The Perilous PURRsuit (Klepto Cat Mystery Book 26)

by Patricia Fry

  “Especially if the encounter was particularly positive or negative for him.” Savannah chuckled. “He certainly remembers anyone who has hurt or threatened him or us. But he also has a good memory for people when there was food involved.” The others looked at her and she explained, “When I found him in Scott’s cabin last night, he was on the counter checking out a package of dried meat.”

  ****

  “So, how did it go?” Gladys asked, when the couples and the cat returned to the lodge late that afternoon.

  Before they could respond, Cassie ran to Holly and grabbed her arm. “Come look at what we made, Mommy.”

  “I made pine cone,” three-year-old Bethany announced loudly. “I made pine cone.” She turned to Keith. “Daddy, come see my pine cone. I made pine cone.”

  “Did you make a pine cone too, Lily?” Savannah asked, picking up the toddler.

  The child wrapped her arms tightly around Savannah’s neck and buried her face.

  “Let’s go see your pine cone,” Savannah urged, following behind the other children and their parents.

  “Which one’s yours, punkin?” Michael asked.

  Lily pointed, then wriggled to get down. She rushed to the table and grabbed her pine cone, carefully pulling out the feathers and peeling off the felt pieces.

  “You’re breaking your pine cone,” Michael said. “Don’t break it.”

  Lily looked at him, then said, “Gammy can glue it.”

  Gladys rolled her eyes. “We have re-attached every part of her pine cone at least three times, right girls?”

  “Yes,” Cassie said. “Three times. She keeps taking it apart, then wants to glue it back.”

  Savannah hugged her daughter. “Well, it’s beautiful. Good job, Lily.”

  “Aunt Savannah, look at mine,” Cassie invited. “It’s an owl. See the eyes, the beak, and the feathers. We found the feathers outside.” She looked sad for a moment. “We think an owl caught a bird and we took his feathers to make my owl.”

  Savannah examined the pine-cone owl. “Very creative.”

  “Well, you people look tired,” Gladys said. “Are you hungry? The girls and I made a big pot of beans.”

  Michael put his arm across his mother-in-law’s shoulders. “Sounds good. Yeah, we worked up an appetite.”

  “Sure did,” Savannah said. She walked to the crib and looked down at Teddy. “Has he been a good boy?” she asked, picking him up.

  Gladys nodded. “Perfect.” She looked suspiciously at the children. “But while I was feeding him, the girls found a little mischief to get into.”

  “What?” Holly asked.

  “Well, they found someone’s lipstick and decided to give Lilliana a makeover. I got most of it off her.”

  Savannah sat down next to Lily with the baby in her arms and she rubbed the toddler’s chin with her thumb. “Oh, I thought that was Jell-O or juice.” She grinned at Cassie and Bethany. “Makeup, huh?”

  Cassie looked away.

  “So did you find him?” Gladys asked.

  “Not quite,” Michael said.

  “Not quite?” Gladys questioned.

  “They think they know where he’s headed,” Holly said. “We may go in on horseback.”

  “Yeah, once Adam gets here,” Savannah said, handing Teddy to Michael as she began clearing the craft project from the table so they could set it for dinner.

  “He’s coming in tomorrow, right?” Gladys asked.

  Michael smiled. “Yes. The Pettits have offered to pick him up at the airport and bring him up here.”

  Gladys looked at Keith. “Oh, your folks? How generous of them.”

  Keith nodded. “They’re eager to meet all of you and they want to see where we’re staying this week. They’ve spent quite a bit of time up here over the years and they’re kind of excited to return.”

  The two families had been eating for several minutes, when Gladys asked, “So what time will they be here tomorrow?”

  “Around three or four,” Michael said.

  “And they’re bringing up some groceries,” Holly added. “I thought we could grill tomorrow evening. We still have a lot of potatoes. I’ll make a potato salad.”

  “Great,” Gladys said. “Looks like we’ll have some beans left too.”

  Keith laughed. “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched, Gladys. I’ve only had two bowls so far.” He winked at her. “Those are some good beans.”

  She smiled. “Thank you.” She then asked, “So you think you know where Scott Hanson has gone to?”

  Keith took a swig of water. “Well, maybe. It’s hard to tell. We’re sort of going on logic and intuition—both of which could be dead wrong.”

  Suddenly Rags tore into the room and stood with his feet on the windowsill looking out into the near darkness.

  “What’s got him so riled up?” Keith asked.

  “Who knows?” Michael said. “Maybe a wild animal.”

  Cassie leaped from her chair. “A wild animal? I want to see.”

  “Me too,” Holly said, trotting with her daughter toward the window. “What is it, Rags?” she asked.

  “A bear!” Cassie screeched.

  Just then Rags raced to another window and stood on the back of a sofa staring out.

  “A bear?” Savannah screeched, joining Rags. “I don’t see anything,” she complained. “Wait. There’s something among the trees.”

  “A bird?” Gladys asked.

  “No, bigger than a bird.”

  “A bear,” Cassie insisted.

  “It’s too light-colored to be a bear,” Savannah said. She looked at Cassie, who stared back at her and they both exclaimed, “A ghost bear!”

  “Well, whatever it was, it seems to have run off,” Keith said. “Come on girls, let’s finish our dinner.”

  “Can we roast marshmallows tonight?” Cassie asked.

  “Oh, well, I guess we could.” Keith looked at the fireplace. “I’ll go out and get more wood after we eat.”

  When a tune chimed, Michael sheepishly slipped his phone out of his pocket. “Oops, forgot the rule—turn off the phone at dinnertime.” He looked at the screen and announced, “It’s Aggie. Hi Aggie, how are you?” he asked, walking away from the table. “How’re things in Connecticut?” After a brief pause, he said, “We’re good. This is a beautiful state and we’re all enjoying the mountains this week here at a lodge.” He chuckled. “We’ve taken over the entire lodge. Hey, there’s room for you. Are you joining us anytime soon? What are your plans?”

  When Michael returned to the table several minutes later, everyone stopped talking and looked at him. It took him a few moments to notice, then he said, “Oh, that was Aggie. She sends hugs to you all. She’s doing okay. Says she’d like to join us here before we leave. Jess is going to help her make reservations. I told her if she could get a flight into that municipal airport down the hill, someone would pick her up. It’s about an hour drive, isn’t it, Keith?”

  “Yeah, about that,” he said, standing and slipping on his jacket. “Sure, we’ll pick her up. It’ll be fun having her with us.” He headed for the door. “Be back in a minute, I’m going to get us some marshmallow-roasting wood.”

  When Savannah noticed that Michael was sitting quietly with his thoughts, she asked, “Something wrong, hon?”

  “Oh no,” he said, sitting up straighter. “I was just thinking that if Scott Hanson knows his mother’s here, maybe he’ll come out in the open.” Before Savannah could respond, Michael noticed that his brother had returned. “Hey, what do you have there? Did you forget the wood?” He laughed. “You went out for wood, didn’t you?”

  Keith handed a piece of paper to Michael. “Look at this.”

  “What is it?”

  Keith looked Michael in the eyes and said quietly, “I think it’s a message from…from Scott Hanson.”

  “Really?” Michael reached for the paper.

  The women promptly joined him. “What does it say?”
Holly asked.

  Michael stared down at the note for a few moments, then read out loud. “I want my pictures. Leave them in the mouth of the Old Witch Tree along the north fork of Blair Creek.” He looked at the others. “Wow! He hasn’t left the area, has he? It appears that he’s still here.”

  Keith glanced at the windows. “That must have been him out there a few minutes ago—the bear Cassie saw.”

  Michael ran his hand through his hair. “Good Lord. He is a wily one and he sure gets around. I wonder how he covers so much ground in such a short time. I mean, it’s obvious that he was at the Ridgecrest sometime overnight or early this morning and now he’s back here again…”

  After thinking about it, Keith said, “He could be hitching rides. He might even have a vehicle stashed someplace.”

  “He’s probably in pretty good shape,” Savannah said. “I mean, it appears he’s been hoofing it all over these mountain trails for a long time.”

  “But walk from here to the Ridgecrest and back again in a twelve- or even twenty-four-hour period?” Holly questioned.

  Keith thinned his lips. “You have to remember, the trail distance is different than the road distance.”

  Savannah nodded. “I noticed that when we were looking at the map earlier.”

  Michael let out a deep sigh. “Well, however he’s doing it, he does seem to be covering a lot of ground in record time.” He chuckled. “Keith, can you just imagine what it would be like to hike with our old man?”

  “Yeah, we’d be left in the dust. If he’s on foot, he seems to have incredible endurance.”

  “Or he’s a twin,” Holly said.

  Michael looked confused. “Huh?”

  Holly smiled. “I’m just saying, maybe there are two of him and that’s why it seems that he’s appearing everywhere.”

  Michael grinned at Holly and rolled his eyes. He looked at Keith. “Now what? Do you know where that Old Witch Tree is?”

  “Yes. Actually, I do.” He looked into space. “And I wonder why Scott knows that I know.”

  “Do you think he does?”

  “Maybe not. It’s kind of well-known actually, but not something you’d see unless you did some serious hiking and knew what you were looking for.”

  “Serious hiking? How serious?” Michael asked, frowning.

  Keith raised his eyebrows. “Well, it’s probably a two-hour hike.”

  “Do we drive to the trailhead?”

  “No. You take that trail right outside here.”

  “Why would he take us so far away?” Michael asked, not expecting an answer. “I mean, we could just leave the pictures near a tree on this property or on the porch.”

  Keith thought before saying, “Well, either he wants to talk to us or he wants the option to talk to us or he wants a fast escape. There are virtually plenty of good places in the area of the Old Witch Tree where he could hole up without being detected.” He shook his head. “I’m sure he knows that mountain like… well, like the back of his hand.”

  Michael spoke hesitantly, “And he knows who we are.”

  Keith nodded. “So shall we venture out tomorrow with the pictures and see what happens?”

  “Yeah, I guess we could.”

  “Let’s take the cat,” Keith suggested.

  “On a two-hour hike? Well it’s four hours up and back.” Michael shook his head. “I don’t know, man.”

  “Will he ride in a backpack?”

  “Yeah. Actually, I’ve been thinking about it—we may be able to use one of our backpacks without making too many adjustments.” Michael tilted his head. “Have you seen some of the packs they make these days for cat-hikers?”

  “Yes, at a pet supply show once. They have some pretty cleverly designed packs for small dogs and cats.” He punched Michael playfully. “Hey, you’re a carpenter. I’m sure you’re clever enough to rig up something for Rags.”

  Michael laughed. “Yeah, I could build him a wagon or a cart.” After giving it some thought, he said, “If I fold a blanket in the bottom of Savannah’s pack, he can sit in there and see out. Or with my pack—which is like yours—when it’s full, there’s a platform across the top where he can ride. I can tie his leash off or hold onto it to help secure him.”

  “Actually, we should have both options available to him,” Keith suggested. “We can take turns carrying the loaded pack, since the one for Rags will be lighter weight.”

  Michael laughed. “Yeah, although more of a hassle. But I agree; if Rags catches Scott’s scent,” he chuckled, “or the scent of the meat he carries, he may lead us to him. I’d sure like to confront that man.”

  “Yeah, it’s almost become an obsession, hasn’t it? I don’t want to give up now.”

  Chapter 6

  Early the following morning as the brothers prepared for their hike, Savannah approached Michael privately. “You’re quiet this morning, hon. Is something wrong?”

  He looked at her for a moment. “I don’t really want to go out there today. I’m just not eager to jump through Scott Hanson’s hoops. Even if he is mentally ill or emotionally unstable, I’m not fond of his games. I’m feeling...um… well, kind of resentful. Does he want to know us or not? It sure seems more not to me.”

  “So what are you thinking, hon?”

  “That I’d like to spend some time with my family. I want to be here when Adam arrives. Savannah, I don’t want to chase all over the trails just so I can finally have a father. What kind of a father is he, anyway? What man, who’s interested in his sons, would put them through this?”

  She wrapped her arms around him.

  “Am I an ungrateful son?” he asked.

  “Absolutely not, Michael. I think you make an excellent point. You guys can hike out there tomorrow or the next day. If that man wants his pictures back, he won’t leave the area until you’ve made the drop-off.” She hugged him. “Yeah, why don’t you and Keith enjoy a fun day with us today and we can prepare for Adam’s arrival… and Keith’s parents’.”

  “But Keith…” Michael started.

  “Don’t second-guess him, honey. Tell him how you feel and see what he thinks.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I should do.”

  She kissed him, then took his hand. “Come on. Let’s go find Keith.”

  “Ready to go, Michael?” Keith asked when he saw his brother descend the stairs with Savannah.

  “Well, Keith,” Michael said, approaching him, “actually, I…”

  “Yeah?”

  When his brother looked at him, Michael blurted, “Why don’t we take a day off? If Scott Hanson wants those pictures, he’s not going anywhere. He’ll wait until we’ve left them for him. Keith, I don’t really feel like…”

  Keith smiled broadly and interrupted. “Gosh, I’m glad to hear you say that.”

  “You are?” Michael asked. “I thought you’d be disappointed.”

  “Hey, buddy, you’re the one who’s most interested in this. I have a dad, remember? Sure, I’m curious. But knowing Scott Hanson is probably not something that will impact my life as much as it might yours. Yeah, I’d like nothing more than to stay here today. Let’s take it easy and consider heading out tomorrow.” He smiled. “Maybe Dad and Adam will go with us. What do you say?”

  Michael visibly relaxed. “I say, where are my flip-flops?”

  ****

  It was close to four that afternoon when the Ivey and Pettit families converged on the front porch of the lodge to greet Keith’s parents and Adam. The conversations became lively as introductions were made and hugs were shared. One of the most touching moments was when Dorothy Pettit met Michael. “Hello, Michael,” she said warmly. She took his hand and looked up into his face. “It’s wonderful to finally meet you. I’ve known about you all your life, and I always regretted not taking you with Keith that day when we left the hospital.”

  Michael looked surprised. “My mother would have…?”

  “Oh, I doubt that she wo
uld have given you up,” she said. “It was hard enough for her to say goodbye to one of her babies. It’s just that… well, I couldn’t stand the thought of you boys being separated. It does my heart good knowing that you’ve found each other and that you’re sharing so much.” She looked him in the eyes. “Michael, did you have a good life?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, I did. At least as far as I knew. I didn’t know anything different.” He smiled. “Keith speaks so well of you and your husband. I feel I know you.” He grinned. “Yeah, I think I would have loved growing up in your house.”

  She grabbed Michael in another hug.

  When he pulled back, he rubbed one of his eyes and said, “Thank you for picking up Adam. We really appreciate it.”

  Dorothy’s smile broadened. “Oh, now, did he ever take us back!” She put her hand on Michael’s arm. “He is Keith and probably you through and through. We thoroughly enjoyed spending the afternoon with your fine son, Michael. Thank you for the privilege.”

  When Adam walked up and leaned against his dad, Michael put his arm around him and smiled down at the boy. “He’s something special, all right.”

  “So where do you want the steaks?” Clay Pettit called out, once he’d started unloading his car.

  “How about on the grill, Dad?” Holly said. “Come on, let’s get those babies seasoned. We have a hungry crowd here.”

  Once the steaks were on and the men all had a beer in their hand, Clay asked, “So, are you boys making any progress in your search for Scott Hanson?”

  “It’s hard to tell,” Keith said. “He seems to be staying just one step ahead of us.”

  “Yeah, we actually know where he is or where he’ll be at some point,” Michael explained, “and we’ve been trying to figure out what to do next.”

  “I’d like to camp out near the Old Witch Tree.” Keith looked at Michael. “What do you think?”

  “I was thinking the same thing, actually.”

  Clay looked at one of the brothers, then the other. “You sure do think alike. You finish each other’s sentences. You have the same mannerisms. It’s uncanny.”