by Patricia Fry
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Colbi was beyond ecstatic to have been reunited with her only sibling. Her brother, Harrison, had come back into her life after their father died, and she welcomed him with open arms. She knew he’d been living pretty much in the gutter for many years and she wanted so badly to believe his promise that he’d changed. I wanted that for Colbi as well, but I was doubtful.
One weekend Michael and I took Lily to visit my mother in Los Angeles, and Colbi offered to feed the animals while we were gone. When we returned, I soon discovered that a pair of my favorite earrings was missing. Naturally, I blamed Rags. Even though I couldn’t find them in his stash or any of the other places he hides things, I continued to suspect the furry rascal. Yes, that made sense, except for the fact that Rags can’t open my jewelry box. I was sure I’d secured everything inside there before I’d left the animals alone in the house.
Shortly after we returned home, I took Rags to visit Colbi and Dolly. I was shocked to see Dolly playing with an earring just like one I was missing. I asked Colbi if she’d bought a pair like mine. She said she had not. She couldn’t imagine where it had come from and suggested that I’d carried it in attached to my sweater. Possible, I supposed. I told her that I thought a few other pieces of my jewelry were missing too and I asked if she’d forgotten to lock the door at some point while she was taking care of our animals. Maybe someone had found the house open, went inside, and helped themselves to some of my jewelry. She insisted that could not have happened.
A little while later at Colbi’s, the cats disappeared up the stairs. They’d been gone for a while and when we went to check on them, we found them in Harrison’s bedroom closet, along with the mate to the earring Dolly had been playing with. Colbi couldn’t imagine how it got there. She created all sorts of scenarios—maybe I had left them at her house at some point; perhaps they were in Lily’s diaper bag and the cats carried them up to Harrison’s room; or maybe those weren’t my earrings at all. Before we could corral the cats back into the living room, they showed us something else in the closet—a plastic bag containing the rest of my missing jewelry.
That’s when it dawned on Colbi that she had not taken any precautions to conceal our house key inside her home. Obviously Harrison was still walking on the wrong side of the law. He knew she was feeding our pets, so he took our key from her purse and helped himself to some of our belongings presumably to pawn.
I felt awful for Colbi. She was livid and hurt to learn that her brother would take advantage of her generosity and trust. I’m pretty sure that if it weren’t for Rags and Dolly, we wouldn’t have solved that mystery. And, in case you’re wondering, Harrison did eventually straighten up. He became a chef, a family man, and a thriving member of society, but not before hitting absolute rock bottom.
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Koko is another of Rags’s purr-pals. She belongs to our friend, Arthur, the young man who had been hidden away in the basement of a mansion for nearly his entire childhood. Rags and Koko teamed up for some truly interesting adventures, like the time they both attacked a man who had broken into our home with the intention of harming us and our guest, Arthur. The cats saved our lives that night, and the DNA in their claws helped to identify the intruder.
A couple of months later the two of them made a grisly discovery at the mansion.
Arthur had turned of age by then and had inherited the estate his late father had left him. He planned to sell the furniture, art, valuable rugs, and so forth, and donate the mansion to a worthy children’s program. His mother and stepfather were behind bars, having been imprisoned for horrendous crimes against Arthur and his long-dead sister.
Michael and I, along with Lily and Rags, drove to San Francisco to help Arthur and his beloved friend and former nanny, Ruth, with the estate sale. Suzette, his future bride, was also there. Arthur and Suzette had met in the burn center as children and stayed in touch over the years.
While we were in the process of preparing to vacate the enormous estate, Rags and Koko stumbled upon something indicating that the Peyton Mansion had an even more bizarre history than anyone knew. The cats’ discovery so intrigued me that I led the charge to conduct research in an attempt to explain some of the strange things the cats had uncovered. What we ultimately learned was beyond horrific, and all because of Rags’s and Koko’s over-the-top curiosity.
First, the dynamic duo found a deep pit behind the mansion and managed to climb into it. When we lowered a ladder into the hole and went down in there to bring the cats out, we found several personal items and documents. Upon further investigation, we discovered that all of the people named on those documents had disappeared long ago, and that at least some of them had visited the mansion just prior to going missing. At that time the place had been used for fake séances presented by scammers.
Rags and Koko eventually pointed us in the direction of something beyond comprehension—even too sinister to fathom or describe. It was actually a relief when the mansion burned to the ground, laying all of its sick secrets to rest.
****
One of Rags’s more unusual friendships is with my mare, Peaches. He watches her from a windowsill perch that Michael installed underneath our large kitchen window, and he loves to go out with me to feed her. The horse seems to like the cat in return, whinnying when she sees him coming and allowing Rags to rub against her face from the corral railing. Sometimes he’ll sit in her hay bin while she’s eating. I have cute pictures of him batting at a piece of straw stuck in her forelock. He’s also been known to take a ride on her back as she walks around in her corral. Rags has alerted us more than once to what he seemed to think was a danger for Peaches.
In one case, though, he was actually standing up for Buffy—protecting our sweet Himalayan-mix cat. Little did we know that the gash Rags left on Buffy’s attempted abductor would help us to nail the rustler who also took Peaches.
We’d left all the animals at our friends Bonnie and Barney Teague’s stables one week while we visited my mother in Los Angeles. The Teagues were preparing to open a small-animal boarding facility and we were the first to use it for Lexie and all three cats. As an added perk, they’d installed cameras so they and the pets’ owners could use their cell phones to keep an eye on their dogs and cats.
One night, while we were at my mom’s, I couldn’t sleep, so I got up and checked the app to see what the animals were doing. To my horror, I saw someone trying to break in and take Buffy from her pen. I immediately called Barney, and he went out to check while I watched the drama unfold on my phone. The intruder actually had his hands on Buffy when Rags took action. He clawed the guy’s arm up pretty badly and certainly deterred him from carrying out this criminal act.
As it turned out, the man who tried to take Buffy also took Peaches and later the claw marks on his arm told the tale.
Rags won’t stand for anyone messing with his friends. He also saved Lexie once from being stolen.
A day or so after Pete Gamble’s dog died at our clinic, someone tried to take Lexie from our yard. That evening Rags was sitting on his windowsill perch, as he often does, when he suddenly became upset. He began meowing and turning in place on the perch. Of course I looked out the window, but I didn’t see anything. Soon Rags leaped to the floor and raced into the living room. Michael followed, and when he opened the front door he saw someone running down our driveway, carrying Lexie. Despite my cries against it, Michael ran after the dognapper. Before he could catch up to him, the thief fell and Lexie got away. Michael shouted for me to call Lexie, which I did, and she raced to where I stood at the bottom of the porch steps. The stranger dove into a waiting car and they took off before Michael could catch up to them.
If Rags hadn’t alerted us to the dognapping in progress, we may have lost Lexie that night. Who knows what they would have done to her. We were pretty sure we knew who tried to take Lexie, and that it was an act of retaliation. Later we found that to be true—Pete Gamble was the getaway driver—what we didn’t know
is that our newest employee was also involved. Rags was the one who clued us in to that fact.
Obviously, he saw who took Lexie that evening. He may also have taken in the person’s scent through the open window. However, it took us a while to put two and two together, which is why we were so surprised when Rags lashed out at our new employee, Alyce.
It all started out innocently enough. We took Rags to the clinic one day, and Alyce approached him, wanting to make friends. Rags recoiled and spat at her. He even clawed me, trying to get away from her. I was embarrassed and a little angry that he would behave like that and I apologized profusely.
As we learned later, Alyce was the one who had sneaked into our yard and taken Lexie from her pen. She was also involved in slashing our tires one night. Rags must have seen that happen too. He had good reason not to trust the woman and he let it be known how he felt.
As Craig continued to investigate Pete Gamble’s murder and the crimes that had been perpetuated against us during that period, things began to fall into place. Craig discovered that Alyce had been Pete Gamble’s girlfriend for many years. But she was also an accessory to his murder. And it was Rags who put the ball into motion that brought down the little disorganized murder ring. Not only did he help to put the spotlight on Alyce, who inadvertently led Craig to the killer, but he also left a mark on another accomplice—the one who got too close to the cat pen the night they dragged Pete Gamble’s body into the clinic in an attempt to implicate Michael. In fact, that man is the one who sang the loudest when he was found out. Yes, Rags did it again.
****
There was a wolf scare in our community once. Farmers and ranchers were terrified that wolves were threatening farm animals and pets, and some people were over-the-top hysterical and seriously overreacting. One night we had guests over. In the middle of dinner, Rags alerted us to a commotion outside. Michael went out to check, and that’s when he heard gunshots, after which someone shouted, “Got him!”
Michael was livid to think that someone was in our yard at night shooting a gun. He knew that whatever the man thought he had shot was not a wolf, and he feared it was Peaches or maybe Lexie. When Max stepped out to join Michael, Rags raced between his ankles and disappeared into the darkness. We caught up to Rags fairly quickly and discovered him lying next to the neighbor’s dog, Polly. The crazed man, Jack Parsons, had actually chased down and shot his own dog and all because he believed the wild stories of wolves running loose and taking down farm animals and pets. That was some of the craziness the wolf scare caused.
When we found Rags, he seemed to be comforting Polly, a sweet poodle who often wandered into our yard. He knew her, and as far as Rags was concerned, she was welcome in his territory.
Michael took Polly to the clinic that night and treated her. He asked one of his techs to spend the night with Polly and keep an eye on her. The following day, I told Michael that Rags seemed to be upset about something and I thought it had to do with Polly; it appeared that he was looking for her out in the yard. Michael had sent Polly home with Mrs. Parsons that day, and I thought I should take Rags over to see her so he’d know she was okay. Michael said he thought Polly was up to having a special visitor, so I called Mrs. Parsons and she was most pleased to have me bring Rags over.
If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I might not have believed it, but Rags settled down immensely once he saw that Polly was okay. And I have to say it appeared to please Polly to have Rags visit. Yes, the cat seems to have a rapport with other animals and some sort of deep understanding or instinct with regard to animals of all species. One of my most heartfelt moments, however, was when Peaches saved Rags’s life.
****
Rags was stabbed by a crazed person just before Christmas one year. He was very badly injured and not responding well to treatment. He needed blood—a transfusion from another cat, and Michael had sent Bud, his assistant veterinarian, to the next town to get the blood. As Bud raced to return to the clinic with the blood, an accident on the freeway caused all traffic on the north side of the freeway to come to a halt. There was no way for Bud to get through. Time was running out for Rags, and it was horrendously frightening.
At that time, Peaches was being boarded at our friends’ stables. Bonnie and Barney kept her during my pregnancies, when I couldn’t ride her, as well as when we traveled. It occurred to me that dreary morning that the section of highway where Bud was stopped was fairly close to the boarding stable, and I got the bright idea to use Peaches to retrieve the blood from Bud. I was expecting our son at that time, so I asked Bonnie for a huge favor.
I figured that she could ride the mare through the adjoining properties, across the open fields, and over the knoll to where Bud was stuck in traffic, and bring the blood back in time to save Rags. I would meet her at the stables to pick it up. It turned out to be an amazing experience that, to this day, I consider a Christmas miracle. Bonnie’s rendition of the ride only served to reinforce my sense about that day.
Once the awful crisis was over and Rags was on the mend, Bonnie told me, “Savannah, I absolutely believe Peaches somehow knew that Rags’s life depended on her that day.”
Evidently, as soon as she mounted the mare, Bonnie began to think about the reason for the emergency. She visualized Rags lying seriously ill and Peaches bringing him the life-saving blood. She hoped that Peaches would pick up on her mind pictures and realize that Rags was counting on her. Bonnie broke Peaches; she knew her well. She said that while Peaches is a game horse, she doesn’t remember her ever showing as much heart as she did that day when she seemed to give everything she had to make the crucial run.
Yes, Rags certainly has many animal friends and some of them owe their life to Rags.
Chapter 9 – Rags to the Rescue
So often, we can only guess what may have taken place when cats are involved. Like the time Rags and Dolly found themselves alone in a very precarious and unexpected predicament. That time, there was no way to track them. It all started when one of Auntie’s surprises backfired, big time.
Colbi, Iris, and I planned an outing on horseback. We would ride up into our local foothills to a picnic area and have lunch. Naturally, we invited my aunt to join us, but she didn’t want anything to do with riding a horse. Neither did she want to be left out, so she agreed to drive up to the picnic spot and meet us. We were all looking forward to a nice getaway on a beautiful day.
When we riders arrived at the picnic area, my aunt wasn’t there and we couldn’t reach her on her cell phone. Not only were we concerned, we were hungry, because Auntie was bringing the lunch.
After watering and securing the horses, we began looking around the area. We were puzzled when we found empty food containers, including one that we thought could be my aunt’s. Had she already arrived at the picnic area? Who ate the food she’d prepared? We were baffled and becoming more and more worried.
Finally, a couple of rangers came by and we asked if they’d seen Aunt Maggie’s car. They had not, but they promised to look for it on their way back down the hill. When enough time had passed without a call from the rangers or my aunt, and we still couldn’t reach her, I knew it was time to involve Max. I sure didn’t want to worry him, but he needed to know that something wasn’t right. As soon as I called him, he jumped into his car and drove up to help us search for her. It didn’t take us long to realize something was terribly wrong. Max, who is a chef, does a lot of the cooking at home and he verified that the container we found was Auntie’s. He also confirmed that the remains in the bowl were what was left of the salad she’d prepared for our lunch. Something was definitely wrong, so we called Detective Craig. He joined us, along with two sheriff’s deputies.
As the sun dropped lower in the sky that afternoon, I became concerned that it would be dark before we could ride back to Bonnie’s stables, so I made different arrangements for the horses. I happened to know the couple who ran a horse-boarding stable only about a mile from the picnic area. I called the Bowmans
and asked if they had room for three horses overnight. They did, so Colbi, Iris, and I rode across a couple of hills to their place, made sure the horses were safe and comfortable, then we rode home with Max in his car.
When we arrived at home, we got another shock. When I told Michael and Adam, who was visiting us that week, about Auntie’s strange disappearance, Adam asked about Rags. Of course, I didn’t know what he was talking about, until he explained that Aunt Maggie had come by our house that morning and picked up Rags. He said she had Dolly in the car too. She had told him she planned to surprise me and Colbi by bringing the cats to our picnic. I couldn’t imagine why she’d do that until I remembered telling her I’d like to take a photo of Rags in front of a particular bush that flowered in the hills about that time of year.
Still, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My aunt was missing, and I’d just learned that Rags was too…and Dolly. I was frantic with worry.
Finally, later that night we got a call that Auntie had been found. She had evidently been hijacked by a couple of young people. They held her hostage for a while, ate her food, then eventually left her alongside the road in a remote area of the foothills. By the time she made her way to a ranger station on foot, the couple had run out of gas or maybe they’d wrecked the car. At any rate, they pushed it off the side of the road into a deep canyon where it caught fire.
