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

by Mary Matthews

  Grace and Jack began to tango to the music from the Dance Pavillion, undulating moves, oblivious to all around them. Moonlight illuminated their steps. She knew Jack as intimately as she knew herself. For the moment, destiny smiled on her.

  They danced to the pier. Jack lifted Grace to the top of the pier railing. His hands moved along her legs.

  “Did I ever tell you they taught gymnastics at my Finishing School?”

  “No. I’d be really interested in that.”

  “Watch this back flip.” Grace lifted her arms up, and dived, backwards, into the ocean.

  Jack jumped in after her.

  They embraced to the sound of applause. Everyone on the pier was applauding. Drenched, Grace kicked off her shoes and let her dress billow in the water. He took her hand and they swam to shore.

  One step on the beach and he’d picked her up, carrying her up to her room at the Hotel del Coronado.

  “Should I call the valet to light a fire?” She asked.

  “I can handle that.” Jack raised an eyebrow.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Tatania woke up early. Humans were so easily distracted by petting. She stayed focused on the case. She meowed a couple times and then lept on the humans’ entangled bodies. She looked forward to getting into a house. Enough of this back and forth from her room to his cottage.

  The food at Coronado Tent City Cafeteria was clean. The kind owner and his family were sweet. She delicately licked her chops. She’d enjoyed more than one sea bass dinner there. She wanted the cafeteria to stay open.

  When they woke up, she batted a bread roll around the floor.

  Grace blinked, sitting up, and watched Tatania pounce on the roll.

  “Tatania has become obsessed with rolls lately,” Grace said.

  “And rats and rat poison.” Jack ran his fingers through Grace’s hair.

  “What if he put rat poison on a poppy seed roll that he’d saved for himself after feeding the birds, then collapsed before he finished it, and Abby picked up the other half of the poppy seed roll and ate it?” Jack asked.

  “They said she picked up left over food all the time,”

  The phone rang. Jack picked up the earpiece.

  “Interesting. Did you pull an all nighter?” Jack asked.

  “Who were you talking to?” Grace asked when he put down the earpiece.

  “Joe College. Mabel’s food came back clean. It wasn’t lamb though. They think it was dog meat.”

  “Dear God.” Grace’s hand went to her chest.

  “I need to call the Coroner.”

  The Coroner sounded sleepy. He told Jack that he’d check his notes. A few minutes and curses later, the Coroner came back on the line and confirmed that Luke and Abby had a yeasty substance in their stomachs. And they’d both tested positive for morphine and arsenic.

  “When I was in the Army—” Jack began saying.

  “—I’m sorry Jack, but if this is going to be a long story, I need to get a cup of joe,” the Coroner said.

  “It’s not a long story. When I was in the Army, I learned that poppy seed loaves can lead to positive morphine results on drug tests. And we know rat poison is full of arsenic. What if Luke sprinkled rat poison on a poppy seed roll to commit suicide, collapsed before he finished eating it, and then Abby picked it up and ate the rest?”

  Tatania meowed.

  Jack hung up the earpiece.

  “The Coroner agreed with me. He said Mabel already brought in an empty coffee can where she’ll put Abby’s ashes after cremation. Mabel said there’s no point to buying an urn. We’ll claim Luke’s body and take him to Mount Hope Cemetery. He’ll be buried next to his wife in the same cemetery as Elisha Babcock.”

  “The founder of the Hotel del Coronado. I think he’ll like being near the founder of the hotel he loved so much,” Grace said.

  They went to the Pinkerton Agency Office on Orange Street with the report they hurriedly typed. Larry glared at Grace and then turned towards Jack. He refused to make eye contact with her again.

  “How should I make the next check out, Buddy?”

  “First of all, I’m not your Buddy. Make the check out to Grace Wentworth,” Jack said.

  He kissed Grace’s forehead.

  “And hand it to her and say, thank you, Miss Wentworth.” Jack winked at Grace.

  Larry begrudgingly handed Grace the check.

  “Whenever Wentworth and Brewster works for Pinkerton, just remember to hand the check to the best looking detective in the room,” Jack said.

  Larry grimaced again.

  Smiling, Jack took Grace’s arm and they walked out to the Coronado sunshine.

  “He just has an ugly man’s hostility to women. Don’t ever let a misogynist get you down Grace. Just being him is punishment enough.”

  “Jack, you’re incredible.” She stared at the check.

  “I don’t even want to take it to the bank. I just want to look at it.” Grace smiled.

  “Then we’ll have to get your picture taken with it somewhere. We’re building the house on this money.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Grace recognized him immediately. He looked like his father. At the Tent City Cafeteria, he wandered around, uncertain where to go, until he saw a pigeon outside. Then his eyes blurred. He sank to a stool with a thud.

  “Thomas,” she said gently.

  He looked into her eyes and nodded.

  Seeing his red rimmed eyes, and the packed bags underneath, she knew the cliche, crying your eyes out, existed for a reason. His eye muscles looked strained from keening.

  From everything she’d learned about Luke, she knew he would have wanted the world to be kind to his son. Tatania jumped on his lap and began kneading. He reached to pet the kitty. Listening to her purr, his shoulders began to relax. His hands trembled.

  “I came on my own. My wife didn’t like me around anyone but her. I insisted on coming out to take care of my father,” Thomas said.

  “It’s a little late for that, isn’t it?” Jack asked, standing behind them.

  Thomas flinched.

  A pigeon fluttered his wings outside the window, watching them.

  “I think your father would have wanted you here under any circumstances,” Grace said.

  “We have something for you. We found it in your Dad’s house. Come up to my room at the Del. I’ll have some soothing tea brought in for you.” Grace rubbed his shoulder.

  “I think I’ll come along too.” Jack scowled.

  Crowds stood waiting to come inside Coronado Tent City Cafeteria. Once the wire got the news about the deaths of Luke and Abby being unrelated to eating at the cafeteria, people had gone from steering clear of it to scrambling to get inside to see the site of the strange and mysterious deaths.

  “News travels fast here. Do you think the wire has a mole in the Coroner’s Office?” Grace asked.

  “Absolutely,” Jack replied.

  “My father lived so quietly. It’s odd to see him on the front page of a newspaper.” Thomas shuddered at the newspaper photos of his father and Abby strewn around. A boy jumped off the electric streetcar that ran down Main Street with copies of the San Diego Union. The paper printed pictures of Luke and Abby everyday.

  Zeus watched them from the top of Jack’s cottage. Tatania decided to join him. They’d taken to sharing cat secrets, in a private world humans couldn’t enter.

  The meat truck went by, showing hanging sides of beef in the windows, on the way to the now over filled Tent City Cafeteria. Grace reached for Jack’s hand. Not only did the cafeteria not have to worry about losing business, they wouldn’t have to worry about money for a long time. And the resort would not only be filled to capacity, it would turn away people asking for reservations. The deaths had became sensational, explosive news, captivating the country.

  “My father wouldn’t have liked all the attention on him,” Thomas said, glancing at the San Diego Union again.

  Jack refrained from saying he didn�
��t know Thomas gave his father much thought.

  “Fortunately, the public has a very short attention span,” Jack said.

  “You’re just one popular dance marathon or Al Capone press conference away from having your family privacy back again.” Jack gave Thomas his own golf cap to wear in case his resemblance to Luke was as readily apparent to others as it was to Grace and him.

  “Cher Ami. If printing the story of my Dad reminds the free world about Cher Ami again, my Dad would be okay with that.”

  “One brave bird.” Jack nodded.

  “I thought it was over when the Germans hit him again. And I was thinking about my Dad. And how much I wanted to go home and see him again. And that little bird rose again, the Germans shot again, and Cher Ami went even higher. No one could stop him that day.”

  “I heard he had the heart of a lion,” Grace said.

  “His heart took him home even when his body crumbled.” Thomas looked at her, haunted by the memory.

  “He’ll live forever at the Smithsonian, won’t he? And in the hearts of all he saved and all who loved the ones he saved,” Grace said softly.

  Julia waved to them from the Merry Go Round. Charlotte sat on her lap. Grace smiled back.

  “Pretty girl,” Thomas turned towards Julia.

  “She’s part of our family.” Grace took another step before she realized she’d just our instead of my. Jack rubbed her back.

  “My wife’s pretty. I met her in a bar the night my ship docked. Two days later, I woke up with a hangover and a wife. That’s why I stopped drinking.” Thomas waited for Grace to climb the steps to the Del first.

  “Buddy, you’re not the first vet to tell that story.” Jack gestured for Thomas to go ahead of him.

  “Nice place,” Thomas said, looking at the Hotel del Coronado’s opulent lobby.

  “It’s alright,” Grace replied.

  “Good afternoon, Miss Wentworth, will you be having tea in your room?” The elevator operator asked.

  “Yes, for three.”

  The elevator man looked more closely at Thomas but he was discreet.

  “I’ll make sure it gets delivered right away.”

  Grace led the way to her room. Uncertain how Thomas would react to Luke’s memory box, she turned back to Jack for reassurance. He lightly put his hands on her hips.

  “I don’t want tea. I can’t eat. I feel terrible about my Dad.” His head dropped in his hands.

  “He fed the pigeons everyday in honor of Cher Ami saving your life. I think the last thing he would have wanted is for you to be miserable. He would have wanted you to live a happy life. That’s what you can do to honor your Dad,” Grace said.

  She opened the box. It was filled with newspaper clippings about Cher Ami and pictures of Thomas. Grace wanted to avert her eyes from Thomas, it felt like such a private moment, but she couldn’t help looking back at him.

  “I talked to the Coroner. I know you’re going to take care of my Dad’s burial. I’ll do that. I may not have treated him right in life. I can at least bury him properly.” Thomas stood up, clutching the memory box to his chest.

  “Thank you,” he said quietly before he walked out the door.

  “Luke was like Cher Ami. All heart. Some of us carry everyone we love in our hearts,” Jack said.

  Grace put her hand on Jack’s heart. The beat sounded just right.

  “Tres juste,” she said.

  Further Adventures of Grace, Jack & Magical Cats

  Cupcake Kitty

  Welcome back to the 1920s. When a singer at an engagement party dies, Grace, Jack, and magical cats, Tatania and Zeus are on the trail of a killer that leads to TiJuana and a bootlegger's doll: Cupcake Kitty.

  Please click on the link to enjoy Cupcake Kitty:

  http://tinyurl.com/cfvssxl

  Meow Baby

  Welcome back to the 1920s. When Jack's shovel hits a skeleton at their home ground breaking ceremony, he tells Grace, "Don't worry. No one said we'd build this house over her dead body." The skeleton leads Grace and Jack and their magical cats, Tatania and Zeus, back to a beautiful blonde's disappearance. Meow Baby

  Please click on the link to enjoy Meow Baby:

  http://tinyurl.com/bs4op47

  Cover Photo Image Kimberly Johnson

  A Note from the Author

  Thank you for reading Grace, Jack & Magical Cool Cats Boxed Set Volume I. I love writing about the 1920s and I’m grateful for readers who enjoy it too. Tatania and Zeus have captured a few hearts. If you liked Grace, Jack & Magical Cool Cats Boxed Set Volume I, it would be awesome if you would leave a review on Amazon and share it with other readers. I appreciate every reader.

  Copyright © 2012 Mary Matthews United States of America

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted by any means – whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic – without written permission by the author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

  Cover Art for Emeralds, Diamonds, and Amethysts, and A Christmas Feral and Splendid Summer Banner by Deb Houdek Rule

  Box Set and Splendid Summer Cover Photo Image Kimberly Johnson

  Cher Ami Cover Art by Rita Toews

  www.splendidsummer.com