The Cats & the Riddle

by Jan Fields

  Adam smiled. “That reminds me of a joke. Do you know the difference between Americans and Europeans?”

  “No, what’s the difference?”

  “In Europe, a hundred miles is a long way,” Adam said. “And in America, a hundred years is a long time.”

  The group chuckled for a moment. Adam thanked Reverend Wallace again for a fine service and began to walk down the wide church steps. Annie walked after him and touched his arm. When he turned, she told him about finding the letter in the parking lot after meeting him on the beach.

  “Oh, I’m so glad you found it,” Adam said. “I was afraid that I’d lost it forever.”

  “I’m just sorry I didn’t bring it to you before,” she said. “I’m not sure where it is, though I know I brought it home with me. I’ll look around my house and bring it to you at the inn.”

  Adam smiled, speaking tentatively. “Would you mind if I came home with you now and helped you look for it? You really don’t know how panicked I was over losing it.”

  By this time, Alice had joined them on the steps. “Is it a valuable document?”

  Adam’s smile expanded to include her. “Not so much valuable in money terms, but it’s definitely valuable to me. It’s a letter from Candace, and it’s the way I knew she was here at some point.”

  “Because of the postmark,” Annie said. “The return address was New York City, but the postmark was here in Stony Point.”

  Adam looked at her in surprise. “That’s right. You’re very observant.”

  “Well …” Annie said, hesitantly. She felt a strong desire to help Adam; she could tell he was desperate to find Candace. But she also remembered times in the past when strangers to Stony Point weren’t as sincere as they seemed. Still, he wasn’t being pushy. “Alice and I were going to a friend’s house to walk his dog, but if Alice doesn’t mind, we could go to my house first so I can search for the letter.”

  “That’s not a problem,” Alice said. “I have plenty of time.”

  So Alice and Annie piled into Annie’s car and Adam followed in his rental. “You didn’t tell me you met a handsome stranger—and with a gorgeous accent no less. As jealous as Ian gets, it’s a good thing he’s out of town.”

  “Ian doesn’t get jealous,” Annie said. “He’s a little overly protective of everyone in Stony Point. It’s just part of being mayor.”

  “Right, sure,” Alice said. “I can definitely tell you that he never acted quite so … protective … before you moved to town, Annie.”

  “Well, even if I were in the market for handsome strangers,” Annie said, pulling the topic away from Ian, “which I am not, Adam clearly is solely focused on this Candace Caine.”

  “Why does that name sound familiar?” Alice asked.

  “She writes children’s books,” Annie said. “I know the twins have at least one of hers.”

  “I guess that could be it,” Alice said. “Not that I buy a lot of children’s books. Did you hear him say she is the love of his life? I think that’s so romantic. Did he tell you what happened?”

  “He hasn’t said, but he seems so sad about it.”

  “Maybe he’ll tell you more while you two look for the letter,” Alice suggested. “How exciting and mysterious. Do you think we could help him find her?”

  “I don’t know,” Annie said. “The last time I tried to help a man who seemed to be mourning a lost love, it turned out that she had a very good reason to be hiding from him.”

  “You don’t think Adam is dangerous, do you? He seems so genuine. If you think he might be dangerous, why are you letting him come home with you?”

  “Well, he asked right in front of you,” Annie said. “So I assume he’s not planning to get me alone at Grey Gables and bash in my head. Besides, if he acts the least bit twitchy, I’ll sic Boots on him. You know how protective she is.”

  “Probably more than Ian, that’s for sure,” Alice said. “More than one person can testify to that. I think Jim is truly scared of her.”

  “I think he just doesn’t like cats,” Annie said. “By the way, has Nancy Breaker asked you about putting the carriage house on the Garden Club’s tour of homes?”

  Alice shook her head. “I don’t know what that is.”

  Annie explained about the pushy woman and her almost endless pestering phone calls. “I’m thinking I need to tell her a very firm ‘no,’ so she’ll leave me alone. The other day I even had someone drive by, taking photos of the house.”

  “Are you sure that was about the tour?” Alice asked, a worried frown on her face.

  “I can’t imagine what else it could be about,” Annie said. “But now I can worry about that, thank you very much. I needed some fresh worries.”

  “Anything to help.” Alice leaned forward for a better view out the windshield. “Well, we should probably focus on the mystery at hand since we’re almost home, and the tall, dark stranger is behind us.”

  Annie glanced at her friend and smiled mischievously. “Good thing I have you to protect me. Besides, I don’t think Adam is at all dangerous, though I am not always the best judge of character. He seems so sad. Anyway, I’m sure it’ll only take a few minutes to find the letter.”

  “This will give us a chance to change clothes before we walk Tartan. I’ve seen that dog. I think I’m going to put on my gardening pants since they’re already grass-stained for Tartan’s convenience.”

  Annie laughed. “That sounds like a good plan.”

  10

  When Annie pulled into the drive at Grey Gables, Alice turned and looked behind them at Adam Smithfield’s car. She raised an eyebrow and asked, “Do you want me to come in with you?”

  Annie shook her head. “I’ll be fine. Since he didn’t try to make a secret of his coming with me, it’s not likely he’s planning anything unpleasant. I’m sure he just wants his letter.”

  “If you say so,” Alice agreed.

  Adam’s car pulled in behind Annie’s. Alice got out and walked past Adam on the driveway instead of cutting across the grass. “Nice to meet you,” she said to him.

  “It was a pleasure,” he assured her.

  Alice turned and waved to Annie. “I’ll be over as soon as I change. Don’t let Boots claw his face off.”

  Annie almost laughed again. Alice was certainly doing her part to send Adam a message that Annie wasn’t alone. She waited a moment at the foot of the porch steps for him to catch up with her.

  “You have a lovely home,” he said. “I love Victorian architecture.”

  “It was my grandparent’s home,” Annie said. “I’ve always loved it. Oh, I should warn you. I have a cat, and she can be a little suspicious of strangers.”

  “Would this be the terrifying Boots?” he asked with a grin. “At least I now know what might claw my face off. Well, other than your friend Alice, who seems quite protective herself.”

  “Alice doesn’t have claws.”

  “I wouldn’t be completely sure of that,” he said.

  Annie opened the door, and they walked in just as Boots padded into view. Normally Boots would take one look at a stranger and puff up into an offended ball of fur and hiss. This time, she stopped and stared at Adam in frozen silence.

  Adam knelt down and spoke quietly to the cat. He held out his hand. Annie tensed since she knew Boots could be quick with the claws. Instead, the gray cat sniffed his hand delicately and then rubbed her head against it. Adam scratched her ears.

  “Now, that’s a surprise,” Annie said. “I’ve rarely seen Boots show such an instant fondness for anyone. She tends to be much more territorial than that.”

  “I love cats,” he said. “Maybe she can tell. I haven’t had one in years, though. When Candace lived in London, she adopted a cranky old black tomcat named Ebenezer. I would sneak him bits of fish and chips every time I visited her flat. He thought I was Father Christmas, I believe. When she left so suddenly, all she left me was a note and Ebenezer. The old cat and I consoled one another, I suppose. I ha
ven’t thought of old Ebenezer in years.”

  Adam stood, and Annie felt another pang of sympathy for the sadness that seemed to radiate from the tall man. She didn’t know what to say, so she turned and tapped her chin in thought. “I know I was carrying your letter when I came in that day.”

  “And Boots probably greeted you,” Adam suggested. “She seems like she would.”

  “Right, she was being very insistent about trying to trip me. I even had to put her in the mudroom so I could take a phone call.” Annie’s eyes opened wide. “A phone call. The phone was ringing when I came in.”

  Annie hurried into the living room and walked to the phone table. It was bare except for the phone. “Oh, I thought for sure it would be here.”

  She and Adam stepped back from the table and slowly circled it. Adam yelped in surprise and swooped down to pick up the envelope from where it lay wedged between the leg of the table and the side of the chair where Annie often sat as she talked on the phone. “Found it!”

  “Oh, I’m so glad,” Annie said. “I remember now. Boots was marching around on the table. She must have knocked the letter off.”

  “Old Ebenezer was the same way,” Adam said. “He had a special fondness for running off with my car keys. Cats—they add so much insanity to your life.”

  “The letter looks old,” Annie said. “Why are you only now looking for Candace in Stony Point?”

  “Good eye,” Adam said as he nodded. “I’ve carried it around for a couple of years. I had hired a private investigator to help find Candace once I felt certain she was in America, but all the detective gave me was itemized bills, so I finally decided to search on my own.”

  “This is a long way to come,” Annie said.

  “I would travel much farther if I thought it would lead me to Candace. But no one I’ve spoken to seems to have ever met her.” He sighed. “My company continues to publish her books, but they arrive from all different locations as if she’s traveling the world. The handwriting on the packages is never hers. The handwriting on this envelope isn’t hers either. We have an email address for editorial discussions, but we’ve not been able to trace it to any specific place. The only piece of evidence I have with her actual handwriting is the letter inside.”

  “Was that business correspondence too?” Annie asked.

  He shook his head. “No, it was private—a letter asking me to quit looking for her. I have traveled to a few of the spots around the world where her packages originated. She must have heard about it.”

  “It sounds as though she doesn’t want to be found.”

  “I’m sure she feels she has good reason for that. Things didn’t end with us as I would have wished,” he said as he tapped the letter gently against his hand. “But there are things she doesn’t know. Things she didn’t know then, and things that have changed since.”

  “Couldn’t you write them to her?” Annie asked. “You said you have an email address.”

  “Some things can really only be said face-to-face.” He sighed. “I’m not certain she would believe me otherwise.”

  Annie frowned slightly. She felt bad for the deep sadness that seemed to surround Adam, but she also believed a person had a right to privacy. Clearly Candace Caine didn’t want to talk to him, and it was clear that she knew where to find him if she changed her mind.

  Finally Adam smiled. “Thank you for keeping this letter safe. I appreciate it more than you know.” As he spoke, Boots jumped up onto the small telephone table, and he scratched the cat gently under the chin. “Nice to meet you too, Boots.”

  Annie saw Adam out the door and then hurried to her room to change into jeans and a sweater so she could walk Tartan. Minutes later, she was crossing the lawn that separated her house from Alice’s. She saw Alice standing on the front porch of the carriage house, waiting for her.

  “I decided not to intrude on your conversation with the mysterious stranger. I didn’t want to interrupt, but I hope you’re going to spill all the details now,” Alice said. “So did you learn more about him and his mysterious writer?”

  Annie shook her head. “Not much more than we knew before, really. I know he’s looking for Candace Caine, and she doesn’t want him to find her. Apparently they had some kind of horrendous misunderstanding.”

  “Failed romance,” Alice said. “Probably his fault.”

  “What makes you think that?” Annie asked, even though she’d had a similar thought.

  “He has that dark brooding look of a man who blew it and knows it,” Alice said. “Guilty.”

  “You think so? I thought he just looked sad. But I don’t think I’m comfortable with joining in a search for a woman who doesn’t want to be found.”

  “I know I wasn’t exactly thrilled when my ex turned up here in Stony Point,” Alice said. “Though Adam doesn’t seem like the same sort of man as John.”

  “Not really,” Annie said, casting a sympathetic look toward Alice. Alice had married John MacFarlane after being swept away by his good looks and charm. Unfortunately, John was a bit of a con man, and he certainly made Alice miserable.

  Soon they pulled up the long driveway to Ian’s house. Annie let them in with the key Ian had given her. As they started down the long hall from the front door, Alice darted into the cozy study.

  “Alice!” Annie scolded. “Tartan is in the backyard.”

  “I just wanted to see if Ian had made any changes in here,” Alice said. “The new Devine Décor catalog has some great masculine pieces, and I wanted to be able to suggest where they might go—if Ian is interested.” Alice’s eyes swept the room, and she pulled a notebook from her purse to write something down.

  Annie just shook her head as she stood in the doorway. She actually liked looking at Ian’s study too. It was such a perfect reflection of Ian’s personality—flawlessly neat and organized, while still looking comfortable.

  Alice looked over Ian’s mantel and turned to look at Annie. “He certainly has put a lot of photos of Arianna out.”

  Annie reluctantly walked over and looked at the lovely, laughing woman in the photos. “She was very beautiful,” she said softly. “I don’t see any reason he shouldn’t have photos of her.”

  Alice raised a shoulder. “You don’t line your mantel with photos of Wayne.”

  Annie winced. “I still feel ambushed sometimes when I see a photo of him. That’s when the sadness sneaks up on me. It’s getting better though. I have a photo on my dresser of LeeAnn, Wayne, and me.” Then Annie smiled. “Plus, the twins take up a lot of my photo space.”

  “I can understand that,” Alice said. “They’re adorable.”

  “Don’t let John hear you say that,” Annie said. “He likes to think of himself as manly and tough.”

  They laughed at the idea of the adorable little boy looking tough. Then they heard a sharp bark from outside. “It sounds like Tartan is ready for his walk!” Annie said.

  Tartan was dancing with joy when they got to him, and Annie was glad she had Alice’s help to hold the dog’s collar while she snapped on the leash. He launched himself out of the dog run. Annie and Alice were soon trotting along behind him, laughing at the cheerful dog’s antics.

  The gallop around Ian’s neighborhood left Annie and Alice pink-cheeked and breathless from laughing. “I can certainly see why Ian finds Tartan such good company,” Alice said. “It would be hard to be depressed around that little clown.”

  “That’s true,” Annie agreed as she rubbed Tartan’s ears while he wagged his stubby tail enthusiastically.

  Annie repeated her neighborhood dash with Tartan on Sunday evening and twice on Monday. She thought the peppy schnauzer might calm down a bit when he got used to Annie’s visits, but she didn’t see any sign of that. No wonder Ian stays so fit, Annie thought on Monday evening when she brought Tartan back from a particularly long walk. She’d been trying to wear the dog out, but he had definitely outlasted her.

  Annie got home to a ringing phone again, but she didn’t h
ave to battle Boots to reach the phone table this time. The cat was giving Annie the cold shoulder since Annie had started coming home smelling of dog.

  Annie picked up the phone tentatively, hoping it wasn’t another pushy call from the Garden Club woman. “Hello?”

  “Mom,” LeeAnn said. “You’ve certainly been out a lot.”

  “Dog walking,” Annie said. “You could call my cellphone, you know. I usually have it with me.”

  “I know, but I wanted to chat when you were sitting down,” LeeAnn said. “I have an idea and wanted to run it by you.”

  “What idea is that?”

  “Well, Herb has been job hunting already, but I’m thinking this would be a great time for us to just pick up and move.”

  “Move?” Annie echoed.

  “Yes—to Stony Point,” LeeAnn said, her voice rising in excitement. “The kids love Stony Point when we visit. And they’d get to grow up with you. Plus, I’m ready for a little less rush in our lives.”

  “Well,” Annie said tentatively. “You know I’d love to have y’all here, but I don’t know that the job market is any better in Maine than in Texas. In fact, I suspect it’s probably worse. Just this past Sunday, Reverend Wallace was telling us the food pantry here is still getting a lot of use from out-of-work families.”

  “Well, we might not be able to live exactly in Stony Point,” LeeAnn conceded. “Herb would probably need to work in a bigger city, but that would still let us see you on weekends whenever we wanted.”

  “What does Herb think of this idea?” Annie asked.

  “I haven’t mentioned it to him,” LeeAnn said. “I’m trying to decide on the best approach. Herb is not a big fan of change, but I think he’d really love Maine once he got there. And I have his resumé. I could send a few out to companies in Maine. Herb will like the idea a lot more if there’s a job offer there.”

  “Hmmm,” Annie said. “Do you remember the time I bought a new living room set without telling your dad? I thought it would be a fun surprise. So I rearranged the living room while he was at work and put in the new furniture. Do you remember?”