by Patricia Fry
“Yay, Rags!” someone shouted.
A young stagehand named Seth picked up Rags and held him in the air, saying, “Hip hip hooray!”
When the others chimed in Rags looked around at everyone seemingly bewildered.
One actor called out, “Seth, you look like Mufasa in the ‘Lion King’ holding baby Simba.” With that, the troupe went into a chorus of “Hakuna Matata.”
When Arthur had finished writing down the information Buzz and a few others had given him about where Carol might be located, he said, “Okay Buzz, you do what you do best and direct the rehearsal. I’ll catch up with you all later, hopefully with a positive report.”
“Mr. Spence,” Seth said, approaching Arthur.”
“Oh yes, Seth,” Arthur said. “How’re you doing? Everything okay? I’m sure impressed with the way you and your crew are managing the props and all.” Arthur smiled. “Slick as a whistle.” He put a hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “If you ever need a recommendation for a job or volunteer work, you come to me, okay?”
“Thank you, Mr. Spence. I appreciate that. What I wanted to tell you is that Carol was here a while ago.”
“She was?” he asked. “Here?”
“Yes. I didn’t know about your meeting or anything, so didn’t think anything of it, except…”
“Except what?” Arthur asked.
“Well, I thought it was odd that she went directly onto the stage. I’ve never seen her in this part of the theater before, well, except for once, and I thought it was strange that time, too. She showed up when no one was here except for me and some of the stage crew. She walked onto the stage with one of those big envelopes, and it looked full. I saw her come out, because I was along the side of the building painting one of the sets, and the envelope looked empty.”
Arthur furrowed his brow. “What about today, Seth? Did she go in or go out with anything?”
He shook his head. “Not that I know of, but she sure didn’t stay long today. In fact, she came running out the door past me as I was bringing something in from the storage shed. She took off kinda fast in her car.”
Arthur rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Very interesting.” He faced the younger man. “Thank you, Seth, for telling me about that. It could help us to figure out a couple of things.”
“Is there a problem?” Seth asked.
Arthur smiled. “Nothing for you to worry about. Now you go on back to work. It’s a dress rehearsal today, you know.”
“When Savannah returned to the greenroom in costume, Arthur approached her. “Well, now you have a physical identity to go with your character. Looks good.”
Savannah watched Arthur walk away. What’s he doing? She wondered. He looks as if he’s lost something. She looked down to check on Rags and realized he no longer sat next to her.
She followed the leash with her eyes and saw him resting his paws on a young woman as she sat crying. Savannah walked toward the woman and the cat. “Are you okay?” she asked. “You’re Cami, right?”
Cami nodded and buried her face in Rags’s fur. She looked up. “He’s just the sweetest boy ever.”
“Yes, he has a heart,” Savannah said, smiling. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Nope,” she said, “he has done it. He has made me smile, and now my heart is smiling.” She snuggled with Rags again, saying, “I’m just so sad for the cats who are waiting to be helped, that’s all.” She looked up at Savannah. “Have you seen them? I’ve seen pictures of them when they were first rescued and it just broke my heart.” She said with more energy, “My name’s on the list to adopt one of the more challenged kitties.”
“How good of you,” Savannah said. “That’s not an easy responsibility.”
“I know. I’m used to not easy. My brother was born with many physical problems. My mother couldn’t handle it so I had to step up. I loved caring for my brother. Oh, it was sad, but I made sure he had the best life possible for someone in his situation. He died last year and a piece of me died with him. When I heard about these cats, I knew that I would adopt one of them. But now to find out the money might not be there so the kitties can get a new start, it just breaks my heart.”
Savannah kneeled next to Cami and spoke more softly. “The kitties will be fine.”
“How do you know that?” she asked. “If the money’s gone…”
“That won’t happen,” she assured Cami. “Arthur and others won’t let that happen.”
“But if they can’t find Carol and if she’s already spent the money…” Cami shook her head. “How could someone do that?”
“All actors on stage!” Buzz called. “Cami, Savannah, let’s go.”
The two women stood up and walked slowly toward the stage. Savannah put her arm around the younger woman and said, “Listen, I happen to know a secret—this is just between you and me for now, okay?”
“What?” she asked.
“Arthur is financing the support and care of those cats as we speak.”
“What?” Cami asked.
“Yes, his heart is just about as big as yours is, and he isn’t going to let those kitties suffer while waiting for money to come in. No, he opened an account for the cats’ care so they can get what they need now. The money that comes in from donors will help to pay him back, at least in part.”
“Oh, Savannah,” Cami said through her tears. “Can I hug you?”
“Of course,” She said, embracing the young woman.
“You have made my day. Bless you. Bless Arthur.” Cami looked down at Rags. “And bless Rags.”
Savannah smiled. “Now let’s go have a great rehearsal, shall we?”
“Yes!” Cami said, also smiling.
Chapter Six
“Are you and Rags ready for your debut performance?” Michael asked Friday morning.
“I hope so,” Savannah said, ruffling Rags’s fur.
“I’ve been quite surprised at your cat there,” Michael said. “He has followed directions pretty well, hasn’t he?”
She giggled. “Let’s hope the audience believes that. In reality, Rags is mostly just doing what Rags wants to do and the rest of us have had to take his lead in order to make the scene work.”
He laughed. “I’ve noticed differences from rehearsal to rehearsal. I thought someone had forgotten their lines, but then I realized Rags was going in a different direction than I saw him in an earlier rehearsal.”
“Yup,” she said. “He’s large and in charge. So far, so good.” She winced. “But who knows what will happen this evening when he sees the audience out there.” She looked at her watch. “Let’s go get breakfast. Mom and Auntie will probably be here with the kiddos around noon.”
“They’re staying here, right?” he asked.
“Yes. Mom and Auntie have the room down the hall from us. I think Craig and Iris have been invited to stay with Pearl. Her place is kind of a duplex, actually. There are two living spaces in that granny flat out back.” She opened the bedroom door. “Come on, Rags, want to go play with Koko?” She stopped abruptly in the hallway. “Well, there she is waiting for you. Hi, Koko.”
Savannah and Michael both laughed when Rags greeted the regal Siamese. The two cats batted at each other for a moment, then Koko wrestled Rags to the ground. Rags jumped up and skittered off to parts unknown with Koko racing after him.
“Good morning,” Suzette greeted when the Iveys joined her and Arthur in the kitchen.
“Hi,” Savannah said, quickly moving closer to get a look at Alana. “She’s awake. Hi, sweet thing,” she said, smiling.
“Want to hold her?” Suzette asked. “I’ll get our breakfast.”
“I sure do,” Savannah said. She took the baby and turned to Michael. “Isn’t she wonderful?”
Michael looked down at the infant and they both laughed when she yawned. “I guess we’re boring,” Michael quipped. He turned to Arthur, who was stirring something in a bowl. “She really seems happy to have been dropped into this family.”
Arthur
smiled and nodded.
“Whatcha making?” Michael asked.
“I don’t have the slightest idea,” Arthur confided. “Suzette just asked me to stir it, so I’m stirring it.”
“Oh,” Suzette yelped. “That’s enough stirring.” She looked into the bowl, then at Arthur. “Good job, though. Thanks. It’s apple muffins,” she announced.
“Yum,” Michael said.
“Can Michael help you?” Savannah grinned. “I mean, I would, but I’m holding the baby.”
Michael reached for the baby. “Well, let me help you out there, hon. I’ll hold Alana and...”
Arthur laughed. “I knew we should have had twins.”
“So did they catch up to Carol yet?” Michael asked, setting the table under Suzette’s guidance.
“Not that I’ve heard,” Arthur said. He shook his head. “She sure has taught me a lesson. Never, never leave the financial tasks for a fundraiser and maybe even for a business, to one person only. There’s just too much temptation.” He faced the others. “I like to think that Carol’s a good person who just got caught up in something that spiraled out of control. From what I’m told, it happens more than we might think.”
“Well, it doesn’t appear she’s perpetrated a very sophisticated scam,” Michael said.
Arthur shook his head. “No. She made a lot of mistakes, but she has put us in an awful position. If she doesn’t return, we still have a mess on our hands trying to figure out who sent checks, who paid through the website by credit card—although, that might be easier to figure out. Some people actually donated cash, and we know that because we have several satellite sites set up to collect donations. Carol insisted on being in charge of those, too.”
“How can she cash checks made out to the organization?” Savannah asked.
“I found out that she told some people we have a stamp. So some of the checks came to her blank. Also, she can put the checks in the bank and she has access to that bank account.”
Michael cringed. “So she can actually make a withdrawal?”
“Yeah, we made a lot of mistakes—mistakes I will not repeat in the future.”
“I’m sure you won’t,” Savannah said.
“But that isn’t my focus right now,” Arthur said. “My focus is making this right and making sure Carol learns a lesson from it.”
“Will you prosecute?” Suzette asked.
“Oh, yes,” he said.
“Now, that surprises me about you,” Suzette said. “You’re probably the most forgiving man I know.”
Arthur nodded. “Yeah, but I’m also fair, and it would not be fair to our donors to let someone—anyone—get away with stealing the money they gave from the heart to help those poor cats.”
Suzette kissed Arthur on the cheek and asked the others, “Don’t you just love my husband?”
Savannah smiled. “I love all you guys. You’re a wonderful couple and Alana is one very lucky, lucky little girl.”
Arthur bent over and kissed the baby. “I’ll make sure that’s always true.” When his phone rang, he picked it up and announced, “It’s Buzz. Hi, Buzz. Anything new with our problem?” He walked into the adjoining room, returning several minutes later.
“Well?” Michael prompted.
“Our police contact, Sergeant Patterson, has a search warrant and they went through her apartment and her car.”
“Her car?” Savannah questioned. “So have they found her?”
“I guess not,” Arthur said. He scrunched up his face. “Although, I’m not one-hundred percent sure that Buzz…” He shook his head. “Well, that’s pure speculation—unfounded speculation.”
“Not really,” Savannah said. “We’ve only been here for a few days and I’ve seen Buzz’s puppy-dog look. He’s infatuated with the woman.” She tilted her head. “In fact, I’m surprised he’s the one working with the police. Excuse me if I’m speaking out of turn, but can you trust him where Carol’s concerned?”
“I wondered that, too,” Arthur said quietly. He grinned. “So I called Sergeant Patterson myself and learned a little bit more. Buzz indicated that they didn’t find anything incriminating, which isn’t exactly true.”
“Oh?” Michael questioned.
Arthur continued, “Yeah, they found envelopes with return addresses in her trash barrel. That will help us immensely in our investigation, if it comes to that. And there were actually some bank receipts. Guess what they found in the trunk of her car.” When the others didn’t respond, he continued, “A tote bag—you know, like the kind you use at the grocery store—with a check in there—an uncashed, undeposited check. Now what was she going to do with that? Patterson suspects that there were more checks in the bag and maybe some cash and that she took all of that out of the bag to hide somewhere and this check was overlooked. I also learned that no deposits have been made since April twenty-third. We had that big event on the twenty-seventh, so what did she do with the proceeds from that?” He took a breath. “I happen to know there were some major donors present that day, and Carol was collecting donations during the event. What happened to that money?” Arthur shrugged. “I can’t imagine why she held onto those checks instead of depositing them.”
“That’s because you don’t think like a criminal,” Savannah said.
“Hey, I really don’t think Carol’s a criminal,” Arthur insisted.
Suzette grinned at him as she placed the muffins on the table. “Of course you don’t.”
****
“Break a leg!” Craig called as Savannah climbed into Arthur’s car with him, Rags, and Michael, early Friday evening.
Iris slapped him playfully and scolded, “Don’t say that.”
“Why?” he insisted. “That’s what you say to bring good luck to the performance. You can’t say ‘good luck;’ that’s bad luck in the theater.” He leaned so he could see Rags through the car window and called out. “You too, Rags—break a paw.”
Iris rolled her eyes at her husband. “Have a good time, you guys. We’ll be there to watch in a little while.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
Upon their arrival at the theater, Savannah took Rags on stage for a quick run-through of his part. He had something else on his mind, however. He was so distracted, in fact, that he didn’t even go to the basket for his treat.
“What’s wrong with you, Rags? Don’t you want your treat?” Savannah complained. “Come on. Let’s pull that out of the basket. Here’s a treat. There are more if you’ll do your job.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Cami asked quietly from behind them.
“Oh, I don’t know. He can be stubborn, and this seems to be one of his stubborn days.”
Cami chuckled. “I once worked with a man who performs with circus cats—you know, ordinary house cats—and…”
“Sir Roscoe?” Savannah asked brightly.
Surprised, Cami said, “Yes. You know him? Oh, maybe you’ve seen one of his performances.”
“Yes we did, and I took Rags to him a week or so ago hoping he could help me train him for this part. You worked with him?” Savannah asked.
Cami smiled coyly. “He’s my crazy uncle.”
“No kidding? Crazy?”
“Well, that’s how the rest of the family sees him. I think he’s one cool guy. He and I are just about the only ones in the family who adore cats. In fact, I rather enjoyed working with him and his amazing cats until my folks insisted I settle down and go to college to prepare for a real job.” Cami tilted her head and asked, “So you had my uncle train Rags?”
“Well, we attempted it.” Savannah chuckled. “He said Rags is stubborn and has his own way of doing things.”
Cami stared at Rags for a minute as he tugged on the leash. “Why don’t you see what he’s interested in,” she suggested. “Then maybe he’ll settle down for you.”
“Good idea.” Savannah said. “Want to come with us?”
The two women followed Rags as he sniffed his way around. He was particularly i
nterested in one of the curtains in the right wing of the stage.
“What do you think he’s doing?” Cami asked.
Savannah chuckled. “Seth probably ate a hamburger in this area yesterday. Rags smells it and he’s looking for hamburger crumbs.”
Cami laughed. “That could be, I guess.”
When they heard the call to gather in the greenroom, Cami suggested, “Hey, let me see if we can get him rehearsed real quick. Do you mind if I try working with him?”
“Be my guest,” Savannah said generously. She handed Cami a couple of his treats, then watched as the young woman led Rags to the basket. She sneaked him a treat, then tugged a little on the leash to set him at eye level with the basket.
Rags looked at her, then grabbed the small pillow and trotted off stage with it, where he dropped it and waited for another treat.
“Perfect,” Savannah said, ruffling Rags’s fur. She kissed the top of his head. “Good job. Thanks, Cami. How’d you get him to do it so quickly like that?”
“Mind pictures, mostly. Did my uncle talk to you about mind pictures?”
Savannah shook her head. “No, but it’s something I use with him a lot. I guess my mind works more slowly than yours, because usually he has to think about whatever it is I want him to do before he complies.”
“In the greenroom, please,” came the call again.
The two women looked at each other and ran with Rags to where the others had gathered for their pre-performance instructions.
****
“Are you ready?” Cami whispered as Savannah waited to make her first appearance with Rags.
Savannah nodded and crossed her fingers. When she heard the prompt, she walked onto the stage with Rags and began to speak, but something stopped her. She glanced down and saw Rags sitting in the middle of the stage staring out at the audience. She heard a rumble of chuckles and realized that she needed to find a way to continue without it appearing there was a mishap. She started to say her next line when the cat took a giant leap. She looked on in horror as Rags landed on the lap of an unsuspecting gentleman in the front row. In the dim light she watched as Rags climbed over the man’s shoulder toward Michael and the children, who were seated in the second row. Everyone around them began laughing.
