A Cat to Kill For

by Greg Miller

  “Probably. I’d just hate to be wrong again and make fools of ourselves. I doubt they’d take us seriously after that.”

  Emily twisted her lips. “I think it’s highly unlikely that we’re wrong this time. But I suppose we need to be absolutely sure.” She took a deep breath, looking out the side window. “Yes, I know what I said, but I don’t see that we have any alternative … I mean, it’s not like someone’s house where we’re likely to get shot …” She went on, as Gavin looked at her, puzzled. “And we could get a picture of the engine number as proof. Oh, alright. You’ve talked me into it,” she said.

  Gavin squinted. “I have?”

  Emily nodded. “So, we’ll do it tonight?”

  “You want to break in tonight?”

  “Why not? We’re on the verge of finding the engine and catching Andrew’s killer. Don’t you want to do it tonight?”

  Gavin put his head back against the seat, yawning. “You got to sleep in this morning. I was up early and I’ve been driving for hours. I really need to get some sleep. Besides,” he said, reaching for the ignition, “I think we need time to plan this thing out.”

  Gavin was sitting on the living room floor with his duffel bag and an assortment of tools spread out on the rug before him. He picked up a flashlight, shining it on the wall to check that it worked.

  The guest room door opened. Emily stepped out wearing a black sweatshirt, tight black pants, and a black cap over her ponytail.

  “Why are you dressed like that?” Gavin asked, looking up.

  “To break in, of course.” She stared at his khakis, shirt, and tie. “Why are you dressed like that?”

  “Because I want to look respectable and not raise suspicion. We don’t want to look like burglars if someone sees us.”

  Emily twisted her lips. “I didn’t think of that. I’ll go change.” She started to turn.

  “Wait,” Gavin said, standing up. He took hold of her waist and kissed her. “You look really hot dressed like that.”

  “I see that you’re well rested now,” she said, pulling her head back and trying to extricate herself from his embrace.

  “You know,” he whispered. “We could stay here, and do the break in tomorrow night.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m thinking we could … get to know each other better.”

  Emily looked from side to side.

  “You really don’t know what I’m talking about?”

  She knitted her brows. “Do you mean, like, talk about our pasts? Because I’ve been wondering about that, and I think you must have been very odd as a child.”

  Gavin shook his head. “What I mean is that I want to sleep with you tonight,” he whispered.

  “Oh.” She snickered. “That’s what I thought you meant, at first. Why didn’t you just say that? I’ve been wanting to do that, too.”

  Gavin took a deep breath and smiled. “So we’ll stay here tonight?”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “No. We agreed to break in tonight. I wanted to engage in some lascivious activity last night,” she said, lifting her nose. “But you decided you needed some rest and went to bed without me. I even put my ‘alluring elfin princess’ cosplay outfit on and waited for you.”

  Gavin furrowed his brow. “You did?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “No. But I might have, if I didn’t hear you snoring on the other side of the wall!”

  “I’m sorry,” Gavin said. “But if you’d like to know the real reason I was so tired, it was because I lay there awake most the night before, after you fell asleep on me at Bill and Nicole’s.”

  “That’s too bad.” She smiled. “I might sympathize if you hadn’t chosen a cigar over me.”

  “I didn’t choose a cigar,” Gavin said, clenching his teeth. “It was an opportunity to get some important information. Which, in fact, I did.”

  “That was very good and I commend you for it.” Emily tightened her lips. “Now let’s stop bickering, and focus on the task at hand.”

  “You’re right.” Gavin sighed. He lifted an eyebrow. “You really have some kind of sexy elf outfit?”

  Emily nodded her head, slowly. “Perhaps you’ll get to see it later if you aren’t too tired to celebrate our finding the engine.”

  He gulped, looking away. “Jeez. Maybe Daryl was right.”

  “What was that?” she asked, leaning closer.

  “Nothing,” he replied quickly.

  Emily went back into the guest room. Gavin took a clipboard from the coffee table and knelt back down on the rug. When she emerged again, she was wearing jeans and a collared blouse.

  “Looks good.” He nodded.

  Emily snatched the clipboard from him. “Alright. Now let’s get down to business. I’ll read the list and you pack the things.” She stood, looking down at him.

  Gavin rolled his eyes.

  “Bolt cutters?”

  He picked them up and placed them in the bag. “Check.”

  She dashed a mark off on her page. “Crowbar?”

  “Check,” Gavin said, after putting them in the bag, too.

  “Flashlight?”

  “Check.”

  “Small tool bag, and lock picking set?”

  “Check, and check.”

  “Magnetic field detector, magnets, and duct tape?”

  “Check, check, and check.”

  “Paintball gun, latex gloves, and chalk?”

  “Check, check, and another check.”

  “Binoculars?”

  “Check.”

  “Satellite pictures and map?”

  He placed a large envelope in the bag on top. “Check.”

  “I’ll carry the camera,” Emily said. “And that’s the last check.”

  Gavin got up from the floor.

  “I really enjoyed that.” She smiled. “Would you like to go over the list again to be absolutely sure?”

  Gavin winced. “I’d love to,” he said, lifting the duffel bag’s strap onto his shoulder. “But we have a long drive and it’s getting late.”

  Emily frowned, and followed Gavin, switching off the lights and shutting the door behind them.

  CHAPTER 18

  The Morgan crawled to a stop at the end of a dusty dirt road. Gavin turned off the headlights and reached for the door handle.

  “Don’t forget your gun,” Emily said, opening the glove box.

  “I think I’ll leave it here,” he replied, twisting in his seat to look at her. “In the unlikely event that we do get caught, I don’t want to be armed.”

  When they got out of the car, they were greeted by the sound of crickets, together with the fading howl of speeding truck tires on the nearby highway. The moon was waxing overhead, and it was just bright enough to see without a flashlight.

  Gavin took his duffel bag from behind the seats and they made their way toward an embankment beside the road, littered with beer cans and trash. He took Emily’s hand as they climbed the steep hill through weeds and brush to a chain-link fence. Gavin dropped the duffel bag, and was bending down to unzip it when Emily tapped him on the shoulder.

  “It looks like someone did this, already,” she said, pointing to a large piece of fence that had been cut and bent back, about ten yards away. They made their way to the hole, and crawled through.

  Emerging on the other side they had a better view of the storage center below. There were six long rows of storage units, all brightly lit by flood lights on tall poles. A tiny office building was on the opposite side.

  Gavin knelt down and rooted through the bag. Removing the binoculars, he stood back up and scanned the area. “The row closest to us is marked ‘F’ so ‘E-6’ should be on the next row.”

  Emily nodded while swatting at an annoying bug.

  “I can’t tell if
there’s anyone in the office – it’s too far away. And there’s a security camera on that pole beneath the light. I’ll need to take it out.”

  Emily’s eyes opened wide. “Can I do it?”

  Gavin looked at her skeptically.

  “Please, oh, please?”

  “Sure.” He chuckled, removing the paintball gun from the bag and handing it to her.

  “Awesome!” She smiled, taking it in her hands.

  He slung the bag over his shoulder, and they crept down the embankment until they were closer to the light.

  Emily stood in the shadows at a right angle to the camera and took aim. She pulled the trigger and, with a click and a whoosh, hit it.

  “Nice shot!” Gavin said. “I’m impressed.”

  Emily smiled. “Should I shoot out the light, too?”

  “By all means.”

  She took aim again, and peppered it with paint balls until the area became dark. Then, she moved forward in the shadows and, just to be sure, hit the camera again.

  “You’re just showing off now.” Gavin smiled.

  Emily shrugged. “And they say video games are a waste of time.”

  Gavin gave her a kiss.

  They made their way to the storage unit marked ‘E6.’ He put the duffel bag on the ground and removed the magnetic field detector. Pressing the device against the lower corner of the unit’s overhead door, he slowly moved it up the side, placing a little chalk mark on the door frame when it beeped. Then he ran the detector across the top and down the other side.

  Emily handed him two pieces of tape which he used to secure magnets over the spots he’d marked. She paced, looking around nervously while Gavin put on a pair of latex gloves, and spent a few minutes picking the lock. Feeling it click, he turned the handle and cautiously lifted the door part way. He peeked underneath, shining his flashlight into the space.

  “I don’t see any other security devices,” he said, and pulled the door up all the way. The chrome on Armando’s Jaguar gleamed in the moonlight, and Gavin lingered for a moment looking at it.

  “Please be quick.” Emily urged.

  Gavin bent down to open the driver’s side door, but saw a flashing red light under the dashboard. “Damn!”

  “What’s wrong? What is it?”

  “There’s a car alarm.” Gavin sighed.

  “Can you disable it?”

  “I think so. The little tool case in the bag – can you get it for me?”

  Emily got the tools as Gavin laid down on the concrete floor beside the car.

  “You keep a look out,” he said, as she handed it to him. Unable to get his head beneath the car, he used his flashlight and strained to look up under the engine compartment.

  “What’s taking so long?” Emily called from the doorway.

  “I can see the siren and wires, but I can’t reach it,” he said, pulling a pair of wire clippers out from under the car. “I’m just going to have to let it go off.”

  “Okay,” Emily said, cringing.

  Gavin rolled over on the floor and glanced up. “Oh, damn!”

  “What is it now?” she exclaimed.

  “There’s a motion sensor on the ceiling. The police are probably already on their way.”

  “Oh, shit!”

  “Listen for any approaching cars and be ready to run.”

  Emily took deep breaths as Gavin picked the lock on the driver’s side door. He opened it, and the siren went off with a deafening wail. He reached in, popped the hood, then rushed to open it and check the engine number.

  “It’s not ...”

  “What?” Emily yelled over the screeching siren.

  “Damn, Peter. It’s not the motor!”

  Emily ran back into the storage unit. “Let’s get the hell out of here!”

  The screeching car alarm suddenly stopped. They looked at each other, then out toward the open doorway.

  Armando stood glaring back at them. He had the alarm’s remote in one hand, and a Beretta pistol in the other. “Step away from my car and keep your hands where I can see them. Hello, Emily,” he said, turning to her. Emily’s eyes widened in panic. “Yeah, I finally figured it out, Gwen. How did you get mixed up with this guy?” He sneered.

  “It’s not what you think,” Gavin said, as Emily stared at the ground, shaking.

  “Shut up!” Armando shouted, pointing the gun at him. “I guess it wasn’t enough to get your hands on his car and his sister. You’ve dragged her into car thievery as well. Is that how Campbell Classic Cars gets all its inventory?”

  “Please,” Gavin said. “Let me explain. We …”

  “I said shut up!” Armando’s eyes narrowed. “I can’t believe you killed Andrew and then had the gall to join his club.”

  Emily looked up. “Killed Andrew? You think that Gavin killed my brother?”

  Armando studied her face. “I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you – he’s a murderer. He’s been manipulating you,” Armando said. He turned back to Gavin. “And that makes you even more despicable.” He reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out his phone. “I’m calling the police.”

  “I know how this looks,” Gavin said. “But we thought you killed Andrew.”

  “Yeah, right.” Armando snickered. “You can’t do any better than that?”

  “We’re looking for the missing engine from Andrew’s Jag.” Gavin spoke as quickly as he could. “Someone in the club has it, and whoever it is must have killed him.”

  “What?” Armando scoffed.

  “Please,” Gavin said. “Just give us a minute to explain.”

  Armando lowered his gun slightly as he considered them both. He turned to Emily.

  “You trust him?” he asked, gesturing to Gavin.

  She nodded in reply.

  He lifted his gun back up before he spoke. “Fine. I’ll listen. But only because Andrew was my friend.”

  Inside, the convenience store was brightly lit. Emily studied the plexiglass food displays as a trucker finished paying for fuel and left. The chubby, college-age clerk waddled down to the end of the counter where she stood.

  “Can I help you?” he asked.

  Emily wrinkled her nose, squinting at him. He wrinkled his nose and squinted back.

  She quickly looked away. “Are the pretzels any good?”

  “They were when I put them out.” He shrugged. “But that was yesterday.”

  Emily twisted her lips. “How about the pizza?”

  “Want my honest opinion?”

  She looked at him from the corner of her eye and nodded.

  “I wouldn’t eat it.”

  Emily frowned. “I don’t suppose the hot dogs …”

  He cringed, shaking his head.

  “Thanks,” Emily said. “You’ve been extremely helpful.”

  “We aim to please.” He smiled.

  Gavin and Armando had taken a seat in a Formica booth by the window. Armando gave Emily a faint smile as she slid onto the bench seat beside Gavin, and tore open a bag of potato chips.

  “Incredible,” Armando said. “Andrew told me he thought there might be something special about the car, but I never imagined it would lead to something like this.”

  Gavin took a sip of his coffee. “Did he tell you anything else?”

  “I wish he did.” Armando sighed.

  “Hmm.” Emily frowned, munching on a chip.

  Gavin rested his elbows on the table and put his head in his hands. “Now, would you please tell us why you were hiding it?”

  Armando chuckled, taking a sip of his soda. “I went through a really ugly divorce. My ex was unbelievably spiteful toward the end and knew how much I loved that car. She got a court order forcing me to sell it, along with our home. I didn’t care about losing the house, she’d picke
d it out anyway, but I wasn’t about to lose that Jag.” He shrugged a shoulder and smiled. “So I misled the appraiser as far as its value, forged a bill of sale, and took some money out of my retirement account for the settlement. I’ve had it hidden in that storage unit for almost three years now.”

  Gavin’s nose crinkled with disdain. “Women can be so damn malicious when it comes to cars. I had a girlfriend who keyed both sides of my old Lotus Elise.”

  Armando made a pained face, shaking his head.

  “Umm,” Emily interrupted, knitting her brows. “Getting back to the primary issue – can you think of anyone who might have the engine?”

  “I really wish I could,” Armando said.

  Emily leaned forward. “Do you know if any of them own a shotgun?”

  Armando shook his head. “I’m the only one who owns any guns, as far as I know.”

  “Do you have one?” she asked.

  Armando chuckled. “I used to have a very nice one, but I lost that in the divorce too.”

  Emily frowned again.

  “I still have a hard time believing it could be someone in the club,” Armando said. “But from what you’ve told me, I suppose it must be.”

  Gavin gritted his teeth. “It keeps coming back to Peter. He’s given us wrong information at every turn.”

  Armando thought for a moment. “I can understand why Peter was suspicious of me. I was trying to keep the car a secret, and I did tell him I’d sold it.”

  “Do you know much about him?” Gavin asked.

  “Not really. I know he’s highly respected for his magazine articles. He’s been in the club forever – long before I joined – but he keeps mostly to himself. I have to say that it’s really hard for me to imagine him being a murderer. I’ve always thought of Peter as being like an absent-minded professor.” Armando shrugged a shoulder. “But, he is obsessed with Jaguars, and he is a very smart guy.”

  Gavin bit his lip, nodding.

  Armando checked his watch, yawning. “I’m really sorry. I need to get up early for work tomorrow.”

  “Of course,” Gavin said. “Thanks for hearing us out. And for being so understanding.”

  “Andrew really was a good friend, and I’ll do my best to help you out.” He slid toward the end of the bench. “I’ll call you if I think of anything.” He glanced at Emily. “You two take care.”