Entering the library, she glanced around for the cat, hoping fervently to avoid it. How totally stupid, for a public office to keep a cat. There'd been a big fuss in the paper about how wonderful it was to have a "library cat," editorials, letters to the editor. And then that battle to get rid of the beast, headed up by the librarian who was allergic to cats. And people getting up petitions to keep the animal. What idiots. Half the village thought a library cat was just darling-and of course the tourists loved it. The cat was of no earthly use, just a common cat, shedding hairs and fleas, one of those ugly, dark-striped creatures-there were hundreds like it-that you could see in any alley.
Passing the checkout desk, she studied the adjoining rooms warily but didn't see the beast. It gave her the creeps to approach a table or the book stacks thinking she might suddenly see the cat wander out under her feet. Just thinking about it made her ankles itch, as if any minute it might find her and rub against her.
The woman behind the desk kept staring, so she smiled brightly back at her. What was she looking at? Watching her like she was some kind of character. Didn't she like floppy pink hats and pink lipstick?
Well I like them, and I'm the one wearing them. And she had to smile-if she was a character, that was just fine, she didn't give a fig what some librarian thought.
19
In Casa Capri, Dulcie woke beneath the parlor couch, curled up warmly on the thick Chinese rug. Joe was gone. Looking for him, out past the squat couch legs and through the glass to the patio, she stiffened to full alert.
The garden was alive with birds, with the swift flitting and chirping of sparrows among the low bushes and flower beds, with quickly winging finches darting under the leaves to harvest the morning's insects; that busy, winged feast beckoned and enticed, begging to be sampled.
She saw Joe at the glass doors, standing on his hind legs working at the latch, pawing at the lock, his teeth chattering as if he was already crushing succulent sparrow bones.
She settled back. She wasn't particularly hungry; really she felt too lazy to leave the soft, warm rug. She'd like to nap a little longer. Let Joe hunt, she'd catch breakfast later.
Rolling over, she pawed at the rug's intricate, labyrinthian patterns. Then, rolling onto her back, she reached a paw above her to stroke the bottom of the couch. Through the black gauze dust cover-it did smell dusty-she could see the rows of springs and the couch's thick wooden frame. Patting at the black gauze, smoothly she let her claws slide into the thin, flimsy fabric.
She raked hard, ripped down through the thin material a long, straight tear, felt her blood surge at the delicious sound of ripping cloth.
She clawed again. Again. In long straight gashes. She had no idea why the underside of a couch roused such an irresistible urge to tear and shred. She was about to kick with all four feet, really give the dry, frail gauze a workout, when she heard the front door open.
Flipping over, she peered out toward the front entry.
The door opened slowly, as if someone were not sure of a welcome. A nurse slipped in, a small woman, and thin. She wore the requisite immaculate white uniform, white oxfords, a white nurse's cap tipped over her dark, sleek pageboy. Her hair was beautifully done, not a strand out of place, as if she had just come from an expensive beauty parlor. Her face was made up with blusher and dark eyeliner, and with a touch of green eye shadow that made her brown eyes look larger, made her look far older and very sophisticated. Her lipstick was bright and carefully applied, her gold earrings small and tailored.
But even beneath the scent of cosmetics, the young nurse still smelled like Dillon. Dulcie hardly knew the child-a casual observer would guess this young woman to be at least eighteen.
She watched Dillon move away quickly toward the social room and on through, among the couches, to the dining room. Watched her push the door open with casual assurance and slip into the kitchen. The door swung back and forth behind her, slowed to a stop.
Dulcie watched the closed door, expecting any minute to hear angry scolding from within, and see Dillon come flying out again.
Nothing happened. There was a long silence. She waited nervously, her tail twitching, her paws growing hot with wary anticipation. Any minute she was going to hear enraged shouts, and Dillon would be hustled out by some irate kitchen employee, would be roughly scolded and sent packing for her effrontery.
But after a few minutes the door swung out again and a breakfast cart appeared. Dillon pushed it out swiftly and efficiently, letting the door swing closed, looking as if she did this job every morning. The top shelf was heavily laden and covered with a white cloth, the rubber tires made the same soft sticky hum that the snack cart had made over in the Nursing wing.
Dillon pushed the cart past her toward the admitting desk and around the corner toward Nursing, trailing the scent of eggs and toast. Dulcie was about to follow her when Joe returned from the patio, licking blood from his whiskers, slipping under the couch beside her.
He stared toward the passing cart, sniffed the child's scent, got a glimpse of her sleek hair and grown-up face. "What the… That can't be Dillon?"
Dulcie smiled. "Would you take her for twelve years old?"
Joe licked his whiskers. "More power to the kid. She might get away with it."
"But if they catch her again, what will they do? Those nurses… She's only a little girl. Would they…?"
"They won't hurt her. Get a grip. Why would they hurt her? This isn't some den of murderers; it's an old people's home. If they catch her, they'll give her hell and pitch her out and maybe that would do the kid good. Got to admit she's pretty nervy."
"How did she learn to make herself up so beautifully? If I didn't know her…"
"She's a girl, Dulcie. Girls are born reaching for the eyeliner. To a girl, that stuff comes naturally, you ought to know that better than anyone. Look at how you fuss over silk nighties, dragging them home. And you should see Clyde's sleep-over girlfriends. Lipstick and junk all over the dresser. They drive Clyde crazy, hogging the bathroom mirror."
"But she's only twelve. She-"
"So she's twelve. So look at those child models you read about. Eleven years old, and they look like they could buy a double martini."
He slipped out from under the couch and returned to the glass, fixing his gaze again on the birds. "I could eat another; guess I didn't get my fill. Come on, we can-" But when they heard footsteps and a sharp voice in the hall, he slid back under.
Around the corner, a woman was hurrying down the hall, scolding. The nurse rounded the corner, pulling Dillon along by one arm.
Dillon had abandoned her cart. Her nurse's cap was gone, and her pretty pageboy hair was all mussed, her uniform awry, and one white shoelace untied. But though the nurse was scolding, pushing her out into the entry toward the front door, Dillon didn't look repentant. She looked mad, red-faced and scowling.
The nurse reached around her, opening the door. "If I see you back there again, young lady, if there's a hint of trouble because of you-if I lose my job over this, you're going to be a sorry little girl." The woman pushed her out onto the porch. Dulcie crouched to leap after Dillon, but Joe grabbed her leg in his teeth. She stared at him and hung her head.
The nurse slammed the door, shutting Dillon out, and turned away.
"What were you going to do?" he whispered. "Run after her and tell her you're sorry?" He licked her ear. "She'll be okay. She'll cry and then go home." He groomed Dulcie's ears and her face until she calmed. He was washing his own whiskers when they heard a car door close softly, heard high heels on the walk, heard the knob turn.
Adelina came in quickly, seeming preoccupied. She did not seem unduly upset, had evidently not seen Dillon slinking-the kid must have gotten out of there fast. Adelina was dressed in another little black suit, this one with a low-cut jacket over a fluff of white lace. She wore patent spike heels, black sheer stockings. Behind her, as the door swung in, they glimpsed the pearl red Bentley standing in the drive.
Slamming the big double door, she moved toward her office, her black skirt swishing in soft friction against her silky legs. Her keys jangled, and they heard the click of the lock opening. She disappeared into her office, leaving the door ajar.
Dulcie crouched, tail twitching, eyeing the open door. The next instant, she was gone, had fled through, not waiting for Joe. Without asking for his opinion, without asking if he was coming, she was gone into Adelina Prior's lair. Within the room a blue light came on, and Joe could hear the click of computer keys. He waited to see if Dulcie got pitched out again.
When nothing happened he stifled his urge to beat it out of there and, slinking, followed Dulcie.
Just inside the door and to his right stood a little seating group, a purple leather love seat and matching chair, and a dark, polished corner table. He slid beneath the love seat, flattening himself down into the white carpet. The piece was so low he had to belly along like a snake. Oozing along in the dark space, he realized he was alone, that Dulcie wasn't there, the space was unoccupied except for a spider huddled inches from his ear, clinging to the squat mahogany leg. This schlepping around under furniture was getting old. He felt as if he'd spent his whole life underneath couches and beds and desks, like some weird mole-cat, living entirely in a four-inch-high world beneath heavy furniture. Why was he doing this? He was a cat, not an earthworm; he was a freewheeling tomcat born to the wind and high places.
From this vantage, all he could see of Adelina were her well-turned ankles and spike heels, the desk legs, and the five-castered pedestal of her wheeled desk chair.
Slipping out to the edge of the love seat for a wider view, he studied the sleek black desk and the computer behind which Adelina sat, her smooth profile bathed in green light, her black hair a shining wing pulled back into an elegant roll, her diamond earrings catching green sparks with the movement of her typing. He did not see Dulcie. She wasn't under the desk, nor under the upholstered chair. Searching for her, he crept farther out, careful to stay out of Adelina's line of sight. Surveying the room, he was not impressed by the decor of purple and black against the lavender walls. And who would want paintings of flat, purple, naked humans that looked like they were drawn with a ruler? The work had no passion, was like purple cutouts, or as if the artist had filled in the outlines for a street sign.
Adelina stopped typing, removed a tissue from her top desk drawer, and delicately, blew her nose. She smoothed her hair, touching the intricate dark coil, then resumed her work. He could not see the computer screen, it angled toward the window at her back. The window was open a few inches above a long window seat covered with decorative pillows. There was no screen on the window. Dulcie could, if she'd lost her nerve, simply have slipped on out. Escape out the window, through the scrolled iron bars and away, leaving him in the lurch.
If she'd ditched him, if she'd cut out of here, she'd never hear the end of it. He judged his distance, ready to leap across and follow her. One jump into the cushions, and he'd be through before Adelina could grab him. The pillows were done in such a maze of wild patterns and colors they dizzied him, a tangle of intricate tapestry, a panoply of color and texture that must have cost a bundle. He suddenly saw, tucked between the lavish weavings, a pair of green eyes watching him.
Swallowing back a laugh, he crept out and winked at her. Among the pillows, she looked exactly like a puff of dark, striped embroidery.
She cut her eyes at him, then blinked them closed, was at once invisible: a little commando hidden in jungle camouflage.
She had positioned herself directly behind Adelina, where she could see clearly the computer screen. When she opened her eyes again, she glanced at him, then watched the screen intently. She seemed impatient at what she was seeing. He could see, between the pillows, the end of her tail irritably twitching.
He wondered if Adelina was working on the files they had sought, on the information they'd searched for all night.
If she was, whatever it showed, Dulcie didn't look pleased.
Soon Adelina turned on the printer, and the state-of-the-art machine spit out five pages as fast as bullets. When the printing ended she punched a few keys, turned off the machine, then unlocked a desk drawer.
As she removed several files, Dulcie emerged from among the cushions and reared up behind Adelina, peering over her shoulder like some sudden, ghostly visitation. They watched Adelina remove an untidy sheaf of papers from the top folder, and a sheet of stationery. With a thin gold pen, she began to write. Behind her Dulcie stood taller, so fascinated, stretching up to see, that she rocked precariously on her hind paws, her front paws drooping over her pale belly, her tail switching for balance. Joe guessed they were both thinking the same thought: Why would Adelina turn off the computer and write a letter by hand?
Exchanging another glance, they watched her finish one letter, address the envelope, seal it, and drop it in her purse. When she opened a second file, she removed a large pad of lined paper, the kind a school child might use, and started a second letter, writing with a lead pencil. Adelina had written two pages when the soft scuff of shoes in the hall sent Dulcie diving into the pillows again and Joe slinking deep beneath the love seat.
The feet, in scarred, flat shoes, that scuffed across the carpet belonged to Renet. He caught her scent, and, as she went around the desk, he could see her, pale hair hanging ragged around her ears, no makeup-that plain face could use some help-her cotton skirt and cotton blouse wrinkled and baggy. She dropped a large brown envelope onto the desk. "Done. Good job if I do say so. Worked it out last weekend. Did the prints this morning, to make sure."
She sat down on the love seat, her light weight nearly squashing Joe. Maybe the love seat needed new springs. If she'd been heavy, he'd be flat as a twenty-cent hamburger. Belly down, he slid away to the other end, then out between the love seat and the wall.
From this vantage he watched Adelina remove a sheaf of photographs from the envelope and lay them out on the desk. She studied them solemnly.
"Yes. Very good. How long does this one take?"
"An hour to be safe. I hope that Mae Rose woman doesn't come snooping."
Adelina raised her dark, expressionless eyes. "Forget Mae Rose. You're fixated with the woman just because she knew Wenona." She gave Renet a long, chill look. "Wenona's dead, Renet. Please forget everything connected with her."
"But Mae Rose-"
"And as for Mae Rose going on about Jane Hubble, that's all talk. What possible connection could she make?"
"I don't like her. I think Mae Rose should-"
"Mae Rose has three daughters. Get your mind off her."
"They never visit her, they live clear across the country. I could easily-"
"She's not a suitable subject. For one thing, she's too small, you know that. Pay attention to the business at hand. If you do just one sloppy presentation, Renet, it's over. You'll have no need to worry about Mae Rose."
Adelina slipped the files back into the drawer, locked it, and put the photographs back in the envelope. "I don't know why these people have to visit the same day as that Pet-a-Pet business. And I don't know whether allowing those animal enthusiasts in here is worth the trouble, for the little PR it affords."
"Well it certainly wasn't my idea."
Adelina sighed. "Have you done all the errands?"
"Of course. What time?"
"Two-thirty. Don't leave half the box in the closet."
"I never do. What about that new nurse, that big slow woman? I don't-"
"I'll see that she's kept busy. Have you made any progress on her? I don't like keeping her when she-"
"So far, nothing. You should have looked deeper before you hired her."
"I didn't have any choice. It isn't easy to get help. Just get on with your job. Everyone has some skeleton in the closet, and you're to keep on until you find it. You've had two weeks, and you don't have a thing. If you'd pay more attention to business-"
"I've checked DMV. Five credit bureaus. F
our previous addresses and talked with three of her landlords."
"What about NCI? That was foolish, to allow that Lieutenant Sacks to get married."
"What was I going to do, poison his dearly beloved? There'll be someone else. Max Harper-"
"You'll leave Harper alone; he's not to be approached. I don't trust him for a minute. What about that Lieutenant Brennan?"
Renet did not reply.
"If not Brennan, then you'll have to buy the information in San Francisco-that should be no problem."
"You needn't be sarcastic. And I might have other things to attend to."
"You had better plan your time around matters of first importance." Adelina rose. "Lock the door when you leave. And make sure you have your little party under control." And she disappeared into the hall, her black skirt swishing against her silken thighs.
Renet didn't move from the love seat for some time, but sat tapping her foot irritably. When she did rise, she stepped to the desk and tried the locked drawer. When she couldn't open it, she tucked the brown envelope under her arm and left the room, locking the door as she'd been instructed.
The instant they were alone, Dulcie slid out from between the pillows. Standing on the window seat she shook herself, licked her paw, swiped at her whiskers. "I'm all matted down-those pillows are hot as sin." She watched Joe slide out from under the love seat, pawing dust from his whiskers. He leaped up beside her, and they sat looking out to the drive and the gardens.
They could see no one. The red Bentley and Renet's blue van were parked before the door. When they were certain they were unobserved they slipped out beneath the open window, through the scrolled curves of the burglar grille, and dropped into a bed of marigolds.
Cat Raise the Dead Page 14