Catnapped (A Klepto Cat Mystery) (13 page)

“And you named the place after her,” Savannah said, her voice cracking.

“Yes, this is El’s Cat Rescue Shelter.”

Savannah looked down at the napkin she was picking at with her fingers.

“He’s a unique cat person, that’s for sure,” Margaret said, looking at him with fondness. “And he has what many don’t—a head for business as well as a heart for cats. That’s an unusual combination, you know?”

Savannah nodded her head. “Yes, I’ve seen that in the veterinary field.” She turned to Max and asked, “Do you rely on donations?”

“Yes, we have a few fundraisers throughout the year,” he said. “The dance coming up is a fundraiser sponsored by all of the local cat-rescue places. This is a first—a start toward our working together rather than trying to each run our own shows separately. Maggie and I believe that we can accomplish more together than when there are so many different agendas. Many heads working together are better than individual heads working apart.” He looked up at Margaret and said, “If I could only convince your aunt that two hearts are better than one.”

Savannah looked over in time to see her aunt’s face tinge pink.
Cool
, she thought.
Very cool.

***

“That was a friggin’ good score this morning, Alex ole buddy!” the taller boy said to the smaller one as they walked home from school together that afternoon.

“Yeah, four easy ones. That’s friggin’ ten bucks each!” He turned toward his friend and asked, “Whatcha gonna do with your take, Cody?”

“Maybe buy cigarettes and beer,” he said with a big grin.

“Friggin’ cool,” Alex said. “But who’s gonna get it for ya?”

“I’m thinkin’ that old guy we work for might.”

“He’s friggin’ creepy.”

“Yeah, I know, Alex. I’m kinda scared every time we hafta get in that old rattletrap with him. Don’t you wonder where he’s gonna take us and what he’s gonna do?”

“You watch too many scary movies, dude!”

“Oh yeah? Ever notice that big knife he carries on his belt?” Cody asked.

“I can’t even look at that guy. He creeps me out. He has a knife?”

“Yeah. When he picks us up today, let’s ask him if he’ll buy the stuff and we’ll get wasted on the weekend.” He grabbed his friend’s shirt and pulled him around to face him. “Hey, we can spend the night in that old barn behind my house,” he said, obviously excited at the thought. “No one ever goes in there and my ole man won’t know nothin’.”

“Hey Cody, your old man drinks beer and smokes cigarettes. Maybe we can get some from him.”

“Naw, I tried that once. Got caught. I think he keeps track of his stuff now. Doesn’t trust me for some reason.” He looked over at Alex and the two of them laughed.

“Okay then, we’ll ask the old fart. You ask him, okay?”

“Yeah, whatever.” And then he added, “Do you think he’d let us drink the beer up at his place?”

“The creepy guy? You want to party at that place? Are you crazy?” he asked punching Cody in the arm. “Who knows what he might do to us up there in the hills. Naw, I don’t trust that guy at all.” Alex then turned to his friend and said, “He really creeped me out the time we saw that fat bitch bending over to pick up her newspaper in that short thing she was wearing. Do you remember how he acted and what he said?”

“Yeah, that was weird, man,” Cody recalled. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he went back there after dropping us off.” Then he pushed Alex playfully and said, “He’s been in prison, you know.”

“Really? For what?”

“He didn’t exactly say. But that day you couldn’t go with us, he told me stuff about prison. He’s about as bad a dude as I’ve ever met,” Cody said. “It’s friggin’ crazy that we’re even working for him. Why are we doin’ it, anyway?”

“Money!” Alex thought for a minute and then added with a devilish grin, “You gotta say it’s kinda a kick—this work that we do.”

Both boys laughed and Alex jumped in the air to slap Cody’s hand for a jubilant high five.

***

As Savannah pulled up in front of her aunt’s house after the short drive from Max’s place, Margaret’s cell phone rang. She fumbled around in her purse. “Darn, I can never find that thing.” Finally, “Hello? Oh Ms. Lipton…uh, Dora. Yes, I remember you, how are you? Yes, what’s up?”

Savannah watched as her aunt’s face changed from pensive to curious to dubious and then she seemed downright ecstatic. “Really?!!?” she said, as she glanced over at her niece—her eyes flashing with excitement.

“Sure, I know the area.” She listened intently. After several seconds, she asked, “Are you sure?” and then, “Well, I’ll see what I can find out. Thank you very much for calling,” Margaret said into the phone as she gave Savannah a knowing look.

“By the way, Ms. Lipton… Okay Dora… are you aware of the benefit we’re having Saturday night here in Hammond? Proceeds are to be split among all the cat-rescue organizations in the Alliance, if you can imagine that!”

“Yes, I know,” Margaret continued, “little cooperation among them. That’s so true. Anyway, I’d like to invite you to come out for the dance and I think I can pull some strings to have you collect some of the donations. You are a licensed business, aren’t you?”

She listened for a few seconds and then said, “Oh, well, maybe you’ll qualify for a cut next time. I’ll send you a flyer. Do you have email? Oh. Okay, got it—[email protected]. Try to come and meet some of the people who love cats as much as you do. I think we could probably help each other do a better job of keeping cats safe. And bring Charlotte. Okay, Ms…I mean Dora. Thank you again.”

“Zowie!” Margaret said as she slammed the phone down on her lap and gazed, as if stunned, out the car window.

“What?” Savannah wanted to know.

Margaret turned in her seat toward Savannah. “Do you remember that sweet girl we met at Dora’s house?”

“Charlotte, yes,” Savannah recalled with a smile. “She has a place name, too.”

“Well, evidently she’s more savvy than some people think and she overheard something she thought was important. Some kids at her school were talking about their escapades which involved
grabbing cats
.” Margaret emphasized the last two words by speaking them slowly and clearly, and watched for her niece’s reaction.

“What? Someone is bragging about it?”

“Yes,” she blurted. “According to Dora, Charlotte overheard a couple of boys say that they were being paid for this cool job of finding and grabbing cats and delivering them to a ranch up in the foothills.” Margaret became more animated—her voice more shrill. “Savannah,” she said reaching out and placing her hand on her niece’s arm, “evidently, one boy was showing off the scratches he got while struggling with a fierce cat.”

“Oh, probably Patches—Gina’s cat!” Savannah said.

“Yes!” Margaret was having trouble containing her excitement. She was speaking faster now. “Oh my gosh, girl. We’ve cracked the case! We know where the cats are being taken. Charlotte didn’t get the boys’ names, but Dora was pretty sure the information she got will be helpful to us. And it is! I know the place where they’re taking the cats. It belongs to Russell Bray.”

“Oh my gosh,” Savannah said reaching for the door handle.

“Wait!” Margaret almost shouted.

Savannah looked over at her aunt, wondering what she was thinking now. She wasn’t completely surprised to hear her say, “Let’s go up there and see what we can find out.”

Savannah thought about it. She then looked over at her aunt and shook her head. “No, Auntie. It’s nearly 3:15 and we’ve run around a lot again today. I think you should rest that foot. Let’s go in and get you comfy in your chair with your foot up and I’ll fix us something to eat. We can talk about how to approach this situation. Okay?”

Margaret relaxed against the car seat. “Of course, you’re right Vannie. Sorry for jumping the gun. I am kinda tired.” She reached over and opened the car door. “Roll the windows back up, will you? Don’t want vermin in my car.”

“Oh yes,” Savannah said with a chuckle, “possums, alligators…wild boar…”

“Ha ha,” Margaret said. “You just wait until you wake up and step out of bed on a snake or have a mouse run across your toes.”

“I’m not squeamish, Auntie,” Savannah said as she exited the car. She walked around to help Margaret and continued, “I sure didn’t like hearing the possibilities Max talked about this morning, though—all those awful things people do to cats. It’s great to see so many people on the cats’ side. Refreshing.” As she stood there watching Margaret get situated on her crutches, she said, “I’m so glad I came, Auntie.”

“So am I, honey. So am I.”

“What’s this?” Margaret asked no one in particular.

“What?” Savannah stared over in the direction her aunt faced. “Looks like a glove. Maybe it’s Antonio’s,” she suggested.

“A leather glove?” Margaret said. “Gardeners don’t wear leather gloves, do they?”

“Maybe if they’re stacking wood or something.” Savannah picked up the glove and took a closer look while her aunt stepped up on the porch. “It has little poke-holes in it—like pin holes. That’s strange,” she said. “Once you get settled, I’ll go out and ask Antonio if the glove is his.” And then she called after her aunt, “What do you want me to do with it?” she asked.

“Just leave it there where we found it.”

***

A few minutes later, an old-model, dark-colored pickup truck stopped at the end of the driveway in front of the Forster house.

“Can’t you just drive in and get it?” Cody begged.

“No, I can’t. Now git out and run up there and git it like I said.”

“Run all that ways? Are you crazy? That’s about a mile,” Cody said.

“No it ain’t no mile. Now go on. Git that glove and hurry,” the driver said as he continued to nervously glance around in all directions.

Cody started to climb out of the truck, when the driver grabbed his sweatshirt and pulled the boy toward him. “And don’t let nobody see you, do you hear me?”

“Yeah, I hear ya. Now let go, old man.”

After a few minutes, the boy returned. “Here’s your stupid glove, now let’s git outta here,” he said as he dove through the passenger side door and into the old truck.”

***

“No Señorita. It is no my glove. I find it on the ground after the stranger drives away.”

“Stranger?” Savannah asked. “What stranger? Did you see what he looked like?”

“No, he drive fast—lots of dirt behine him,” he said making a swooping motion with his arms.

“What kind of car?”

Antonio hesitated, rubbed his chin.

“Was it a big car? Small one…” Savannah prompted.

“Truck,” Antonio said with a grin. “Peek-up truck.”

“What color?”

Antonio looked down and shook his head from side to side. “Dark, verde, maybe?”

“Dark green?”

“Si.”

“Okay Antonio. Thank you. I’ll tell Ms. Maggie.”

Savannah walked around to the front of the house to examine the glove again. But when she reached the railing where she’d left it, she discovered that it was gone. Brow furrowed, she glanced around the area. Suddenly, she heard what sounded like a car revving up. She looked in the direction of the sound in time to see an older dark-colored pickup truck taking off quickly from the end of the driveway.
Hmmm, that’s strange,
she thought.

“Meow.”

She looked behind her and saw Rags walking toward her on the porch. “Uh-oh. Sorry buddy. I guess I left the door unlocked again. Come on, let me get you something to eat,” she said as she scooped him up and carried him back into the house.

***

“Well, good morning, sunshine,” Margaret greeted her niece. “And what time did you get home last night?”

“Gosh, around midnight, I guess,” she said trying to hold her telling grin down to a minimum.

Margaret dropped her magazine in the rack next to her chair, fixed her stare on Savannah and asked, “And when did you actually come in and go to bed?”

She smiled sheepishly. “Um, sometime this morning.”

“That was quite gallant of Michael to pick you up,” Margaret said.

“Well, he had a call out this way and wasn’t sure I knew how to get to his clinic…”

“So how did it go, Vannie?”

Savannah virtually threw herself into the soft cushions of the loveseat in a swoon and gushed, “Oh, Auntie, I had the best time.”

“I mean how did the surgery on the cat go?” her aunt said, trying to maintain a straight face.

“Oh…” Savannah said. She cleared her throat and toned down her obvious exuberance. “Surgery went fine. Cat’s resting comfortably. She had swallowed something plastic and it wasn’t moving through. Poor thing. She’ll be okay.” She laid her head back on the sofa for a few moments and then said, “Michael is a wonderful vet. I loved working with him.”

“I can see that,” Margaret said with a grin. “Soooooo, tell me the rest.”

“What rest?” Savannah feigned innocence.

“You can’t fool me, Vannie. You two don’t just spew sparks when you’re together; it’s more like a lightning bolt or an exploding transformer.”

Savannah began to laugh uncontrollably. “Lightning?” she said between chortles. “Exploding transformers? Funny.” And then she suddenly stopped, looked over at her aunt and said, “I think I’m hysterical. Why am I hysterical? I’m not that kind of silly girl.”

Margaret shook her head. “You look like a girl in love, kiddo.”

Savannah tilted her head. “But I’ve only known him a few days.”

“Doesn’t matter. Ever heard of love at first sight?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t believe it,” Savannah said somberly.

“Well, believe it, girl. I think that’s what’s happening here. Now go get dressed. We have an important mission to accomplish today.”

“Oh, okay—will there be coffee?” Savannah asked.

“Yeah, yeah. We’ll take some travel mugs. Now get going before the love bug gets the best of you.”

Savannah headed up the stairs toward her room, thoughts of Michael Ivey running through her head.
I’ve never had such a lovely evening hanging out at a vet clinic,
she thought. She was still stunned at how fast the evening went. By the time they decided that the patient could be left alone after surgery, four hours had passed. Then Michael drove her home and they sat on the porch swing and talked until nearly three in the morning.
Just talking,
she smiled to herself as she pulled the blankets up on her bed and headed into the bathroom for a quick shower.
…and a little cuddling. Gosh, he sure makes me feel good.