by Patricia Fry
Savannah picked up a wet cloth. “Let’s see,” she said, wiping it across the bottom of Rags’s paw while Michael held him. “Yes. It comes off. Go ahead.”
“How will we know which cat left which mark?” Chris asked. “Maybe we should sign their names too.”
“Yeah,” Pam said, “let’s do that.”
Once they had returned the painting to the frame, Jeannie asked, “So what shall we do with the painting overnight? Leave it here, or…”
“I’m not letting it out of my sight,” Pam said, “until we’ve harvested all of the gems from there.”
“Okay then, let’s load it and the kids and cats up,” Michael suggested. He lifted Teddy into his arms. “Ready to go, buddy?”
“My rocks?” the toddler said holding out a fisted hand.
“You have some rocks?” Michael asked.
Teddy nodded. “Daddy see?”
“Yes. Let Daddy see.” When Teddy opened his hand, Michael muttered, “Good lord.” He announced into the room, “He has a handful of those jewels.”
“What?” Pam squealed. “He found more of them?” She walked closer and looked into the toddler’s palm. “Where did he get them?”
“Where did you get those, Teddy?” Michael asked. “Can you show Daddy?”
Teddy squirmed to get down, but first Michael scraped all of the gems from Teddy’s hand into his. He released the boy to the floor and said, “Can you show us where you got these…um…rocks?”
The child ran across the room to the boudoir chair and dropped to the floor. He began digging with his fingers in a groove between the floor boards. “See pretty rocks, Daddy? More pretty rocks.”
“Oh!” Pam shouted. “Will you look at that?”
“The cats must have rolled them into that crevice,” Michael said.
“How in the heck will we get them out of there?” Pam asked.
Michael looked at her. “No problem-o…”
“Really?” Jeannie asked suspiciously.
Savannah chuckled. “He always says that.”
“Only when I mean it,” Michael retorted. “Look here, it’s just a matter of removing these broken pieces of flooring. I’m pretty sure a place like this would have subflooring, so whatever gems slipped into that crevice would be caught by the subflooring or…”
“Or?” Pam questioned.
“Or they fell through into the dirt under the building,” he explained. He stood up and stomped one foot. “Actually, I think you’re on a slab here, so you shouldn’t have any trouble retrieving anything that might have rolled into that gap.” He looked up at the women. “Too bad the gems aren’t larger—they’d be easier to find.”
“I’m not complaining,” Jeannie said. “Go ahead and pull that wood up, Michael. Do you have the tools you need to do it?”
“Yeah, I think so,” he said.
“Are you sure you want to go to the trouble and maybe the expense of repairing it for those small chips of gems?” Chris asked.
Pam thought for a moment and said, “Yeah. I think so, don’t you, Jeannie? That is if you don’t mind, Michael.”
“Not at all. Okay, let’s see what we have.” Several minutes later, Michael stepped back. “There they are, ladies,” he said, gesturing. “Want to find out if it was worth it?”
Pam and Jeannie moved forward and began carefully picking up the gems Michael had uncovered, when Pam gasped.
“What did you find?” Savannah asked.
Pam took a deep breath and held out her hand. “A few rubies, an emerald, a small garnet, and…” more excitedly she shouted, “…this amazing diamond! Look at this thing,” she insisted. “If it’s as exquisite as I think it is, this thing’s probably worth thousands. Oh my gosh.” She looked up to the heavens and said, “Thank you, Mama and Dad.”
When Pam began to cry, Savannah wrapped her arms around her. “Emotional, huh?”
Pam nodded. She blotted at her eyes. “What a difference a day makes.”
The others laughed.
Pam said, “Thank you, Michael and Savannah and Chris.” She ruffled Angel’s fur and nodded toward Rags, “Thank you sweet kitties. I love you all, and I’ll never forget any of you.”
“Me?” Lily said.
“Yes, you too. I’ll never forget you, either,” she said, embracing the child.
“Well, it’s been fun,” Savannah said. “Thank you for allowing us to be part of your life-changing moment.”
Before anyone else could speak, Teddy let out a wail.
“Someone’s tired,” Savannah said. “Shall we go back to fairytale land and have dinner? Do we have anything for dinner?”
Jeannie nodded. “My in-laws are at the house with the kids, and Myrna, my mother-in-law, brought stew. Does everyone like stew?”
“Sure do,” Michael said, picking up Teddy.
“Yum,” Savannah chimed in, lifting Rags into her arms.
Chris took Lily’s hand. “Let’s go eat.”
“Got the painting?” Pam asked her sister.
“Yes,” she said, holding it up. “Isn’t it just the most beautiful thing you’ve ever laid eyes on?”
Laughter reverberated through the antique store as the lights went out.
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All of the books in the Klepto Cat Mystery Series.
