Magical Cool Cats Mysteries Boxed Set Vol 1 (Books 1, 2 & 3 & A Christmas Feral)

by Mary Matthews

  Grace looked at the book Tatania knocked off the shelf. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

  “I bet Jack read this when he was a kid,” Grace said.

  Tatania lept off the shelf, wound through Grace’s legs, and waited at the check out counter.

  “I’ll take it with me for Jack.” Grace signed the check out card for Treasure Island.

  “Isn’t he a little grown up for that?” Gabrielle asked.

  Tatania meowed again.

  “I better take it. Sometimes it’s fun to read books again when you have more life experience. And Jack has plenty of life experience. He’s practically thirty.”

  “I know what you mean.” Gabrielle coughed.

  “Bees Knees,” Grace said.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Jack, I have a book for you.” Grace handed him Treasure Island.

  “Is this about Coronado?”

  “You haven’t read Treasure Island?”

  “Of course, I was just imagining you as the treasure. Coronado as the island.”

  Tatania meowed.

  “And Tatania.”

  “Not buried yet.”

  “Have you thought about returning to New York?”

  “That life doesn’t exist for me anymore. Emily invited me to stay with her and her mother but—”

  “—When we get the Finder’s Fee, you could return to New York with your own money. You wouldn’t be anybody’s charity case. You never have been. And you never will be. After we solve this case, I can promote aviation around the country. I can fly to county fairs on weekends. Offer rides to kids,” Jack said.

  Tatania lept on Grace’s lap.

  “That will be fun.” Grace massaged Tatania’s ear. The cat looked up at her approvingly.

  “And eventually I’ll make it to New York to see my favorite girl.”

  “Who is she?”

  “You. Of course. Doll.”

  Tatania meowed.

  “Go back to your blue blood world. A detective meets unseemly people. Sordid. You’ll encounter lower life forms in this business.” Jack looked away. He’d decided that Grace might tire of being a detective. And now, she had an opportunity to resume her former life.

  “I’m not a child. I don’t need to be sent away for my own protection. I can speak for myself. I’m not a silent suffragette who speaks only through her jewelry either.” She walked away from him.

  Jack touched her back. She stopped.

  “It’s been fun,” Jack said hesitantly.

  “For whom?”

  “You belong in New York,” he said.

  “How would you know?”

  “I remember how happy you looked on the train when we met. I remember the way you looked at the Hudson River during dinner. I think Coronado will become a bore. We’ll solve this case and you’ll have a nest egg.”

  “Lets stay friends,” she said.

  He took a step back.

  “Grace.” Emily looked stricken.

  Grace hadn’t heard Emily sneak up behind her. Were Jack and Emily talking about her moving to New York behind her back? Maybe she was getting paranoid. But even paranoids have enemies.

  “I talked to my mother again. She’s worried about you.”

  “There’s no reason to be. I’ve never felt better.” Grace snapped.

  “Mumsy wired three hundred dollars. And said to give you a hundred. Then she telephoned and said, ‘Should I give Grace two hundred?’”

  Grace held her arms together. Amazing. She had once talked casually about money too. And now she counted every nickel. Penny really.

  “Mumsy said to tell you that you’re like family. You’re welcome to come to New York. You don’t have to live like this. You have us.”

  Grace looked at Coronado’s pristine white beach, blue ocean and sky. “Yes, I really need to get out of this squalor.”

  “You know what I mean. You can live with us in New York. Until you get married. My mother will come out and help you move. She’s good at packing. Mumsy and Daddy spent two years on their honeymoon in Europe and Africa. You won’t have to worry. You won’t get worry lines. And you won’t look old.”

  “And Emily and I are already like family. Hell, we are family,” Jack said.

  “What does that mean?” Grace asked.

  “We’re both descendants of William Brewster. Of the Mayflower Brewsters. Emily’s genealogist linked me to the Mayflower Brewsters. And I’m joining The Mayflower Society.”

  “I thought you hated lineage societies, Jack,” Grace said.

  “I don’t hate the ones that admit me.”

  Grace walked into Tent City Cafeteria to get away from them. She sunk down in the closest chair. Tatania followed her and looked out the window towards Mexico.

  “You can see Mexico clearly at night here. It’s in the opposite direction of Point Loma.” Jack sat down next to her.

  “Bees Knees,” a familiar voice exclaimed.

  Grace’s stomach sank. At the entrance, clad in a chinchilla coat, next to Emily, stood Ruth.

  Grace reluctantly stood up from her chair and exchanged air kisses with Ruth. None of this felt right. And the most disturbing part was Jack seemed to be conspiring with Emily behind her back.

  “I mistook you for the one person in my life I could count on, Jack,” Grace whispered in his ear.

  “After your uncle died, you told me you wanted to be alone,” Jack said.

  “I meant alone with you.”

  “Ick. This looks dreadful. And the sign said Cuisine of the Highest Standard,” Ruth said.

  “Maybe you’ve just never met Highest,” Jack suggested.

  “Oh please. Did the cat drag it in?” Ruth appeared humorless.

  Grace watched Tatania bristle. For a deaf cat, she had an inexplicable ability to understand what people were saying.

  “Ruth, I’m having pecuniary problems.” Grace blurted out.

  “Excuse me? Problems with whom?” Ruth asked.

  “My trust fund is empty. When my uncle was killed, I found out he’d invested all my money in a phony stock scheme.” Grace spoke quickly as if the sooner the words came out, the sooner she’d be purged of any shame.

  Ruth put a hand to her chest and looked at Grace like she was covered in farm animal manure.

  “What do you live on?” Ruth’s upper lip rose in distaste.

  Grace saw Edward sitting at a table with his parents. Ignoring Ruth, she went to talk to him. She felt grateful for the boy who loved General.

  “Miss Wentworth, thank you for letting me ride your horse,” Edward said.

  “Call me Grace. And you can ride him anytime you want. I’ve let them know that at the stables.” She patted his head.

  “We’re leaving next week. I’m going to miss General.” Edward bit his lower lip.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Back to Spring Valley. We have one hundred acres there.”

  “It’s filled with fruit trees. Edward’s mother and I love the land,” Edward’s father said.

  Grace thought about Edward riding General across one hundred acres of land. General would love that.

  “If it’s alright with you, Edward can take General to Spring Valley.”

  Edward smiled at Grace.

  His parents cleared their throats.

  “Your horse is a thoroughbred. He’s worth a lot of money,” Edward’s mother said.

  Grace noticed that her dress looked a few years old.

  “I have over five dollars in my Piggy Bank.” Edward announced.

  “I just want General to be happy. I’m working and I don’t have time to ride him. Just drop me a penny postcard now and then and let me know he’s happy. Address it to Grace Wentworth, care of the Hotel del Coronado.”

  “Grace, you’re very kind but too generous—”

  “—Bees Knees. It will be swell for Edward and General.”

  Edward beamed. Grace tussled his hair. And walked away crying.

  C
hapter Eighteen

  “Don’t be proud. Accept Emily and her mother’s offer. You belong there. Being a detective is a dangerous business.” Jack walked next to Grace.

  “Don’t ever presume to tell me where I belong. I faced the world alone after my uncle died. I’m familiar with dangerous worlds.”

  They were at the steps of the Del. Grace dismissed Jack with a wave of her hand. Jack might want her out of there. But she wouldn’t part with Tatania. The cat seemed to agree and settled next to her.

  Jack thought she should go back to New York and be an insipid debutante. She’d thought he understood everything. Maybe that was her first mistake. He was just like the others, projecting his own idea of who she was on her, like a painter with a canvas.

  At Finishing School, a teacher showed pictures of women with rings in their noses. Then she pointed at Grace and said Grace felt superior even though she wore rings on her fingers. Grace hadn’t been feeling superior. The teacher had merely projected her own idea on Grace.

  She pulled out an ostrich feather and played with Tatania. The magical white cat lept on the feather, paw batting it, and taming it to submission. Nothing was turning out like Grace had expected. She felt irrationally angry that Jack never took her to watch the Ostrich Races.

  Tatania pounded the feather into the bed. Grace decided she’d be as strong willed as a cat. She’d stay on the case. She wrote a note and slipped it under Emily’s door.

  Tatania watched Grace. The humans were getting a little hissy with each other. This wouldn’t help solve the case. And neither was willing to part with her of course. So she’d have to handle things. Jack was blessed with good looks and smarts and a propensity to rescue women and cats.

  Tatania knew that when she found Jack, and he took good care of her, a human female would join them soon. She decided she could live with Grace despite her Finishing School naivete. Why did humans call a place Finishing School? Life is never finished. Cats knew it can all change in an instant. One must satisfy one’s curiosity while one’s here.

  Tatania left the hotel and cautiously crept to a garden, ready to leap up immediately if she smelled dog. She had heightened senses of smell and vibration and could feel large dogs’ paws rumbling from several yards away.

  Tatania routinely walked through walls, made herself invisible, and picked up clues. So she decided to visit Phillip’s house and see what clues could lay within. She popped open a closet. That was one of her favorite parts of exploring. She never saw a door or cupboard she didn’t want to open, a box that she didn’t want to jump in, or a nook she didn’t want to crawl under. A born detective, her inherent curiosity kept her on the job everyday, turning in an exemplary performance without even missing a nap. She knew her human operatives needed help.

  She walked quietly through each room, paws silent even on the hardwood fllors. Deaf, but still able to understand, read and comprehend, she could smell something between the dresser chest and the wall. Perhaps to compensate for the deafness, she had a highly developed sense of smell, making her grateful that she lived in Coronado and not in a crowded urban area.

  Something was wedged between the chest of drawers and the wall. She stuck her paw in, pulling it out slowly, letting it fall to the ground, and turning it round and round, before it spilled out from between the chest and wall.

  Pictures spilled out, pictures of Helen, the lady whose servants made delectable fish dinners. And pictures of jewelry. And Helen wearing jewelry. The pictures would be heavy to carry. She needed a St. Bernard assistant. She carried the pictures in her mouth, leaping across roofs until she reached the ledge of Grace’s room at the hotel, entered through the window, and dropped the pictures on the bed. She avoided Tent City for now. Her paws had felt vibrations of too many people and unknown animals.

  Once, she’d narrowly missed being injured by a moving car that didn’t vibrate. It was smooth. She crouched down, and the car passed over her. Jack picked her up and held her as close as he had when she was a kitten. Grace reached for the top of her head, and rubbed her cheek the way Tatania always appreciated. She’d known when she went to live with Jack and he took such good care of her that a female human would show up to live with him next. She waited, didn’t unsheathe her claws immediately, and gave Grace a chance before determining if she’d drive her away.

  And then Grace developed an endearing way of chipping off ice to put in Tatania’s water bowl if the day became warm. And bringing back fish dinners when she went out. She decided Grace could stay. And the tension of expecting another female that might appear in her stead disappeared.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Grace didn’t notice the pictures when she woke in the morning. She dressed hurriedly and went with Tatania to Tent City. The Palmist popped her head out of her tent.

  “Are you and Jack sharing custody?” She stared at Tatania.

  “Yes. She’s our assistant detective. She finds clues. But she can’t explain it to people. It’s a feline trade secret.”

  A black and white tomcat followed Tatania. Tatania stopped and sniffed his rear end. Then when he tried to sniff hers, she slapped him.

  “What’s sauce for the goose isn’t sauce for the gander,” The Palmist said.

  The black and white tomcat appeared undeterred by Tatania’s slap. He looked like an adorable little boy. Black with a white chest, tummy, and toes. And a little pink nose. On his black coat, he had one thin white stripe, as if God hadn’t been able to resist giving him one more beauty mark.

  Perhaps in an attempt to impress Tatania, the tomcat lept up on top of the Dance Pavilion and rolled around. Tatania jumped up and showed him her back.

  “I think they may be dating.” Grace pointed the cats out to Jack.

  “Think it’s a good thing that she can’t hear what he says?” Jack held his palms up.

  “They feel the same music,” Grace said softly.

  “Tatania feels the vibrations. He hears the music and the vibrations.”

  The Palmist pulled Grace’s hand back. “You have a long life line. And it’s intertwined with another long life line.”

  “And if we check Tatania and the tomcat’s paws, we would find nine long lives, I hope,” Grace said.

  Tatania smelled Sea Bass. Yummy. She communicated a message to the black and white tomcat.

  Obedient to the beautiful feline, he lept off the roof, and approached the fishermen next to the humongous fish on ropes outside the Hotel del Coronado. One grizzled sailor cut off part of a fish for him. He brought the fish back to the roof to lay before the paws of Tatania.

  “She trained him in record time. He’ll be bringing diamonds next,” Jack said.

  “I’m not going back to New York. I can’t live that life again,” Grace blurted out.

  “Isn’t working going to get tiresome for you?”

  “Wouldn’t ceaseless luncheons, drunks at clubs, dinners, and Balls get tiresome for me? I want something that’s mine. Something I can create for myself.”

  Jack shook his head.

  “We’re only as good as our next case, Doll.”

  “That’s enough for me. This is where I want to be Jack.”

  He kissed her on the forehead.

  At the entrance to Jack’s cottage, Grace noticed a mouse carcass.

  “Tatania left us a gift,” Jack said.

  “Jack, we simply must hang it on the wall next to your hunting trophies from Africa. Out little huntress.”

  Jack hung the mouse on the wall next to his rhino trophy.

  “Next time, bring back some diamond trophies from those African mines, Darling.”

  Tatania strolled in and dropped an excursion ticket to Tia Juana on the floor of the cottage.

  “Tatania has been acting obsessed with Mexico lately,” Grace said.

  Tatania shook her head. Humans could be so slow. Humans. Can’t live with them. Would have to hunt your own food without them.

  “What if the jewelry is buried on one of the Coronad
o Islands off Mexico? And that’s what Tatania is trying to tell us?” Grace asked, closing her eyes and thinking of her Colonial ancestors’ traits: courage, perseverance, resourcefulness, fortitude, vitality and faith in God and the future.

  “Maybe the jewelry is on an island off Mexico. I think Helen Randolph hates her husband,” Jack said.

  “That’s irrelevant when a woman marries for money.”

  “You’d never marry for money.”

  “No. My former Aunt Alice said that was because I got my Mom’s looks but not her smarts. My Mom married for love. She just lucked out on the money part.”

  “Luck runs in families,” Jack said.

  He looked at the Tia Juana excursion ticket.

  “I agree. Lets go to the Coronado Islands off the coast of Mexico.” Jack reached for her hand.

  “Should we make reservations?”

  “I don’t think they take reservations. Most of the islands are uninhabited. Unless you count sea lions, birds and bootleggers smuggling whiskey from Mexico. In barrels marked ‘Tortillas.’”

  “Are you serious?”

  “As serious as a thousand dollar bill. You know Al Capone carries stacks of one thousand dollar bills. All the bootleggers pay with cash.”

  “I’ve never seen a thousand dollar bill.”

  “Grover Cleveland is on it.”

  “The President known for having a love child?”

  “Yes. His opponents used to chant, ‘Ma, Ma where’s my Pa? Gone to the White House. Ha Ha Ha.’”

  “Poor Helen. She trusted Phillip with her secrets. I left Emily a note that I wasn’t returning to New York. She’ll let Ruth know. I thought Ruth would stay my friend like Emily. From the way Ruth used to talk when we were at Finishing School, I thought she was a real friend.”

  “Cliches exist for a reason. Actions speak louder than words.”

  “May my naivete rest in peace. Lets go to the islands,” Grace said.

  They heard Helen’s voice outside Jack’s cottage. Coronado Tent City offered a lot of things. Privacy wasn’t one of them.

  Grace pulled her cloche hat further down on her head. The wind came in from the sea and felt cold. She touched her Mother’s pearls.