Deadly Diamond

“There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast”

––Unknown

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: A Cat is a Cat

The morning was busy and time passed quickly. Before I knew it, Maggie asked Alyx if she was ready for lunch.

“It’s only eleven-thirty, but I didn’t have any breakfast, and I’m hungry. Is it too early for you?”

“No, it’s fine. I was upstairs moving some furniture around, choosing what to have George repair or recycle. I guess the work made me hungry.”

“Good. Here’s your purse. Let’s go.”

Alyx laughed. “You’re not joking about being hungry, are you?”

As they walked by the display window, Maggie glanced at Misty sitting tall next to the candelabrum where she’d been all morning, scrutinizing each passerby, with a puzzled look flitting across her face.

“Misty hasn’t moved from that spot since I came in this morning,” said Maggie. “And Murfy is at the door trying to get his leash off the hook. Cats don’t do that; dogs do that.”

Alyx shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know what to tell you, Maggie.”

I knew what to tell her if I could talk. It’s so unfair––dogs aren’t the only intelligent house pets. Some cats are just as clever; we just don’t let on that we are, thereby, we get away with doing more things we shouldn’t. My efforts paid off, and Alyx grabbed my leash and off we went.

The Beachside Café was busy as usual. The restaurant had a pleasant ambiance with exposed brick walls and a planked wood floor. The counter was a rich, dark mahogany with a brass foot railing. A booth opened up and Alyx said, “It’s so busy in here; maybe it’s better if we get something to go. I don’t feel comfortable sitting down for lunch with Murfy. There are a lot of tourists in town, and we’re getting some funny looks.”

They ordered their favorite and mine––shrimp salad on cheddar bread. Novie, the owner of the Café, brought the food out when it was ready.

“Isn’t it nice to see all these tourists back in town?”

“I know what you mean,” said Alyx. “After that last hurricane, everybody wondered if we’d ever see tourists again, and that one didn’t even hit us. It seems to me that it doesn’t really matter where they make landfall, we’re affected by any hurricane that even comes close to Florida.”

Alyx said, “That’s because those monsters are big enough to cover the whole state!” She added, “I wonder how many insurance policies will be cancelled, next time.”

“Our condo insurance more than doubled last year and so did the insurance I carry for the inside of my unit, although it won’t cost twice as much to replace the contents,” said Maggie.

A man waiting for his take-out order, someone I didn’t know, joined the conversation.

“The insurance companies have changed their philosophy of doing business. It used to be they bet against something happening while we bet it would happen. Now it’s the reverse; they bet that something will happen and charge accordingly. They have us right where they want us and they know it. People are too scared not to carry insurance, and rightly so.”

Maggie redirected the conversation to Novie. “Speaking of insurance, have you heard anything more about the diamond robbery?”

“Chet Hall came in for lunch yesterday, and I asked him about it. He said the police haven’t caught the thief, and they have no leads––they think he had a driver waiting for him outside, or he disappeared into one of the crowded businesses next to the jewelry store. They came in here and asked all of us if we’d seen anyone fitting the description they gave us––we didn’t.”

“The police talked to all of us as well,” said Maggie, “and at our next meeting, Alyx and I are going to suggest that the Merchants Association make a formal request for a greater police presence, especially during peak tourist periods.”

Novie said that after what had happened, she didn’t think there would be any opposition to the suggestion.

Later after lunch and back at the shop, Maggie’s tone of voice said it all when she told Alyx, “She doesn’t like the tiles in the courtyard.”

An audible groan escaped Alyx, “Too bad. We had nothing to do with that. She picked out her own contractor to do that job. I knew we shouldn’t have let her do that.” Alyx looked around the room, and her eyes fell on the rich-toned fabric left over from another job. “Not to worry, Maggie, I have the solution. We simply recover all the cushions with that striped, brick red fabric left over from the Carabba’s home.”

“Do we have enough?”

“Just enough. Do you want to show the fabric to our client first?”

“Not today.”

“Alyx, you’re a genius, you know.”

“No, just a good designer, and so are you.”

“Do you sometimes think we’re too good?”

“You mean because we’re so busy?”

Maggie nodded, “Alyx I need a break after this job.”

“I know you do. It’s hard dealing with the varied personalities of the customers on a daily basis. There are some I’d like to ban permanently from entering the store.”

“That overweight, screaming man who insisted on buying Althea’s desk, for example?”

“Exactly.”

“Listen, I have a few things to take care of, and I think I’ll do that now if you don’t mind,” said Maggie.

“Okay, Maggie, I’ll see you later.”

Alyx measured the fabric, put it back on the shelf, and then pulled the tissue-wrapped pillbox from her purse; she set it down in front of her and perched on the edge of the chair behind the desk. She folded her arms on the desk, and I placed my paw on her forearm, both of us staring at the silver object.

“What do you know, fur-baby? Did you sense something else when you found this?”

Alyx abruptly stood, knocking me off balance, and the flash of insight that was starting to form in my brain disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

Maggie came back to the store a bit later, to pick up some information she’d forgotten, making small talk while she looked for it.

“I had a heartwarming experience at lunch yesterday,” she told Alyx. “I meant to tell you earlier but forgot.”

“Where did you go?”

“I had an errand to run for George, and on the way I stopped at a beach side diner called Betty’s. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the clientele––they were all senior citizens.”

Alyx raised an eyebrow at that.

“I know that’s not an unusual sight around here. What was unusual was that all the servers looked to be in their seventies, and the cashier had to be well over eighty.

“So what happened?”

“Nothing happened. The interaction among the servers and with the cook was touching. In fact, I thought they were all related, so when I left I had to ask, and it turns out that Betty, the cashier, was the original owner of the diner back in the sixties when they were located on Main Street. She sold the place ten years later, and the new owners moved the diner to its current location. What I find amazing is that all the employees that worked for Betty at the Main Street location stayed on to work for the new owners. No one left, Alyx. They are all still there.”

“That’s a nice story. It says a lot about Betty and the new owners, doesn’t it?”

“We’re nice employers. Do you think Nelda and Bernice will be that loyal?”

“Work ethics aren’t what they used to be. Let’s just say, I won’t take it personally if they decide to leave.”

Maggie eventually found what she was looking for and left. Alyx went looking for Bernice and waited for her to finish up with a customer, then asked, “Do you feel comfortable being left alone for an hour or so?”

“No problem.”

“I have to run a few errands. If anyone’s looking for me, have them call me on my cell, and if they don’t have the number, tell them to call me here, later.”