Murder Came Second by Jessica Thomas

Elaine flatly and consistently denied her father had ever touched either her or, she was sure, Bobby, improperly.”
    More commercials. No more pizza, and finally, the end of the Leonard saga.
    The psychiatrist Jeff Leonard had agreed to see was never found and was thought to be a figment of Virginia’s imagination. Elaine quietly stuck to her story. Bobby stuck hysterically but vaguely to his and was thought to be lying. Medical examinations showed no signs of abuse to either child. One shrink added that Bobby had perhaps somehow seen his parents having sex and thought his father was hurting his mother, especially if she had been making moaning sounds at the time. He was simply a very sensitive child. Yeah, I’d bet. The kid looked beautiful but shifty to me. I figured him for just wanting everyone’s attention.
    Virginia’s insistence that Jeff’s pat on Petey’s bottom was sexually abusive didn’t help her case. Neither did her plea that she had killed Jeff in self-defense, acting for her children who could not protect themselves. She was sent to a facility for the criminally insane, for life, such as it must have been. Solemn little Elaine and adorable blond, wavy locks Bobby were adopted—separately—in another state, and changed their names accordingly. Their whereabouts, the commentator smirked, were carefully guarded, letting us all know he could have found them if he wished.
    Later, I let Fargo out for last call, and when he came in I patted his bottom. “I guess we’ll have to start watching that,” I told him.
    He yawned and slurped some water onto the floor.

    Friday morning I had snuck Fargo out for an early beach run and was back, sitting in the kitchen with a mug of my special Costa Rican coffee, when the phone rang. It was my mom.
    After our hellos, she announced, “I’m at work. Mildred Morris was just here to drop off the monthly accounts. She looks ten years younger than she did yesterday.”
    “That’s nice to hear, wish I could say the same.” Pause. Pause. “Er, is there some reason I need this information?”
    “Yesterday afternoon she found two adorable kittens left on her doorstep. A note said their names were Eos and Eris.”
    “What strange names!” I grinned at my mug.
    “Not if you once knew a little girl who was crazy about Greek mythology,” she said. “I just wanted to let you know, I know you did it. You’re a softie and I love you. Bye.” She hung up.
    Cross Mildred off the worry list. One down, one to go. The phone rang again. This time it was Cindy.
    “Hi, darling! Tried you earlier, but the line was busy.”
    “Yes, it was Mom.”
    “Everything okay?”
    “Oh, sure. She called to tell me someone left two cute kittens on Mildred Morris’s doorstep, and Mildred is recovering rapidly from Hercules’ sad disappearance.” I sipped the coffee, getting cool but still great.
    “And I suppose you had nothing to do with that.” I could tell she was smiling.
    “Absolutely not.”
    “Alex, are you lying?”
    “Absolutely.”
    “I thought so. You can be quite nice on occasion. It’s why I put up with all the other times.”
    “All what other times?”
    “I have to get downstairs. I just wanted to let you know, we’ll be back around six or so. Choate says he will drop me off, so you don’t have to worry about fetching me from the airport.”
    “I always find you fetching.”
    “I’m glad. I gotta run. I love you, cat woman. Bye.”
    “Me too. Bye.”
    My two phone conversations gave me inspiration to do a few things around the house. How had it gotten into a mess in just one day? Fargo had tracked up the kitchen. I had duplicated him in the bathroom. The empty pizza box and a dirty ashtray plus an empty beer can decorated the coffee table. Jeez! The couch pillows were squashed. Oh, Lord, give me strength. He did, I guess, until around noon, when I said the hell with it.
    I wondered how Harmon was coming along with the deck and if he would be finished