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

by Patricia Fry

  Savannah held onto Leah’s hand. “Do you feel like you need something for pain?”

  She nodded. “Please.”

  Savannah turned to leave. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “No, don’t leave,” Leah said, squeezing her hand tightly.

  Savannah waited until Leah had relaxed. She watched as she closed her eyes, then she left the room in search of the nurse, who agreed to administer something to help make her patient more comfortable. Leah had just awakened from a fifteen-minute nap when the hospital room door opened and Harrison peered in. “Mind if I join you?” he asked.

  “Harrison,” Leah said, breathlessly, “how did you get in here?”

  “I know people in this place,” he quipped. “I was a resident for darn near a week, you know.”

  “Ohhh, Harrison,” Leah said, “you look…” Before she could finish her sentence, she began to cry. “I’m so sorry. It’s because of me this happened to you.” She turned to face the wall. “I feel just awful.”

  Harrison hobbled to Leah’s bedside on crutches and caressed her face. “It wasn’t your fault. It just happened. Please don’t blame yourself.”

  She grasped his hand in both of hers. “I’m so happy to see you, Harrison. Thank you for coming.”

  “I wouldn’t miss it,” he said, leaning over and kissing her forehead. He glanced around the room, asking, “So what did I miss?”

  “Sit down, Harrison, before you fall down,” Savannah insisted, scooting a chair closer for him.

  “Good a place as any to hurt yourself,” he said, winking.

  As he sat, he leaned toward the bed and continued to hold Leah’s hand. She gently touched his face with her other one. “Your beautiful face,” she said running her hand over a large bruise and a bandaged area on one side of his head.

  “Enough about me,” he said. “How are you doing?”

  “Wonderful…just wonderful,” she said, a definite sarcastic edge to her voice as she struggled through another contraction.

  “Is Colbi out there?” Savannah asked once the contraction was over.

  Harrison nodded.

  “Leah, I’d like to get some breakfast. Will you be okay?”

  “More than okay,” she said, smiling at Harrison.

  “Can I bring you anything?” she asked.

  “Juice, cold fruit, maybe, if they’ll let me eat it.”

  “I’ll check,” Savannah said before leaving the room.

  Once in the lobby, she spotted Colbi poring over a magazine. “Hi, did you eat?” Savannah asked.

  Colbi nodded. “Yeah, but I’ll watch you eat if you want to get breakfast.” She then asked, “Is there a baby yet?”

  Savannah shook her head, saying, “Not yet,” as she led the way to the cafeteria. When they reached the swinging doors, she turned and said, “Boy, Harrison’s right in there offering the right kind of support.”

  “He seems quite fond of the girl. Talked about her a lot last night.” She stopped. “Just a minute—there’s my phone.” Colbi stepped out of the cafeteria and into the hallway. When she returned, she said, “Craig’s looking for Harrison. They have a possible suspect and want him to see if he can ID him.” She grinned. “Craig was pretty surprised to hear where we are. No one expected Harrison to be getting around so well so soon. He’s tough…and determined.”

  “All good qualities,” Savannah said while spreading butter on her English muffin.

  “Yes, if he can just channel them in a more positive way from now on.” Colbi peered across the table at Savannah. “He’s coming over here. He wants to talk to Leah, too.”

  “Who?” Savannah asked.

  “Craig.”

  “While she’s in labor, for heaven’s sake?” Savannah asked, almost spilling her juice.

  ****

  “It’s a boy!” Harrison announced when he entered the lobby in a wheelchair a couple of hours later. “Thanks, honey,” he said to the nurse who was pushing him. “I can take it from here.”

  “How is she?” Savannah asked anxiously, “…and the baby?”

  “I guess everyone’s fine. Leah was smiling when I left. They were weighing the baby and all that stuff. I told her I’d be the bearer of the good news, but she wants me to come right back.”

  “That is good news,” Savannah said.

  “His name’s Charlie,” Harrison said, smiling widely. “…after me.”

  When Savannah looked confused, he said, “Harrison Charles, remember?”

  “Oh,” she said. “Well congratulations, I guess.”

  “Are you ready to get back to resting?” Colbi asked her brother.

  “Yeah, I should do that, I guess. I want to tell Leah and Charlie goodbye, first. I told her I’d get her a turkey sandwich.”

  “Turkey sandwich?”

  “Yeah, that’s what she wants.”

  “I’ll get it,” Savannah offered. “I’ll be right back to push you, if you like.”

  “Yeah, that would be good—I’m exhausted.”

  Fifteen minutes had passed when Savannah and Harrison returned to Leah’s hospital room. A nurse answered their light knock and stood aside to make room for the wheelchair. “You look wonderful,” Savannah said, approaching Leah, who held the baby in her arms.

  “Isn’t he beautiful?” Leah said, smiling broadly.

  “He sure is,” Savannah agreed. “He looks like his mama.”

  “Awww, he isn’t beautiful,” Harrison said, standing with the aid of crutches to get a better look. “He’s handsome.” He joined Savannah at Leah’s side. “When will they let you guys out?” he asked. “Where will you go?” He lowered his head. “If only I wasn’t all banged up, I could get us an apartment and we could be together.”

  Leah reached her hand out to him. “In time, Harrison. It’ll happen in time. I promise.”

  “She and the baby can stay with us for as long as she needs a place,” Savannah said.

  “Oh, Savannah, you’ve done so much already,” Leah complained.

  “Where would you go?” she asked.

  “Uh…I guess I really don’t know,” Leah said, lowering her eyes.

  “Home to your parents?” she suggested.

  Leah’s dark eyes pierced Savannah’s. “You know how I feel about that.” She glanced at Harrison and back at Savannah. “I think I can leave the hospital tomorrow.”

  “Good, I’ll come back and get you tomorrow,” Savannah offered. “Is there anything you need in the meantime?”

  Leah shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

  Harrison leaned over and kissed Leah, then ran one finger gently over the baby’s head and down one cheek. “I’ll see you soon. Let me know when you’re home and I’ll come over.” He slumped a little. “I really have to go rest now.”

  “Yes, I know. Thank you for coming. I’m so glad you were here.”

  “Me too,” he said, kissing her again. He choked up a little when he added, “It was awesome.”

  As Savannah wheeled Harrison into the lobby, they noticed Craig walking through the door.

  “Well, good timing,” he said. “Is there a baby yet?”

  “Yes, a boy,” Harrison said, proudly. “Named after me.”

  “Congratulations,” Craig said, “…I guess,” he added, looking confused.

  Savannah patted Craig’s arm and spoke quietly. “The times, they are a changin’.”

  “I guess so.” Craig cleared his throat. “Harrison, before you go, I’d like you to look at a couple of pictures, if you don’t mind.” He lowered himself onto a small sofa near the wheelchair, pulled out an envelope, and laid four photographs on a table in front of him. “Recognize anyone?” he asked.

  Harrison peered at the pictures one at a time, finally pointing. “That’s one of them,” he said in a growl. “That’s him for sure. The other guy had darker skin and a big tattoo along one side of his neck—his right side.” He looked at Craig. “Don’t ask m
e what it was—all I saw was a big black blur of ink.”

  “Harrison, now that you’ve had time to think about it, do you remember if they said anything to you?”

  “Yes,” he said, furrowing his brow. “I was going to call you—something came to me last night—something I remembered. The other guy said, ‘Too bad you had to get involved, pretty boy.’”

  “Involved?” Craig repeated. “What do you think that meant? What have you been involved in, lately that might cause such a violent reaction?”

  Harrison shook his head. “Man, danged if I know.”

  Craig was quiet for a minute, then asked, “Could it have something to do with Leah?”

  Harrison looked down. “I sure don’t want to think so.”

  “What is that girl into, Craig—do you know?” Colbi asked.

  “Not exactly, but we’re getting closer to figuring it out.” He looked at Colbi, then Harrison. “I hope she’s an innocent bystander, but I’m pretty sure she has something or had something that someone else wants awfully bad. And maybe they found it. Maybe it’s all over for the two of you, unless…”

  “Unless what, Craig?” Colbi asked.

  “Unless those two goons think Harrison can identify them.”

  “Well, I can and I will,” Harrison said. He fought back emotion when he added, “They killed my buddy.”

  ****

  “Craig, thank you for giving Leah time to rest with her baby before bringing police business to her,” Savannah said late the next day as she ushered him into her home.

  “How’s she doing?” he asked.

  “Well, she’s young and fairly healthy—now that she’s eating regularly.”

  “Can I see her?”

  “Yes, she’s expecting you. She’s in the first room on the left at the top of the stairs. Knock first, in case she’s…you know, nursing or something.”

  Craig nodded. He then asked, “Can you join us?”

  Savannah looked around. “Well, yeah. Michael’s picking Lily up from your place on his way home from work. Max is bringing dinner over. Yeah, I’ll go up with you.”

  After climbing the stairs, Savannah tapped on the door. “Knock, knock—Detective Craig’s here. Can we come in?”

  “Yes,” Leah said.

  They found her rocking the baby in the nursing chair Savannah and Michael had moved upstairs. “He seems happy here,” she said, smiling.

  “You doing okay?” Craig asked.

  Leah nodded.

  “Great. Now, I have a few questions. I’ve asked Savannah to be here, if that’s okay with you.”

  She glanced at Savannah. “Sure.”

  “Okay. Now Leah, I want to know what it was that you put in Savannah’s suitcase before you left the island.”

  Leah looked down at the baby, then gently kissed him on the head. “Ano told me it would secure our future—mine and the baby’s. It was the key to something belonging to Kale. Ano thought I should have it. I was to hide the information somehow. He said I shouldn’t carry it myself because I was being watched.”

  “Who was supposed to be watching you, Leah? Do you know?” Craig asked. “Authorities?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe. But I couldn’t be caught leaving the island with it, so I put it in Savannah’s suitcase.”

  “And you don’t know what it was? You never looked at it?”

  “It was a key,” she said, quietly. “To a storage unit, I think. I was supposed to meet up with a woman named Lani in Frisco and she would take me there or give me the address.”

  Craig hesitated and took a deep breath. “We believe Harrison was attacked because of what was in that envelope Ano gave you.”

  Leah started to cry. “Oh no. I hoped that wasn’t the case. Then I was the cause of his beating and Moss’s death. My God, what have I done?”

  “You didn’t know…” Savannah started.

  Craig put his hand up to stop her. He paused, then said, “It’s rough out there for a runaway girl. There are predators dressed up like well-meaning saviors. They treat you like a queen so they can use you to further their thieving, murderous ways.”

  Leah continued to sob, holding tightly to her baby boy. She lifted her head and looked at Craig and Savannah. “I guess I’m just about the most stupid person alive.”

  Savannah came quickly to her rescue. “No, Leah…no, you’re not.”

  Craig jumped in, saying, “Leah, you’ve done some dumb things, but you can make it right again and maybe save some lives if you’ll tell me what you know about these people.” He hesitated, then asked, “Kale and Ano were involved in gang activity on the island, weren’t they?”

  “I…I don’t know.”

  “Well, I can tell you that they were. The guys they hung around with weren’t high school chums or golfing buddies, they were hard-core gangbangers bent on causing havoc. The things you witnessed or heard about happening within the tight-knit group Kale hung with—those weren’t coincidental accidents. Those guys were out looking for trouble and finding it. And their craving for trouble was accelerating. They hurt people for the fun of it. They didn’t care about anyone or anything but the next thrill of the drugs or the killing or the beating. They weren’t victims, Leah. When they were winged in a drive-by shooting, it was usually a policeman’s bullet that got them as they made their getaway after terrorizing or killing someone.”

  “Stop!” Leah insisted. “That’s not the way it was. You weren’t there!” she shouted. “You don’t know. Kale and his friends were good to me.”

  “Yeah, because they could use you. Once they didn’t need you anymore, they wouldn’t have been so kind. They were using you, Leah.” He lowered his voice. “And I believe some of them have followed you here, to make sure that you never get what’s behind door number-one.” When Leah looked confused, he explained, “The money, Leah.” His voice softened. “Honey, you would never have made it out of San Francisco alive. There was nothing in this for you, except an early grave.”

  “My God!” she shouted. “How do you know all of this? I mean…”

  “It’s my job, Leah. When I heard about the suitcase caper, I did some checking with local authorities on Oahu.” He squinted in her direction. “Do you know a young woman named Malia?”

  Her eyes brightened. “Yes, she was from the states, too—Maria. She took the Hawaiian name Malia. She’s Ano’s girl. She’d known him and Kale for a long time—like maybe a couple of years.”

  “Well, she’s dead.”

  “What?”

  “Shot and killed. It looks like it was someone she knew—someone she was intimate with. They want to question her boyfriend.”

  “Ano?” Leah asked. “Oh my God!” She comforted her baby when he started to wriggle and fuss. After kissing him on top of the head, she said more quietly, “I thought I saw a couple of familiar faces last week when I was on the street. I don’t think they saw me and I didn’t speak to them.” Her eyes wide with fear, she asked, “They were looking for me?”

  Craig quickly pulled an envelope from his inside jacket pocket and removed the photos he’d shown Harrison. “Do you recognize any of these men?”

  “Yes,” she said, immediately. “That’s Ano, right there!” She studied the remaining photos. “I don’t know the others.”

  “Harrison identified him as one of his attackers,” Craig said quietly.

  She took a breath and let it out slowly. “The other man I saw on the streets with Ano that day was Pono. He has a big black tattoo on his neck.”

  “Do you know anything else about him?”

  Leah thought for a moment. “He walks with a slight limp from a gunshot wound that didn’t heal right. He likes barbecue—he’s always eating barbecue—and he buys some oddball beer. I can’t remember what it’s called, but it was hard to find on the island, I remember.”

  “Does he have money, or does he live on the streets?”

  “Depends. I’ve seen
him with money, but I’ve also seen him in some of the homeless encampments. Oh, he gambles…a lot.”

  “Good,” Craig said. “That ought to help us find him, if he’s still around here.” He turned to Savannah. “Keep this place under lockdown, will you?” he thought for a moment. “I think I’ll get a couple of guards out here, too.”

  Leah held her baby close. “Do you think they’d come after me here?”

  Craig let out a sigh. “We don’t know what they’ll do, but it’s possible. We don’t want to take any chances, for your sake and the baby’s.” He then asked, “Did you tell Ano, Kale, or any of the others where you were going to retrieve the suitcase? Did you give anyone this address?”

  Savannah saw the color drain from Leah’s face. Her eyes filled with dread. “I…” she started, “it’s possible that I said something. I don’t remember for sure.” She looked directly at Craig. “I saw no reason not to tell them where I was going, but I don’t remember if I actually gave them Savannah’s and Michael’s names or maybe the name of the town…I’m just not sure.” After thinking about it for a moment, she said, her voice cracking, “I may have said something about it to Malia.”

  Craig thinned his lips and stared at the young woman. Finally he said, “One more thing, Leah. Where were you supposed to go in Frisco, do you know?”

  “Yes,” she said. “That information is with the key, but I also wrote it down. Malia helped me sew it into my backpack.”

  “Want me to get it?” Savannah offered.

  “Yes, it’s on a hook in the closet,” she said. “Do you have scissors?”

  Savannah found a pair in the bathroom. She placed the pack on the floor near Leah, put the scissors on a table next to her, and took the baby. Leah promptly cut the threads and pulled out a piece of paper with an address on it. She handed it to Craig.

  Looking at it, he said, “Thanks. With this, we may be able to bring the gang to its knees. We especially don’t relish them bringing their terrorist activities here.” Craig stared into Leah’s eyes. “So, little girl, what about your parents?”