by Patricia Fry
Gladys smiled coyly at her sister and headed toward the kitchen. “Hungry? I made a fruit cobbler. Want a bedtime snack?”
Chapter 5
The following day around noon, Margaret and Gladys piled into the car with Savannah, Lily, and Rags and headed for their next book signing.
“Rob will be there today,” Savannah said. “He and Cheryl live here in LA, you know, although they’re fairly nomadic.”
“Nomadic?” Gladys questioned.
“Yeah, they travel a lot. They must come up to Hammond three or four times a year.”
“I imagine he’s making good money with our little books, don’t you?” Margaret asked.
Savannah nodded. “Mom, do you know where that bookstore is? It should be right along here.”
“Yes. On the other side of the street. Go around the block.”
The women were just stepping out of the car when they heard a cheery greeting.
“Hi, Rob,” Savannah responded, hugging him.
Margaret smiled and nodded in his direction.
“Rob, this is my mother, Gladys,” Savannah said. “Mom, Rob is our leader.” She chuckled and added, “He does all of the behind-the-scenes work to promote Rags and his friends.”
“Nice to meet you,” Gladys said.
Rob took her hand and smiled warmly. “And good to finally meet you, Gladys. Is this your first signing?” he asked. “I mean for Rags…”
“Yes, I’m eager to watch my grand-cat in action.”
Rob winked at her, then asked Savannah, “Where is the famous cat?”
“Anxious to get the show on the road,” Savannah said, opening the back of her SUV and picking him up for Rob to see.
“Hi there, old boy.” Rob frowned. “How’s he doing after his surgery and all?”
“Doing okay. It was sure frightening seeing him so ill.” She grinned. “Thank you for the get-well card, by the way. That was nice of you, and the little packet of catnip you enclosed—he enjoyed that.”
Rob ran his hand over Rags’s head, then acknowledged Lily, who was walking toward him holding Gladys’s hand. “Hi, little one.” He stooped over and touched her cheek. “Did you come to watch your cat perform?”
“My cat,” she said, pointing at Rags.
“I’ll take Lilliana to the children’s section,” Gladys offered quietly as they all entered the bookstore together.
Just then Margaret’s face brightened. “Oh, look who’s here. It’s Jayden. Hi, Jayden.”
When he saw her and the others, he rushed to them. “I read all the books,” he boasted. “I can read them real good, right, Meemaw?”
The woman with him said, “Yes, he knows every word by heart, actually.” She reached her hand out to Savannah. “I’m Jayden’s grandmother, Sue. Are you Savannah?”
She nodded. “Nice to meet you. This is my daughter, Lily; my mom, Gladys; and my aunt, Maggie.” Savannah smiled at the boy. “So Jayden, you must be ready for more books.”
He nodded eagerly.
“Rob,” Savannah said, when she noticed he was still standing nearby, “this is one of Rags’s biggest fans, Jayden. He got to visit Rags at Mom’s house last night.”
“Cool,” Rob said, shaking hands with the boy.
“This is his grandmother, Sue.”
“Hi, I’m Rob.”
“Rob’s the one who makes all this happen,” Savannah explained.
“Yeah, he makes ordinary cats famous,” Margaret added.
Just then the bookstore manager stepped up with a stack of Rags’s books. She placed them on a nearby desk and addressed the group. “I’m Jennie, the manager. Who’ll be doing the signing?”
Savannah reached a hand out to her. “Hi, I’m Savannah Ivey.” She looked down at the cat on the leash. “This is Rags and this,” she said, indicating her aunt, “is Maggie Sheridan. Her cats are in the books, too.”
Jennie smiled briefly. She motioned toward two chairs behind the desk. “You can sit here. I’m going to have everyone start lining up. Are you ladies ready?”
“Sure,” Savannah said. She placed a folded blanket on the desktop and encouraged Rags to lie down on it. He preferred to sit up, however, and study the crowd that was gathering in front of him.
“Can I get another book, Meemaw?” Jayden asked.
Sue pulled some cash from her purse. “Sure.”
“Oh, you pay at the register,” Savannah explained. She addressed Jayden. “What do you need, book five?”
“How many are there?” Sue asked.
“Six, so far.”
“Then we’ll take five and six.”
“Thanks, Meemaw,” Jayden said enthusiastically. “And I want Rags to put his footprint in there.”
Savannah winked at the boy and nodded.
After a hustle-bustle hour of nonstop customers, Jennie approached Savannah and Margaret. “Why don’t you two take a break? Then we’ll go for another half hour, if that’s okay with you ladies.” She looked out over the crowd. “You really know how to bring in the customers. We’re loving this.”
“It’s Rob’s doing,” Savannah said, motioning toward him when he walked up.
“And the cat,” he said. “That cat has charisma.”
Jennie began petting Rags. “I noticed. I love cats, and this one’s quite unique.” She addressed Savannah. “Can I walk him for you while you ladies relax? I’ll take him out to the garden in case he wants to…you know…and I’ll see if he needs a drink of water.” When Savannah hesitated, Jennie said, “It’s all enclosed out there.”
Savannah smiled. “Okay, yes. That would be nice of you.” Before relinquishing the leash, however, she added, “Please keep a close eye on him, will you?”
Jennie nodded.
Several minutes later after Savannah had taken a little walk around the bookstore, chatted with a few shoppers, and hydrated along the way, she felt a hand touch her back. “Ms. Ivey, Ms. Ivey.”
Savannah turned to see the store manager standing next to her looking distraught. Savannah glanced around her on the floor. “What’s happened?” she asked, her heart racing in her chest. “Where’s Rags?”
“Ms. Ivey, I don’t know how it happened. One minute he was there and then…” Jennie winced. “I’m so sorry.”
Savannah put her hands on Jennie’s shoulders. “Where were you when…”
“We were in the secret garden. I sat down with him to talk to a customer. He was sniffing around in a flowerpot. When I checked on him just seconds later, he was gone.” She held up a portion of Rags’s leash. “Someone must have cut it and grabbed him.” She lowered her head. “I’m so sorry.”
Savannah scowled. “Darn it! Show me where you were, will you?” When Jennie pointed, Savannah hurried off in that direction. She stepped outside and looked around. Feeling as though she would be ill, she rushed to the front entrance, opened the door, and scoured the area. “Oh, Rags!” she said, kicking a stone with the toe of her shoe.
“What’s wrong?” Margaret asked, quickly approaching her niece. Rob was right behind her.
Savannah grimaced. “That Jennie gal had Rags. She took her eye off him long enough for someone to cut his leash and take off with him.” She stomped her foot in sheer frustration. “Damn!”
“Oh no,” Rob said.
“I’m sorry, Vannie,” Margaret soothed, rubbing her arm.
“Have you looked everywhere?” Rob asked. “Maybe he chewed through the leash and he’s hiding someplace.” When he saw the leash end in Savannah’s hand, he reached for it. “Let me see that.” After examining it, he shook his head. “Yup, it’s been cut, all right—a clean cut.” He then ordered, “Let’s spread out and see if we can find him. Get the bookstore staff to help.”
After searching for nearly thirty minutes, it was determined that Rags was no longer on the premises.
Rob asked all bookstore personnel to be on the lookout for the cat, just in case they’d miss
ed him. He handed out his business card with instructions to call if anyone saw evidence that he was still there. Then he joined Savannah, Margaret, Gladys, and Lily at a table in the coffee shop. “We’ll offer a reward,” he told them. “I’ll put it in all the papers, hang posters. This is a catnapping!” he exclaimed. “And this is not your ordinary cat. Surely we’ll get support from the media on this story.” He stood up abruptly, pulled his phone out of his pocket, and walked away to make a call.
“Gosh,” Margaret said quietly, “he seems almost excited about this. Do you suppose he arranged it for publicity purposes?”
Savannah stared at her aunt for a moment, then frowned in Rob’s direction. “I sure hope not.”
“What’s wrong?”
Savannah turned to see Jayden and his grandmother walking toward them.
“Did that lady take him?” Jayden asked, sounding panicked.
Savannah took the boy by the arms and looked into his face. “What lady, Jayden? Did you see someone with him?”
He nodded. “I saw her petting Rags a lot.” He frowned. “She looked weird to me and mean. I didn’t like her petting Rags.”
“Can you describe her?” Savannah asked. When the boy seemed confused, she said, “Tell me what she looked like, will you?”
“She was old and kinda fat, I think. It was hard to see because of the balloon thing she was wearing.”
“Balloon thing?” Savannah questioned.
“Yeah, it looked like she was all covered up in a curtain—a white curtain.”
“Oh, I think I know who he’s talking about,” Margaret said. “Don’t you remember that woman who couldn’t keep her hands off Rags? She brought him a treat, but you wouldn’t let her give it to him.” She glanced at Jayden. “She looked to be about my age, actually.”
“I do remember that woman. Yes,” Savannah said. “She was odd. She’s the one who wore a surgical mask.” She shuddered. “I always wonder, when I see someone wearing one of those, whether they’re contagious or maybe they’re super sensitive to scents—like old books, perfume, and things like that.” She narrowed her eyes. “I’m pretty sure I saw her at the signing last night, too, only she was dressed differently. Yes, it could have been the same woman and she was wearing a surgical mask then, too.”
Jayden crinkled his nose. “I didn’t see her wearing a mask.”
“I did,” Margaret said. She became more animated. “That bookstore manager gal had to ask her to move on and allow others up to the desk.” She thought for a moment. “You know, she didn’t even take any books, did she?”
“I don’t recall that she did,” Savannah said. She turned to get Rob’s attention. When he pulled the phone away from his ear, she said, “We think we have a description.”
“I’ll call you back,” he said into the phone.
After Savannah had given the information to Rob, he quizzed Jayden and his grandmother as well as Jennie, asking, among other things, if they saw the woman leave. No one had.
Frustrated and worried, Savannah let out a sigh. She glanced toward the bookstore area, hoping to see her cat walk out from behind a bookshelf; instead, she noticed Jayden standing next to his grandmother, crying. “Oh, Jayden,” she crooned as she approached him, “we will find him. Don’t you worry, honey.” When he continued to weep, she said, “You wouldn’t believe the trouble that cat has gotten himself into and he always comes out on top—just like in the stories in his books.”
Jayden sniffled and looked at Savannah. “Really? He really does all that stuff in the books?”
“Oh yes,” she said, “and more.” She smiled at him. “Now you go on home with your grandmother and think really happy thoughts for Rags, okay?”
“You mean pray?” he asked. “We pray all the time at our house, only just for special things.” He looked up at his grandmother. “This is a special thing, don’t you think so, Meemaw?”
She nodded. “Yes, Jayd, this is a mighty special thing.”
“Then I’ll start praying as soon as I get home.” The boy’s face brightened. “Today, my mom and dad are taking me to visit a temperature dog.”
When Savannah looked confused, Sue corrected him, “A therapy dog.”
“Yeah, a therapy dog,” he said excitedly. “For me.” He looked down at his feet. “But I’d rather have a therapy cat.” He glanced at the others. “…I mean like Rags.”
****
Later that afternoon after the three women had returned to Gladys’s house with Lily, they continued to discuss what had happened and tried to make sense of it.
Savannah told them, “Rob said to watch the Channel Two news tonight. He thinks they’ll run something about Rags’s disappearance. He sent the reporter some footage he took at the signing today.”
Margaret sat up straight. “That’s right!” she exclaimed. “Rob was filming. Maybe he got a shot of that woman.”
Savannah shook her head slowly. “I don’t think so. I asked him that and he said she’s in the background but her back’s to the camera. Besides,” she added, “she was wearing a mask, remember?” She folded her legs up under herself on the sofa. “...at least part of the time. I guess Jayden didn’t see the mask.”
“Yeah, well, if she took Rags,” Gladys said, “she had reason to be camera shy.” When she noticed her daughter tearing up, she put her hand on her arm. “Try not to worry, dear. It’s not good for you or the baby. If anyone can find him, I think Rob can.”
Suddenly Savannah perked up. “Craig!” she said.
“What about Craig?”
“Well, I just wonder if Craig could find him.”
“Vannie, I agree with your mother,” Margaret said. “Rob has a lot of connections here and it appears that he’s reaching out to all the right people.”
Gladys nodded. “Yes honey, let’s just try to relax and trust, shall we?”
“I’ll try. But darn, this just makes me so mad! I mean, he’s run off before, but this time someone actually stole him right out from under our noses.” She began to cry. “Who would do that and why?”
“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been wondering,” Margaret said with a bit of a twinkle in her eye. “Who would want to take on that cat?”
“Maggie, can it,” Gladys spat.
“What?” Margaret asked innocently.
“Just keep your snide remarks to yourself, that’s what.” Gladys stood up. “Now I’m going to serve the tamale pie and salad. Who’s ready to eat?”
“I’ll have some,” Savannah said. “Lily might eat a few olives. You did put olives in there, didn’t you? I’ll give her some of the broccoli and chicken casserole we had last night. Do you have some of that left?”
“What,” Margaret said, “she doesn’t eat tamale pie?”
Savannah wrinkled her nose. “It might be a little spicy for her, that’s all.”
They’d finished dinner, cleaned up the kitchen, and got Lily ready for bed when Savannah’s cell phone rang.
“Hi, Rob. Any news?”
“Not really, but we’ve sure had a lot of calls. Did you see the broadcast?” he asked.
“Yeah, we watched it. It was pretty quick, but you gave them some good pictures of Rags, so he should be easy to identify.”
“Yeah, and they published my phone number. I’ve been swamped with calls. I had to turn my phone off in order to eat dinner. But then I had to deal with a whole lot of messages and call-backs. I doubt I’ll get much sleep tonight.”
“So what are the callers saying? Has anyone seen him?” Savannah asked hopefully.
“I have people checking out the more likely callers. Nothing yet. But we will find him. You can bet on it. Now you ladies sleep tight.” In a more somber tone, he said, “We may have to cancel tomorrow’s signing if he isn’t back. We’ll play that by ear.”
“I think I’d like to cancel it anyway,” Savannah said. “This is just too disconcerting.”
Rob paused. “The signings are a
gold mine for all of us and this glitch—Rags being taken or running away—will bump up sales even more. I’d like you to reconsider, Savannah.”
She let out a sigh. “Let’s see what happens overnight, shall we? Right now I’m dealing with the awful fact that I may never see Rags again and worse, that he might be in danger.”
****
At around midnight Savannah was jarred from her slumber. What’s that? she wondered, raising herself up on one elbow. She lay back down, thinking, Oh, the wind’s probably blowing and Mom’s camellia bush is scraping against the window. She pulled the pillow over her head, vowing, I’m going to prune that thing tomorrow. That’s dang annoying. When she still couldn’t fall back to sleep, she turned on a small lamp, climbed out of bed, and visited the bathroom. Upon returning, she took a few sips from the water bottle on her bedside table, then sat up against the headboard.
She thought about the conversation she’d had with Michael earlier. He was as upset about Rags being catnapped as I am. She chuckled to herself. He does have quite an investment in that cat now—what with the emergency surgery he performed on him and all the drama around whether Rags would make it or not. She took a deep breath. I can’t believe all the trouble that cat gets himself into.
She glanced at the window again. How am I going to get to sleep with all that noise? In exasperation, she slipped out of bed and walked to the window. She pulled back the curtain. That’s strange. It doesn’t look windy. Then what was that scraping sound? She’d started to release the curtain when something caught her eye. What was that? A raccoon? Maybe a possum. Well, it’s gone now—I guess I scared it off. She yawned, climbed back into bed, and attempted to get comfortable when suddenly she froze. I hear a cat meowing. She winced. Darby must be restless tonight. Then she had another thought. She walked into the hallway. It sounds like it’s coming from outside. She ran to the front door and flung it open. Nothing. She stepped out onto the porch and looked around, then listened for a few minutes. “Must be my overworked imagination,” she murmured to herself.
Feeling even more disheartened, Savannah stepped back inside, and that’s when she heard a clear and loud meow. She looked across the room and couldn’t believe her eyes. “Rags!” she shouted. “How did you…? Where were you?” She scratched her head. “Where did you come from, anyway?” She glanced around the room, then stared down at the cat again and wondered, Is he a figment of my imagination? Still confused and a little groggy, she squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them, Rags was gone. I’m going crazy, she thought. She felt herself tensing up. Her breathing became rapid. She felt faint. Frightened now, she raced to her aunt’s room and burst through the door. “Auntie, get up!” she hissed loudly.