He took her hand as if he could read the thoughts running through her head. “I know you’ve been hurt before. I don’t intend to hurt you. But this is something I have to do. Naomi and I have never had closure. She’s coming to town the weekend of Ace’s concert. We’re going to have dinner and talk. Maybe more than once. She’s going to sightsee while she’s here, driving down to the Inner Harbor, possibly the Smithsonian and the art gallery in D.C., touring Gettysburg for sure.”
“Are you going to sightsee with her?”
“I can’t tell you what I’m going to do because I’m not sure yet. I’m leaving my schedule open for the week, and Simon assures me he’ll watch Patches if I’m away for an afternoon or an evening.”
“You’ve covered the bases.”
“You’re upset.”
Truthfully, she said, “I think you’re putting our relationship in jeopardy. I thought you’d moved beyond the shadows in your past.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do, Caprice. Honestly I am.”
Patches’s nose went into the air. He rose to his paws and Lady did the same. Patches jumped down the steps and Lady gave Caprice a look that asked, Can I go too?
Caprice nodded and waved her hand for Lady to follow her friend. The two dogs romping across the yard now, headed toward a flower bed. Maybe they’d seen a squirrel. She watched them instead of looking at Grant. She couldn’t gaze at him without her heart breaking. She didn’t have a good feeling about this, whether it was gut instinct or only her own anxieties and insecurities. The thought of him seeing Naomi again just didn’t feel right.
Grant gently nudged her chin around until she faced him. “Are you telling me you can’t trust me?”
“I don’t know,” she confessed. “It’s hard. I feel like it’s déjà vu. I’ve been in this situation before. I know how it ends up.”
He shook his head. “You’re putting a wall up between us.”
Maybe she was, but it was in self-defense. “If anything happens, will you tell me right away?”
He scowled and looked almost angry now. “Nothing is going to happen.”
She wasn’t thinking about sex as much as Naomi and Grant resurrecting the bond they once had. “Just promise me you’ll tell me right away if your feelings toward me change.”
The truth was, he’d never declared his feelings toward her, but she’d felt them whenever they were together and whenever they kissed.
“I’m not going to give you a blow-by-blow, hour-by-hour. Sometimes trust isn’t a feeling, it’s a decision you have to make.”
Was he right?
“Do you want me to stay or go?” he asked.
“If you stay, we won’t resolve anything, not until after this is all over.”
He studied her for a long few moments, then he rose to his feet and picked up Patches’s leash that he’d laid over the side of the glider.
“Don’t be incommunicado,” he told her. “I know you’re going to be involved in Drew Pierson’s murder investigation. If something happens, if you’re in danger, if you’re unsure, call me.”
She couldn’t promise that she would. Grant had saved her life once and she was indebted to him for that. But he wasn’t a knight on a white charger. He was a real man and she was a real woman—a strong woman. She could take care of herself and solve her own problems.
When she didn’t tell him she’d call, he accused, “You’re stubborn.”
“No more stubborn than you,” she responded.
After a long, last look straight into her eyes, he called to Patches. His cocker came running to him and they left the way they’d come in, the gate closing behind them.
Caprice sank down onto the glider and Lady came running to her and looked up at her as if sensing something was wrong.
Something was wrong, all right. As far as Grant was concerned, she didn’t know exactly how strong she was. But she was going to find out.
* * *
The late-June day was rife with sunshine as Caprice and her uncle set up the Havahart trap the next morning. Instead of putting it out on the patio, they decided to place it near the redbud where the tortoiseshell usually took haven. The leaves from the bush partially covered it there, so it would be some camouflage. Caprice hoped the cat would be hungry enough not to notice what she was walking into. Uncle Dom had already exercised his client’s dog until they were both tired out. The animals inside would not be a problem if she and her uncle were occupied outside.
Caprice forked tuna onto a dish inside the carrier. Then she and her uncle crossed to the other side of the patio to wait. They sat, not knowing how long this would take.
“With the warmer temperature, we can’t leave the tuna inside the cage too long. If she doesn’t come within a half hour or so, I’ll have to change it and put a new dish in.”
Food spoilage could always be a problem with outside cats. People thought they could just put the food out and let it sit forever. But it broke down, grew bacteria, and could make an animal sick.
As she and her uncle sat there in the almost eighty-degree heat, Uncle Dom took a sheet of paper from his pocket and unfolded it.
“This is a form I made up to keep notes for my clients. What do you think?”
Caprice took the page and studied it. Her uncle had drawn blocks on the left for each visit—the time he came and left—and then another space blocked off to the right of that, where he could make notes. He’d documented what he’d done this morning and had details about yesterday. He mentioned how much the dog and cats had eaten, how far he and Loafer had gone for their walk, and how eagerly the cats had played with their toy mice.
“While I’m house sitting like this, I’ll write in notes every few hours. For other clients, I’ll just fill in a block for each visit.”
“Other clients?” Caprice asked.
“I’m going to be walking two dogs next week and one day checking in on a cat when her owner has a medical procedure. Your mom has been great about spreading the word. And since the pet sitter I interviewed already has too many clients, she recommended me to someone who called her. Most people are just so grateful to have someone take care of their pet, they don’t care if I’m bonded and insured. I’m still going to go through with all that. It’s safer for me and for them. It will definitely be necessary if I want to take on anyone to help me with this.”
“You’re thinking about expanding?” Caprice asked with a grin.
Her uncle looked a bit sheepish. “I know it’s early days yet, but I can dream, can’t I?”
“Of course you can. I’m sure you can turn this into a thriving business. What are you calling yourself? I mean, the name of your business.”
“I’m going to keep it simple and just call it Pampered Pets. After I’m finished here, day after tomorrow, I have a few apartments to check out. I just need a one bedroom. I don’t want anything fancy. Even a studio apartment would do. The first place is going to be low budget and temporary. Once I’m on my feet, I’ll find someplace a little nicer, someplace with a yard so if I want a dog, it would be a good location.”
“I’ll be on the lookout for you. Are you still going to be doing bookwork for small businesses?”
“Oh yes. That will fill in the rest of my time, at least until the pet sitting really takes off.”
“You know this is going to be seven days a week, holidays too.”
He raised his hands in surrender. “What else do I have, Caprice? Really. This will keep me busy so I stay out of trouble.”
They had kept their voices low, and both scanned the area across the yard and anywhere around the redbud. Her uncle nudged her elbow. “There she is, over by the pampas grass. She takes cover there too. Do you think we made a mistake not putting the food on the patio?”
“Too late now. If we go rustling around we’ll scare her off. Let’s see what happens.”
The cat slowly walked down the grassy incline and canvassed the area outside the patio doors. When she walked, Caprice dete
cted that limp again—her back right leg. The stray stopped a few feet from the pampas grass, washed her front paw, and then continued on, maybe looking for a shady spot. She headed for the redbud and raised her nose into the air as if she was sensing something good. Then she saw the dish of tuna.
“In the sun, she looks as if she has a halo on her head,” Caprice whispered. This tortoiseshell had a lot of gold in her, and there seemed to be a circle of it on the top of her head. “Halo could be the perfect name for her.”
The straw Caprice had laid in the forefront of the cage hid the metal. The cat must have been hungry, because she walked straight in, and when she did the door came down.
Caprice moved immediately and her uncle followed her. The cat was already meowing and circling inside the cage, looking for the way out.
“Do you have the burlap?” Caprice asked her uncle.
He went to the patio, picked it up from a spare lawn chair, and brought it over. With the cat meowing loudly, they laid it over the top of the cage, hoping that would help calm her.
“I wish I could go with you,” he said. “Are you sure you can handle this?”
“Sure I can. I’ve done this before. It’s not a pleasant ride over to Furry Friends, but we’ll survive.”
“I’ll carry her to the van for you.”
As Caprice suspected, the trip to the vet wasn’t pleasant. In fact, it was even more unpleasant than she expected. Apparently this cat got car sick. Caprice heard the sounds, she smelled the result, but there was nothing she could do about it while she was driving. She just kept talking to Halo, assuring her everything would be all right. But just as when you assured a sick child, the patient didn’t believe her.
The receptionist at Furry Friends knew Caprice. The vet tech, Jenny, came out to the front when the receptionist buzzed her, and she and Caprice took the cat to an examination room.
“It’s a mess,” Caprice said. “I’ll help you clean up.”
Jenny disappeared for a moment into the back, returning with a second roll of paper towels. They removed the burlap, and Halo looked up at them, meowing pitifully.
Caprice said, “I don’t think she sat in it, and I don’t think she has any on her. She’s small so there was plenty of room in the cage.”
Jenny opened the cage. “Come on, pretty girl. Come on out.”
Halo cowered in the cage.
“Let me try something,” Jenny said. “I don’t want to scare her further.”
She went to the cupboard, took out a little bag, and pulled a few treats from it. Then she laid them on the counter and stepped back.
Halo looked from one of them to the other and meowed again. But then she sniffed and she saw the treats. After another moment of hesitation, she emerged from the cage.
Jenny said, “I’ll take this to the back and wash it up. It will be easier that way. Are you okay in here with her?”
“Yes, we’re fine. But I hate to put her back in that to take her along with me. Do you have one of those cardboard carriers?”
“Sure. Let’s see what Marcus says first.”
Caprice knew what Jenny meant. If the cat was sick . . . She wasn’t going to think about that right now. She took out her phone and texted Dulcina, telling her she was at the vet. Then she stood by Halo and talked to her.
“We have to get you checked out. It’s not healthy or safe for you to be out there, especially since you’re limping a little. We need to see what that’s all about.”
Halo finished the last treat and looked up at her warily. Caprice took another step closer so she was against the table. Halo came over to her and sat in front of her.
A few minutes later Marcus came in.
“I hope I didn’t mess up your schedule,” Caprice apologized.
“I was running a little late, but my next appointment cancelled so we’re good. Let’s take a look at her.”
Marcus was African American, big and burly. His buzz cut was just part of his character, and he usually had a smile on his face. He was running his big hands over Halo, and she was letting him.
“She seems to be a sweetie,” he said.
“Either that or resigned. She limps a little, back right leg.”
After a few more minutes examining her, Marcus said, “I think the limp was caused by an injury that healed.” Then he looked directly into Caprice’s eyes. “You probably don’t want to hear this.”
“You didn’t even take any tests yet.”
“I will. But she’s about a month pregnant.”
“You can tell that just by running your hands over her?”
“And palpitating a little. In another month, somebody’s going to have kittens.”
This had happened to Caprice before, only it had been a dog she’d taken in, not a cat. How would Dulcina feel about taking care of a pregnant stray?
“What does that mean for her health?”
“I’ll test her for FIV and feline leukemia. I can give her a flea treatment and a wormer that’s safe for a pregnant cat. But I can’t give her any shots until she’s finished nursing. She should be separated from other cats for a couple of weeks just to make sure nothing else develops.”
“I might have someone who’s willing to take her.”
“Of course you do. If all my clients did what you do, I wouldn’t have any strays to worry about.”
“How old is she?”
“She’s older than she looks. She has a couple of teeth missing, and some decay. I’d say she’s between three and five. I also think her back leg might have been broken, but it’s healed now. This little gal could have gotten hit by a car or was in some kind of accident.”
Caprice’s heart went out to the cat as she patted her. “Let’s do the testing,” she said, trying to detach a little.
A half hour later, she breathed a huge sigh of relief. Halo’s FIV and feline leukemia tests were clear. Now Caprice called Dulcina.
“How is she?” Dulcina asked, already concerned.
Caprice told her everything Marcus had found, including the pregnancy.
“I don’t know anything about taking care of a pregnant cat, let alone helping one deliver.”
“I helped deliver puppies,” Caprice offered. “I’m sure Marcus will advise you. I found a lot of things online, especially on YouTube. I watched actual deliveries that made me feel a little more confident. Letting nature take its course is usually the best rule. But this is up to you, Dulcina. I’ll keep her until I can find her another home if you don’t want her.”
This time Dulcina didn’t hesitate. “I want her. I’ll take care of her and her babies. I need to feel I’m doing something good.”
“Do you have any supplies? A litter box, litter, dishes, food?”
“I bought a litter box and litter. No food because I wanted to see what you would suggest.”
“I can pick up some food for you here.”
“That works. Do you want me to take Lady over to your place?” Dulcina had been keeping Lady at her house while Caprice helped her uncle.
“That would be great. Marcus gave Halo a flea treatment. Do you have someplace washable you can keep her? A bathroom, maybe?”
“I’ll do better than that. I’ll let her stay in my sunroom. It’s air conditioned like the rest of the house, so if it gets too warm she’ll still be okay. Do you think that would be a good place?”
“I think that would be great. I’m going to be running an errand later this afternoon.” Caprice had already made up her mind that she was going to check on Rowena and the house and see what else she could find out. “So I can stop at Perky Paws,” she went on, “and get you whatever you need.”
“Do you think she’ll like me?” Dulcina asked Caprice.
“She’ll learn to like you,” Caprice assured her. “What she’s going to love most is your kindness.”
* * *
Caprice smiled as she headed for Rowena’s house later that day. Dulcina and Halo were settling in together. Dulcina had laid old
washable rugs on the ceramic-tiled floor of the sunroom and dimmed the shades a bit on one side. Caprice had taken her a bag of catnip she’d purchased at the clinic and sprinkled a little on the rugs. After eating and drinking, Halo had settled on one of them and fallen asleep. All was well there for now.
As far as Rowena went, however . . .
As Caprice approached Rowena’s house, she hoped the woman had friends other than Kiki who could help her. Would she be able to stay in that house by herself? Would Jeanie consider moving in with her? How spooky would it be to know someone was murdered in your house and you were still going to live there?
Parking in front of Rowena’s home, Caprice noted that all looked quiet. But that didn’t mean anything. Of course, Rowena could have returned to Kiki’s.
Once at the porch, however, Caprice saw the main door was open. She stood at the screen and rang the bell.
She heard Rowena call, “Be right there.”
From what Caprice could see in the living room, everything looked to be in order. The Oriental rug that had covered the floor was gone. But other than that, there didn’t seem to be any sign of what had happened here.
Caprice could just glimpse the shade of the Tiffany lamp sitting on the side table. Still no base. Had the murderer taken it? Or had the police found it and collected it as evidence?
When Rowena came to the door, she peered at Caprice a few moments as if she had trouble seeing her. So Caprice said, “It’s Caprice, Rowena.”
“I thought it was you,” she said. “No one but Kiki wants to talk to me since my grandson was murdered.”
Caprice suspected that Rowena wasn’t just being paranoid. A murder in a family wasn’t the same thing as a death. Friends shied away from getting too close to it. She’d seen that happen with her friend Roz.
“I’m glad you have Kiki.”
“So am I. Come on in. Everything’s been cleaned up, at least that’s what Kiki tells me. She went out to buy groceries for dinner. She’s staying with me a few nights.”
Silence of the Lamps Page 11