The Mau Chronicles : Murder in Manhatten: Murder in Manhatten

CHAPTER 1 >^..^<

It was 2:00 on a Sunday afternoon in New York City, and while Sandra Cullen, Sandy, as she was known by her friends and family, was sitting at the laundry mat, waiting on her laundry to dry, she was thinking about all of the changes in her life over the past couple of years. She was a very beautiful woman of 40, had long, shoulder-length ringlets of red auburn hair, bright green eyes and was 5 ft 9 inches tall, which was considered very tall and Amazonian for a woman. Her semi-retirement as a Criminal Investigator from the sheriff’s department crime precinct, along with a horrible divorce from Stephen, her attorney husband of many years, who did not appreciate how hard she worked to make their lives happy and their house a home, but repaid her being such a loving wife for so long with constant badgering, belittling and verbal abusing, left her quite a bit to think about.

Now, instead of living in a plush house which both she and Stephen had shared, she ended up living in a two bedroom apartment with very little to show for her years of hard work, other than some furniture and her two Egyptian Mau cats, Kodie and Miracle, which she bought for herself from a very conscientious Mau breeder friend, in order to keep her company during the long, lonely nights after the divorce was final. The grand huge house had been sold, as neither Sandy nor Stephen could afford to pay for it on separate budgets. The monetary proceeds from the sale of the house had been divided between them and they parted company, going their own way. They did not have children, as Sandy was found by her gynecologist several years ago to have underdeveloped ovaries, which Stephen constantly threw in her face every time they had an argument or fight while they were married. In a way, though, it was a relief for the marriage to be over, because it gave Sandy the self-motivation to make a life for herself, build her confidence back up and move forward with her life.

Stephen had gone on with his life, as well, and got married again. This time to his young blonde secretary, Kim, who was almost half his age. He had a one year old son with Kim now and they were trying to have more to fill the house. Sandy also tried dating other men since the divorce, but the men she dated were very often intimidated, more-so by her extensive education than by her height and large bone structure, even with her keeping as slim as possible through working out at Curves and being very active in sporting activities, such as hiking, canoeing and swimming.

Naturally, there was no further contact between Sandy and Stephen after their bitter divorce, but she had found out through mutual acquaintances about his remarriage and growing family, to which she could only think More power to him and better him with having the kids than me. I would rather have my cats any day of the week.

Finally, coming out of her thoughts and back to reality, Sandy saw that the dryer had stopped. She took out her dry laundry, folded them neatly in the clothes basket, put them in her car and drove back to her apartment. Her two Maus greeted her at the door, demanding a treat via constant meowing for having been left alone such a long time, even though it had only taken two hours for her to go out to the laundromat to get her laundry washed and dried. Sandy then told them, Girls, I did not buy any treats for you today, but I do have one can of canned cat food left in the cupboard. Would that suffice until tomorrow? Both Kodie and Miracle meowed emphatically, and after Sandy put the wet food in a plate, both cats commenced to gulping it down like they hadn’t been fed in a week.

Sandy went to make herself a microwaveable dinner and afterwards, settled down in her bed to read the paper and watch some television for a few hours before going to sleep. The Maus came into her bedroom after their feast, jumped on her bed and settled in for a long nap. Cats. She said, thinking out loud. They have such an easy life, without a worry in the world. All they need is love, cat toys, food, water and a litter box. With the television still playing, Sandy relaxed and went to sleep that evening with the newspaper lying on top of her chest and her two Maus snuggled beside her.

Sandy was awakened the next morning with paws slapping her face and playing with her hair. With bleary eyes, she got out of bed and commenced walking toward the kitchen where the coffee maker was. As the coffee was brewing, Kodie and Miracle both jumped on the counter and demanded breakfast with loud meows. As Sandy was told when she got her Egyptian Maus from the breeder with part of her semi-retirement savings, the only foods that they should be fed is Science Diet dry cat food or raw ground beef in a chub especially made for cats, and every so often, soft cat treats or canned cat food for a treat, so that is what she usually fed them. Sandy decided to give them the raw ground beef chub this morning for their breakfast. Later on, she planned to fill their food container with Science Diet. Once the cats got their breakfast, they raced toward the living room, jumped on the sofa and purred softly, very content and happy. Sandy boiled herself an egg and had some toast for her breakfast while waiting for her coffee to brew.

When she got her coffee, she sat down at her living room computer to view files on some of the unsolved crimes that had happened over the past month. Sandy chose to do part-time work as an investigator at home for the sheriff’s department crime precinct. Even though she was officially retired on paper, they did not want her to completely leave because she was so good at what she did in the solving of murder cases. Working like this at home, while still receiving a nice paycheck, afforded her the luxury of setting her own hours to allow her to spend more quality time with her cats, go shopping, go workout at the local Curves gym or go out with friends or family. Another big plus was being able to sleep in as late as she wanted to without having to get up early to make it through the heavy, stressful traffic of the city to get to the job.

After a couple of hours of Sandy mulling over the files, typing in more information about the resolution of some of the crimes that were perpetrated by the n’er do wells, Kodie meowed loud again, jumped off the sofa and knocked the phone off of the phone stand. Sandy said Crazy cat! What possessed you to do that? Go lay down beside your sister and quit being so destructive! Sandy then set the phone back on the stand and within a few seconds, the phone rang, and it was her friend, an older lady named Erin McCowsky, at the office. Erin said, Hey, Sandy, you need to come down here right away, we have new employee and we would love for you to meet him. He is going to be working in the Forensics Department. Sandy said, Oh, a man, huh? Alright, let me take a shower, get some decent clothes on and I will be down there shortly. I hope he knows what he is doing with the job he has, because the work he has to do is very tenacious and precise. To which Erin said, Sandy, I know you will like him, just come on down here, please.

After hanging up the phone, Sandy thought, I sure hope Erin isn’t trying to set me up with someone. It was a disaster the last time it happened, even though it was many years ago, because it was Stephen. I wonder why Kodie was acting like she knew the phone was going to ring because she has never done that before. Am I the one losing my mind now for thinking that? Maybe I’ve been alone too long. Oh, well. With that thought in mind, Sandy stepped into the shower. After the shower, she dried off, put some makeup on and got dressed in a nice peach color pantsuit. She put her wild copper-colored corals of long hair into pony tail, then marched out the door to go to the precinct, stopping first at her favorite pet store first to pick up some canned cat food and Science Diet for her cats, since they were close to running out of regular food and canned food.

When Sandy arrived at the precinct to meet Erin later on that morning, Erin greeted her when she first walked in and was all bubbly and excited about the new man that had started to work there, giving Sandy a very detailed description of him—over 6 ft tall, light brown hair with a little grey at the temples, penetrating hazel eyes, very handsome and muscular, and around Sandy’s age of 40. Sandy asked Erin, Sounds interesting, but what is his name?

Erin said, Oh my goodness! Forgive me, but his name is David—David McElroy. Look! He is coming over here right now to meet you! You will see what I mean about what a good looking guy he is when you see him! Sandy turned to look at David, got a shocked look of recognition on her face and then everything seemed to go black when Erin caught her and helped her to a chair.

When