Grace watched boats moving along the bay. Majestic above all the boats, was a yacht called The Julia. Grace heard the yacht’s owner laughing and standing close to Jack’s brother, David. Julia was the mistress of Grace’s late Uncle Charles. They’d become friends after Grace’s horrible former aunt moved abroad.
Charlotte, their love child, played on the floor with Zeus. She looked up at the pretty petit fours on silver trays carefully carried by waiters. Grace loved entertaining friends and family. She just didn’t want to prepare food, serve it, or clean up afterwards.
“Jack’s invited us to poker in your drawing room later. Will you be joining us?” Henry Danbury asked.
“No, I don’t have the face for it,” Grace said.
“As witty as you are pretty.” Henry kissed Grace’s hand.
Jack pulled a strand of dark bobbed hair back from the face he’d loved from the moment he saw her on the 20th Century Limited from New York to Chicago. Tatania meowed loudly, as if she knew what Jack was thinking. She’d met Jack first when he saved her from drowning when she was a kitten. Jack bent to pick up his beautiful white fluffy kitten and she put a paw on top of his heart. Grace reached to pet Tatania. Her fur felt like running your fingers through layers of silk.
They looked out at Tent City where Jack had once lived, from the rooftop. Tent City’s cottages were interspersed with shops, restaurants, bathing pools, arcade games, and a rifle range. It sounded like the Tent City Band was playing “Lets Misbehave” by Cole Porter.
“I met a woman in England who could play poker like the cat’s pajamas,” Pierre said.
“Pierre, have you met Henry Danbury?” Grace asked.
“Yes, I’ve met him and his luscious art collection,” Pierre replied.
Chapter Two
“You have the face for red lipstick. You look like the cat’s meow.” Grace’s friend Annie managed to speak and blow smoke at the same time.
“I’m matching my lipstick and knee rouge now,” Grace said, bending her knee.
“I’m going to start doing that.”
Tatania wrapped her long fluffy tail around her so everyone could better appreciate her own beauty. Zeus rolled around on the floor again.
“You’re adorable.” Annie reached down to rub Zeus’s tummy.
“Any fun cases?” Annie asked.
“We’re between cases.”
“Is that like between engagements?”
“Oh, we’re married now. You know that, Annie. And stop it. You’re the one who always looks like the cat’s meow.”
“Absolutely. I won’t argue with you.” Annie smiled.
Grace looked at Jack again. Black hair, green eyes, and a face that wasn’t as easily read as her own. Jack still took her breath away. She carried a faint feeling of unease, as if something might take him away from her. For the moment, she took a snapshot of Jack in her mind, in case she needed to retrieve it later.
She heard the phone ring and watched him get up to answer it. He strode confidently across the rooftop like a magnificent big cat. He picked up the phone from its candlestick shaped cradle, spoke briefly, and then called to Henry Danbury.
Henry Danbury dropped the phone. Stooping, he picked it up again. He wasn’t like Jack, in his prime, but he had the mark of a man who had once been a great athlete.
Tatania walked around the rooftop. Although deaf, the white cat had an unerring sense for knowing when anything important was being said and seemed to understand. She lept up on the table.
“Oh Dear,” Grace said, “Tatania you’re disrupting the game.”
“I’m going to have to blow this joint. Tatania must have known.” Henry joked.
“What happened?”
“I just got a call from home. Someone came inside, tied up my butler, and stole two of my paintings.”
“Which ones?”
“Duchess of Devonshire and Lady Elizabeth.”
“Wasn’t the Duchess of Devonshire portrait already stolen and found?”
“By Pinkerton,” Jack said.
“This isn’t the one by Gainsborough. It’s a different one. People are always trying to steal beautiful aristocratic women,” Henry said.
“That’s why I keep a close eye on Grace.”
“He’s a shameless flatterer. The eye of Pinkerton has nothing on the eye of Jack.”
“I recognize the detective abilities of women and cats. That’s where Pinkerton went wrong.”
Grace smiled, remembering that Jack agreed to start their own agency when Pinkerton wouldn’t hire her. Pinkerton wouldn’t hire women. And their magical cats, Zeus and Tatania, remained their secret weapons.
“Come with me,” Henry said.
“Of course,” Annie replied.
“I meant Jack and Grace.” Henry said gently.
“They can come too.” Annie led the way off the rooftop with Zeus and Tatania on each side of her.
“Martin,” she paused to say to her husband on the way out, “you run the party. We’ll be right back.”
Jack grabbed his rucksack from the hall closet on the way out.
“Always a miltary man,” Annie smiled approvingly.
Chapter Three
“Sometimes, Annie drives me nuts,” Jack whispered.
“That’s not a long drive.” Grace whispered back.
He spanked her lightly. She smiled and kept walking.
“I don’t want this to get around. I just want the portraits returned discreetly. I don’t want anyone to know the extent of my collection. And I don’t want to report it to my insurer yet. Rates are frightfully high.” Henry seemed nonchalant for a man who’d just lost two portraits.
They walked past Jack’s biplane, The Tatania, next to their home. With everything in easy walking distance on the island, they rarely drove their cars.
“Aren’t you keeping the plane at the North Island Hangar any more, old flyboy?”
“I am. Except when I fly directly home.”
“We’re so spoiled we’re never going to want to live any place else again.”
They stopped and waited for the streetcar to pass. Then, the red Coronado Laundry truck rumbled by. When it was safe, Zeus and Tatania began leading their way past the elegant Hotel del Coronado, with its white facade and red turrets, to Danbury Manor. Even on an island of glorious homes, Danbury Manor would be impressive for size alone: over ten thousand square feet.
They could still hear the music from Coronado Tent City’s Band wafting towards them like a symphony in harmony with the sea. Tatania and Zeus led them along the beach past the Hotel del Coronado to the land tent city claimed as its own.
Meeting Jack on a train had been like being locked in a dance hall where neither one could leave until they danced together. At the Pavilion, they had a habit of dancing outside, and continuing to tango on the pier, illuminated by the moon.
Children frolicked in the bathing pools at the outer perimeter of Tent City. With saltwater pumped from the ocean, the bathing pools were continually replenished.
“We’ll find your portraits for you, Henry. The difference between me and a pit bull is a pit bull eventually lets go,” Grace said
“I make sure I keep her up to date on all her shots.” Jack ran his fingers through Grace’s bobbed hair.
“My husband, Martin and I are on the Board of Trustees at the art museum. We’ll help put out an alert.”
“No, like I said, I don’t want an alert.” Henry reiterated.
They walked past the Spreckels Theaater. There was a huge poster of Valentino appearing in The Son of the Sheik.
“We need to know if someone tries to sell the portraits to the museum. But I don’t need an all points bulletin now,” Henry said.
“It’s embarrassing to have a theft here. In Europe, they call us the Wild West. It’s the 1920s. We’re modern.” Annie looked disdainful.
“They had robbery in Europe before us.” Jack reminded her.
“You built the house next door to
my friend, John Belmont.”
Henry looked concerned. He put a hand on Annie’s shoulder.
“John died last month,” Henry said gently.
“Oh, I thought he died a couple years ago.” Annie drew on her cigarette again.
“He must have been eighty.” She blew the smoke out slowly.
Chapter Four
The butler opened the door, as if he’d been watching or listening for Henry Danbury’s footsteps.
“How could thieves resell portraits of Lady Elizabeth and the Duchess of Devonshire?” Grace asked when she stepped inside.
“They may not want to sell the portraits. They may be working for a rich guy who just wants to sit in a room and look at these beautiful women. Someone with a yearning for a blue blood dame who can’t attract one,” Henry replied.
The butler trembled. Tatania wound threw his legs, memorizing his scent. The white cat had the tracking skills of a bloodhound. She followed his scent to the cottage across the courtyard from the Manor. She lept through a window and began her inspection.
“Meet Roland.” Henry patted the butler’s shoulder reassuringly.
“I was polishing the silver while you were at the luncheon. I thought you might want it for dinner tonight, Sir. I don’t know how he got in the house. I shouted, ‘I don’t have any money.’
He walked past me, grabbed each portrait off the walls, and walked out.”
Roland looked to Henry for reassurance.
“You did right.” Henry patted the butler on the shoulder again.
Roland looked composed. If the mark of a good butler was one who remained unruffled by armed robbery, he had it down pat.
“I’m careful with the artwork. I treat everything here like it’s my own. I treat it like it’s my money.”
“Did they touch anything besides the portraits?” Grace asked.
“Sorry?’
“Jack has a fingerprint kit. We need to check for prints.”
“They were wearing driving gloves. It would be a moot point.” He smirked at Grace.
“What was he driving?” Jack watched Zeus leap on the window sill. Most of the wall facing the ocean was glass. Glorious bay windows defined the facade.
“A Model T. Not the type of car I’d expect Mr. Danbury to drive.” Roland looked disdainful, a servant who acquired his feeling of importance from the prominence of his employer.
“Are you on everyday?”
“I don’t like to travel. And I don’t trust anyone else to run the house like me.”
“You’re not married?”
“My wife passed away. In England. I came here to work for Mr. Danbury on my own.”
Jack pulled out the pocket fingerprint kit he kept in his rucksack.
“He wore gloves,” Henry said quickly, dusting the furniture.
“Don’t you have a maid to dust for you?” Jack asked.
A young girl in a short dress opened the door.
“Here she is now. She was off today. Her Mom was sick. Her Mom seems to get sick whenever there’s a polo game.”
“Do you think Mom’s faking it?” She asked.
Grace patted her gently on the back, smiling. Tatania meowed, announcing her return.
Henry pulled out the photos of his portraits and found the Duchess of Devonshire and Lady Elizabeth. The Duchess of Devonshire’s portrait may be considered the masterpiece of Gainsborough and other artists, thought Tatania, but I am a cat, as Leonardo da Vinci noted, I am nature’s masterpiece.
“Lady Elizabeth was a mistress to the Duke. She lived in the big house with the Duchess and the Duke. After the Duchess died, Lady Elizabeth married the Duke.” Henry handed the photo to Jack.
“Is that considered a promotion? From girlfriend of philanderer to wife of philanderer?” Jack asked.
“Depends on whom you ask,” Grace said.
“Why are people so fascinated by her?” Jack asked.
“Beautiful and unhappy women are always alluring to some. That’s what makes art thieves unpredictable. They think they’re acting wholly from mercenary motives. Then they’re captivated by the beauty of their objet d’art. Stolen, but an object d’art nonetheless.”
“We’re on the case,” Jack said, shaking Henry’s hand.
“Thank you for understanding the need for discretion, old boy.” Henry said.
Chapter Five
They went back to the party. Martin had taken the remaining guests, gentlemen from his club at Harvard, to the library, where he sat smoking a cigar and drinking brandy in a comfy chair. Zeus jumped on the arm of the comfy chair next to him. He head butted Martin’s leg in gentle suggestion that he wouldn’t mind the whole comfy chair to himself. Then Zeus jumped on top of a bookshelf, and peered upside down, and looked at the books on British aristocrats.
“So we’re looking for a thief with impeccable taste?” Grace held her champagne flute for Jack to fill.
“Yes, for once my friends are above suspicion.” He held the bottle in one hand and Tatania in the other. The magical white cat had been unusually clingy with Jack since they’d been at Danbury Manor.
“Jack it could have been Pierre who stole the painting. Roland wouldn’t have recognized him in disguise. Pierre knows how much that portrait is worth.”
Jack shook his head.
“It’s someone who knew they’d be gone. They could have even been waiting. Thirteen thousand square feet. A thief could be in the house and they wouldn’t even know it.
The butler seemed to be forever dusting. Odd that he doesn’t leave it to the maid.”
“Maybe they lose their sense of staff hierarchy in America.”
“Or maybe he has a thing for her.”
“Is it always about sex, Jack?”
“Sure, you train dogs with food and men with sex. And cats, you don’t train at all.”
Tatania and Zeus meowed in agreement.
“Maybe I’ll sleep in late tomorrow,” Grace said to Jack when Martin left with the last guests.
“Not with Tatania and Zeus wanting a fresh breakfast.”
“Maybe we could get a nanny for the cats.” Grace began taking off her long black opera gloves. Jack reached for her wrist and began kissing all the way up her arm.
Chapter Six
In the morning, Tatania meowed for a prompt breakfast. Zeus stretched out horizontally across most of the bed. Grace and Jack woke up on the edges of their French antique bed.
“Lets go to Tent City fo a cup of Joe,” Grace said, yawning.
She jumped in the shower. Tatania followed, draping herself in the plush towels she pulled out of cupboards and shelves. Grace dressed hurriedly and raced downstairs to look for Jack.
Pierre was waiting to paint her portrait.
“I keep think about the Duchess and Lady Elizabeth missing from Danbury estate.” He looked at Grace. She felt a little uncomfortable. Her hair, still wet from the shower, dripped on her translucent dress.
“I grew up with cats in France. Sometimes, during the worst of the fighting’s aftermath, in the Great War, we’d see a cat emerge from the rubble and meow. We’d scramble to find rations to share with her. A cat is an affirmation of life.”
It was harder to dislike Pierre when he claimed he admired cats. She wasn’t really sure why she didn’t feel comfortable around him. She’d just never liked people staring at her. And that’s all Pierre did when he was in the same room with her.
“Pierre, we’re going to bop over to Tent City. Would you like to relax in the library until we get back? Our collection of art books remains unparalleled. At least in homes within a one-hundred yard radius.”
“There are no other houses in a one-hundred yard radius.”
“And the cats will let you have the comfiest chair because they’ll come with us.”
“Why are you so jumpy? Pierre’s a good guy,” Jack said, closing the door behind him.
“He stares at me.”
“Grace, he’s painting a portrait of you.”
In Coronado, there wasn’t a wrong side of the tracks. On one side of the streetcar tracks, there’s the Hotel del Coronado. And on the other side, there’s Glorietta Bay.
The red Coronado Laundry truck rolled by. Zeus meowed. Grace froze for a moment. Zeus and Tatania watched. When the truck stopped to deliver clean linens to the Del, the cats jumped in and rolled around the towels.
Tatania never shed fur. Grace worried about Zeus who might not only shed fur but had a propensity to go missing. She climbed in after them. They ignored her. She picked up Zeus and jumped back down.
Then, Grace opened her purse and pulled out the container of dried mackerel she kept for the kitties. Tatania paused and looked at Grace, deciding if a treat was a worthy exchange for giving up nestling on clean, high grade cotton linens. When she saw Zeus eating out of Grace’s hand, she decided to have a bite too.
“Jack it could have been Pierre who stole the painting. Roland wouldn’t have recognized him in disguise. Pierre knows how much that portrait is worth.”
Jack shook his head.
With their cups of Joe, the waiter at Tent City Coronado served a copy of Coronado Tent City News.
Tatania opened the copy of Tent City News, pawed it to a page she liked, and rolled around on it.
She put her paw next to a photo. Grace looked over her plate at the edition of Coronado Tent City News. It was a photo of Pierre with a girl.
“He didn’t steal the portraits, he was with her outside the Dance Pavilion.” They recognized Pierre, standing outside the Pavilion, with a woman.
Their waiter came back and looked at the photo. “I saw them last night. She has lovely red hair. You can’t tell from the photo.”
“I used to prefer red heads,” Jack said, “but I made a lot of exceptions.”
“He must have gone dancing before he came to our party.” Grace punched Jack’s arm.
“You’ve got to be careful about hitting me Grace. You could hurt your hand.”
”The Kodak guy must work late. For last night’s photos to make this morning’s edition.”
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