“She just eloped with a wealthy Texan.”
“Nothing wrong with that.”
“She’s coming here in their private train. They’ve been honeymooning across the country. It’s quite a scandal in New York. She was engaged to a broker named Dickie when she ran off with a rich Texan. He’s a lot older than her too.”
“When you’re barely twenty-two, most of the world is older than you. I would know. I’ve been twenty-two for years.” Annie looked in her art deco compact mirror and put on more lipstick.
Zeus saw a butterfly on the other side of the table. He lept from the chair.
“I’ve never seen a cat who doesn’t knock anything over when flying across a table like that.”
Matin Knickerbocker watched Zeus admiringly.
“Zeus and Tatania can both do that. Tatania can fly across an elegant dinner table. The best Baccarat crystal and Wedgewood china are safe around her.” Grace fed Tatania dried tuna treats.
“Something is wrong with Emily’s husband. I just got a telegram at home that he needs a doctor to meet their train. Jack, what could have happened to him?” Grace held the telegram up in the air.
“He’s an older guy. Maybe he threw his back out,” Jack suggested.
“Jack.” Grace hit his arm and felt the hard muscle that defined him. A former flyboy in the Great War, he kept his physique defined.
“Old men should stay away from fooling around with young women. Dangerous.” Annie told her grey-haired husband.
Jack rubbed Grace’s back. She looked in the sign in front of their friends, Olga the Palmist’s cottage. It said: “Your Hand is Your Destiny.” Olga’s cottage was next to an antique shop with a bust of Abraham Lincoln in the window.
“Tatania walked inside the antique shop. She’s next to the bust of Abraham Lincoln.” Grace stood up and walked inside the shop.
“She’s a beautiful stray. I’ve been feeding her whitefish when my husband comes home at night on his ship. She really brightens the day when she comes to visit. She loves sitting next to Lincoln’s bust.” The salesgirl reached to pet our Tatania.
“She’s our cat. She’s a little elusive.” Jack stood behind Grace.
“I thought she looked well-kept for a stray.”
“You’re not the first one she fooled. Tatania probably likes Lincoln because he was a cat man. He used to feed a cat with a gold fork during dinner at the White House. When someone asked Lincoln about it, he said, “If this fork was good enough for President Buchanan, it’s good enough for the cat.” Jack smiled and touched his shoulder. Tatania jumped on him.
“And when asked Mrs. Lincoln if her husband had any hobbies, she said, ‘cats’. I hope she’ll come back to visit our shop.” The salesgirl smiled at Jack.
“I’m sure she will. Thanks for being concerned about her,” Jack said. When Grace and Jack left the antique shop, they saw the silver tabby leap out the window of Olga’s cottage. The silver tabby was a cat so ethereal that Grace wouldn’t be surprised to see her walk on air.
Tatania stared at the silver tabby. Although she’d never seen an ugly cat, it had never occurred to Tatania that another cat could be as beautiful as herself. This one was. Tatania wasn’t sure she liked it. The silver tabby walked confidently towards Zeus who rolled over once in an apparent attempt to impress her.
“My first humans lived at the Hotel del Coronado. When they checked out of the hotel, I moved in with Olga. I just never left Coronado.” Belle communicated to Zeus when they touched noses.
“Why?” Zeus asked, rubbing his chin against hers.
“I like Coronado. And Olga needed a cat.” Belle meowed.
“If you keep staring at her, I’m going to cough up a hairball. Really Zeus, show some dignity. You’re a cat. Not a puppy. What’s next? Wagging your tail?” Tatania felt a little hissy.
“Tatania, are you jealous?”
“Jealousy is for humans. Like having to apply eyeliner and mascara.” She ignored him and groomed her fluffy tail.
Belle ran towards the ocean. Incredible. It looked like the silver tabby cat became luminescent and swam like a tiger.
Tatania looked as transfixed as Zeus.
“What are the cats staring at, Jack? Grace watched the animals who sometimes seemed as necessary to their lives as breathing.
“I don’t know. They’ve been meowing at the air for awhile.”
“Maybe I should get a private train,” Annie said.
“You can’t have everything you want,” Grace said.
“Yes, you can. It’s the 1920's. We can have everything.” Annie played with her headband.
Zeus chased another butterfly. Grace pulled the jar of dried tuna treats from her purse. It was easy to spoil Zeus and Tatania. It was like they were angels visiting from heaven itself.
“I’ll see if the doctor is at the hotel.” Jack sprinted up the white steps of the Victorian Hotel del Coronado, magnificent with its red turrets, looking like it had emerged effortlessly to take it place on the pristine white beach.
“I’ve got to call my clients in New York.” Martin threw another pack of cigarettes on the table for Annie and got up too.
“That’s one of his old Pinkerton buddies.” Grace noticed a man approaching Jack at the entrance of the Hotel del Coronado.
“Well, he’s not as good looking as Jack.”
“Annie, I’m tired all the time. I think Jack might have an affair. But I was sure Jack would never have an affair when we got married. He’s so moral.”
“Oh, it must be nice to be so sure. And there’s no absolute definition of moral.” Annie snapped.
Grace watched Annie put her cigarette out and immediately light another one.
“When did it happen?”
“We were living in New York. I had to throw parties for his clients all the time. If you’re the wife of a rich stockbroker, everyone charges you higher prices. And Martin wanted everything on a frugal budget. I was exhausted from handling everything. I did all the work to put on the parties. Everyone else just showed up and had a good time. She was a client. When her husband croaked, Martin rushed in to comfort her and invest her inheritance.” Zeus jumped on Annie’s lap and rolled over, reaching up towards her with one paw.
“She came to your parties?”
“Oh yes. I found them in our guest room together. I left that night. Took a train to Chicago. I didn’t stop transferring to other trains until I got to Coronado. We’d bought our house in Coronado the year before. When I arrived, our caretaker told me that Martin had called. Martin left a message that he was waiting for my apology call.”
“Your apology call? For his affair?”
“Grace, could you say that a little louder?”
Grace covered her mouth. “Sorry. It’s just shocking. You always seem happy.”
“Sometimes like each other’s company. And sometimes we barely tolerate each other.”
Annie lit her third cigarette in as many minutes.
“I told him that I didn’t want to live with a pompous asshole. He told me he was coming here to live with me anyway. He came out and brought his ticker tape with him. He rises with stock market every morning and watches his ticker tape. I sleep late.”
“Annie, I’m sorry.” The words seemed inadequate. “Does he still see her?”
“Yes. I know he does. I have an attorney in New York. I keep my evidence current. I may divorce him. My attorney’s investigator always finds him at the same hotel with her. Or someone else. I watch all our back and stock accounts. If Martin makes one wrong move, I will leave.”
“Whoa. I remember when Jack first met you, he said, ‘Annie’s smart as a shark.’”
Annie smiled. “I like Jack. I don’t have a crystal ball. I can’t tell you I think Jack would never have an affair. And I know that’s what you’d like to hear. But I don’t think you’re going to find someone else who delivers exactly what you need. Grace, you’re pretty and sweet but you’re not as uncomplicated as you li
ke to pretend.”
“I’m the one who gets up early to feed the cats. He sleeps more than me.”
“You take care of the cats first in the morning? Do you think Jack is feeling taken care of right now? You should take care of Jack in the morning.”
“Are you my friend or his?”
“If I wasn’t your friend, I wouldn’t be saying this to you.”
“What if Jack regrets quitting Pinkerton for me when Pinkerton wouldn’t hire a woman detective? When we started our own detective agency, I thought I would achieve independence by making my own money. But I’m tied to him. Some of the clients look at me like I’m just a wife who doesn’t want her husband out of her sight. Not like I’m a detective too.”
“He doesn’t regret leaving Pinkerton for you. He’s a maverick. Did you ever think about what it took for him to quit Pinkerton because they wouldn’t hire his girlfriend? The risk he took for you? I know he’d rather work with you than any of his old Pinkerton buddies. He trusts you more than anyone else. I can see that. When he looks at Pinkerton detectives, he sees the smug misogynist faces that we do.” Annie lit another cigarette.
“Why weren’t you and Jack married right away? You weren’t even his wife when he quit Pinkerton.”
Grace hesitated. Then she remembered she didn’t have anything to fear.
“I didn’t have a guardian when my uncle died. And I wasn’t a legal adult.”
“Isn’t there some kind of court proceeding that would have taken care of that?”
“Yes, but I didn’t trust the court system at the time. Jack taught met to trust court system. We’ve seen some of the bad guys we catch put away for awhile.”
“You didn’t have a guardian and you weren’t a legal adult yet? Who knew that secret?”
“Only Jack.”
“Men who care about discrimination against women are practically hunted to extinction. Grace, get over feeling tired. Take care of Jack first in the morning. Jack is a keeper.”
“They heard the train rumble on the railroad tracks. Emily waved on its observation deck. The train heaved when it finally came to a stop, as if it was exhausted from its journey from Texas to California.
Emily didn’t look like a happy honeymooner. She looked ashen. But that was lot better than her husband who was convulsing and retching.
Emily kept drinking champagne. Emily was always drunk or passed out. Or on her way to becoming one or the other.
“It will be alright, Emily.” Grace tried to act like it was normal for Emily’s husband to be writhing on the floor. “Jack went to get the hotel’s doctor. And the cats and I will wait with you.”
Chapter Two
The doctor’s receptionist smiled when she saw Jack. And then she looked down, as if disappointed the cats weren’t with him.
“There’s a sick man on a private train that just arrived —”
“—is he planning on checking in the hotel?” she asked.
“We can find that out later.” The Hotel del Coronado’s doctor grabbed his black bag and followed Jack out the door.
“Is he a golfer? Maybe we can get a game in this week,” the doctor suggested.
“I didn’t ask. He’s on his honeymoon. He married a friend of Grace’s from their Finishing School.”
They hurried back to the train. Wade was still convulsing on the floor on the observation deck. The doctor knelt down to examine Wade closely.
“We’d better get him back inside the train,” the physician said, still on his knees, lifting his head up from listening to Wade’s heartbeat.
“I think it might be really bad food poisoning.”
“Ted.”, Emily yelled.
Grace worried that drunk Emily had forgotten her husband’s name already.
“Who else is on the train with you, Emily? Do you have staff? Is anyone else ill?”
“No one else is ill. We have Bridget. She’s the cook. Consuela. She’s the maid. And Ted. He’s the conductor.” Emily guzzled champagne.
“And you’re drinking your meals?”
Emily just stared at him.
“Jack, help me get Wade to the bedroom compartment,” the hotel doctor said.
Jack and Grace looked at each other. They were both thinking it was odd that no one else on the train was ill.
Jack and the doctor each stood on one side of Wade while Emily lead them to a bedroom compartment. Grace stopped at what looked like a kitchen. A woman with porcelain skin and red hair stood at a granite counter next to a sauce pan.
“Ted is the only conductor? How does Ted get any sleep?” Grace asked.
“Wade drives the train sometimes.” The cook kept putting butter in the sauce pan.
“I love buttered nuts. I thought they might help Emily get through this.” The cook began pouring walnuts, pecans, cashews, and peanuts into the pan. Zeus kept his eyes on the butter.
“Bees Knees. Wade can drive own train?” Grace watched Zeus carefully to see if he was going to bat the butter off the counter or lick it.
He can drive pretty much everything except tractors. He hasn’t wanted to drive again since there was an unfortunate accident. He’d been drinking bourbon all day long. He got in the tractor drunk. Something happened when he was driving the tractor. The tractor rolled over. Killed a boy.”
Unfortunate seemed like an odd choice of words to describe a fatality. Something rattled behind the counter. The cook looked down and then lifted her head up again.
“It’s the tin of rat poison. It’s a necessity. Railcars are full of mice. I’ve been cooking for Wade for years. Before he met Emily.”
“You’re Bridget.”
“Yes.” She seemed pleased that Grace knew her name.
Tatania meowed from the other room. Zeus jumped off the counter. Then he looked reluctantly back at the butter and moved slowly to join Tatania.
They both meowed.
“Sounds like they’re in the maid’s quarters. I don’t think Consuela likes cats,” Bridget said.
Grace followed the sound of meowing to the maid’s quarters.
Consuela was staring at the cats. Her face appeared contorted.
“I love cats,” she said with a smile that belied the anger in her eyes.
Tatania swivelled her ears three times, became invisible, and opened the drawer in the night stand next to the maid’s bed. She picked up a newspaper article in the drawer with her teeth. She pushed it under the bed.
“Can I get you something?” Consuela asked, following the cats who were both moving forward in the train.
Before Grace could answer, Consuela picked up baby’s breath flowers and then stopped and arranged the baby’s breath flowers among red roses in a Baccarat vase. The baby’s breath flowers had big green leaves.
“From the ranch. I asked the gardener for flowers for the trip.”
“Lovely,” Grace said. She considered whether she should say something about Wade being ill but Consuela just kept on talking.
“I always do. Bridget wouldn’t even bother putting flowers on the table for meals if it wasn’t for me.” Consuela snapped the leaves off the flowers.
“She’s an odd one.” Jack stood behind Grace and whispered. “It must have cost a fortune to shp all this Baccarat from Paris. Look at the chandelier above the table.” Grace looked up at a crystal chandelier that would not have looked out of place in a king’s palace.
“What would you like?” She arranged crystal glasses on the Mahogany table. No expense had been spared in decorating the train. The paintings on the walls looked like they belonged in a museum in Paris.
“He loves it when people say he travels like a Rockefeller,” Consuela said.
“I brought something to drink.” Grace pulled out a silver flask.
“Have a drink with us. You’re not our servant, Consuela.” Grace handed her the silver flask.
Jack stared at Grace. He knew she didn’t usually carry a whiskey flask.
“Was it a surprise when Wade marrie
d Emily?” Grace asked.
“Yes. I didn’t like her.” Consuela gulped the whiskey in flask down in one swallow.
It wasn’t surprising that a servant hated her employer’s new wife. Just that she’d admit it so readily.
“Is it more fun to be on the train than the ranch?” Grace asked, watching Zeus carefully inspect the glasses on the table.
“I keep it clean. Mr. Wade picked me out of all the other maids to go on trips. The other maids are jealous that he loves me so much.”
Even inside the train, they could still hear the Yankees game being broadcast from New York on Tent City’s radio speakers. Sportscasters had been calling the Yankee’s batting line up “Murderers Row” all season. Consuela frowned and Grace knew Consuela associated New York with Wade meeting Emily.
Emily staggered from the kitchen compartment to join them. The train looked like the best of a railroad magnate’s mansions compacted to fit on his train. There was a fireplace that looked like it was built with imported travertine stone from Italy.
“You’re going to be okay, Emily. When my uncle was murdered, after losing all my money in a Ponzi scheme, all I had left was courage and optimism. It turned out that was enough,” Grace said quietly.
Jack cleared his throat.
“I also had Jack.” She smiled. Tatania meowed.
“And Jack had already adopted Tatania. Then we found Zeus. I should say that Tatania found Zeus.” Jack and Grace sat next to each other and Tatania climbed on Jack’s lap.
“Emily, I’m so sorry. Do you want some water?” Grace was beginning to worry Emily was going to get dehydrated from all the champagne was drinking.
Tatania opened an armoire next to the table. There was a metal safe with a combination lock inside.
“He did his will when we were married. Wade’s attorney was at our wedding. And he had a notary there. So we signed all the papers at the ranch. His will is in the safe in the armoire.” Emily took another gulp of champagne.
“Really?” Jack asked.
“Some of the happiest days of my life were at Finishing School,” Grace whispered.
“Maybe some of the happiest days of your life haven’t happened yet,” Jack whispered back. He put his hand on hers.
Magical Cool Cat Mysteries Boxed Set Volume 3 (Magical Cool Cats Mysteries) Page 16
