“It’s already at the train station downtown. I told them in baggage storage to check it through to New York for me. My lawyer loaned me his car. Isn’t that the bees knees? Can I give you a lift?”
“We’re good. It’s only a block to Julia’s yacht and we have to stay in shape for when we have to chase cats,” Grace said.
“We’ll see you at the party, Prudence. We’ll be the ones at the martini bar.” Jack waved when Prudence drove away.
“Prudence seems like someone who would walk. She doesn’t seem like someone who would drive only a block.”
Tatania meowed. Grace loved it when Tatania meowed right after she said something. It made her feel Tatania agreed with her. Prudence parked in the shadows next to the Boathouse and waved at Grace and Jack.
“People aren’t always what they seem to be.” Jack whispered.
Julia’s yacht, named ingeniously enough, Julia, by Grace’s late uncle, was docked mere steps away. Towards the end of Uncle Charles’ life, he had fallen in love with Julia. People who knew Uncle Charles’ wife, Grace’s abominable Aunt Alice, weren’t as surprised as Grace to discover the affair.
Charlotte waited on the yacht’s deck and squealed when she saw Jack. She was barely six years old but females began squealing at the sight of Jack early in life.
“No wonder you are so pretty, Charlotte. Julia is your mother,” Jack said.
“Jack. I’m so glad you and Grace are here.” Julia and Grace exchanged air kisses.
“Grace, would you like a martini? You simply must. I have fresh olives and fresh gin. The gin came from the south. Mexico. The olives came from the North. Fallbrook.” Julia smiled.
“Bees Knees. Everything splendid converges in Coronado eventually.”
“Like my favorite detectives.” A man whispered in Grace’s ear.
“Edward, behave yourself,” Julia said.
“Why do you look familiar?” Grace asked.
“We’ve met before. How quickly they forget.” He looked at Julia. Even in the wind, his thick dark hair didn’t seem to blow out of place but fell just the way he wanted it. He had enough hair for two men. Edward, or as he was known to some, Judge Edward Huntingfield, III, had been born with every advantage in life and an unwavering belief that he deserved everything he’d never earned. He was not entirely unprincipled but he was a man who never hesitated to go where his penis led him.
Gorgeous women were never found guilty in his courtroom. Even when a good looking dame admitted guilt at a crime scene, Edward would decide her case looked like a not guilty verdict to him. He could sometimes be seen driving grateful dames in his red convertible Bentley from the courthouse to his room at the U.S. Grant Hotel. He didn’t even fake being happily married.
“I remember now. U.S. Grant Hotel. We had lunch with you. Why does it seem like every office in the U.S. Grant Hotel is filled with lawyers?” Grace asked.
“It has a great speakeasy. And underground tunnels to escape clients. And angry women. I still maintain my old law office there. Sometimes, I go back and hit the books.” Edward fidgeted with his collar. For an unabashed hedonist, he seemed unusually preoccupied and a little glum. He sat in a deck chair and stared at the rising moon.
“Yes, Jack and I know that speakeasy. We meet the nicest people drinking “
“Grace likes to walk in the Men’s Entrance to the U.S. Grant Hotel. If they tell her it’s the Men’s Entrance, she says, ‘It’s the Women’s Entrance now.’”
“I’d open any door for you, Grace,” Edward said. He saw Tatania sitting on Jack’s shoulder. “She looks just like a stray cat I used to feed in my office at the U.S. Grant.”
Tatania felt shocked. In one of her nine lives, she had chosen Edward as her human. And now she knew he had always thought of her as just a stray cat. That ruffled her fur. In her next life, she’d returned to check on him and even gone to court with him when he became a judge. When she checked his calendar, she learned the names of lawyers whose voices could lull her to sleep. She’d swivel her ears three times, become invisible, and join him on the bench whenever sleep inducing lawyers were scheduled to appear.
“Are you okay, Tatania?” Grace noticed that Tatania looked teary-eyed. Jack reached up to pet her. Tatania put both her paws around Jack’s neck and purred. Then, she jumped several feet to Edward’s lap and slapped him.
“She looks like that stray cat. But the stray cat was really sweet.” Edward rubbed his cheek. Tatania slapped him again.
“She’d come in the office at night when I was working late. One night, my wife surprised me and threw her out in the street. I never saw the cat again.”
Tatania closed her eyes. The last thing she’d seen in that life was a careening truck. Then, a tire ran over her and she felt intense, searing pain and couldn’t breathe.
Grace gasped. “I’ve only seen her slap tomcats before. She doesn’t usually slap humans.”
Edward rubbed his cheek. “Does that mean I’m not human?” He tried to joke but no one was amused. Tatania turned her back to him and jumped off the chair. Grace picked Tatania up and held her close. She’d never met Edward’s wife but she hated her already. A cat suffered and died because of Edward’s wife. And she’d never been held accountable for it.
“I remember that gorgeous cat.” Edward stroked Tatania under her chin. Tatania looked furious.
Only a cat could rival Edward’s propensity towards never having a hair out of place. Edward had been blessed with physical perfection. He had thick dark hair the exact same shade as the mustache that hinted at the rogue within. Grace found it hard to look at him without imagining him naked.
“Cornelius wants to see you, Grace. Cornelius and I were just talking about you today. He appeared in my courtroom.” Edward looked pleased with himself.
“Sure.” Grace felt self-conscious. Like Edward knew what she’d been thinking. Tatania stared at her. Grace told herself to not be silly. Only magical cats could tell what humans were thinking. Cornelius had been her late Uncle Charles’ law partner. When Charles was murdered, he’d been kind to her even when the rest of the world was not.
“I’d like to see Cornelius again,” Grace said.
“As you wish, lovely Grace. I want you to come see me at my office. I’m still working late most nights. And I have something to tell you about your Aunt Alice.” Cornelius appeared from below deck, looking prosperous, from the gold pocket watch on gold chain in his shirt pocket to the Italian loafers on his feet. Behind Cornelius, a slim woman with ash blonde hair lit a cigarette. Grace thought she looked familiar.
“How do you like practicing on your own since that lucky bastard Charles died?” Edward patted Cornelius on the shoulder.
“Charles was neither lucky nor a bastard.” Cornelius scowled.
“He was one of two.” Jack smiled.
“It’s so easy to just take the ferry and the streetcar to the U.S. Grant Hotel,” the woman behind him said, playing with her hair.
“Don’t think I’ve ever seen you on a streetcar,” Edward laughed as if they were sharing a private joke.
“I’m Edward’s manicurist,” she explained. “I give private manicures for special customers at the hotel.”
“Arabella is the best damn manicurist at the U.S. Grant.” Edward held up one perfectly manicured hand. Edward always had the look of a man who had led a life of comfort and ease from the moment he was born. And would lead a life of comfort and ease until the moment he died. His pensive mood was surprising. He stared dejectedly at his martini like it didn’t matter if it was full, it still looked empty to him.
Arabella’s red lipstick matched her scarf and rouged knees. Tatania watched, transfixed as Arabella’s scarf and blonde hair lifted up by the wind, touched the bottom of the silver tray carried by a server. She caught the scent of lobster canapes. Tatania considered whether she should spend the next of her nine lives with a seafood chef. But she didn’t want to think too much about that now. She was in the life with
the humans she would always love more than any other.
Sometimes, Grace looked at the yacht and wondered where the money for it had come from. Her late uncle had lost Grace’s inheritance in a Ponzi scheme. He’d managed to take care of Julia though. She felt a slightly jealous pang.
“Don’t be jealous of me, Grace.”
Oh my God. It was like Julia had read her mind too. Jack always told her she could never play poker. She didn’t have the face for it.
“You may not know it now. But Jack is a gift from God. I had your Uncle Charles. There’s no winning in a deep love affair with a philanderer. If he leaves his wife for you, you become the primary person he cheats on and falls back on. Or you move on but sometimes memories of him move over you like waves drowning the happiness you thought you’d found.”
“You loved him,” Grace said.
“Of course. I mean, I didn’t grow up thinking that one day I’d fall in love with someone and he would be married to someone else. But it felt right. I was all alone and singing in a saloon when we met. I felt like he saw me. He really saw me instead of my temporary circumstances. I was his secret.”
“That’s the way I felt with Jack.” When she lost everything, he treated her with respect. She looked at Julia’s Baccarat crystal cocktail glasses. Julia had her own money and didn’t answer to anyone. Julia and Charles’ affair hadn’t been a secret from most of San Diego but Grace decided not to mention that to Julia. Grace had discovered that her uncle had kept a running account at the Hotel del Coronado for room service. Uncle Charles had finagled through charm or money or both for room service from the Hotel del Coronado delivered directly to his mistress on the yacht that bore her name.
Zeus noticed that Edward kept staring at him and Tatania. It was like he’d never seen cats at a yacht party before. Tatania groomed Zeus’s ears for him so he’d look his best when the servers came through with seafood appetizers again.
A loud noise made Grace jump.
“We’re having a few fireworks tonight.” Julia explained. Prudence didn’t want to say good bye to everyone because she thought she’d cry. So we told her to just leave during the fireworks.”
The cats would be terrified. Grace looked around for the two fluffy beings who shared her heart with Jack.
“Would you like another martini?” Julia’s bartender asked.
“Absolutely. I don’t have to be asked twice,” Grace said.
“I don’t want her drinking alone. I’ll have another one with her,” Jack grabbed drinks for both of them off a silver tray from Tiffany’s.
“Your cats are recovering nicely from the shock of the fireworks, Grace. I found them on the other side of the ship. I fed them some tuna canape. Without the canape. Don’t worry.” Julia’s chef assured them.
Zeus appeared as if he knew that they were talking about him. He had something in his mouth. It looked like Edward’s tie. Grace had noticed that Edward seemed to be the only one on the yacht who looked like he was still dressed for work.
“Where is Edward?” Grace asked.
“I haven’t seen him for awhile.” Jack put down his martini.
Grace knelt next to Zeus. “This definitely looks like Edward’s tie.” She put her martini down. Tatania sniffed the tie. Then she knocked the olives out of Grace’s martini and batted them around the ship.
“Could he have fallen overboard, Jack?”
“I expect he’s an excellent swimmer. He says that swimming and lawyering are mandatory in his family. Like registering Republican.
“He lives on Ocean Blvd. Do you think he may have just swam home?” Julia asked.
They began walking around the boat and calling Edward’s name. Two walks around the yacht later, they hadn’t found him. But they’d seen what looked like scraps of his clothes.
“I’ve never had a guest suddenly leave alone,” Julia said.
“Grace and I will go to his house. We’re so close to shore. I’m sure he could get there safely if he fell or something. He lives on Ocean Boulevard.”
“We’re not swimming over there, are we? Jack, we have the cats.”
Julia laughed. “My captain will take us back to shore.”
Grace watched Tatania and Zeus bat olives while she waited for the engine to start. Jack stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She stood rooted and thought she was exactly where she wanted to be and doing exactly what she wanted to be doing.
Chapter Two
“Jack, he made that odd comment about my uncle being a lucky bastard. He seemed despondent. He wasn’t his usual hedonistic self. Do you think Edward suicided?”
“No. Edward’s a horndog. He enjoys life too much to bump himself off. A jealous boyfriend or husband would bump him off before he’d kill himself. I don’t think he’d leave his own boat behind.” They looked at Edward’s boat, The Hedonista, docked at the Boathouse. Tatania hissed.
“Tatania really seems angry at Edward,” Grace said quietly. Then she remembered Edward’s wife throwing a cat out the window to be killed in the street and felt consumed by rage.
“Edward’s wife killed a cat? I couldn’t believe that story. She should be in hell for killing a cat, Jack.”
“One day we will make sure she gets there, Grace.”
They held hands and watched the cats stroll on Coronado beach like they owned it. A terrier bounded out from Edward’s mansion on the beach.
“Gorgeous dog. I can see who got the looks in the family.” Grace joked to Edward’s butler.
“You can see who got the looks in the family now. I’m Edward’s wife. I’m Betty Huntingfield.” A tall woman who looked more tightly wound than a rolled up yo-yo appeared in the doorway. She emanated anger. Grace felt like she wanted to stand at least four feet away from Betty to stay out of her rage.
“We’re terribly sorry to bother you, Ma’am but Edward appears to have left a going away party for a school teacher without saying goodbye to anyone. It was on my little cousin’s yacht and we were concerned that something had happened to him.” Grace felt uncomfortable. Edward’s wife seemed unpredictable. And not in a good way.
“You’re those detectives,” she said finally.
“Could you please define those?” Jack asked. There was something about Edward’s wife that engendered an easy dislike.
“Married detectives. You’re married and you have to work, Grace?”
“Just for the novelty of it.”
“She means she married me just for the novelty of it,” Jack said.
“My husband is very rich. And I want to know where he is. I’ve already heard he went overboard. It’s a small island. And I know everything that happens on it.” She smiled but her eyes conveyed hatred.
“ I don’t believe he drowned. He’s an excellent swimmer. Come inside with me, please. And call me Betty. Ma’am makes me feel a hundred years old.”
Grace kept thinking about the cat who looked like Tatania that Betty killed. And Betty walked around so casually like there wasn’t a price to pay for killing a cat. Betty was a brute in designer clothing.
They walked into a foyer defined by marble floors and mirrors. Betty opened a door that revealed a large safe set in the wall. She nimbly turned the safe combo, opened it, and pulled out five one-thousand dollar bills she handed to Jack.
“I need this handled with discretion. I need to know where Edward went. And with whom.”
“With whom?” Grace asked.
“Yes, Grace. It could be one of a lot of mistresses. Mistresses are like cockroaches and rats. If you see one, there are probably several hiding away.”
“Can you describe the one you saw?” Jack said gently.
“That manicurist tramp. She’s been two-stepping with him at the U.S. Grant for months. He loves the convenience. The U.S. Grant Hotel is only a few blocks from the courthouse. Not that Edward would ever walk any place. He loves his Bentley too much to walk. And his mistresses surreptitiously go through the tunnels the bootleggers use under
the hotel to get hooch to the speakeasy. Most people don’t know but I watched Arabella and Jack from a window at Marston Department store one afternoon. Spending Edward’s money has always felt satisfying. I don’t care about anything else. Anyone interested in that philanderer deserves him.”
“Thank you for your confidence in us, Betty. We’re jumping on the case. Don’t worry.” Grace wanted to reassure her.
Tatania shuddered when she saw Betty. The memory of being thrown into the street by her never left her. She carried her past lives’ memories within her. If there was a way she could slap or claw Betty without touching her, she would. But Tatania didn’t even want to touch Betty to slap her so she kept her claws retracted for the moment.
“Oh, with my money, there are no worries. Edward isn’t the only one with family money. My family has more money than his.” Betty smirked.
Zeus put his paws up on Grace’s leg. She picked up the adorable black and white tomcat and reached for one of his treats in her purse.
“You have cat treats in your purse, Grace?” She looked Grace up and down. “You have no class,” she said.
“You have a lot, Betty. And it’s all low,” Grace replied.
Jack rubbed Grace’s back when they walked back out the door. “Don’t ever let the bitches get you down,” he said.
“I won’t, Darling.”
“She’s probably just jealous of you.”
Grace wondered if he’d say because she was cute.
“Because you’re with me,” he said.
“I probably shouldn’t have said that to a client.” She looked up at him.
“Don’t get in the habit of it. She’s one of the few who pay in cash.”
“She looked so angry. If you step too close to her, it’s like you’re standing in a spotlight of rage emanating from her.”
“Well, her husband sleeps with just about any woman in San Diego County except her.”
“She killed a cat, Jack. Zeus and Tatania sense something because they don’t want to go near her. She walks around like she will never experience any repercussions. A cat suffered and died because of her. And she has no remorse.”
Magical Cool Cat Mysteries Boxed Set Volume 3 (Magical Cool Cats Mysteries) Page 19