The Cat Sitter's Whiskers

16

Ella had hopped down off her kitchen stool and taken up a position on the windowsill. She was completely motionless except for her tail, which quivered slightly as she scanned the limbs of the trees outside. I was sitting in the chair opposite Ethan, and in the pregnant silence between us, my mind had turned immediately to Sasquatch. I mean, Mona Duffy … Levi’s fiancée.

Sometimes, when I meet someone new, I know right off the bat what kind of person they are. Whether it’s a sixth sense or gut intuition or what, I don’t know, but I can tell almost the way a cat instantly knows a friend or a foe.

Naturally, when I was standing on the steps of Levi’s trailer and heard the sound of Mona’s voice, I knew right away. I turned around and saw her indignant face staring up at me, and a tiny voice in the back of my mind said, Nice girl.

Sometimes I’m wrong.

Part of the problem is that I tend to be drawn to loony-birds like a moth to a flame, and vice versa. I’ve always imagined it’s somehow related to that old Hemingway Curse, because it definitely gets me in trouble sometimes.

Mona seemed about as unhinged as an old outhouse, and yet … There was something about her, something in her face, her eyes, that made me think she was more than the angry mask she presented to the world.

On the other hand, there’s nothing more dangerous than greed. If Mona Duffy was in a position to have access to a lot of money in the not-so-distant future … well, I shuddered to think what it might make her capable of.

Ella had given up on whatever creature was taunting her outside and had sidled up next to Ethan on the couch. She was kneading his lap with her two front paws and looking up at his face with an expression of rapturous affection while he absentmindedly ran his hand down her back. I realized he was watching me.

I said, “What?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. I’m just sorry you had to see Levi like that.”

I said, “I’m fine. I just feel bad for him, and for Mona, but also…”

“Also?”

“Well, there’s one more thing. It’s stupid, but basically Levi and I had a thing in high school … kind of.”

He frowned. “Huh? You never told me that.”

“Well, you never told me you were the executor of his father’s estate.”

He got up and came around to my side of the coffee table and sat down on the floor in front of me. “Oh, yeah. Good point.” He rested his head on my knee. “Remind me to have my secretary update you daily on all my clients.”

I flicked the top of his head with my index finger.

“Ouch!”

“Nobody likes a smart-ass.”

He grinned. “Yes, they do. So what do you mean, a thing?”

“He’s the first guy I ever kissed.”

He looked up at me, genuinely surprised. “For real?”

“For real.”

“Okay, that’s kind of heavy.”

“I know, except not. It was ninth grade, we were waiting in the hall outside one of our classes. And for the record, I didn’t kiss him. He kissed me, and nothing happened after that.”

He put one hand on mine and smiled. “I’m not jealous, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“I know.”

“But either way, that just makes it even sadder. It sucks.”

I ran my fingers through his hair and said, “I know,” again, but inside I thought, This is why I love you. Ethan has a talent for zeroing in on the heart of the matter, which I guess is what makes him such a good attorney, but it also makes him a damn good b-word.

He shook his head slowly. “That poor guy. Do you know if they have any idea who could have done it?”

I said, “Nope.”

He nodded and turned away, but I could still feel his eyes on me.

I said, “I’d like to forget the whole thing as soon as possible.”

“I don’t blame you.”

“And I’ve got tons of clients this week, plus I’ve had enough drama today to last a lifetime.”

He nodded resolutely. “Oh, for sure. One hundred percent. Yes, ma’am. I couldn’t agree more.”

I held my hand over his head, ready to flick it again. “Why do I think you’re being sarcastic?”

“I didn’t say a thing!”

“Yeah, but you’re thinking something, I can hear it.”

He smiled as he reached up and took my hand in his. “I just have a feeling you won’t leave it at that. You may be surprised to hear this, but … I know you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fool, you don’t know me. First of all, I’m too busy to get involved, and even if I did there’d be nothing for me to do. I’m sure Detective McKenzie doesn’t need my help.”

“Hmm. Where have I heard this before?”

I ignored him. “But you know what? I bet she’d be very interested to hear what you know about Levi’s father. And she was trying to locate Levi’s next of kin—apparently his fiancée wasn’t much help. Do you think you might have his mother’s contact information in your files?”

“I know I do, but more importantly … I’d imagine McKenzie would like to see his father’s will.”

I nodded slowly. “I think you’re right.”

“When I get back to the office this afternoon I’ll give her a call. I can make a copy and have it sent over to her.”

I thought for a second. “Or I can take it to her … if you want.”

“Oh, yeah? I thought you weren’t getting involved.”

“Delivering a file to Detective McKenzie isn’t ‘getting involved.’ I just think the sooner she sees that stuff, the better. Plus, I have to go back to the Kellers’ anyway. I’ll be right around the corner from your office.”

He sat up. “What? You have to go back there?”

“Of course. The Kellers aren’t home for another week. Which reminds me…” I reached out and snatched my phone from his hands. “I never listened to the rest of that message.”

“Wait a minute, aren’t you a little nervous?”

“No. And even if I was, I’ve got Barney Feldman to protect me. I’m sure if somebody actually did break in, whatever they were after they already got. I don’t think they’ll be coming back anytime soon.”

He nodded firmly. “Yeah, I’ll meet you there.”

“No, you won’t.” I pressed the play button on my phone.

“I will.”

I held one finger up to his lips. “No. Shut up now.”

He kissed the tip of my finger as Mrs. Keller’s message continued.

“… so Dixie, about that package, would you mind delivering it? Apparently the actual owner was quite eager to come pick it up, but I said I wouldn’t be comfortable sharing my home address with a stranger. I told him I’d have my cat sitter deliver it, and—I hope you won’t mind—but I’ve already gone to the liberty of arranging a meeting for you. It’s tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. with a man named Paxton. He’s a collector there in town with a small gallery. Hold on, I have the address here somewhere…”

There were shuffling sounds as I held the phone away from my ear. Ethan had gotten up and was standing in front of the open refrigerator, looking for something to eat, which was a shame since there wasn’t much more than a jar of mayonnaise, a bottle of OJ, and a few carrot sticks in there.

“Here it is. 3535 Pineapple. I gave him your phone number…”

She stopped abruptly and then whispered, “Oh, dear, here’s Buster.”

I heard Mr. Keller say something in the background, and then Mrs. Keller’s voice turned bright and cheerful again.

“Oh, Dixie, Buster just reminded me. My neighbor’s daughter Lizette—I believe you know her. She’ll be stopping by the house every once in a while to keep Barney company, in fact she’s going over this afternoon when she gets home from school. She’s a very nice young lady and absolutely adores Barney to pieces. Oh, my goodness, I’m so glad I remembered to tell you. It would’ve been quite a shock to bump into someone in the house without knowing first! Can you imagine?”

“Yeah,” I mumbled. “I actually can.”

“Please give Mr. Feldman a big kiss from us and thanks so much for taking care of things, and feel free to call if there are any, you know … problems. Arrivederci for now!”

I flipped the phone shut as Ethan took a bite off the tip of a carrot stick and handed the rest to me. “What now?”

“Mrs. Keller … She bought something at a gallery, but I guess they’d already sold it to somebody else. She wanted to know if I could return it tomorrow. She already set it up.”

He picked up his briefcase. “Why can’t she just do it when she gets back?”

I shrugged. “It sounds urgent, plus she doesn’t want her husband to find out. She promised him she’d stop buying stuff.”

He knelt down and kissed the tip of my ear, and a wave of goose bumps rippled across my back. He said, “Well, I’m headed back to work. Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?”

I bit off a piece of carrot and munched it. “No, I’ll be fine. And anyway one of my clients lives just up the street from the Kellers. Her daughter’s going over to play with Barney after school, so I may be off the hook until morning.”

“Good. I think you should give yourself a break and call it a day.”

As innocently as possible, I said, “Well, if it’ll make you feel better, I’ll give you a call if I have to go back over there.”

“Really? You’d do that for me?” He opened the door with a mischievous grin. “That would be ever so thoughtful of you.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I will ever so thoughtfully throw this carrot at you.”

“Ha. You wouldn’t dare.”

Without even hesitating I chucked it at him, but he caught it midair and grinned. “Wow. Our kids would need some intense therapy.” He waved the carrot at me like a lecturer’s baton. “Oh, and by the way, you should hang out naked in a sheet more often. It’s kinda hot.”

I sat there for a few minutes, happy for some time alone as I listened to the sound of Ethan’s car roll down the driveway. I knew I should probably have called Mrs. Keller right then. I knew if it were my house and the police had been called in to search through all my stuff, looking for evidence that there’d been some kind of burglary, I’d probably want to know—especially if my house was filled with valuable artwork. Other than my guns, which are well hidden, the next most valuable thing in my place is probably a thirty-count case of two-ply jumbo paper towels from the Costco on Tamiami Trail.

But then I thought, Would I really?

The problem was, I didn’t know for sure what in the world I would say. It was still anybody’s guess what had actually happened, so the idea of calling the Kellers up and worrying them about it seemed pointless. And even if Paco’s theory was right and I really had been attacked, there wasn’t much they could do about it now … and Mrs. Keller already seemed pretty stressed out as it was.

With everything that had happened since that morning, my mind felt about as mushy as a bowl of cold oatmeal, and now, with Ethan’s news about Levi’s father, a heavy cloud of fog was banking up in my head. All I wanted to do was crawl back under the covers and stay there until nightfall. I hadn’t even started my afternoon rounds yet, and the day already felt like it had lasted a century.

I decided for the time being I’d just leave the Kellers alone and let them enjoy their vacation, at least until I knew for certain what had happened. Plus, I figured what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.

I wish I could have said the same thing for myself.