Dog-Eared Delinquent (Pet Whisperer P.I. Book 4)

by Molly Fitz

I took a deep breath and let my hands fall to my sides. Tears had snuck up on me again. But I didn’t care about me. More than anything, I was desperately worried about Octo-Cat. Had I just signed his death warrant by refusing to play along with the magicfolks’ devious scheme?

  “Who made you do this, Angie?” the officer asked kindly.

  I took a deep breath. This was it. Peter had promised to make my life hell. What he didn’t know is that stooping to his insidious level would have done the exact same thing. I’d never be able to live with myself knowing I’d done something so wrong. Whether or not he wiped my memory clear, my heart would always know that something was wrong.

  This was the time to make sure that the bad guys went down for their crimes. Even if Officer Bouchard didn’t understand the full extent of how they’d carried out the burglaries downtown, I hoped my testimony would be enough to get them arrested—and punished.

  “Peter Peters and Moss…I don’t know his last name,” I told him, my voice clear and sure as a bell.

  “It’s okay, Angie,” he said, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. “You’re safe now.”

  Maybe I was, but I still had no idea what had happened to my poor cat.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Officer Bouchard gave me a ride home in his cruiser, seeing as my captors had relieved me of both my phone and my car keys. When we pulled up, Nan raced down the porch steps and pulled me to her chest.

  “I was so worried,” she sobbed into my hair, then reared back and hit me on the chest. “Never, ever do that to me again.”

  “Thank you, Officer,” I said with a small yet appreciative smile, even though inside my heart was still broken. Every minute that ticked away without me knowing the location of my best feline friend only broke it further. It had been nearly an hour since Officer Bouchard found me with my hands up inside of Mr. Gable’s shop. After I’d given him Peter’s name, he let me search the downtown area far and wide while he called in the new lead.

  Sadly, despite my frantic searching, Octo-Cat was still nowhere to be found.

  “Where’s Octavius?” Nan asked, leading me inside with one arm draped across my shoulders.

  “I-I-I don’t know,” I sputtered.

  “Oh, dear,” she said, her mouth pressed in a thin line. “First tea, then you can catch me up on everything.”

  I waited on the couch while Nan tended to the kettle. A short while later, she pressed a mug of hibiscus tea into my waiting hands.

  “For strength,” she said, settling in beside me on the stiff couch. “Now go ahead whenever you’re ready, dear.”

  I’d held back in sharing the full details of my story with Officer Bouchard, but with Nan, I spared no detail. By the time I reached the part where I’d decided to inform the authorities rather than give in to Peter and Moss’s demands, Nan wore a giant grin.

  “I’m so proud of you, dear one. You did everything right.” She hugged me to her side and pressed a kiss onto my forehead.

  “But Octo-Cat,” I argued, feeling like the worst pet owner in the entire world.

  Nan waited for me to look up at her, then said, “You and I both know he’s no ordinary cat. He’s resourceful and smart, and don’t forget that he’s also tough as nails.”

  I sniffed as the one person I loved most in this whole wide world soothed my tears. She would never even dream of lying to me. If she said Octo-Cat was going to be okay, then I knew he’d somehow find a way to get home again. We would find him, or he would find us. I simply couldn’t accept any other outcome.

  With great difficulty and a good deal of support from my nan, I finally headed to bed. Of course, Nan entered my tower bedroom several times throughout the night, making one ridiculous excuse after the other as to why she’d stopped in. It made me feel better, though, knowing she was there, that she’d always be there.

  Even if Octo-Cat wasn’t.

  I hardly slept a wink, thinking every sound I heard might be Octo-Cat coming back to me. By the time the sun rose, I’d driven myself mad with worry.

  A couple hours into the day, Nan came into my room with a mug of coffee and a freshly baked scone and sat beside me petting my hair as she spoke. “I already called in sick to your work, and I figured since you’re so sleepy, I can be the one to drive us around as we continue the search.”

  “Thank you, Nan,” I managed around a deep yawn. I tried to stand but fell back toward the bed in exhaustion. My limbs simply felt too heavy to move all on my own.

  “Sit for a spell,” she instructed, tucking me back beneath the covers. “Finish your breakfast, and while you do that, I’ll start calling around to all the local shelters.”

  She headed back toward the stairs, but I called for her to stop.

  “Stay,” I pleaded. “I don’t think I can be alone.”

  “All righty, then.” Nan nodded, settled herself at the end of my bed, and whipped out her cellphone. “We’ll find him,” she promised again as she placed a call to the first shelter on her list and waited through the rings.

  One by one, the shelters all said they hadn’t found our cat yet, but they would call if he turned up. With each failed outreach, my heart splintered even further. I needed to know that he was okay, that my rash decision hadn’t cost him everything.

  Once Nan had finished calling every shelter in the region, she placed her phone in my hands and said, “You should keep mine until you can get a new one. You need it more than I do.”

  I nodded and finished the coffee with a giant gulp, then tried to stand again. This time I didn’t fall. Progress, at least.

  “Let’s get out there,” I told Nan, reaching for the handrail to guide me safely down the stairs. “I can’t wait another moment.”

  That was when the phone rang.

  In my excitement to answer, I dropped it down the stairs.

  Nan raced after it and managed to answer before the caller hung up. She faced me with wide, animated eyes as she spoke.

  I stood at the top of the stairs and waited, trying not to get my hopes up too much.

  A giant smile filled Nan’s face as she said, “Yes, that sounds like our guy. We’ll be there on the first ferry over.”

  She hung up and held the phone out to me as I raced down the stairs, stumbling as I went but not clumsily enough to fall. “Did somebody find him?”

  Nan nodded brightly. “A small vet’s office on Caraway Island of all places.

  Caraway Island? How would he have gotten there? I know he wouldn’t have braved that kind of swim, and the public ferry stopped running after eight o’clock.

  “Someone definitely took him out there on purpose,” I said through clenched teeth. “And I’m pretty sure I know exactly who did it.”

  “Oh, dear.” Nan hummed a beat, then said, “Where are your priorities? First, let’s bring our fella home, and then we can make sure those crooks pay.”

  We had to wait a solid hour for the next ferry, but the trip out to Blueberry Bay’s only local island was a quick one at least. The vet’s office wasn’t hard to find, either.

  “We scanned his microchip and called right away,” one of the techs explained. Thank goodness I had updated the information to include both my number and Nan’s after I’d officially adopted him. Otherwise they would have gotten a dead number that belonged to his dead former owner. I also wondered whether my phone was still active and if the bad guys still had it with them.

  “Where is he?” I asked, glancing around the small office anxiously. “Is he okay? I can’t wait to see him!”

  Nan and I held hands while the tech returned to the back and then re-entered with a struggling Octo-Cat held in her arms. “He’s got a bit of an attitude, this one,” she said with a laugh.

  “Octo-Cat!” I cried with relief. Yes, cried. I was crying yet again, but I was also far too happy to be embarrassed by it. “I missed you so much!”

  He let me pick him up and even purred as I cuddled him to my chest.

  “You had us really worried
there, old boy,” Nan said, giving him a scratch beneath his chin.

  “Meow,” he told her with a loving gaze. Nan always had been one of his favorites.

  We thanked the vet and headed back to the parking lot. I couldn’t wait to get the full story from Octo-Cat. As soon as we were all safely tucked within Nan’s little red sports coupe, I placed him on my lap and said, “Tell us everything!”

  He didn’t answer; instead, he appeared tense as he stretched his head up carefully to peer out the front window.

  “Octo-Cat,” I said with a nervous laugh. “Stop being weird. We were so worried about you. I’m sorry about everything that happened, but I’m just so glad you’re okay.”

  “Meow,” he said sullenly.

  “Hey, I know you’re probably mad at me right now, but please, can you at least tell us what happened after the jewelry shop last night. You know, for Nan’s sake?” I waited breathlessly. If he wanted to yell kitty curses at me, I would dutifully sit here and take it. After all, this was my fault. I deserved the worst.

  Octo-Cat tilted his head to one side and meowed again.

  That was when I realized the worst had already happened.

  My cat could no longer understand me.

  The magical residue that Moss had told me about had finally worn off. I’d lost the one thing that made me special, and with it, the best friend I had ever had. Something important in me had died, and I’d need a miracle to get it back.

  Surely, there had to be a way.

  I couldn’t accept any other outcome.

  We would fix this, Octo-Cat and I. We would fix everything.

  Failure was simply not an option.

  Chapter Nineteen

  When we made it back home from our trip out to Caraway Island, a familiar Lexus sat waiting for us in the driveway. I’d seen it pretty much every day for the better part of the year and had no doubt that it belonged to Bethany, my frenemy turned boss.

  I’d really thought we’d made great strides in our relationship. That is, until she hired Peter and refused to listen to any of my concerns.

  She sat waiting in one of the rocking chairs Nan had added to the front porch earlier that summer. When we pulled up, she stood but didn’t take any strides forward, instead waiting for us to join her on the porch.

  “Take him inside,” I told Nan, handing Octo-Cat off to her. I was afraid to leave him alone since we’d picked him up. True, he’d lost his voice and not a limb, but the associated pain cut deeper than I could have ever imagined. I wondered if he knew, too.

  “Come with your nan-nan, you sweet kitty boy,” Nan cooed as she disappeared into the house. Although she understood that he and I had lost our special connection, Nan had never been able to talk to him, anyway. As far as their relationship was concerned, everything was perfectly normal. I knew he’d be happy with her. He’d always held a special place in his heart for Nan.

  But without our ability to communicate, would he still hold one for me? I couldn’t think like that. We’d find a way to fix everything. I had to believe in that, had to believe in us.

  “What do you want?” I asked Bethany with a frown. I was both too exhausted and too devastated to play nice. I was also still more than a little miffed that she had been the one to bring Peter into my world.

  “I’m assuming you heard about my cousin,” she said, sitting back down and crossing her ankles like some kind of grand duchess.

  I joined her by taking a seat in the other rocking chair, mostly because I was too weary to keep standing on my own. “What about him? That he got arrested? Or that he’s responsible for the string of burglaries downtown? Oh, maybe you mean the fact that he can turn into a dog!”

  Bethany sucked air in through her teeth. Her light blonde hair blew gently in the breeze, and she sat with one of her suit jackets draped across her lap, though it was far from chilly. Under any other circumstances, this would have been the perfect summer afternoon. As it was, though, this had become my own personal hell.

  Just as Peter had promised if I pulled anything funny.

  “Did you know?” I demanded of Bethany. “Did you know about all of this?”

  She hung her head and nodded. “Yes, but I never thought he would hurt you, Angie. You have to believe me.”

  “I thought we were friends,” I said coldly. Her betrayal stung. I couldn’t pretend that it hadn’t.

  “We were,” she insisted, looking like she wanted to say something more, but stopping herself. She sighed and added, “Still are, I hope.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest and refused to answer her either way. So much had already been taken from me that day. As much as I didn’t want to lose anything else, I also didn’t know if I’d ever be able to forgive Bethany for the things Peter had done. They never would have happened if she hadn’t hired him in the first place or if she would have listened when I shared my concerns.

  “Why are you here?” I demanded, not caring that my voice sounded cold and uncaring—or that she was technically my boss now.

  “To help,” she said softly. “And to explain a few things.”

  I made a dismissive motion with my hands. “Well, go ahead and get it over with, then.”

  “I hired Peter because I thought having an honest job would help him. I never meant for you to get hurt.” She said so quickly it took me a moment to process. “Please, if you believe nothing else I say today, believe that.”

  I considered this but kept quiet, waiting for her to offer more. I wasn’t sure any explanation would ever be enough, but at least someone was finally giving me answers without threatening or hurting me in the process.

  “I knew he’d been hanging out with some less than savory characters, but I had no idea just how deeply he was involved. I had hoped it wasn’t too late to save him, but apparently I was wrong.” Most of the women I knew would cry to gain sympathy, but not Bethany. She remained stoic to the bitter end. Always had.

  “Did you know about the magic?” I demanded.

  “Yes,” she said emphatically. She clenched her eyes shut then admitted, “Because I have it, too.”

  I stared at her with my mouth hanging open rather impolitely. Of course she did. They were cousins, after all. “Do you use it to rob people, too?” I asked with a snort.

  “No,” she insisted, shaking her head. “I don’t use it at all.”

  “What about the essential oils?” I mumbled, thinking back to all of the strangeness Bethany had exhibited since I’ve known her. As far as I knew, she was perfectly normal other than her obsession with mixing and matching scents each morning. “Are those your potions or brews or whatever?”

  I laughed bitterly at this, but Bethany remained firm.

  “I’m not a witch,” she told me. “Mostly because witches aren’t real.”

  “How can I believe you, though? Up until a few days ago, I didn’t even know that magic was real.” I paused a moment to let that sink in. “Where does it end? How do I even know what’s real and what’s made up now?”

  “You can’t,” she said sadly. “And I’m sorry that you’ve been pulled into this world. I never wanted that for you.”

  “Then what were you doing this whole time?” I couldn’t take her at face value. Not anymore. I’d seen too much to ever trust anyone at their word again. “Were you lying in wait until the timing was right?”

  She looked truly pained, but only a small part of me cared. I’d been hurt, too. Burned. Damaged beyond repair.

  “Just trying to live a normal life, the same as you.”

  “But you’re one of them,” I reminded her.

  “Not all magic people are bad.”

  “Peter’s bad.”

  “Yes,” she confirmed with a sigh. “I wanted more for him, but I was too late to help.”

  We sat in silence for a few moments as the wind blew the overgrown blades of grass in a wave across my front lawn.

  “Have you ever wondered why you can talk to your cat?” Bethany asked, her eyes f
ull of unshed tears. She was still too tough to cry. That was another thing about us that was irreconcilably different.

  I cried freely. Why even fight it anymore? “You know about that?” I asked, too exhausted to be shocked by anything now.

  She nodded, then raised the suit jacket from her lap and tossed it to me. “Do you recognize this?”

  “It’s one of your ugly blazers.”

  “I’ll let that slide, because I know you’re hurting right now,” she said, waiting.

  I fingered the cool fabric, releasing the scents of juniper and lemon into the air.

  “Do you remember wearing it?” she pressed again.

  I thought back to one of the many times Thompson had forced me to borrow clothes from Bethany to appear more presentable when an important client visited the office.

  And that was when the final piece of this week’s horrible puzzle settled into place. “Ethel Fulton’s will reading,” I said.

  “Yes,” she said with a nod of affirmation. “Do you understand what happened now?”

  “The magical residue Moss mentioned. That was from you?”

  She nodded again. “It was in my blazer. The electric shock strengthened it, transferred that energy to you.”

  “But I’m not magical,” I said with a huff.

  “No, not fully. Usually resonance disappears quickly. The fact yours didn’t is my fault, I’m afraid.”

  I turned to her with a hundred questions begging to be let out. A single word escaped my lips. “Why?”

  “I already told you, I don’t practice magic. The energy has nowhere to go. A lot of it has built up over the years, packed in tight. That zap uncoiled all of it and created a reaction.”

  “But I can’t mess with people’s minds or use glamor or change into an animal.” I felt so incredibly small and helpless as I reminded her of all the things I couldn’t do. Ever since I’d gained the ability to speak to Octo-Cat, I’d thought of myself as having super powers. What a joke. There were real super humans out there in the world, but sadly, I wasn’t one of them.

  “You got a small but powerful dose from that jacket,” Bethany explained, watching me carefully. “The cat got it, too.”