. “It also doesn’t count the people who might have wanted to kill someone else in the plant but got Eastman by mistake. That list doesn’t tell us anything.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” he told her. “Look here. This list covers everyone who went into and out of the foundry, including regular employees and other people who were casual visitors or building inspectors.”

  “Does it show anything out of the ordinary?” she asked.

  “We can rule out delivery drivers and messengers,” he replied. “They wouldn’t have been in the foundry long enough to drill a hole in the gas line. The killer must have been in the building without supervision long enough to climb up the scaffolding and drill that hole without raising suspicion.”

  “That’s a long time,” she remarked.

  “That’s nothing,” he told her. “The scaffolding would have to be positioned in the right place beforehand. That in itself is a six-hour job. It’s not as though our killer could walk in, move the scaffold from one part of the foundry to another, climb up and drill the hole, and run away while everyone else was on their lunch break. This murder took a lot of planning.”