Cats in Cahoots (A Klepto Cat Mystery Book 18)

by Patricia Fry

  There was a moment of silence, then, “Are you distracted telephoning?” Margaret joked.

  “What?” Savannah said, chuckling.

  “You must be distracted if you didn’t hear what I just told you. My watering can is missing again.”

  Savannah frowned. “Your watering can?”

  “Yes, it’s the second time since last week. Twice, I went out on the porch to water the potted plants and twice the watering can was gone. Vannie, I keep it in the same place all the time. It’s cute, so I use it as part of the décor out on the front porch. Well, you know that. Remember the vintage watering can I painted red?”

  “Yes, I know the one.” She chuckled. “Now that would be hard to lose, it’s pretty big.”“Exactamundo.”

  “Oh, Auntie, you probably left it on the other side of the house. Have you walked around the house looking for it?”

  “Auntie,” Lily said, racing to where Savannah stood. The baby reached up and started whining.

  In the meantime, Savannah listened to Margaret explain how thoroughly she’d looked for her watering can, then she finally interrupted her. “Auntie, excuse me, but someone wants to talk to you.”

  “Oh?” Margaret questioned.

  “Yeah, Lily heard me say Auntie and now she’s trying to wrestle the phone from me.”

  “How cute is that? Put her on, Vannie.”

  Squatting to the toddler’s level, Savannah held the phone to her little ear. When Lily remained quiet, Savannah prompted, “Say hi to Auntie. Hi Auntie…” But Lily only listened. “Say hi, punkin.” After a few minutes, Savannah took the phone. “Gads. She won’t talk. Now she’s crying for the phone. She’s kind of cranky today; I’d better go.” Before Savannah could end the call, however, she noticed that Lily had become distracted by her stacking blocks. “Wait, she’s occupied at the moment. What I wanted to ask is, where did you find the watering can last time after it disappeared? Have you looked there?”

  “Uh-huh,” Margaret said smugly. “I found it right where it belongs. Whoever took it put it back and my dear husband said it wasn’t him.”

  “Well, if it wasn’t Max, it was probably one of your shelter volunteers. If it showed up once, it’ll show up again. Go snag a saucepan from the kitchen and use it for watering today. Hey, gotta go. So you’ll come by here around noon? Or come earlier if you can get away from the cattery.”

  “Sure.”

  Savannah had ended the call and was scouring the baby’s closet for a suitable outfit for her to wear, when her phone rang again.

  “Auntie?” Lily chirped when she saw Savannah pull the phone from her pocket.

  “No, it’s Grammy,” she said, after looking at the screen. “Hi, Mom. Are you on your way up?”

  “I’m leaving in an hour or so,” she said. “Should be there by three or four this afternoon.”

  “Three or four?” Savannah repeated. “I don’t think so, Mom. It’ll take you at least nine hours, won’t it? I know you, you need to stop and stretch your legs every hour or so and get something to eat.”

  “Oh, I guess I forgot to tell you; I’m in Santa Barbara with friends. I’m flying out of here and renting a car in San Francisco.”

  “Oh good.”

  “I almost had to cancel.”

  “Is there a problem?”

  “Yes…well, no. Bob had a spell day before yesterday and I took him to emergency. They said it was probably anxiety. Nothing to worry about. He’ll see his doctor tomorrow. His daughter’s in town and she has promised to stay in touch with him. He can call her if he has any more trouble. He urged me to go ahead with my plans. Then I thought I would have to stay and run the church bazaar. My co-chair had an emergency in her family last Thursday and the whole thing got dumped in my lap. My friend, Charm, stepped up, though…like a charm,” she said, chuckling, “and we got everything done. With our committee’s help, the event should go smooth as silk.”

  “Well good. Sounds like you need a vacation. You’re pretty busy for a retired lady.”

  “Indeed, I do need a vacation I’m looking forward to it.”

  “See you later today, then,” Savannah said into the phone. “Drive safely.” After pocketing her phone, she picked up Lily. “Okay, punkin, let’s get you a bath so you’ll be squeaky clean for your aunties.”

  “Auntie?” Lily said, holding her toy phone up to her ear. “Auntie?”

  “Oh, great. Now you have something to say, huh?”

  ****

  “Where’s Lily?” Brianna asked upon arriving at the Ivey home a little while later.

  Savannah feigned disappointment. “Hey, what about me? You walk right past your own sister?”

  “Oh, sorry. Hi, Vannie. Where’s my niece?”

  “Napping. You’re going to have to settle for me. Auntie should be here any time.” She giggled. “That is, if she found her watering can.”

  “Her watering can? Why’s she bringing her watering can?”

  “She’s not. She called earlier complaining that she couldn’t find it. Evidently, it keeps walking away. I told her to water with something else, and get over here. We’re ready to…”

  “To what?” Brianna asked, smiling. “To rumble?” she said, giving her sister a hip bump.

  “Yeah, something like that, I guess. Only I wasn’t planning on us doing any dancing.”

  “Well, you’re an old fuddy-duddy. I’ll bet Lily will dance with me.”

  “Yeah, she does like to dance. You saw her at Colbi’s wedding,” she said, laughing. “She made quite the spectacle of herself. Everyone had their phone cameras out.”

  “Yes, I’ll just bet a lot of those videos have gone viral by now. You’d better get her an agent before the calls start coming in.”

  Suddenly, Savannah winced. “Uh-oh, here comes your admirer. She must have heard your voice.”

  “Huh?” Brianna asked, quickly turning in the direction Savannah indicated. She smiled. “Well hi, Lexie.”

  When Savannah noticed the Afghan-mix dog dancing around Brianna’s feet and wriggling in excitement, she shook her head. “She sure likes you.”

  “It’s more like love. She loves me.”

  “She must. She doesn’t act like that with anyone else. What is it, your perfume? Do you have a special irresistible way of petting her?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know. But I like her—maybe that’s the key. She knows I like her, huh, Lexie?” Brianna said, leaning over and scratching the dog along the sides of her neck. “She just craves attention. Don’t you guys ever give her any?”

  Savannah stared at her sister. “Well, yes. She gets plenty of attention and affection, especially from Lily.” She laughed. “But she doesn’t always like Lily’s brand of attention; she can be a little rough sometimes. Oh, I think I hear the princess.” She smiled. “Do you hear that? She’s calling for you.”

  “Really?” Brianna said, her face lighting up. “How special. Can I get her up?”

  “Sure, come on.”

  Before the two women entered the hallway, however, they heard another voice. “Hey, anyone home?”

  “Hi Auntie,” Savannah greeted. “Come in. We’re just going to get the punkin up. Come join the party.” She turned to Margaret. “Did you find your watering can?”

  Shaking her head, she said, “No, darn it. I asked all the volunteers and not one of them will fess up. Max said he hasn’t seen it.” She acknowledged Brianna with a hug. “Hi Bri.”

  “Hi, Aunt Maggie.” She grinned impishly, saying, “Sorry about your…watering can.”

  “Yeah, I can tell that you are,” Margaret said facetiously, continuing to follow her nieces into the nursery. When she saw Lily standing in her crib, she smiled widely and held her hands out to the toddler. “Hi, baby girl. Come see Auntie.”

  When Brianna saw the toddler lower her eyes, she breezed past her aunt toward the baby. “Awww, she wants to see Aunt Bri, don’t you sweet girl?”

  Bu
t Lily still wasn’t having it. She moved to the back of her crib and stared out at the sea of faces. When she spotted Savannah, she held her hands out toward her. “Ma-ma,” she whined.

  “Goodness, little one,” Savannah said lifting the baby, who buried her little face in her mommy’s shoulder. “A while ago you were begging to see your aunties. She turned to the others. “She was even talking to you guys on her toy phone.” Kissing the baby, she said quietly, “Now you’re all of a sudden shy?”

  “Oh, she’ll be okay once she finishes waking up,” Margaret said.

  Brianna nodded. “Yeah, we all kind of barged in on her.”

  Before Savannah could respond, she heard the doorbell. “Who could that be?” she asked, not expecting an answer.

  “Maybe a door-to-door salesman,” Margaret suggested.

  Savannah lowered her brow. “Do we have those? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one except in the movies.”

  “Yeah, now we have telemarketers,” Brianna said. “…phone-to-phone salespeople. Grrr. How I hate them.”

  “Well, let me see who it is,” Savannah said, walking toward the front door with Lily in her arms.

  When the bell chimed again, Margaret pointed. “I think it’s the back door.”

  Savannah nodded. “You’re right. Two rings at the front door, one at the back door. I wasn’t sure which one I heard.” She rushed to the back door and opened it. “Oh hi, Antonio. How are you?”

  “Good today,” he replied smiling. He then frowned. “I come to work on the garden and something is gone.”

  “Something’s missing?” she asked.

  “Si. And something is here.” When Savannah looked confused, he asked, “Did you pick more lettuce?”

  “No, we haven’t picked any since you brought in that big batch a few days ago; we’re still using it.”

  He removed his straw hat and scratched his head. “Maybe rabbit come again.”

  “Does it look like a rabbit’s been in the garden?”

  “No. Maybe a person pick.”

  “Did they pick a lot?”

  “No. Poquito,” he explained, gesturing with his hands. “Uno lettuce.”

  “One plant? Was it a gopher?”

  “No. People, I think.”

  “Well, that’s okay. It’s nothing to worry about, right?”

  He shook his head. “No worry. Plenty more.” He peered at Savannah for a moment and said, “You want to know if someone take, no?”

  “Well, yes. We don’t want someone taking from our garden without permission.” She gazed over Antonio’s head at the old Crankshaw place and nodded in that direction. “Maybe it was the children. I should talk to them and let them know they can pick, as long as they ask permission.”

  “Good, Miss Savannah. Good,” he said nodding and backing away. He then pulled something out of a pocket. “He leave this.”

  “A package of seeds?” Brianna said from behind her sister. “That’s rich.” She walked closer and looked at the package. “Lettuce seeds.”

  Antonio nodded and looked at Savannah. “What do I do?”

  She shrugged. “Plant them, I guess.”

  “Okay,” he said, stepping off the porch and disappearing around the side of the house toward the garden.

  “So someone’s stealing from you, too.” Margaret noted as the women retreated into the kitchen.

  “What?” Savannah said, still distracted by Antonio’s discovery.

  “He said someone’s taking your lettuce.”

  Savannah nodded toward the house on the other side of the orchard. “Oh, it’s probably the new kids.”

  “Have you met them yet?” Margaret asked.

  She eased a squirming Lily down to the floor before responding. “Yes, actually…a couple of them. Have you?”

  Margaret shook her head.

  Brianna frowned. “Why would children be interested in picking lettuce—a nice, juicy apple from your orchard maybe, but lettuce?”

  “Hmmm,” Margaret said, looking thoughtful. “I wonder if they’d take a bright red watering can.” She grimaced. “Gads, I hope a ring of juvenile thieves hasn’t moved into the neighborhood.”

  “How many kids are there?” Brianna asked, handing Lily a toy.

  “According to another neighbor,” Margaret said, “hoards.”

  Savannah laughed. “Yeah, they hoard children.”

  “Vannie, how many have you seen?” Margaret asked.

  “Maybe three. Adam was over there yesterday and he indicated there are a lot of them, including a boy around his age. He’s thrilled about that.”

  “Do they play over here on your property?” Margaret asked, peering out the kitchen window.

  Savannah hesitated. “Well, it seems that some of them have been over here, maybe bothering the horse. But so far, I haven’t seen any kids here except for one little girl, Kira.”

  “That’s nice,” Brianna said. “There will be kids for Adam to play with next time he comes.”

  “Yeah, I’d like to know something about them before he spends any more time with them.” She glanced toward the Crane place before scooping up Lily and taking her toward the nursery for a diaper change. “Oh, Auntie,” she called out on her way into the hall, “would you take that envelope there on the counter to Antonio? I don’t want to get distracted and forget to pay him.”

  When Brianna saw Margaret staring down at her phone, she said, “I’ll do it.” A few minutes later, she joined the other women and the toddler in the living room. “He said, gracias.”

  “Thanks, Sis,” Savannah said. Brightening, she asked, “Is everyone ready for lunch?”

  “Yeah, where are we going?” Margaret asked.

  Brianna grinned at their aunt. “What’s your chef hubby fixing for lunch?”

  “I think he’s heating up leftovers and there’s just enough for one.”

  “Bummer,” she said.

  “Hey, maybe Max will cook something for us before you leave, Bri.”

  “That would be a treat,” Savannah said, while putting Lily’s sweater on her. She picked up her purse. “I thought we’d go to the Courtyard Café. I’ve been craving one of their turkey sandwiches. Sound good?”

  “Yeah,” Brianna said.

  Margaret nodded. “Okay with me. Are we ready? Want to take my new car?”

  “Hey, Bri, have you seen Auntie’s new red car?”

  “No, but I heard about it. Red, huh? Pretty flashy for a…”

  “For a what?” Margaret challenged.

  “Nothing,” Brianna said, grinning. “Just pretty flashy, that’s all.”

  In the meantime, Savannah mulled over Margaret’s suggestion. “We could take your car, but you might not want Lily’s car seat making marks on your new upholstery.”

  Margaret creased her brow. “Oh, well, let’s take your car, Vannie.” Smiling, she added, “Then I can have a glass of wine with lunch.”

  “Are you off duty at the shelter today? Taking a vacation day, are you?” Brianna asked, looping her arm through Margaret’s.

  “Yes, it’s a special occasion. My niece, the doctor is in town.” She smiled toward Savannah. “…visiting my niece, the veterinarian.”

  Suddenly Brianna jumped. “Who’s that?” she said under her breath.

  “Where?” the other women asked, glancing around.

  “Oh, he’s gone.”

  “Was it Antonio?” Margaret asked.

  Brianna hesitated. “I don’t think so, but I can’t be sure. I caught just a brief glance. He looked taller and had a lighter complexion. Hell, it could have been Dad, for all I know, or maybe Grandpa Jed.”

  “Grandpa Jed?” Margaret yelped.

  “Yeah, don’t you see him around here? As much as he loved this place, I’d expect him to hang around.” She thought for a minute before saying, “But then, I’ve seen Dad in Straley and he had no attachment to that city, as far as I know. I also saw him at a spa I visited in Mexi
co once.”

  Margaret peered suspiciously at her niece. “You’re seeing ghosts?”

  “Could be,” Brianna said, letting out a sigh. “Don’t you ever see people who’ve passed?”

  Margaret shook her head. “No, and I don’t want to, either.”

  “Auntie, you liked Grandpa Jed,” Savannah reminded her.

  “Yes, when he was alive. I liked your father, too,” she said, sliding into the front passenger seat of Savannah’s SUV. “But no way do I want to see their ghosts.”

  Brianna addressed her sister. “You see Dad’s spirit, don’t you, Vannie?”

  Savannah glanced up while settling Lily into the car seat. She thinned her lips. “Actually, I think so—maybe a couple of times.”

  “You see spirits?” Margaret shrieked.

  “I’m pretty sure I have. Bri, want to sit in back with the princess?” Savannah asked as she stepped into the driver’s seat.

  “Sure do,” she said, scooting in and buckling her seat belt. “So Vannie, tell me about your sightings. Do you think Dad really visits you?”

  “I think so—at least I like to think so.”

  “Really?” Margaret said. “You encourage ghosts?”

  “Sure, those I know. It’s comforting to feel them around.”

  “Isn’t that the truth,” Brianna said. She was quiet for a moment. “Do you see him clearly?”

  After thinking about it, Savannah said, “No, just a fleeting glimpse—like a flash. Then I wonder if I really saw something or not. But I’m always left with a warm feeling, like Dad’s close.”

  “Yes, that’s how it is for me, too,” Brianna said.

  Savannah continued. “I discounted it for the longest time until I happened to mention something to Iris…”

  “Oh, Iris,” Margaret huffed. “She’s a cuckoo when it comes to woo-woo stuff. She’ll make something weird out of anything you tell her.”

  “Like what?” Savannah challenged.

  “Yeah,” Brianna said, “like what?”

  “Well, like the time I had a little too much wine and I told her I saw Tom in a dream.”

  “A dream?”

  “Yes, I believe in dreams. It was one of those real-as-life dreams. Well, Iris said that was Tom coming to visit. Man, that really spooked me. I didn’t sleep well after that for days.”