Midnight Paws

by Jessica Beck

  “Does that happen very often?” Lincoln asked.

  “What’s that?”

  “Are you in the habit of buying many stolen items at the shop?”

  “We never fenced anything for anyone, at least not on purpose,” I said. “And we certainly never made it a habit of buying stolen goods. Then again, not many folks come in with a receipt from their original purchase, so who’s to say? Cora had pretty good radar about things like that. I suppose that’s just one more skill I’m going to have to develop if I stay on and eventually take over the business.”

  “I hope you do,” Lincoln said as he moved a little closer to me. Was this man seriously about to try to kiss me in my own storeroom? I was still deciding on how I was going to react when the chance slipped past me.

  There was a pounding on the front door, and the mood was broken. It had nearly happened, though, and I still wasn’t sure if I’d wanted it to or not.

  “Let’s go see who that is,” I said.

  Lincoln surprised me by smiling. “To be continued,” he said with a grin.

  Now what had he meant by that? I supposed that only time would tell, but I had to admit, I was interested in finding out.

  “Celeste, what are you doing here at this time of night?” I asked the café owner as I opened the door for her. I’d grabbed the paper mache cat almost as an afterthought, thinking that Marybeth might get a kick out of it.

  Celeste glanced at it, but she didn’t comment. “I was doing inventory at the café when I spotted the light on in back of your shop. If you hadn’t come to the door, I was going to call the sheriff.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “It’s nice to have a neighborhood watch here.”

  She looked a little guilty as she nodded. “That’s sort of what I was hoping to talk to you about.”

  Lincoln got the hint immediately. “Christy, I’ll wait for you in the car. Take your time, I’m sure I have a ton of messages waiting on my voice mail.”

  “We won’t be long,” Celeste said. As she watched him walk back to her car, she added, “I always liked him.”

  “That’s nice,” I said. “Celeste, what’s so important that it won’t wait until morning?”

  “I said something to you today that I instantly regretted. I was out of line, and I need to apologize for it if I have any prayer of getting to sleep tonight.”

  I tried to remember everything that she’d said to me recently, but I wasn’t able to come up with anything out of the ordinary. “I’m sorry, but I honestly don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

  “My comment about buying this place so I could expand was in the worst taste possible, especially after what you’ve been through recently. It wasn’t like me. I’m not a woman who pushes and pushes until she gets what she wants, and it’s important for me to know that you realize it, too. I didn’t think about what I was saying when we chatted. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?”

  I saw the troubled expression on her face, and on a whim, I stepped forward and hugged her. “There’s nothing to forgive,” I said.

  I could feel the tenseness leave her body as I said it, and I knew that it really had been troubling her.

  “Are you really going to make it that easy on me?” she asked with a smile as we broke our hug. “Christy, you could make me jump through a few hoops first, you know. I figure that I deserve at least that.”

  “Friends don’t do that to each other,” I said.

  Celeste studied me for a second, and then she smiled. “We are friends, aren’t we?”

  “I’d like to think so,” I said. “Listen, I’m glad we cleared that up, but I don’t like leaving Lincoln waiting for me.”

  “I understand completely. Thank you so much, Christy. You’ve made me really happy today.”

  “I’m glad I could help,” I said.

  “I can be a very powerful ally,” Christy said. “You wouldn’t believe the variety of folks who eat at my café. If you need anything, and I mean anything, don’t hesitate to ask me. Would you promise me that?”

  “I might just take you up on it,” I said, suddenly realizing how Celeste might be able to get me information that no one else could.

  “I’ll be upset if you don’t. Now, go to your young man, and I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “He’s not exactly my young man,” I said.

  “Don’t bet on it. I saw the way Lincoln was looking at you. I’m not afraid to admit that I’m jealous. It’s been too long since someone looked at me the same way.”

  I rejoined Lincoln, and as I got in, he asked, “What was that all about?”

  “She told me earlier that she wouldn’t mind buying the shop so she could expand the café, and after I left, evidently she started feeling guilty about the offer.”

  “So you forgave her,” Lincoln said with the hint of a grin.

  “I did. She was sweet about it, so I decided to let her off easy.”

  “Good for you,” Lincoln said. “Where to now?”

  “Would you mind taking me home? I have another big day tomorrow. I’m planning on getting to the shop as soon as I can and try to discover what I’ve missed so far.”

  He looked at me and asked me softly, “Would you like some help? I’m not due in court until ten tomorrow morning, but I’d be delighted to help as long as I can.”

  I laughed. “Thanks for the offer, but people will talk.”

  “Let them,” he said. “I don’t mind if you don’t. What time are we going to get started?”

  “I was thinking about seven,” I said.

  Lincoln laughed slightly in surprise, and then he grinned. “Seven it is.”

  “Do you mind if I recruit Marybeth, too?” I asked.

  “Why would I mind that?” he asked, but he was clearly disappointed that we wouldn’t be hunting alone. “The more the merrier, right?”

  “Right,” I said. Until I could figure out how I felt about Lincoln, it might be wise not to be alone with him. Losing Midnight and Cora so recently, my heart wasn’t ready to open up to anybody just yet.

  I just hoped that someday it would, and that Lincoln would still be around and interested.

  But I wasn’t betting on it.

  It could just be that our timing was off.

  That was the story of my love life over the past few years, but it was something I could deal with. I had to. Until the person who had taken Midnight and Cora from me was brought to justice, there wasn’t much room in my heart for someone new.

  Chapter 11

  “What was that all about?” Marybeth asked me as I walked into the house after Lincoln dropped me off.

  “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about. How was your meeting?” I asked with a smile.

  “We both know that I didn’t have one. I saw that little move in the car. You barely kissed his cheek before you got out, Christy. You’re not going to catch him that way.”

  “Who said I wanted to catch anybody?” I asked. “Were you spying on me?”

  “You bet I was. I was just hoping for something a little more R-rated than that. I would have even settled for PG-13, but instead, all I got was G.”

  “You need to get a life of your own,” I said as I picked up a throw pillow, laughed, and then threw it at her.

  “If you keep this up, I just might have to. Seriously, how was dinner? Were there any sparks? And what’s that wretched thing that you’re holding?”

  I passed over my new paper mache cat. “This was the grand prize at the end of Cora’s big treasure hunt,” I said.

  “Some prize,” Marybeth replied, and then she put it down on the coffee table. I wondered what Midnight would make of it, if he ever came back. I was living in constant fear now that the last time I saw him would truly be the last time, but I knew that I couldn’t go on living that way. W
hether he decided to stay or to go, I knew that there was nothing I could do about it. I’d keep on my course and hope that Midnight’s next clue led to something more valuable than a craft project. Was that why he’d led me to it, so I could discover his likeness hiding in the furnace? I knew that cats could be vain, but that was stretching things a bit even for my taste. “When are you going to see Lincoln again?” Marybeth asked. “Please tell me that you at least made another date with the man.”

  “We’re getting together tomorrow morning, as a matter of fact.”

  “Wow, that was fast,” Marybeth said with a grin.

  “It’s not like that. I’ve decided to dig deeper into what might be so valuable in the shop that someone would risk breaking into it so many times.”

  “How many times has it happened? What are you talking about?” Marybeth asked after she saw that I wasn’t kidding.

  “That’s right, you haven’t heard yet. I was going to show Lincoln something I found at the shop today, but when we got there, someone was trying to break in.”

  “I thought Emily put a new security system in for you,” Marybeth said.

  “That was probably what slowed them down,” I answered. “Remind me to thank Emily for doing that installation so quickly. Who knows what would have happened otherwise. Anyway, I told Lincoln that you’d be joining us in the morning. Please tell me that you’re going to be able to give me an hour or two of your time.”

  “Do you really want me there?” she asked, all kidding aside for the moment.

  “I do,” I said solemnly.

  “Then, I’ll be there,” Marybeth said reassuringly. “Don’t worry, Christy. Whatever it is, we’ll find it.”

  “I hope so,” I said. “With this killer on the loose, I’m as jumpy as I’ve ever been in my life. I’m afraid of what might be around every corner. I’m like a scared little kid, aren’t I?”

  “Actually, I think you’re just being prudent,” Marybeth said soberly. “It sounds as though you’ve got every reason to be worried about your personal safety.”

  “Hey, I was hoping for a little reassurance here,” I said.

  “Everything’s going to work out just fine in the end,” she said with a smile that was clearly forced.

  Her lack of sincerity was rather alarming.

  Marybeth stood, and then she petted the paper mache cat. “If we’re getting up early tomorrow, might I suggest we turn in early tonight?”

  “That’s a brilliant idea,” I said.

  “Don’t look so surprised. I get them every now and then.”

  I stopped her and hugged her. “Thank you.”

  “For what?” she asked, clearly startled by my gesture.

  “Just for being you,” I said.

  “In that case, it’s my pleasure,” she replied.

  I waited as long as I could for Midnight to reappear, but in the end, it was just Shadow who joined me in my bed.

  I went to sleep dreaming that the nightmare that had happened to my cat and my boss was nothing more than that, but there was always a part of me that knew that it was all too real.

  “Coffee?” I asked Marybeth brightly the next morning as she dragged herself into the kitchen at a time that was way too early for her.

  “Christine, no one on earth has any right to be as perky as you are in the morning,” she said as she greedily took the full cup of coffee from me that I had ready and waiting for her.

  “I can’t help it,” I said with a smile. “You know me. I wake up this way every day.”

  “Don’t remind me. When do we have to be at the shop?”

  I glanced at the clock on the oven. “We’ve still got half an hour,” I said.

  “I’d better take my coffee with me, then,” she said as she started for the shower.

  I was glad that I’d already taken mine. Though we each had our own bathroom, the hot water supply in our old house was limited. Hopefully I’d taken mine early enough to give the boiler a chance to build its reserves back up a little.

  To my surprise, Marybeth came downstairs ten minutes before we needed to be at the shop. I was caught off-guard even more when I saw that she was wearing an old flannel shirt and blue jeans. “Are you seriously going to work like that?”

  “I’m not about to go digging around in your shop in one of my suits,” she said. “I’ll come home later and take another shower before I go to work.”

  “I really appreciate you helping me like this. You know that, don’t you?”

  “I’d do anything for you, and if this doesn’t prove it, nothing will,” Marybeth said with a smile. “Now, let’s get started.”

  Lincoln was already waiting for us when we got to Memories and Dreams. Unlike Marybeth, he’d chosen to wear his work clothes, which for him meant a nice three-piece suit. “You’re going to get dirty,” Marybeth said when she saw him.

  “I’ll manage somehow,” he said. Lincoln held up a box and a bag. “I stopped to get donuts and coffee on the way. I hope that’s all right.”

  “It’s perfect,” I said. “Thank you.”

  Marybeth grabbed one of the coffees, despite her travel mug clenched tightly in one hand. “Hey, you’ve already got one,” I said.

  “I thought you knew me better than that, Christy. I can never have too much coffee.” She smiled at Lincoln. “Thanks for thinking of us.”

  “My pleasure,” he said. “Shall we go in and get started?”

  “I’m ready if you two are,” I said. I’d debated the night before about telling them to be on the lookout for Cora’s notebook, and I finally decided in the wee hours that it was important information that I couldn’t keep from them any longer. “If either one of you find a black and white composition notebook, I need to see it immediately. It’s exactly like the ones we used to use in school.”

  “What’s in it?” Marybeth asked. “Is it full of Cora’s dirty little secrets?”

  “I don’t know. An inventory of the store’s contents would be nice,” Lincoln said.

  “Sorry, but Marybeth is closer. It turns out that Cora kept a notebook full of speculations concerning the citizens of this town, and it’s missing.”

  “Surely you don’t think that was the cause of the murder, do you?” Lincoln asked.

  “If your name were in there, and it revealed a secret that you thought was safe, wouldn’t you do whatever it took to get your hands on that notebook?” I asked.

  “If I were a bad guy, you mean,” Lincoln said. “There aren’t any skeletons in my closet.”

  “I’m not accusing you of anything. I’m just saying that it could have given someone incentive enough to get rid of Cora if what was written in there was bad enough.” Wow, my supposition sounded kind of weak once I said it out loud. Then again, there was no telling what someone might do to protect a secret they wanted to stay hidden.

  “Can I glance through it if I find it first?” Marybeth asked devilishly. “It must make for some fascinating reading.”

  “We probably need to read it if we’re going to find the killer, but I was hoping that we wouldn’t take much joy out of it.”

  “Christy, you don’t have to worry. I won’t spread any rumors about what we find,” Marybeth said. “That’s the most I’m going to be able to promise, though.”

  “How about you, Counselor?” I asked Lincoln.

  “It might not hurt to know who we’re dealing with here,” he said calmly.

  “Fine, we’ll all read it, but in order to do that, we’ll have to find it first, so good luck, everyone.”

  “Wow, I’ve never seen such an eclectic collection of stuff in my life,” Lincoln said after we’d been sifting through the items in the shop for two hours. We still had one more hour to go, but so far, we hadn’t found a single thing that warranted the attention the shop had gotten lately, including Cora’s missing
notebook.

  “Call it whatever you’d like,” Marybeth said, “but to me, it’s just one big indoor flea market, and I’ve got the fleas to prove it.”

  “Oh, we’re a few notches better than that,” I said, defending my shop. “We just cater to the more unique individuals who happen to pass through our doors.”

  “Unique?” she asked with a laugh. “Is that what they’re calling them these days?”

  I refused to be baited, and just smiled at her. “Back to work, you two. We don’t have much time left, and I’m worried that if we don’t find something important soon, we might not get a second chance.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Marybeth said with a smile.

  After awhile, I began to believe that this was hopeless. The store had so many nooks and crannies, it was nearly impossible to find something that a determined robber might possibly want.

  As I searched, I decided to at least organize things a little better. Grabbing a hardback from the jewelry section, I carried it over to the book section, a hodgepodge of fiction and nonfiction we kept on hand for our benefit as much as our customers. Cora never minded if I found something to take home, as long as I returned it, and I knew that she did the same. Honestly, who would ever want the volume in my hands, anyway? Secrets of the Ages was supposed to be about the world’s greatest conspiracy theories, but it had been published in the 50s, and there was no doubt that whatever outlandish theories it contained had been rehashed dozens of times.

  The thing is, the second I picked it up, I knew that something was wrong with it.

  Books have a certain heft to them, and this one was lacking the mass of what I’d expected. Cracking the cover open, I was surprised to find that most of the pages had been hollowed out with a razor.

  But instead of jewels or money, what I found there was equally as interesting.

  It was Cora’s black and white notebook, neatly tucked away as the perfect purloined letter, her theories hidden safely away in someone else’s.

  “Look at this,” I said loudly.

  Marybeth and Lincoln joined me quickly.