Willow surveyed the neighborhood from the movie theater roof. “I don’t know, but we have to find a way to lead them in the right direction. How we will accomplish that, I have no clue.”
“We’ve been standing here for fifteen minutes with no ideas,” Nat pointed out. “Let’s go back to the station. Something might turn up.”
Willow sighed and started to turn away. All of a sudden, she stopped. “Nat, look.”
In the distance, an unmarked cruiser turned into the street and stopped in front of the Nickel Alley Cafe. “They’re here.”
Nat looked around. “They must be coming to check on Jason’s alibi. If Chester and Bella saw Josephine and Jason in the alley, maybe someone else did, too.”
Willow sucked in her breath. When she spoke, she barely made any sound. “Nat.”
He followed her gaze. “Well, what do you know about that?”
“What’s he doing here?” Willow tiptoed to the roof edge and peered down at Jason from above.
He parked his car across the street and sat in the driver’s seat for a moment. He scanned the alley, but he didn’t see anything but a couple of cats hanging around the dumpster. He got out, looked both ways, and strode across the street.
“Let’s get down there,” Nat suggested. “Something tells me this is our chance.”
They trotted down the stairs and paused at the top of the alley. Chester stuck his head out from under a pile of oily newspaper when Jason approached. Bella yowled and jumped up onto the window ledge. She perched between two clay flower pots and just managed to avoid knocking them off.
“Quick, Nat!” Willow whispered. “Run around to the cafe and find a way to bring Carl and Naya out here.”
“How am I going to do that?” he asked.
“I have no idea,” she replied. “I’m sure you'll think of something.”
Nat ran back the other way and disappeared. Willow ventured into the alley. Chester threw off his paper covering, and Bella smiled down at her. Jason paid the cats no attention. He hurried down the alley to another window near the ground level of a nearby building and started digging through the dirt. He brushed the soil off a stainless steel cylinder and shoved it into his pocket.
“Can I do anything for you, my dear?” Chester asked.
Willow kept her eyes on Jason. “I need your help, Chester. Carl and Naya are inside the cafe right now. We have to find a way to tip them off that Jason is right outside.”
“How do you plan to do that?” Chester asked.
Willow hesitated just long enough to take her eyes off Jason. “I don’t know. I was hoping you and Bella could help us.”
“I’m not a police cat,” Chester growled.
“What can we do to help?” Bella asked.
At that moment, a shout went up inside the cafe. The back door flew open, and voices echoed down the alley. “Get that cat out of here!”
Chester and Willow turned around to see Nat streaking through the cafe. He dodged between customers’ legs and toppled chairs in his wake. Women screamed and startled patrons dropped they coffee cups. Broken crockery and steaming coffee covered the floor.
Carl and Naya looked up from their conversation with the clerk at the cash register. Carl stared at the unfolding pandemonium, but Naya gasped out loud. “That’s Nat! What's he doing here?”
Nat never stopped running. Willow’s heart soared at the sight of him. She would have called out encouragement to him, but she didn't want to distract him. He raced through the cafe with employees and the manager in hot pursuit.
Nat made a bee line for the back door and doubled his speed. He put the puddles of coffee and whipped cream behind him and dashed headlong through the door. The manager waved his arms one last time and shouted after him. The next minute, the door slammed shut and Nat vanished into thin air.
Carl bent over his wallet, but Naya stared at the closed door with a curious look on her face. Carl paid the tab, but when he looked up, he found Naya moving toward the back door in a stupefied trance.
“What are you doing?” Carl asked.
Naya didn’t turn around. “That was Nat.”
“So what?” Carl asked. “He probably gets up to all kinds of mischief when he leaves the station. He’ll find his way back later.”
Naya didn’t turn around. The manager gave her a strange look of his own, but he wasn’t going to stand in the way of a police investigation.
Naya pushed the door open, and her eyes popped. “Oh, hello, Jason. What are you doing here?”
Jason glanced around and attempted a feeble smile. “Hello, Detective. I dropped my keys here yesterday when I was here with Josephine. I came back to find them.”
Carl stuck his head through the door. “What’s going on?”
Willow watched the unfolding scene. Nat did his job to bring Carl and Naya out into the alley. Now she had to find a way to show them the cylinder in Jason’s pocket.
Willow glanced up at Bella. She didn’t have a moment to lose. She coiled every fiber in her body and launched herself up toward the ledge where the tiny cat sat. Time stood still, and no one on the ground even saw her jump.
She left the ground and sailed through the air in one perfect arc. She never understood before or since how she did it, but she touched down on the ledge next to Bella. She didn’t bother to stay away from the flower pots, and there wasn't enough room on the ledge for them and her.
She found her footing on the window ledge and slithered behind the flower pots. She pushed them off the ledge, and they crashed to the ground in a spray of clay and dirt. Carl and Naya drew back to escape the rain of debris, but Jason saw his chance to make a clean get-away. He whirled away and set off for a run for his car.
He had a bad habit, though, of not noticing alley cats in inconvenient places. Chester only had to take one step to position his body in Jason’s way, and the young man tripped over him and fell flat on his face at Carl and Naya's feet.
The detectives stared down at him. “Where are you going, Jason?” Naya asked.
Jason groaned and rolled over onto his back. Chester made a pretense of running away in fright.
Naya’s eyes widened. “What’s that in your pocket, Jason?”
He didn’t answer, and he didn’t bother to try to get away. He closed his eyes while Naya pulled the cylinder out of his pocket. She dumped the contents into her palm.
“Blasting caps,” Carl exclaimed. “What’s he doing with those?”
“Don’t you remember?” Naya asked. “The crime lab turned up traces of these next to the fuel that started the fire. He must have used them to bypass the fuel cartridge safety device. It was in the lab report.”
Carl pulled his head down between his shoulders. “Oh yeah. I remember.”
In the next few moments, the detectives listened as Jason confessed to the killing of Roy with the help of Annika, Marlena and Josephine. He told them how the four of them had conspired to kill Roy and split his estate. Naya and Carl took out their hand cuffs and placed them around Jason’s wrists. They immediately contacted police headquarters to have the other three conspirators arrested.
Willow watched Carl shove Jason into the back of a squad car. Then she looked around the alley and found Nat sticking his nose out from behind the dumpster. “It’s safe to come out now.”
Nat sighed and stepped out into the alley. “Thank goodness that’s over. I don't want to do that again in a hurry.”
Willow laughed. “You sure got their attention. I’ve never seen a cat run so fast.” She laughed at the memory of his wild race through the cafe.”
He sat down and licked his shoulder. “You’re the one who did all the hard work. You put all of the pieces of the puzzle together and sensed were Jason would be next. You made him trip over Chester so Naya would see the cylinder in his pocket. The other three women will serve their time as well. None of that would have happened if it wasn't for you. How does it feel to solve your first case?”
Willow swelled
with pride. “It feels pretty good. So does this make me an official police cat?”
Nat fell in at her side on the way back to the station. “It’s official. Now all you need is a badge.”
The End.
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Cats on the Prowl (A Cat Detective cozy mystery series Book 1) Page 7
