by Patricia Fry
"Yes, but…" LouAnn started.
"Look," Freddie said, "LouAnn puts fake nails on him to keep him from scratching stuff."
"That's not true," she retorted. "He has an ear infection, and I don't want him scratching his ear. He had it bleeding the other day."
"Are you treating it?" Savannah asked. "Ear infections can be fairly quickly and easily cleared up with the proper treatment."
"Yes, I do it when he's in the mood." She turned to Freddie. "They want to see my new cat. Go get King Tut. Go on now," she said, waving him away.
"Here he is," Freddie said returning with another cat.
"Freddie," LouAnn scolded. "That's Lance." She explained to the women with a chuckle, "Sir Lancelot."
Savannah glanced at Holly. "Nice cat. Beautiful coat."
When LouAnn started to get up, Freddie said, "Are you going to fix supper now? I really am hungry." He sat down and slumped in the chair, his voice suddenly weak. "I get so sick when I don't eat. Diabetes, you know. Please LuLu. I've gotta eat."
"Oh, you poor thing," LouAnn said. She turned to the women. "I'm sorry. I really have to take care of him. Maybe you can see the king another time."
"Couldn't we just get a glimpse of him?" Savannah asked, standing. "Where is he? I'll just walk in there and take a look."
When Freddie groaned loudly and laid back against the chair, LouAnn insisted, "No. Please leave. Come back later," she said, walking the women to the front door.
"Send me a picture," Savannah said before the woman could close the door.
LouAnn stopped. "Why is it you're so all-fired eager to see that cat?"
Before Savannah could answer, Freddie groaned loudly again and fell out of the chair. LouAnn ran to his rescue.
"Do you need help?" Holly asked.
"No, just go," LouAnn called, "and close the door so the cats don't get out, will you?"
Holly shook her head and walked out of the cabin.
Savannah hung back, then joined her on the porch. "Did you see that?"
"What, the drama?" Holly said.
"Yeah, he is pretty dramatic, isn't he?" Savannah agreed. "Holly, what I meant is did you see what rolled out of his pocket when he fell out of the chair?"
"What?" Holly asked.
Savannah grinned knowingly at her. "A roll of Lifesavers—most likely butterscotch."
****
"I know Rags is there, Michael," Savannah said upon returning to their camp minutes later. "That Freddie guy was there at LouAnn's house, and…"
"Wait," Michael interrupted. "Freddie the slippery thief was at the cat-woman's house?"
Savannah nodded and caught her breath. "Yes. We asked to see her new cat and Freddie kept bringing out other cats. LouAnn told him, ‘Not that cat. King Tut…'"
"King Tut?" Keith repeated.
"That's what she has named her new cat—which I believe is Rags, but they never brought him into the room. We never got to see him." She tightened her lips in disgust. "I must find out if that's Rags and get him out of there."
"Do you believe he's in danger?" Keith asked.
"No, it's not that," Savannah said. "I think she takes good care of her cats. No. I just want him back where he belongs. No one knows that cat like I do. He needs to be with me."
"And you need to be with him," Keith said gently.
Savannah nodded, her eyes welling up with fresh tears.
"Did you see that man's shoes?" Adam asked.
"Shoes?" Savannah repeated, dabbing at her eyes. She took a quick breath. "Oh yeah, the shoe prints." She raised her eyebrows. "No, but I did see another clue you kids came up with."
"Really?" Cassie squealed. "What?"
She leaned toward them. "The candy Teddy found."
"Butterscotch?" Adam asked.
Savannah nodded. "We saw a roll of that candy come out of Freddie's pocket when he fell off his chair." She glanced at Holly. "We thought maybe LouAnn had taken Rags because we saw butterscotch candy on her grocery receipt, but it appears that she might have bought the candy for him."
"He fell off a chair?" Michael asked.
"Yes." Savannah said. "He got all dramatic. He pretended he was having a diabetic issue and had to be fed immediately. That's why we didn't get to see Rags—if it is Rags. But darn it, I'm going back, even if I have to go after dark and snoop around. If Rags is in that house somewhere and if he hears me, he'll let me know where he is." She squinted for a moment, thinking.
"Uh-oh, what sneaky plan are you mulling over now?" Holly asked.
Savannah shook her head. "I don't know, I was just thinking about Rags's reaction—or lack of reaction—to that thief. I'm still confused why Rags seems to like him. Michael, doesn't that seem odd and out of character to you?"
"Yeah, I have to say it does," he agreed.
"Maybe Freddie doesn't mean to take things," Adam suggested. When everyone looked at him, he squirmed a little and said, "You know, he has a sickness."
"Do you mean kleptomania?" Keith asked. He began to laugh. "Adam, you might be on to something there. The cat recognizes another klepto who may not be able to help himself when it comes to…"
"Helping himself," Michael said, laughing.
Savannah was quiet for a moment. "Yeah, there's something going on between those two that seems odd—I mean, Rags's reaction to him is odd."
"Maybe it's the candy," Bethany said.
"Do you think he's been giving Rags butterscotch candy?" Keith asked, tickling her.
Savannah thought for a moment about what the others had said, then, attempting to lighten the mood, she suggested, "Let's fix supper, shall we?"
"What are we having?" Michael asked.
Savannah looked at him. "Do we have fish?"
"We sure do, and it's all ready to serve."
"Ready to serve?" Holly asked. "Okay then, I'll make a salad. We bought some fresh greens today."
"Done," Keith said, grinning.
"Done?" Savannah asked surprised.
"Yeah," Michael said, "supper is ready to be served."
Savannah smiled. "Oh, that's great. Thank you, guys."
"No problem," Michael said. He pulled some of Lily's dishes out of a tote bag, spread them on the table, and invited, "Everyone grab a plate. I'll serve the fish," he said, picking up a small pair of tweezers.
Savannah and Holly looked at each other and watched as Keith used another set of tweezers to pick a bite-size piece of lettuce from a bowl and place it on a tiny plate. Here's your salad," he said. "Oh the bread," he added, removing a crouton from a bag and dropping it onto the plate. He then handed the small plate to Michael, who put a tiny minnow on top of the lettuce bite.
"I hope this isn't too much, hon," Michael said, handing Savannah the miniature plate.
Savannah frowned "What is this? Am I on a diet?"
"That's your gourmet meal," Keith explained, grinning.
Meanwhile, Adam and Cassie were laughing so hard they struggled to catch their breath. "Those are baby fish," Adam said between chortles. "They came out of one of the mama fish when we were cleaning it."
Savannah and Holly looked more closely at the plate. Savannah said, "Eww. Poor baby fish."
"Can I see?" Lily asked.
When Savannah showed the plate to the younger girls, Bethany said, "Awww, how cute. Daddy, I can't eat a baby fish."
"Me either," Lily said. She turned to Michael. "Can I have a big plate, Daddy?"
"Okay," he said, "get one of those paper plates over there and bring it here. Daddy will fix you up."
Lily returned to Michael with a plate. When he started to open the skillet, she pulled it back and said, "No baby fish, okay, Daddy?"
"No baby fish, punkin."
****
"You seem restless tonight, hon," Michael said later that evening after the two couples had put their children to bed.
"Yeah," Savannah said. "I'm thinking about…"
"You aren't really going over there, are you?" he asked.
"Why not?" Savannah said. "They have my cat. At least I'm pretty sure they do. I need to be real sure so I can figure out how to get him back."
"What do you have in mind?" Keith asked.
"Like I said earlier, I'd like to just snoop around and see if I can hear him inside the place or see him."
Holly sat up straighter. "Hey, maybe she has him in that catio."
Savannah smiled. "Wouldn't that be great? Then I could see him and maybe even get him out of there. Yeah, Holly…"
Holly scrunched down in her chair. She moaned. "Oh, Savannah, I so don't want to spend the night in jail. I've never even worn a pair of handcuffs. I don't think they would go with my ensemble, do you?"
Savannah chuckled, then said, "You don't have to go if you don't want to. I pretty much know what I need to do. I can probably manage on my own. I just can't sleep until I know where he is and have a plan to get him back."
"I understand," Holly said. "Okay, I'll go with you."
"Thank you, thank you," Savannah said. "I really didn't want to go by myself."
Holly grinned at her, then stood up. "Let me get my walking shoes."
"And change your jacket," Savannah suggested. "You'd be a sitting duck in that hot pink number. Wear your denim jacket."
"Okay," Holly said over her shoulder, "Do you know how sneaky and deceitful you sound?"
Michael grinned at his sister-in-law, then said to Savannah, "Be careful."
She kissed him. "You know I will."
"Let's park and walk," Holly suggested, as they drove closer to the log cabin.
Savannah pulled over and turned off the ignition. She stepped out of the car. "Looks like they're all tucked in for the night."
"Probably," Holly said. "So you want to check out that cat pen?"
"Yes," Savannah said. She walked toward the back of the house, then she stopped. "Look," she hissed. "Cats."
"Oh my," Holly said when she saw the array of cats darting away. "Those must be the ferals all coming out of the woods now that everyone's sleeping."
Savannah nodded. She continued walking around to the back of the house toward the catio. "Rags," she whispered. "Rags?"
"There's a cat," Holly said, pointing. "In that big pen. See it? Is that…?"
As Savannah got closer, she whispered, "That's Dino, isn't it? He looks fairly calm. Good for you, Dino. Do you have any company in there?" She edged closer and looked into the pen. "Rags," she called quietly. "Darn, he seems to be alone in there." Savannah looked around. "Well, let's see if we can find Rags inside the house."
"How," Holly asked, "trespass?"
Savannah squelched a giggle, then hissed, "We're already doing that." She motioned for Holly to follow her as she stopped at each window and called quietly for Rags. They'd walked two-thirds of the way around the house when Savannah thought she heard something. "It's Rags," she whispered. "I know his voice."
Holly stifled a chuckle.
"Rags," Savannah called quietly.
Just then the pull-down blind began to flutter. The two women ducked under the window and held their breath.
They heard the window open, and a man's voice called, "Who is it? Who's out there?" Seeing and hearing nothing, he closed the window, but not before a cat let out a meow. Savannah started to react, but Holly grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.
"It's Rags," Savannah said.
"Okay," Holly whispered. "Now you know. We can come back tomorrow. Come on," she urged, creeping away from the house. Savannah turned around and looked once more at the window just in time to see what she thought was Rags's face pushing behind the blind and peering out at them.
"I can't be absolutely certain," Savannah said, once they were in the car, "but it sure looked like Rags. Yes, I'm definitely coming back here tomorrow and demanding they let me see him."
After sitting silently for a few moments, Holly said, "I'll just bet Freddie's the one who took him. I kind of doubt LouAnn knows where Rags came from."
Savannah nodded. "You're probably right. Why else would creepy Freddie throw that fake fit to keep LouAnn from letting us see Rags? Yeah, that whole charade with him coming out with all those different cats—I mean, that was suspicious as all get-out. I think you're right. She doesn't know." Savannah faced Holly. "Which gives me an idea."
"Now what?" Holly asked, shuddering.
"We need to visit LouAnn when Freddie isn't there."
"Okay," Holly said, "and how do we do that, pray tell? I mean, it appears he's living there now." More sarcastically, she said, "And Rags may be the reason he's there."
"What?" Savannah asked.
"LouAnn said she keeps turning down Freddie or Alex or whoever he is, but he brings her a cat and now he appears to be living there. Savannah, he used Rags to win her over. That's just downright wrong. Yes, you have to get him back. You can't let him be used as a pawn like that. So what shall we do?"
"Let me think about it. I'll come up with something," Savannah assured her.
Holly shook her head and muttered, "I'm quite sure you will."
****
As soon as Holly emerged from her tent the following morning, Savannah pulled her aside. "I've got it!"
"Oh dear," Holly moaned. "What?"
"Lets' go to breakfast at the café today. If LouAnn's working, Freddie just might also be there eating, and we…"
"Oh no," Holly said, pulling away. "I'm not going to break into her house."
Savannah pouted. "How else are we going to get Rags back?"
"In a more straightforward way, I hope." Holly faced Savannah. "Actually, I have an idea, too."
"Really?" Savannah said. "What?"
"It involves the children."
"Huh?" Savannah yelped. "What are you thinking? We can't have them getting into trouble with the law. No, I won't have it."
Holly laughed. "No, no, no. They won't get into trouble with the law. Just listen. Let's take a walk over to LouAnn's after breakfast, after her shift. We'll take the kids with us."
"Yeah?" Savannah asked, suspiciously.
"If Freddie's there, we'll tell him the kids have something they want to show him. We'll get him out of the house, then we'll go in and ask LouAnn to let us see Rags. It's as simple as that."
"Then we explain that he's my cat," Savannah said. "What if she doesn't believe me?"
"I don't think you'll have any trouble," Holly said. "You have pictures on your phone; that ought to be proof enough." She winced. "I can't predict what will happen beyond that point, but don't you think that's a good start? Seems like a good plan to me."
Savannah thought for a moment, then said, "Yeah, actually, it might work." She smiled. "Let's give it a try." Curiously, she asked, "So what do the kids have that would be so interesting to Freddie?"
"What about that horned toad Adam and Cassie have been taking care of?" Holly suggested. "The kids could let him think they just found it outside LouAnn's house"
"Yeah, and they could act dumb, like they don't know what it is or something," Savannah said.
Holly chuckled. "You want them to act dumb?"
"Who?" Keith asked, joining the women.
They glanced at each other and Holly said, "Nobody. Hey, want to have breakfast at the café this morning?"
"Okay with me," Keith said.
"Did someone say breakfast?" Michael asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee. He held the pot toward Keith.
"Thanks," Keith said, picking up a cup.
"I'll get the kids ready," Savannah said. "Lily!" she called. "What are you going to wear today? Want to wear your flower jeans and matching sweatshirt?"
"Matching sweatshirt," Keith repeated. "What is this, a fashion show?"
Lily glanced at him and said, "Yes, Mommy, my flower jeans and sweatshirt."
"What's Teddy going to wear?" Savannah asked.
"Let's see," Lily said. "His blue pants and horse shirt." She asked, "Teddy, want to wear your horse shirt?"
"Peaches,
" he said, lifting his pajama shirt in an attempt to take it off.
"Your Peaches shirt, huh?" Michael said, laughing. He asked, "Where is it? I'll put it on him."
"I'll get it Daddy," Lily said. "I'll get my flower jeans too."
Meanwhile, Savannah said, "Adam."
"I'm already dressed," he said.
"I know, I want to talk to you."
"Okay," he agreed, walking closer.
"We're going back to the place where we think Rags is—in fact, I'm almost positive he's there. I'm pretty sure it was him I saw through a window last night."
"Why didn't you get him?" Cassie asked.
"Freddie won't let us even see him," she explained.
"Freddie took Rags?" Adam asked.
"We think so. We believe he gave Rags to LouAnn."
"Miss LuLu?" Cassie said.
Savannah nodded. "Yes, and I don't believe she knows Freddie took Rags from us. When we were there yesterday she was going to show us her new cat—who I'm pretty sure is Rags—and Freddie did everything he could to keep her from doing that."
Holly laughed. "He even pretended to pass out from hunger."
Adam looked puzzled. He said, "What do you want us to do?"
"We thought maybe you could bring that little lizard with us to breakfast and afterward—after Miss LuLu goes home—we'll go to her house," Savannah explained. "But we want to talk to Miss LuLu alone. If Freddie's there, we want you kids to distract him—invite him out to see the horned toad, maybe. Keep Freddie out of the house long enough so we can maybe get Miss LuLu to show us her new cat. I just have to know if it's Rags."
Adam looked at Cassie. "Sure!" he said. "We can help, right, Cassie?"
She nodded. "Uh-huh."
"Good," Savannah said, raising both hands for a high five with each of the children.
****
"There she goes," Savannah whispered as the two families finished their breakfast at the café. "Miss LuLu must be finished with her shift." She looked around. "Where's Freddie."
Cassie pointed. "There. He's talking to those other men."
"Okay, let's give her a few minutes to get home, then we'll go," Savannah suggested. She glanced around. "Holly, should we take the kids with us in case he comes back or…what about if we leave them here? If they see him leave, they can catch up with him and keep him from going back to LouAnn's."