Take the Monkey and Run

by Laura Morrigan

  “Seems to be.”

  “Well,” Hugh said, “this is New Orleans. There has to be an above-average number of psychics per capita in this city.”

  “Psychics and charlatans,” Kai added as we gathered in the kitchen. “I’d say, more of the latter.”

  Emma shot me an inquisitive look at his comment. I shrugged. I wasn’t surprised by his skepticism. Kai was a scientist. He believed in tangible evidence and hard facts. He’d eventually accepted my telepathic ability, but it hadn’t been an easy sell.

  Moss wandered over to sniff the Pomeranians’ food bowls. Finding them empty, he moved on to investigate the nearby countertop. My dog is tall and smart enough to nick food from just about anywhere in a kitchen.

  “Hey,” I said. “No counter surfing. We’re guests, so behave.”

  Hungry.

  “Did you remember to pack his food?” I asked Emma.

  Her eyes widened. “Um . . .”

  “I did,” Hugh said. “In my bag. I have some for Voodoo, too. I’ll run up and grab it.”

  “I admit,” Kai said, “I could use a meal.”

  “Agreeing with Moss? You must be hungry,” Emma teased.

  Moss is a little territorial. He tolerates Kai being around but isn’t crazy about it. During the road trip, some of my dog’s lingering animosity toward Kai must have surfaced. I remembered the message Emma had left and the mysterious growl from Moss.

  “A Voodoo issue,” Emma said when I asked what had happened. “Once we figured out she was in one of the bags we let her out. But we didn’t want her to escape when we stopped for gas. Hugh found a harness in the glove box but when Kai was putting it on her she started squirming.”

  “Moss didn’t like seeing Voodoo trying to get away from me,” Kai explained.

  “No, he wouldn’t like that at all.” I shook my head. Moss could be psychotically overprotective when it came to his kitten.

  Hugh returned with the dog and cat food. He fed my animals while I pulled the pot of leftover jambalaya out of the fridge. There was enough to serve for dinner, but still . . .

  “I feel kind of bad,” I said, lifting the lid. “The four of us will probably finish off this whole pot.”

  “I can run to the store to grab some French bread and stuff for salad,” Emma offered.

  “Don’t you worry about that, sugar.” Belinda’s voice carried into the room from the hallway. “This is an all-inclusive boutique establishment. Belinda does not let her guests go hungry.”

  Rather than turning to look at Belinda, who by now had stepped into the kitchen, I opted to observe the rest of the group.

  It was the right choice.

  Upon seeing our hostess, Hugh’s jaw had gone slack. Kai, who, as a seasoned investigator, was pretty good at keeping his expressions neutral, actually did a double take.

  My sister simply grinned like the Cheshire cat before extending her hand and saying, “It is such a pleasure. I’m Emma. This is Hugh, and Kai.”

  Belinda shook everyone’s hand and angled her chin at Moss.

  “And who is this?”

  “My dog, Moss.” At the sound of his name, he walked over to stand at my side. “He’s not as dangerous as he looks.”

  “Dangerous? I think he’s gorgeous.” She bent to stroke his head. “So soft and handsome.”

  Moss, gorgeous.

  I rolled my eyes.

  Voodoo slinked around Moss’s front legs to greet Belinda with a soft meow.

  “Aw, look. You have a kitty, too,” Belinda cooed.

  Moss gave the kitten a few licks. Moss’s kitty.

  “That’s Voodoo,” I said.

  “Ain’t that somethin’. Voodoo, huh? I like it.” She glanced at me with a wink, then straightened to address the humans in the group.

  “I heard y’all are hungry. So let’s get dinner started. Grace, turn on the stove and get the jambalaya going. I’ll be the one to run to the store for side dishes. It’s time to close the shop anyway.”

  With that, Belinda headed out while the rest of us settled around the kitchen table.

  “Okay,” Emma said when we were all seated. “What’s been going on? The last time I talked to you, you were headed to catch a streetcar to meet Anya.”

  I nodded. “I was. But before I could find her, Logan showed up.”

  “Logan?” Emma’s brows arched in surprise.

  “What’s Logan doing in New Orleans?” Kai asked.

  “He’s Logan, so who knows? Whatever he’s doing here, he decided to scare the crap out of me with a cryptic warning.”

  “Back up a second,” Hugh said. “Who’s Logan?”

  “A criminal who works for the mob.” Kai’s answer, though accurate, was abrupt and seemed to be laced with a smidge of irritation.

  “This guy’s your friend?” Hugh asked, sounding more intrigued than anything else.

  I wrinkled my nose. “I wouldn’t call him a friend, exactly.”

  “If he’s not your friend, why warn you?”

  “He has a habit of doing that,” Kai said, his expression unreadable.

  I couldn’t deny it. “Let’s just say I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t hurt me. Lie? Yes. Steal my phone? Yes.”

  “So that’s what happened to your phone—he took it?” Emma asked.

  “Yeah. He picked my pocket and left me a card with a place and time to meet, along with a promise to explain.”

  “What did he say?” Hugh asked.

  “Nothing. He was a no-show. I waited for a while but finally gave up.”

  “So what was the warning?” Emma asked.

  “He told me Anya wasn’t who she claimed to be and that I should lie to them about my ability.”

  “How does Logan know about your ability?” Kai’s question sounded more like an accusation.

  “Wait,” Emma said. “What ‘them’?”

  “When we got to Veronica’s apartment, there was a man waiting to meet me. He claimed to be Veronica’s psychiatrist, but I have my doubts.”

  “What made you think he wasn’t on the level?” Emma asked.

  “He was—I don’t know . . . off.”

  “Would you have thought so without Logan’s influence?” Kai asked.

  “Yes. The guy gave me the creeps. He was overly curious about how I was going to talk to Coco. He had a lot of questions.”

  “Not surprising,” Kai said. “I had a lot of questions about your ability when I found out about it.”

  “This was different. He was kind of aggressive about it.”

  “So he was pushy,” my sister surmised.

  I nodded. “Pushy and weird. I can’t picture someone going to him for therapy. Plus, Veronica’s apartment was pretty neat and organized for someone who’s supposedly schizophrenic.”

  “Appearances can be deceiving,” Hugh said. “Haven’t you ever watched Dexter?”

  “Did you see any medication? Prescription bottles, that sort of thing?” Kai asked.

  “I really didn’t have time to look.”

  “What about the cat? Would Coco understand something like mental illness?” Kai asked.

  “She would. It depends on the circumstances, but animals can sense stuff like that. Honestly, though, I didn’t think to ask her about it. I was more focused on trying to figure out if Coco could tell me where she came from.”

  “Why?” Emma regarded me with obvious confusion.

  “Sorry, I must have skipped that part. Anya believes the key to finding Veronica is uncovering where she got Coco.” I told them about the text message Anya had shown me.

  “If Veronica sent her a text,” Hugh said, “maybe they’re really sisters.”

  “Actually,” Emma said, “if we’re going on the assumption that Anya is lying about who she is, then we should assume the
text is also fake.”

  “You’re right,” Hugh conceded. “Texts are easy enough to fake. She could have sent the message to herself.”

  “But what’s the point?” I asked. “Why bring me all the way to New Orleans just to ask me to find information she doesn’t need?”

  Everyone was quiet for a moment, then Hugh said, “Maybe Anya is looking for something else, and the missing-sister story is just a way to manipulate you.”

  “Bottom line,” Emma said, “whether the text is fake or not, it seems clear that whatever Anya wants, whether it’s Veronica or not, is located wherever Coco came from.”

  “We can’t be sure about the text without looking at her phone’s log,” Kai said. “And we’d need to know Veronica’s number.”

  “What did Coco tell you?” Emma asked.

  “Not much. I know there was a place she felt safe when she was just a kitten. I could hear an older woman’s voice. Coco showed me a nice view of a pair of bunny slippers. Oh, and wherever this place is, it has iron railings.”

  “Well, that narrows it down,” Hugh said drily.

  “I know, not exactly a unique feature in New Orleans. Just as I was about to push for more detail, the monkey showed up.”

  “Monkey?” Emma said.

  “The papers are calling him the Mystery Monkey. No one knows where he came from, but there’ve been sightings all over.”

  “What kind of monkey?” Hugh asked.

  “Capuchin.” For Kai and my sister’s benefit, I added, “Like the one in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie.”

  Emma shook her head with a half smile. “Only you could come to NOLA to talk to a cat and end up with a monkey.”

  It was a fair point.

  “The monkey was sitting in a tree looking into the apartment. It’s a perfect vantage point, so I thought I’d ask him if he’d seen Veronica.”

  “And?” Emma prompted when I paused.

  “That’s where it gets weird.”

  “Oh good.” Hugh chuckled. “I was wondering when it was going to get weird.”

  I shot him a look. “Anyway, I asked him about Veronica and he told me”—I paused to think about it—“I’m not sure what he was trying to say. He showed me Veronica and Logan.”

  “Logan?” Kai asked.

  I nodded. “More specifically, Logan grabbing her from behind.”

  “Wait,” Emma said. “Logan kidnapped Veronica?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.” I looked around the table and realized from the blank and confused looks that I wasn’t making much sense, so I tried to clarify. “What the monkey showed me was really strange. The colors were totally wonky. The whole thing flashed, kind of like a strobe. I saw Logan grabbing Veronica the same way he had me. And I mean exactly the same way.”

  “Logan grabbed you?” Kai asked.

  I nodded. “From behind and yanked me into a bathroom in a bar.”

  “You were in a bar?” Kai’s tone had shifted from interrogation to irritation.

  “Right.”

  My sister nudged me under the table with her knee.

  I glanced her way. I’m pretty inept when it comes to interpreting most people’s facial expressions, but Emma I could read. Her look was telling me to tread lightly. I just had no idea why.

  “Uh . . . anyway, the point is, the whole interaction was really weird. So, I’m not sure what it meant.”

  “It seems pretty clear to me,” Kai said. “The monkey saw Logan grab Veronica. Could you tell where they were?”

  “No. Like I said, it was weird.” Everyone seemed to be waiting for me to go into more detail, but I wasn’t sure how. I gave it a shot, working my thoughts out as I talked.

  “When I was waiting for you to get into town earlier, I overheard a cop talking about a credible sighting of the monkey. I got a ride—with the police,” I said, looking at Kai, “to try and catch him. Obviously, he got away, but while I was trying to convince the monkey to come to me, suddenly this crazy image pops into my head. Kind of strobe-y with odd colors, just like the one with Logan.”

  “What did he show you?” Hugh asked.

  “Me. I was handing him beignets while he sat on a Mardi Gras float.”

  “Weird,” Emma said.

  “Very. And here’s the thing—I had been sitting at Café Beignet forever, so I know I smelled like a giant, fried pastry. The cop I was with had just been talking about how they didn’t need a Mystery Monkey on the loose with Mardi Gras coming up.”

  “So,” Emma said, “you think the monkey was simply interpreting your thoughts? Why would he do that instead of the simple back-and-forth you can usually do?”

  “I don’t know. But his mind feels different.”

  “From?” Kai asked.

  “Anything I’ve experienced.”

  “So it’s possible the image of Logan grabbing Veronica was just a reflection of what you’d been thinking about?” Emma asked.

  “I’d have to spend more time with the monkey to know.”

  “Maybe,” Kai said, “you just don’t want to believe Logan kidnapped an innocent woman and is warning you off to save himself.”

  I was spared having to come up with a response by Belinda, who bustled in through the back door, loaded down with almost a dozen grocery bags. We all scrambled to help.

  “Woo! I may have gone a little overboard with the food, but I have a feeling it’ll get eaten.” Belinda’s smile was wide. It seemed clear having a bunch of strangers to cook for made her happy. “Let’s get this meal started.”

  Bustling about with the others in the homey, strange little kitchen provided a sense of calm I hadn’t felt since I’d arrived in New Orleans.

  Belinda donned a bright yellow apron declaring, HOT STUFF COMING THROUGH, and began assigning tasks.

  Being the expert salad maker, I was given the produce and started chopping lettuce. My sister’s a bit of a health nut so when Belinda started talking about using only butter from grass-fed cows and the benefits of going gluten-free, I knew she and our hostess would be fast friends. Emma looked at me with a wide grin. “Belinda is my spirit animal.”

  “I noticed,” I told her.

  We sat down to a great meal and it wasn’t long before the questions started again. Belinda knew most of the story, except the bit about me being able to talk to animals, which was odd, considering how open she’d been with me about her own abilities.

  Oh well, old habits die hard.

  Before I could come up with a good way to tell her about my telepathic ability, Emma asked, “So, how did you get your phone back?”

  “I wouldn’t have, if it wasn’t for Belinda.”

  We told them about the package recovery operation at the Monteleone.

  “Girl, we rocked that mission: impossible.” Belinda lifted her hand for a high five and I hit her palm with mine.

  “You tried to call Logan?” my sister asked.

  “I did, but he didn’t answer.”

  “Where’s the package?” Kai asked.

  I got up and retrieved it from the messenger bag I’d hung on the wall peg next to the jackets.

  “There’s nothing on it but my name,” I said, handing it to him.

  Kai examined the envelope and frowned as he studied a smudge on the inside.

  “What?”

  “It’s hard to tell for sure, but this looks like blood.”

  “Blood?”

  “Let me see your phone.”

  I retrieved it from the messenger bag and handed it over. Kai popped the phone out of its case to inspect the sides and back and after a few seconds, nodded. “Definitely traces of blood.”

  “Does that mean Logan’s hurt?” I sounded more upset than I’d meant to.

  I noticed a muscle tighten in Kai’s jaw. “I don’t know. Given what he d
oes for a living, it may not be his blood.”

  “Don’t worry, cher”—Belinda gave my arm a reassuring pat—“I’m sure he’s not hurt too bad. He wouldn’t have been able to deliver the package if he was.”

  “I’m not clear on what made you have to leave the Monteleone in the first place,” Hugh said. “Did Logan tell you not to stay there?”

  I shook my head. “After Logan stood me up, I went back to the hotel and saw Barry sneaking around, with a gun. So”—I looked at Kai—“Logan or no Logan, I decided to get the hell out of Dodge.”

  “Which is how you ended up here,” Emma said.

  “Pretty much.”

  “Barry had a gun?” Kai asked.

  “I saw it when the wind blew his coat open.”

  “What’s his full name?” he asked.

  I had to think about his last name. “Schellenger, I think is what she said.”

  “From New Orleans?”

  “That was my impression, but who knows?”

  Kai had taken his phone out of his pocket and was typing as I spoke. Full investigator mode: activated.

  “What about Anya? What’s her full name?” Kai asked.

  “I’m not sure how to spell it.” I looked at my sister.

  “I have it in my appointments. Just a sec.” She took her phone out of her purse. “Here. Anya Zharova.” She held the phone out so Kai could see.

  He added it to his notes with a nod. “She was a client of Emma’s, right?”

  I’d had a chance to go over only the basics with him before packing up and hopping on a plane.

  “She was going to be,” Emma said. “I only met her once. During our first meeting she got an urgent phone call about her sister. I could overhear everything Anya said because she only took a few steps away while she talked on the phone. When she said something about her sister being missing and not being able to ask the cat what happened, I thought Grace might be willing to help.”

  “Emma called me and asked if I’d talk to her,” I said. “We spoke on the phone, I told her about my ability, and she begged me to come to New Orleans.”

  “But the first time you met face-to-face was yesterday,” Kai said.

  “Right. It was all very rushed,” I said. “Anya wanted me to leave with her as soon as I agreed to talk to Coco, but I couldn’t drop everything—namely the newborn lion cub I was holding—so Anya made arrangements for me to fly in yesterday.”