“And now he’s dead, just like that,” Vanessa murmured. “Did you find any evidence linking Middleton to the case?”
Pete shook his head. “I’m not wasting any more time on Middleton or the plant explosion. We have firsthand proof that Walter is trying to kill us, and we have a direct link between him and the real estate agent’s office. I’m turning all my attention to that. I don’t think it will be that hard to find out who told Walter where you were going.”
“That still doesn’t help us protect ourselves from the next attack,” Penny pointed out. “What are we going to do between now and when you catch Walter? I don’t feel safe going home.”
Vanessa stood up. “Well, I do. I’m beat, and I’ve got thirteen cats waiting for me who haven’t been fed all day. I’m going to my apartment. A good night’s sleep will help me think this case over.”
“I’ll find a place for you and Alan to stay tonight,” Pete told Penny. “I can assign an armed guard so no one comes along shooting the place up. That’s the best I can do for right now. I know it isn’t much and it probably doesn’t set your minds at ease, but at least you won’t be in any of your usual places where Walter can find you.”
Vanessa took her leave. Pete walked her out of the building, and they agreed to meet the next morning at the Opportunity Shop to talk strategy.
Chapter 6
Vanessa walked away with a smile on her face, but as soon as she passed around the corner out of sight, she wilted. Her feet shuffled along the ground, and she stared at the pavement sliding by beneath her feet. She could barely summon the energy to unlock the door.
When she pushed her way into the apartment, the cats crowded around her feet so she couldn’t open the door. “Oh, you poor, poor mistreated creatures. Did I leave you alone all day without food? I’m so sorry.”
She went to the kitchen and started getting down the dishes and cans of cat food.
“The bad news is that Walter Connelly is back in town and out for retribution,” she told the cats. “But the good news is that I found a very nice property outside of town that could make a wonderful cat sanctuary. It’s got a very nice house, and acres of forest for you all to play in. Just ask Henry.”
The cats paid no attention. They swirled around her feet in eddies of color and swishing tails, and they meowed up at her in a united chorus. Even Henry wouldn’t leave her alone. He yowled louder than she’d ever heard him, and he kept running his sides across her legs.
“I know you’re very hungry,” she told them. “I’m getting the food as fast as I can.”
She ran the can opener around five or six cans and dumped them into dishes. Then she set them on the floor in a row before she went back to open several more. She didn’t notice until she turned around the second time that the cats weren’t eating the food she set out.
“I know you’re terribly upset,” she went on, “and I promise I won’t ever do it again. You don’t know the day I’ve had. First, Pete almost crashed his car into the side of a building when someone cut his brake lines. Then Walter shot up the real estate agent’s car trying to kill me. It was only by the luckiest chance that we got away with our lives.”
She finished putting the cat food out.
“Now, finish your food and I’ll get the fire going.” She let out a heavy breath and went into the living room. “I won’t be sorry to put my feet up and fall asleep in front of the fire.”
The cats meowed, screeched and pranced around the room.
“What’s wrong with you?” she asked. “Not one of you has eaten your food. Come on, Henry. You usually can’t stand being in the same room while the other cats are eating.”
She knelt down in front of the fireplace and started sorting through the newspaper and kindling to start the fire. The cats went wild. The calling and whining got louder and more desperate, and Aurora even jumped on Vanessa's back and bit her on the neck.
Vanessa shooed her off quickly. Aurora darted away to the other side of the room and wouldn't come near her again. The other cats took Aurora's place right away. They got in front of Vanessa and stopped her from getting the fire together.
In the end, Vanessa sat back on her heels and stared at them. “I don't know what's wrong with you cats tonight, but I guess we're not having a fire. I can't do anything with you beating me up every five minutes.”
She threw down her matchbox and set her hands on her hips. Then she turned off the light and went into the bedroom. The sight that met her eyes when she turned on the bedside lamp made her gasp in astonishment all over again.
Her cats usually piled onto her bed and lounged together while they waited for her to get into it. Tonight, not one cat sat on her bed. They ran around her feet, whining and yowling. Even Henry—dear, sensible Henry—just wouldn't stand still. He shivered and waved his tail in anxious agitation.
“I just don't know what I can do for you cats,” Vanessa exclaimed. “You don't want food. You don't want a fire. What do you want?”
She glared down at Henry as he stared up at her. Then, to her horror, he put out his paw and scratched her across the top of the foot. His claws tore three holes in her sock, and he ripped three straight scratches over her skin. She screamed, more in surprise than pain, and she stepped back away from Henry.
He scooted away from her foot. Then he stood still a few feet away and stared up at her. Tears sprang to her eyes. “Have you taken complete leave of your senses? What am I supposed to do?”
She covered her mouth with her hand and turned away. What was happening to her beloved cats? Had they turned against her?
She went into the bathroom to get her bathrobe off the hook by the shower, and that's when she smelled it. Gas. She darted out of the bathroom as fast as she could, and when she got back to the bedroom, she stopped again. Henry sat in the same spot across the room with his eyes fixed on her face.
“Henry,” she breathed, “I'm sorry. I never should have doubted you. Aurora, I am so sorry for knocking you away like that.” She picked up the kitten and gave her a cuddle. “Do you know where the gas leak is?”
Henry strode over to the wall heater between her closet and the bathroom. He pretended to sniff at it, but then he wrinkled up his nose and sneezed.
Vanessa knelt down in front of the wall heater and looked inside. There, right next to the pilot light controller she spotted a perfectly round hole. Tiny copper shavings curled up from the sides of it, and a faint hissing noise came from it. The smell of gas hit her in the face.
“And to think,” she murmured. “The moment I turned on the thermostat, the pilot light would have come on and the whole place would have blown up.”
She stood up and looked around. The smell of gas was becoming unbearable, but the cats—her cats—still crowded the room. They wouldn't leave her alone, not even with all their lives in danger. How could she ever have doubted them? No wonder they didn't want her to light the fire.
She picked up Foxle and glanced around again. “I'll take Foxle. He's the one who needs me the most, since he's the most terrified of leaving the apartment. Can you others follow me? Henry, you lead them. Show them where to go.”
Henry trotted toward the door. AngelPie and Flossy, who left the apartment every day to help Vanessa in the Opportunity Shop, followed him, and the rest took the signal. Foxle shivered in her arms. At that instant, Aurora clawed her way up Vanessa's pant leg and burrowed into her arms next to Foxle. He calmed down at once, and Vanessa hugged them both against her chest.
“All right. Good,” Vanessa went on. “Follow me, all of you. We've got to get out of here.”
She hurried to the front door. She got into her overcoat as best she could with one arm around Foxle and Aurora. Then she stuck her keys in her pocket, and went out into the hall with a crowd of cats at her heels.
She raced down the stairs as fast as she could until she got to the shop. She opened the door, flicked on the overhead light, and stood back while the cats filed past her into the shop. They
stopped by the cat food cupboard and waited for her. None of them made a sound.
Under Vanessa's chin, Foxle panted in anxiety, but Aurora purred to kept him calm. “It's all right,” Vanessa told him. “I've got you. You don't have to worry. We just have to get out of that apartment. Now, is everyone here?”
She did a quick head count and came up with eleven cats. “Whom have we left behind?” Then she realized she forgot to count Foxle and Aurora. “So everyone's here. I'll just call Detective Wheeler. Then we'll get out of the building.”
She went to the phone at the front counter and picked up the receiver. All the cats followed her. They didn't want to be alone. She dialed Pete's cell phone number, but at that moment, a tremendous explosion rocked the building.
The concussion knocked Vanessa to the ground. She landed on top of Foxle, and he squealed in shock. The crockery and glassware rattled on the tables and shelves. One of AngelPie's favorite radios fell off the electronic shelves and crashed to the floor just inches away from Vanessa.
“I'm so sorry, darling,” she told Foxle. “I didn't mean to hurt you. Is everyone else all right?”
She glanced around. The other cats cowered under the furniture and stared around the room with wild eyes. Vanessa did the fastest survey she could of her cats and struggled to her feet. “Come on, darlings. We have to get out of this building. There could be another blast at any moment.”
She started for the door when it flew open with a crash. Detective Wheeler put his foot through the door and dashed into the shop. He looked around and clapped his eyes on Vanessa.
“Oh, thank God you're all right,” he exclaimed. “I was parked outside when the explosion happened.”
Vanessa threw her arms around him and burst into tears. “Thank God you're here. There was a hole in the gas line in my bedroom heater. The cats showed it to me. We only just got out in time.”
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “Come on. We have to get out of here. It isn't safe. I heard the fire truck pull out of the station, so it's on it's way here now. We can wait for them out on the sidewalk.”
“What about the cats?” Vanessa asked.
He shrugged. “Leave them in here for now. They'll be all right.”
“If it isn't safe for me,” she told him. “It isn't safe for them. I'll stay with them until we find another place to put them.”
He frowned at her. “This is a really bad idea. You understand that, don't you?”
“What am I supposed to do?” she asked. “I would be dead right now if it wasn't for them.”
He turned away with a sour expression on his face. “I know you too well to argue with you. Please, just step outside until the fire crew gets here.”
She glanced back over her shoulder and saw Henry sitting on his books. He blinked at her, and she softened. “Can you take care of everybody else?”
He turned his head away with his eyes half closed. Then he started licking one paw. She smiled at him and set Foxle and Aurora on the floor next to Teddy's bed under the front counter. Then she turned back to Detective Wheeler. “All right. I'll come outside.”
Pete sighed and led her outside just as the fire truck pulled up to the curb.
Chapter 7
“Well, that's it,” Pete remarked. “The fire crew cleared the building. Only your bathroom was destroyed in the blast. The rest of your apartment is still intact.”
Vanessa put her head to one side. “Are you saying I'm supposed to spend the night in there tonight, after someone sabotaged my heater and blew up my apartment?”
“There's nothing wrong with the apartment,” he told her. “The fire crew turned the gas off, and you won't be able to turn it back on until you get that heater fixed. But the rest of the apartment is still perfectly livable.”
“I'm not going back in there,” she declared.
“I thought you might want to,” he told her. “Where else can you stay with thirteen cats?”
Vanessa blinked. “I didn't think of that.”
“No, you didn't,” he replied. “I'm happy to take you anywhere you want. It just might be kind of difficult to find a place for you and the cats at this time of night, if you know what I mean.”
She nodded. “I'm beginning to… What do you think I should do?”
He stared at her. Then he snorted with laughter. “I think that's probably the first time you've ever asked me that question.”
She hesitated. Then she had to smile. “Stop teasing and tell me. Do you really think I should spend the night in that apartment? How do we know whoever sabotaged it didn't sabotage something else, just to make sure I didn't make it through the night?”
“I don't think you should spend the night in there,” he replied. “I just didn't think you would consent to go somewhere else without your cats. I thought you would be most comfortable staying with them, and that means staying here.”
“So what's the alternative?” she asked.
“From what I saw just now,” he replied, “…they look perfectly comfortable here in the shop. Why don't you leave them here, just until the morning. You can work out another situation tomorrow after you've had a good night's sleep under police protection.”
“I don't think I'll sleep, no matter where I go,” she told him, “not after this.”
“But at least you'll be safe,” he pointed out. “If you won't do it for yourself, then do it for me. I'm a cop, and I'm your friend, if I'm nothing else. I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you when I had the power to prevent it. Let me take you somewhere else. Turn off the light and let the cats spend the night in the shop. Even if whoever it was did sabotage something else in the apartment, they should be safe down here.”
She glanced back at the shop. “All right. You convinced me. Where are you going to take me?”
“Penny and Alan are spending the night over at the TipTop Motel on the other side of town,” he told her. “I'll take you there, too.”
He ushered her into his car, and drove her across town. He knocked on one of the doors at the motel, and Penny opened it.
“Do you mind if Vanessa stays here with you while I go and book her a room?” he asked.
Penny's eyes widened. “What's going on?”
“Vanessa will tell you all about it,” he replied. “I'll be right back.”
Penny closed the door behind them. Vanessa sank down onto the edge of the bed and peered up at Penny and Alan. “Someone sabotaged my apartment. They drilled a hole in the gas line of the wall heater in my bedroom. If my cats hadn't alerted me to it, I would be dead right now.”
Penny gasped. “You don't think.....?”
Vanessa nodded. “It must have been the same person. It must have been Walter.” She shuddered. “He must have sneaked into my apartment while I was at the police station. When he failed to shoot me outside of town, he must have gone straight to my apartment and drilled the hole before I got back.”
“But how could he get in?” Penny asked. “Don't you lock up when you leave?”
Vanessa shrugged. “He's been operating a criminal enterprise in this town for decades. He could have keys to every building, for all we know.”
“Then we won't be safe anywhere,” Penny pointed out.
A knock sounded on the door again, and Pete came back. “I got you the room next door so you won't be far away.”
“Did you have any success getting the employee information from the real estate office?” Vanessa asked.
He shook his head. “I tried, but the manager dug in his heels. He said that was confidential information, and if we wanted it, we had to get a court order.”
Vanessa perked up her ears. “That sounds like he's trying to hide something. He could be the connection we've been looking for between the real estate office and Walter.”
“Not really,” Pete replied. “He has a point. They aren't allowed to give out personal employee information to just anybody who asks for it.”
“You aren't exactly anyb
ody,” Vanessa pointed out. “You're the police.”
“We still need a court order,” he told her.
“But that could take days,” she cried.
He nodded. “Months, even.”
“We can't wait that long,” she exclaimed. “We have to find Walter now, before he kills us all.”
“You don't have to tell me,” he replied. “I just don't know where we're going to start looking. We need a lucky break.”
At that moment, another knock rang out on the door. They exchanged glances, and Pete pushed his jacket back so he could reach his gun if he needed it. Then he opened the door a crack.
Vanessa held her breath. Then she heard a female voice outside. “Is Vanessa Abbot here?” She cried out in surprise.
“Julie!” Vanessa pulled the door open the rest of the way. “Julie McLeod is my real estate agent. She was with me when Walter shot at us. This is Detective Pete Wheeler, Julie. He's the one who's investigating the murder at the aluminum plant, and he's also in charge of the case of that man shooting at us this afternoon.”
Julie pushed her way into the room. “You don't have to tell me, Vanessa. I know all about it.”
“Well, you were there with me, weren't you?” Vanessa replied.
“No, I mean I know all about the shooter being Walter Connelly,” Julie told her.
Vanessa gasped. “You do? But how could you know? I didn't even know you knew Walter.”
“I know,” Julie replied, “because I'm the one who told him you would be out at that property and when you would be there.”
Vanessa's mouth fell open. “Julie! How could you tell him?”
“I didn't know he was going to shoot at you,” Julie replied. “I didn't know he was going to shoot at me, either. But I saw him in the window of the barn, and when you asked me who knew we were going to view the property, I put two and two together. I should have told you then and there that I was the one who tipped him off, but I just couldn't bring myself to face you. I thought the police would try to pin the murder on me.”
Meow or Never (Vanessa Abbot Cat Protection League Cat Cozy Mystery Series Book 3) Page 4