The Cat Sitter's Whiskers

33

The door swung open, and right in front of it, facing me in a blaze of blinding sunlight, was my Bronco.

If there’d been a choir of angels singing I wouldn’t have been a bit surprised—I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited by the sight of a car in my life. I didn’t even stop to see where I was or if anybody else was there. I just stumbled out into the hot light, guiding myself with one arm along the hood as I made my way around to the driver’s side, and then once I was in, I started it up and backed away from the door.

Only then did I realize I was in the middle of some kind of storage compound. There were long cinder-block buildings on either side, stretching almost as far as the eye could see in both directions, with low-slung roofs painted bright brick-red and black metal doors spaced every twenty feet or so. Each of the doors was painted with a big number in bright yellow. I glanced at the door of the cell I’d been locked in, and as I threw the car in gear, I whispered to myself, “Remember that number.”

Then I drove like a bat out of hell.

It didn’t take me long to find the exit. It was around the corner at the end of one of the buildings, blocked with a tall chain-link gate, and just as I was thinking I might have to crash right through it, there was a high-pitched whine as the gate automatically rolled open.

Beyond that was a busy four-lane thoroughfare. I pulled to a stop and slowly shook my head back and forth. I think I’d just assumed my kidnappers would have taken me to some creepy remote hideout in the middle of nowhere, but as soon as I saw the hodgepodge collection of fruit stands and thrift stores on the other side of the street, I immediately knew where I was.

It was Tamiami Trail, the main road through the middle of Sarasota, and I was standing at the entrance to Happy Time Self Storage, not five minutes past Grand Pelican Commons.

As soon as I merged into traffic, I had to consciously will myself not to slam the gas pedal through the floor. I wanted to get as far away as possible before anybody saw me, but I didn’t want to kill myself or somebody else in the process. At that point I realized I’d been operating on pure adrenaline, because the moment it dawned on me that I was going to be okay, every cell in my body exploded. My muscles must have been in a state of atrophy after being crammed in that refrigerator for God knows how long, and the blood pushing its way back into all the nooks and crannies felt like a thousand stinging needles.

I ignored it, concentrating instead on the road in front of me. My instinct had been to head home, but I knew I couldn’t do that, so I headed south out of town. Once I felt it was safe, I pulled into a parking lot off the road and cut the engine. My backpack and the computer printouts I’d taken were sitting on the passenger seat next to my cell phone. I reached over and flipped it open.

It was off, of course. They’d shut it down so it couldn’t be tracked, so while I waited for it to power up, I tried to organize the jumble of thoughts and images that were swimming around in my head.

The first thing I saw, looming over me with those intense aquamarine eyes, was Barney Feldman … and then I saw the long red scratches on Daniela’s arms and legs. Mr. Fiori and his goon may not have known it yet, but she was clearly double-crossing them. Of course, that didn’t mean she wasn’t fully capable of murder, but for whatever reason, she had decided to cut me loose from that refrigerator. I couldn’t say for sure if she’d felt so generous after she’d knocked me unconscious in the Kellers’ laundry room, or what her plans had been for me as I lay there on the floor after, but I knew who it was that had stopped her.

It was Barney Feldman.

He had attacked her. He must have sensed I was in danger and put those sharp claws to good use—It was entirely possible that Barney Feldman had saved my life that morning.

I also had a very strong feeling that Daniela was the woman McKenzie had talked to, the woman who’d gone home with Levi the night he died. She’d tricked him into taking her home, and then she’d probably gotten him drunk so she could get her hands on that delivery list. And since she couldn’t very well tell the truth about where she’d gotten those scratches, she’d lied and said Levi had tried to rape her—knowing full well he wasn’t around to defend himself.

I reached over and picked up one of the computer printouts and read the heading across the top of it. “Sarasota Herald-Tribune—Siesta Key.” It was Levi’s delivery list, with the names and addresses of his entire route. There were about fifteen names that had been marked with a yellow highlighter, and at the end of each one was a notation: “Stop Delivery.”

That list was what Daniela had been after.

There’d be plenty of time to figure out the details later, but for now, it was slowly dawning on me that Levi must have been selling his delivery lists to criminals, who were then targeting any house whose paper had been stopped temporarily because they were on vacation … which meant their houses would be vacant and ripe for picking. That would explain the string of burglaries in the area that Paco and Tom had mentioned.

And I couldn’t prove it yet, but I now knew it was either Fiori or his goon or Daniela who had stabbed Levi, maybe even with the knife Daniela had used to cut me free. They had murdered him for the same reason they’d murdered poor Mr. Paxton: so he wouldn’t talk.

I remembered Mona telling me she knew Levi had been hanging out with some rather shady characters, one of them a “Mexican,” and that he drove a motorcycle. I had a feeling I knew exactly who that particular shady character was. He answered on the first ring.

“Dixie?”

I said, “Paco, I know you said this number was only for emergencies, but I’m pretty sure this qualifies.”

“What’s going on?”

“It’s a long story but we need to hurry. When I was leaving Tom Hale’s place today, somebody jumped me. They hit me over the head and took me to a self-storage unit south of town, and then they locked me up in a refrigerator.”

He said slowly, “A self-storage unit…”

As soon as I heard the tone of his voice, I knew my instincts were right. If there happened to be a local ring of thieves selling stolen artifacts on the black market, it was a pretty sure bet that Paco and the Special Investigations unit would be on the case.

I said, “Yeah. There were three of them. Two men and a woman. The woman let me go. I’m driving down Tamiami…” I paused, trying to figure out the best way to phrase what I needed to tell him. Being a secret agent, Paco has to deal with crap most people never even dream of, like, for example, the fact that at any given moment somebody might be listening in on his phone conversations.

I said, “Paco, the thing is, Ella needs you.”

“Ella?”

“Yeah. She’s got company on the way right now … and they’re dangerous.”

I could almost hear his mind working over the phone. He said, “Uh-huh. How do they know where she lives?”

“She’s on their list.”

“Their list?”

I said, “Yeah … their delivery list.”

There was a long pause, and then he spoke quickly. “Okay, listen. Call the cops right now and tell them everything. Are you someplace safe?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Okay. Don’t go anywhere until you hear from me.”

I said, “Paco, be careful.”

“Don’t worry.”

I hung up and dialed Detective McKenzie’s number without even thinking. She answered with a short, “McKenzie here.”

I took a deep breath. “Detective, it’s Dixie. There’s no time to explain everything now, but I know who killed Levi. It’s a man named Fiori. He was trying to track down an ancient statue called Pachamama that Mrs. Keller bought. I think it was stolen from a museum or a church in the Andes and sold on the black market, and I think it’s probably worth way more than she paid for it … like millions.”

I paused to take a breath and McKenzie said, “How do you know all this?”

“They kidnapped me, and I heard them talking.”

She took a quick breath. “All right, where are you?”

I said, “I escaped. I’m in my car, but they think I’m still locked in a storage unit. And detective, there’s a body there. It’s Wilfred Paxton. He’s the owner of the Paxton gallery downtown. They thought he was double-crossing them, but really it was his assistant, Daniela. She’s on her way to the airport with that figurine right now. She’s trying to take it back home where it belongs.”

“What storage unit?”

“It’s called Happy Time. It’s on Tamiami Trail just south of Sarasota. It’s unit number nine. There’s a big duffel bag, and his body’s inside it.”

She said, “Dixie, are you sure?”

“Unfortunately, yeah, I’m positive.”

“Okay, I’m sending a unit there now and I’ll alert airport security. Where are you?”

I shook my head. “There’s one more thing. Fiori and his henchman … they’re headed to my house, in fact they may already be there. And I think if you check with the SIB, you’ll find they’ve already sent a team there.”

There was a long pause. “Dixie, why are they going to your house?”

“They think I took Pachamama. I was supposed to deliver it to them, but Daniela got to it first and replaced it with a jar of cornmeal.”

“A what…?”

“Yeah. It was Daniela that attacked me at the Kellers’ house. And those candles I saw? She was performing a ritual to Pachamama. There’s even some cornmeal sprinkled in Mrs. Keller’s garden outside—that’s why those doors were open—but Barney Feldman interrupted her.”

“Dixie, I have no idea what … I mean, I don’t know why…”

I nodded. “I can explain everything later.”

She sighed. “Okay, where are you now?”

“I’m in my car, a few miles south of Happy Time.”

“Where specifically?”

I looked out the window at the sign over the store in front of me. “I’m in the parking lot of Henderson’s Liquors.”

“Okay, I want you to stay where you are. I’m sending a deputy straight there. I don’t want you on the road alone, do you understand?”

I nodded. “Okay. I’ll wait here.”

She hung up, and I dropped the phone down in the cup holder and took a deep breath. There was a steady stream of cars rolling by, and it suddenly occurred to me that if Fiori and his henchman came back anytime soon and discovered Daniela had let me go, they’d probably be cruising up and down this very road searching for me.

I started up the car and drove around behind the liquor store, where I pulled in next to a line of old metal garbage cans. Just then, my phone rang. The caller ID read Sara Mem Ho, and if I’d been thinking clearly I would have let it go to voice mail, but instead I flipped it open and said, “Yeah?”

The voice on the line said, “Uh, Dixie? This is Dr. Dunlop at Sarasota Memorial Hospital.”

I said, “Oh, Dr. Dunlop, I’m sort of in the middle of something, is it urgent?”

He said, “To be honest, yes. It’s about Mona. I thought you should probably know.”

I frowned. “Know … what?”

He said, “I examined her yesterday, and … there’s a problem.”

“Yeah, Dr. Dunlop, I should have warned you. She’s a bit unhinged. I was hoping maybe you’d be able to refer her to a psychologist or something?”

“I already have. She’s seeing an associate of mine today, but the reason I’m calling is … I don’t know if you’re aware of the cigarette burns.”

“I am. That’s why I sent her to you, and I was worried about infection.”

He cleared his throat. “Okay, yeah. I mean, I’m not so worried about infection at this point … I’m more worried about her situation at home.”

I said, “Oh, gosh. I know it’s a little hard to believe, but she’s actually doing that to herself.”

He said, “No.”

I blinked. “Yes.”

“No. Those burns are not self-inflicted. That’s why I’m calling. They’re not just on her chest, but across her back as well.”

“Oh.” I thought for a moment. “Maybe she’s reaching around with—”

He stopped me. “No. That’s what she said, too … but the burns on her back, they’re not random. They’re arranged in letters. Dixie, I think the police need to be notified. They spell out a name.”

I was staring at the line of garbage cans along the back of the liquor store, and the lid on the can closest to me was slightly ajar. Just then, almost as if on cue, something moved, and then a brown rat poked its little head out from under the lid and blinked in the bright sunlight.

I closed my eyes and said, “Dr. Dunlop. What name?”

He said, “Levi.”