by Patricia Fry
He noticed an edge to her voice. “I did, actually,” he said in his defense. “…that is, until…”
“Until what?” she groused, as she trotted toward the door to the building.
He followed her. “Well, I had the leash in my hand and when I noticed he had jumped up onto the wood framing under there, I tried to get him to come back down. But by then he’d disappeared and I figured the best way to get him was to go inside and nab him.”
Savannah stepped in through the door with a flashlight and walked into the former reception area. She shined the light around the room. “Where do you think he went in, Luke?”
He thought for a moment, then pointed. “Probably like eight feet in that direction.”
“Under the staircase?” Savannah asked, her voice shrill.
She and Margaret both shined their flashlights around the sides of the staircase.
“Sometimes there’s a door under a set of stairs for storage,” Margaret said. “Do you see one?”
“No, but they could have wallpapered over it. Luke, do you have a knife or something we can use to cut into that wallpaper?”
He pulled out a pocket knife. Before handing it to Savannah, he said, “Let’s feel around and see if we can find a door before we go to cutting, shall we?”
“Rags!” Savannah shouted. “Rags!” She turned to her aunt. “Did you hear that? I think he’s in there. Yes, let’s feel around and see if we can find an opening. If not, I’ll have Michael come over here with his saw and sledgehammer.” She put her ear up to the wall around the space under the stairs and called, “Rags?”
“Do you hear him?” Luke asked.
“Not anymore.” She put one hand out. “Wait.” She shushed the others. “Listen. I hear something.” She jumped away from the wall for a second, then went back to listening. “What in the heck is going on in there?”
“What?” Margaret asked, joining her with her ear against the wall. “I don’t hear anything.”
“I don’t feel anything that appears to be a door of any sort,” Luke admitted.
“There, I hear a cat,” Savannah said excitedly.
“Vannie,” Margaret said sternly, “look.”
When Savannah turned in the direction Margaret indicated, she saw the third black kitten sitting on a stair step, looking down at them and mewing. “Oh, hello there,” she said. “You want to go home with us, huh?” She thought for a moment, then said, “I’m going back to the crawl hole and see if I can talk him out that way.”
But all of their efforts were unsuccessful. Rags seemed to be trapped inside an unknown void in the construction of the building, or else he was adventuring and didn’t want to be discovered.
Feeling defeated and frustrated, Savannah finally said, “I’m going to call Michael and have him bring some tools.”
“Look, Vannie,” Margaret said, “it’ll be dark soon. Why don’t we board up the crawl hole and come back in the daylight with Michael and his tools?”
“No!” Savannah insisted. “I’m not leaving him here in this creepy place overnight. Those other cats might attack him. He is an intruder, after all.”
Margaret started to protest, but when she saw that her niece was near tears, she let out a long sigh. “Okay, give your husband a call and see what he thinks.”
Savannah dabbed at her eyes, then edged her phone out of her pocket and made the call. “Michael, Rags is lost inside the walls of the seminary building and we can’t get to him. I’m afraid for him, Michael. Would you bring your saw over here and see if we can get him out?”
“He what?” Michael asked. “He’s lost in the walls? That’s a big place, Savannah, how are we going to find him?”
“We think we know where he is. We just can’t find a way to reach him. Please, Michael,” she pleaded.
Upon hearing the emotion in her voice, he agreed. “Okay, hon, I’ll be right over.” He paused before saying, “I’ll see if I can drop Lily at Iris’s and Craig’s. I hate to drag her out to that place.”
“Good idea. I’ll call Iris while you’re getting her ready.”
When Michael arrived at the seminary, he found Savannah and Margaret struggling to block the crawlspace with a piece of plywood they’d found among the debris. “Here, let me help you with that,” he offered. “Why are you doing this, anyway?”
“We don’t want Rags to escape through here,” Savannah explained. Then she noticed that Michael wasn’t alone. She smiled at the man who accompanied him. “Well, hi Craig. What are you doing out here?”
Michael chuckled. “He wants to see how I use some of the new techniques I’ve been learning at the home-repair class.”
“Darn right,” Craig confirmed. His voice softened. “And I want to make sure my buddy gets out okay.” He frowned. “How did Rags get into this mess, anyway?”
“Oh, Craig,” Margaret carped, “you know how it is with that cat.”
Ignoring her aunt’s comment, Savannah explained, “Luke took him under the building to help find any cats that might be hiding under there and Rags pulled one of his shenanigans…” Margaret interrupted. “Yeah, his Houdini act.”
“Somehow he found his way up into the interior of the building and we think he may be stuck inside there.” Savannah motioned. “Come on, we’ll show you where we think he is.”
Michael looked around. “Where’s Luke?”
“Oh, we sent him on his way with the cats we’d trapped,” Margaret explained. “He still had work to do with them before he could call it a day and there’s not much daylight left.”
Savannah smiled. “He was reluctant to leave us, but we told him you were on your way.”
Michael gazed at the building. “Okay, show us where you think your delinquent cat is.” After surveying the situation inside the building, he asked, “So you think that where he went in from down there is right under these stairs, do you?” He walked around the staircase a few times with a flashlight and ran his hand through his hair. “You know, often this space is used for storage; there’s probably a door somewhere. Did you check for a door?”
Margaret nodded. “As you can see, we tore into the wallpaper looking for one.”
“That’s odd. Don’t you think so, Craig?” Michael asked.
Craig shrugged.
“I mean, it would be unusual to let so much space go to waste.” He began tapping on the enclosure under the staircase. “I tend to agree that there probably was a door at some point. I wonder what happened to it. Why would they hide it?” He continued to tap and knock on the wall on both sides of the enclosure, finally saying, “Did you hear that?”
“What?” the others asked.
“Well, listen,” he instructed. He tapped the wall, then moved over a few feet and tapped it again. “Hear the difference? I think this is your opening, right here.” He pulled out his knife and cut away at some of the wallpaper. “They did a pretty good job of concealing this door.”
Once Craig got a look at what was underneath the wallpaper, he ran his hand over the putty and tape. “Boy, I’ll say. Smooth as a baby’s bottom.”
At that, Michael picked up his battery-operated power saw and began cutting into the door. Once he’d removed it, Craig shined his flashlight inside the space. “Yup, storage,” he said.
Margaret pushed closer. “I want to see, I want to see.”
Savannah stood back and asked quietly, “Is Rags in there?”
“No, I don’t see the cat,” Craig said.
Savannah grimaced and glanced around the room. “Where could he be?”
“So what is all this stuff?” Margaret asked, stepping into the space with her flashlight.
“I don’t know,” Craig said. “Looks like boxes of books and papers. Probably old records from when this was a school.”
“Yeah, administration forms, curriculum materials, and such, I would imagine,” Michael agreed. “It doesn’t seem as though they’d leave all this stuff behind, though.”
After peering into the alcove for a
few moments, Margaret said, “They didn’t leave very much. I mean, that school operated for a long time. I wonder where the rest of the records are.”
“And I wonder where Rags is,” Savannah said, stepping inside the small room and looking around using the glow from Michael’s and Margaret’s flashlights. “Do you see any way in or out of here from under the building?”
“Sure don’t,” Michael said. “If he crawled up into the structure, he wouldn’t be able to make his way into this area.”
Savannah covered her face with her hands. “Oh no. Where is he?”
Michael winced. “I sure don’t know. I guess we’ll have to go under there to find out. Craig, you stay up here. I’ll see if I can find where he went in and I’ll tap in the area. You mark it on this end.”
“Now, Luke said Rags sort of disappeared up into the framework under there,” Savannah said. “Michael, he still has his harness and leash on. Luke tried to hold onto the leash and back him out of there, but he said there was no way. By then, the leash was wrapped around something or Rags had turned a corner, maybe. Gads, I hope he’s not tangled up somewhere inside this building. That could be it. He could be caught and he’s stuck in there.”
“If that were the case,” Michael said, “I think he’d be yowling his head off.” He turned to Savannah. “Give me Luke’s number. I’ll call him and see what information I can get from him. Then we’ll go take a look.”
“Hey!” Margaret shouted. “Check this out, you guys. Wow, this is scandalous!”
“What?” Craig asked, moving to where she stood holding a handful of documents.
“Well, it appears that some of the people hired to teach here and maybe even some of the administrators were into something outside of the divinity of the seminary doctrines, if you know what I mean.” When she noticed the others were waiting for an explanation, she said more quietly, “I think there were some undercover witches working here. These boxes seem to be full of reports of evil witchcraft and unauthorized spells and other mysticism being perpetrated on students and staff—counter, of course, to the theology this seminary was accredited to teach.” She looked at the others. “At least, that’s what I’m getting from some of these documents.”
“Well, that is scandalous,” Craig said.
“So someone didn’t want this stuff leaked, it seems.” Savannah stared at the items her aunt clutched. “I wonder if this has any bearing on why the seminary closed.”
“Yeah,” Margaret said. “And I wonder who hid all this stuff in here and why?”
“Look at this!” Savannah shouted.
When everyone looked in her direction, she picked up a statue that she’d uncovered.
“A black cat,” Margaret said under her breath. “Vannie, do you think those black cats we keep seeing inside this place are somehow related to what used to go on out here—I mean the mystical, woo-woo stuff?”
“Yeah, and that could still be going…” Savannah said, her voice trailing off. She took a deliberate breath. “Hey, let’s go find my cat before it gets as dark outside as it is in here.”
“Yes, I’d like to get back to my newspaper…and dinner,” Michael said, having finished his conversation with Luke. “Okay, so listen for my knocking,” he instructed as he left the room and headed for the crawl hole outside the building.
“Wait,” Margaret said before Craig and Savannah left the small room. “Here are some old photographs.”
“Not now, Auntie. One thing at a time. Let’s get Rags back and get home out of the cold. We can look at pictures tomorrow.”
Margaret stared at her niece for a moment, then grabbed a handful of the photos and stuffed them into her jacket pocket before following the others out of the storage area.
“Over there!” Craig pointed when he heard Michael’s tapping. He rushed to a spot six feet from the storage area and close to a stone fireplace. “Listen now,” he instructed. “Where, exactly, is he?”
“I think it’s under the fireplace,” Savannah said.
Craig frowned. “Could be.” He walked closer and examined a small compartment built into the side of it. “For wood storage,” he said, opening it. He picked up a piece of wood and tapped against the far wall of the small space and promptly heard a tap in response.
“Michael, did you find where he went in?” Savannah called.
“Yeah. I think so. I’m coming up.”
“Wait,” she said. “Michael, call him. See if you can get him to come out of there.”
“Okay.”
The others stood quietly while Michael called out to Rags. Then they listened for the cat’s response.
Michael yelled from down below, “Did you guys hear anything?”
“Not a sound!” Craig shouted.
“Where could he be?” Savannah whined.
Once Michael had joined the others inside the building, he studied the fireplace and the area all around it. Finally, taking a deep breath, he said, “I don’t even know where to start. He could have found a maze that takes him all throughout the ground floor—a tunnel just his size.” He turned to Savannah. “Oh, I did find what looks like his fur around that opening down there where Luke saw him disappear. Of course, it could be some other cat’s fur.”
“So what are we going to do, Michael?”
“Start cutting into the floor, I guess.” He shook his head. “Sure hope we don’t have to cut into that old stone fireplace.”
“Did you bring the right tools?” Savannah asked.
He looked at her. “Hon, why don’t we block off the crawl hole and go on home. I’ll think some more about how to approach this. We can come back tomorrow when we have more daylight and a fresh perspective. In fact, maybe he’ll come out of the crawl hole in the morning after spending the night here.”
“Michael…” Savannah complained.
“He’ll be okay, hon. Come on, now. Let’s go get our child and have some dinner.”
“Michael,” Craig said, “you might pull some of those boards off the windows to let more light in here for you to work in tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I think I will. And I’ll bring my shop lantern. Maybe Damon will come out and help me with this in the morning.” He looked at Savannah and Margaret. “Were you gals planning to do more trapping tomorrow?”
Margaret nodded. She glanced at the stairwell and patted the photos in her pocket. “Yeah, and I’d like to snoop around in here some more.”
Chapter 5
At round nine the following morning when Margaret picked Savannah up, she asked, “Where’s the princess?”
“Michael took her to Colbi’s when he picked up Damon.”
Margaret glanced at her niece as she drove. “How are you feeling today, Vannie?”
“Okay. Just a little tired. I sure hope we can find Rags and release him from that monster of a building.”
Margaret chuckled. “The building is a monster?”
Savannah pouted. “Yes. It has captured my cat, hasn’t it?”
“Pshaw, he’s probably on one of his adventures. Hopefully, he’s hungry and ready to surrender by now.” She changed the subject. “Hey, I guess Luke went out after we left last night and set the traps again.”
“Well that won’t do much good. We blocked off the crawl hole.” After thinking about it, Savannah said, “Unless there are cats hanging around in the debris piles.”
Margaret cringed. “He removed the board Michael put over the crawl hole.”
“What? Why did he do that?”
“Well, he didn’t know Rags was still stuck in there. He wanted to make sure the cats could get to the traps—you know, in case they were hungry.”
Savannah started to respond when her phone chimed. “It’s Michael. He and Damon are probably already out at the place.” She put the phone up to her ear. “Hi, Michael.”
“Hi. Well, you’re not going to believe this.”
“What? What happened?”
“
We caught Rags.”
She relaxed against the seat. “Oh, good. How is he?”
“A bit indignant, actually.”
“Why?”
“Well,” he hesitated. “…when will you be here?”
“Um…we’re almost there. Why?”
“I think I’ll just wait so you can see for yourself.”
Savannah let the phone drop to her lap. “Well, that’s odd.”
“What?” Margaret asked.
“Michael said they found Rags and he’s indignant.” She frowned. “I wonder what he means.”
“Well, here we are. Let’s go find out.”
“What’s going on, Michael?” Savannah asked as she stepped out of the car. She glanced at Damon. “Why are you guys staring at that trap?”
Michael pointed. “Look.”
Margaret couldn’t help herself. She burst out laughing. “Oh, my gosh. Will you look at that? He got himself trapped, did he? And I thought he was supposed to be a smart cat.” She did a double take and squinted at the cat. “What’s that he’s got on him?”
Savannah simply stared for a few seconds before kneeling next to the trap. “Rags, I’m so glad to see you.” She frowned. “But what has happened to you?” She opened the trap to let him out and continued checking him over.
Margaret chortled. “What is he, a butterfly? Vannie, he’s wearing wings.”
“Yes, I see that. Crumpled angel wings.”
“And bloomers,” Margaret said. “Ewww. Dirty bloomers, I might add.”
Savannah shook her head. “How disgusting. Why would someone put panties on a cat?” She looked up at the bell tower and shuddered. “I guess there’s no denying that someone other than us has access to this place.” She started to pick up Rags when Michael stopped her.
“Let me take care of those soiled britches,” he said, reaching down and removing the clothing.
“What’s that?” Savannah asked, leaning over to peer more closely at Rags. She looked up at the others. “Someone has shaved him. Look, he has a strange emblem on his shoulder. What is that? Who would do that?”
Margaret gasped and put her hand up against her mouth.