By Cat or By Crook

by Patricia Fry

  “And the week’s not even over yet.”

  “Huh?” she moaned.

  “It’s only Friday,” he said as he climbed into the bed. “Oh, Iris called while you were in the bathroom. She said authorities are finished out at the Kaiser place. She was going out there to lock up. Craig took off to pursue another case.”

  “Tonight? He sure spends a lot of time out of town these days,” Savannah said.

  “Yeah, those two are a couple of workaholics, aren’t they?”

  The Ivey household had been quiet for a couple of hours when Savannah was awakened by the sound of knocking. She sat up and listened. I think someone’s at the door. Who could that be? she wondered as she climbed out of bed and slipped into her robe. Once in the living room, she pulled the drapes back and peered out the window. “Iris,” she said, while opening the door. When Savannah saw her friend standing on the porch, she gasped. “Iris, what happened?” She glanced beyond her into the darkness, then quickly ushered her inside.

  Iris pushed the door closed and turned to face Savannah. “I…uh…I,” Iris muttered, just before she collapsed.

  “Oh, my gosh,” Savannah said under her breath as she supported Iris and helped her walk to the sofa. She caught a glimpse of blood matted in Iris’s red hair. “Were you in a wreck? What are you doing out so late?” she asked, trying to make sense of what was happening.

  “Who is it, hon?” Michael asked, stumbling a little as he shuffled down the hallway in his slippers. He squinted toward the women. “Iris, what…uh…what happened?” he stuttered when he saw Savannah struggling to lead their friend into the living room. He rushed to help his wife just before Iris sat down hard and fell back against the sofa cushions.

  “Here, lie down,” Savannah coached, placing a pillow under Iris’s head and helping her put her feet up. “Michael, get a glass of water and a wet cloth, would you?” As he started to leave the room, she called, “And a towel. She’s bleeding.” She turned on a nearby lamp, then returned her attention to Iris. When she got a better look at her injuries, she yelped. “Iris, your face!”

  “I got out to the property kinda late,” Iris muttered, rolling her head from side to side. “As I was leaving, I heard something behind the house—a scraping sound—so I went out there.” She took hold of Savannah’s hand and closed her eyes. “I know, stupid, stupid, stupid.” Iris looked up. “Savannah, he jumped me.” She cringed. “He thinks I found something.” Her voice was barely audible. “I didn’t know what he was talking about. He didn’t believe me and he…” Iris started to cry.

  By then, Michael had returned to the living room. “Are you saying someone did this to you?” he asked, anger evident in his tone. When she nodded, he took a closer look at Iris in the light and clenched his teeth. “I’m calling 911.” Once he’d retrieved the nearest phone, he frowned in Iris’s direction. “Where’s Craig? Does he know about this?” Before she could respond, Michael said into the phone, “Hello, can you send paramedics out to 33 Cranberry Way? We have a badly injured woman. It appears that she has been attacked. Yes she’s conscious, but pretty banged up and bleeding.” After ending the call he turned on the outside lights, then returned to Savannah and Iris. “They’re on their way. Iris, do you want me to call Craig?” He grimaced. “Wait, he’s out of town, isn’t he? Did you call him?”

  Iris shook her head and said haltingly, “I didn’t want to…to…bother him. He’d…a…he’d worry.”

  “Of course he will. We have to call him,” Savannah said, dabbing the washcloth against Iris’s head wound. As Iris writhed in discomfort, the front of her hooded sweatshirt gaped and Savannah noticed blood seeping through her blouse. “Gads, you have a gash on your shoulder, Iris!”

  “He had a knife.” Before Iris could say anything more, she went limp.

  Savannah gulped. “Oh my gosh, Michael! She’s passed out. I hope help gets here soon. She’s in pretty bad shape.”

  “I know,” he said, moving closer to check Iris’s pulse.

  Savannah rushed to the window. “Please hurry,” she said into the night.

  “She’s probably going into shock,” Michael said. “Why don’t you get some blankets?” In the meantime, he raced to the door, unlocked it, and swung it open. “I hear them coming. Dang, the sirens will probably wake your aunt and Max. She’s going to freak out.” He walked back toward Iris, nervously running one hand through his straight, dark-brown hair.

  “Did you call Craig?” Savanna asked as she carefully arranged a heavy blanket over Iris.

  “Not yet.” He turned just as two male paramedics approached the front door. “It appears that someone attacked her,” Michael explained, as he ushered them into the living room. “In fact, that’s what she told us before she passed out. She has a gash on her head and one on her shoulder there.”

  “She said he had a knife,” Savannah said, her voice slightly shrill.

  “Someone really worked her over, didn’t they?” the younger of the medics muttered.

  The other one said, “Hey, isn’t this Detective Sledge’s wife?”

  Michael and Savannah nodded.

  Just then they heard another voice. “Dr. Mike? Savannah?”

  They turned to see Deputy Ben and Deputy Jim standing at the front door.

  “Come in, please,” Michael called.

  “She says someone attacked her,” the younger paramedic told the officers. “Looks like this is one for you guys.”

  “That’s Iris Sledge, isn’t it?” Ben asked, glancing from Iris to the Iveys.

  Savannah and Michael, who now stood off to the side, nodded.

  “Did she say what happened?”

  “No, just that whoever did this had a knife,” Savannah said, choking up. “And that he thought she had found something.” She turned to Michael and asked quietly, “Did you call Craig?”

  “I’m going to do that right now.” When he stepped back into the room, he told her, “He’s on his way to San Francisco. I’ll call him back when we know more.”

  “Well, she’s going to the hospital, I can tell you that,” the older paramedic said. He looked Savannah in the eyes. “Better call her family and have them meet us there.”

  By the time the second paramedic had wheeled the stretcher into the house, Iris was beginning to regain consciousness. “Oh good, you’re awake, Mrs. Sledge. Do you know where you are?” he asked.

  Iris looked around and spoke with effort, “Savannah’s and Michael’s house. Where are they?”

  “Right here, Iris,” Savannah said, walking up to her and squeezing her hand.

  Iris began to weep. “My shoulder hurts.”

  “I know. Can you sit up for us?” the older paramedic asked.

  “Oooh, I’m dizzy,” she said as the two men helped her to a sitting position.

  “We want to apply a temporary bandage,” one man explained. “I think you’ll feel a little better for your trip.”

  “Trip?” she asked weakly.

  “To the hospital.”

  “Oooh,” Iris moaned. “I hoped it wasn’t that bad.”

  “It’s that bad,” the younger paramedic said. “You have a head injury and that needs to be checked out.”

  Upon hearing this, Savannah put her hand on Michael’s arm. “Hon, would you call Damon and Colbi? Tell them I’ll pick them up in fifteen minutes.” She watched as they transferred Iris to the stretcher.

  “You’re going to the hospital?” Michael asked.

  Savannah nodded, then said, “Oh, that’s my phone. It’s probably Auntie. Would you answer it while I get dressed?”

  “Just as I thought,” Michael said, chuckling a little when he joined Savannah in their bedroom a few minutes later. “Your aunt heard the commotion and had a conniption. She’s sorry to hear about Iris, but awfully relieved to know that we’re all okay.”

  “I imagine so,” Savannah said, just before stepping into the bathroom. She stopped at the doorway. “Wo
uld you grab me a bottle of water? No, make that three of them. And get my red jacket out of the hall closet, please.”

  “Sure,” he said, taking his usual long strides out of the room.

  Within minutes, Iris was on her way to the Straley Hospital in an ambulance and Savannah wasn’t far behind. She stopped to pick up Iris’s oldest son, Damon. Colbi opted to wait at home.

  “What happened?” Damon asked when he got into Savannah’s car.

  “As near as we can figure, someone roughed her up.” She glanced at him as she drove. “She said he thinks she found something, but she didn’t seem to know what he was talking about.” She shook her head. “Damn, this just makes me so mad.”

  “Well, they did find that skeleton yesterday,” Damon reminded her.

  “Yeah, but I don’t think that’s what this is about. She didn’t seem to know what this guy was after.”

  “Was it someone she knows?” Damon asked, visibly distressed.

  “I don’t know. She was only conscious for a little while before the paramedics arrived, then they carted her off.”

  Damon sat quietly for a few minutes. “I appreciate you calling me, Savannah.”

  “Well, I was pretty sure you’d want to know. Did you call Craig?”

  Damon nodded. “He’s on his way home—well, to Straley. He should be at the hospital in a few hours.” He stared at Savannah. “So this happened out at the Kaiser place did it?”

  Savannah hesitated, then said, “Yes. She had been given the okay to go over there tonight and lock up.” She glanced at Damon. “Why? What are you thinking?”

  “Well, obviously she’s been under a lot of stress lately. Colbi and I talked about it and we don’t believe it’s all because of the complexity of the work. Do you, Savannah?”

  “Well…I…uh…” She glanced at him while she drove, then stated firmly, “Yes. I’ve certainly been concerned about her. But Damon, I don’t think she knows any of the family’s secrets. I think she’s just stressed because it’s such a big project and the people haven’t been all that easy to work with. Plus, as far as Iris is concerned, there’s a lot at stake here. She desperately wants that calling card—a bed-and-breakfast showing the public the kind of work she can do.”

  Damon nodded. He asked quietly. “Do you think that is actually the heirs’ true intention?”

  “What?”

  “A bed-and-breakfast.”

  She glanced at him a couple of times. “Well, that’s something I haven’t considered. Why would you say that? Do you think they have an ulterior motive? What do you think it would be?” Before he could respond, she said, “We’re here. Gosh, I hope she’s going to be okay.”

  “She’s just got to be,” Damon said, leaving the car and walking with Savannah to the hospital entrance. As he opened the door for her, he said, “She’s going to be a grandmother soon, you know, and that’s important to her…and to Colbi and me.”

  Savannah smiled at him. Once they entered the waiting room, she said, “I’ll wait here, Damon. You go check and see if they’ll tell you anything.” Savannah glanced around. A hospital sure has a lot of stories—happy ones, like when Lily was born and frightening ones, like when Harrison was near death. Now, it’s Iris. She just has to be okay.

  Just then, Damon returned. “They want to get her stabilized, then they’re going to stitch her up.” He added, “I guess she was cut with a knife. What exactly happened, do you know?”

  “Like I told you, she said someone attacked her. Someone who evidently thought she had found something or was keeping something from him. Did she tell you she thought she was being followed…maybe stalked?”

  He shook his head and looked down at his hands. “When did this start, do you know?”

  “She told me about it a week or so ago. And I actually saw someone lurking around out at the Kaiser place twice when I was there.”

  “Do you know who it is?” he asked, his teeth clenched.

  “On both of those occasions, it was one of the laborers. She didn’t seem concerned about him, just annoyed. She told me that one of the Kaiser brothers has been snooping around the project. But I didn’t take that seriously; he is one of the owners, after all.”

  “Snooping around where?” Damon asked.

  “According to your mom, he has been tapping on walls, examining areas under construction like when they tore out the old fireplace, and she’s seen him digging all around the property with a shovel.” Savannah turned to face Damon. “Oh, when we were out there the day they discovered the skeleton, my aunt found something she thinks is important, but they kicked us off the property before we could investigate it. I wonder if that has something to do with what happened to your mom.”

  He glanced toward the reception desk. “Let’s hope she can tell us.”

  Savannah picked up her phone and looked at the screen. “It’s Craig calling. Hi, Craig.”

  “Where are you? How’s my wife?”

  “We’re at the hospital. I’m here with Damon. They’re stitching her up. We don’t have any information other than that. Where are you, Craig?”

  “About an hour out.” He hesitated. “Did she say who did this to her?”

  “No.”

  “Well, keep me posted, will you?”

  “Sure will,” she said.

  It was forty-five minutes later when a nurse came out and spoke to Damon. “You can go in now.”

  “How is she?” he asked.

  “More comfortable. She wants to see you.” She looked at Savannah. “Both of you.” She glanced around the waiting room. “Is her husband here?”

  “Not yet,” Savannah said, quickly checking her watch.

  “What happened, Mom?” Damon asked, when he entered the emergency room and approached her cot.

  “I was getting ready to leave the Kaiser house…”

  “So you got the okay to return there?” he asked.

  Iris nodded.

  “I wanted to make sure the place was locked up.” She grimaced. “Well, as tightly as I could secure it with that gaping hole in the outside wall.” She looked at Savannah, then Damon. “They covered the hole with plastic. I guess Michael asked them to do that so the cats wouldn’t go back in there.” She took a couple of shallow breaths. “I thought I heard something and I walked out behind the place with a flashlight. I didn’t see anything, so I moved closer.” She waved her hand in front of her and closed her eyes. “I know, not very smart.”

  “No, Mom,” Damon said, gently scolding her.

  “I still didn’t see anyone or anything and I started to leave, but then I spotted a shovel lying out near the Dexter rock.”

  “The what?” Damon asked.

  When Iris seemed to run out of energy, she motioned for Savannah to explain.

  “It’s a rock imprinted with the name Dexter. My aunt thinks there’s a treasure buried underneath it. There’s a drawing of it in that book she took from the attic and that page has a big X on it. She believes it’s significant somehow.” Savannah prompted Iris. “So you saw a shovel out there?”

  She nodded and swallowed hard. “Yeah and I walked over to take a closer look and that’s when my lights went out. I guess I wasn’t out for long, because, when I woke up, someone was standing over me. Before I could figure out who it was…” she started to weep, “…he hit me. I managed to scramble to my feet and that’s when I saw he had something shiny in his hand. I think it was a knife. It must have been a knife, because I have a stab wound. They stitched it up.”

  “Do you know who it was?” Damon asked.

  She rolled her head from side to side, then grabbed Damon’s arm. “Whoever it was should be walking around with a gnarly gash on the left side of his face.” She managed a sly grin when saying, “I got him a good one with that big old flashlight before I ran like the dickens to my car. I barely made it to Savannah’s.”

  “Do you remember anything about this person?” Damon asked. “Was he
tall, stocky, old, young…?”

  “It wasn’t that old guy who came in the cab, was it?” Savannah asked.

  “So there you are,” came a voice from behind Savannah and Damon.

  “Craig,” Savannah said, giving him a one-armed hug.

  He immediately went to Iris and looked down at her. “Good God, babe,” he said when he saw her bruised face. He set his jaw. “Who did this, do you know?”

  “No,” she said quietly.

  “Mom says she slammed him alongside his face with a flashlight, so he should have some telltale bruises of his own,” Damon said with satisfaction.

  Craig smiled down at her. “That’s my girl. So when will they let you out of here?”

  She looked around for someone in charge. “I don’t know.”

  He took her hand and squeezed it, asking quietly, “How are you feeling?”

  “Not so good,” she said, holding tightly to his hand. “I just want to go home.”

  He let go of her hand, patted it, and walked away, saying, “Let me see what I can do.” When he returned, he said, “Someone will be here in a minute to check you over. They want to make sure you’re stable enough to manage at home.”

  “Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” the emergency-room doctor asked Iris after a brief examination a few minutes later.

  “No bad news, please,” she said, her eyes welling with tears.

  “Okay, the good news. You can possibly go home tomorrow morning.” He looked at the clock on the wall. “I mean this morning.”

  “Awww,” she protested.

  “Mrs. Sledge, you took quite a beating there. We’d like to keep you under observation for a few more hours.”

  She looked at her husband, who said, “I agree with the doctor. I’ll stay with you and we’ll go home after daylight, okay?”

  “Who’s going to catch the bad guy?” she asked, her voice cracking.

  “Oh, I have people on that as we speak. I should hear back from them shortly.”

  Chapter 8

  “Where’s Savannah?” Iris asked from her hospital bed about six hours later.

  “She and Damon went on home. I told them you were in good hands,” Craig said, rising from the chair where he’d slept restlessly during the night.