Claws for a Cause (A Klepto Cat Mystery Book 15)

by Patricia Fry

  Claws for a Cause

  A Klepto Cat Mystery

  Book 15

  by Patricia Fry

  Claws for a Cause

  A Klepto Cat Mystery

  Book 15

  Author: Patricia Fry

  ISBN: 978-0-9966732-3-5

  All rights reserved

  © 2016 Matilija Press

  Chapter 1

  “Oh my gosh!”

  “What is it, hon?” Michael asked, peering over his newspaper at his wife. “Is everything okay? Who was that on the phone just now?”

  “They’re paying my way, Michael!” Savannah pressed her hands to her mouth. “I can’t believe it.” Noticing he still seemed confused, she said, “The photo contest committee. They’re giving me the trip to Hawaii.”

  “Really?” he said, lowering the newspaper. “But your picture came in second.”

  “I know. Mr. Shively said they collected so much money and that I took second by such a small margin that if we want to go, they’ll pay for my flight.” She raised her eyebrows. “Shelly! I have to call Shelly! You know, she’s the one who got me involved in the contest in the first place. I can’t wait to tell her the news.”

  Michael stood and put his arms around her. “Well that’s great, hon. So, we’re going to Hawaii.” Still appearing somewhat stunned, he pulled back, asking, “When?”

  “Two weeks.” She spun around, saying, “Hawaii—wow! Have you ever been there, Michael?”

  He shook his head. “Have you?”

  “No, but it’s on my bucket list.”

  “You have a bucket list?”

  “Sure I do. Don’t you?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “You don’t think so?” She chuckled. “You don’t know if you have a bucket list or not?”

  “Well, there are definitely things I’d like to do, but I can’t say I’ve made any sort of commitment to them.”

  “Like what?” she asked.

  He grinned and winked at her. “Like take you to Hawaii.”

  Suddenly Savannah became sullen. “Oh no.”

  “What?”

  “Lily. What will we do with Lily? Should we take her on an airplane? I can’t bear to leave her, but do we really want to take her? There will be things we can’t do with a baby. I guess I should have thought about that before I entered the contest, only I didn’t think…”

  “You didn’t think you’d win? Then why did you enter?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Yeah, I really didn’t think I had a chance. Now what? Now we have a problem.”

  “I don’t see a problem,” Michael said, grinning.

  “You don’t? Are you thinking we should take Lily? Flying could be dangerous. I’m not sure I want her on a plane. What if she’s frightened? The high altitude can hurt a baby’s ears.”

  “Hey,” he said, trying to stop her from fretting, “babies fly safely all the time. I say we take her.”

  She stared at him for a moment, then let out a breath. “Okay, what if we want to go someplace where Lily can’t go, like a fancy luau or snorkeling? One of us will have to stay on the beach with her while the other one swims, and…”

  “What do you think mothers are for?” he asked in a rather cavalier manner.

  Now near tears, Savannah couldn’t believe her ears. “Are you saying I should stay back and take care of her while you go snorkeling and out to fancy luaus?”

  He chuckled. “No, silly. I’m suggesting we invite your mother to go along with us to have fun, but also to keep Lily company when we want to go out on the town or into the ocean.”

  “My mother?” Savannah said, her eyes wide. “What a great idea! I’ll call her right now.”

  In the meantime, Michael scooped up their toddler and pretended to give her an airplane ride down the hallway. “I’ll get the punkin’ ready for bed,” he called over one shoulder.

  “What did she say?” he asked a few minutes later when he returned to the living room with Lily in his arms.

  Savannah smiled at their fourteen-month-old daughter. “All ready for night-night, sweetie?” she cooed, kissing one of Lily’s chubby cheeks. To Michael, she said, “Mom’s thinking about it.”

  “Thinking about it? What does she have to think about?”

  “Oh you know, canceling club meetings, rescheduling doctors’ appointments, and just getting used to the idea.” When Savannah’s cell phone rang, she laughed. “That’s probably her saying yes.”

  At the same time, Lily wriggled in her daddy’s arms. He lowered her to the floor and crawled after her, causing her to squeal with delight. Savannah grinned at the two of them and walked into the kitchen with her phone.

  When she returned, Michael glanced up from the floor, where he and Lily were playing with one of her musical toys. “Well, was it Gladys? Did she say yes?”

  “No,” Savannah said, lowering herself onto the ottoman.

  He frowned. “Was it the contest committee telling you they made a mistake?”

  “No,” she said, looking up at him. “It was Colbi. She’s upset about something and wants to meet for lunch tomorrow to talk about it.”

  “Oh, man troubles?”

  Savannah shook her head. “I’m not sure. She didn’t want to talk on the phone. I hope she and Damon aren’t having problems.” She shuddered. “For one thing, I hate being asked to get in the middle of a lovers’ quarrel. For another, they seem so perfect together. I want them to live happily ever after.”

  Michael moved to the sofa, where he sat in silence for a moment, watching their daughter toddle around the room. He spoke quietly. “Into every life some rain must fall.”

  “What?” she asked, laughing at him.

  “You know,” he said in a serious tone, “couples often have some sort of disagreement or parting of the ways before they make that final commitment.”

  “Michael, how insightful of you.” She squinted in his direction. “Have you been reading romance novels?”

  “No,” he insisted. “I’ve been observing life. Don’t you remember our little conflict—that push-me, pull-you thing you had going on before you could commit to me?”

  “Yeah, don’t remind me what an idiot I was back then.”

  “Awww honey, you just needed time, that’s all—time to figure out how right we are for each other.”

  Instead of responding, Savannah rushed toward Lily and took a kitty treat from her before the baby could shove it into her mouth. “No-no, little one. Buffy didn’t leave that there for you.” She turned to Michael and shuddered. “I sure did take my time, didn’t I? When I think about how close I came to losing you because of my ridiculous fears…”

  He reached for her hand and pulled her down onto his lap. Burying his face in her neck, he said, “I would have waited until the end of the earth for you.”

  “Oh, Michael, you’re such a gentleman.”

  “Gentleman!” he said, pulling away a little. “I’m no gentleman, I’m a…”

  She giggled. “A what?”

  “Well, I’m…whatever you want me to be.” He whispered into her hair, “Tonight, I was thinking I could be your…”

  She moaned. “…my lover-doodle?”

  “Sure,” he said, kissing her.

  Suddenly, they were taken out of the moment when they heard Lily screech and begin to cry. Savannah rushed to the baby, picked her up, and held her close. “What happened?” she asked, glancing around. That’s when she noticed their Himalayan-mix cat peering out from her pink canopy bed. “Oh Buffy, was she invading your privacy again?”

  “Di
d she get scratched?” Michael asked, reaching for the baby’s hand. “Show Daddy your boo-boo, punkin’,” he crooned.

  Lily held out one of her hands and continued to whimper. After looking it over, Michael kissed her fingers and said, “Boo-boo all gone.”

  “Were you playing peekaboo with Buffy?” Savannah asked. “You know she doesn’t like it when you bother her.”

  “But she keeps going back for more, doesn’t she?” He looked at Lily’s hand again. “I don’t think Buffy uses her claws. She just slaps her with a soft paw and it hurts Lily’s feelings—or maybe scares her a little.”

  “Well, she does love her Buffy-kitty.” Savannah smiled. “She’s been Lily’s best kitty friend since she was born.” She reached down and petted the cat, who now sat at her feet. “I think Buffy feels sorry after she swats Lily.”

  “Ki-ki,” Lily said. She then pointed at the cat and shook her finger. “No-no!”

  Michael and Savannah laughed. “No-no to you, little one, for bugging sister-Buffy,” Savannah said. She snuggled with the baby. “Let’s put you to bed, shall we?”

  Michael chuckled. “Looks like Rags came in to see what all the commotion’s about.”

  “Heaven forbid, Rags, that you’re left out of anything that goes on around here.” Savannah leaned over and ran her hand along the cat’s smooth coat. “Everything’s okay. No one’s hurt. Come on,” she invited, “let’s put baby sister to bed.”

  Before long, Lily was on her way to dreamland and the Iveys headed out of her room and down the hallway, Rags trotting along in front of them.

  “Looks like Rags has been pilfering again,” Michael said. “What does he have there, anyway?”

  Savannah winced. “Maybe one of his own toys for a change.”

  “Doubtful,” Michael said, grinning.

  Hastening her pace, Savannah reached for the cat, taking a closer look at what he carried in his mouth. “Give me that, you klepto,” she hissed, just as he dropped a little satin pouch.

  “What is it?” Michael asked.

  “The mani-pedi set my aunt gave me for Christmas.” To the cat, she said, “Darn it, Rags. You have plenty of your own toys. Leave my stuff alone.”

  “Now how many times have you told him that?” Michael asked, smirking playfully. “Do you really expect him to change his ways?”

  Savannah sighed deeply. “Probably not in this lifetime.”

  “Ready for bed?” Michael murmured, pulling Savanna close.

  “This early?” she protested.

  “It’s nine thirty. I have to get up at the crack of dawn and make a couple of ranch calls before going to the clinic. I need my sleep, woman,” he insisted. “So what are you and the princess doing tomorrow? Oh, that’s right, lunch with Colbi.”

  As they walked through the house, making sure lights were off and doors were locked, Savannah said, “Yes, I’m curious about what’s troubling her.”

  “Are you sure there’s something wrong? Maybe she just wants to do whatever women do when they get together—girl talk.”

  “Yes, there’s something going on.” She poured herself a glass of water. “You know, she started working at home more; maybe that isn’t working out for her.”

  “What’s she doing now, editing the other reporters?”

  Savannah took a sip of the water. “She still goes out on some stories for the newspaper, but mostly it’s Damon and the other two reporters doing the field work. She handles a lot of the research, fact-checking, and editing—at least that’s my understanding. It’s not all that much different from what she was doing, only now she gets to work from home more.” Once they’d entered their bedroom, she headed for the attached bathroom, then stopped. “No, I don’t believe this…concern…is job-related. I think there’s something else going on that’s disrupting her life, or threatening to.”

  When Savannah stepped out of the bathroom a few minutes later, she started laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” Michael asked.

  “I swear, you’re reading romance novels,” she said, approaching him and tousling his hair.

  “Hey, I just combed it,” he protested, trying to wrestle her hands away from his head.

  “Well, I like it casual,” she explained, pulling a few strands over one of his eyebrows. She smiled. “There. Sexy.”

  Pulling her to him, he whispered, “If you say so.”

  “Ouch!” she yelped.

  “What now?” he asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

  “Rags is licking the lotion off my feet. Darn him. He hasn’t done that in a while.” She said to the cat, “Stop it. Why don’t you go play with Lexie?”

  Woof.

  “Oh, I see, you’re in here, too, are you, girl?”

  “Then go find Walter,” she coaxed. Running her hand along the cat’s grey-and-white-fur, she added, “Where’s Walter, Rags? Maybe he’ll play with you.”

  “Come on, hon,” Michael said, “you know he’ll leave in a few minutes. He just likes to put us to bed, then he’s off to parts unknown.” He began kissing her on the neck. “Let’s just ignore the animals tonight, shall we?” As she began to relax, he said, “Now, that’s better…”

  ****

  Eight hours later, Michael tapped the buzzing alarm clock and groaned. “Morning. Rise and shine.”

  “Already?” Savannah asked, sounding groggy.

  “’Fraid so,” he said, before leaving the bed and disappearing into the bathroom.

  When Savannah rolled over and squinted into the room, she noticed a pair of round blue eyes staring up at her. “Hi Buffy. Does your presence mean the princess is up?”

  Suddenly she heard, “Ma-ma. Da-da. Ma-ma.”

  She laughed. “I guess it does. Coming, honey,” she called, in her scratchy morning voice.

  Michael chuckled as he passed Savannah, who was on her way into the bathroom. “That cat cracks me up, the way she lets us know when Lily’s awake. In fact, I’ve been thinking—we wasted a lot of money on the baby monitor and the batteries for it.” He called to Savannah through the bathroom door, “Hey, maybe we could rent Buffy out to new parents. We probably have a gold mine here and just don’t know it.”

  Several minutes later, while she poured their morning coffee, Savannah asked, “What ranches are you visiting this morning?” Before Michael could respond, she placed two jars of her homemade jam on the table. “Want your eggs scrambled or…?”

  “Scrambled is fine,” he said, smiling at Lily. “We want scrambled eggs, don’t we? Scrambled eggs,” he repeated. When Lily pointed and began to jabber, he asked, “What are you talking about?”

  “Sure wish I knew,” Savannah said, placing some fresh fruit pieces and a handful of dry oat cereal on the toddler’s highchair tray. “I think she has a lot going on in that little mind of hers. I’ll be so glad when she can communicate it.”

  “She is communicating. She can’t help it if we’re too stupid to understand her.”

  “I guess. So whose ranches are you visiting this morning?” she asked, setting plates of food in front of Michael and herself. She sat down and began spoon-feeding eggs to Lily.

  “The Petersons and the Croses. Both of them have injured livestock that need tending—infected wound, abscess drained…fun stuff like that.” He took a bite of his eggs, then spread apricot jam on a piece of toast. “They believe they’re having a problem with coyotes or dogs—they don’t know which. Some folks are talking about wolves in the area. I sure hope we don’t have a pack of wolves wreaking havoc on domestic livestock. The gray wolves are protected, so ranchers don’t have much recourse.”

  “Wow! What would we do if a wolf threatened Peaches?” she asked.

  “First of all,” Michael said, “I don’t believe the rumors of wolf sightings around here. But in order to quell any fears, there’s a local movement to educate ranchers on the benefits of introducing the wolves back into the wilderness and using non-lethal methods to protect their live
stock. There’s a rally planned to explain all this and I’m urging the ranchers to attend.”

  “So they want wolves to populate this area?” Savannah asked.

  “Well, maybe not this specific area, but certainly in more remote areas of Northern California. Evidently they’re important to the ecosystem.”

  “Interesting. I’d like to attend that rally. When is it?” When Michael peered curiously at her, she explained, “Well, we live out in the boonies and we have livestock. I’d like to know more about non-lethal methods of protecting my horse. When’s the meeting?”

  “This weekend,” he said before taking another bite of his toast. A few seconds later, he asked, “What time are you meeting Colbi today?”

  “Noon.”

  ****

  It was nearly noon when Savannah stepped into the local diner. “Hi, girlfriend,” she said, walking up to the booth where Colbi sat staring at her phone.

  “Hi,” Colbi said, quickly tucking the phone into her purse. She stood to hug Savannah. “Where’s the munchkin?”

  “Your future mother-in-law called. When I told her we were having lunch together, she insisted on entertaining Lily.”

  “You told Iris?” Colbi asked as the two women slid into the booth.

  Savannah frowned. “Told her what, that we’re having lunch together?” She glanced around the room suspiciously. “Is it a secret?”

  Colbi brushed her soft brown side bangs off her forehead. “No. It’s okay. No problem. It’s just that…”

  “Hi ladies,” the waitress said, placing menus in front of them. “What can I get you to drink today?”

  “Hi Kayla,” Colbi said. “I’ll have an iced tea.”

  “Same for me,” Savannah agreed. She then asked, “Kayla, how long have you been working here? Last time I saw you, you were at The Cherry Pit. Before that, it was that Italian place on Chester, and before that…”

  “Yeah, I’ve bounced around some, but I think I’ve found my home.” She leaned toward the women as if in confidence. “Tips are better here, you know. And with that red-headed super-server cutting back to part-time, I thought it would be a good opportunity to get a foot in the door.”