Grace, Jack & Magical Cats
Mary Matthews
Meow Baby
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Cupcake Kitty
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Meow or Never
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Catty Corner
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Read an Excerpt from Splendid Summer
Read an Excerpt from Emeralds, Diamonds, and Amethysts
Read an Excerpt from A Christmas Feral
A Note from the Author
Copyright
Meow Baby
Mary Matthews
For John
Chapter One
Night life comes naturally to cats. Illuminated by moonlight, Tatania and Zeus walked the pier railing like Olympian gymnasts on the balance beam. Their favorite humans, Grace and Jack, sipped champagne. A jazz band enveloped them in music.
A couple walked out of the Dance Pavilion as lightly as a couple of moths at night. Grace recognized her friend, Annie Knickerbocker, from Revolutionary Colonial Daughters. “Grace, it’s lovely to see you,” Martin Knickerbocker extended his hand.
When she put her hand in his, Martin pulled it up for a kiss.
“Dear, have you began building your house yet?” Annie asked.
“We have new architectural plans. Art Deco—” Jack replied.
“—Bees knees,” Grace said.
“Have you broken ground?” Annie twirled her Chanel pearls.
“Not yet.” Grace looked wistfully towards Glorietta Bay. She yearned for her dream home on the island where romance truly began for her.
“Lets break ground now,” Annie suggested.
Jack looked at his watch.
“It’s about 2:00 a.m.”
“And that’s when things get interesting. Where can we find a shovel?” Annie asked.
“Jack has one in his cottage. Oh Jack, it would be fun. Breaking ground under the full moon for our home.”
Martin, who looked like his hands had never held a shovel, rake, or anything suggesting chores around the house, announced he needed to go home to get a few hours sleep and rise with the stock market in the East.
“He’s even installed a ticker tape in our house,” Annie said, kissing her husband.
“We’re having a progressive party with our neighbors later this week. We’d love for you to come. You’re going to be building your beautiful home soon.” Annie always sounded perky. She had on a smashing beaded dress with a matching headband and cigarette holder in her hand. She smoked her ever present cigarette.
“What’s a progressive party?”
“It’s a party where you get progressively drunker,” Martin said.
“Don’t listen to him. Even if it is true. We also bring progressive courses. Appetizers at one house, dinner at another, and dessert at another. We want you to love being a home owner in Coronado.”
Martin said goodbye. Tatania and Zeus jumped down from the pier and led the way to Jack’s cottage. They walked past cleverly named cottages at Coronado Tent City: Buck Inn, Welcome Inn, Ponce de Leon Inn, Call Inn, Due Drop Inn, Ruffit Inn, Seldom Inn, Dew Drop Inn, Squirrel Inn,Wiggle Inn, Stagger Inn, Never Inn, Knot Inn, Wobble Inn, All Inn, We’re Inn, Speed Inn, Nobody Inn, Out’n Inn, Sail Inn, and ingenuously enough, Jack’s Place.
Jack brought the shovel out. Tatania lept on Jack’s shoulder. Zeus strolled between Annie and Grace. At night, with the kids in bed, Coronado Tent City became a playground for adults. A flapper with rouged knees and a beaded dress sat sideways on a Merry Go Round horse with her beau standing next to her, leaning against her. Couples played the arcade games and took plunges in the bathing pools.
Next to the glistening water, their lot promised an alluring view for the dream home they’d build. Jack broke ground with the shovel. They heard a scrunching sound. He kept digging. Zeus, in an adorable puppy like way, began digging too. Tatania looked disdainfully at Zeus. Sometimes, his behavior was unseemly for a cat.
Grace and Annie watched Jack dig until a skeleton emerged from the dirt. Grace stepped back and shuddered. Zeus happily played with a bottle he found next to the skeleton. Tatania moved forward to sniff the skeleton.
“Did anyone say we’d build this house over his dead body?” Jack asked.
“Jack, I can’t believe it. Lets call the cops,” Grace said staring at the white skeleton sticking out of their ground. Tatania and Zeus sniffed the skeleton.
“It’s not like the skeleton will be going anywhere soon. And we don’t want sirens alarming Tent City and Hotel del Coronado guests. Lets call tomorrow.” Jack wrapped the bottle in a handkerchief and slipped it in his leather jacket pocket.
“It’s not like anyone ever said we’d build here over her dead body. I don’t think it’s anyone we know,” Jack said.
“I always wanted to know where the skeletons are buried,” Grace said, “not thinking one could be buried on my own land.”
“Careful of what you wish for.” Jack pulled back a strand of her bobbed hair.
Jack’s plane, Tatania, was on the lot. The cat, for whom the plane was named, kept sniffing around the skeleton.
“We’ll have to get it dated. I think it’s a female,” Jack said.
“Why?”
“Maybe because it looks so small and vulnerable.”
Grace sprinted across the street to the luxurious Hotel del Coronado where she’d been ensconced for months. The skeleton gave her chills. She didn’t want to build their future home on burial ground.
“It’s not bad luck,” Jack said.
“A skeleton on our land?” Grace looked at his dark green eyes gleaming with intelligence.
“Maybe we can get a new case out of it.” His left eyebrow raised.
“Jack.” She looked away from him.
“The problem is from the looks of it, she may have been dead about ten years. So it’s not like we’re getting a head start. It looked intact except for the missing toe,” Jack replied.
“Early birds catch worms. We catch criminals,” Grace said.
“Could be a good reason to sleep late,” Jack replied, if the cats would agree to it.
“I can tell you something in
teresting that happened here about 1916. A girl disappeared.
Beautiful blonde stranger,” Annie said.
They turned around. They’d almost forgotten Annie was with them.
The Hotel del Coronado’s doorman bowed slightly and then opened the door for Grace.
“Now, we’re not going to have doormen at the house we build. You may have to open doors for yourself,” Jack said.
“Jack, I’ll open every door I want to go through,” Grace replied.
Annie sank into a deep velvet red chair at the entrance to the hotel.
“I’m feeling like a patient of Dr. Daniels,” she said, suddenly looking tired.
“Wait right here.” Jack walked over to the hotel’s late night drug store. He told the clerk, “I’m a patient of Dr. Daniels.”
The clerk pulled a bottle of whiskey out from under the counter.
“This skeleton will lead us to someone’s closet,” Jack said.
Grace remembered the gaping hole the skeleton came from on their vacant lot.
“Are you okay, Annie?”
Annie held her raccoon fur closer around her shoulders even though the hotel hallway wasn’t cold.
“Your detective agency is getting a good reputation. Good for you Jack for quitting Pinkerton Detective Agency because they wouldn’t hire women. And building a private detective agency with Grace,” Annie said.
“It has been very good for me.” Jack smiled at Grace.
“Bees knees,” Grace said.
Chapter Two
“Tell us what happened in 1916.” Jack poured Annie a glass of Jack Daniels in the hotel lobby.
“A girl disappeared. Last seen at the San Diego Railway station.” Annie gulped the drink.
“Do you think this skeleton could be a girl that will haunt our land forever? Like Katie Morgan at the Hotel del Coronado?” Grace asked.
“No, it looks more recent than Katie Morgan years. Katie Morgan arrived in 1892. There was practically no one here. Spreckels had yet to sail in his glorious yacht, Lurline, and declare Coronado home after surviving the San Francisco earthquake,” Jack said.
“I told you nothing interesting happens until at least two a.m. now. It’s the 1920s—” Annie said suddenly in good spirits.
“—I could do with boring if this is interesting,” Grace replied.
“I’ve heard Katie Morgan haunts the Del. It would be fun to calculate how much she would owe if she’d been a paying guest since that time instead of becoming a ghost.” Grace looked at Jack.
“Fun if you’re not paying the bill.”
Annie looked at the bottle peeking out of Jack’s pocket. “This looks like a coke bottle from about 1916. That was an odd time here. Something strange happened. If I were you I’d go up to La Jolla and visit the speakeasy on the beach. Talk to Carlos Varela, a polo player from that time. He’s married to Charity. You’ve met her right, Grace? At Revolutionary Colonial Daughters?”
“I think so.”
“Charity and Carlos owned the land before your Uncle Charles. Rumor is your Uncle Charles got it for legal fees that Carlos owned.” Annie whispered even though the lobby wasn’t full.
“Where do Charity and Carlos live?’ Jack asked.
“In La Jolla. By the speakeasy on the beach. Carlos drinks all night. You’d probably find him there. Do you want the address of the speakeasy?”
“He’ll know,” Grace said.
“We should fly up there now. Do you want us to walk you home?” Jack asked.
“No, I think I’ll relax in the women’s lounge for a while.”
Grace stopped next to Jessop & Sons Jewelry store in the Hotel del Coronado’s lobby to look at an emerald and diamond ring. She spied an emerald ring as glorious as the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz, written by Frank Baum while staying at the Hotel del Coronado.
“Matches your eyes,” Jack said.
Tatania reached her paws up and meowed. She appeared unexpectedly, silently and stealthily.
“Meow Baby.” Jack picked up the cat he’d rescued from drowning when she was a kitten. She rubbed her cheek against Jack’s razor stubble. Then she patted Grace on the head.
Chapter Three
They hurried back to Jack’s plane with Tatania and Zeus leading the way. Tatania, the plane, was ready for take off whenever Jack wanted it. Grace climbed in the back seat and Tatania jumped on her lap. She put Tatania’s pink scarf and goggles on the kitty first and then her own matching ones.
Tatania was used to the plane taking off. With her deafness, the noise didn’t bother her. Grace turned and saw Zeus running away. She reached for him but the plane began climbing. Oh No. She hadn’t noticed Zeus following. Kitty must be terrified. Tatania leaned back against Grace. She seemed unconcerned that Zeus wasn’t along.
Flying by moonlight, Grace looked down at the sea. It looked like a surrealist painting by Salvadore Dali. The coast lay open, beckoning to anyone brave enough to travel west from the cosseted east coast and claim it.
Suspended in the air, with no one else around, and only the moon lighting their way, that delicious feeling that the world belonged to her and Jack returned. And Tatania. The only one missing was Zeus. He’d become part of their family with his irrepressible and always kittenish charm. He thought an empty box was the greatest present ever. She watched a lone gull separated from his flock.
Point Loma’s lighthouse beckoned them further North. Shining amidst coastline houses that became match boxed sized from the air, the artificial light assured them they’d find their way even if fog paid a visit. The full moon lit their way as if to suggest the sun had a rival.
Jack made her feel safe. Like together they could conquer the world. And rise above the past, leaving it all behind, airborne, no one else could reach them. The wind blew the scarves Grace and Tatania wore around their necks.
She saw the La Jolla caves below looking like tunnels in the sand built by a child to lead to his sand castle. She prayed that Zeus would be there when they returned. She wished she could have jumped out of the plane and caught him to reassure him everything was okay. She’d become so used to the plane noise she’d forgotten it was loud and unsettling.
She could felt a slight chill and Tatania snuggling within her jacket. The kitty loved flying with Jack. Grace couldn’t stop thinking of Zeus, scared away.
Oblivious to the noise, Tatania sat on Grace’s lap with her own goggles and pink scarf tied around her white fur. Grace wore matching goggles and pink scarf. Jack preferred a brown scarf and goggles. Jack flew expertly, befitting a WWI aviator graduated top of his class. Only Jack and Grace needed ear muffs.
Jack flew close to the shore line, and Grace relaxed, knowing she was with the safest pilot imaginable. The waves rocked the shore, unfettered by buildings between most of Coronado and La Jolla. She could see tiny lots with what looked like doll houses on them further inland. And green trees lapping up the California sunshine, bearing fruit.
On the beach, they could see a moving figure, that as they came closer, appeared to be a dark, handsome stranger. Tatania kneaded Grace’s lap. Grace knew it was Carlos. He walked into the speakeasy on the beach.
Chapter Four
Jack began to dip towards the sand. With Jack, Grace never doubted he would land safely.
Jack landed on the beach next to the speakeasy.
“Nice ride,” said a man coming out the door, and shutting it behind him.
“Bees knees,” Grace said.
Jack and Tatania lept out. Then Jack held his hand out for Grace and she put her foot up on the side and jumped. Tatania walked on sand as only a graceful feline can. Grace took off her scarf and goggles. Tatania was still wearing her goggles and trailing her pink scarf along the beach. Jack picked Tatania up and took off her scarf and goggles. She put a paw on his face.
Grace worried about Zeus. She wanted to go back immediately and get him but she was certain the cat was hiding somewhere. She tried to ignore the unease she felt.
Jack mistook it for still thinking about the skeleton.
“Cat’s Meow,” Grace said through a small metal grate on the speakeasy’s door.
Jack looked surprised when it opened immediately.
“I thought the password was Bottoms Up.”
“I’m going to tell you a secret.”
“That’s a first.”
“Women can say anything and get in a speakeasy.”
Tatania appeared amused.
“How do they know the woman’s not a cop?”
“Police agencies don’t hire women.”
“That’s their mistake,” Jack said.
Tatania climbed on the bar stool and waited to be served a glass of cream.
“Girls and cats rule the world with cuteness. And you make great detectives. Cats want to know what’s in everything. And dames never tire of asking questions,” Jack said.
“Champagne?” The bartender looked at Grace.
“Never met a glass of champagne I didn’t like,” Grace replied.
Tatania put her paws up on the counter. The bartender knew her and poured some milk in a crystal glass on the bar. Tatania looked at the startled man two stools down from her and meowed. That’s how they knew he was Carlos.
Carlos blinked. The cat blinked back at him.
“She loves speakeasies,” Grace said, “She doesn’t like to miss anything.”
“I was afraid I was hallucinating.”
“You wouldn’t be the first.” Jack smiled.
“I think I know your wife from Revolutionary Colonial Daughters. How is Charity?”
“She’s going to the lunch tomorrow.”
“Bees Knees.” Grace’s stomach flipped but she wasn’t going to show it. She was grateful she had Jack to help question Charity.
“We own your former lot in Coronado. After her Uncle Charles’ murder, Grace’s former Aunt Alice fled to Europe and I bought it from her.”
Carlos nodded.
“Are you going to build soon?”
“We actually broke ground tonight. Found a skeleton.”
If Carlos was startled to hear about a skeleton on land he once owned, he didn’t show it.
Tatania jumped down from the stool and brushed against Carlos’ legs, memorizing his scent.
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