Lending a Paw: A Bookmobile Cat Mystery (Bookmobile Cat Mysteries) (3 page)

I sucked in a large breath and blew it out. “Your kids aren’t allergic, are they?” Because now all six of them were sitting or standing or kneeling in front of the cabinet, giggling and pointing.

Chad snorted. “Those kids are so healthy, my wife and I have been tempted to inject them with a flu virus so they know what it’s like to be sick.”

“Can I pet him?” Ethan asked.

“Why do you have a cat in the cabinet?” Trevor asked.

“He’s beautiful,” Princess cooed.

The middle girl asked, “What’s his name?”

“Eddie,” I said, sighing. “His name is Eddie.” I made my way through the children and crouched down. The troublesome one had retreated so far into the cabinet that his fur was sliding up against the back wall. “We’ve been discovered, pal. You might as well come on out.” His yellow eyes stared at me. “Come on,” I said, “the natives are friendly.” I danced my fingers on the front edge of the shelf. He inched forward, sniffing, and finally came forward far enough to let me swoop him up.

I kissed the top of his head, then turned around to make the introductions. “Eddie, this is Ethan. And Trevor. And Mr. Engstrom. And . . .” I looked at the other kids. “And what are your names?”

“Rose,” said Princess Girl.

“Emma,” said the youngest girl.

“I’m Patrick,” said the middle boy, “and she’s Cara.”

“Hi, Eddie,” Cara said in a voice so quiet I almost didn’t hear her. “You’re a pretty cat.”

“Mrr,” he said, and then the total and complete ham started purring. I rolled my eyes and the kids crowded closer, all reaching out to pet him. Eddie sighed and let them.

“I take it Eddie wasn’t a planned feature?” Chad asked.

Maybe the world wouldn’t end. At least not today. “He’s a stowaway,” I said, “and if word gets back to my boss that I let a cat on the bookmobile, my job will be toast.”

Chad gave Eddie a head pat. “He’s a friendly little guy. Why would your boss care?”

Reasons filled my brain so fast that my skull felt two sizes too small. Cat hair on the books. A distraction to driving. A disruption to the business of the bookmobile. Allergies. Unprofessional. Unclean.

Eddie was getting heavy, so I put him on the carpeted step. Five of the six kids surrounded him, oohing and aahing. Trevor went back to his book.

“My boss,” I said, “is very concerned about the library’s image and I’m quite sure Eddie doesn’t fit into that picture.” I wasn’t sure the bookmobile fit into Stephen’s grand plan, either, but once Stan Larabee had written that lovely big check with “Bookmobile donation” written in the memo field, he hadn’t had much choice.

Stephen was a big believer in a centralized library. He’d convinced the board that the availability of e-book lending made our small outlying libraries unnecessary and shut them all down in the name of fiscal responsibility. When I’d floated the idea of a bookmobile at a library board meeting, Stephen had asked in stentorian tones, “Is there anyone here who thinks a library should waste money on an expensive, high-maintenance operation like a bookmobile?”

Mine was the only hand that went up. It had been an awkward moment, but I’d kept my hand stubbornly high.

“Have any of you ever been on a bookmobile?” I’d asked, and rejoiced when a few heads nodded. “Do you think that maybe, just maybe, the thrill of being visited by a bookmobile is what helped give you a love of reading? Isn’t that part of our mission as a library?” A few more heads had nodded, but then Stephen brought the topic back to dollars, specifically the library’s lack thereof, and the nods stilled.

The single, solitary thing that had made our bookmobile possible was that lovely, large check. I knew in my bones that if Stephen found any reason to shut down the bookmobile, he’d do so without a second thought. I’d be in disgrace, possibly fired, and the bookmobile would be sold as quickly as possible. A letter of apology would be written to Stan Larabee and that would be that.

I watched Eddie strut down the aisle, flicking his tail to touch the bare legs of each child. He ignored me, head-butted Chad, then, in one smooth leap, jumped to the passenger’s seat headrest.

“Mrr,” he said, surveying his human subjects.

The kids giggled. Chad chuckled. I sighed.

• • •

The Engstroms lugged away three milk crates full of books and made promise after promise that they’d return everything when the bookmobile came back.

“Bye, Eddie,” they called. “See you next time.”

“Or not,” I said, closing the door behind them. I turned the dead bolt and went forward to the driver’s seat, talking to Eddie all the way. “Because there isn’t a chance in you-know-what that you’re ever setting foot on this bookmobile again. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event that will never be repeated, and may my tongue turn black if I’m saying anything other than the total truth.”

I stuck out my tongue and crossed my eyes. “Still pink, see?” I pointed at my tongue. “I hope you’re enjoying the ride because it’ll be your one and only.”

Eddie, of course, was paying no attention. At some point during my monologue, he’d slid into his dork position—all four legs spread out and draping over whatever object was the right shape. In some cases it was my backpack; at other times it was the back of the houseboat’s dining booth. Any time he did it, he looked like a complete dork. In this case, he was doing it on the passenger’s seat headrest. And looking like a dork.

I stood there, hands on hips, giving him my best Librarian Look. “You’re not listening, are you?”

He turned his head. Looked me up and down. Opened his mouth in a silent “Mrr.”

A laugh giggled up inside me. I shook my head and gave him a few pets. There wasn’t much point in scolding a cat.

• • •

At each of the next four stops, it didn’t take long for someone to notice that the bookmobile carried more than books.

“Look, Mommy, there’s a kitty cat!”

“Sweetie, this is a bookmobile, there can’t be a . . . oh. There is a cat.”

I spent as much time explaining Eddie’s presence and the need for secrecy as I did telling people where to find the Stephen King books.

“You mean Eddie won’t be back?” a white-haired lady with hot pink glasses asked.

“This was a special day,” I said, giving Eddie a pat and sending cat hair flying in four dimensions. “He really wanted to be here for the first trip, but he’ll be happier at home.”

“He looks really happy right here,” the woman said.

I kept my smile pasted on. “Let me show you those Janet Evanovich books you were asking about.”

The scene replayed itself at every stop, excluding the unscheduled halt at the lone gas station/convenience stop on the route. The closest thing to a Tupperware container in the entire place was a bowl of microwavable chicken soup. I bought it, took it into the bathroom, threw away the soup, washed out the plastic with hot water and soap, filled it with water, and carried it out to the bookmobile, ignoring the puzzled glances of the proprietor.

“No cat food,” I told Eddie. “But they did have this.” Unclipping the end of a loaf of bread, I said, “It’s not the stuff I usually buy, but it’s what they had.” I pulled out the first inside piece of bread—Eddie didn’t like the end slices—and tore it into cat-sized pieces.

He sniffed, then must have decided I’d suffered enough for the day and started eating. One bit went down, two, then parts of a third. He backed away, licking his lips, so I picked up the uneaten pieces and tossed them into a wastebasket. Bread wasn’t part of a healthy cat’s diet, but he liked it and it was better than nothing.

“Four stops down,” I said, “and two to go. Ready, Eddie?”

“Mrr.”

• • •

With food in his stomach, Eddie slept through the next stop, the parking lot of a small fieldstone church. He’d curled up with the paper towels on the floor and not one of the half dozen people who came on the bookmobile even knew he was there.

The last stop was at a township hall. I pushed the button to lower the stairs, unlocked the doors, and put my head out. No SUVs, no motorcycles, no bicycles, no kids. Huh. There was a single car, large and dark, but no one was in it. Probably a neighbor, using the lot for overflow parking.

“Are we early?” I asked Eddie.

He opened his eyes, closed them, and started a deep rumbling purr.

I patted his head as I reached inside my backpack for my cell phone. “Hey, look, there’s reception out here. Go figure.”

According to the phone, we were one full minute past the scheduled bookmobile arrival time. Aunt Frances couldn’t understand how I didn’t want to wear a watch, but I saw no need to strap something around my wrist when I had a cell phone.

I popped up the ceiling fan and went outside. Still nothing, still no one. We were in the bottom of a wide valley that ran between two hilly tree-covered ridges, and the fields between us and the hillsides were dotted with the occasional farmhouse and barn. Some of these farms, I’d been told, had been in the same family for more than a hundred years, handed down through the generations.

No one from any generation, however, seemed to be on their way to the bookmobile.

I climbed back aboard, pulled a file out of the rack I’d had installed above the desk behind the driver’s seat, and found the list of today’s stops. As I punched in the phone number, I mentally added “Phone each stop contact day before” to my ever-expanding prep list.

“Elaine? This is Minnie Hamilton with the bookmobile, and—”

“Oh, Minnie, I’m so glad it’s you!” Elaine Parker said. “I called the library, but they couldn’t find your cell number. I needed to tell you that our women’s softball team is playing a Red Hat tournament series and we made it to the finals, isn’t that great? Everyone is up at the field, so no one’s going to visit the bookmobile.” She paused, then said hesitantly, “You’ll come back, won’t you?”

“Of course we will,” I said. “And congratulations on your softball team. I’ll be back in three weeks.”

Elaine gushed her gratitude, and when I hung up, I looked at my cat.

“Well, Mr. Eddie,” I said, “now what?” Elaine had said no one was going to show up, but the bookmobile’s published schedule clearly stated that we’d be here for thirty minutes. On one hand, there was little point in staying. On the other, our schedule said “Williams Township Hall, 3:00 p.m.–3:30 p.m.”

On the third hand, with a bookmobile full of books, there was plenty to do. The half hour sped by as I straightened and organized and when I looked at my phone, it was past time to go. I closed down the ceiling fan and went to shut the back door I’d left open in hopes of attracting patrons. It had been a dry stop, unless you wanted to count the flies.

I stood on the bottom step and reached around for the door handle. Just as the door was about to click closed, a black-and-white streak bounded over my foot and leapt into the outside air.

“Eddie! You get back here right now!”

He galloped across the parking lot.

“Eddie!” I yelled. “Don’t go into the road!” I pounded up to the front of the bookmobile, grabbed the keys from the ignition, shoved my cell into my pocket, ran down the steps, locked the door, and pelted hell-for-leather after my cat.

If he heard my frantic calls, he gave no indication. I ran as fast as I could, but Eddie’s four legs left me far behind. He hurtled across the gravel parking lot, went over the drainage ditch with a graceful leap, raced across the road—
The road! Oh, Eddie
—and over the opposite ditch, never looking left, never looking right.

By the grace of all that was holy, no cars showed up to hit either one of us. “Eddie!” I called as I labored behind him, more a pant now than a shout. “Come back!”

He ran down the far side of the road’s ditch, then shot into a mass of small trees and overgrown shrubs and knee-high grass.

“Rot. Ten. Cat,” I huffed as I ran. “Why. Do. I. Keep. You?” I made the same turn Eddie had and pushed my way through the vegetation. “Eddie? Eddie!”

Behind a row of shaggy bushes, I saw the roofline of a house. An old farmhouse, of one and a half stories, sagging clapboard siding, and no decorative frills whatsoever. “Eddie?” I heard a faint “Rrrowwr.”

“Where are you, pal?” I pushed aside snagging branches and reached the side of the house. “Eddie? Are you okay?” Here, it was a little easier to forge through the jungle that might once have been landscaping. “Eddie?”

“Rrowr.”

I heard him scratching his claws on something. “I’m getting closer, bud. Where are you?” More bushes, more shrubs . . . and then I burst out of the jungle and into a clearing bounded on one side by the house, on another by a decrepit barn, and on the other two sides by a view of the hills.

Eddie stood on his hind legs, scratching at the corner of the house. “What on earth are you doing?” I asked, looking around, and noted an old driveway. Huh. If I’d been smarter, I would have followed that instead of tracking Eddie through the wilderness.

“Rrrowwrr!” he yowled, scratching wildly.

“What is wrong with you?” I waded toward him through the tall grass. My voice took on the wheedling tone I used when I wanted him to do something he didn’t want to. “Tell you what. You come here right now and I won’t take away your PlayStation privileges. What do you say?”