Cat Got Your Diamonds

by Chase, Julie;

  She sidestepped me and hooked her hand in the crook of Dad’s arm. “What about the shelving unit? You can’t open tomorrow with it like this.”

  “I can’t open tomorrow at all. I still have to clean and organize the stockroom. We’ve made a dent, but there’s plenty for me to do before I can go back to business as usual.”

  Jack cracked his knuckles and approached the fallen unit. “What was taken?”

  “Nothing, as far as I can tell. A few dozen items were total losses due to damage, but nothing was taken, not even the cash register. There’s no apparent reason for any of this.”

  Dad moved opposite Jack and crouched low. Together they grunted and huffed until the enormous bookshelf was back where it belonged. The front edge of each shelf was scratched and chipped, but the structure was no worse for wear.

  I sighed in relief. Imogene was wrong to worry about bad juju. “It’s perfect. A little elbow grease and a dab of paint and no one will know anything bad ever happened here.”

  Mom suddenly squeaked with fear.

  Jack whipped out his phone. “I need the CSU back down here at 1211 Magazine Street.”

  “What?” I followed his gaze to thirteen choppy letters carved into my beautiful wooden flooring, revealed by the now-upright bookcase.

  You were warned.

  Well, that wasn’t going to buff out.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Furry Godmother’s advice for your waistline: Eat your feelings, not a pound cake.

  Scarlet arrived on my doorstep approximately twenty minutes after her husband got home from work that evening. She brought homemade sugar cookies and a carton of my favorite ice cream. She was the best friend ever. The A-line on her vintage yellow sundress was working that baby bump like it was the summer’s hottest fashion accessory. My cotton yoga shorts and alumni shirt were feeling a lot like jammies.

  I peeled the top off the ice cream carton and loaded two mugs to the tops. “How was your day?”

  She drew the outline of a fish on Buttercup’s bowl with a red dry-erase marker, then kissed the glass. “Oh, it was great.” Her facetious tone dripped from each word. “Someone broke into my pet shop on Magazine Street and destroyed everything.” The sarcastic expression would’ve made me laugh, if she wasn’t aiming the jibe at me. “I would’ve called, but I didn’t want to bother you.”

  I waved a spoon between us. “Listen. You’re right. I have no excuse for not calling.”

  “You’d be a terrible defense witness.”

  “I’m sorry. I really didn’t want to bother you. That’s true, and my head’s spinning with all the nuts and crazy this week.”

  She dragged her mug across the counter and jammed a cookie into the moose tracks like a makeshift spoon. “I’m pregnant, not an invalid. Let me help you.”

  “Can you still sew? I need a dozen capelets, among other things, but the capelets are simple semicircles with satin lining and ties.”

  “Maybe,” she hedged. “First, tell me about the investigation.”

  I stuffed a heaping helping of ice cream between my lips. The cool sweetness slid over my tongue in delicious perfection.

  “Come on,” she insisted. “We used to be partners in crime. I’m really good at puzzles. I know this town as well as you do. I’m an excellent resource. Ask me anything.”

  “How many little people are counting on you?”

  She glared.

  “I know you want to help, but if you start receiving threats on your life—or worse—because of me, I’d never forgive myself. Please don’t put me in that position. It’s scary enough thinking a lunatic might be stalking me. I can’t have them stalking you, too.”

  She tapped her nails against the bowl. “I saw Detective Hottie outside. Is he stalking you?”

  “No, but I see you’ve been talking to Paige.”

  “Maybe, but I’m also a woman with a pulse.”

  Jack had insisted on staking out my house again. He refused to come inside, and it was starting to get on my nerves.

  I smiled over another spoonful of utter delight. “And a healthy libido, apparently. How many kids is this for you? Eight? Ten?”

  “Shut up. Talk.”

  I laughed at the ridiculous orders. She joined me eventually.

  I stretched a hand over hers and squeezed once. “I missed you.”

  Humor drained from her face. Fear crept into her eyes, and she turned her hands to squeeze mine. “Are you okay? Really?”

  “I will be. I’ve got Buttercup to keep me company and enough work to keep my mind off whatever’s happening until the killer’s caught.”

  “What did they take last night? Maybe that will give us a clue about where they’ll hit next.”

  I wiggled my hand free and nibbled the end of a cookie. “That’s the weird thing. As far as I can tell, they didn’t take anything, not even my cash register. They left a hate note, though. So I assume this is about me. I just don’t know why.”

  “What else?”

  “I saw Miguel’s second girlfriend nearby today, so I asked about her at Frozen Banana. Sunshine said all the Barrel Room employees have a discount card. The clerk said she was a regular, but she wasn’t around last night or five nights ago.”

  Scarlet tapped her spoon against the mug’s rim. “How reliable is the clerk?”

  I shook my head. I had no idea. How reliable was anyone?

  We finished our desserts in companionable silence, but I could see Scarlet sorting the facts she had to work with. She’d looked just like that while plotting senior pranks and revenge on cheating boyfriends.

  “So,” she shimmied off her stool at the island and headed for my sink. “I called Sunshine.”

  “Yeah?” I met her at the sink and took her mug. “How is she?”

  “She’s terrified of being a single mom, but what can be done about that? When I heard about the break-in at Furry Godmother, I worried she might’ve changed her mind about you and gone berserk.”

  “Did she?”

  “No. She’s young and pregnant and scared. That’s all she’s thinking about right now.”

  I finished rinsing our empty mugs and wedged them into the dishwasher. “Were you able to help?”

  “I think. We had a long talk. She feels terrible that all this is happening to you and that Miguel was somehow a part of it. She wondered if it had anything to do with his travels.”

  “Travels?”

  “Mm-hmm. It seems Miguel made regular trips out of town.”

  I reminded myself to breathe. This could be the lead I needed. “Where?”

  Scarlet shrugged. “I don’t want to get involved,” she deadpanned. “I’m pregnant. Which way to the sewing machine?”

  The doorbell rang before I could strangle her.

  I pointed at her as I ran past. “Stay here. If this isn’t a murderer, you’re going to tell me the rest of that story when I come back.”

  I skidded to a stop on socked feet and peeked out the side window. Jack wasn’t in his truck. I crossed my fingers and whispered to my ceiling. “Please let the person on my porch be Jack and not a killer.” Slowly, I inched the curtain back and checked the porch. “Uh-oh.”

  Scarlet cursed. “I’m not as fast as I was, and I’m too big to hide. Should I call nine-one-one?”

  “Maybe.” I opened the door. “Hello, fellas.”

  Chase and Jack stared down at me from their lofty heights, all squared shoulders and raised chins. They looked like three hundred and fifty pounds of testosterone ready to explode. Chase had a bottle of vintage red wine and a wide, blinding-white smile. Jack’s tanned fists were firmly on his hips.

  Jack angled his chin in Chase’s direction. “Who’s this guy?”

  Chase’s smile grew impossibly wider. He shifted the wine into his left hand and extended the right to Jack. “I’m a dear childhood friend of Lacy’s.”

  Jack eyeballed Chase over a long, slow hand squeeze. “You have a date?” Shock and distaste soured Jack’s tone.


  Chase wiggled the wine. “She’s off men, but we have plans to find the bottom of this bottle and catch up on old times. Whatever happens then is anyone’s guess. How about you, champ? What are you doing here?”

  “I’m Detective Oliver. I’m here on business.”

  Chase freed his hand from Jack’s grasp and clapped him on the shoulder. “Good. No need for fisticuffs then.” He breezed past me, dropping a good-natured kiss on my raging-hot cheek. “Sorry I’m late, sugar. You didn’t forget about our date, did you?”

  “Actually, yes.” My eyes slid shut on autopilot. I counted to ten before reopening them to Jack.

  Chase was in the kitchen, asking Scarlet about his nieces and nephews.

  My attention was on the six-foot Y chromosome still rooted to my porch. “What?”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “I knew Scarlet was here, so I didn’t think you were expecting a date. I didn’t mean to make a scene.”

  “You didn’t, and I’m not having a date. That’s Chase, Scarlet’s brother-in-law. He’s not dangerous. He’s all dental caps and self-importance.” I flashed a toothy grin. “He told me we were having a date tonight, so he thinks we have a date tonight. That’s how Hawthornes work.”

  Jack dropped his hand back to his side. “Chase Hawthorne.” He barked a humorless laugh. “I thought he looked familiar when he kissed you. I saw something similar while I was home for spring break senior year. Last time, it was my girlfriend he was kissing, and it wasn’t her cheek.”

  “Yikes.”

  “Yeah. Good times.” His attention fell to his phone, buzzing in his pocket. He read something on the screen and looked past me to Chase with a grimace. “Don’t let him leave until you see my truck outside again.”

  “Why? Where are you going? What did that text say?”

  He jogged off my porch and across the lawn to his truck. Ten seconds later, he was nothing but taillights.

  Didn’t he know it was rude to ignore people? Especially terrified young women with pregnant guests?

  I locked the door and considered installing a chain and security system. I could probably sell my eggs or plasma to foot the bill.

  In the kitchen, Chase leaned over the island, mimicking a volleyball move. “And bam! He went down like a house of cards. One big heap on the sand. He had a bandage on his nose for the rest of the tournament like Marcia Brady when Greg hit her with a football.”

  Scarlet roared with laughter. She wiped tears and motioned me into my kitchen. “We used to watch those old-timey reruns with Imogene. Do you remember?”

  Chase uncorked the wine and hoisted two glasses off the rack. “Imogene’s your old nanny, right? She has crazy eyes and talks to herself?”

  I smiled. “I don’t think she has crazy eyes, but she does like to talk to herself.”

  He tipped his head back and laughed. “I was always afraid of her. How is she?” His butter-yellow button-down looked fantastic with his tan, accenting his unnaturally white teeth and making his impossibly green eyes greener.

  I touched my glass to Chase’s. “She’s good. She came into my store today and told me I had bad juju, then whispered something into all the corners and shook a feathery doodad from her purse around the windows and doors.”

  Scarlet stretched her back. “She’s right about the juju. Did she give you something for protection?”

  “Like a handgun?”

  Chase laughed. “No. Like a creepy dried-up alligator head from the bayou or a ragdoll with push pins that wards off evil or protects you from harmdoers.”

  “Harmdoers is not even a word. Imogene is a nice old lady, not a witch doctor.”

  He shook his smiling face. “Wrong. I bought a spell from her once when I got stoned and hit a guy’s Aston Martin with my Segway. Worked like, well, I was going to say a charm.” He frowned. “Magic doesn’t sound right either, though both are correct.”

  “Did you hit your head in the accident?” I swirled the wine in my glass and pictured his stupidity. “You got high and took your Segway on a joyride?”

  He rubbed his face. “I was young and stupid. I didn’t want a DUI, but I wanted to go down the street to a big party, and I knew I couldn’t walk that far.”

  “A DUI?”

  “Turns out you can’t drive a Segway under the influence and pot’s illegal, so double trouble. Plus, the guy was totally unreasonable. He tried to sue my family for astronomical amounts of money in damages.” He held up his pinky in promise. “I swear to you, I went to her just for help to stay out of jail. I paid her two hundred bucks for an other-lawyer-be-stupid spell, and it worked. That guy was a total moron. I’m surprised the Aston Martin owner didn’t have to pay me for wasting my time in court that day when I could’ve been riding my sweet Segway.”

  Scarlet rubbed her belly through another round of laughter. “Other-lawyer-be-stupid. Oh, geez. I need to use your bathroom.”

  With Scarlet out of the way, Chase narrowed his eyes on me. “How are you holding up?”

  “I’m okay. I got a fish.” I pointed to Buttercup.

  “If you need any help at the store, I can swing by tomorrow. I heard it was a real wreck.”

  I took a step back. “No. The Clean Team took care of it. They’re like geriatric ninjas or really rich carnies. They came in like locusts and devoured the disaster. My door is fixed. The new security system is in place. I just have to finish the stock room inventory and it’s back to work as usual.”

  He looked relieved not to have to help. “Was anything missing?”

  “Nope.”

  “So what’d they want?”

  How many times had I asked myself that question? “I have no idea. I also don’t know why Miguel was there that night or why someone killed him. I don’t know why I’m caught in the middle of whatever is happening, and,” I lifted a finger, “I don’t know what is happening.”

  Scarlet returned with a sigh. “Someone broke in to trash her place and left a threat on her life carved into her floor,” she told Chase. “She’s trying to find out who killed Miguel so Mr. Tater will continue to be her investor. Meanwhile, she’s pissed off this nut job and he’s coming at her every day. Earlier this week he stabbed her car. I think she should stay with her folks until Jack catches this guy.”

  Chase gave me a strange look. “They stabbed your car?”

  “My tire. She exaggerates.”

  “Which is why Detective Oliver is staking out her house right now.”

  Chase’s face lit up, and he snapped his fingers. “Jack Oliver! I knew that guy looked familiar. Where is he?” He craned his neck down the hallway, as if just noticing Jack hadn’t followed him inside.

  “He got a text and left. He asked me to keep you here until he gets back. He plans to sit out front and catch whoever’s after me.”

  Chase refilled our glasses. The bottle was looking emptier by the pour. “I’d go on a wine run, but I forgot my Segway.”

  Scarlet helped herself to a big glass of ice water. “I’d go for you, but I’m too jealous to watch you have any more.”

  I took her water away. “I haven’t forgotten you have information I need.”

  She beamed. “I do? How is that possible?” She flipped her rosy curls. “Here’s a hint: it’s because I’m useful and really good at this.”

  I returned her water. “Fine. Spill.”

  She wiggled into a comfortable position on the stool and put on her best campfire face. “Sunshine says Miguel would disappear for a couple days at a time. Some weeks he was off the grid more than he was around, but he’d never give her details, and he forbade her from asking any questions. She assumed he was cheating, so she started checking his cell phone for hotel reservations, anything shady like that. She discovered he was out of town all those days. He’d visit different cities within a day’s drive. Travel all day there and all day back.”

  I finished my wine and refilled the glass. This was getting good. “What was he doing?”

  Scarl
et lost steam. “She doesn’t know.”

  I slapped the countertop. “Well, that was a horrible story.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Pete’s ringtone burst from my phone. I lifted a finger to my guests and braced myself for whatever Pete wanted this time. “Hello?”

  “Hey, beautiful, how’s it going?” His tinny voice echoed through the phone at my ear.

  Chase snorted. Scarlet frowned.

  I stepped away. “Have you made your travel plans? When will you be here?”

  “I’m looking into the details. To be honest, this is going to be a more expensive trip than I’d expected.”

  I ground my teeth. “Then don’t come. I’ll buy Penelope a ticket if you’ll get her to the plane.”

  He huffed. “Our agreement was that I see you.”

  “You just said it was too expensive.” Pressure built in my chest. He was backing out. I knew he’d do this. I knew not to trust him. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. I slid my eyes shut to force back the crushing disappointment.

  A broad hand landed on my shoulder. Chase pulled me against his chest. Scarlet gripped my free hand.

  “You could come to Virginia,” Pete said. Likely that was his plan all along. Get me alone and try to keep me, using Penelope as leverage.

  “No.” Scarlet and Chase spoke in unison.

  “Who was that?” Pete barked. “Are you on another date or is that the same guy from before? You’ve been gone for three months and you can’t spend one evening alone?” He breathed heavy into the phone. “You know what? Forget it. You’re clearly too busy for Penelope.” He disconnected.

  Chase gave me a quick squeeze and stepped away, leaning one lean hip against the counter. His bright-green eyes were shining with wine and fascination. “Wow. That was your fiancé? You’ve got really bad taste in men.”

  “He’s my ex-fiancé, and I hate him.” I swiped tears. “He’s a liar who screwed everything up and stole my cat. He knew I was leaving, and he took her somewhere on the morning I needed to leave for the airport.”

  Chase shrugged. “I’ll get your cat back.”

  “What?” I froze, tissue pressed to my cheek. “How?”