A Knife to Remember

you’d seen how nice he was to—“
    “—your cats. Yes, I know. Speaking of which, isn’t that one of them?”
    Mel pointed out the window where several people were trying to catch Meow and remove her from the craft service table, where she was browsing through the food.
    “That explains the mess in your kitchen,“ Shelley said when Jane came back inside with a cat under each arm. She’d carried them through the kitchen where Mel was using the phone and the other long-suffering police officer was still interviewing cast and crew members.
    “What does?“ Jane dropped the cats and they sat looking up at her expectantly. “As if I’ve ever fed them in the living room,“ Jane groused.
    “The knife,“ Shelley said. “Somebody needed a weapon that wouldn’t be missed immediately, so they trashed your kitchen in the hopes that you wouldn’t notice it was gone. Which is exactly what happened.“
    “Whoever it was obviously has no idea of my housekeeping,“ Jane said. “Even if I had missed the knife, I wouldn’t question it. I lose things all the time. And the kids take them for projects.“ She paused, thinking out just how to express a thought that was troubling her. “Shelley, it makes me furious that somebody ‘invaded’ my house at all, but absolutely livid that they did it in order to get a weapon to kill somebody with. I’m outraged at being made a part of this, even a small part.“
    “But you aren’t a part of it. The knife was just an object that happened to be in your house.“
    “I know that, but I’m still angry. And it’s screwed up my whole week. I was all prepared to be the guilty mother and cook a series of extraordinary dinners for my children before going off on my weekend of sin.”
    Shelley grinned. “I hope this weekend can live up to your expectations.“
    “But I can’t even cook now! The kitchen is full of police.“
    “That’s fine,“ Shelley said. “Paul’s gone and I was going to get Kentucky Fried for my kids. We can just get more and all eat it at my house.“
    “I don’t know about that. Katie’s social studies class watched a horrible documentary about chicken processing and she doesn’t consider them politically correct. The only kind she’ll eat is ‘free range.’ That sounds to me like some tough old bird you’d run over in Arizona. I didn’t mind veal going out of style; I could never afford it anyway, but I hate losing chicken.“
    “Then how about carryout Chinese? Nobody can tell what’s in Chinese food.“
    “Can I have a whole order of crab Rangoon to myself?“
    “To eat, or to apply directly to your thighs?“ “Are we having Chinese tonight?“ Mike said from the doorway.
    “Mike! I didn’t hear you come in,“ Jane said as Mike and his younger brother Todd came into the living room and took up positions peering out the back window.
    Todd was making repressed jabbing motions. “We’re practicing being burglars,“ Todd said. “What are they doing out there?“
    “I have no idea,“ Jane admitted. “How was the movie you went to?”
    She regretted having asked this, as she was treated to a blow-by-blow description of the martial arts film they’d seen. Todd enthusiastically demonstrated some of the better kicks and punches, almost knocking over her best lamp. Willard loved the performance, but the cats disappeared in the face of the violence and even Shelley tiptoed away, mouthing “One hour“ as she went.
    “It was great, Mom!“ Todd finished up. “Is that the kind of movie they’re making in the backyard?“ “No! Certainly not.“
    “I’m going to go call Elliot,“ Todd said. As he got to the doorway, he stopped. “Oh, yeah. Mike says you’re going to New York this weekend. Could you get me some baseball cards? I’ll make a list of what I want.“
    “Sure,“ Jane said weakly. When he was out of earshot, she said to Mike, “Does he know I’m going with Mel?“
    “Sure. I didn’t know you hadn’t told him yet or I wouldn’t have said anything.“
    “How’d he take it?“
    “Fine, Mom. Don’t worry.“
    “And you, Mike. How are you taking it?”
    Mike smiled sheepishly. “Well, to tell the truth, I didn’t much like the idea at first. My own mom, going off and shacking up with some guy. It didn’t seem like a ‘Mom thing.’ But I didn’t pay much attention to the movie this afternoon. I just sat there in the dark and thought about—about Dad and things. I guess it’s pretty easy to think