Cat In The Dark

15

JOLLY'S ALLEY was no longer a pretty retreat for either tourist or village cat. Beneath the darkening sky where the first stars shone, the cozy brick lane with its little shops looked like a garbage dump. The light of its two wrought-iron lamps shone down upon a mess of greasy paper wrappers, broken eggshells, sandwich crusts, and chewed chicken bones. Wadded paper napkins and broken Styrofoam cups spilled from the two overturned refuse cans, and the smears of cold spaghetti and slaw and potato salad were stuck liberally with tufts of torn-out cat fur-a dozen colors of fur, telling the tale of a huge battle.

Joe and Dulcie, pausing at the alley's entrance, surveyed the mess with amazement, then outrage. Dulcie's ears went back and her tail lashed. Joe crouched as if to spring on whatever feline culprit remained.

But no culprit was visible, the battling cats had fled. Only the tufts of fur told the story, and their pawprints deep in the potato salad-and the stink of fear that lingered, as sharp as the smell of gunpowder after a frontline skirmish.

And, stronger even than the fear-stink, was the odor of the perpetrator-the belligerent reek of the black tomcat.

Sniffing Azrael's scent, Joe and Dulcie padded across the greasy bricks, peering into the shadows beneath the jasmine vine, searching for him.

Suddenly above them a shadow exploded between the rooftops and dropped down within the jasmine vine, dark and swift.

The black torn sauntered out of the foliage, his bullish shoulders swaggering, his amber eyes burning. Looking around at the devastation, he smiled and licked his whiskers.

Joe's growl was deep. "I suppose you waited until all the cats congregated for an evening's snack, then attacked them. Did you trap the smallest ones behind the garbage cans, so you could bloody them?"

Azrael widened his amber eyes. "And what business is it of yours, little cat? What are you, keeper of the village kitties?" Crouching, he circled Joe, his teeth bared, his eyes blazing.

Joe leaped, biting into Azrael's shoulder, raking his hind claws hard down Azrael's belly. Azrael clawed him in the neck. They spun, a tangle of slashing and screaming, then Azrael had Joe by the throat, forcing him down. Joe twisted free and bit him in the flank as Dulcie lunged into the fray. Together they pinned the tomcat. Under their violent double assault, he went limp. When they drew back, he fled to a safer position.

Now suddenly he was all smiles, waving his tail, curving and winding around a lamppost, the change swift and decisive. Chirruping and purring, he fixed his gaze on Dulcie.

"If I had guessed, my dear, that you would be here this evening, we could have feasted together-after I routed that rabble, of course. Or perhaps," he said softly, "you would have enjoyed that little skirmish-a little playful challenge to get your blood up. Hold!" he said as Joe moved to attack. "I have news. Information that will interest you."

But Joe leaped tearing at Azrael's ear and shoulder, and again the two were a screaming whirlwind-until the deli door crashed open and George Jolly ran out swinging a bucket. A cascade of dishwater hit them. Azrael bolted under a bench. Joe backed away, shocked, licking greasy dishwater from his whiskers.

"Look at this mess! At the mess you cats made. "Jolly fixed his gaze on Joe. "What kind of behavior is this? I go away for half an hour and you trash my alley! And on a Sunday, too-with the village full of visitors. You! I'd thought better of you, gray tomcat. Why would you do this?"

He looked hard at Dulcie. "Tomcats! Stupid fighting tomcats. All this over a lady? Shame. For shame." He shook his head sadly. "I feed you no more, you tomcats. I feed no one. You disappoint me. You're nothing but common street rowdies!"

Turning his back, he went inside. But he was out again at once, carrying a broom and dustpan. Irritably he righted the garbage cans and began to sweep, filling the dustpan over and over, dumping garbage back into the metal barrels. Azrael had disappeared, and as Jolly unwound a hose, Joe and Dulcie fled to the end of the alley.

Bouncing a hard spray across the bricks, Jolly washed up every smear, hosing the last crumbs into the drainage grid. Giving Joe a disgusted look, he disappeared inside. As he shut the door, Azrael dropped down from the roof. Ignoring Joe, he sidled up to Dulcie, looking incredibly smug.

"Such a charming companion you were the other morning, my dear Dulcie-diverting me so cleverly, while your crude friend, here, tossed Mavity's cottage."

He eyed Joe narrowly. "What were you looking for, gray cat, prowling Mavity's home while Dulcie performed her little ruse?"

Joe washed his paws, sleeking the white fur, and spread his claws to lick them dry.

"If you so enjoy snooping," Azrael told him, "if you like poking into human business-which I find incredibly boring-you might be interested in last night's telephone conversation. Though I would prefer to share my information privately, with the lady," Azrael said, purring.

Dulcie looked at him coldly. "Share it with both of us. One does not hunt another's turf without shedding blood. What was this conversation? Why would we be interested?"

"An invitation to dinner," Azrael told her. "Someone in the village has invited Dora and Ralph out to dinner-without Mavity or Greeley."

"Humans go out to dinner frequently," Dulcie said, yawning.

"They are keeping this dinner a secret. They've told no one. The reservation is at a very fancy restaurant, much too elegant for those two Georgia hicks."

Dulcie yawned in his face. "Who made such an invitation?"

"They got a phone call, so I only heard one side. Heard Dora say Winthrop. Couldn't tell if she was talking to Winthrop Jergen or about him. You know Jergen-Mavity's financial guru."

"We know him," Joe said, turning from Azrael to wash his hind paw.

Azrael sat tall, puffing himself up, lashing his thick black tail. "Why would a big-time financial advisor take those two rednecks to dinner? And why wouldn't they tell Mavity and Greeley? Not a word," Azrael said, narrowing his amber eyes.

"Maybe the Sleuders want to invest," Dulcie suggested. "Surely Mavity bragged about Jergen-about how much money he's earned for her."

"Then why not invite her along? But what a laugh-she hasn't any business investing, she's nothing but a scrub woman. A bad-tempered, mean-spirited scrub woman, the way she treats visitors."

Dulcie looked hard at him. "The way she treats dirty-mannered tomcats? At least her money is her own. She didn't steal it, like her brother."

"If she'd learned from Greeley she wouldn't be mopping floors-not that I care what happens to that one."

"Where is this dinner?" Dulcie said. "What restaurant?"

"Pander's. Real fancy, people all dressed up, BMWs and stretch limos, street lined with Lincolns and New Yorkers. You should have seen Dora swoon. The minute she hung up the phone she rushed into the bedroom, fussing about dresses, pulling clothes out of her suitcase, holding them up and looking in the mirror."

Azrael smiled. "But when Mavity got home, Dora was suddenly real busy doing up the dishes, cleaning up the kitchen. No hint of the big invitation."

"Why didn't you tell Greeley?" Dulcie asked.

"Waiting to see what happens," Azrael said cooly. "To see where this little adventure leads." He licked his paw, smug and self-assured. "Sometimes it pays to hold back a little something from Greeley."

He rose, lashing his tail. "Greeley's blind when it comes to Dora. He'd never believe that Dora lied to him. When it comes to Dora, he wouldn't believe even me." And for a moment, the black torn looked almost pitiful.

"Greeley didn't believe that Dora nearly killed me with that damned frying pan," he hissed. "The minute he leaves the house she starts throwing stuff-but he says I'm lying."

"When is this fancy dinner?" Joe said. "And why are you telling us?"

Azrael's face became a sleek black mask. "I told you-that night on the rooftops, I told you. I sense death." He looked at Joe almost helplessly. "This dinner… Visions of death. I do not want it to touch Greeley."

The black torn shook himself. "If I spy on Dora and Ralph, if they see me prowling the restaurant, Dora'll pitch a fit, have the whole place down on me." He looked at Joe a long time. "She'd pay no attention to you-you'd be just a neighborhood cat lurking. You can slip under the tables. Try the terrace first. She seemed impressed that they might sit on the upstairs terrace, with a view down on the village." Azrael gave a toothy laugh. "What's the big deal about rooftops?" He fixed Joe with another level look. "You can find out what Dora and Ralph are up to-find out if it will harm Greeley."

"Why would his own daughter do something to hurt him?" Dulcie asked.

"Maybe she wouldn't mean to harm him. Maybe she wouldn't understand the implications."

"You're making too much…"Joe began.

"I sense death around Greeley," the cat yowled. "I see death."

"Even if you do, why should we get involved?" Joe asked coldly. "What's in it for us?"

The black torn gave Joe a deep and knowing look. "You will do it. You dance to curiosity as some cats dance to catnip. You two are riven with inquisitiveness.

"And with righteousness," Azrael continued smugly. "If you think the law will be broken, that there's a crime, that a human will be harmed, you little cats will do it."

Joe crouched to rake him again, but the torn ignored him, twitching a long black whisker.

"You nosed into every possession Dora and Ralph have. You left your scent on every smallest bit of clothing. If you thirst for knowledge and justice, if you stalk after lawbreakers, how could you not run surveillance-as your Captain Harper would say-on this intriguing little meeting?"

They watched him intently, Joe angrily, Dulcie with increasing interest.

"Tonight," Azrael said softly, narrowing his flame-golden eyes. "Seven-thirty. They're to take a cab." And he slipped away, vanishing among the shadows.

Dulcie looked after him with speculation.

Joe said, "What's he trying to pull? There's no crime, nothing has happened. What a lot of…"

She kept looking where Azrael had vanished, and an eager, hotly curious expression gleamed like fire in her wide green eyes.

"He's setting us up, Dulcie."

"Why would he set us up? I don't think so. Did you see his eyes when he talked about Greeley? That was-that was a plea for help."

"Come on, Dulcie. A plea for help from the likes of him? That cat cares about no one."

"He cares about Greeley." She gave Joe a deep green look. "He loves Greeley. I'm going over there to Pander's."

"Come on, Dulcie. You let him sucker you right in."

"Into what? What could he do? What harm can come of it?"

"Dulcie…"

"Do as you please," she hissed. "I want to know what this is about." And she trotted away, switching her tail, heading for Pander's.

Joe galloped after her, leaned down and licked her ear. "Totally stubborn," he said, laughing.

She paused, widened her eyes at him, purring.

"Hardheaded." He licked her whiskers. "And totally fascinating."

She gave him a green-eyed dazzle and a whisker kiss.

"So what the hell?" Joe purred. "So we slip into Pander's, maybe cadge a scrap of fillet. So what could happen?"