by Valerie Tate
Hugh shook his head as if trying to make sense of what he’d heard. “You know, I’ve never liked the man, but I didn’t think he was a thief. Show me your proof.”
Chris handed him the faxed report and they all sat back while he read it. He looked skeptical at first, but as he read, his eyes widened and a few times he muttered, “That’s not right!” When he’d finished, he looked up and said, “I owe you all an apology. You’re right. The man’s a crook. Look at this payroll to start with. These salaries are all way out of line. We’ve all taken pay-cuts to try to help out. These figures are more than we made before the cuts. I only wish I made as much as it says here. And these two people are volunteers. They don’t get paid. And as for the vet, we can’t afford a staff vet. There are two local vets who come out when we need them, and they work for free. They just bill us for whatever supplies they use that we don’t have.” He kept jabbing the paper with his finger as he went down the list. “Here it shows a bill for remodeling. We haven’t had any remodeling done.”
“We think that was done on his house.” Chris said.
Hugh just growled, his face dark with fury.
“O.K. I’m in. What do you want me to do?”
“We want you to help us get into the shelter after hours so that we can look for more incriminating evidence and maybe find a clue as to what he has done with Marmalade,” Alicia told him. “We were going to try to get in ourselves, but nobody here knows how to pick a lock,” she added.
Hugh looked at her to see if she was serious. She smiled as if suggesting a break-in was an everyday occurrence.
“Well, we won’t need to pick any locks. I know the security codes and I have a key. We can go tonight. No-one is on the property at night, and if anyone happened to see my truck, they wouldn’t take any notice because I often go and check on any new rescues later in the evening.”
Even though it had been her suggestion, Alicia felt surprised that it was going ahead.
They made their plans, and Shae and Hugh and Chris left, agreeing to meet that night. Alicia wondered if she should suggest synchronizing watches but decided against it. Things were bizarre enough as it was.
Chapter 45
The Animal Shelter was on the highway leading out of town. They had agreed that it wouldn’t be a good idea for a lot of cars to be seen outside and so they were to meet Hugh in the parking lot behind the supermarket. Shae would meet Chris and Alicia at the house and they would go in Chris’ car to the parking lot where Hugh would pick them up.
When she got to the house, James opened the door and let her in.
“I didn’t see your car pull up,” he said.
“I left it down the street and walked, just in case. Are they ready?”
“Yes. They’re waiting in the kitchen.”
She looked a little surprised but followed him in. They were sitting at the table and she couldn’t repress a giggle. They were both dressed in black jeans and turtle necks.
“What do you think this is? An episode of ‘Chuck’?” she asked.
Chris looked embarrassed but Alicia laughed and said, “I’d really like to be able to kick some butt the way they do. Bill Abbot’s butt!”
“You might just get the chance, if all goes well. Are you both ready?”
They nodded and picked up their jackets - dark-colored, of course - and walked towards the back door.
“We thought it would be better to leave by this door and go out through the side gate,” Chris said. “My car is parked around the corner.”
When they pulled up at the parking lot, Hugh was waiting for them. As they climbed in, he said, “I think you’d all better scrunch down on the floor. That way, if anyone does notice me pulling into the shelter, they won’t think anything of it.” It wasn’t very comfortable but it made sense.
It was a short drive out of town to the shelter. Hugh stopped at the gate and keyed in the security code. The gate opened slowly and he drove through, the gate automatically closing and locking behind him. Once inside, he drove around to the back of the main building and parked, turning out the lights.
“You can get up now. No-one can see us from here.”
“Thank God!” Shae said, bitchily. “If I’d known I was going to be curled up on the floor, I wouldn’t have worn leather.”
“It’s a lovely suit,” Alicia said admiringly. “Danier?”
Shae looked pleased. “Yes.”
“Expensive.”
“Absolutely! But they do have great sales from time to time. Call me next time you’re coming to Toronto and we’ll go shopping.”
“If you two can wait to plan your next shopping spree, we’d better get moving.” Hugh shook his head and rolled his eyes at Chris. Just then there was some loud banging that came from a building on the other side of a fence behind the main structure.
“What’s that?” Alicia asked, nervously.
“Just the horses.”
“Horses? You have horses here?” she exclaimed.
“Yes. The ones we rescued yesterday. We have a barn with 20 stalls and some paddocks behind that fence back there. I’m sorry to say, it is almost always full.”
“Poor things.”
“No,” Hugh corrected her grimly, “they’re the lucky ones. We found them. Pity the ones we don’t know about, the ones locked up in barns or sheds, no light, no food or water, the air fetid from the smell of urine and excrement, up to their hocks in manure, or the ones living out in dirt paddocks, not a scrap of hay, water troughs empty, no shade or shelter, open sores on the ones still alive because there isn’t enough flesh on their bones to cushion them from the hard ground, flies covering the carcasses of the dead.”
There was a searing anger in his voice and something else. Alicia thought it was despair. She swallowed the lump that had come up in her throat while she wondered how Hugh could sleep at night with the things he had seen.
Seeing the look on her face, Chris squeezed her hand and she managed a small smile. One battle at a time.
Hugh had a key to the back door of the main building. Again, he punched in a security code and let them in, switching on the lights.
“Do you think that’s safe?” Chris asked worriedly.
“If anyone had seen me come in, they would think it strange if I didn’t turn on the lights. I told you, I come here quite often at night to check on the animals. We can’t afford to have staff on the premises twenty-four / seven, and many of these animals are in pretty rough shape when they’re first brought in.”
Alicia thought what a truly nice guy he was and it made her even angrier that Abbot had been stealing from these people who were making so many sacrifices to try and help the animals.
“Where do we start?” Shae asked, looking around.
“Probably Abbot’s office would be the best place. Then we can check out the kennels. Follow me.”
He led them down the hall to the office that Shae had visited during her appointment with the director. It, too, was locked, but Hugh had keys to everything. Once inside, they turned on the lights and looked around. There was the usual office equipment: desk, chairs, computer, filing cabinets. It was pretty Spartan, as befitted a man who was trying to keep costs to a minimum.
Shae said, “I’ll tackle the computer. Somebody should go through his files.”
“I’ll do that, “Chris said.
While they got to work, Hugh and Alicia poked around in his desk and through the things on the book shelves.
“Nothing much here,” Hugh said after a few minutes.
“Nor here,” said Shae. “He doesn’t even use a password. If he has any records of what he’s done with the money, he must have them in his computer at home.” She shut off the machine and stood up. “We’d better make sure we leave things the way we found them.”
Chris suddenly waved a file at them. “Bingo!” he shouted.
Alicia ran over to look. “What have you found?”
“Correspondence with various contractors, and bi
lls for materials purchased. What do you want to bet that these figures match some from the books?” Nobody took that bet. “I’ll photocopy these and you can pass them on to your friend. What’s his name, anyway?” he asked as he made the copies.
“Tony.” Shae said but didn’t offer anything more.
When he’d finished, they carefully put everything back, shut off the lights and locked the door. Alicia felt relieved when they were back in the more public areas. Whatever Hugh might say, he would be hard-pressed to explain what he was doing in the director’s private office when he was supposed to be checking on the animals.
He led them down the corridor to the reception area. The door behind the reception desk was unlocked.
“The animals are all back here.” he said as he opened the door.
Immediately, there was a chorus of woofs and meows, and the sound of claws scratching on the cage doors. Inside the kennels were two long rows of cages, each containing two or three dogs or cats, and even the occasional rabbit or ferret. There didn’t seem to be much in the way of supplies and Shae said so.
“There isn’t,” Hugh said grimly. “It’s so bad that the staff take turns buying dog and cat food. We’re terribly over-crowded. This shelter has a no-kill policy. We keep the animals until we can find homes for them. We could really use the addition we’re supposed to have had.” Hugh walked down the aisle, patting paws that came through the cages and speaking softly to their owners.
Alicia thought she was going to cry. All any of these poor creatures wanted was a home and someone to love them. They didn’t belong in cages. Some of the dogs rushed to the front, wagging their tales, but others cowered at the back. Those were the ones who, if they could speak, would have the worst stories to tell, stories of neglect and abuse at the hands of the humans whom they had trusted, the ones who were supposed to look after them. She suddenly understood the anger and the dedication of the animal rights groups. Maybe they went too far sometimes, but they had a just cause.
“You know something, Chris,” she said. “No matter what happens, I want the APS to get some of the money from the estate. Grandmother wanted to help animals who didn’t have homes, like Marmalade before he climbed into her room that day, and I want to help them too.”
Before he could reply, there was a yowling and the sound of thrashing around that came from a cage in the back corner.
“What on earth is that?” Chris asked.
The yowling got louder.
“It’s one of the cats,” Hugh said. He walked down the aisle to have a look. “It’s Horace. I don’t know what he’s doing back here in the corner. He used to be up by the door. I don’t know what’s got into him. Horace, old man, what’s up?”
As he walked over to the cage, Alicia let out a scream and ran up to the cage. “It’s Marmalade!”
Hugh looked from the large orange cat, to her, and back. “No, this is Horace. He’s been here for months. It’s hard to find homes for older cats. Everyone wants a kitten.”
Alicia, ignoring him, was fumbling with the clasp that held the door closed. The big orange cat inside continued to yowl and claw at the cage. “I’m telling you that this is Marmalade. Don’t you think I know my own cat? Open the damn door.”
Chris grabbed her hands and held them while Hugh opened the door. “Alicia, it can’t be Marmalade. This cat is all orange. No white.”
“Besides,” Shae added, “don’t you think they would have checked the shelter? Hugh’s in here all the time.”
“That’s right,” Hugh said, gently. “We’ve all been on the look-out for him.”
Alicia was crying, pushing Chris’ hands away. “It’s Marmalade, I know it is.”
Hugh sighed, and opened the door. The big, orange cat flew out and straight into Alicia’s arms where he tucked his head under her chin and began to purr loudly.
“He does look a lot like him, honey,” Chris admitted, “but he’s not the right color.”
He looked closely at the cat, parting the hair on his chest. “Wait a minute, Look at this, this bit down the middle. This has been dyed, and not even a good job. You can still see the white under the orange.” He looked in the bright green eyes that peered out from under Alicia’s chin. “It is Marmalade. Welcome back, old man,” he said huskily, swallowing hard. He rubbed the furry head and scratched behind his ear with fingers that trembled.
Alicia was still crying but this time for joy. “You see, I told you, it’s him.”
“Well there’s one way of making sure,” Hugh said. “You said that Marmalade has a microchip. If this is really him, we can read the chip in the office.”
He led them to a back room and turned on the Pet Identification Computer. Taking the wand, he ran it over the back of the cat’s neck. Immediately the identification came up. ‘Marmalade’.
“Well I’ll be damned,” he said. “He’s been here all this time, right under our noses.”
They all crowded around to have a good look.
“How could this have happened?” Chris asked.
“Well, I told you, Horace has been here for months. He was found down by the harbor. He had a puncture wound in his side and it was infected. He was a mess. The vets cleaned up the wound and pumped him full of antibiotics. He went to a foster home until he was well and then he came here to try to find a home. I suppose that once we’d looked in here for Marmalade, Abbot thought it was safe to make a switch. A little hair dye and no-one’s the wiser. At least in here he’s been fed and looked after.”
“He’s thinner,” Alicia said, feeling the ribs under the skin.
“Cat’s don’t eat as much when they’re upset or under stress,” Hugh told them.
Shae was running her finger under Marmalade’s chin and down his belly. “He must have recognized your voices,” she said wonderingly. “That’s why he started yowling.” She looked like she might cry too.
Chris had to swallow again before he could speak. “There is more proof. We had a DNA sample taken when he inherited the money. It’s on file with the lab. We can take a sample now and send it off. That way, if anyone contests the microchip identification, the DNA will prove it.”
“That’s easily enough done,” Hugh said. “We have the forms here. All we need is a mouth swab and I can send if off tomorrow by courier. I’ll call and explain the situation and ask them to do the test as soon as they get the sample.”
Hugh took a copy of the form and a swab kit from the files. Once the sample was safely in the envelope, Hugh tucked it in his pocket.
“I’ll send it first thing tomorrow.”
“We have to be in court tomorrow, “Chris reminded him. “How are we going to handle this?”
“I say we give Abbot enough rope to hang himself,” Alicia said viciously, “and when he has his head well in the noose, we spring Marmalade on him. But for now, let’s just get him home.”
Hugh took a cat carrier from the storeroom. “He’d better go in this,” he said. “We don’t want anyone spotting him.”
“What about tomorrow?” Shae asked. “Won’t they notice that Horace is missing?”
“I’ll think of something to tell them, maybe even the truth. In confidence. Abbot doesn’t have any friends here. No-one would say anything.”
“Where do you think the real Horace is?” Alicia asked anxiously.
“Probably back on the street.” Hugh said, silently hoping a more permanent solution hadn’t been found.
“Poor thing,” she said as she put a protesting Marmalade carefully in the carrier and closed the door. “We’re going to have to find him and get him a good home. We owe him.”
Chris nodded and then picked up the carrier. The cries and whimpers from the other animals followed them out the door.
Chapter 46
They returned to the house the way they’d left, across the lawn and in the back door. James and Alice met them in the kitchen.
Alice grabbed her daughter and gave her a hug. “Thank God you’re back. We’v
e been so worried. It’s taken much longer than we thought.” Then she noticed the cat carrier. “What have you got there?”
“You’d better sit down, Mom. It’s Marmalade.”
And with that, Chris opened the carrier door and a large ball of orange fur exploded out. Alice collapsed into the nearest chair and he jumped straight into her lap. It was a testimony to the strain she had been under that she immediately buried her face in his fur and burst into tears; and it was a testimony to the happiness he felt at being home that Marmalade let her.
When Alice had control of herself once more, they had to explain everything. But first, they put food in Marmalade’s waiting bowl and watched him devour it. Then they all went to the library and collapsed. Marmalade curled up in his bed by the fireplace and promptly fell asleep.
It was late, so celebrations had to wait. They had court early the next morning. When their tale was done, Chris said his goodnights and prepared to leave. James accompanied him to the door. The last thing Chris said before leaving was, “Put a bolt on that cat door.”
Monday dawned cold and gray, and weather reports predicted the season’s first snowfall within twenty-four hours. Shae and Hugh were meeting them at the courthouse. Chris picked the others up at the house. Thankfully, there were no pickets that morning and they were able to sneak the cat carrier out and into the car.
Chris had called Dave when he got home the night before. He let his partner complain about getting him out of bed before giving him the good news and gave him a shortened version of what had happened, promising him the whole story the next morning. Then he filled him in on their plan of attack. Dave agreed and they both went to bed and slept more soundly than they had for weeks.