C.S.I. - This stinks to high heaven

In an incident reminiscent of last year's "C.S.I.-Faith's room," we had another mystery in our house. Faith has become the prime suspect once the cat was cleared in the case. Although she professes her innocence, we have our suspicions. In recent days a stench filled our utility room, which is a converted carport that our adult cat now uses as his dining room, bedroom and bathroom. It houses his litter box, bed and food bowls. It's his refuge from intermittent aggression from canine visitors. First, my husband thought the cat started marking his territory now that we have a new kitten. I didn't put much stock in that theory because the smell was more like rotting flesh. Because the litter pan was clean, my thought was that some little creature had died or succumbed to feline torture. Recently Moo Moo the cat deposited half a lizard at the back door. I just figured the tail end was decomposing somewhere inside. As the stench began to rival anything I'd smelled at crime scenes where a body was discovered days or weeks after death, I started poking around under the shelves. Nothing. Alas, as Faith and I were getting ready for bed last night, my husband was headed for our bedroom. "Do you want to see what was causing the stink," he asked as I saw him approaching with something in his hand. "Don't bring something dead in here," I nervously told him. In he walked holding a cat food can. It was a pop-top that was popped but the ring was broken off. A crack in the seal allowed the meaty morsels to become maggot food. None of us, including Faith, remembers leaving a partially opened can of food in the utility room. The scary thing is that we haven't bought that kind of food in months. EEWWW. The smell is gone, but the mystery continues.