by Patricia Fry
“He’s dead?” another officer asked.
“Yeah. What was that—a suicide, or maybe accidental suicide?”
****
“I’ve got him,” Craig said when Savannah answered her phone. “He’s okay.”
Savannah stood up and walked toward a window. She looked out and asked, “Is it over?”
“Yes. It’s over. Lancaster’s dead. You can all go about your business now. I’ll be there shortly with your cat.”
“Who’re those guys?” Adam asked, pointing out the window.
“Someone must be hurt and they’re taking a stretcher to bring him out,” Michael said.
Savannah heard Michael’s comment as she ended the call. “No one’s hurt,” she said, quietly, “but Paul Lancaster’s dead.”
“How? I didn’t hear a shot.”
“I don’t know. Craig’s on his way.” She choked up and added, “I’m just happy to hear that Rags is okay.” She watched at the window until she saw two men emerge from the thick stand of trees. She squinted, trying to identify the men and to maybe get a glimpse of her cat. Within seconds, she turned toward the others. “Hey, it’s Craig. He has Rags. Oh, Ragsie,” she said, rushing out to meet Craig. But she stopped in her tracks. “Blood!” she cried. “Is he hurt?”
“No,” Craig assured her. “Not a scratch on him.” He looked down at the cat in his arms. “I tried to clean him up.” He grimaced. “I’m afraid it’s Paul Lancaster’s blood.” He carefully handed the cat to Savannah, saying, “Hey, I’ll see if I can find a wet rag so we can get the rest of it off him.”
Adam and Cassie, followed by the others who’d been holed up in the café, approached the cat.
“Hi, Rags,” Adam said, petting him.
“Don’t touch him,” Savannah warned. “Let us clean him up first, okay?”
When Craig returned from the café he gave Savannah the wet towel, then Iris handed him a cup of hot coffee. “Thanks, Babe,” he said, hugging her.
She put her hand on his chest. “You all right?”
He nodded and took a sip of coffee. “Got the cat back in one piece.”
Meanwhile, Christopher went to Savannah’s side. He ran his hand over Rags’s head. “I’m glad he didn’t hurt your cat.”
She smiled.
Then seeing the EMTs emerge from the trees with the stretcher, Christopher asked, “Who’s that they’re bringing out on the stretcher?”
Craig moved closer to the young man. “I’m sorry, Mr. Lancaster. It’s your brother, Paul. His little scheme backfired.” When the others waited to hear more, he glanced at the children and explained more quietly, “He decided to stab Rags, but Rags slipped out of his hands just ahead of the blade and…well, the poor dude ran the knife into himself.”
Chris looked at Rags. “He must be a wily one to have outsmarted my brother.” He continued, “Good riddance. Paul’s in a better place. I hope he gets some help there and that he can spend eternity with some level of joy.” When he saw his officer friend, he caught up to him. “How’s the girl—Nancy? Dead, right?”
The deputy shook his head. “From what I hear, the creep cut her up pretty bad, but the wounds were mostly superficial. She evidently found water stashed up there, and while she couldn’t get out, she kept herself alive. They just brought her down. She’s on her way to the hospital.”
Christopher let out a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness.”
“Ready to go?” Michael asked Savannah minutes later. “Teddy could probably use some supper. I fed the other kids.”
“Ice cream?” she asked.
“Yeah, after their hot dog and potato chips.”
“Ugh,” she said. “I hope we don’t have any urfy accidents on the way home.”
****
“Do you have to leave?” Iris asked later when she saw Savannah meticulously packing her tote bag and a small ice chest for the trip home.
Savannah nodded. “Holly, Keith, and the girls have a plane to catch tomorrow.”
“Back to Colorado, huh?” Iris said.
Holly hugged Lily, who was playing nearby. “Yes, but I’ll sure miss these guys.”
“Us too,” Savannah said. “It’s been so neat spending all this time with you.”
“Yeah,” Keith said, “even if…”
Holly put her hand on Keith’s. “Never mind the even-ifs. I loved every minute with them. They’re our kind of people.”
“Our kind of people?” Keith questioned. “Who else do we know with a cat who leads his loved ones into gnarly situations?”
Cassie hugged Rags. “Well, Adam and I love Rags.”
“Me too,” Bethany said.
Lily watched this for a moment, then pushed into the group and said, “My Rags. He’s my Rags, huh, Mommy?”
“He’s everyone’s cat,” Michael said, ruffling Rags’s fur.
“He sure keeps things lively,” Keith said. He chuckled. “When we get home we’re going to think there’s something wrong with Sammy.”
“There something wrong with Sammy, Daddy?” Bethany asked.
He laughed. “No. There’s something wrong with Rags.”
“No, nothing wrong with Rags,” the child chirped.
“Hey, let’s don’t debate that or we’ll never get on the road,” Michael said. He waved to Craig and Iris. “See you in the ’hood. Thanks for the use of your cabin. I hope we left it as clean as when we found it.”
“Oh, it looks fine, Michael,” Iris said. “I’m sure you worked your fingers to the bone.”
“Something like that,” he said.
“Bye, Iris,” Savannah said, hugging her.
She hugged Craig, then pulled back and asked, “Christopher’s not in any trouble, is he? I mean, he didn’t know all those things his brother had done until last night, right? Their mother kept it from him?”
“I guess,” Craig said, “but I’m sure the authorities will do a thorough investigation, and it’s possible he’ll be charged with something.”
“Don’t be too hard on him,” she said.
“It’s not up to me,” Craig defended, “but his mother and possibly Christopher did break the law and even endangered at least one person. That’s not cool, Savannah.”
“Certainly not. I agree. It’s just that I like him.”
Craig grinned. “There are some likable people behind bars. Want me to put you in touch with some of them? You can start a pen-pal club.”
She looked sheepish. “No thanks.” She took a deep breath. “Well, thank you again for everything.”
He winked at her. “You’re welcome.” He waved at the others and called out, “Have a safe trip home!”
****
Once everyone had piled into the waiting cars and the animals were settled, the two families headed slowly down the rutted road toward the Iveys’ home. Savannah leaned back against the seat and sighed loudly.
“Tired, hon?” Michael asked, patting her knee.
“Yes, tired and feeling fulfilled and so thankful for our family and a little sad that Holly, Keith, and the girls will be leaving.” She faced him. “I guess I’m having mixed emotions.”
“I know what you mean. It’s been great. I could spend every day with them. But we do have a busy life at home. Let’s think about what we have to look forward to once we return to our normal life.” He smiled briefly at her as he drove. “I’m actually eager to get back to work. I miss the routine and my staff, and especially our clients and patients.” He glanced at her. “I also miss having our privacy. I wouldn’t want to share our family time on any sort of permanent basis.” He continued, “You know I think a vacation is a good way to sort of review and assess your life. If you’re eager to get back to your work and your routine, isn’t that a good indication that you enjoy what you do?”
“Sure.” Savannah rubbed Michael’s arm. “I’m glad you like what you do. I do too.” She swooned. “But I sure have enjoyed this time spent with Keith
and Holly.”
“Well, we’ll have to plan a trip to see them before too much time passes. Would you like that?”
“Sure would, but like you said, I’m also ready to take my life back. Yes, I’m definitely looking forward to being at home with some normalcy in our life.”
“What about that cat group meeting you mentioned? Are you going to be a speaker? What would you talk about?”
She became more animated. “Yes, it sounds like it would be fun, and Rags would get to go with me. People take their cats and some of them, according to that gal I talked to—Kat—dress up their cats, and the cat writers wear cat motif clothes and cat ears.”
Michael frowned. “Sounds like a bunch of kooks.”
“Really? It sounds to me like a bunch of people who are dedicated to helping and saving and protecting cats and who enjoy letting off a little steam and having silly fun once in a while. I’m looking forward to it.”
Just then Savannah’s phone chimed. She looked at the screen. “It’s Bonnie. Hi, Bonnie. How are you?”
“Well,” came the reply, “not so good.”
Savannah frowned. “What happened? What’s wrong?”
Bonnie’s voice cracked. “There was a fire. We spent the night evacuating animals. Thank heavens we had a plan. We got every one of them out. There were no injuries—just some awfully close calls. Savannah, we need temporary quarters for some of them while we rebuild and make repairs.”
“Oh my gosh, how bad is the damage?”
“Pretty extensive,” Bonnie said. “The house was saved, but the barn and shed went up and the wooden corrals…it’s a mess. We figure we won’t be able to move the animals back in for a month or more.” She spoke more quietly. “A couple of our neighbors out here lost everything, and they can’t help out with our animals. I hope you don’t mind, but we took Peaches and Gypsy to your place. Your aunt said you’re due home today; are you back yet?”
“No, on our way. So what do you need, Bonnie? How can we help?”
“We’re looking for people to put up portable corrals on their property and board the horses while we rebuild. I notice that you have room for maybe six or seven more stalls. Would you be willing to do that?”
“Certainly,” Savannah said. She chuckled. “I’ve always wanted a barn full of horses.”
“Watch out what you wish for,” Bonnie said. “It’s a heck of a lot of work. We’ll have feed delivered and we’ll send our hands around every day to clean stalls and check the horses over. They’ll clue you in about those on special diets and all. Some of the boarders like to spend time with their horses, so you’d have to adjust to having people around—or I could give you the horses that need riding. Do you have time for that?”
“Oh, probably not. Well, maybe some. Yeah, I think we can adjust to having some boarders for a month or so. Let me run it by Michael and I’ll get back to you.”
“Thanks, Savannah. I could sure use your help.”
“What?” Michael asked suspiciously, after Savannah had ended the call.
“Bonnie and Barney had a fire and they need a place to board horses while they rebuild.”
“Their house?”
“No, the house survived, but the stalls and corrals and barns are gone, I guess. They’d like to put up maybe six portable corrals at our place. I told her we could do it. It would only be for a month or so.”
“Whatever you think,” he said. “You’re the horsie gal. What would be your responsibility?”
“I imagine just tossing the horses hay twice a day and making sure they have water—things like that. Oh, I might exercise some of them.” She smiled. “It would be kind of fun to look out the window and see horses everywhere.”
“Everywhere?” he asked.
“Well, several horses—more than the two we already have. It’ll be fun and I’ll feel good about being able to help Bonnie out. She’s sure been a big help to us—always willing to board Peaches and now Gypsy, and she hauls the horses for us when we need to move them.”
“Yeah, but you pay for her help.”
“Most of it, I guess. Anyway, what do you think? I’d like to say yes.”
“Well, if you think you can handle it, sure. I always like to help a neighbor or a friend if I can. I just hope…”
“What?” Savannah said.
“Well, that it doesn’t turn into something we can’t handle. Horses can be a huge responsibility.”
“I know. I have a couple of horses, remember?” She patted him on the arm. “It’ll be okay. I’m sure that with Bonnie’s help, it will go smoothly.” She sat back in her seat. “Wow, now I have two things to look forward to this summer—speaking at the cat conference and taking care of a bunch of horses in my own yard. I’m excited!” When Rags stepped from the console and onto her lap, she said, “It’s going to be a fun summer, right, Rags?”
She called Bonnie back. “I’ll do it. Start moving in the corrals.”
“Thank you so much,” Bonnie said. She hesitated. “There’s one horse in particular that I want to bring to you. I’ll tell you more about him when I see you. Just know that he’s…um special.”
“Oh,” she yelped. “I’m intrigued. See you soon.”
****
Meanwhile, on a hillside above Bonnie and Barney Teague’s scorched stables, two riders sat astride horses in the shade of a large tree. One said, “How they managed to save that horse in the fire last night is beyond my imagination. He was supposed to go down in flames—or up in flames, as it were.”
“Yeah, but maybe we’ll have a better chance to get rid of him without that witch and her husband around,” the second rider said.
“Do you mean take the horse down while he’s at the temporary shelter?”
“No, I overheard them say they want to put him on private property, where he’ll be safe. We need to watch so we know where they’re taking him. When that horse trailer moves, we’ll follow it.” He sneered. “He’ll be easy pickin’s under the watch of a clueless resident. Yup,” he said, “It won’t be long before our job’s done and that big chunk of money is bulging in our pockets.”
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