Misty Hollow Cat Detective (Darcy Sweet Mystery) (A Smudge the Cat Mystery Book 1) (5 page)

"Oh.  Oh, right."

He jumped up on the other side of the glass.  It was one of those windows that opened up in two parts that swung outward from the center.  I stepped to one side so he could push open the other.

"Quick, quick," he said, "
get in here before anyone sees you!"

"Who's going to see me?" I asked, glancing around the neighborhood.  There wasn't anything sinister that I could see. 
Just the houses and trees and half-mowed lawns that were always here.  That, and two dogs staring at me from across the street.  A German shepherd and a Rottweiler.  Both of them, just sitting and staring.  "Hiya, fellas," I called over to them.  They didn't answer.

Dogs.

Once I was inside, Rolo tugged and clawed at the window until it closed again.  "Can't be too careful," he explained.  "That rat.  That stupid rat!  He always gets in, Smudge.  How does he always get in?"

"Whoa, whoa," I said, trying to calm
Rolo down.  He was actually shaking.  I had no idea his problem was this serious.  "Listen, why don't you just start from the beginning.  Tell me what's going on."

"Okay," he said, taking a breath and pacing in a tight circle.  "Okay.  Look.  I'm not crazy.  So you have to believe me when I say this, okay?  This rat…he wants me to move out.  He says he'll stay away from the house, as long as I move out."

"What?" I asked in disbelief.

"I said you had to believe me!"

"Well, I'm trying, Rolo, but rats don't evict people.  They eat.  They poop.  They chew things up and make a nuisance of themselves, but they don't scare cats away.  Why would it want you to leave?"

"I don't know!"  Poor
Rolo was practically bouncing on his paws now.  "Maybe he thinks I'll eat him if he doesn't get rid of me.  I've told him I'm not that kind of cat but he doesn't believe me!  Smudge, you gotta help me!"

"All right, all right,
Rolo.  That's why I'm here.  Just calm down, okay?"

"Calm down!  I can't calm down!"  He raced out of the living room and into what I figured was a bedroom.  I could hear him struggling with something and then he was coming back, dragging a piece of paper in his mouth.

He set it down in front of me, and that's when I noticed it was a photograph.  "Could you relax if a rat did this?" he screeched.

The photo was a picture of
Rolo and his owner, some guy with a scraggly brown beard who I didn't recognize.  The guy was holding Rolo in his arms.  Or, at least, that's what the picture used to show.

Where
Rolo's face had been, the picture had been scratched and nibbled until nothing was left.

***

Night duty at
Rolo's house seemed to be the best way to end this.  Find the rat, kill the rat, end of story.  Or convince it to leave town.  I've done that before, too, but where rats are concerned I much prefer the final solution of death.

No, I don't eat them.  I'm a little more civilized than that.

I had already checked the entire house out looking for any place that the rat might be sneaking in.  The problem was, there were too many to count.  Holes and cracks and gaps in the walls.  It was a wonder that all Rolo had to deal with was a single rat and not a whole colony.

It still didn't make any sense to me. 
One rat.  Why?  Why was this one rat targeting Rolo's house.  Rats never work like this.  There's always a family of them and they're always more interested in stealing food than attacking the household pets.  So what was different about this rat?

"Hey.  Cat."

In front of me, a few dozen steps away, the rat materialized out of the night.  Black and sleek, with red beady eyes that squinted at me.  Long, ugly tail.  It was as disgusting as I had pictured it, and nearly half as big as I was. 

Well.  That might have been an exaggeration.  It looked that way from where I was standing, though.

"Go away," the rat said to me.  "Not your fight."

"Not my…what?" I hissed at it.  "What are you talking about, rodent?"

"Fight.  Not yours.  Not getting paid for two cats.  Getting paid for one."

Oh, now that was interesting.  I always have trouble understanding rats and mice, because they have this weird way of talking.  It's like their brains can only have short thoughts.  Find food.  Eat food.  Hide.  Find more food.  Look ugly.

Things like that.

So what
comes out of their mouths when they speak is these short little sentences that barely say anything.  Rolo's rat had just said he was getting paid to bother him.  That started to put things into focus.  It left a lot of questions, too.

"You and
me are going to have a conversation, rat.  A long one," I emphasized, "with lots and lots of words."

I had everything under control at that moment.  Of course, when you have everything under control, that's when everything goes paws-up.

Twistypaws walked out of the night to stand between me and the rat, glaring at me.  "This is what you broke our date for?" she said, angrily.  "To chase mice?"

"Rat," the rat corrected her. 
"Name Boster."

Twistypaws
looked at the rat with disgust, then looked at me with almost the same expression.  "Friend of yours?"

"No!" I protested immediately.  "I don't know him.  What would I be doing with a rat?"

"Well, I don't know," she said, "what are you doing with a rat?"

"I'm not with him!" I protested.

She looked at the rat again, then back at me, like she'd just proven her point.

"Well, okay, I'm with him
here,
but I'm not with him.  Not like that."

"Like you were supposed to be with me tonight, you mean?"

"You…I…I mean, you know…"  I spluttered and spit, the words I wanted to say tripping over themselves and getting all tangled together.  "It's not like that!"

"You two," the rat said.  "Want time alone?"

Growling, I gave up trying to explain myself and decided the best thing I could do right then was end this.  Twistypaws would understand when she saw what was really going on here.

I hoped.

I jumped forward, closer to the rat but not too close.  Rats, unlike mice, will try to bite back if they get threatened.  "Who's paying you, rat?" I demanded.  "Who's paying you to bother Rolo?  Tell me, if you want to live."

Tell me if you want to live?  Twist's whiskers flicked as her eyes narrowed.  Maybe she was right about me being overly dramatic.

The rat's beady little eyes blinked between me and Twist and then it bared its teeth and did exactly what any rat would do when cornered by a cat.

It ran.

I was left standing with Twist, a kind of stupid expression on my face.  "Uh, I have to go."

I bounded off as quickly as I could, as much to catch up with the rat as to get away from Twist before I had to try explaining myself again.  I'd pay for it later, I knew, but right then I didn't have time to worry about it.

Rats are surprisingly fast.  I had been expecting it to run for Rolo's house where it would have easy cover, too, so when it ran in the opposite direction it took me a few steps to get myself after it.  It led me on a wild chase, around buildings, behind trash cans, across streets.  I lost all track of where I was in my rush to catch the thing.  This was going to be tricky, cornering a rat out in the open like this, but I knew I had to get answers.  Something else was going on here.  Something more than a simple rat problem.

I lost the filthy little rodent at one point and it left me running in circles until I caught his scent. 
That way.  In there.

I recognized that building easily enough. 
The police station, where Darcy's sister Grace works.  Grace had just gotten a new partner, this Jon Somebody-or-other.  I've seen him a few times.  Not really impressed.

There's
not a lot of people working here at this time of night.  In a small town like this, the police force doesn't have a lot to do at night.  Usually, the building itself is empty while the officers go out on patrol.  Which means I could slip in with no problem.

Down the hallways I snuck, sniffing out the rat's scent.  This
Boster character wasn't even trying to hide his trail.  Stupid rat.

I've been in the police station before.  I've been just about everywhere in Misty Hollow befor
e.  Cats are better at sneaking around than most animals.  I get in where I want to, and nothing stops me short of a locked door.  I can't work doorknobs.

Being a cat is awesome, but we have our limitations.

All through the station I track, until finally Boster's trail leads me into the hallway that goes to the back of the building.  Halfway down, I stop.  This isn't right.  The only thing ahead of me is the locked door out of the police station.  Another hallway leads to the holding cells where they keep the bad people.  Not many places left to hide.

I can't smell
Boster anymore.  Where did that rat…?

Oh, no.

I looked up in time to see the rodent dropping down on me from above.  He'd climbed up the wall to get above me.  That's why his scent stopped here, and why I couldn't see him.  Filthy rodent.

Scrambling to the side, my claws clattering on the linoleum of the floor, I rolled to keep him from dropping on my neck.  The plop he makes as he lands is squishy and funny, but I've seen rats survive worse. 

We both scramble to get our feet underneath us.  I got there first.

I don't think it necessarily saved my life to get the drop on
Boster the rat.  I do think it saved me a lot of embarrassment later on, not having to explain the bites and scratches the mangy creature would have given me.

Score one for the good guys.

I held Boster down with both of my forepaws and bared my teeth right in front of his face so that he got the message loud and clear.  When I had his full attention, when he stopped squirming and trying to bite at me, I growled, "Talk."

"I talk.  I talk."  The rat had a low breaking point.  Most rodents do.  This is why you never go into business with a rat.  You certainly never hire one to do a job for you.

Only, someone had hired this one.

Boster
finally got around to telling me, in those short and halting sentences of his, who had hired him to scare Rolo out of his house.  I was surprised, but it all made sense.

Kind of.

I was about to ask a few more questions to clear up the rest of the details when I heard keys being inserted into the back door keyhole.  Someone was coming in.

"Ha,"
Boster laughed at me.  "No time.  Run now."

As much as it frustrated me, I knew the rat was right. 
"Fine.  You run.  You run just as far and fast as those stubby little legs of yours will go.  If I ever see you around Misty Hollow again I'll cut your tail in half.  Got me?"

"Yes.  Yes.  I go. 
Far away.  Never see Boster again."

Rats. 
Jelly-hearted cowards.

I let him up and when I did he scurried away into the shadows of the building.  I didn't bother watching him go.  I know I scared him enough that he'll keep his word and keep running until he's out of Misty Hollow for good.

Now it was my turn to run.

As soon as the back door opened I shot out like a streak, right under the feet of the person trying to get in.  Behind me, I heard a surprised yelp and a familiar voice.

“Smudge!” Darcy, my owner, gasped.  I stopped abruptly and turned to look at her as the beam from her flashlight hit me in the face. Surprise at seeing her here right now would be an understatement. As she turned away from me I darted out the door only to stop once again at the corner of the building.

I have no idea what
Darcy was doing here but I bet it had something to do with her friend Anna's death.  Where her friends are concerned Darcy never gives up on them.  Even after death.

I'm kind of the same way.

Which left me with a decision to make.  I had to go help Rolo, especially with what I had just learned.  On the other hand, I couldn't just leave Darcy here.  She needed someone right now and it looked like I was the only one around.

Except that guy going around the front of the building.
  I cringed when I recognized Jon Somebody-or-other.  The new guy in town, the new police detective.  Of course he'd be coming here now, when Darcy was sneaking into the police station.  That's just the way our luck ran.

So back into the police station I went.  It took me a little bit to sneak my way back in, just like I did when I was chasing
Boster the rat, and then I had to find Darcy.  I rubbed up against her leg to warn her just in time.  We hid as Jon came into the room.

Huddled together, we waited until Jon left again.  She and I both sighed in relief at the same time.  I made sure Darcy left after that.  I figured she'd pushed her luck about as far as it could go for one night.  After locking the door behind us, she walked away as quickly as she could.