PAWSitively Sinister (A Klepto Cat Mystery Book 11) (19 page)

“Nostalgic?” Rochelle suggested.

Miriam nodded. “That’s when I started having those night-screams and,” she looked around the room, “all of you started trying to help me.” She stared down at her Coke can. “I think knowing what I’d forgotten was worse than not knowing.” She then tilted her head and glanced around at the others. “But I’m not having the night-screams anymore. I guess that’s a good thing. Know what I mean?”

****

That night before bedtime, everyone moved out of the mansion, including Arthur and Suzette. The bungalows had been vacated by the young volunteers and there was enough space for each family unit. They loaded up their individual kitchens with food from the mansion and let the staff go home. Arthur then closed all the doors and walked away. After helping with the migration to the bungalows, Peter and Rochelle drove back to their apartment in the city.

“So what will happen to Miriam?” Ruth asked Craig the next day as they all sat in the Iveys’ bungalow eating a smorgasbord of breakfast items and drinking coffee.

“She spent the night in county jail. But if we don’t file a complaint, they won’t charge her for attempted murder.”

“So you’re pretty sure she didn’t actually have anything to do with what went on in the depths of that place,” Savannah asked, slipping Rags and Koko a bite of cantaloupe.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “Her father might be another matter. They’re trying to run him down now.”

“Do you think he has any money left?” Suzette asked.

“It’s anyone’s guess. Miriam thinks he took what he thought he’d need and fled to Cancun or someplace.”

“And left his daughter to live on the streets!” Ruth exclaimed.

Suddenly Savannah said, “Hey this is depressing. Arthur, how far away is your ranch? I’d love to see your new digs.”

Arthur smiled. “Not far. Great idea. I wouldn’t mind getting away from here.”

“I have business at the station,” Craig said. “Iris, would you like to hang out with the young people this morning?”

She nodded. “Sure would.”

Ruth looked at Rupert. “I think we’ll go out to my place today. Okay with you?”

Rupert nodded.

“Where are Laura and Gail?” Suzette asked.

“They planned to leave early this morning,” Ruth explained.

“So that’s five of us and Lily,” Michael noted. We can all go in our car.”

“Or my Jeep,” Arthur said. “… although I’m not the most confident driver yet.”

Michael considered the offer, then said, “Oh, the baby’s car seat is strapped into our car, so let’s just take it.” He looked around at the others. “Let’s go, then.”

“Reality check, Michael,” Savannah said, hands on hips.

“What?” he asked, looking confused.

“We have no more servants. Someone has to clean up this breakfast mess.”

Everyone started to laugh as the women stood to clear the table and do the dishes.

Once the chores were done and the baby was bathed and dressed, Michael teased Savannah. “Wife of mine, are you finally ready?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said. “Hey, Michael, I’m thinking about leaving Rags out of his cage today. Maybe Arthur will let Koko keep him company in our bungalow. What do you think? I don’t want to leave him all cooped up alone all day.”

Michael twisted his handsome face into a slight grimace. “You want to leave two teenagers home alone?” he joked. He then said, in a more serious tone, “Yeah, good idea.” He glanced around. “I thought Koko was here. Where’d she go?”

“Arthur and Suzette took her out for a stroll.”

“Oh,” he said. “Well, I’ll go see if Koko can come in and play, while you finish packing the baby’s things.”

****

“This is lovely,” Savannah said, scanning the grounds of Arthur’s new residence an hour later. “It’s plenty of room for me,” Arthur said. He reached out and pulled Suzette to him. “Well, for us,” he said, kissing her briefly.

“You have everything you could want here, it seems,” Michael observed.

“And it feels so good here,” Iris added.

When everyone looked in her direction, she said, “You know—no nasty, evil vibes.” She turned to Arthur. “Who owned it?”

“A couple with small children. Seem like nice people. They’re involved in one of the local churches, I believe.”

“Perfect,” Iris said.

Arthur explained, “We can’t go into the house until next week, but I can tell you it has four bedrooms, an office, a large dining room, a cool den with a big stone fireplace—it’s like a cave in there.”

“A man-cave?” Michael said, smiling.

“Yeah, a man-cave,” Arthur repeated, lowering his voice a little.

“There’s an amazing kitchen where we can both learn how to cook,” Suzette said. “And the living room is great for entertaining.”

“So is this wonderful deck area,” Savannah said, gesturing. “And you have room for horses. Will you get horses?”

“Of course,” Arthur said. He glanced at Suzette. “I’ll have to teach her how to ride.”

“Never rode a horse, huh?” Savannah asked.

She shook her head. “I’ve always wanted to. I used to have a cowgirl outfit I wore every chance I got.”

“Do you still have it?” Arthur asked.

Suzette shook her head. “No,” she said, laughing. “That was when I was seven or eight years old.”

“You have a granny flat.” Michael noticed.

Arthur looked at him. “Huh?”

“Granny flat—that little house where people who visit can stay.”

“Is that what they call it? Yes, isn’t it great? Look at the garden around it.”

“I want to grow a veggie garden right there,” Suzette said, pointing.

“You know how to garden?” Savannah asked, obviously impressed.

“I learned a little about growing food when I’d visit my cousins in the country. It fascinated me. I’d sure like to try it.”

“What’s that wire thing out there?” Michael asked.

“Cat pen,” Arthur responded quickly. “Well, it’s actually for their rabbits, but it’s elaborate enough, I thought I could convert it for cats and kittens.” He got excited. “I plan to build a cat run from the house. I don’t want them getting eaten by coyotes and other things that roam out here, but I want them to enjoy the out-of-doors.”

Savannah raised her eyebrows. “Cats? More than one?”

“Well yes,” Arthur said. “I… I mean,
we
plan to have lots of cats… rescues.”

Michael looked around the property. “Why not make it an overhead run? They can come out through a cat door up about there,” he motioned toward the house, “and tunnel through those trees, dropping down into that pen. Maybe build additional enclosures.”

Arthur and Suzette looked at each other. “That’s a good idea, Michael,” he said. “An above-ground tunnel.”

“But I’d construct it with wire—you know, chicken wire, then you can keep a closer eye on them and they can enjoy the sunshine.”

“Way cool. Thanks,” Arthur said. He then peered at Michael. “Wanna come out and help me build it?”

“Hey, you have enough money to hire a builder.”

He chuckled. “Oh yeah, I guess I do.”

Savannah abruptly pulled her phone from her pocket, announcing, “It’s Craig.” She walked away from the others before saying into the phone, “What’s up?”

“Just got Miriam out on bail.”

“Bail?” she said. “So they’re going to charge her with something?”

“Don’t know. It’s the pits that she’s the only one around now who can talk about what happened there thirty years ago.”

“Maybe not,” Savannah said.

“Huh?”

“There may be others. You know how people came out to the place and some of them had memories of experiences there. I mean, that’s how you found the butler and all… ”

“Hey yeah, about that butler. I found out something interesting this morning.”

“What?” she asked, crinkling her brow.

“Guess what profession he was in before he became connected to the madam?”

“I don’t know… ”

“Guess,” he said, playfully.

“Uh, gigolo? Children’s book writer?”

“Gigolo?” Craig said, laughing out loud.

“Well, I don’t know, what?” she demanded.

“Mortician.”

“Mortician!?” she exclaimed.

“Yeah, you know, he did embalming.”

“Oh my gosh. So he’s the one… ”

“Evidently so,” Craig said. “So where are you guys? Still out at Arthur’s ranch?

“Yes. We’re joining Peter and Rochelle for lunch; want to meet us?”

“Yeah, I could do that.” He hesitated. “I like your idea of advertising for accessories to the crimes… ”

“What?” she said.

“You know, people who knew what was going on in that place back then… ” He hesitated. “I’m going to stop at the newspaper office, then I’ll meet you all at Peter’s.”

****

Once the four couples had reunited at Peter’s art gallery, they began catching up on the events of the day.

“So are the authorities going out to the mansion today? I imagine it’s crawling with them this afternoon, right, Craig?” Savannah asked.

He nodded. “They’ll seal the room for now. It’s going to be a delicate removal process and they want to do it right—get the right people in to help. I’ve turned over all of the documents and items we found. It’s up to the correct authorities now to piece it all together.”

“Michael,” Peter said gravely, “every time I’m around you strange things happen. I think you’re jinxed, man.”

“Me?” Michael said. “Every time I’m around
you,
strange things happen. It’s gotta be on you, buddy.”

“Hey, let’s eat,” Arthur suggested.

“Yeah,” Peter said. “We’ll walk down to the Magnolia Lounge. Okay with everyone?”

“Can I get a beer there?” Craig asked.

“Sure can,” Peter said, slapping the detective on the back.

“Then count me in.”

“Take it easy there, cowboy,” Iris said, grabbing her husband’s arm. “I’m not going to drive through these city streets—uh-uh, no way.”

He smiled sweetly at her. “Just one… that’s all. Just one, babe. I’ve been working hard this morning.”

Iris shook her head, all the while grinning.

So what are your plans?” Craig asked the Iveys after they’d finished their late lunch.

“We’re going home tomorrow morning,” Michael said, emphatically.

Savannah smiled and nodded. “I’m so ready.” She ran her hand gently over Lily’s head as the baby sat in the high chair playing with a spoon. “I think she’s ready, too.”

“She’s pretty adaptable, if you ask me,” Peter said. “Seems to be happy wherever she is.”

Michael nodded. “Yes, she is pretty easy-going.”

“But we work hard at keeping her to a fairly reasonable schedule,” Savannah said. She looked at Craig and then Iris. “What about you guys?”

“Oh, I work pretty hard trying to keep Craig under control,” Iris said in jest.

Savannah laughed. “No, I mean when are you heading home?”

Craig grinned and shook his head. “We’ll probably be right behind you tomorrow morning.”

“Well, here’s to good friends and resolved… issues,” Arthur said, holding up his glass of milk toward the others.

“Hear, hear,” Michael said, lifting his iced tea, as the others all chimed in.

“May our paths cross again soon,” Peter said. He grinned and added, “… under more delightful circumstances.”

****

It was nearly dark when the Ivey family and Arthur and Suzette climbed into the Iveys’ SUV and headed back to the mansion grounds. Craig and Iris had one stop to make before following along.

“Arthur, your place will probably be wrapped up like a Christmas present with all that yellow tape,” Michael quipped.

“I still can’t believe what we discovered down in the gut of that place,” Arthur mumbled.

Michael shook his head. “Yeah, it was grisly, all right.”

“I’ll be lucky if I don’t have night-screams of my own,” Savannah said, laughing nervously.

As they drew nearer, Savannah, who sat in the front seat with Michael, said, “Gosh, is the moon out tonight?”

Arthur and Suzette were almost asleep in the backseat next to Lily, who was sleeping in her car seat. “Where?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.

“See that glow?” she said. “Looks like the moon’s coming up right behind the mansion.”

“Savannah,” Arthur said. “I don’t think that’s the moon. It’s too bright.” He squinted in the direction they were moving and said, “I’ll bet the cops have it all lit up. That’s probably it.”

“Yeah, I imagine you’re right,” she said.

Suddenly, Michael said, “What the… ” he gasped. “It’s on fire. That’s fire!” He stepped on the gas and began speeding toward the flames which had clearly come into view.

“My God,” Arthur said, sitting up and staring out the windshield. He then said under his breath, “Koko!” He shouted, “Hurry, Michael! The cats may be in danger.”

Savannah grabbed her husband’s arm. “Oh no,” she said, staring ahead. “Oh no! Are the bungalows involved? Please don’t let the bungalows be on fire. Please, please,” she said, her hands up to her mouth.

“I can’t see over that hump,” Michael said impatiently. “We’ll know in a second.”

As the car traveled quickly up the small incline, the two couples could see the structure. Not only were flames pouring from the west side of the mansion, the nearest bungalow was also engulfed.

“My God! Rags!” Savannah cried.

“Koko!” Arthur shouted. “We’ve got to get them out. Hurry, Michael.”

“Good Lord. It’s too risky. No, Arthur, I can’t let you go in there. I’m sorry,” Michael said, his voice cracking with emotion. “I… I’m so sorry.”

Arthur put his head in his hands. “Koko—my little Koko. And Rags. Oh God, no.” Suzette held him in her arms, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Savannah tried, but could not hold back her emotions. “This is horrible… I’m just… sick,” she said, shaking her head slowly, tears rolling down her face.

Michael pulled her to him and held her tightly as he edged his phone out of his pocket and started to dial 9.1.1. “Oh, here they come. I hear the fire engines behind us,” he said, quickly steering the car off to the side of the road. “Wait!” Michael said, looking straight ahead. He pointed. “Is that a cat?” He jumped out of the car and shouted, “Arthur, see that cat?” He squinted into the darkness. “I think it’s Koko. Come here, girl,” he called.