Free Cat's Claw by Susan Wittig Albert Page A

well.”
    Sheila wasn’t surprised by this. Pecan Springs was a small town, and China had been in business here for eight or nine years. She knew a lot of people—customers, fellow merchants and businesspeople, members of the gardening community. It was understandable that she should know the dead man.
    Sheila gave China a closer look. “There’s something else?” she asked, knowing that there was.
    “Yeah.” China looked down. “Last Friday, Larry emailed me that hewas being hassled.
Stalked
was the word he used. He didn’t go into detail, but I got the idea that this was something that had been going on for a while. He wanted to know what his options were, legally. I told him that if he knew the stalker, he should go to the courthouse and file a restraining order. If he didn’t, and if he felt seriously harassed, he should go to the police.” She looked up, and Sheila saw a grimace of pain and guilt cross her face. “I really feel bad about this, Sheila. His email got buried in my inbox. I didn’t answer it until today. Until just a little while ago, in fact.” Her voice dropped. “By that time, he was probably dead.”
    A stalker
. Sheila felt that jolt again, that electricity. Something going on here, something important. She took out her notebook and pen. “Did he identify the stalker? Describe the stalking? Give you any details?”
    China shook her head. “It was pretty bare-bones. No name, no where-when-how, just the bottom line. I can get you a copy of the exchange. You’ll probably also find it in his email, with my answer.” She paused, then sighed. “Something else you might want to know, Chief. Larry and his wife Dana are—were—in the process of getting a divorce. It’s been messy.”
    “Ah.” The divorce again. Sheila was making notes. “Messy how?”
    “Judging from what Larry told me over the past couple of months, there were both property and personal issues. He seemed pretty much okay about it, though. He didn’t like what was happening, but he was dealing with it.” She put her head to one side, studying Sheila, anticipating the next question. “I doubt if the stalking and the divorce are related—Dana doesn’t strike me as the vindictive type. And Larry didn’t seem overwhelmingly distraught. Certainly not suicidal. Just irritated about the divorce.”
    “You said there were both property
and
personal issues,” Sheila prompted.
    “He was thinking he might have to sell part of the business, since it was Dana’s money that originally capitalized it. He was hoping to find somebody who would buy out her interest and give him an option to buy it back when he could scramble the money together.” She nodded toward the house. “And there’s this place, as well. He and Dana bought it five or six years ago, at the top of the market. She wants her share. He was concerned that the way things are these days, it might be hard to sell for what they’ve got in it.”
    There was always a painful story behind every divorce, especially when property issues were involved. There could be some hard feelings that China hadn’t picked up on. Maybe Dana Kirk—or her lawyer—had hired a private investigator to dig up some dirt that would give her more leverage in the property settlement. Maybe the PI was the stalker Kirk had spotted.
    “The two of them were still living together?” Sheila asked.
    “I don’t think so,” China replied. “I don’t know where she’s living. Larry said he was trying to work it out with her—the property thing, I mean. I got the idea that Dana wanted out of the marriage more than he did. Larry hinted a couple of times that she was involved with somebody else.”
    “Did he say who?” Sheila asked.
    China shook her head. “I don’t know the story, but Ruby and Dana are friends. I’m sure Ruby knows. I’ll find out for you.”
    Sheila paused, then asked, “Did Kirk say anything to you about the break-in at his place of business? It happened a few