“I can’t,” Katherine cried. “Scout and Abra are loose. Lilac and Abby are in another room.”
“Then you need to get Colleen and the cats and get the hell out of the house. Go to the bungalow. I’ll try my best to get there as soon as possible.” He hung up.
“What’s going on?” Colleen asked anxiously.
“Jake wants us to get out of the house.”
“But what about the police? They’re coming.”
“Colleen, it’s a small town. Jake said there’s some kind of police action. He’s stuck in traffic. That means the chief and officers are tied up with that. He wants us to go to the bungalow.”
Scout and Abra were outside the door, growling and hissing.
Katherine and Colleen both heard a floorboard creak in the hall. Colleen brought her hand up to block a scream. Katherine lunged for the tall armoire and opened a drawer to her gun safe. She touched the keypad and then yanked out a Glock. Flipping the safety off, she ran into the hall. A man or woman – she couldn’t tell which – was turning toward the stairwell. Dressed in black, complete with pulled up hoodie, the figure was chased by Scout and Abra.
“Stop right there,” Katherine shouted. “Or I’ll shoot you dead!” she threatened.
The intruder ran down the stairs, taking four or five steps at a time. Katherine was close behind, but wasn’t fast enough to see who it was, or to catch up. The trespasser fumbled for the door lock, found it, and ran out the front door. When Katherine got to the foot of the stairs, she could see Abra dash to the back office; her tail was puffed up. Scout flew out the opened front door with Katherine chasing her. The person in the hoodie had vanished into the night.
Katherine was terrified that Scout would run out into the street, but Scout stopped on the sidewalk just in front of where Misha’s motorhome had been parked during the party. She began swaying back and forth.
Katherine sprinted toward her. “It’s okay, baby. Just stay there,” she said softly. She prayed Scout wouldn’t bolt into the night, but Scout stayed put, arching her back and hopping up and down like an agitated Halloween cat. A car with high beams was speeding down Lincoln Street. When Scout was momentarily distracted, Katherine tackled the Siamese and snatched her around the middle. With the startled cat in her arms, she returned to the pink mansion.
Colleen was looking out the front sidelight window and quickly opened the door. “Did you see who it was?”
“No, dammit.” Scout struggled to get down, but Katherine held her tight. With one hand she held Scout and then locked the door.
“Katz, when you ran downstairs, I darted in my room and grabbed my bag. The window screen was lying on the floor and the window was open.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Another window? How many windows are unlocked up there?” Katherine said disgustedly.
“I think that’s how they got in,” Colleen said. “While we were in your bedroom, they must have climbed up and come through my room’s window.”
“Colleen, we’ve got to get out of here. Help me find Abra.”
“I saw her run after you.”
“I saw her head toward the back of the house, but I wanted to make sure she didn’t backwash and run upstairs. I’ve got two carriers in the office. Let’s put Scout in, then find Abra.”
Scout began squirming even more. “Stop fighting me,” Katherine pleaded.
The two jogged to the back of the house, shutting several doors behind them to thwart Abra’s possible escape.
“Katz, are you sure no one else is in the house?” Colleen worried.
“No, at this point, I’m not sure of anything, but I’ve got my Glock,” Katherine reassured.
“You’re freaking me out. When did you get a gun?” Colleen asked in disbelief, but Katherine was already in a different room and didn’t hear her. She grabbed two cat carriers out of the closet and opened the metal door of the first one. She gently put Scout in.
“Waugh,” Scout objected. As if on cue for an important close-up in a movie, Abra trotted around the corner and miraculously shot for the carrier. Katherine barely had time to open the metal door, when Abra leaped in. “Raw,” Abra said quietly. She began licking Scout’s ears. “Good girls,” Katherine praised.
“Now what?” Colleen whispered.
“Here’s the plan. We’ll carry the cats to the side vestibule. You’ll stay with them behind the closed door. I’m going back upstairs to get Lilac and Abby.”
“Katz, can’t I go with you? I’ll be down here without a Glock.”
“I’m not going to leave you here without a weapon. Just help me do this.”
The two reached down, each taking one end of the carrier, and moved the cats through the dining room into a small vestibule leading to the carport exit door.
Katherine spotted Cokey’s toolbox in the corner – one he’d forgotten to take home – and lifted up the lid. She pulled out a large claw hammer. She handed it to Colleen, “Okay, if anyone gets in here, hit them with this.”
Colleen’s eyes were wide with terror. “Are you crazy, Katz? I can’t do that!”
“I’m sure you won’t have to. Both of the doors between the dining room and the carport are made of solid oak. It would take Superman to break them down,” Katherine explained. She grabbed a door security bar, handed it to Colleen, and stepped through the doorway. “Prop this on the door. I’ll only be a few minutes.” Katherine didn’t wait for an answer, but shut the door with Colleen and Scout and Abra on the other side.
Katherine dashed upstairs holding the gun in one hand and the second carrier in the other. She opened the bedroom door and found Abby and Lilac cowering in the corner. She placed the Glock in the back of her jeans waistband and said in a soothing voice, “It’s going to be okay. Come to mommy.” Katherine picked up both of them and gently placed them in the carrier. Lilac didn’t start me-yowling loudly until the metal grille door was closed. Then she launched into a barrage of Siamese protests. Abby countered by growling. Katherine slowly ambled to the stairs and struggled to carry the cage down. She returned to the side door and jiggled the knob.
“Colleen, open up. It’s me.”
Colleen cautiously opened the door.
“Okay, we’re good to go,” Katherine said. “I don’t think there’s anyone else in the house, but I don’t want to stay and find out.”
“Katz, when did you get a gun?” Colleen said, still asking questions about the Glock.
“I’ve had it since last summer. Don’t worry. I know how to use it. I took a handgun safety course. Jake and I joined a gun club. I practice every other weekend.” The cats began to caterwaul loudly. “Shhh! It’s okay, my treasures. We’ll be at the bungalow soon.” Then to Colleen, “I’m glad I re-parked right outside the door.” Katherine pressed the key fob and the car doors automatically unlocked. “Can you carry a carrier by yourself? I know it’s heavy.”
“I can. Let’s do it,” Colleen said, lifting Scout’s and Abra’s carrier.
“Follow me,” Katherine said, picking up Lilac and Abby. “Watch your step. I’ll open the back hatch.” At the bottom of the side carport steps, Katherine looked up and down the driveway to see if the coast was clear. She was surprised to see Stevie Sanders walking over from the carriage house. She didn’t recognize him at first because he had cut his hair.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, frightened.
Stevie saw the two of them holding cat carriers. “Need any help?” he offered.
“No, we’re fine,” Katherine said warily.
“Look, I’m trying to find Cokey for the key. No one answered at his house,” Stevie said.
Katherine mused and said to herself, It’s date night, you idiot.
She set her carrier in the back of the Subaru while Colleen did the same. With lightning speed, Colleen got into the vehicle.
Katherine shut the hatch, then asked Stevie. “Where are you parked?”
“The guys are parked in the alley behind the carriage
house.”
Katherine called to Colleen, “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Colleen mouthed the words, “Hurry up!”
“I’ve got a key. I’ll let you in. Why did you pick tonight to haul away the stuff?”
“Got a construction job out-of-town. This is the only time I can do it. Sellin’ the scrap to pay for gas,” he said in an apologetic tone.
“Is Barbie with you?” Katherine asked. “I need to ask her something.” She thought, I need to ask her if she stole Iris.
“Nope, haven’t seen her. Why?”
Katherine didn’t answer but put the key in the padlock and opened the lock. She turned to Stevie. “Do me a favor? Take whatever metal my great aunt promised you, but please don’t take my rake or garden tools.”
Stevie smiled. The overhead carriage house light caught the gold glint on his front tooth. “Hey, thanks. Would you like to have dinner with me some night? I’d carry you out for a steak.”
“I’m seeing someone, but thanks for offering.” She quickly made her way back to the Subaru, sprang in, fired up the engine and pulled forward. She drove to the service alley behind the carriage house. True to Stevie’s word, the two pickup trucks were parked behind with their truck lights on. He waved to her while she turned right.
Pulling out onto U.S. 41, Colleen broke the silence. “He’s really good looking for a crim.”
“That crim just asked me out for a date.”
“Shut the door! He didn’t.”
“Waugh,” “Raw,” “Me-yowl,” the Siamese complained. Abby trilled a loud chirp.
“It’s okay my sweet girls,” Katherine said in a quiet voice. “Colleen, I should have picked up the money and party invitation to show the chief.”
“Katz, before I came downstairs, I took the invitation out of the drawer, along with the money, and put them in my bag.”
“Good work! Did you rotate the thumb turn on the door lock?”
“I don’t remember,” Colleen admitted. “I think I did.”
“Maybe I’ll be lucky and the Sanders bunch will walk into the house and catch the home invader,” Katherine said sarcastically. “I’m not going to worry about it.”
“Ma-waugh,” Scout scolded.
“So where’s the bungalow?” Colleen asked.
“Not far,” Katherine said.
Colleen persisted. “Do you still have the key? I mean, are you still renting it?”
“I bought it when I received the six-month distribution from the estate. I went to the bank and took out a mortgage.”
“Wow. And you didn’t tell me,” Colleen said, a little hurt that her best friend had kept something of that magnitude a secret.
“I planned on showing you the house tomorrow, but I guess you’ll get to see it tonight.”
“If it’s not far from the mansion, why haven’t we gotten there yet?”
Katherine explained. “I’ve watched too many scary movies to know the bad guy follows the good guy home, so I’m going to drive around Erie for a bit.” She drove to various places of business, pulled in, then turned around and steered to the next. When she was comfortable no one was following her, she drove to the bungalow and parked in the lane by the side of the house. Jake was already there, sitting on the front porch steps. She could see Cokey briskly walking down the sidewalk from his house several doors down.
Katherine and Colleen got out of the car.
Jake ran over to Katherine and embraced her. “Katz, are you okay?”
“Yes, we’re good. Can you help me carry the cats?”
Cokey sprinted to them, “Geez, I’m out of shape,” he said, slightly out of breath.
Katherine directed Colleen to the front door. She opened the door, but didn’t turn on any lights. Cokey and Jake each took hold of a cat carrier and followed Katz and Colleen inside.
“Follow me to the kitchen in the back,” Katherine said. The street light outside illuminated the room enough to enable them to move back to the kitchen without tripping over anything. Then she closed the wooden slats of the kitchen window blind and turned on the counter lamp.
Still holding the cat carrier with Lilac and Abby in it, Cokey asked, “Where should I put them?”
Jake answered, “I’ll show you. We’ll put them in one of the bedrooms.” While the two men were out of earshot, Katherine said to Colleen, “This is a nightmare. How could anyone steal one of my kids?”
Cokey and Jake returned.
“Okay, so all hell broke loose after the party,” Cokey began. “Jake called me and told me what happened.”
Katherine sat down on the bench of the built-in table, while Colleen stood nervously nearby. Katherine slid over so Jake could join her. Cokey sat down across from them.
“Well, I didn’t tell you everything,” Katherine admitted.
Jake asked, “What happened?”
“There was someone in the house. They had a hoodie on. I couldn’t see who it was. I chased them out the front door.”
“Man or woman?” Cokey asked.
“I couldn’t tell. The person was stocky, kind of like that Russian Misha guy. I think he’s the one who stole Iris.”
Cokey scratched his head, “Why the hell would he want your cat?”
Jake shook his head. “Nope, Katz, Misha doesn’t have Iris.”
“What do you mean?” Katherine asked in doubt.
“When I pulled the Jeep on the shoulder and tried to find a way out of the traffic jam, Officer Glover stopped me. He said the motorhome owner was dead. I could see the paramedics loading a body bag into the ambulance. Katz, Misha is dead.”
Katherine and Colleen gasped. “Oh, no way,” Katherine said. “Why?”
“Officer Glover said he’d been strangled.”
“Oh, the saints preserve us,” Colleen said, running out of the room.
Katherine’s voice broke. “But he had to have taken Iris, because Scout did her … ,” Katherine choked, then stopped. Cokey and Jake didn’t know about Scout’s special skill. “I’ve got to get a hold of the chief and have him look for Iris in the motorhome. She has to be there.”
Colleen came back into the room, “Katz, there’s something I need to tell you. During the party, before the scavenger hunt began, I went upstairs to my room. On my way back to the party, I heard a male voice say, “Give it to me. It’s mine.” Then I heard Misha say, “Make a bizz-ness.” By the time I got downstairs, there was no one in sight.”
Cokey asked Colleen, “You didn’t recognize the voice?”
“No, why should I?” Colleen said throwing up her hands. “I just thought it was one of the people involved with the catering, because the party guests had headed to the basement.”
Jake said to Katherine, “Are you going to be okay for a little while? Cokey and I are driving over to the mansion to check things out.”
Cokey agreed, “Yeah, the chief ain’t gonna be available anytime soon. He’s got his hands full.”
Katherine disagreed. “I don’t think the two of you should do that. I think we should leave Colleen and the cats here and go back to the mansion to wait for the police.”
“Ain’t happening,” Cokey said, getting up. He briskly left the room.
Realizing she wasn’t going to win the argument, Katherine reached into her pocket and yanked out her house keys. Handing them to Jake, she said, “Please promise you’ll wait for the police?”
Jake leaned down and kissed Katherine on the nose. “Lock up. I’ll text when I’m coming back. Oh, and by the way, I plan on staying the night. So, could you make up that sofa in the front room?”
“Sure,” Katherine said.
After Cokey and Jake left, Katherine locked both of the front door locks. When she returned to the kitchen, Colleen was rooting around in the refrigerator.
Katherine read her mind and said, “There’s some Guinness in the very back. Pour me a glass, too.”
Colleen took out two bottles and flipped their caps. “How about drinking strai
ght from the bottle? I’m in that kind of a mood,” she laughed, then asked, “Where am I sleeping?”
Katherine answered, “The official guest room is the first bedroom on the right. It’s got hardly any furniture in it but a bed and dresser. The sheets are in the bottom drawer. Follow me. I’ll help you make up your bed before I make up the sofa.”
As they walked down the short hallway to the bedroom, they heard glass breaking in the front dining room. The cats began wailing in Katherine’s bedroom. “Shhh,” Katherine said to Colleen. She grabbed her arm and led her back to the kitchen.
Katherine reached behind the small of her back and extracted her Glock. She motioned for Colleen to get behind her. She immediately turned off the kitchen counter light. They could hear someone breaking more glass to crawl inside the window.
“I know you’re in here, you little bitch,” the male voice said. “Where the hell are you?” He stumbled over one of the dining room chairs.
Katherine brought her finger to her lips to silently “shhh” Colleen. She motioned Colleen to crawl underneath the built-in table. While Colleen scurried under the table, Katherine quietly moved to the open kitchen door and stood beside it.
The intruder crept through the guest bedroom doorway and switched off the overhead light. He was dressed entirely in black, with a shaved head and gold earring. The hood of his jacket was down around his collar. Then he slowly moved to the second bedroom. There he made the mistake of opening the door to the cats.
A frenzied pair of seal-point Siamese catapulted out of the room. Abra went for the man’s belt, and Scout sprang for his head. Horrible feline screeches began while the man tried to remove the attacking cats. Distracted, he dropped a tire iron on the floor and didn’t see Katherine inching closer from behind. Katherine remembered the gun instructor’s sage advice, “Never put your finger on the trigger unless you mean to use it.” She said in a firm tone, “I’ve got a Glock aimed at the back of your head. Slowly drop to your knees and put your hands behind your head, or I’ll shoot you in a New York minute.”
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