Revenge at its Felinest

by Patricia Fry

  Rochelle thought about what Savannah had said, then blurted, “Yes, but this is different.” She spoke more quietly. “At least that’s my sense. I don’t know exactly what’s ahead; I don’t know how it will materialize, but I see danger signals and the four of us are right in the middle of it all. Yes, it has me unsettled. And the fact that we’ll all be together soon…”

  “Rochelle, you’re scaring me.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Hey, let’s hope this is one of those times when I’m dead wrong.”

  “Does that happen very often? I mean you being wrong?” Savannah asked.

  “Sure. Sometimes it’s a matter of reading the signs wrong—putting my own interpretation on things. And that’s what I hope has happened this time. I’ll keep meditating.” Rochelle’s voice warmed up immensely when she said, “I really am eager to spend time with you and your beautiful family.”

  “Me too,” Savannah said. “But remember, we’re coming there to work and we know that you both have work to do, as well. By the way, how’s the jewelry business?”

  “Fabulous,” Rochelle said with enthusiasm. “I’m eager to get back to it full time once I have the new house in order. I have to admit I’ve been slacking a little. You know, sometimes something’s gotta give. You just can’t always do it all and have it all.”

  “Why not?” Savannah challenged impishly. She then said, “Uh-oh, sounds like my sweet babies are waking up.”

  “Babies?” Rochelle repeated. “Isn’t Lily a young lady by now? She looked like she was about three or four years old in the last picture you sent.”

  “Yes, she’s three, and quite the conversationalist; and boy, is she curious. Her favorite word is ‘why.’ Teddy is just about ten months old and he’s such a character. He’s our little comedian.”

  “Can’t wait to hug them again,” Rochelle said. “Hey, you’d better go tend to those little cherubs. Thank you for calling and for listening.”

  “Absolutely. See you soon.”

  Savannah stared down at her phone for a moment before pocketing it. She let out a deep sigh, then walked swiftly toward the nursery and found Teddy sitting up in his crib fussing as Lily tossed some of his toys over the railing to him.

  “Teddy’s crying for his toys,” Lily explained. The child pointed at their Himalayan-mix cat. “Buffy took his toys.”

  “Buffy took Teddy’s toys?” Savannah repeated.

  Lily’s bright-blue eyes widened. She nodded.

  Savannah studied Buffy for a moment, then picked up Lily and snuggled with her. “Are you sure it wasn’t Lily playing with his toys? Those look like Lily’s favorite toys, not Buffy’s.”

  Lily buried her face in Savannah’s neck and wrapped her arms around her. When she heard Gladys’s voice, she reached for her. “Grammy,” she called out. “Hold me, Grammy.”

  “I’d love to,” Gladys said. “Do you need help waking up?” She took the child in her arms. “Let’s sit down. You’re getting too heavy for Grammy to hold anymore.” She eased onto the bed with Lily and noticed Buffy lying nearby. She looked at the fluffy buff-and-brown cat. “Hi, Buffy. What are you doing with all those toys?”

  Lily glanced briefly at Savannah and said quietly, “Buffy took Teddy’s toys.”

  “I think Lily has been playing with Teddy’s toys instead of taking a nap,” Savannah said, grinning. When Lily squeezed her eyes shut, Savannah said, “It’s okay, honey. You can play with Teddy’s toys and he can play with yours. You can share. You don’t have to blame poor Buffy.”

  At that, Lily scooted off Gladys’s lap, scooped up the toys in her arms, and sat down on the floor with a big smile on her face.

  Savannah and Gladys chuckled and Gladys leaned over and kissed Lily on top of her head while Savannah snuggled with Teddy.

  “So what do we need to do to get ready for our trip?” Gladys asked.

  That got Lily’s attention. “I go in the car?” she asked. She ran to her closet, dragged out her little suitcase, and started to push Buffy off the bed.

  “Stop,” Savannah said. “Lily, if you want Buffy to move, you ask her nicely. Help her down; don’t push her.”

  Lily thought about that for a moment, stared at Buffy, then clapped her hands together gently, saying, “Come on, Buffy. Get down. Go eat, Buffy. Go play.”

  The cat simply stared back at the child through round eyes.

  Gladys and Savannah laughed.

  “Buffy,” Lily said, impatiently. “I need my bed. Get down.”

  That tactic didn’t entice the cat to move, either.

  “Can you lift her down?” Savannah asked. “You know how to pick up Buffy gently. Pick her up and carefully put her on the floor.”

  Lily walked closer and wrapped her arms around the cat, but Buffy leaped through her grasp onto the floor and trotted out of the room. Lily turned and looked at Savannah wide-eyed. “I didn’t push her, Mommy.”

  Savannah smiled. “I know you didn’t, honey.”

  Lily raised her arms dramatically saying, “She jumped.”

  “Yes, she did. That’s okay, honey. You did just fine.”

  Lily picked up her suitcase and started to lift it up onto her bed when, seemingly from out of nowhere, came a flash of grey and white. “Raaags!” Lily complained. “Mommy, Rags is on my bed. No, Rags!” she cried. “No. Get down.”

  Savannah and Gladys laughed and Savannah said. “Lily, let me show you a trick.”

  “What?” Lily asked, pouting.

  Savannah handed Teddy to Gladys, picked up one of the cats’ feather toys, and began wriggling it on the floor where Rags could see it. He stared down at the feather, his ears perky and his eyes focused. He bobbled his head to keep the feather in his sight, then leaped off the bed and attacked it.

  Lily laughed.

  Savannah said, “See, honey, you don’t have to cry when Buffy or Rags won’t move. Just pick them up and move them or show them a fun toy. Can you remember that?”

  Lily nodded, then lifted her small suitcase up onto her bed, opened it, and began filling it with the toys she’d been playing with.

  “What are you doing?” Gladys asked.

  “Going bye-bye,” Lily said. “I’m packing like Mommy does.”

  Savannah winked at her mother and asked Lily, “Aren’t you going to take any clothes?”

  Lily thought about it, then said, “You take my clothes and Teddy’s clothes. I pack my toys.” She stopped and looked sheepishly at her mother before saying more quietly, “And Teddy’s toys. Okay, Mommy? I pack Teddy’s toys for him.”

  “Okay, punkin,” Savannah said, taking Teddy from Gladys. “You’re doing a good job. You’re a big helper.”

  Lily beamed from ear to ear.

  ****

  That evening as Savannah and Gladys cleaned up the dinner dishes and Michael read a book to the children, Savannah’s cell phone rang. “Hi, Iris,” she chirped.

  “Hi. How are you? Getting ready for your big book tour? I hear you’re leaving this week.”

  “Yes. There’s a lot to do and think about. Did I tell you we hired a professional house and animal sitter?”

  “No kidding? I wonder if they’d babysit the inn for a week. I’d love to take a tropical vacation.”

  “Oh Iris, all you’d have to do is go. Your staff is so well trained that they wouldn’t miss a beat if you were to leave.”

  “You don’t think I’d be missed?” Iris complained.

  “Sure, you’d be missed. I’m just saying, it seems to me that you have—you know, a well-oiled machine there at the inn. Everyone has a job and they do it. At least that’s how I see it. Am I wrong?”

  “No. You’re not wrong. I guess I just don’t like to think I’m not needed.”

  “You are needed, but you should also take care of yourself and your marriage. Plan a trip now and then. Go off sometimes with Craig or by yourself—you know, get away once in a while. You can afford it, and it would be good for you.”

  “I’ve been t
aking time away with the new house. I’d forgotten how much work it is to move.”

  “How do you like your place by now?” Savannah asked.

  Iris swooned. “I really love it! Hey, Savannah, the reason I called is I talked to a neighbor this morning and she seems to know something about that strange man’s secret.”

  “Strange man?” Savannah repeated.

  “Oliver Silver.”

  “Oh!” Savannah exclaimed. “What?” she asked. “What does she know? How did she find out about it? Who is she?”

  “Well, it turns out this gal’s married to a Windham—you know, the original owner of this property. They’re the third generation of Windhams to live in the family home and they’re familiar with the Silvers.”

  “Oh really? So Oliver wasn’t just some guy looking for a free meal. Has he visited them before?”

  “Not Oliver, but someone else from the family has, I guess. This goes way back. Florence said her mother-in-law told her about it. Back then, the senior Windhams farmed the property where our house is. In fact, they owned this whole area. It was Florence’s in-laws who developed the housing tract. Evidently quite a while before they started construction—when they were still farming the land—some guy shows up and tries to plant himself on our lot here, under a tree. He said that he owned the tree and the land around it and he had come to reclaim it. When he wouldn’t leave, Florence’s husband’s grandmother called her husband and sons in from the fields.”

  “Wow! So they ran him off?” Savannah asked.

  “Yes,” Iris said, “but not before they got an explanation from the guy.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, he said he was one of the Silver clan—probably Oliver’s father or uncle or something.”

  “Hey,” Savannah recalled, “Oliver said he came here once with his father and an uncle. Did she say they had a child with them?”

  “No,” Iris said. “Florence just mentioned this one man.”

  “Did he tell them what he was looking for?”

  “Yes, but not in words that made any sense to the Windhams. Florence said that when her in-laws decided to subdivide, they were concerned about building on this site. But the plans for the tract just didn’t work any other way. Our house was the last one to be built. That was in nineteen seventy-three.

  Savannah gasped. “So your house was built on top of whatever it is Oliver’s family is looking for?”

  “I guess so.”

  “Did they look for it?” Savannah asked.

  “Oh yes. After Mr. Silver left that day, the Windhams began looking for it. They spent hours digging with shovels. They must have thought it was something of value, but they never did know exactly what it was they were looking for.” Iris hesitated, then said, “Florence’s mother-in-law evidently believed it was something—you know, maybe sacred. She told Florence she was against building here from the beginning and she claims that the problems the construction crew encountered on this job were because of what the Silvers left here.” Iris snickered. “I guess the woman was ultra superstitious.”

  “Problems?” Savannah questioned. “Like what?”

  “Oh, I don’t know—like bad weather, I guess, lost and delayed shipments, men not showing up to work…” Iris chuckled. “When I told Craig this, he pooh-poohed the whole premise, saying that construction sites are always riddled with setbacks and problems. But he sure couldn’t explain the missing man mystery.”

  “Someone went missing?” Savannah asked. “Yikes, was it on the day they were pouring cement? Maybe he’s part of your cement slab, Iris.”

  She shuddered at the thought. “Oh, thanks a lot, Savannah. That’ll help me sleep…not!”

  “So tell me about the missing man,” Savannah urged.

  “Well, Florence’s mother-in-law told her that one of the workers just didn’t show up one day. The construction crew seemed pretty concerned and I guess they never did find him.”

  “Oh, he probably ran off to Mexico or Canada with someone else’s wife and changed his identity.”

  Iris laughed. “That’s pretty much what Craig said.”

  “So, has anything happened there—I mean any woo-woo stuff over the years? It sounds as if Florence’s mother-in-law might have sensed something that scared her.”

  “Maybe,” Iris said. She was quiet for a moment, then said, “I feel something here, Savannah. I’ve wondered if it’s someone’s spirit. Do you suppose that’s what they’ve tried to retrieve over the years? A family member’s spirit?”

  “Gads, Iris. You feel a spirit in your home? Is it evil?”

  “I don’t think so. It doesn’t frighten me.” Iris scoffed, “Oh, Savannah, it could simply be my overactive imagination. You know how I love the supernatural. I’d get a real kick out of actually living with someone’s spirit, if it’s a nice one.”

  “Sounds creepy to me. So do you think it’s your imagination?”

  “I don’t know. But even when I’m alone here at the house I don’t feel alone. Do you know what I mean?”

  “Not really,” Savannah admitted. When she heard Teddy let out a squeal, she said, “Oh, Iris, it’s our busy time of night and I’m afraid I’ve been shunning my duties. I’d better get off the phone. I want to hear more about what your neighbor told you. Let’s try to chat before we leave.”

  “When are you leaving?”

  “Day after tomorrow.”

  “That soon?”

  “Yes.”

  Iris hesitated, then said, “Well, if I don’t talk to you before, have a blast.”

  “Hope so. Hey, if you find out anything else about that hidden thing, call or text me, will you?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure I’ll learn more. Florence and I plan to do some research. I was hoping to involve you, Savannah, because you’re so good at it. But I guess you’ll be gone.”

  “Darn. That would have been interesting, if you know where to look. Hey, Iris, Colbi might be able to help you. She’s used to conducting research for her newspaper articles.”

  “Yes, I thought of that. I’ll call her. But my son will squelch it if he can. He does not like me getting involved in any woo-woo stuff and I’m pretty sure he’ll put his foot down if his wife shows an interest.”

  ****

  Wednesday evening over dinner, Michael asked, “Are we ready to go?”

  “Me!” Lily said. “I packed all by myself.”

  Savannah smoothed the child’s hair and crooned, “Yes, you’re all ready, aren’t you?” She said to Michael, “She has packed her Dolly doll, her sippy cup, and some of Teddy’s toys.”

  “Cool,” Michael praised. When Lily went back to eating, he asked Savannah, “Are we all set with the house sitter?”

  She nodded while offering Teddy a bite of applesauce. “It’s a couple. I introduced them to the animals this afternoon and had Auntie come over and meet them in case they need anything.” She smiled. “It’s so nice to have Auntie living next door.” She sat up straighter. “And get this; it seems that the house sitters are related to someone Auntie and Max know. So that’s nice.”

  “Are they from an agency?” Gladys asked.

  Savannah nodded. “Yes, their profession is house and animal sitting. They travel all over the place doing this. I think he has an online business as well—something he can do no matter where he is. But they have relatives over in Straley, so they’re happy to have a job close by.” She raised a finger. “Oh, they have a little dog. Mom and I met her. She’s a sweet poodle-mix named Pookie. Lexie seemed to like her and she gets along with cats.”

  “Do they take care of horses?” Michael asked.

  Savannah shook her head. “I didn’t ask. I’m more comfortable boarding Peaches with Bonnie. Barney will trailer her over there in the morning. They’ve been busy with…”

  “I know,” Michael interrupted. “It’s inoculation time at the stables. I was out there most of the afternoon giving vet checks and catching up with shots for animals that will be travelin
g this spring and summer across state lines for shows and rodeos.”

  Savannah smiled. “So are you ready for the trip? You’re going to be busy with the kids while Rags and I are doing our thing.”

  “Your thing?”

  “You know, signing books,” she explained.

  “Hey, I’d rather be responsible for our kids than your cat any day,” he said. “You’re the one with your hands full.”

  Savannah looked down at Rags, who was sitting on his haunches with one back leg straight up in the air, licking the fur on his belly. “Awww. He’s so cute. He doesn’t look like any kind of a problem cat. Anyway, he’s been well behaved lately.”

  “Yeah, he’s gearing up to cause trouble on the trip,” Michael groused.

  “No, he is not,” Savannah countered. She cooed, “You’re a good boy, aren’t you, Ragsie?”

  Gladys laughed. “Yeah, tell Michael what he did when he met the little poodle.”

  Savannah winced. “Oh. Well, that was an accident. The dog sort of got in his way and I think Rags stumbled over her.”

  “No,” Gladys insisted. “Rags attacked the little dog and knocked her off her feet. Scared the poor thing nearly to death.” She chuckled. “I don’t think Pookie expected such a rough tackle from a mere cat.”

  “Yes, she was rather dramatic. When she yelped, that scared Rags. Did you see him run and hide after that?” Savannah asked.

  “Yeah, because he knew he’d be in trouble for trying to wrestle the little dog down,” Gladys said, laughing.

  “He was just playing. He didn’t hurt the dog.”

  “Maybe not, but the gal, Sierra, sure seemed happy when you told her we were taking Rags with us. I think she was afraid for Pookie’s life.”

  Savannah looked at her mother, then at Michael, “You two are ganging up on him again. He’ll be just fine. You watch.”

  “You can bet I’ll be watching him,” Michael said. He shook his head. “I just hope he behaves himself and doesn’t cause us any embarrassment or jail time.”