Black Cat Crossing
Page 57
Chapter Fifteen
“We’re not living in a bad guy’s old house,” Mason said for the ninth time the next morning. “You don’t know what type of magic they were performing in there, and some magic leaves a residue that clings to the walls like cigarette smoke.”
I flicked my tail back and forth. “Okay, I get it,” I responded as we walked through the pet resort. “I just thought that a simple house would be better than bouncin’ from hotel to hotel. Seriously, Mason, you need some place to call your own. Some place to unwind. Get yourself one of them bathtubs full of bubbles.”
She shook her head as she chuckled. “A bubble bath? Is that what you think I need?”
“I don’t know, kid. I’m a simple cat,” I said with a man-sized sigh. “I just need a decent TV and a paper so I can figure out more about this world. A lot’s changed. I don’t know what you need for witch stuff, but most of the women I’ve known want a big old clawfoot tub to soak in.”
We’d gone back to resort to find some clue as to where the kitty culprit and his associates had taken off to. The basement of the admin building had been cleaned out before we made it back, and not even chipped paint from knocking over the shelving units remained. Whoever had been working with Scavo was thorough. They’d nabbed the cat from the back of our car and cleaned up any evidence in a hurry. If the admin building had been cleaned up this quickly, there was no hope of finding something at the docks.
“So,” Val said, running her fingers along the walls. “What’s your gut say about where Scavo has gone to ground?”
A purr escaped from me. It felt good to be a valued partner, regardless of my furry nature. “Well,” I said, wandering over to the window I’d jumped through earlier. Even the glass had been replaced, no cardboard in sight. “When we were lookin’ for shifters stealing from normal folk, it made sense to look around the normal people. Now, though, we know who and what we’re dealing with. He’d stick out in the areas off the island, so…”
“You think he’s still on Caraway?” Val asked. “Isn’t that pretty gutsy?”
I attempted a shrug, which really came out more as a languid stretch. “In Boston, he had a specific neighborhood. Even when we were hot on his trail, he stuck to his territory. My bet is that he’s got a hidey hole where he can rebuild his empire or keep things going. Some place he can pull the strings from in secret.”
With my paws, I pressed against a small section of the wall that looked slightly wrong, like a small square patch had been put up over an old hole. I felt a small click underneath my feet, and a tiny tunnel opened up. It was barely big enough for my head to fit through, but on a hunch, I tried to force my way in.
Sure enough, my nearly liquid cat body slipped effortlessly through the tunnel and into a small den set between the exterior wall and the ground the building rested in.
Strange symbols decorated the walls, scratched in by tooth or claw. There were pictures with bits of yarn connecting them like a link chart or an evidence board. Was this info left by Scavo? Or was there a literal mole in his operation?
“Mason?” I called out through the tunnel.
“Just relax and focus on my voice,” came the response.
I did what she asked, focusing on just the words she was saying, even though they didn’t make any sense. Before I could really figure out what she was attempting, I felt the familiar bond open up, and it was like she was there in my head with me.
It was weird. Like thinking someone else’s thoughts at the same time as trying to wrap your head around your own. My head hurt like it was about to burst, and then suddenly, there was a flash of light and it was gone.
I staggered back through the tunnel and into the basement where Val was also rubbing her own head.
“Let’s not do that again, okay?” I asked, my feet having trouble finding solid ground underneath me.
“Deal,” Val said. “I’d never tried that before and I’m not keen to try it again. So do you really think Scavo had a mole?”
“I don’t know, kid. If that was his spot, what was with all the notes?” My tail flicked around wildly, and my whiskers struggled to find equilibrium. A weird ringing noise was building in my head, and I worried for a moment that whatever Val had done was going to—
“Mason here,” she said loudly.
“Yeah, I know you’re—”
She placed a finger up to stop me from talking and pointed to the phone in her hand. That must’ve been what the noise was.
“The theft ring has been temporarily halted, but the primaries involved…” Her face scrunched up in annoyance. “Yes, Ma’am. I understand. Is there—”
She swore under her breath.
“What happened?” I asked, rubbing my aching head along her leg. C’mon, kid, buck up.
“There’s been a murder,” she said, shoving her phone into her pocket and hopping up off the concrete. “We’re the only members of the BBPD, so this one is our problem now.”
“You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me,” I said as I followed her out to the car. “We’re in the middle of this Scavo investigation and they’re throwing a body at us?”
“They said it’s pretty straightforward. Feuding neighbors turned to magical homicide,” Mason said with a sigh. “I don’t know how simple that is, but until we get some more people to help with case work, we’d better hope that everyone is on their best behavior.”
“Don’t worry,” I said with more optimism than I felt. “Scavo will keep. And he’ll probably think he got away clean. That’ll make him sloppy.”
Val nodded and started the car. She pressed a button on the door and sighed when she remembered the glass had been shattered out the night before. “We need to get the windows fixed,” she muttered.
“Okay, so let’s start a list and get ourselves organized, Mason,” I said, trying my best to sound like the planning type. “First we go question the murder suspect, then we replace our windows. Next we follow all that up with some sushi, and by dinner time, we’re back on Scavo. Sound good?”
A smile crept across her face. “Yeah, that sounds great, Jack. Let’s roll, partner.”
The sudden acceleration threw me back a bit in the seat, but I laughed it off. “Okay, when we get there, let’s do the good cop bad cop routine. Dibs on Bad Cop.”
And with more laughter, we sped off to the scene of our first Blueberry Bay homicide.
Want More?
Want more from Blackjack and the rest of the Cursed Cat of Caraway and Criminal Cat Cozy Mysteries gangs?
Get started with BOOK 1 THE WHACKED WITCH or stay tuned for BLACKJACK’S full series coming soon!
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Black Cat Crossing