Patricia Fry - Klepto Cat 05 - The Colony Cat Caper (14 page)

“Yeah?”
Jim said, hoping for more information.

“Well, it seems the cat did have this little bag; but before he came back to our booth, he visited Reba’s booth and dropped it off with her daughter Charlotte. Charlotte brought it to me.”

“Well, that’s odd,” Jim said rubbing his cheek with his palm. “So no one saw where he found these?”

Both women shook their heads.

He peered at them sideways and asked, “So why didn’t you just give them to the woman who was chasing the cat?”

Savannah and Margaret exchanged looks
. Savannah said, “I’m really not sure. I just don’t trust her. There’s something not quite right and I can’t put my finger on it. I talked it over with my aunt here and we decided to bring them to you. So what do you think?”

He raised his brow, moved his
head from side to side, and said, “I think your cat might have uncovered some evidence in a jewelry heist.”

Chapter Nine

Late Sunday afternoon, after everyone had packed up and moved out of the Fischer building, the Iveys and the Sheridans kept an appointment with Detective Craig Sledge. At his suggestion, Savannah and Michael brought Charlotte along.

“Well, no one has come forward claiming to have lost anything of value here yesterday,” Craig said, “…
at least nothing like a bag of diamonds. I spoke directly with Leta Barnes and it doesn’t appear that it belongs to her. She described something small and white—maybe a pouch of some sort, but she couldn’t accurately identify the contents.” He tightened his lips and stared down at the ground. “We believe the cat may have found the diamonds hidden here in the building.”

“What?” Margaret gasped. “Those actually
are
diamonds?”

Craig nodded.

“Holy cow,” she said.

Max shook his head. “Imagine that.”

“I sure couldn’t identify them as the real thing,” Savannah said. “Shows you how sophisticated we are, doesn’t it, Auntie?”

Michael grinned and spoke to Max as if in confidence, “Glad to know, huh, Max? We don’t have to buy the
real thing
for these two.”

“Nope,
we can shop at the five-and-dime and they’ll be happy,” he agreed with a laugh.

Craig smiled and then turned serious again. “Okay, what I want you to do is walk me through the scenario that took place yesterday when the cat ran off. Can you do that?” he
asked.

“Yeah, I think so,” Michael said, glancing at Max.

Max nodded. “Uh sure, we should be able to.”

“Our booth was over here,” Michael explained, walking toward the south side of the large space. “The cat was here with us. From what the boy told us,
he ran in that direction,” he said, pointing. Michael ran his hand through his hair. “I went looking for him from one direction and Max went another.”

“Show me,” Craig said,

“Shall we take the route I took first?”

“Okay.”

“Now, keep in mind, I didn’t have Rags in my sight the entire time. In fact, I didn’t spot him until he’d been gone for a while.”

“How long?” Craig asked.

“Maybe as long as five or six minutes. The first time I caught sight of him, he was about here,” Michael said walking to a point near the southeast corner of the large room.

“Did he have anything in his mouth then?”

Michael thought about it and said, “I didn’t notice if he did, but I didn’t have a clear view of him, did you, Max? I mean there were a lot of people here—baby strollers, wheelchairs, feet…”

“Michael’s right,” Max said. “I walked along the south wall and it appears that I spotted Rags about the same time Michael did. Yeah, he was trucking through a maze of feet. I could see him in bits and pieces, is all. N
o, I couldn’t see whether he was carrying anything.”

After the group had retraced Michael’s and Max’s steps, Craig asked Charlotte where she was when Rags came to her. She and Savannah showed him where Charlotte’s mother’s booth was. The girl explained wh
ich direction Rags had come from when she first saw him with the bag in his mouth and what had happened when he arrived at her booth. “He dropped the little bag,” she said, “and then he ran away, I think becauth thome lady wath thathing him.”

Craig strain
ed to understand Charlotte’s lisp. To clarify, he repeated, “A lady was chasing him?”

“Yeth,” she said, nodding.

Suddenly a voice called out from the entrance, “Helloooo.”

“Oh hi, Reba,” Savannah said, walking over to the woman. She bent down and greete
d Charlotte’s little sister, “…and how are you, Ruby?”

The child moved closer to her mother and stared up at Savannah with round eyes.

“We have a dinner date,” Reba said. “Just wondering if you’re finished with Charlotte.”

“I think so,” Savannah said. S
he called out to Craig, asking, “Can Charlotte go now?”

Craig looked up from his notes, and said, “Yeah, I think so.” He addressed the girl, “Thank you for your statement, Charlotte.”

“Uh, yeth,” she said.

Savannah gave Charlotte a hug and the teen rush
ed off with her family. When Savannah looked back at Craig, she saw him scrutinizing the inside walls of the empty building, paying particular attention to the areas where the cat had been observed. “Maggie,” he said, “I’d like to have my men do a search—can you come back to lock up in…say…an hour?”

Margaret scowled slightly and looked up at Max. “Well, we do have cats to feed here, but it won’t take us that long.”

“Do you want to leave the key with me?” Craig asked. “I can put it under a rock or something when we’re finished here,” he suggested.

Margaret thought about it and then said, “I think I’d feel better keeping it with me. How about this: we’ll feed here, go home and feed, and then come back in an hour.”

Craig nodded. “Sure, that’ll work.” He pursed his lips, and then said to Margaret, “I’d like to keep this building off-limits to everyone. Your group has no reason to come inside any more, do they?”

Margaret made eye contact with Savannah and then Michael. “No, I can’t think of any.”

“Then I’d appreciate it if you’d just stay out of here for the time being, okay?”

“Sure,” Margaret said.

Savannah, Michael and Max all nodded.

Craig started to walk away, then turned back and said, “If any of you think of anything that might be helpful in locating
the spot where the cat found those gems, don’t hesitate to call—day or night, okay?”

They all agreed.

As they exited the building, Michael asked Margaret, “When will you be trapping again?”

“I think Bud or Spence is coming out tonight, actually,” Marga
ret said.

“Well that’s strange,” Savannah said as she leaned over a little to see more clearly through a rip in the green mesh around the fence.

“What?” the others asked.

“I think that’s Leta out there looking this way through a pair of binoculars.”

“Yeah, looks like her,” Margaret said after putting on her glasses. “What’s she doing, I wonder?”

“Probably looking for those gems,” Max offered.

Margaret said, “But she didn’t even know what Rags had when she was chasing him.”

“That’s right,”
Savannah agreed. “Craig said she couldn’t identify what was in the bag.”

Margaret narrowed her eyes, grabbed her niece’s arm, and said, “You know, something’s not right with her.”

“I know,” Savannah said. “That’s what I’ve been saying.”

“It is strange,”
Michael agreed. “What interest does she have in this old place?”
“I’m beginning to think this whole flea market thing was a ruse to get into the building,”

Margaret said. “But why?”

“Well, if those gems were hidden in there somewhere,” Max said, “that’s a pretty good reason.”

“Yeah,” Savannah said excitedly, “remember when I told you she was poking and prodding at the walls a couple of days ago? She must have known those diamonds were in the building and used us to get in so she could find them.”

“And then Rags ran off with the goods,” Max said with a laugh.

Michael jumped in, saying, “Yes, but, if that’s the case, why couldn’t she identify what was in the pouch?”

Everyone sat silent with that thought.

“Gosh, I wonder if we’re in danger,” Margaret sa
id.

“Why would we be?” Savannah asked.

“Well, she might think we have the jewels.”

Savannah laughed. “The jewels she can’t identify?”

“Yeah,” Margaret continued, “maybe it isn’t the building she’s interested in out there through those binoculars, but us.”

The two couples looked from one to the other and then Savannah spoke up, “You sure have one active imagination, Auntie.” And then she shivered and pulled Michael’s jacket tighter around her. She looked at her husband and said, “It’s getting chilly. Ca
n we go home now?”

“Good idea,” Margaret said. “Max will help me finish up with the watering; you go on. Get some rest.”

“Thanks,” Savannah said, hugging her aunt.

“Want to help me feed in the morning?” Margaret asked.

“Yeah, I guess—about mid-morning when it’s a little warmer?”

“Oh you baby,” Margaret said.

***

The next morning, Margaret arrived at her niece’s home at ten thirty sharp. “Where’s Colbi?” Savannah asked, looking around behind her aunt.

“She had to work this morning; she’ll meet us out there.”

“Okay, come on in. Let me grab my stuff.”

Margaret stepped in and noticed Rags trotting down the staircase toward her. “Hi there, big boy,” she said as she walked over and scratched the cat behind one ear. “Been staying out of trouble lately?”

“
No he hasn’t,” Savannah said as she entered the living room wearing Michael’s heavy green jacket. “Last night we found him sleeping in the crib.”

“Well, he’s still your baby, Vannie.” She stroked the cat’s plush grey-and-white fur, running her hand along
his back all the way to the tip of his tail. She said to the cat, “You’d better enjoy the attention now, buddy. Things are about to change for you.”

“No they won’t,” Savannah said defensively. “Not that much. The animals will still have a major place in o
ur lives.”

Margaret stood and looked over at her niece, prepared to retort. Instead she frowned and said, “Gads you look big in that jacket.”

Savannah frowned. “I look big in everything I wear.”

Before Margaret could respond, her cell phone rang. She gl
anced up at Savannah. “It’s Colbi. Hi kiddo,” she said into the phone.

“Are you on your way?” Colbi asked.

“Just leaving. Are you there already?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Do you have the key with you? We need the key.”

Margaret’s smile faded. “Colbi, what’s wrong?”

“We have a…problem. We need the key. Can you hurry?”

“Sure. I’ll stop at the house and get it. We’re on our way. ’Bye.”

“What’s wrong?” Savannah asked.

Margaret stood staring down at her phone for a few seconds and then stuffed it into her pocket. “We’d better hurry. Something has happened out at the Fischer place and they need to get inside.”

“What?” Savannah asked, grabbing a bottle of water and her keys off a nearby table.

Margaret rushed to the door and opened it. “I don’t know, Vannie,” she said, appearing to be a bit dazed. “But, from the tone of Colbi’s voice, something awful has happened. Now hurry.”

“Well, I’m moving as fast as I can,” she said as she waddled rather slowly and deliberately toward Margaret’s car.

Nine minutes later, the two women arrived at the Fischer building. Colbi rushed to meet them as they climbed out of the car. “Give me the key,” she said. “Someone’s been hurt in there.”

Margaret and Savannah glanced around at the emergency vehicles parked on the property and
quickly followed Colbi through the gate toward the front access to the building. After Colbi opened the door to allow the paramedics and sheriff’s deputies inside, the three women eased in quietly to see for themselves what had happened. That’s when Colbi said, “I thought I heard someone call for help and then figured I was just hearing things. There are sometimes strange sounds coming from this building, as you know.”

Margaret and Savannah nodded.

“Well, I thought I heard it again, so I began looking around. When I heard it a third time, I was on the front side of the building and it sounded closer. So I looked in a window and saw that woman Leta lying there at the bottom of those stairs.”

“For cryin’ out loud, what was she doing in here, anyway?” Margar
et asked, looking confused. “And how did she get in?”

“She must have hidden in here after the flea market,” Savannah said. “It’s a wonder she didn’t freeze to death.”

“But we saw her outside the gate when we left,” Margaret reasoned.

Savannah rubbed the
small of her back. “Well, she may have slipped in after we left, before Craig and his men locked up.”

Margaret sighed. “Yup, she’s a shrewd one. You just don’t know what that woman’s going to do.”

As the emergency personnel moved around Leta, the three women could see that she was lying on her back, her head in a pool of blood. “Ewwww,” Margaret said. “Poor woman.”

“Yeah, looks like a concussion—or worse,” Savannah said.

Once the paramedics had Leta Barnes on the gurney, they quickly rolled her past the women, who were huddled near the entrance. Leta moved her head from side to side, mumbling. As she got closer to them, they could hear her words: “He pushed me. He pushed me.”

The trio watched as a man and a woman carefully wheeled Leta through the gate to a waiting ambulance. They started to walk out the door when Craig Sledge strolled up to them. “Morning ladies,” he said with a nod. “How’s everyone doing?”