Tatania didn’t taunt the starfish. Either did Zeus. They just studied their moving pattern. They would slide along. Moving stars along the beach. Under the moonlight, brightly colored starfish would stick close together and then take off in opposite directions, sliding propelled by some mechanism underneath their bodies, they could move in different paths. Two might look exactly alike but make different choices about where to go.
Zeus scampered after a starfish. He watched a red starfish moving back out with the tide. When the ocean sprinkled his nose, and splashed his paws, he decided the starfish wasn’t as interesting as staying dry.
He put his paws up on Grace’s dress and she took her scarf off to dry him. Tatania looked away. She would never have made the mistake of letting her paws get wet. Tomcats tended to be a little too impulsive. They were lucky female humans tended to be indulgent towards them.
“He’s such a baby. I hate it when we take the plane and leave him behind. Maybe he worries we’re not coming back.” Grace looked up at Jack.
“Grace, you know he doesn’t want to get anywhere near the plane’s engine noise. I don’t think he worries that we’re not coming back. He probably just wonders what we are doing. And thinks he wouldn’t get in that noisy machine for anything. Especially when there are rabbits to chase in the fields. And fishermen docking with freshly caught mackerel and tuna that they’re eager to share with him. Zeus knows we’re his humans. He chose us. Like Tatania.”
Tatamia put her paws up on Grace. It was a gesture that meant Tatania wanted to be picked up.
“She wants you to pick her up. That means she chose you. Cats are very particular. If she’s letting you pick her up, you’re a chosen human.”
Grace and Jack built their home by the bay across from Coronado Tent City. They walked past the Merry Go Round, filled with woman on horses, with their beaux standing close to them. And couples dancing outside the Pavilion, to the music the band played. Music resonated through the grounds of the hotel and Tent City’s inhabitants danced in their cottages.
They waited for the street car carrying passengers to the ferry to pass. They walked past the mansion built by John D Spreckels, the land baron, who was rumored to pay ten percent of the property taxes in San Diego County.
A few steps away was their house.
“Promise me we’ll never move, Jack,” Grace whispered. She was exactly where she wanted to be in the world.
“Promise.” He pulled a strand of her dark bobbed hair back from her face and kissed her.
“Wouldn’t Paris tempt you?” Annie asked.
“Only if I could come back here.” Grace turned and saw the rowboats on the bay. A sailor silently moving the boat’s oars, and rowing his girlfriend under the full moon.
Jack’s biplane, The Tatania, was parked on the side of the house.
“Are you going to learn to fly, Grace. Like Amelia Earhardt?”
“Maybe. If Jack promises not to make jokes about women pilots.”
Tatania meowed loudly when they opened the door.
“I think that meow means tuna first and champagne second,” Annie said.
“Annie, how is your kitty?”
“Too spoiled.”
Grace pulled some frozen tuna out of the ice box while Jack popped the champagne.
Chapter Sixteen
Tatania slipped away while they were drinking champagne. Something about this case didn’t feel right to her. She kept thinking they’d missed something. Feline intuition. Tatania prided herself on her cat sleuth skills. She didn’t like to think of any aspect of a case remaining unsolved. She considered again whether the name of the agency should be changed from Wentworth & Brewster to Tatania & Associates. But there might be marketing challenges for a cat. And stealth and invisibility at will were two of her greatest weapons.
She walked next to the bay to Orange street, looked both ways for traffic, and then scampered over to the Hotel del Coronado. She bounded up the steps and the doorman opened the door for her.
“Pretty white cat,” he said.
She appreciated the compliment. Even if she had heard it before. Tatania swivelled her ears three times, became invisible, and went to Henry and Isabella’s room. A smell assaulted her senses as soon as she entered.
The woman was lying on the floor retching. This was unlike any furball or hairball Tatania had seen. There was blood in the vomit.
Even if she was deaf sometimes, Tatania could understand some human language. She understood the woman was saying, “Call the doctor. Please.”
Tatania meowed so loudly the man fell over. The woman turned towards Tatania. She meowed again. She could feel vibrations in the floor. When she meowed, people moved. She watched the door move. A human was knocking hard on it.
She wasn’t exactly sure what the male human was saying but it appeared to be, “You bitch,” to the woman.
The door opened.
Tatania recognized the hotel manager. He gave good treats to cats and dogs.
The manager picked up the phone and dialed a number. Then he looked nervously at the woman.
Tatania purred. The woman relaxed. Then she convulsed, vomiting, with diarrhea again. She was beyond a cat’s help.
Tatania watched men in white coats walk in the room with a stretcher. They put the woman on it.
Unlike most male humans whose wives fall ill, Tatania noticed that her husband didn’t seem concerned at his wife’s convulsions.
None of the humans were watching her. She’d seen Jack call Grace at home before. She knocked the earpiece off the candlestick holder phone after the manager put it down. She meowed again.
Chapter Seventeen
“Someone’s meowing. It sounds like Tatania.” Jack held the phone to his ear.
“Time to cut off Jack’s drinks.”
“What’s in this champagne?”
Jack held the phone ear piece out towards Grace.
“Absolutely. That’s Tatania.”
“Where’d she go?”
“I don’t speak cat. Sadly. I probably miss a lot of astute observations.”
Zeus meowed loudly.
Grace opened the door and walked out on the porch. She looked towards the Del. It was a clear night illuminated by the full moon.
“Lets go back to Henry and Isabella’s room,” Grace said.
“Now who needs their drinks cut off? Knock on the door during their reunion? That’s all wet, Grace.”
“Jack, I’m sure she went back there.” Grace ran across the street and Jack and Zeus followed her. Martin and Annie stayed behind to watch their house and drink their champagne.
The door to Henry’s suite was open. Isabella was on a stretcher.
Tatania meowed.
Then Tatania pulled the sheet down on the stretcher. Jack stared at Isabella’s body. Her dress was diaphanous.
Grace felt ready to slap him. He’d gone beyond the case in his constant study of Isabella’s body.
“Henry, call us and let us know if we can do anything.” Jack patted Henry on the arm. Henry walked alongside the stretcher while the attendants carried each end of it.
“That’s not Isabella,” Jack whispered to Grace.
“Jack, what are you drinking tonight?”
“The belly buttons are different. That’s Isabella’s identical twin. The only way you can tell one identical twin from the other is the belly button. A belly button is a scar. Everything else is identical. Even the fingerprints. We’re going back to La Jolla.”
They hurried to the plane with Tatania. Zeus joined Annie and Martin in the house.
Grace watched, completely at ease, when Jack piloted the plane. Tatania relaxed on her lap. They were both certain Jack could safely fly them anywhere.
Chapter Eighteen
Jack landed right outside the cave.
”I know. Isabella is here. That was her twin. Tatania has been obsessed with the identical starfish. She always knows. They’re identical twins. Why she married Henry, I
don’t know—”
“—Poor Henry.”
“Well, he’s not poor. Just a wet blanket. Who married someone beautiful because she’d make him look more successful. And didn’t look too closely when her twin came back instead of her.”
“I married Henry to save Arthur,” Isabella said at the cave entrance.
“We came to California on the same orphan train. Arthur, the cat, and my twin sister. My cat.” Isabella knelt down and pet Tatania, crying.
“I missed you.” Arthur came over and knelt by the cat.
Tatania brushed her cheek against their hands.
“She’s our cat,” Jack said.
“No, we lost her two years ago. She got scared on the train platform. I ran after her. All the way into a thick orange and lemon grove. And it was the strangest thing. I know it will sound like I’ve been drinking too much —”
“—you won’t be the only one.”
“The cat seemed to swivel her ears three times. And then become invisible. I couldn’t see her. And that’s how Isabella and I and the cat got separated.”
“We planned on spending our lives together.” Isabella sank her face into Tatania’s fur.
“This is my cat. I adopted her when she was a kitten. About two years ago. A breeder was trying to drown her. Thought her deafness would mar her Persian pedigree bloodline. She was only about four weeks old at the time.”
Isabella looked up but didn’t take her hand off Tatania.
“We met her when she was a full grown cat. Didn’t we? Did you know her when she was a kitten, Arthur?” Isabella asked.
He shook his head.
“My twin sister was a prostitute in New York. Men would mistake me for her. I hated it. After I married Henry to save Arthur—”
“—How did marrying Henry save Arthur?”
“It’s a long story but Henry could have had Arthur prosecuted for leaving his ranch. Arthur had been promised to him as a laborer. And Arthur took some oranges with him when he left Henry’s ranch. Henry agreed he’d drop all charges against Arthur if I married him.”
“And then I found Adele working in a brothel. It was easy to convince her to switch places with Isabella. She wanted to be the wife of a rich man like Henry. But how did you figure it out?”
“The belly button.” Jack pointed to the nude sketch of Isabella on the wall. “It’s different from Adele’s belly button. I noticed that tonight. Adele got ill and was being carried out on a stretcher. The sheet flew up and I could see her belly button. Isabella is an innie. Adele is an outie.”
Isabella and Arthur smiled. Then, Isabella looked anxious.
“We’re not going to say anything to Henry,” Grace said.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Arthur and I have waited two years to be together again. And Henry never loved me.”
“Did Adele look seriously ill?”
“Nausea. Vomiting. The trots.”
“Maybe Henry has that effect on women. Or maybe Adele’s pet snake gave her salmonella poisoning,” Arthur suggested.
“We’re different. Even though on the outside we looked identical.” Isabella explained.
“When we were standing on the platform, after we came in on the orphan train, they were looking at both of us, and one man said, ‘the one next to her looks exactly like her’, and I thought we couldn’t be more different. We responded to the stress of being on our own differently. She became a prostitute. And when men mistook me for her, it made me angry. Arthur was the first person who could tell us apart. Sometimes, I think he’s the only person.”
“Now, you have Jack and me. And Tatania.” They watched as the cat jumped on Jack’s
shoulder.
“What if there was someone out there who looks like you but isn’t? What is the word?”
“Doppelganger,” Jack said.
“I never thought about how lucky I was to meet Jack. My life could have gone a zillion different ways. I tried not to think about how vulnerable I was when I was a broke orphan. But I felt the fear.”
“What did you do? Without parents or a guardian? Or money?”
“I got lucky. I won a beauty contest. The prize was a hundred dollars. And Jack quit Pinkerton when it wouldn’t hire me. He believed in me. Believed we could carry a private detective agency. Believed I was smarter than all the guys. Except him.” Grace laughed.
“Lucky? You’re very pretty.”
“So are you. So are a lot of other girls. It’s luck. It’s the personal preference of the judges. It could have gone another way. But thank you.”
“How can you be sure you won’t run into Henry and Adele?” Jack asked.
“We’re taking Pickwick to Los Angeles later. Then we’re taking a train to New York. And sailing for Paris. I saved some money working on ranches.”
“Paris can never have too many American artists.” Isabella reached behind her for Arthur’s hand. He squeezed hers.
Isabella jumped.
“I hated that snake. It was always Adele’s pet.”
Tatania felt most comfortable watching the snake from Jack’s shoulder.
“Maybe you’ll come visit us in Paris,” Arthur said.
They smiled. “Thank you. Bon Voyage.”
While Grace and Jack climbed in the plane, Tatania turned, and looked back at Isabella and Arthur, and winked.
Chapter Nineteen
Jack flew back over the coastline they loved. Grace smiled at the sight of their home next to the bay on the island they cherished.
“Now you know,” Jack said, reaching out to take Grace’s hand and help her out of the plane while Tatania lept out effortlessly on her own, “that if I’m looking at a naked woman, it’s pertinent to a case.”
“Ha. You’re incorrigible.”
“Henry just telephoned from the hospital,” Annie announced.
“Isabella had salmonella poisoning. Something about a pet snake shedding salmonella..” Annie put a cigarette in her red holder and Martin lit it with a gold monogrammed lighter.
“She’ll be fine. She’s a healthy adult. What happened to the two of you?” Martin asked.
“We just felt like going for a jaunt.”
“I’ll leave you kids. It’s time this old guy got to bed.” Martin put down his empty champagne glass and took Annie’s hand.
“She seems like a lovely girl,” Annie said.
“Isabella is the bees knees.” Grace agreed, shutting the door behind them.
“What if I had a twin? Would you take her instead of me?” Grace asked, climbing the stairs to their bedroom.
“I don’t know.” Jack watched her hips swish.
“Would she burn my toast?”
Grace stopped.
“If she looked like you, I wouldn’t care.” He picked her up and carried her to their antique bed.
The cats jumped on the bed ahead of them.
Tatania knew Grace and Jack were going to need her for a long time. They couldn’t solve a mystery without her. This would be the longest of her nine lives. But it would go by quickly because she was so very happy. When the time came, Grace would miss her the most. Tatania knew it would surprise Grace because she thought of her as Jack’s cat first. But it would be Grace who missed the swish of a cat tail in her face in the morning, and meowing for breakfast, and cat paws softly walking around her the most. Tatania would never leave them completely. Sometimes, at night, even when she was in another of her nine lives, she’d return, and purr gently into Grace’s ear at night, lulling her to sleep.
MEWOW
Chapter One
“He has money. And I like money. It felt like the whole universe came into balance when we met.” The blonde haired girl smiled and twirled, showing off a sparkling dress accented by jewels. The jewels were cut in the shape of cats. Beautiful cats.
“Marco’s dresses are the cat’s meow,” Grace said.
“Jack, I think I need this dress.”
“It’s yours,” he sa
id.
And then he leaned over and whispered, “I can’t wait to see it on the floor.”
Grace didn’t know what was more shocking - that she talked Jack into coming to the fashion show or that he seemed to be enjoying himself.
“And I have a small role in a movie.” The model kept twirling.
“I’m going to Hollywood.”
“I’m sure you’ll be a sensation. Women won’t stop thinking about what you’re wearing. Men won’t stop thinking about what you’re not wearing,” Jack said.
“How did you get the gig with Marco?” Grace asked.
“I met him in a speakeasy,” Lauren said.
“He asked me if I wanted to have breakfast with him. And it was about 8:00 o’clock at night,” she said coyly.
Grace and Jack looked at each other. When Grace and Jack weren’t working on a case for their private detective agency, Wentworth & Brewster, their days blurred in a sensual procession of breakfast on the terrace, sex in the afternoon, and dancing at night.
“I see the waiter coming with champagne.” Their friend, Annie Knickerbocker spoke with a cigarette holder dangling from her mouth.
“Bees Knees,” Grace said.
“I love this decade. I was born to live in the nineteen-twenties,” Annie said.
“Everyone alive right now was born to live in the nineteen-twenties.” Jack smiled at Annie. Tatania jumped on Annie’s lap and head butted Annie’s arm as a cue to massage her ears. “It’s the cat’s meow. I’m never getting in a corset again.” She pulled out the billowing fabric of a light peach chiffon dress. “Unless it’s for a little fun with Martin.” She winked.
Grace reached for a petit four. She nibbled on it, distracted by the fashions, and most of all by Jack’s arm on her leg under the table.
“Nice looking kitty.” The waiter looked at Tatania while he poured their champagne.
“She’s beautiful. Look at her tail. Magnificent.”
Tatania, although deaf, seemed to understand what they were talking about, and swished her tail so the audience at the fashion show could better appreciate its beauty.
Magical Cool Cat Mysteries Boxed Set Volume 3 (Magical Cool Cats Mysteries) Page 10
