by Patricia Fry
“I love the story about Rags finding his own sister at the all-night emergency clinic,” Gladys said, bemused.
“Yes, that’s the kind of trip it was,” Savannah said. “We just fell into an unexpected situation or we found one fascinating bit of research after another.” She ran her hand over Teddy’s hair and smiled down at Lily as she played with her doll. “It was fascinating and exciting, but it’s sure good to be home.”
Michael grinned at his wife. “So did Rags meet his father? It didn’t sound like he was with you when you visited Rusty this morning.”
Yes,” Savannah said. “We took him back. We were really interested in seeing what Rags’s reaction to him would be, and we wanted to see them together. Plus Kim was curious to meet him. So yes, we took the time to go back by Kim’s house before leaving town. And the father and son were quite intrigued with each other. They’re about the same size.” She chuckled. “Rags actually dragged out some of Rusty’s treasures for everyone to see. He brought a dog’s rope toy out into the living room while we women chatted, and a bathing-suit top. Does that sound familiar?”
Michael smiled and nodded. “It must have been déjà-vu for Rags.”
“He also pulled a purse down the hall and carried it to Kim. She hadn’t seen it before. It wasn’t hers. She opened it and there was a wallet in there with ID and money and everything. Kim was so embarrassed. She called the owner who, as it turns out, doesn’t even live in the area. She was visiting a friend around the corner, and I guess Rusty somehow got into the house, found her purse, and dragged it home. The gal was happy she would be getting it back, and surprised, I guess, to learn that it was taken by a cat. She has cats and was quite amused by this.”“So Rags made sure the gal got her belongings back, did he?” Michael said, running his hand over Rags’s fur as he lay next to Savannah and Teddy on the couch. He shook his head, then asked. “So do you think you have a book?”
“Yes. But there are still some loose ends.”
“Like?” he asked.
“As I said we need to get the results of the DNA test to make sure Rusty is the culprit who wooed Angel. And I’m eager to hear that Jeannie’s back home with her children. I’m not sure when they’ll release her.”
Michael smiled at her, then said, “Well, let’s put our children to bed and let you get some rest, shall we?” “Sounds good to me.” She faced him abruptly and asked, “How’s Foxy? Have you learned anything more about his injury?”
“No. So far the Stevens check out okay. Bud’s sending someone from animal services to talk to them before we decide what to do. They came to the clinic to see Foxy yesterday and seemed genuine to me. Mrs. Stevens said her job is changing, and she’ll have more time at home, which is why they adopted the kitten in the first place. So if the investigation goes well, we’ll send Foxy home maybe in a week or ten days.”
“Without Glori?”
“Of course, without Glori,” Michael asserted. “I’m not giving her away. Why? Do you want to give her away?”
“No,” Savannah said. “But don’t you think she’ll miss him?”
He nodded. “Sure she will. But she still has a full life here without Foxy, don’t you think so?”
“I guess. Yeah, she’ll probably be okay. Maybe I’ll take her back to the retirement home to visit the folks there if she gets lonely.”
“Sure,” Michael said. “She might like that.” He yawned. “Let’s go to bed.”
“Sounds good,” she said. She hugged her mother. “See you in the morning. Sleep in if you want to, I’ll take over with breakfast and the kids.”
“Oh, I don’t know, Vannie,” Gladys said. “I’m so used to waking up early.”
“Well, wake up and lounge in bed, read a steamy novel, take a hot bath.”
“Ohhh,” Gladys said, “sounds tempting. We’ll see how I feel in the morning.”
****
Savannah had bathed and dressed the children the following morning and sat down to play with them when her phone chimed. She looked at the screen and told her mother, “It’s Pam, Jeannie Gerard’s sister. Hello,” she said into the phone.
“Hi, Savannah. I just wanted to let you know that Jeannie’s home. The kids are so happy.”
“Oh, Pam, that’s great! And her husband?” she asked hesitantly.
“Oh, we’re hoping he stays where he is for a very long time. We sure don’t want him around here. I just don’t know what he’ll do once he finds out Jeannie ratted him out, although he may already know it. Hey, Jeannie wants to talk to you.”
“Hi,” Jeannie said. “I want to thank you again for all that you’ve done for our family. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”
“Oh, well, Jeannie, I’m happy you’re home where you belong. What now?”
“Oh, I’m just going to enjoy my kids and my cats. We’re getting Bella back—she was another one of my favorite cats—a wonderful pet. And pets she and Angel will always be. No more cages and no more breeding. Hey, did you find Rags’s father?”
“Maybe,” Savannah said. “We’re waiting for the lab report. I’m pretty sure Rusty is the one—you know, your neighbor’s orange tabby. He and Rags are like two peas in a pod, only different colors.”
“Cool. That sure blows Drew’s idea out of the water. He blamed poor Mrs. Gallagher for selling us a pregnant cat. He wanted his money back in the worst way, and she wanted the cat back. She knew this hadn’t happened on her watch.”
“So she wouldn’t give his money back? I mean, if she wanted her back…”
“Oh no,” Jeannie said, “that wasn’t Drew’s plan. He wanted the money back and pain and suffering and he wanted to keep Angel.”
“What?” Savannah yelped. “Oh, he is a shrewd businessman—and maybe a little delusional.” She then said, “As for who is the father, we don’t have the DNA results yet, so we can’t be sure, but it’s leaning in Rusty’s direction.”
“Interesting,” Jeannie said. “I can’t wait to connect with Kim again and see what she thinks about all this. I guess both of our cats will be in your book, right?”
“Yes, for sure—well, if our suspicions are correct. I’ll let you and Kim know.”
“Thank you again.”
“You’re welcome, Jeannie, and thank you.”
“Throw that phone away, Mommy,” Lily said, when it chimed again. “Make it stop ringing.”
“I’m sorry, honey, it’s my new friend, Chris. I have to answer it. It could be important. Then I promise, I’ll put the phone away. Okay? And we’ll play.”
“Okay,” Lily said reluctantly.
“Hi, Chris. How are you after our big adventure?” Savannah said into the phone.
“Tired, but gosh, I’m glad I went. It was a blast. Thank you so much for letting me tag along.”
“Sure,” Savannah said. “I don’t know if I would have gone without you, or whether I would have found so much information. I can’t thank you enough for going with me.” She shimmied. “Hey, I’m on pins and needles here. Do you have a result?”
“I do,” she said happily. “The father is…drum roll…”
“Stop it, you’re torturing me,” Savannah joked.
“Yup, it’s Rusty,” Chris said.
“Wow!!!! We did it, Chris, high five and knuckle bump. We found the missing link.”
“Yes, we did. Exciting discovery. Hey, is Jeannie home?”
“Yes. I just spoke with her. She’s home and she’s getting another one of her cats back. She says no more breeding or showing. They are housecats now. She’s ultra-happy.”
“What now for her?”
“I hope the sisters will follow a path Pam told me about when they were staying with us.”
“What’s that?” Chris asked.
“She talked about taking Jeannie and the kids back to Oregon where Pam lives and opening a secondhand or antique store with some of the neat stuff their mother left in her estate. Evidently she was a collector of interesting things, and t
hey put it in storage when she died. They’ve been talking about doing something like this for a while, and Pam figures this is a good time to do it.”
“What about the cats?” Chris asked.
“Hey, I firmly believe that wherever Jeannie goes, those cats will also go.”
“Good,” Chris said. “And Drew? Her awful husband—what about him?”
“I think Jeannie would like to forget about him. I’m not sure how strong she’ll be, but…” Savannah then said, “Hey, kiddo, my little ones are craving my attention today. I told Lily I’d hide my phone away for a while so we can play. Can we talk later?”
“Absolutely, I just wanted to tell you about the test results. I knew you’d be waiting.”
“Yes, I’m so happy. Thank you. Talk soon.”
****
“Mom,” Savannah said after putting the children down for a nap that afternoon, “I haven’t had a chance to ask you about Karl. Michael told me on the phone yesterday that you thought things were sort of coming to a head. Is he still in jail?”
Gladys nodded. “Yes, I guess he was angry with Jilly for talking to the police about Daryl, but if I know Karl, he’s forgiven her already. I hope he also realizes that he’s only making a sad problem worse by trying to protect that kid. Jilly saw Karl yesterday, and she thinks he finally realizes his mistakes with his son. He said he was going to tell Craig everything he knows and let him do a proper investigation.” She winced. “I guess Craig or someone from Craig’s office has already talked to Daryl, and he’s furious with his father.”
“How’s Karl with that?” Savannah asked.
“I think he knows it’s the right thing to do. When he realized the severity of this crime, he knew he wasn’t doing himself or Daryl any favors by keeping his mouth shut.”
“Do they have a body yet?” Savannah asked. “Did they find the man he hit? Is he dead?”
“No, not that I know of.” Gladys spoke more quietly, “Karl thinks the kid and his buddies might have hidden the body somewhere. Craig’s checking the missing persons list.”
“So have they decided that the witness is credible? Are they sure someone was hit?”“Yes, maybe more than one witness. They wonder now if Daryl was street racing and when the car got wrecked, the driver escaped in a second car.”
“So they think Daryl and his friends may have run off with the body? Why? If they were going to allow Karl to be blamed, why didn’t they just leave the body there?” Savannah reasoned.
“I’ve wondered that too, unless the victim was alive. Maybe they took him so he wouldn’t identify them,” Gladys said.
“Gads, that kid sure does know how to mess up his life, doesn’t he?” Savannah observed. “Kidnapping is a pretty serious charge. Does he know that? He can’t blame his father for that, can he?”
“You wouldn’t think so since his father’s in jail doing time for him,” Gladys said.
Just then the landline phone rang. Gladys looked at the screen and said, “It’s Craig. I wonder if he has news about Karl. Hello,” she said into the phone. She handed it to Savannah, saying, “It’s for you.”
“Hi, Craig.”
“Hi. Listen a Sergeant Everett from LA is looking for you,” Craig said.
“Me? Why?”
“Well, I guess he has some information for you,” Craig explained. “He said he has your cell phone number, but he’s tried to call it several times and it goes to voicemail.”
She chuckled. “Yeah, the kids made me put my phone away and spend time with them. What’s up, Craig; do you know?”
“It’s about that body you found when you were running around in LA last week.”
“Yeah,” she said, “the one Rags found? Rags found it, you know.”
“Uh-huh,” he said. “They’ve identified it as the woman who owned the house—Mrs. Dreama Gallagher.”
Savannah gasped.
“Evidently she was killed, maybe by an intruder, and buried during a gnarly rainstorm some seven or eight years ago.”
“Do they know who did it?” she asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure I do,” Savannah insisted. She said more quietly, “I shouldn’t have let her go. I must get her back.”
“What?” Craig said.
“Oh, I was just remembering something I heard while I was in LA. Craig, it’s possible that Drew Gerard killed her. Is he still in jail?”
“I believe so, but they’re going to turn him loose sometime today. That’s what the sergeant told me.”
“No!” Savannah said. “He did it. I’m sure he did. Have them talk to his wife. She might even know it, or maybe she’ll remember back to that day—you know, where he was, or whether he was home. From what I understand, he was furious when he saw the kittens born to the cat he’d bought from Mrs. Gallagher. And believe me, I’ve seen his fury; I know what he’s capable of. Craig, if it weren’t for Rags, I’m pretty sure that man would have at least hurt Pam and maybe me the night he burst into Mom’s place.”
“Yeah, but that night he was upset to find his children missing, right?” Craig confirmed.
“He secretly put a GPS tracker on his sister-in-law’s phone. Who does that?” Savannah took a breath. “And he wanted to kill Rags and his sisters and brothers.”
“What?”
“Yes, when they were born. He planned to kill them,” Savannah said. “He wanted to destroy those beautiful kittens.”
“Why?” Craig asked.
“Because they were the wrong color.”
Craig was silent for a moment, then said, “Okay, that’s good enough for me. I’ll talk to the sergeant and his superiors and see if we can get someone to follow up with Mr. Gerard.”
“Yeah,” Savannah said, “and have them talk to Buzz. He lives behind Mrs. Gallagher’s house. It sounds like he kind of kept an eye on her. He just might have seen or heard something that night. Have the police talk to him.”
“Will do. Thanks, Savannah. I’ll be in touch.”
****
“We got ourselves a confession,” Craig said later that afternoon when Savannah answered her cell phone.
“Oh?” Savannah asked.
“Yes, Drew Gerard confessed. I guess that man’s a keg of dynamite, about ready to explode. They didn’t have to press very hard to break him. And the neighbor, Buzz, said he remembers hearing loud voices the night she went missing. His witness testimony was in the file. He said it was raining pretty hard, but he recalls hearing shouting. He didn’t go out to investigate and always wished he had because he learned the following day that his neighbor was missing.”
“Gads, that poor woman. How…” “Blunt force to the head. Mr. Gerard claims it was an accident, that he only pushed her, but that still implicates him. I imagine he won’t see the light of day, maybe ever.”
“Good,” Savannah said.
“You really don’t like that guy, do you?” he asked.
“No, and I’m happy for his wife, who’s now free to live her life without his horrible…horribleness.”
“Okay,” Craig said. “So you’re glad he’s a murderer?”
“Yes, well, I’m glad he got caught,” she said. “He’s an awful man, and he deserves every bad thing he gets. He hurts cats; he almost killed Rags.”
Craig spoke more quietly. “Yeah, when you told me that…well, it turned the tide for me.”
“Hey, thank you, Craig, for bringing me the news. I really appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome,” he said. “So did you accomplish your goal when you went to LA?”
“Yes!” she exclaimed. “We found two of Rags’s siblings and may actually be able to find the others because they were sold as purebreds, although, I’m not sure I’ll pursue that search. We’ll see. I got to meet Rags’s beautiful mother, Angel, and we found Rags’s father. That was the most exciting and interesting part. Yes, it was a good trip, and now I have a book to write.” She said, “Craig, about Karl. Can you tell me
how that case is going? Mom’s been pretty upset about it. It sounds like a serious situation.”
“Yes, I’m afraid it is. I’m inclined to believe Karl, but they can’t find the victim, so the investigation is kind of at a standstill. Oh, there are a few leads, but none of them has panned out so far. We actually believe we know who the victim is, if only we could locate him, either dead or alive.” He let out a deep sigh. “Tell Gladys that we’re working on it. We’d hoped to come up with enough evidence to let Karl go, but we’re not making very good progress—at least not very fast.” He paused for a moment, then said, “Hey, something just came in for me. I’d better go. I’ll be in touch soon. In fact, I may need to enlist my feline partner to help us with something. I’ll let you know. Good bye.”
“No. Craig…” Savannah said into the phone. When she realized he’d ended the call, she dropped the phone to her side and shook her head. I wonder what he meant by that.
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