The Wicked Cat (2 page)

They found it on the far side of the house, licking its paws and yawning. Sally picked it up and carried it to the back porch. “Poor kitty,” she cooed. “Was that big bad dog barking at you?”

But Adam continued to worry about the dog.

“I think the falling tree might have broken its leg,” he said. “I'm going to climb the fence to check.”

“Mr. Coat doesn't like people on his property,” Sally warned. “He once sprayed a bunch of trick-or-treaters with gasoline and tried to set them on fire.”

“That was water because the trick-or-treaters were trying to light his house on fire,” Watch corrected.

“What's the difference?” Sally asked.

Adam climbed over the fence, a tricky maneuver because of the sharp pickets. For a moment he slipped and almost stuck himself bad. But soon he was in Coat's yard. The golden retriever seemed friendly enough, and immediately limped over to Adam to lick his hand. Adam studied the dog's hind leg. It had been a large pine tree that had obviously hit the poor animal. Yet even though the animal squirmed as Adam ran his fingers along the dog's leg, Adam was soon convinced nothing was broken.

He called out to the others, “I think he just got bruised.”

“Serves him right for barking at kitty,” Sally said.

“Oh, that's really fair,” Watch said with sarcasm. “All dogs should be punished for barking. And every police officer should be abused for writing parking tickets. And every politician should be arrested for making promises he can't keep. And—”

“You've made your point,” Sally interrupted.

“I wish I had a dog like this,” Adam said. He was just about to climb back over the fence when
something odd about the fallen tree caught his eye. Walking over to it, he noticed that the point where it had cracked and fallen was scorched black. He told the others and Watch was intrigued.

“Is there a downed electrical wire nearby?” he asked.

“A tree wouldn't fall down because you electrocuted it,” Sally said.

“Then how did it fall?” Watch asked her.

Sally shrugged. “The wind.”

“But there isn't any wind today,” Watch said.

“You're such a stickler for details,” Sally said, still stroking the cat.

Adam reached down and touched the black bark. It was warm.

“I'd like you to come over here,” he said. “This is weird.”

“You go,” Sally said to Watch as she stepped up on the porch. “I think kitty wants dinner.”

Watch managed to climb the fence and soon was standing beside the fallen tree, studying the burnt wood. The black marks cut almost to the core of the trunk. Yet there was something peculiar about that as well.

“Notice that the burn only radiates from one side,” Watch said, pointing. “It doesn't go all the way around.”

“What could cause that?” Adam asked.

“A lightning strike; it would have to be from the direction of Sally's house.”

“But there isn't a cloud in the sky,” Adam protested.

Watch nodded, puzzled. “But I can't think of anything else that would burn a tree like this. The burn definitely has to be the reason it fell down, and since the rest of the tree didn't catch fire, I suspect it got struck all at once and quickly.”

“It looks like it was struck with a laser blast,” Adam said.

“Yeah,” Watch agreed. “But I gave this planet's only laser pistol back to the Kaster admiral on Amacron Thirty-seven. You remember?”

“Yeah,” Adam said thoughtfully. “You know what's also strange about this tree? That it managed to fall on the dog.”

Watch nodded. “Yeah. It's like someone timed it to hurt the poor guy.”

“But what or who would do such a thing?”

Watch smiled. “Sally, if you gave her half the chance. Come on, let's go inside. We still have to finish our game.”

“Just don't go lasering my king,” Adam said.

L
ater the three of them rejoined Cindy and decided to go see a movie. Sally left the cat at home with a note to her parents explaining that either the cat stayed or their daughter was moving.

There was only one movie theater in Spooksville and it rarely showed anything but horror films, which was OK with the gang because the films were pretty tame compared to their own lives. They had just settled down with popcorn and drinks to watch a film about vampires who were spreading across the world disguised as used car salesmen when the cat appeared in the aisle and started meowing for Sally's attention. They were pretty amazed that the
cat had not only followed them to the theater, but had managed to sneak in as well.

“It really loves me,” Sally said, pleased at the interruption. She picked up the cat and offered it some popcorn. The cat wasn't interested.

“We can't watch a movie with a cat,” Cindy said.

“Why not?” Sally snapped.

“It's against the rules to bring a cat into the theater,” Cindy said. “Besides it might scratch me again.”

“It won't hurt you unless you abuse it again,” Sally said.

Adam sighed. “Are we going to get to watch this movie or not?”

“I know I would enjoy it more if the two female vampires beside us would stop fighting,” Watch said.

But Sally and Cindy couldn't stop arguing—or refused to stop—so the guys decided they'd be better off if they all left and came back to see the movie later. Leaving the theater with their buckets of popcorn, they headed for Cindy's. But Cindy, of course, wouldn't let the cat in the house.

“My mother is allergic to cats,” Cindy said. “Even a little cat hair makes her eyes swell up.”

“I think you just invented that,” Sally said, holding on to the cat. “What if I tell you that if she doesn't go in, I don't go in?”

“You don't exactly have a lot of leverage in that statement,” Watch said.

“Why don't you just come in for a little while?” Adam suggested, always trying to compromise. “The cat seems to like you a lot. It should wait for you on the porch.”

“All right,” Sally said reluctantly, “but we have to feed her soon.”

“She can have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That's all we have,” Cindy said, going inside.

They were in the middle of making the cat a sandwich when they smelled smoke. At first Cindy thought something was burning in the kitchen. But then they all realized the smell was coming from the front of the house. Peeking out the front door, they were horrified to see the porch was on fire!

“I'll get the hose by the garage!” Adam shouted. “Watch, you get the other one in the backyard! Sally, Cindy, try to smother the flames with an old blanket or sheet!”

The porch was old and made of wood, very dry wood after a whole summer of hot
days—perfect burning material. But even though the flames were growing and licking the roof of the porch, none of the house proper had been touched. The girls beat at the flames with blankets while Adam turned on the garage hose. The water pressure was excellent, and two minutes after turning the hose on the flames, the fire was out. When Watch returned from the backyard with the other hose, he insisted they water down the entire roof.

“You never know,” he said. “A cinder may have flown up and it could be smoldering, ready to ignite.”

The porch was badly damaged, and Cindy stared at it in horror. “My mother's going to kill me,” she said.

“But you didn't do anything,” Adam said. “In fact, if we hadn't been here the fire might have taken out the whole house.”

“Yeah,” Sally agreed. “Spooksville's fire department sure wouldn't have been able to put it out. If you have a fire in this town you have to fill out six different forms and get each one notarized before they'll come out. They're so paranoid about getting sued.”

“But I was here when the fire started,” Cindy said. “It has to be my fault.”

“I don't know about that,” Watch muttered. “This is the second fire we've seen today.”

“What second fire?” Sally asked. “There was no fire at Mr. Coat's house.”

Adam and Watch hadn't mentioned the strange black marks on the tree. But they did now and Cindy became immediately suspicious.

“It's too much of a coincidence that these two things should happen in the same day,” Cindy said.

“What are you saying?” Sally demanded.

“At both places where there was a fire the black cat was nearby,” Cindy said.

Sally snorted. “How can a cat start a fire?”

“The fire that knocked the tree down was not an ordinary fire,” Watch said. “It looked as if the tree had been blasted by an energy beam. I suggest we study the porch to see if it has similar markings.”

“That would be a waste of time,” Sally protested.

“We have time,” Adam said.

But it wasn't as easy to examine the porch as the tree since so much of it had been burned. They weren't even sure what part of the porch had
started burning first. But after a time Watch found a spot down near the steps where he thought it had begun. He pointed out a set of four black lines, each one an inch thick and separated from the next one by a couple of inches.

“It looks to me like someone carefully swept this spot with whatever they were using,” he said.

“That makes sense,” Sally said. “With ‘whatever they were using.'
What
were they using and who were
they?”

Watch frowned. “These marks could have been created by a blowtorch, maybe. No, actually they look too neat. They remind me of marks left by a laser beam. What do you think, Adam?”

Adam nodded. “It does look like the fire was deliberately started. No one saw anybody hanging around the house?”

“There was just the cat,” Cindy said angrily.

“And how, my dear, did the cat start the fire?” Sally asked. “I don't think it's old enough to smoke.”

“It's bad luck,” Cindy snapped. “I'd be a lot happier if you got rid of it.”

“Fortunately my main goal in life is not your happiness,” Sally said.

“Where is the cat anyway?” Adam asked.

“Here it comes,” Sally said, as the cat came from around the side of the house, right on cue. Sally knelt to allow the cat to run into her arms, which the animal promptly did. Sally smiled and stroked the cat's back while the animal purred appreciatively. Its eyes never left Cindy, who continued to worry about the damage done to her porch.

“I don't like the way it looks at me,” Cindy said.

“You should be pleased she even bothers,” Sally said.

“Sally,” Adam said diplomatically, “why don't you take the cat home and we'll see you tomorrow? It's getting late.”

Sally pouted. “I get it. Either I get rid of the cat or I'm no longer your friend. Well, to tell you the truth, I don't need friends who hates an animal just because it has four legs. You know, Adam, at one time I thought we'd be friends for the rest of our lives. But now I see that you're just a—”

“Sally,” Adam interrupted gently. “The situation is not that serious. Cindy is just upset about what's happened here and you are making everything worse by taunting her.”

Sally stuck her nose in the air. “All right. I can
take a hint. I know when I'm not wanted. I'll go home now, and if I don't happen to run into you guys for a few months, then that's life. None of us should be upset at the lack of contact. I wish you all well. I harbor no ill feelings.”

And with that Sally walked away, her cat in her hands.

“Isn't it wonderful she was so mature about the whole thing?” Watch muttered.

“What am I going to do about the porch?” Cindy asked miserably.

Adam patted her on the back. “I think you'd better find your mother and brother so you can tell her what's happened. She'll understand, and Watch and I will back you up and say that we weren't playing with fire or anything dangerous like that.”

“All right,” Cindy said. She went into the house to call her mom at a friend's. Watch knelt once more to study the burn marks. Adam stood behind his shoulder.

“It's possible the fire was started by a welding gun,” Watch said.

“Who do we know who has one?” Adam asked.

Watch stood. “That may not be the main issue. Let's think about what happened today. We found
the cat and we took it to the Frozen Cow. But when Cindy pushed it out of the way, she ended up with several nasty scratches. Next we went to Sally's house. We left the cat in her backyard where the dog next door started to bark at it. Then a tree just happened to fall on that dog. Finally we brought the cat here, but Cindy wouldn't let it in her house. And by a strange coincidence Cindy's house caught on fire.” He paused. “Do you see a pattern here?”

“But you can't agree with Cindy that the cat was responsible for both fires,” Adam said. “That just doesn't make sense.”

“I don't know how it could have started them either. But I do know that cat doesn't like to be pushed around or annoyed. It has a nasty temper and seems fully capable of taking care of itself.”

Adam was concerned. “Should we tell Sally these things? It might be dangerous for her to keep it. For all we know she might let it stay in the house with her tonight.”

Watch considered. “Whatever we tell Sally right now won't do much good. She's obsessed with that cat. Let's wait and see what happens next.”

Adam continued to worry. “You know, I never knew Sally was so into cats.”

“She never was.”

Adam looked at Watch. “Are you saying the cat might be responsible for Sally's obsession with it? That it has her hypnotized?”

Watch shrugged. “I don't know. Those are pretty far-out ideas. We might be making a fuss about nothing.” He added, “All I know is, that cat gives me the creeps.”

Adam didn't respond.