by Patricia Fry
Suzette grabbed Savannah’s arm to get her attention, “I told them I thought it was someone’s ashes.”
Savannah shuddered a little. She peered at the incinerator. “Do you think they used that thing for… cremation?”
“No Bible pages; no ashes,” Michael said in an attempt to quell their wild imaginations.
“So what is it, Michael?” Savannah asked.
“Nothing,” he said, lifting the heavy lid to show her. “It’s empty.”
As everyone contemplated the situation, Rags strutted toward the box. Koko, noticing him, appeared from behind the incinerator, ran up, and rubbed against her feline friend. Together, they sniffed at the object. Koko stepped gingerly into the box and nosed around while Rags seemed to be taking in the scents around the exterior. When Arthur saw Koko hop out of the box, jump into the circle of rocks, and peer into the hole left by the extraction, he followed her. “What is it, Koko?” He turned to the others. “Hey, check this out. There’s like a cavern down there. Do we have a light?”
“I saw a flashlight someplace,” Suzette said. She snapped her fingers, saying, “Oh, I remember where. I’ll go get it.”
“Hmm,” Michael mumbled as he joined Arthur. “Looks like erosion—maybe water from the pond worked its way under that box and… ”
“So that hole could be full of water?” Arthur asked.
Michael ran his hand through his hair and glanced around the area. “Probably not. It’s been a dry year. Maybe in the past, though.”
Rags tugged at his leash and Savannah moved closer to the abandoned pond, allowing him enough slack to follow Koko. When she saw the Siamese leaning over the edge as if she were about to jump, she said, “Should you let her go in there? It could be deep.” She took a step back. “It might be full of rattlesnakes.”
Before anyone could react, Koko leaped onto a ledge about two feet down in the hole and promptly disappeared. Rags pulled against his leash, eager to join her. But before he could follow, Michael picked him up.
“Here’s a flashlight,” Suzette said upon returning.
Arthur quickly took it and knelt, shining the light around in the hole. “Where’d she go, anyway?” Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of the Siamese cat. “Oh my gosh! She’s down in the bottom. Dang.” He faced the others, frowning. “I don’t know how she’s going to get out of there.”
“Is she okay?” Savannah asked. “I mean, did she fall? She’s not hurt, is she?”
Arthur shook his head. “I don’t think so. She looks okay.”
“See that sloping side right there?” Michael said, pointing. “She probably slid down there and made a soft landing.”
“Well, it looks too steep for her to climb out, don’t you think, Michael?”
“Probably,” he said. “Don’t worry, Arthur, we’ll get her out… even if we have to call the fire department.” He leaned over the opening, straining to see beyond the protrusion. “Wait… what’s that?”
“What?” Arthur asked.
Michael pointed into the pit. “She’s pawing at something. Shine your light to the right a little. See that piece of paper?”
“Paper?” Savannah said. “Maybe it is the lost books of the Bible.”
“Burned-up paper?” Suzette asked.
“Doesn’t look like it,” Arthur said. “That’s odd, isn’t it?”
Suzette moved closer. “What kind of paper is it? A newspaper from the 1800s?”
“No,” Arthur said, squinting into the cavernous depths. “There’s another one. They look more like documents.”
“Can you command your cat to bring one up for us to see?” Savannah asked, chuckling a little.
Arthur shook his head. “I don’t think so.” He turned toward the others and said excitedly, “… but I have a telescope. I wonder if we could read them through the telescope. I’ll go get it… if it hasn’t been sold,” he added, laughing.
While Arthur was gone, Michael used the flashlight to further examine the inside of the cavity. “How is she going to get out?” he asked, thinking out loud. He sat back on his heels. “I wonder if there’s a ladder around here anyplace.”
“Are you thinking about climbing down and getting her?” Savannah asked. When Michael nodded, she grimaced. “It’s too narrow, isn’t it? Do you think any of us could fit through that tight spot? I don’t even think Suzette could shimmy her tiny body past that ledge.”
Just then Arthur returned with a small telescope.
“Looks like something a pirate ship’s captain would use to discover land,” Michael said, grinning.
“Or booty,” Suzette suggested.
Everyone stared at Suzette, then broke out in laughter.
“I mean loot,” she said, blushing, “… discover loot.”
“It’s personal papers,” Arthur announced while peering into the hole through his telescope. “Michael, aim the light to the left a little.” He then said, “I see a driver license, a social security card, oh, insurance papers, something about a pension. There’s another driver license and some sort of odd ID.”
“Who do they belong to?” Savannah asked.
After a few minutes, Arthur responded, “Not the same person—different people.” He turned to face the others, his brow creased. “What do you suppose this means?”
“Someone stole these people’s identity?” Suzette suggested, wide-eyed. She spoke more quietly. “Do you see a band of hackers down there manning banks of computers and telephones?”
Everyone laughed at the vision.
“Maybe someone who lived here had several identities or was in the witness-protection program,” Savannah suggested.
“Or they were hiding out from the law. Hey,” Suzette said, “I’ll bet that thing you dug out of there was a strongbox from a stagecoach robbery.” She looked at the others. “Could this have been Bonnie and Clyde’s hideout?” Her demeanor suddenly shifted. In a more serious tone, she said, “I’d like to get my hands on some of those papers.”
“You’re one nosey lady, you know it?” Arthur teased.
“Yes, I’m afraid I am. I’m not one to walk away from a mystery, that’s for sure.”
“You’d get along well with our cat,” Savannah said, looking at Rags, who was tugging at the leash, eager to see what his feline friend was doing down in the pit.
Suzette tilted her head. “I’ve heard about his escapades.” She reached out and petted Rags, giggling. “Catscapades… ”
“Koko, I think you should come back out of there,” Arthur called. “Come on, Koko. Come on now,” he urged.
The cat simply looked up at him and meowed twice.
“I don’t think she can get out,” Michael said. “It’s starting to get dark. Arthur, can she climb a ladder?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve never seen her do it.”
“She never tried to climb that ladder you devised to sneak out of your quarters?” Savannah asked.
When Arthur shook his head, a blank look on his face, Michael gestured toward Rags. “He can, and Koko’s more agile than he is. She should be able to.” He asked Suzette, “Have you seen a ladder around here anywhere?”
The young woman volunteered to go find one. When she returned, Arthur gasped. “Oh my gosh! That ladder went to Karen’s bunk bed. I haven’t seen it in years.”
Michael peered down into the hole again, saying, “That should be just the height we need in that space. If Koko can climb it to that ledge, she should be able to get out by herself. Now if only she will use it,” he said as he and Arthur positioned the ladder.
“Come on, Koko,” Arthur urged. “You can do it, girl.”
Meow. Meooowww.
“She doesn’t seem to get it,” Suzette said. “What if I climb down and stand on it to show her?”
Arthur pondered the suggestion. “I don’t want you stepping in there and falling on that slippery ledge. Anyway it would probably work better if Rags showed her, don’t you think, Michael?”
&nbs
p; He sighed. “Yeah, probably, buddy. Let’s give it a try. Come on Rags,” he said, picking up the cat. He stepped carefully onto the ledge and placed Rags on the ladder as far down as he could reach. He then used gestures to encourage the lanky cat to climb the rest of the way up and out of the hole in demonstration for Koko.
Rags, however, wasn’t in a climbing mood. He wanted to see what Koko was doing. The Siamese beauty simply ignored Rags and continued to yowl. Before Michael could react, Rags turned around on the ladder and jumped the remaining four feet into the pit. There was little Michael could do but let the leash go, lest the cat was left dangling a few feet above the dirt floor.
“Oh no!” Savannah said under her breath.
Michael grimaced. “Well, darn. Now we have both cats down there.”
With Arthur’s help, Michael climbed back up to ground level.
“What’s he doing?” Arthur asked, using the flashlight to peer into the pit. When the others moved in closer, he said, “I saw Rags pick something up in his mouth—good gosh, here he comes up the ladder with it.”
“Will you look at that,” Suzette said. “Now that’s something I’ve never seen before.”
“That’s because you hadn’t met Rags before,” Arthur said, chuckling.
When the large grey-and-white cat reached the ledge, Arthur leaned over and took the items from him. At the same time, Michael tried to grab the cat, but he wasn’t quick enough, and Rags promptly backed toward the ladder, stepped on the top rung, and carefully worked his way down to the bottom again. Everyone watched as the cat scooped up a few more documents and began to climb the ladder again.
“Let me get him,” Michael said, as Rags stepped on the top rung. He reached toward the cat and grabbed him before he could return to the hole. He then handed Arthur the papers Rags had retrieved.
At the same time, Suzette picked up the flashlight and shined it into the crater. “Hey, look at that!” she shouted. “Here she comes!”
The two couples leaned over and watched with delight as Koko began pulling herself out of the hole one rung at a time. When the spunky Siamese stepped up onto the ledge, Arthur quickly dropped the papers and leaned over the rim. Michael held onto the young man as he gripped the cat and brought her to safety.
“Hold onto her, buddy,” Michael instructed. “I saw a couple pieces of plywood outside the tool shed. Let me see if I can find one that will cover that hole. Then let’s go inside and examine those mysterious documents.”
Chapter 2
Later that evening, the table in the large dining room of the Peyton Mansion was set to accommodate eight. Laura and Gail from the estate sale company joined the others for a lamb-chop dinner, and the conversation around the table was lively. During the course of the evening, Laura overheard Arthur and Savannah talking about the strange papers they had found.
“They were buried?” she asked.
“More like hidden in this pit,” Arthur explained.
“That’s fascinating,” Laura said. “Was it like a room down there with a filing cabinet or boxes?”
Savannah shook her head. “No, just a hole under an old fish pond or fountain. We found it when the guys dug up a strange empty metal box.”
“So it wasn’t a deep hole?”
“Yeah, it was,” Savannah said, nodding. “Too deep for the cats to climb out.”
Laura lowered her brow. “There were cats in there?”
Arthur chuckled. “No. Our cats went down there.”
“Oh no, Artie, how did you get them out?” Ruth asked, looking concerned.
“We thought that was going to be a giant problem,” Savannah said. “The pit is too narrow for any of us to climb into, so the guys lowered a ladder down there and...”
“Yeah,” Arthur interjected, “would you believe it, Ruthie? Koko climbed a ladder! Rags showed her how.”
Laura raised her eyebrows. “A cat did? Really?”
“So how did you get the papers out?” Gail asked.
Savannah said hesitantly, “Rags… ” she glanced in Michael’s direction, “our cat… he brought some of them up.”
“In his mouth?”
When Savannah and Arthur nodded, Laura said, “I’ve never known a cat to do something like that. Isn’t it kind of unusual behavior?” She looked at Savannah and then Michael. “Is he trained?”
The couple found that question humorous. “Not hardly,” Savannah said, chuckling.
Michael added, “In fact, we spend a lot of time trying to teach him not to do it.”
“Why?” Gail wondered.
Savannah and Michael made quick eye contact, and she said, “Because he tends to steal things. He’s a klepto cat.”
“Ohhh, I see,” Gail said. “I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never known one. So what does he take?” she asked, looking from Michael to Savannah.
“Just about anything he can carry,” Michael explained.
Savannah chimed in, “Paper money, letters, pill packets, keys, jewelry, the baby’s toys… he’s even been known to take bathing suits from unsuspecting neighbors… at least a couple of times.”
Michael laughed. “… not while they’re wearing them, of course.”
“I didn’t know he was a klepto,” Rupert said. “He was well-behaved while he was under my care in the cat room last time you were here. I did find out he’s an escape artist, though.”
“Yes,” Savannah said, grimacing. “He certainly caused a commotion with his Houdini act; nearly got my aunt killed.”
“Where is he now?” Rupert asked.
“In his pen. He hasn’t figured out how to pick the lock on his pen, yet,” she said.
“You lock it?”Arthur asked. “Aren’t you afraid of fire? How would anyone get him out of there in an emergency?”
Savannah shook her head. “Oh no, we don’t actually lock it with a key. The latch we use can easily be opened by anyone over eight years old.”
Michael added, “And as far as we know, Rags hasn’t figured out how to open it yet.”
Laura peered at the Iveys for a moment, then asked, “So what do you think the papers are? What do they mean? Who put them there?”
“You sure have a curious streak,” Gail said, laughing. She confided in the others. “She was a history major and loves digging up local history.”
“That’s why I do what I do,” Laura said. “I learn so much at these estate sales. But I haven’t worked one as grand and intriguing as this in years. There’s a lot of history here.” She leaned toward Savannah. “You know, some of the furnishings came with the house when the Peytons bought it. A few pieces may even be original—from the late 1800s.”
“I didn’t know that,” Arthur said. “So it’s pretty old stuff?”
“Do you know anything about some of the other people who lived here, Arthur?” Michael asked.
He shook his head.
“I do,” Laura said. “I got some insight today when the granddaughter of a former owner stopped in.”
“That was the woman who came with my sister,” Ruth said.
“Ruthie, your sister was here?” Arthur asked, his eyes wide.
“That’s right; I have not had a chance to talk to you. Yes, she came with the former resident. She did not know I worked here… or used to work here. She was surprised to learn that I had been your nanny for all those years, Artie. It was a very unexpected reunion.”
“So how did it go?” he asked. “I mean, will you… did she… ?” he stammered.
Ruth shook her head. “I do not know what will happen. If Mattie is ready to get off the streets and form a relationship with me, I am open to that.” She frowned. “But I will not tolerate the drug and alcohol lifestyle. That is for sure.”
Arthur smiled at Ruth, then asked Laura, “So when did this family live here?”
“I guess between the 1970s and early nineties.” She peered at Arthur. “Do you remember hearing anything about the Randall family—Gordon and Pamela Randall? They moved in with
their son-in-law, who was raising a young child—Miriam. She’s the one who visited here with Ruth’s sister this afternoon.” She rolled her eyes. “She’s an… interesting individual.”
“How so?” Savannah asked.
“Well, kind of out of touch with reality, if you ask me. You know those two women are homeless—they both live on the streets of San Francisco.”
“Many of the homeless are living in another world, don’t you think?” Suzette interjected.
“My aunt and uncle, who mostly raised me, volunteer with the homeless and I help sometimes. Some of the men and women should be in treatment programs or institutions. Instead, they’re self-medicating with drugs and alcohol and living in squalor. The system, or in some cases, their families, have let them down.”
Laura thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. But she asked me something that I can’t stop thinking about.”
Arthur quickly looked up from his meal. “What?”
“She asked if we’d found the… awful secret.”
“What did she mean by that?” he asked.
“She didn’t elaborate. That’s all she said. She seemed a little frightened, actually. She didn’t stay long.” Laura took a sip from her water glass, then spoke to Arthur again. “She seemed fixated with one area of the house.” She hesitated before explaining. “Since she once lived here, I agreed to give her a tour.” She grinned sheepishly. “I thought I might learn more about the history of the place from her. Anyway,” she continued, “when we came to the basement door—the one that leads to your quarters, Arthur, she suddenly stopped and said she’d seen enough. Like I said, she seemed nervous and frightened. She couldn’t get back to the living room fast enough and then she left in a hurry to meet her friend outside.”
“Crazy,” Rupert said. “Awful secret, huh? Did she mean poor Artie being kept here secretly by his mother for all of those years?”
“I don’t think so,” Laura said, shaking her head slowly. She then addressed Arthur and Suzette. “So what’s in those papers you found today? I wonder if that’s the secret she’s talking about.”
Arthur responded. “They were personal documents—driver licenses, social security cards, insurance papers. One looked like part of a will.”
