Meow or Never (Vanessa Abbot Cat Protection League Cat Cozy Mystery Series Book 3)

by Nancy C. Davis

  Vanessa stared at her. “But why would you tell him, Julie? You must have known he meant mischief.”

  Julie shook her head. “You don't understand. I've known Walter Connelly all my life. He was my mother's second cousin, and he was always perfectly nice to me. I never knew he was arrested for all those terrible crimes until I got back to the office and told one of the other agents about him shooting at us. You could have knocked me over with a feather. When he called me up this morning, he asked me if I knew where to find you. I didn't think twice. I told him I was meeting you. I told him where the property was and what time we would be there. I'm so sorry, Vanessa. I didn't know he would come after you with a gun, and I certainly didn't know he would shoot at me, too. That's gratitude for you.”

  Vanessa shook her head. “Well, that solves that mystery. But it doesn't bring us any closer to finding him and stopping him from threatening us again.”

  “I can tell you where to find him,” Julie returned. “He's staying in that old flour mill outside of town.”

  Pete Wheeler stiffened. “That's right next door to the aluminum plant.”

  “What if it is?” Julie asked.

  “He could have snuck in there from the flour mill,” Pete pointed out. “He could have found a way to get in after the plant shut down for the night. He could have done all his tampering then.”

  Julie shook her head. “If I hadn't seen him with a gun this afternoon, I never would have believed he could do such a thing.”

  “Believe it,” Vanessa shot back. “So he's in the flour mill. How are we going to catch him?”

  “We aren't going to catch him,” Pete told her. “You, Penny and Alan are going to stay right here while the police apprehend Walter. Julie, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to stay here, too. We can't run the risk of you tipping him off again.”

  “Oh, I won't tell him anything ever again,” she snapped.

  “Still,” he told her. “You'll have to forgive me for taking precautions. You did it before, and it almost cost you and Vanessa your lives. Please stay here while I get a squad together to bring in Walter.”

  Julie nodded. “I understand. Where would you like me to stay?”

  Pete hesitated, and Vanessa intervened. “You can stay in the room next door with me, Julie. We'll both be safe there, and Pete can come and let us know the moment he has Walter in custody. What do you say? The room's all paid for and everything.”

  “All right,” Julie replied. “Thank you, Vanessa. I don't think I would be as forgiving as you are.”

  Pete stepped out, and Vanessa went out with him. He paused on the sidewalk and took her hand. “Are you sure this is a good idea, sharing your room with her? She could be one of Walter's agents, and this could be a ploy to get close to you to make another attempt on your life.”

  “If she is one of Walter's agents,” Vanessa replied, “then there's no better place for her than in the same room with me. I can keep an eye on her, and there won't be any chance of her telling Walter you're on your way to arrest him.”

  “Just be careful, will you?” he asked. “You've run too many risks and faced too many dangers already.”

  She moved closer to him. “Don't worry. I'm being as careful as I can. Now go get Walter and we can all go home.”

  He kissed her on the forehead. “I'll come back and let you know the minute we have him behind bars.”

  Chapter 8

  Vanessa lay down on the bed in the motel room next to Penny and Alan's room. Julie sat down at the table and fiddled with her cell phone. Vanessa closed her eyes, and the next thing she knew, the sun was streaming through the room and birds chirping outside the window. She glanced at the clock. 7:00am. She slept the whole night without waking once. So much for keeping alert.

  She kicked herself when she looked around the room and noticed Julie gone. Some watchdog she turned out to be. She sat up on the edge of the bed and straightened her hair just as someone knocked on the door. She peeked through the window and found Pete Wheeler on the doorstep. “Did you get him?”

  Pete shook his head. “He wasn't there. We even posted a guard, but he won't come back to the flour mill. He knows we're onto him now. He'll find some other place to hide.”

  “So we're back to square one,” Vanessa remarked. “..and we lost Julie, too. I mean, I lost Julie. She slipped out while I was asleep.”

  “No,” he told her. “I came by to tell you we missed Walter, but you were asleep, so I decided not to wake you up. Julie said she had to go into the office, but she would let me know if she heard from Walter again.”

  “And you believe her?” Vanessa asked.

  Pete shrugged. “She seems genuinely sorry for putting you in danger. At least, she seems genuinely sorry for putting herself in danger. I'm willing to give her a chance to redeem herself. After all, she's the one who told us he was in the flour mill in the first place.”

  “She could have made that up to throw you off the track,” Vanessa pointed out. “She could have told you that to get the police to run over there looking for him while Walter committed some other heinous deed.”

  “We can only wait and find out,” he replied. “In the meantime, I have a different place for you to stay tonight.”

  “Oh? Where?” she asked.

  “Somewhere you can take your cats with you,” he told her.

  Vanessa clapped her hands and jumped up and down. “Oh, Pete! You are a treasure. Where is it?”

  “It's Mrs. Harris's house,” he replied.

  “What? Your place?” she exclaimed.

  “Well, you'll have your own room,” he explained. “You know how Mrs. Harris is. She wouldn't stand for us sharing a room, since we aren't married. But I explained the situation to her, and she agreed to give you and the cats a place to stay, just until you figure something out.”

  Vanessa threw her arms around him. “Oh, thank you so much. You don't know what it was like, spending the night without my cats.”

  “From what I saw,” he told her, “you didn't have any trouble spending the night without your cats. I showed up around eleven o'clock, and you were sound asleep.”

  Vanessa grinned. “You're right. But I have to get back to the shop now. They'll want their breakfast, and I have to get them ready to move.”

  “Do you have enough crates for them?” he asked.

  Vanessa nodded. “I have all the cat crates anyone could want in the basement. We're the Cat Protection League, after all.”

  He drove her back to the Opportunity Shop and dropped her off on the sidewalk outside. “If any of them gives you a hard time, you tell them to talk to me. I'll straighten them out.”

  Vanessa slammed the car door. “Don't worry. I think they'll be happy to get out of the apartment for a while.”

  He called through the open window. “I'll be back in three hours to pick you up.”

  Vanessa let herself into the shop, and the cats greeted her with their usual hungry meows.

  “Did you have a quiet night?” she asked. “Apparently I did, although I don't remember much of it. I must have been a lot more tired than I realized. I'm not surprised, after that scare I had with Walter yesterday. Anyway, we're going to be staying with dear old Mrs. Harris for a while, at least until I can find another place to live.”

  She set out their breakfast as usual on the back wall of the shop. Henry sat up on the book table and stared down at the other cats eating. The sight of his placid face and squinted eyes set Vanessa's mind at ease. “No, I don't think I want to go back up to the apartment. Who knows how long it will take to fix, and I could never turn on the bedroom wall heater again without taking my life in my hands.”

  She washed out the cans and straightened up the children's toys.

  “I really don't know,” she went on. “Julie told us Walter was in that old flour mill on the other side of town. You know the one next to the aluminum plant? I know. That's what Pete said, too. He thought Walter could have snuck into the plant after
hours to sabotage that gas line. Anyway, when the police went there, they didn't find him. He must have moved to another hiding place.”

  The other cats finished eating, and Henry jumped down to the floor. He stood next to the shoe rack and waited for the crowd to thin before he moved in for his own meal.

  “I really don't know,” Vanessa told him. “After yesterday, I'm ready to give up all this sleuthing. I've had enough. I just want to go back to the nice quiet life we had before. Oh, I know. We'll still have Pete in our lives. That won't change. Now, come on. Let's get ready to go. Three hours isn't that much time to get thirteen cats packed up.”

  Vanessa straightened the shop. Then she went down to the basement and got out the cat crates. She lined them with old blankets from the linen shelf in the shop and made a cozy nest in each one. She left them standing open in the middle of the floor so the cats could sniff around them and get used to the idea.

  Vanessa cleaned up the breakfast dishes and started on the paperwork left over from the previous day. “I don't know what Mrs. Harris has in mind. She might want you all to stay in your crates in the garage, for all I know. I don't think she wants thirteen cats running around her house. She's a prim old lady who can't stand mess, let alone cat hair. I know what Pete said about her giving Aurora a home, but that could have been nothing more than a nice idea. You know how it is.”

  Henry finished cleaning his whiskers and strolled over to his crate.

  “I know you had a terrible time in your crate yesterday,” Vanessa told him. “But I think we can be certain we won't have a repetition of yesterday's excitement. As soon as the police find out where Walter is staying, he'll be taken into custody and he'll be out of our lives forever.”

  Henry sniffed his crate. Then he stepped into it and curled up into a furry ball.

  “That's right,” Vanessa told him. “We have thought the same thing before. I don't know when we're ever going to be rid of him for good.”

  The doorbells jangled, and Vanessa turned to see who it was. “Julie! I thought you were at the office.”

  “I was,” Julie replied. “I had some phone calls to make. After what happened yesterday, I felt so bad about telling Walter where you were that I decided I had to do something to make it up to you. I called the owner of that property. I explained your situation, and he agreed that, if you are serious about buying it, you could move into it right away. It's standing there vacant. All you have to do is make an offer on it, and you can move in whenever you want.”

  Vanessa's eyes widened. “You didn't have to do that. I have a place to stay for now.”

  “Do you mean Mrs. Harris's house?” Julie asked. “Detective Wheeler told me you would be there. You know you'd be a lot more comfortable out at the property, and your cats would have all the room they need to run around. If you were ever serious about buying that property, you can have it now. It's the perfect solution to your problem.”

  Vanessa grinned. “Spoken like a true real estate agent.”

  Julie grimaced. “I'm so sorry for getting you into this mess, Vanessa. I'm not thinking of my commission here. I just want to make good on the mistake I made. I didn't know Walter was so dangerous when I told him where you were going.”

  Vanessa patted her arm. “I know. I was only teasing. Thank you very much for thinking of me. I will call my bank manager right now and see about arranging the paperwork. I would love to buy that property, and I know my cats would love it there, too.”

  Julie hesitated. “Is there anything more I can do for you?”

  Vanessa turned away. “Not unless you have some other idea where we can find Walter. I don't think any of us will sleep at night until he is put away for good.”

  Julie shook her head. “I don't understand why he wasn't at the flour mill. He's been staying there ever since he came back to town. When Detective Wheeler told me they hadn't found him there, I was as surprised as anybody.”

  “Never mind,” Vanessa replied. “Walter has agents all over town. I'm sure one of his people told him the police were on their way.”

  Julie nodded and turned away. “Let me know if there is anything more I can do for you.”

  “Thank you, Julie,” Vanessa exclaimed. “I'm sure we'll continue to deal with one another during the sale of this property.”

  Julie drove away in her SUV and Pete drove up in his Toyota Corolla. Penny sat in the front passenger seat, and her brother Alan sat in the back. Pete looked around at the cat crates. “All set?”

  Vanessa nodded. “Great news. I'm going to buy that property outside of town, and we're going to move in tomorrow.”

  Pete gasped in astonishment. “Wow. Great. I don't think you would be very happy at Mrs. Harris'. It was only a temporary arrangement anyway. That is really great news.”

  “Julie arranged it,” she told him. “I'm convinced now that her tipping off Walter really was an accident. She's trying to make up for it any way she can.”

  “I should darn well hope she would,” Pete growled.

  “Don't forget,” Vanessa told him. “Walter almost killed her, too.”

  “I haven't forgotten,” he replied. “That's the price you pay for dealing with people like him.”

  “She didn't know that at the time,” Vanessa told him. “But she knows it now. Anyway, we'll stay with Mrs. Harris tonight, and we'll go home to our new house tomorrow.”

  Pete waved toward his car. “If you're ready, let's go.”

  “What about the cats?” Vanessa asked. “They won't fit in your car.”

  “No,” he agreed. “They're going in the paddy wagon.”

  “The paddy wagon?” she repeated.

  At that moment, a white police van pulled up to the curb behind Pete's car and a uniformed officer got out. He opened the back grating. Pete laughed at Vanessa's expression. “You never thought your cats would be hauled away by the police, did you? The wagon is the only vehicle I could find to fit thirteen cat crates, and Captain Jameson was very kind to let me use it for the afternoon.”

  Vanessa shook her head. “I'll be sure to send him a thank you card.” She helped the officer load the crates into the paddy wagon. They lined the benches and filled the whole floor. Then he locked the door with the cats inside.

  Pete laughed again when he saw her staring at the plain white van. “They won't get away from us this time.”

  Vanessa smiled. “My poor little darlings.”

  Pete chuckled and opened his own car door. “Come on.”

  “Are Penny and Alan going to Mrs. Harris's house, too?” Vanessa asked.

  “No, they're going to the Mountain High Inn,” he told her. “When Julie told us about passing information to Walter, I decided to move them so she wouldn't know where they were. I still can't trust that woman.”

  “She's all right,” Vanessa insisted.

  “I hope you're right,” he replied. “In any case, I'm not taking any chances until Walter is off the streets.”

  Vanessa got into the seat next to Alan, and Pete started down the street. Vanessa gazed out her window at the town passing by. “I never thought it would come to this. I always thought Caspar Crossing was above all this criminal stuff.”

  “It was,” Penny told her, “until Walter came along. I can't wait until he's in federal custody.”

  “He was in federal custody,” Pete pointed out. “He's supposed to be in federal custody now.”

  “So what are we going to do to protect ourselves from him?” Vanessa asked. “If we can't rely on the FBI, we'll never be safe as long as Walter is alive.”

  “We'll have to figure out a way to neutralize him,” Pete replied. “I don't know how, but we'll find a way.”

  Chapter 9

  Pete cruised through the town. “Should we drop off Penny and Alan first? Or should we take you to Mrs. Harris's house?”

  “Why don't you drop me off first?” Vanessa suggested. “Then Penny and Alan don't have to worry about a paddy wagon full of cats sitting around while they
get checked in.”

  Pete nodded and turned toward Mrs. Harris's house. The smoke stacks of the aluminum plant came into view. “There it is. We still have no evidence that Douglas Middleton sabotaged that gas line. I wish we could nail him once and for all. I don't like letting a guilty man walk around free.”

  “We don't know that he is guilty,” Vanessa told him. “Walter could have done it himself, especially with access from the flour mill.”

  The car rolled past the flour mill, and Penny gave a cry. She pointed through the windshield. “Look! Do you see what I see?”

  They followed the direction of her gesture, and Vanessa started forward in her seat. “Yes! There goes Walter into the flour mill.”

  Pete screeched to a stop. He veered into the entrance of the mill and threw his car into park. The paddy wagon stopped right behind him. “You all stay here. I'm going in after him.”

  “You can't go alone,” Vanessa called after him. “Let one of us go in with you.”

  Pete tossed her his cell phone. “Call Captain Jameson. He's number seven on my speed dial. Tell him to get the SWAT team out here pronto. I'll keep Walter pinned down as long as I can.” He took off running toward the mill before she could answer.

  Vanessa turned the cell phone on and started punching buttons. She delivered Pete's message to Captain Jameson, then she, Penny and Alan sat and waited.

  “How long does it take to get the SWAT team out?” Penny asked.

  “You would think they would be here by now,” Vanessa replied. “This could be a real emergency. Pete could be dead in there for all we know.”

  “And Walter could be getting away,” Penny added. “We don't want that, either.”

  Vanessa heard the screeching and yowling of cats over the machinery of the aluminum plant next door. “I better check on them. Their crates could be turned over and smashed to bits.”

  She went to the back of the paddy wagon and opened the door. The crates weren't tipped over, but the cats somehow escaped from them in transit. The moment she opened the door, a handful of cats shot through the opening and dashed into the flour mill before she could get the door closed again. She barely had time to recognize little Aurora running in the midst of the pack.