Cat Breaking Free

by Shirley Rousseau Murphy

  Chichi looked at him with speculation. "You want a cup of coffee? Or a drink?"

  Clyde shook his head. "I need to run Dulcie home, her owner's worried, too. She called me twice."

  "Could you walk me in, though? It is dark back there. If Luis-if he's come back…" She shivered. "If he got home and saw the empty cage…" She did look frightened. Joe wished he knew what she was thinking, wished he could read her thoughts.

  He'd been startled at how tender she was with Abuela, as if she really cared for the old woman. Strange, he thought as he watched Clyde walking Chichi down the drive. He hoped Clyde wouldn't go in, wouldn't succumb to this out-of-character side of Chichi Barbi, and to the charms that would likely follow.

  32

  As Clyde walked Chichi down the dark drive, Joe leaped to the front seat and reared up, looking out the window. He heard Chichi's key turn the lock, and her soft "I'll just check my room…" Heard her door squeak open. Dulcie hopped over the back of the seat and stretched out beside him, her dark tabby stripes tiger-rich in the gleam of the moon. "I'm bummed, after that cage."

  "We were in there only a few hours." But Joe felt much the same, wrung out with the stress of being locked up. He couldn't half imagine how the others had felt. He'd never before been in a cage, except at the vet's, and he could open those cages if he wanted. Besides, Dr. Firetti treated him royally. Well, he guessed his cat carrier was a sort of cage, but of course he knew how to open that.

  Dulcie's pink tongue tipped out, licking nervously at her front paws. "The padlock and those heavy bars, the awful crowding. And the stink." Her emerald eyes were round with stress. "I was really scared. I never felt like that before."

  Joe lay down and put his head against her. "I knew we'd get out. If not Clyde or Wilma or Charlie, if not Kit, then we'd find some way."

  "I wasn't so sure. Thank God for Kit." But she looked at him mournfully. "Where is she? I couldn't stand it if she never came back."

  Joe licked her ear. "She'll come back." He only wished he believed that. "Kit likes her luxuries too well. She won't get filet mignon and Alaskan salmon and imported cheeses up on those wild hills. Or silk pillows and cashmere blankets. Anyway, she loves Lucinda and Pedric far too much to leave them, or to hurt them."

  "But she…" Dulcie sighed, and shivered, and was silent.

  "She's just having a lark. She'll be home. I never dreamed Chichi would help us."

  "You really think she'll come home, that she won't stay with that wild band?"

  Joe listened to the hush of Clyde's step coming back up the drive and crossing the street. "She'd be crazy to do that. All the time she was a kitten, running with them, she longed for someone to love her." He nuzzled Dulcie's shoulder. "Kit might go off for a while. But it won't last."

  Clyde slipped into the car and started the engine. "What won't last?"

  "Kit wouldn't stay with them."

  Clyde glanced at him. "Maybe she's already home with Lucinda and Pedric."

  "Maybe," Dulcie said hopefully. "Tucked up warm, with a tummy full of goodies. Maybe she just showed the ferals the best way out of the village, where to cross, to avoid the traffic…" Trying to convince herself, she rolled over on her back, watching the treetops swing by upside down as Clyde headed across Ocean for Wilma's. She could smell home, smell the scents of her neighborhood, before ever Clyde slowed the car.

  Wilma Getz's low, stone house stood so close to the hill that it had no backyard, just a narrow walkway before the hill rose steeply up. Wilma had made up for this lack by turning her deep front yard into a lush English garden with rock paths, great tangles of flowers and ferns beneath the sprawling oaks. A rich floral gallery that thrived under Wilma's care.

  Both the front and back doors faced the street, the back door at the south end near the garage, the front door near the north end of the low Norman structure. Clyde killed the engine and sat staring at the dark house. "Where is she?" He turned to look at Dulcie. "Out searching for you? And she's just out of the hospital."

  "She can go out if she wants," Dulcie said, standing with her paws on the window. "The light's on in the back, in the bedroom-the reflection against the hill. She's tucked up in bed, reading, that's all. She knows I'm all right."

  "You damn near weren't all right!" Clyde snapped. He glared at the thin glow of light washing up the hill behind the house brightening the tall grass, and glanced at his watch. "It's only seven."

  "She just got out of the hospital," Dulcie hissed. "At sixty-some years old, she can go to bed early and read if she wants."

  Clyde opened the driver's door. As he stepped out, the cats leaped out over their own side of the open car and headed for Dulcie's cat door. The air smelled of woodsmoke: a fire would be dancing in the little red stove in Wilma's bedroom. Home! Dulcie thought. Wilma would be reading Bailey White's magical stories. Dulcie, able to think of nothing but snuggling down with her housemate beneath the flowered quilt, bolted away through her plastic door far ahead of Joe.

  Before Clyde could ring the doorbell, Dulcie heard Wilma at the front door. She must have swung out of bed the minute she heard his car. Oh, Dulcie thought as she raced across the laundry, she must surely have been worrying. Looking through to the living room, she watched Wilma shut the door behind Clyde, and the two of them head for the kitchen. How lovely to be home, with Wilma all cozy in her red plaid robe, barefoot, her long gray-white hair hanging loose down her back.

  In the kitchen, Wilma said not a word to Dulcie or to Joe. She and Clyde exchanged a long look, then stood watching as the cats fought the refrigerator door open. No one helped them.

  Wilma had been worried all evening, and was feeling grumpy. She didn't know why she'd been so uneasy, since the cats were often gone for long periods. Somehow, today had been different. Dulcie could at least have called.

  That thought made her want to giggle. Though it was perfectly true, the tabby cat could have called and saved her endless worry.

  As to opening the refrigerator, already the cats were dragging out Dulcie's plastic dishes from the bottom shelf, which belonged exclusively to her. Hauling the covered bowls onto the kitchen rug, flipping off the lids with practiced claws, they devoted their full attention to the sliced roast chicken, the homemade custard, and cold beef Stroganoff that Wilma had left for them. They heard Wilma ask Clyde if he wanted coffee or a drink, glanced up to see Clyde open the lower cabinet where Wilma kept her meager supply of bourbon and brandy, retrieve the bourbon, and fetch two glasses. But everything tasted so good they could think of little else but their supper. They hardly paid attention until Wilma sat down at the table, saying to Clyde, "You look as angry as I feel. What have they done this time?"

  Dulcie and Joe stopped eating and glared up at her.

  "I swear you two have taken twenty years off my life," Wilma told them. "The idiot who said that living with a cat lowered your blood pressure didn't have a clue."

  Dulcie's tail switched with annoyance. Clyde poured a double bourbon and water for himself and a light one for Wilma. "Tonight," he said, "I guess we shouldn't hassle them." He sat down opposite Wilma. Wilma's eyes filled with uneasy questions.

  "So what happened?" she asked tensely. "And where's Kit? Is Kit all right?"

  "It was Kit who saved the day," Clyde said. "But…"

  "What happened? Lucinda's so worried. It's as if…" She looked down at the two cats. "Lucinda and I have been edgy all evening, for no real reason."

  Joe and Dulcie looked at each other. Clyde waited for them to answer.

  "Where's the kit?" Wilma demanded.

  Dulcie looked up at her quietly, her green eyes round.

  "What?" Wilma said.

  "She's all right," Dulcie said around a mouthful of Stroganoff. She leaped into a chair, looking up at Wilma. Wilma put out a hand but didn't touch her; she sat tense and waiting.

  Dulcie tried to begin at the beginning but had trouble deciding where the beginning was. She didn't want to tell Wilma all of it. Though Wi
lma had experienced plenty of danger, herself, before she retired from the federal probation system, when danger threatened Dulcie or any of the three cats, that was another matter. She told Wilma how they found the caged cats, but left out that they had tossed Abuela's house while the crooks slept. Immediately, Wilma saw there were omissions.

  "What's the rest of it, Dulcie? You're leaving things out."

  Dulcie sighed. It was no good living with an ex-parole officer; Wilma saw everything. She told her housemate about their search, but did not make much of it. Then told how Clyde and Chichi and Kit had gone in through Abuela's window and Clyde had cut the padlock and freed three captive cats. But Wilma sensed another lie of omission, and made her tell the rest, how she and Joe were locked in the cage, too. Then Clyde told how Kit had discovered where they were and brought him to rescue them. When they'd finished, Wilma poured herself another drink, stronger this time.

  Sipping her bourbon, Wilma absently bound back her long hair into its usual ponytail and tied it with a piece of string from a kitchen drawer. "And they meant to sell those poor cats? They knew what they were, and meant to sell them! And to sell you!"

  "We think it was more than that, too," Dulcie said. "The captives heard the men talking. Luis seemed to think they would tell someone about their robberies, and about some murder."

  Wilma swirled the ice in her drink. "Could it be Dufio's murder? Oh, did Luis kill his own brother?"

  Joe said, "Maybe Luis was afraid Dallas or Harper would trap Dufio into telling their plans, or into naming the gang members. Dufio wasn't famous for his quick wit." Joe licked up the last of the custard, and leaped into the fourth chair, rubbing his face against the edge of the table, smearing custard. Dulcie gave him a chiding look.

  Joe licked his paw and cleaned his whiskers. "Luis and Tommie talked about 'the others.' Men apparently staying in half a dozen places around the village, rented rooms, the cheaper motels. Later, Kit heard it, too. From Chichi and Roman Slayter. Kit says Slayter is part of the gang."

  "And Chichi, too." Wilma said. "Doing their surveillance."

  Dulcie said, "If Chichi hadn't helped Clyde find us, we'd still be locked up. She didn't have to do that. And she was kind to Abuela." Hunching down in her chair, the little tabby sighed.

  "Even if Kit did see Chichi spying, and heard them talking about the burglaries… Chichi did help us."

  "Chichi had a close friend in L.A.," Joe said. "Frank something. I guess he was part of the L.A. gang. He was killed during that bank job Harper was talking about." The tomcat scowled. "It's frustrating when all you can do is listen, and can't ask Harper or Dallas what you want to know. Sometimes…"

  Clyde set down his drink. "If you two start asking questions! If you…"

  Joe smiled. He loved steaming Clyde, he could always get a rise, even when Clyde knew he was only goading him.

  Clyde poured himself another drink. Wilma shook her head. "No more, I won't sleep." She looked at the cats and thought about what they had told her and wondered if she'd sleep anyway. She wondered how much more they hadn't told her. Though Joe and Dulcie were seldom as secretive as her parolees, she was too often aware that the two cats did not share everything, that too often they kept their own counsel.

  Or, she thought generously, maybe they just wanted to clarify unanswered questions before they shared their information.

  She was certain that, first thing in the morning, the cats would show up in Harper's office, to try to fill in the facts. She imagined them crouching high in Max's bookcase, listening or reading over Max's shoulder. She said, "Where is the kit? You haven't told me, and I need to call Lucinda."

  But immediately she saw the dismay on all three faces.

  "She didn't… She didn't come back from that house with you," she said slowly. She looked intently at Dulcie. "She… she went away with the ferals? Oh, she didn't go off with the ferals, with the wild ones?"

  "They wouldn't run far," Dulcie said. "Not tonight. Those three were exhausted. They wouldn't take off into the cold night and the dangers of the hills without rest and food and fresh water. Kit wouldn't let them do that, they can't be far away. They were weak with stress, from being in that cage." She put a soft paw on Wilma's hand. "She's just gone along for a little while, to take care of them, find them a safe place to rest. And maybe," she said, smiling, "maybe to Jolly's Deli?"

  Wilma said, "Would she take them home to Lucinda? To her own safe haven, to eat and rest before they run again?" And before Dulcie could answer, Wilma picked up the phone.

  Lucinda answered out of breath, as if she'd been hurrying. Wilma punched the speaker button as Lucinda was saying, "… out on the veranda calling Kit. I swear, that cat… Is she there, Wilma? Have you seen her? Have Joe and Dulcie…?"

  Immediately Wilma was sorry she'd called. What was she going to say? But now her foot was in it.

  It took her a while to fill Lucinda in. Lucinda took it better than Wilma thought she might. The older woman was silent only a second. "The tree house," Lucinda said. "Our new house is empty, there's no one around. It would be safe there. Kit loves that tree house, she…"

  Before Lucinda had finished, Clyde and the cats were out the door. "I'll call you," Clyde shouted back at Wilma; and they piled in the car and took off up the hills.

  Wilma, alone in the house and strung with nerves, considered making herself another drink. Instead, she got a piece of cheesecake from the freezer and fixed herself a cup of cocoa. Sitting at the kitchen table waiting for Clyde's call, she could only think how incredible life was. Since Dulcie and Joe discovered their latent talents, and Kit appeared out of the wild, life was more amazing than she had ever dreamed.

  She thought, amused, that one way or another, those three cats with their keen intelligence and insatiable hunger for criminal investigation would destroy the last of her sanity. Drive them all mad, either with the stress of keeping their secret, or with worry and fear for them.

  But she couldn't be angry. She could only shake her head and smile.

  33

  From her wheelchair, Abuela stared defiantly up at Luis, her angry scowl matching his own. "They're gone! What could we do? We could do nothing. The man broke in, came through the window bold as brass and started sawing at the lock. When Maria tried to get out the door to get help, he swore and tied us up. Where was Tommie? Why didn't he hear us! He didn't come to help! That man threatened to kill us, and no one to help us. All that, over your mangy stray cats!"

  "You're lying, old woman!"

  "Who then tied us up? We didn't tie each other. And what do you think that is?" Abuela pointed at the severed padlock that lay on the floor among a scatter of cat litter. "Pulled those cats out, stuffed them in a bag and hauled them out the window. Said if we yelled or tried to use the phone, he'd do us, whatever that means. What did he want with cats? Why would he break in here, for cats? What did you want with them? Even you don't know!"

  Behind Abuela, Maria remained silent. She was very pale, rubbing her arms where the belts had bound her. Luis stared at his sister and at his grandmother, picked up the lock and studied the severed pieces. "Where's the saw, Maria? What did you do with the saw! Why would you do this thing! You threw a fortune out the window! I swear, I should kill you both."

  "I didn't cut the lock! Where would I get a saw! What did I do, cut the lock and then tie myself up?" Maria glared at Luis until she saw a spark of uncertainty. "Get out of here, Luis! Give us some peace! That was not a pleasant experience. There's not an ounce of sympathy in you." Putting her arm around Estrella, she peered down into the old woman's face as if afraid her abuela would collapse from fear and shock. "Go away, Luis, and leave her alone. You've done enough harm."

  Luis turned away, muttering, and left them. Maria shut the bedroom door and leaned against it. She was amazed that she'd stood up to Luis.

  It was the man who had come in the window and freed the cats, it was his boldness that had given her the strength to face Luis like that. Imagine, t
hat man going to so much trouble to save a cage full of cats. Why would he do that? Maybe, Maria thought, there was something valuable about those cats. Or could it be, she wondered, that there really was such gentle goodness in the world that a man would risk his own safety to free the miserable beasts?

  She could hear Luis and Tommie arguing out in the hall, then the front door slammed. She heard them tramping around the house through the bushes as the beams of their flashlights careened across the blinds. "Run, cats!" Maria whispered. "Run!"

  At last they heard Luis's defeated swearing, heard his car doors slam, heard the car start and peel out into the street. As if they'd gone to search elsewhere. That made them both laugh, that Luis thought they could find terrified cats running scared out in the night.

  But Abuela touched her rosary and closed her eyes, her lips moving. And Maria prayed, too, prayed for that good man. Then she crawled back into bed and lay imagining those cats racing free, far away from Luis. And she smiled.

  ”My tree house," Kit said, scorching up the thick trunk of the oak tree ahead of the three ragged-looking escapees. "My house, where you can hide and rest."

  Willow and Coyote paused on the threshold, looking in at Kit, taking in the snug shelter. But Cotton pushed right in past them, bold and curious.

  There were no cushions yet on the cedar floor, but the pile of dry oak leaves that had drifted into the corner of the cozy, square room provided a soft, warm bed. There was no ladder leading up the thick trunk of the oak to alert a human to the presence of the little house hidden high among the leaves. And though the cedar walls broke the wind, providing welcome warmth, there was nothing to confine them. The three open windows and open door offered easy escape in all directions.