by Emmie Lyn
“That’s what I do with Ron’s animals. Ron says I’m a natural.” The pride in her voice was unmistakable.
I decided to sweeten the deal with an offer I figured she couldn’t refuse. “And, I’ll pay you with your choice of a shake and anything from our pastry display.”
Even from behind, I could see her cheeks stretch into a smile. Hitch had already shown me that the way to winning Izzy’s heart led through her taste buds.
Ruby passed under towering maple trees just beginning to turn their beautiful fall colors. On both sides of his driveway, fields stretched beyond split rail fences. A couple of horses grazed in the distance on one side and a half dozen donkeys hee-hawed at us from the other side. From what I knew about Ron Silva, he never turned away an animal in need, giving every stray a home, sort of like me with kittens. I also knew he traveled a lot, but details about his work were sketchy.
“Should we stop at the house and see if Ron can take us to the barn?” I asked. I didn’t feel comfortable just barging into someone else’s property uninvited.
“He’s probably not there,” Izzy said, glancing quickly back at me.
“We’ll look in the barn then,” Ruby said as she continued past the white farmhouse to his barn.
Izzy gripped the seat until her knuckles turned white. Something about being here upset her, and I had a bad feeling that it was more than breaking her mother’s rule.
“Where should I look for the mother cat, Izzy?” I asked after Ruby parked her van.
She pointed to an old knapsack we could see from the van just outside the wide, red barn door. “Just go there and call her name. Whisker Puff.” She looked at me a little sheepishly. “Ron said I could name her, and I think her whiskers look like little puffs of smoke. She always comes when I call her.”
I wasn’t so sure I’d have the same luck as Izzy since Whisker Puff didn’t know me or my voice, but said, “I’ll give it a try.” I checked with Ruby. “Are you coming in with me?”
“No,” she said. “I’ll stay here and keep Izzy company.” Even though Ruby patted her shoulder, Izzy slunk down on the passenger seat, keeping her head hidden from view. What or who was she hiding from? I wondered.
Ruby and Izzy both looked like they’d rather be anywhere else but sitting outside Ron’s barn. I’d rather be anywhere but walking into his barn, but I took a deep calming breath and exited the side door of the van.
As I walked toward the barn, I heard a neigh from inside, which was answered by another horse standing outside. They didn’t sound happy to be separated.
A sweet aroma of hay mixed with something I couldn’t identify filled my nose when I pulled the door open.
“Whisker Puff?” I called tentatively and made a friendly clicking sound with my tongue.
I heard a meow and hoped it was her.
“Where are you, Puff?” I called again, shortening her name and calling louder. I slowly walked deeper into the barn, letting my eyes adjust to the dark interior.
The meow got louder until I saw a tabby cat, her tail straight up, floating along in that silent graceful way that cats have. She reached me and wound herself around my legs, purring as if she had a story to tell me. If this was Whisker Puff, Izzy had done a good job getting her used to people. I crouched down and stroked her back. “Are you looking for your kittens?”
When I slid my hands under her belly to pick her up, she darted away from me.
I followed reluctantly, feeling my way along the stalls in the dim light. An odd metallic smell grew stronger as I walked deeper into the barn. Puff stopped next to something on the ground at the foot of a ladder that reached into the barn loft.
My heart pounded as I stared at Puff. I had an ominous feeling as I stared at a heavy horse blanket covering a huge, long, mound.
Whisker Puff sat and groomed herself. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I studied the outline of the shape under the blanket—more than five feet long. My heart raced uncontrollably even as I tried to convince my brain there was nothing but hay or manure or some piece of horse equipment under the blanket.
“Sunny? Did you find the cat?” Ruby hollered from the barn door. “We need to leave.”
“I think so,” I answered. “But I can’t catch her. Can you come over here and take a look at something?” I couldn’t explain why, but between the gloomy light, the odd shape, and the weird odor, I couldn’t force myself to investigate any further on my own. I hoped Ruby was braver.
“Just grab the cat so we can leave,” she said, irritation lacing her words. “I have to open A Donut A Day and, anyway, I don’t want to come in the barn in case Ron shows up.”
“I don’t think he will,” I said, finally accepting the possibility of what I was looking at. “I think maybe he had an accident.”
I hoped I was wrong.
4
I heard the soft soles of Ruby’s shoes squish on the cement barn floor as she walked up behind me.
“What’s the problem, Sunny? This was supposed to be a quick in and out to get that cat.”
I pointed to the mound in front of us; my stomach twisting in knots. “What do you think is underneath the blanket?”
“We’re in a barn. It could be anything. I hope you aren’t letting your imagination go wild this morning.” Ruby reached down and grabbed one corner of the blanket. “There’s only one way to find out.” She flipped it back.
We both gasped at the same time. A youngish man, maybe mid-twenties, long hair, and very muscular, stared up. Not at us; his sightless eyes stared at nothing.
“Who is it?” I whispered.
“It’s not Ron,” she said, which even I’d figured out.
“Do you think he fell from the loft?” I looked at the ladder, which reached at least ten feet straight up. “And look at that? One of the rungs is broken,” I said. “Did he fall or was he pushed,” I muttered, trying to make sense of the scene.
Ruby pulled on my arm. “We need to get out of here. Now.”
“Shouldn’t we call the police?” I asked. “And who covered him up?”
“I did.”
Horrified, I pivoted toward the voice. When I saw Izzy, her small vulnerable silhouette framed in the open barn door, my heart either stopped or burst. I couldn’t tell which from the pressure I felt.
She crouched down and called out to Whisker Puff, who trotted right over. Izzy scooped the cat into her arms, receiving head butts as Whisker Puff claimed Izzy for herself.
Before I could get my feet moving, Ruby tugged on my arm again. “Come on,” she hissed. “Izzy has the cat. I want to leave. Now.”
“We can’t just run away from this like we never saw that body, Ruby. Do you even know who he is?”
“It’s my friend, Andy,” Izzy said, still standing near the doorway where there was no way she could see the body. “Ron let him stay here sometimes.”
“This is the homeless guy?” Ruby asked. “Izzy, how did you know he was under the blanket?” She sounded frantic and my blood ran cold at the implication.
I quickly scanned the area beyond the body and the blanket. Wood from the broken rung, keys, bits of broken gold metal, and a crushed pack of gum, lay at the base of the ladder. An old shovel with a broken handle was carelessly resting near the stall.
“I told you. I covered him up,” Izzy said. Her glasses magnified her big fear-filled eyes. “It seemed like the right thing to do.” Her honesty and compassion were admirable, but I dreaded what she may have witnessed. And if this was no accident, could she be in danger?
“Sunny?” Ruby turned on me like a crazed lioness. “I don’t know what’s going on, but we have to get Izzy out of here.”
I nodded. Of course, it was the best plan, but as I looked past Izzy, I realized that we’d missed the window to leave unnoticed. Ron Silva, in his early forties and good looking in a rugged way, and Pineville’s Police Chief Bullock, towered behind Izzy. I didn’t like their stern expressions.
I gulped. We were definitely in
the wrong place at the wrong time, and I had no idea how to talk our way out of this dire situation.
Ruby marched up to Chief Bullock filling up the doorway. “Chief Bullock? There’s a dead man in Ron’s barn. I don’t know what happened, but I’m glad you’re here.”
I truly doubted that, but it made for a good story. She put her arm on Izzy’s shoulder and pointed to Whisker Puff in her arms. “We came to find this cat and reunite her with her kittens.”
The Chief nodded at Izzy. “Ron tells me that Andy was your friend?”
Izzy nodded slightly, staring at the ground. The poor kid probably thought she was in a ton of trouble, but she couldn’t know the half of it. My heart ached.
“It’s hard to lose a friend, Izzy.” the Chief said, grimacing, no doubt, from the pain in his bad hip. “How about you come out of the barn with the cat so Ron can take me inside and show me what happened.”
Ruby led Izzy outside. I trailed behind.
Chief Bullock’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Sunny? I didn’t know you were here, too. How do you end up in the thick of it every time?”
“Just my luck I guess,” I said. “Chief? I have a favor to ask.”
His eyes narrowed. “Now? I don’t exactly have time for favors. Wait over there with Ruby and Izzy.”
I didn’t want to annoy him, but I didn’t want to be brushed off, either. This was a terrible situation with a body in the barn, but I had three tiny kittens that needed their mother. I decided to take a risk and beg for the Chief’s indulgence.
“You don’t understand,” I said. “The cat that Izzy is holding has three tiny kittens at my Kitty Castle. She brought us here to help find the mom so we can reunite her with those hungry kittens. They need her, Chief.” I gave him my best pathetic look and hoped he was feeling sympathetic this morning.
He stared at me. He puckered his lips. I held my breath.
“You can take the cat, Sunny, but Ruby and Izzy have to stay here.”
“No, thanks,” I said without a pause. “We came together, and we’ll stay together.” What I left unsaid was that as soon as the Chief went into the barn, I planned to send a text message which I had no intention of telling him about.
“Okay, then. Come on, Ron. Let’s get this started. The rest of my team is on the way.” They disappeared into the gloomy barn leaving Izzy, Ruby, and me standing next to her delivery van.
“You didn’t have to do that, Sunny,” Ruby said. “I appreciate the support, but what do we do now?”
“Will the kittens be okay?” Izzy asked, showing real concern for their well-being. “Poor Whisker Puff.” She sat down, and the mother cat curled up in her lap as she stroked her.
“I have a plan, don’t worry,” I said and sent a text message to Tilly. She’d shake everything up when she arrived. I had no doubt about that.
“Izzy?” I asked somewhat tentatively. I was trying to figure out how to best ask my question. “Did you see what happened to your friend, Andy?”
Her body shrank into itself. “No. But I heard some stuff.”
The poor kid. My heart was breaking as I looked at her hunched over. Her two braids dangled on Whisker Puff as she consoled her. I guessed they needed each other.
“Ruby? Keep an eye on the barn, okay?” I folded myself on the ground next to Izzy. “Can you tell me what happened earlier? You were in the barn with Andy?”
“No. I was in the barn with Ron. He asked me to help him while he moved the kittens from the hayloft.”
“You climbed up there?”
“No. Ron wouldn’t let me. I stayed at the bottom, and he brought the kittens down in a box. He told me to put them in the empty stall while he went up for Whisker Puff.”
I nodded and waited.
“That’s when I heard my mom yell at Ron, and I hid in the stall with the kittens.”
I tried to put myself in her shoes. A kid disobeying her mother’s rule and afraid of getting caught. Not a situation any kid wants to be in. “Because you weren’t supposed to be there?”
“Yeah.” She looked at me. “But Ron likes me to help with the animals. He said I have a gift with them. And the animals like me.”
I could see that was true. One of the many things I liked about Izzy was her big heart.
“Izzy? Did you see Andy come in the barn?”
“Nuh-uh.” She looked at the barn. “But that’s his knapsack over there.”
“Sunny Shaw?” A stern voice made me startle and cringe at the same time. I wished it was anyone but Officer Mick Walker sneaking up on us with his toothpick dangling from the corner of his mouth.
I gave Izzy’s arm a squeeze and whispered, “You don’t have to answer his questions.”
The rest of my conversation with Izzy would have to wait.
5
I pushed myself upright and faced the one person in town who had the power to make my life miserable. He towered over me. His height and short clipped dirty-blond hair shouting authority, even though his shirt was frayed and stained, rather an inauspicious look. I stretched to my full five-foot five height and looked at my dark French braids and defiant blue eyes reflected in Officer Mick Walker’s sunglasses. His toothpick bobbed furiously at the corner of his mouth, a give-away of his anger level.
Ever since we were kids, Mick Walker hated my friendship with Hitch. Now that he had authority on the police force, he’d turned that jealousy into his own personal mission to make my life, and Hitch’s, as difficult as possible.
“What a strange place to find you, Sunny.” The corners of his mouth twitched up, but I didn’t mistake it for a friendly smile. “Shouldn’t you be at your Shakes and Cakes shop?”
“As a matter of fact, Mick,” I refused to call him Officer. “I’m on a cat rescue mission, which you may, or may not be aware of, is also one of my responsibilities.” If I hadn’t known Mick my whole life, he’d probably intimidate me right now. But, I’d had years of standing up to his bullying and his uniform made no difference to me.
Mick looked down at Izzy. “That’s the cat?”
“Yes. Her kittens are in my Kitty Castle and she needs to feed them.”
He swiped his hand over his chin. Maybe a bit of empathy reached his cold heart, but I wasn’t going to hold my breath about that.
Before he responded, Tilly’s chili red VW bug screeched to a stop, sending a cloud of dust over us. She hadn’t wasted a second responding to my text message.
She hurried over, her mid-calf length skirt twirling around her legs and her scarf flying behind her short gray hair. “Sunny, I’m so glad you found those itty-bitty kittens’ mother. They haven’t stopped mewling for a meal.”
“You can’t be here, Tilly,” Mick growled, trying to sound intimidating. Not that it would work on her.
She turned and looked up at him. If I didn’t know better, I’d say my seventy-year-old, five-foot-three friend was way over her head, but I did know better. Tilly didn’t back down from anyone or anything. She had the stories, scars, and her thigh holster to back up her bravado. Part of me would love to see the look on Mick’s face if Tilly pulled out her pistol, but my sensible side knew the danger in that move and silently screamed, please don’t.
Instead, Tilly jabbed Mick’s chest with her finger. “What? You want those kittens to starve to death?”
I tried not to laugh.
He took a step away from her. “Well, no, but—”
“There’s no but in this conversation, Mick.” She held her hand out for Izzy, who still sat on the ground watching this interaction with what looked like confusion. “Come on, Izzy. Bring that mother cat, and you can help me with the kittens. She obviously trusts you.”
“She can’t leave,” Mick said, finding his voice.
“I know I’m probably the best driver in Pineville,” Tilly said, making me cover my mouth and fake a cough. I knew Tilly’s driving first hand, and I only got in her car when I had no other choice. Her driving terrified me. She glared at me.
“As I was saying, Mick, I know I’m a superb driver, but even I can’t hold a cat while I’m steering and shifting and watching out for pedestrians and every other obstacle between here and Shakes and Cakes. Izzy comes with me, unless you want it on your conscience if I have an accident.”
“Officer Walker!” Chief Bullock yelled from the barn door, his face flushed red from exertion or anger. “What’s taking you so long? I told you to find me as soon as you arrived. What part of that don’t you understand?”
I was almost expecting smoke to start pouring out of Mick’s ears from everyone jumping on him from every which way. That was fine with me if it meant Tilly could get Izzy and Whisker Puff out of here.
Mick pointed at Tilly. “You haven’t seen the end of me. And you,” he snapped, jabbing his finger at Ruby and me. “You two stay put.”
I raised my eyebrows and put both hands up in surrender mode. “Who said anything about me leaving? I’m here to help in any way possible.” If helping Izzy get away from an interrogation counted.
Tilly, standing behind Mick, winked at me and gave me two thumbs up.
I snickered, but by the time Mick turned to see what had happened behind his back, Tilly had already reached her car. She’d come through with flying colors in this situation like I knew she would, and she hadn’t even pulled out her pistol. That, even Officer Walker, would not stand for.
She helped Izzy get settled in the passenger seat with Whisker Puff before she adjusted her scarf and sunglasses and climbed behind the wheel. Oh boy, I hoped they made it safely.
Mick stopped on his way to the barn and leaned right next to my ear, whispering, “Something smells worse than one of Tilly’s healthy smoothies and you can be sure that I’ll get to the bottom of it.”
Once he was out of sight, Ruby sagged against her truck and fanned her face. “Wow. This is way too much excitement for me in one morning.”