Fear Familiar Bundle

by Caroline Burnes

  "We're hoping to talk Eugene into returning to work as soon as the children are home and this settles down some."

  "Yes, that would be the smartest course." Martha Whipple looked at the black cat who sat on her counter. "I've enjoyed the company of the two of you, but I'll be glad to see that cat go. Cats and books don't mix."

  "Familiar is very intelligent," Jennifer quickly declared. "He hasn't bothered a thing. He's very careful, and far too clever for a cat."

  "And he belongs outside." Martha pointed her red pen at him. "He looks like he's thinking up something terrible."

  Jennifer had been biding her time, waiting for the best moment to broach a ticklish subject. "Ms. Whipple, how was it that you didn't tell us that Bobby Fornaro was a redhead?"

  Martha Whipple steepled her hands together as if she intended to pray. "I've asked myself that question a million times. I know Bobby. Good Lord, he's one of the biggest torments on the face of the earth. But he's a dear child, and I can't believe I overlooked him." A tear slipped from beneath her glasses and traced down her cheek. "He hasn't been to story hour in the last few months. There was an illness in his family or something. They've been out of town." She looked up and slowly brushed her tears away. "I hold myself completely responsible for his disappearance. I have been heartsick since he was taken, and I know you could have saved him if I'd only been a little more intelligent, a little more thorough."

  "Martha." Jennifer went to her and put an arm around her shoulders. "It isn't your fault."

  "I should have gone back over several lists. I don't know what I was thinking." She sniffed and held back the tears. "I love those children, and now one is missing because I didn't think!"

  "What we have to concentrate on is finding them," James said gently. "And that's exactly what we're doing."

  "Those poor little babies. I feel like the shepherd who lost a lamb. You know the song. There were ninety and nine." Her voice broke. "Now, because of me, Bobby is missing."

  Before the words were completely out of her mouth, Familiar jumped across the counter and slapped several times at the keyboard of Martha's library computer.

  "What is that black devil doing?" Martha started forward, her face still blotched and upset, only to run into James's outstretched hand.

  "Wait," James said quickly. When Martha started forward again, James caught her arm and held her. "Give him a minute, Ms. Whipple. If Familiar could talk, or write, he'd be in high cotton."

  "If cats could talk, there'd be even more jawboning and complaining going on." Martha Whipple gave the cat an evil look as she pushed her glasses up on her nose.

  "I think I know the reason Martha Whipple and Eugene never got to be better friends," Jennifer whispered to James. "If she doesn't like cats, then Eugene has no use for her."

  James nodded, but his attention was on the black feline. "What's he doing?"

  "I don't know."

  "It's the checkout file," Martha said. A tiny smile touched her lips. "I believe he's calling up…Crush Bonbon! Why didn't I think of that!"

  All three humans hovered over the screen, and Martha Whipple's quick fingers assisted Familiar as they pulled up the list of books Crush had checked out for the past several months.

  "Look at that." Jennifer pointed to the screen. "A book on writing children's stories!"

  "You don't think Crush wants to be a writer, do you?" Martha was amazed. "Is that why he's always dogging Eugene's books. Just plain, old-fashioned jealousy. Well, I'll be."

  "And there's a book on building a bomb shelter," James said. "Checked out only four months ago. It's been years since anyone seriously built a bomb shelter."

  Jennifer touched his arm, her eyes wide. "Except for what Mimi said on the phone. She said she was afraid because it was so dark in here. You don't suppose…" She left the sentence unfinished as she saw Martha Whipple's expectant look.

  "Did you hear from Mimi?" Martha asked. "Tell me!"

  "It was probably a prank," Jennifer backtracked as fast as she could. She'd have to learn to keep her mouth shut or get herself, James, and Eugene in even more trouble than they were in already.

  "Well, it seems you've got the culprit. The question is where has Crush put those children? And what does he intend to do with them? Are you going to have him arrested?"

  James held up a hand. "Whoa, Ms. Whipple. Everything we have is circumstantial. We don't really have any solid proof. I know Crush looks guilty. In more ways than one. But we can't prove a thing. The worst possible set of events would be to accuse Crush before we know where the children are being held. What would happen if he was arrested and then refused to tell us where they are? The children could starve."

  "Or worse," Jennifer added direly. She held a purring Familiar in her arms. She kissed the top of his head as she held him.

  "Well, what are you going to do?" Martha asked matter-of-factly.

  Jennifer looked at James. They were going back to Crush's— this time to explore the grounds for a bomb shelter. But they couldn't tell Martha Whipple that. They couldn't tell anyone.

  "What are you going to do about this retirement announcement if Eugene is still in jail?" Martha asked, readjusting her glasses.

  "He'll be out. Grand Street Press sent a lawyer down from New York," Jennifer said. "Eugene will be out in plenty of time to make the announcement. That was a guarantee from the publisher himself."

  Martha nodded. "This is a pity, all of this ruckus. Do you think it'll have a serious impact on Eugene's writing?"

  Jennifer considered the question seriously for the first time. "I don't know. I really don't know. He says he can't write now because he's so worried about the children. And the kidnapping of Bobby will only make matters worse. But permanent effects— I certainly hope not."

  James put his arm around Jennifer. "Most writers recover from this type of trauma. Crush has gone a long way toward making Eugene feel responsible, even though he knows logically that he isn't. That's the devastating part. Someone like Eugene is so concerned for others that he assumes the burden of their welfare, even when it's completely out of his control. He may never recover from this."

  "Well, I have to do some record-keeping before I get out of here today." Martha waved a hand around the library. "Make yourselves at home. I'll be in the back office if you need me."

  "We have to be going," James said as he looked over the equipment again. "We're set here, so there shouldn't be a problem. We'll see you tomorrow, at three."

  "You're a lucky woman, Jennifer, to have a man like James to help you." Martha beamed up at James.

  "James and Familiar," Jennifer said, cradling the black cat in her arms. "I don't know which one is smarter, or more attractive."

  "Posh!" Martha threw her hands up in the air and walked off to the sound of James's laughter.

  "Now she knows you're a very weird woman." He took Jennifer's elbow. "Let's get out of here."

  "I need to go down to the police station. When Eugene is released I want to minimize the publicity."

  James gave her a sidelong look. "We both need to go downtown." His grin was suddenly wide. "Think permits. As in, building permits. It's a long shot, but there has to be a record of any construction in Crush's neighborhood. It's part of the historic district, and they have to approve even the tiniest change. I'd also like to check the police docket for the past few months. That's something we haven't done, and it would be interesting to see what type of activity has been reported in Crush's neighborhood. I can't help but think those children are somewhere close by. He has to feed them. And check on them."

  "Let's hope they're being fed," Jennifer said darkly. "I wish we could connect Anna Green, or Chief Bixley or Crush Bonbon with some property on Highway 98. That would tie things together."

  James nodded his head. "I don't know, but we're getting closer and closer to some answers."

  James steered her down the steps, his hand moving seductively at the base of her spine. Jennifer's body awakened to his t
ouch, remembering the details of the night they'd spent together. She cast a look at him from the corner of her eye and saw that he, too, had been affected by the casual encounter. She smiled, a secret, sexy smile that made him stop to look at her a long moment before he spoke.

  "I miss your dire threats. Please tell me that you're planning on taking me home tonight and making me beg for mercy?"

  At the accuracy of his line of thought Jennifer felt the heat climb her face. "I was thinking no such thing." She met his gaze and knew he read the truth. Her blue eyes sparkled. "But I believe a little begging would be good for you. You're far too sure of yourself. And I'm just the woman who could make you beg."

  "That's one challenge I'll accept," James said, his voice a soft, heated promise. "Later this evening. Your place or mine?"

  Jennifer got in the car door he'd opened for her. "Mine. As soon as we finish exploring Crush Bonbon's bomb shelter."

  James shut the door and walked around the car. "Ah, another evening of adventure with a girl and her cat."

  * * *

  TELEVISION CAMERAS lined the sidewalk by the police station, and Anna Green, with Chief Craig Bixley by her side, was getting ready to have an impromptu press conference as Jennifer pulled up. She parked down the street where she could watch the circus without drawing attention to herself.

  "Look at that blister on the butt of humanity," Jennifer said to Familiar as she glared at Anna. "She's worse than dangerous. She could be doing good instead of this stupidity."

  "Meow." Familiar gave her a knowing look.

  The black feline had taken up with her and showed no signs that he wanted to be anywhere else. In fact, he'd resisted all of Jennifer's efforts to leave him at Eugene's house, or at her own home. He was definitely a cat with a mind of his own. As she watched him, his eyes narrowed at Anna Green. And a cat with his own opinions, which just happened to coincide with hers. Familiar didn't like Anna, and Jennifer understood why.

  "She's a witch, isn't she?"

  "Meow."

  "Well, let's see if we can't set her broomstick on fire." Jennifer opened the door for Familiar, trusting that he would stay beside her. She'd grown to depend on him in many ways. Eleanor Curry was going to have a really hard time getting him back— and Jennifer had never considered herself a pet owner. She'd always liked animals, but had avoided owning one since childhood when her best friend, Sam, a mixed-breed pooch, had died and broken her heart. Now, Familiar had filled a vacancy she'd refused to admit she had. How strange that both the cat and James had come into her life on the same day.

  From the podium, Anna did a sound check while Bixley straightened his posture and his chief's hat. There was enough gold brocade on his hat and uniform to blind someone, Jennifer thought as she watched the speakers prepare.

  Along with the members of the news media were protesters, no doubt carefully orchestrated by Anna, Bixley and Bonbon. There were several signs that called for Eugene's books to be burned, as well as other books and tapes and videos. She couldn't make out the complete list, but it looked like a long one. Most of the spectators looked bored, but one or two had a fanatical gleam in his or her eye. Those were the ones who scared her. Those were the ones who'd take children to make Eugene or some other writer look guilty, believing they were acting for the good of humanity.

  A loud call from the audience drew Jennifer's attention to a tall, slender woman dressed in red holding a microphone in her hand. It was one of the television reporters.

  "Ms. Green! Have any charges been filed against— "

  "I have a speech prepared," Anna said, cutting across the reporter's question. She cleared her throat. "Although no formal charges have been filed against Eugene Legander, I want to assure the public that the police chief and his staff are doing everything possible to protect the children of this community…."

  She continued, but Jennifer tuned her out. Anna was eating crow and doing her best to make it look like caviar. Bixley, too, looked more chagrined than proud. They'd arrested Eugene, and it hadn't stuck. She was tempted to hang around and ask a few pointed questions herself, but she had other irons in the fire.

  Jennifer's dilemma was how best to get Eugene out of the station and avoid the endless questions. No matter what he said, it would only make matters worse, for the time being. There had to be a back way out of the station house, and she knew just the cat who could find it.

  "Come on, Familiar." She motioned for the cat to follow her. Luckily, neither Anna nor Bixley had spied her. They wouldn't expect her to sneak Eugene out the back while they were warming up the crowd. What they were hoping for was a spectacle of angry parents charging at Eugene. She grinned as she embroidered her "escape" plan more fully.

  The building was irregular in shape and design, and Jennifer and the cat made several wrong choices before they found a door that was obviously the patrolman's entrance. "Purr-fect," Jennifer said, bending to pet the cat.

  A large shadow fell over her and she looked up into the slitted eyes of Crush Bonbon.

  "I thought I might find you here, looking for a back way to sneak out." He stepped back slightly as Familiar growled.

  "Why aren't you up on the speaker's box with your friends?" Jennifer slowly straightened. Anger made her square her shoulders and lift her chin.

  "I've got something to say to you. Stay off my property. I know you were in my house the other night." He grinned at the startled expression on her face. "Stay out of there. I'm warning you, Miss Barkley. Tamper in my personal life again, and you could get hurt very seriously."

  "On the contrary, Crush. I think you're the one who has the most to lose, should I ever admit that I was in your house. Care to explain about that special room, the one for a child?"

  She saw his hand ball into a fist and, for a split second, she thought he was going to hit her. Familiar, too, tensed, the hair on his back fuzzing to demonstrate his deadly intent.

  "That's none of your business." Red suffused his cheeks. "That's a personal thing. Very private. You'd better not go running your mouth off about that."

  "It looks pretty sick to me, Crush. A grown man with a room decorated for a child. A grown single man with no children and no prospects of having any." Jennifer couldn't stop herself. All of the pain that Eugene had suffered was partially due to the man who stood in front of her.

  "Watch yourself, Miss Barkley, or you could find yourself in some unpleasant circumstances."

  "As Jack Nicholson so succinctly put it, 'I'd like to rip your eyeballs out and shove them up your dead skull."'

  Crush took another step back. "You're as demented as Eugene. The two of you should be in an institution. If I ever had any doubts about Anna and what she's doing, I don't anymore. This violence has to stop, and you're part of it."

  He spun around quickly for a heavy man and walked back the way he'd come.

  "Let's get Eugene." With the adrenaline dissipating, Jennifer felt a strange uneasiness. Crush hadn't reacted as she'd thought he would. There was something…vulnerable in the way he'd acted about the child's room. She felt a twinge of guilt. No matter how much he'd hurt Eugene, it made her feel bad to strike back.

  She shook her head and opened the back door that led into the interior of the police department. "Why am I standing out here wasting time feeling sorry for Crush when Eugene is in a cell?"

  Familiar twitched his tail twice.

  From the front of the building a loud roar rolled toward Jennifer. "What the hell is that?" She knew even as she asked. It was the crowd. Anna Green had finally roused them to the point where passion overrode good sense.

  "Meow!" Familiar darted into the building with Jennifer on his heels. Their only concern now was Eugene.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jennifer's dash through the station house was punctuated by a volley of angry shouts directed at her and Familiar. She paid them no mind. Letting Familiar take the lead, she followed him as he made his way unerringly to the small, drab room where Eugene waited.


  Jennifer barreled into the room to find Adam Bailey— one of the most respected defense lawyers in the nation— and Eugene hunched over a deck of cards playing gin. She stopped so suddenly that she almost fell over.

  "Let's get out of here," she finally managed. "There's a crowd outside waiting to tear you apart."

  Eugene waved a hand at her. "Hush, darling. I'm about to show Mr. Bailey exactly how gin is played. Of course, a small glass of port would make this more of a gentleman's game."

  "Eugene!"

  He finally realized she was genuinely upset and hurried to her side. "What's all of this about teeming masses outside?"

  "Anna has whipped up a mob. They're calling to burn your books— and you, if they can manage to get inside here and get you out."

  Although Eugene didn't laugh, he was amused. "Ah, it's only April and the fools here are beginning to suffer from the heat. It's a genetic thing, you know, this inability to think clearly on warm days. They should all go home and take a nap."

  Bailey stood also, his concern more apparent than Eugene's. "Is there a back door?"

  "Meow." Familiar started toward the exit.

  "I see. Even the cat is upset." Eugene's amusement was somewhat diminished. "I take it very seriously when Familiar is upset. Maybe we should depart."

  "Legally, you can go. The charges have been dropped, as is only proper," Bailey said. "Eugene will receive an official apology no later than noon tomorrow, signed by the mayor as well as Chief Bixley." He nodded. "I don't think they'll be harassing either of you unless they discover some very weighty evidence."

  "Eugene?" Jennifer looked down the corridor to where cops were buckling on riot gear as they headed toward the front.

  "Maybe it would be best if Eugene and I departed out the back, in my car," Bailey said. "Perhaps you could create a diversion?"

  Jennifer nodded. "Good plan."

  "But what about Jennifer's safety?" Eugene was planting his feet. "She comes from tough stock, a descendant no doubt of Hippolyta, but we can't abandon her if we're going to flee the mob."