Midnight Paws

by Jessica Beck

  I was ten minutes from closing, and there was still no sign of Emily. Had she gotten held up on another job? No, a minute later, she showed up, along with a mass of boxes and tools loaded on a cart that she pushed ahead of her.

  “Admit it. You didn’t think I was coming, did you?” she asked with a grin.

  “That’s a lot of stuff,” I said as I surveyed her load.

  “We got lucky. I found some of the hardware I needed on sale, so this is going to cost you sixty dollars less than I quoted you.”

  “Hey, I’ll take anything I can get,” I said. “Thanks for passing the savings along to me.”

  Emily smiled. “We’re both going to come out ahead on this deal now. I love sharing my good fortune. How was your afternoon?”

  “It was slow,” I said. “But that’s about what I expected. I’m not sure how many of our old customers are going to come back after what happened here.”

  “Give them a little time, Christy. They won’t desert you.”

  “I hope you’re right,” I said. “Are you going to install all of that by yourself? Is there anybody you can call for help?”

  “Honestly, I’d rather work alone. No one else seems to be able to meet my standards. Are you okay with leaving me here all by myself? I know that you don’t really know me all that well, so if you’re nervous about leaving me here unsupervised, I totally get it.”

  “Don’t worry. You had some good references. I trust you.”

  She looked at me curiously. “Do you mind if I ask who exactly it was who vouched for me?”

  I couldn’t imagine Lincoln having a problem with me disclosing his identity. “I called Lincoln Hayes.”

  Emily’s grin broadened. “He’s a good guy, isn’t he?”

  “That’s what I keep hearing,” I said. “Marybeth vouched for him, and now he’s vouching for you.”

  “You must really trust Marybeth,” she said.

  “With my life, and with my cat,” I said, nearly failing to make it singular instead of plural. That got me thinking about Midnight again, and I wondered briefly if I should warn Emily that Midnight might show up while she was working. No, it would serve only to make me look as though I’d lost my mind. If she saw my ghost cat, I hoped that she’d tell me about it. Maybe I’d even ask her in a roundabout way if he made an appearance while she was working. I had a sudden thought. Emily was putting in a surveillance camera. Would his ghostly image show up on tape? Having proof that he was actually there, and not some figment of my imagination, would be vastly reassuring, but then again, I didn’t expect it to capture his essence. Midnight had been rather hard to photograph while he’d been alive, and I suspected that his ghost wouldn’t be any more cooperative than he’d been in real life.

  I handed Emily a piece of paper that I’d prepared for her. “Here’s my cell number, and Marybeth’s home number. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call either number.”

  “What should I do when I’m finished?” she asked. “Do you want me to drop your key off at the house, or should I meet you here tomorrow morning when you’re ready to open?”

  “I have another key at home. Just lock up when you’re finished, and I’ll get it back from you later. How’s that sound?”

  “Like you really do trust me,” she said. “Don’t worry. I won’t let you down.”

  “I believe you,” I said, and then I left her there, already buried in packaging, hardware, and a layout she’d sketched on the back of a fast food bag. There was something about the young woman that exuded competence.

  Without a single glance back, I walked out the door and headed home.

  Chapter 7

  “When are you coming home?” Marybeth asked me after I answered her call on the way home.

  “I’m on my way right now. Why, what’s up?”

  “Would you mind swinging by the pizza place and picking up the order I just placed? Don’t worry, it’s not another pizza. I ordered us some mozzarella and cinnamon sticks this time.”

  “Mozzarella and cinnamon together? That doesn’t sound like a very good combination to me.”

  “They are separate and you know it, you ninny,” she said with a laugh. “I’m going to change out of this suit while you’re running our errands and get myself into something a lot grubbier.”

  “Happy to do it,” I said.

  “Does that mean that you’ve finally got your appetite back?” Marybeth asked. “How was your French toast this morning?”

  I decided not to tell her yet about Jim Hicks and his desire to take my shop over. “It was delicious, and yes, I seem to be eating again. Why don’t you pick out a sappy romantic movie we can watch tonight? It will be like college all over again.”

  “Great minds think alike. I’ve got one queued up right now, along with half a gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert. We are getting into a time machine tonight of food, fun, and no boys allowed.”

  I thought about telling her about my tentative date with her ex-boyfriend, but that was something else that could wait, since Lincoln and I hadn’t set anything in stone. “I’m on board. See you soon.”

  I walked in the door ten minutes later, balancing the food in one arm as I got out my keys and opened the door.

  “Food’s here,” I yelled as I walked in.

  Shadow must have thought that I was talking to him. He came down the hallway, and to my surprise, he leapt into my arms, nearly knocking the box out of my hands.

  “Hey, what’s going on, big guy?” I asked as I set the box down and gave him my undivided attention. It was rare that he showed such overt enthusiasm for my appearance, and I had to wonder if he was still a little more rattled by Midnight’s sudden reappearance than he’d let on. Shadow allowed himself to be held, and then drove his head gently into my neck as I rubbed his. After a minute of reassurance, he shook his head, sneezed once, and then he leapt back down to the floor. The fluidity of my cats had always impressed me, and I wished that I was one tenth as limber as they were.

  “Did I hear someone promise me food?” Marybeth asked as she came downstairs. Gone was her suit, replaced by a faded pair of sweatpants with UNC-A running down one leg, and a sweatshirt that had belonged to one of her college boyfriends. He’d wanted it back when they’d broken up, but Marybeth had claimed it as a spoil of war since he’d cheated on her, and even worse, she’d caught him red-handed.

  “How can you wear that after what Lee did you?”

  “Hey, it’s the most comfortable thing I’ve ever owned. Besides, I smile whenever I put it on. He offered me a hundred bucks to get it back after we broke up. That makes it the most valuable sweatshirt I’ve ever owned.”

  “Your logic is seriously flawed, you know that, don’t you?” I asked her with a grin.

  “Hey, it makes sense in my world. What else matters? Now, are we going to eat and lose ourselves in a sappy movie, or what? I’ve already opened the wine, and the movie’s ready to play.”

  “Let’s do it,” I said. A girl’s night was exactly what I needed to take my mind off things. It was one more reason Marybeth was so important in my life. She’d seen the need for an escape in me, and then she’d taken steps to make it happen.

  As we ate, Shadow came in, sniffed at my pizza stick, and then settled down in my lap. I stroked him as I watched, and when I looked up, Marybeth was staring at me. “What? Do I have pizza sauce on my chin or something?”

  “You really miss Midnight, don’t you?”

  “We both do,” I said as I stroked Shadow again. “Don’t you?”

  “Of course I do. The rascal had a larger than life presence, you know? I half expect him to show up again at the oddest times.”

  I nearly asked her, “You haven’t seen him since he died, have you?” but I kept it to myself. This evening was going too well to mess it up by making Marybeth think that I was c
razy. “Me, too,” was all that I said.

  Shadow had clearly had enough of being fussed over. He stood, stretched as only a cat could, and then went off in search of something more exciting. Was Midnight waiting for him somewhere else in the house? The thought made me want to get up and look for him myself, but I couldn’t figure out a way to do it without making Marybeth suspicious. Besides, I was beginning to think that he wouldn’t show up unless I was alone, even if no one else could see him. At least that had been my experience so far. Then again, he hadn’t been around all that often, so I wasn’t exactly sure what rules governed him at the moment.

  Later that night as I settled into sleep, I heard a gentle purring beside me, and extending my hand without another thought, I started stroking the cat nearby.

  The only problem was that my hand went right through him. Midnight was back, and he seemed to take some comfort from my presence. That was only fair, since I was taking a great deal from his.

  “I miss you,” I whispered softly to him.

  In response, he tried his best to rub his head against me, but it was to no avail.

  “Merwr,” he said in that wistful way of his when he realized that he was going to have to be content with the status quo.

  “At least you’re here,” I said, and with the last word I spoke, he disappeared again. It tore me up losing him, but in some ways, his partial presence was even harder on me. I wanted to be able to stroke his neck, tickle his chin, and bump heads with him, but the most he could muster was an ethereal presence in my life. Was it better than nothing? In many ways, yes, but in some, it only served to remind me just what I’d lost. Shadow jumped up on the bed and did his best to greet me in his most open fashion, and it helped a lot.

  “Mwrerewr,” he said.

  “I know. It’s hard, isn’t it?” I asked.

  “Mwer,” he replied. Midnight had been a no-nonsense kind of cat, while Shadow had always been the sentimental one of the pair. I rubbed his head once, and then I tried to go to sleep. I was resolved now, more than ever, to find Midnight’s killer, and Cora’s too, of course.

  It was the least I could do for my two lost friends.

  At least I didn’t get any telephone calls in the middle of the night, whether it was due to Emily’s excellent work, or the fact that the killer might have already got what they’d been after. I doubted it was the latter, though. The shop had looked like I’d interrupted someone before they found what they’d been looking for. At least I hoped that was the case.

  There was a note downstairs from Marybeth when I walked into the kitchen. “Gone to Charlotte. Back tonight. Japanese tonight?”

  I took a quick shower, got dressed, and then headed over to Memories and Dreams. I had over an hour to check over the stock for something valuable that Cora and I might have missed. Why else would the killer have returned to the scene of the crime?

  If there was something of great intrinsic value there, I couldn’t find it. Our things were mostly nice, sometimes quirky, and often unique, but if there was a hidden gem among the rest of our inventory, I didn’t have an eye educated enough to spot it. It was time to give up the search, at least for now. And where was Cora’s notebook? It had contained some pretty explosive claims about several people I knew, and I didn’t want it falling into the wrong hands. What had Cora been thinking, speculating about so much, and then writing her wild guesses down on paper? It had been a dangerous hobby, especially if the book found itself in the wrong hands. A sudden thought occurred to me. Could that have been the reason for the break-in, and not a robbery, as everyone suspected? I decided to make a serious attempt to find that notebook, but for now, I had more pressing work on my mind.

  Exactly at ten o’clock, I opened the shop to find an older man wearing a threadbare suit and battered wingtips that hadn’t seen a buffing cloth in years. He clutched a worn old leather briefcase as though it were a life preserver.

  “May I help you?” I asked. “Is there something in particular that you’re looking for?”

  “Are you Christine Blake?” he asked.

  “I go by Christy, but yes, that’s my legal name,” I said. “Why do you ask?”

  “I am Caleb Wright. I represent Sandy and Mandy Anthony,” he said.

  I couldn’t help the frown that suddenly appeared on my face. “I can’t imagine what you’d want to discuss with me.”

  “I am here to inform you that my clients are contesting the alleged last will and testament of their cousin, Cora Anthony.”

  “On what grounds?” I asked, disappointed, though not surprised, by their move.

  “Forgive me,” he said as his hands shook a little, “but they are challenging the provisions of Ms. Anthony’s will that leave the lion’s share of the business to you.”

  “I had no idea they were all that interested in the place,” I said. “With all due respect, I’ve been working here for quite a long time, and they’ve never come by the shop, not even once.”

  “Whatever the case might be, they are quite eager to visit now,” he said.

  “According the will, though, that’s not an option, is it?”

  “We feel that you may have exerted undue influence over Ms. Anthony,” he said as though he were scolding me like a small and unruly child.

  I’d had just about enough of that. “I believe you should discuss this further with my attorney.”

  “I’d be delighted. Who might that be?” he asked.

  “Surely the sisters must have told you. It’s Lincoln Hayes,” I said. Mr. Wright seemed to recoil at my attorney’s name. “Do you know him?” I asked.

  “No, but I certainly know of him,” Mr. Wright said. “I do hope he won’t be too difficult in this matter.”

  “I don’t know any other way to say this without sounding disrespectful, but I hope he will be, with all my heart.”

  The aging attorney looked startled by my admission. “If you’re going to take that tone, I believe this interview is over.”

  “I believe that it is,” I said. “I’d wish you a nice day, but I hate to say things that I don’t mean.”

  After he was gone, I picked up the telephone and called Lincoln. His secretary put me straight through, and when he answered, I said, “I just had a visit from an attorney named Caleb Wright. Do you know him?”

  “I’ve seen him around the courthouse. What did he want with you?”

  “He informed me that Cora’s cousins weren’t all that happy with her will. They are planning to contest it. They’re going to claim that I exerted undue influence over Cora.”

  “Why am I not surprised that they’d feel that way?” Lincoln asked a little sadly.

  “Should I be worried?” I asked. I still wasn’t one hundred percent certain that I wanted Dreams and Memories, but that didn’t mean that I was willing to stand by while someone else stole it out from under me.

  “There’s absolutely no justification for their position,” he said.

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “Christy, judges have minds of their own, so I can’t say with complete certainty that this is going to just go away, but I’m as sure as I can be that we’ll beat them. We just have to stand firm and respect Cora’s wishes. If they see that we aren’t going to fold under their threats, I’m fairly certain they will just give up.”

  “I hope you are right. No matter what happens with this trial run, I want to be the one who makes the decision whether I move on or not, do you know what I mean?”

  “I do, and I applaud your spirit. I’d be delighted to give Mr. Wright a call for you, if you’d like.”

  “Thank you, but no. Let’s leave things in their court for now, shall we?”

  “I think that’s an excellent idea. Now, if there’s nothing else that’s pressing, I need to be in court in ten minutes.”

  “Sorry for the interruptio
n,” I said.

  “Feel free to call me anytime,” he said, and then Lincoln hung up.

  “Can I help you with anything in particular?” I asked a nicely dressed man somewhere in his fifties a little later that day. He’d come into the shop and had headed straight to our jewelry counter. He was still leaning over and peering inside when I approached him. We kept lots of old pieces on display there: rings, necklaces, brooches, cameos, and more. Most of the items were vintage, but a few were newer, cast-offs that the original owner had lost interest in. We weren’t a pawn shop, and no one turned to us for brief loans, but we did buy things we thought we could resell, and that included a rather nice collection of gold and silver jewelry.

  He looked startled as I spoke, so I said, “Sorry to sneak up on you like that. What exactly were you looking for?”

  “Cora’s got something of mine, and I want it back,” he said loudly. If anyone else had been in the shop, it would have clearly captured their attention, but for once, having an empty store was a good thing.

  I took a deep breath, and then I asked, “Would you mind being a little more specific? What exactly are we talking about here?”