Cats of a Feather

by Patricia Fry

  “Wait,” she said, leaving the room. She returned and handed Savannah an album. “They’re all in there. When I found out you were coming, I dug them out. I thought you might want to see them. You can have them if you want; I’d just throw them away.”

  “Thank you,” Savannah said, hugging the album to her. “This is great. I really appreciate it.”

  “No problem.”

  “Thanks again for talking to us.”

  “Man, she’s sure not a cat person, is she?” Chris remarked once they were seated in the car.

  “Not even,” Savannah said. She opened the album and her heart melted. “Look how cute he was. Oh, I love this. This trip was so worth it, just to get these pictures. I’ll have to send her a rose bush or pea plant or something as a thank you.” She handed Chris the album and said, “Okay, we’d better go back to the Gallagher home and make that call.” She let out a sigh.

  Chapter Eight

  An hour later a uniformed police officer approached Savannah and Chris where they sat on a crumbling block wall in front of Dreama Gallagher’s house. “Are you the women who found the body?”

  “Good god,” Chris said. “It really is a…”

  “I’m afraid so,” the officer said. “So tell me, what were you doing poking around back there?”

  Savannah took a deep breath and looked down at Rags, who lay at her feet at the end of his leash. “I’m Savannah Ivey, and I’m working on a book about cat genetics with Chris, here. She’s a cat-DNA expert. We’re trying to trace my cat’s family, and we came here to see if they were still running a cattery here, because Mrs. Gallagher used to own my cat’s mother.”

  “A cat?” he asked, scratching his head.

  Savannah nodded.

  “So why were you digging in the backyard?” he asked. “What were you looking for?”

  “Well, we went into the backyard out of curiosity—to see if anyone was living in the house—you know, hoping to find someone who could put us in touch with Mrs. Gallagher.”

  “Okay,” the officer prompted.

  Savannah looked down at Rags. “The cat started digging things up. It seemed suspicious to me—you know, some of the things he was finding. So I called you.” She winced. “Is it Mrs. Gallagher?” The officer cleared his throat. “The body is yet to be identified.” He stared at the women then at the cat and said, “Can I see your ID?” After looking at their driver’s licenses, he asked, “So you don’t live here in the area?”

  “No.” Savannah wrote something down in a small pad and handed the page to the police officer. “We’re staying here. This is my phone number. We may be leaving tomorrow.”

  “So you’ll be around this evening? Great,” he said. “I’m sure we’ll have more questions.”

  Savannah frowned and recited under her breath, “I shouldn’t have done it. I must get her back.”

  “Ma’am?” the officer said, looking up from his notepad.

  “Um…” Savannah stalled. “We spoke with a neighbor here earlier, and he said that was the last thing Mrs. Gallagher ever said to him and that was a day or so before she disappeared. He doesn’t know what it meant, but I think I do.”

  Chris stared at Savannah. “You do?”

  “What?” the officer asked.

  “Well, she sold a ragdoll to a man named Drew Gerard…”

  “A ragdoll?”

  “Oh, that’s a cat. A breed of cat.” Savannah explained, “You know, I told you she ran a cattery here.”

  “Go on,” he said.

  “I wonder if she may have changed her mind about selling that cat to him and he…”

  The officer asked, “Mr. Gerard? So you think she confronted him? Do you know this Mr. Gerard?”

  “No, I just know of him and I don’t like him at all,” Savannah sneered.

  “Ditto,” Chris added.

  The officer looked at Chris then back at Savannah. “Why?”

  “Because of the way he treats cats, mostly,” Savannah said.

  “That’s no reason to accuse a man of killing someone and burying her body in her yard, is it?”

  “Well, I guess not,” Savannah said, “only I think she may have had second thoughts about selling him the cat and he might have become belligerent and hit her or something—he may have killed her unintentionally. He could have an anger problem.”

  “And he abuses cats,” Chris added.

  “Okay, well, thank you ladies for your help.” He looked at his notes. “I’ll let you know if we need anything else.”

  “Wow!” Chris said when she, Savannah, and Rags were settled back in the car. She fluttered her hand in front of her face. “I don’t know how much more of this excitement I can take.”

  Savannah grinned. “Welcome to a day in the life of Ragsdale.”

  “Hey, want to go to the lab with the samples?” Chris asked.

  Savannah thought for a moment, then said, “Let’s go meet with the gal who has Rags’s ragdoll-look-alike-sister. Maybe we can get her swab and deliver them all together.”

  “Go for it,” Chris said. She let out a deep sigh. “It can’t get any more freaky and weird.”

  Savannah grinned at her passenger, then ran her hand over Rags’s fur. “Want to go meet another beautiful sister, Ragsie?”

  Both women laughed when Rags jumped into the front seat onto Chris’s lap and put his paws on the dash.

  “You’re going to let him ride untethered?” Chris asked.

  “Yeah, we’ll see how he does.”

  About thirty minutes later they pulled into a long driveway and parked in front of a large stucco house surrounded by tropical plants and trees.

  “Looks like they have a horse ranch here,” Chris said, stepping out of the car with Rags’s leash in her hand.

  “Yes, it does. Gosh, what a great setup. I wonder if they train, breed, or what,” Savannah said, joining her.

  “A little of both,” came a voice from behind them. The women turned to see a man holding his hand out to Chris. “You must be the woman with the cat—April’s brother, right?”

  “I am,” Savannah said, also shaking his hand. “Savannah Ivey. This is Chris Tomlinson, my friend and cat-DNA expert.”

  He looked down at the cat, who wandered around at their feet. “Is this him?” he asked, alarmed. “Claudia told me you said he doesn’t look like April, but golly, you can’t get any more different than this. Are you sure he’s from the same litter?”

  “We’re pretty sure,” Chris said. “DNA testing will confirm it one way or another.”

  Savannah smiled. “Didn’t Claudia tell you about the lone grey-and-white kitten left at the pet store when she adopted April?”

  I guess she might have,” he said. “I didn’t pay any attention.” He leaned over and petted Rags. “Nice cat,” he muttered. “Well come on in, Claudia has April all brushed and ready for company.” He chuckled. “I think this is the first time April has had guests of her own.”

  “Hi,” Savannah said when Claudia greeted them at the door with a beautiful ragdoll cat in her arms.

  “Hey, Claud,” her husband said, “get a gander at this cat. They claim he’s April’s brother.”

  “Gosh,” Claudia said, “he really is different.”

  “So you didn’t see him at the pet store when you adopted April?”

  “Not that I recall,” she said. She laughed. “I only had eyes for this beauty. Do you blame me?”

  “Certainly not,” Savannah said, smiling at the exquisite cat. “She is beautiful.” She chuckled. “Does she always dress for special occasions?”

  “She dresses anytime I want her to,” Claudia said. “You see, I have no children. She is my child.” She snuggled with the long-haired beauty, who was at the moment wearing a pink tutu. “I saw her and had to have her. We’ve been together for going on eight years.”

  “We visited Rags’s and April’s mother earlier today,” Savannah said.

  “You did? What does she look like?” Claudi
a asked. “Where does she live?”

  “They’re about thirty minutes from here. And I have to say April looks an awful lot like her mother.” She asked Chris. “Don’t you think so?”

  Claudia looked at Rags. “You mean a cat who looks like April gave birth to him?”

  “Yes, we believe so,” Savannah said. “You haven’t seen Angel?”

  Claudia shook her head. “Not even a picture of her. No, I never knew what she looked like.” She sat down and motioned for the others to do the same. “So what is it you want to ask me?”

  Chris pulled out her phone and showed it to Claudia. “This is Angel.”

  “Oh my,” Claudia said. She held the cat up so she could see the picture. “Look, April, that’s your mama.” She addressed Chris and Savannah. “She’s a little scruffy around the edges, isn’t she?”

  “Yes, Angel’s being kept in a cage, and I don’t think anyone’s grooming her.”

  “Sad,” Claudia said. “Yeah, her fur’s a little messy, but otherwise she does sort of resemble April.” She asked, “So what is it you want to know?”

  “One of my main questions is—well, I wonder if April has any klepto tendencies.”

  “Why would you ask such a question?” Claudia insisted. “You mean, does she pilfer from local businesses? Of course not!”

  “Oh, well no. Not exactly. You see, Rags here is a klepto and evidently in a way so is his calico sister. Rags used to drag things home from neighbors when he’d get out and he takes things from guests’ purses and pockets when he gets the chance. He also gets into other kinds of trouble. He’s like a precocious child. I’m wondering if April has any of those habits,” Savannah explained.

  After mulling over the question Claudia said, “Not that I’m aware of.” She shook her head. “No, she’s quite manageable.” She covered the cat’s ears with her hands and said, “Sherman thinks she’s retarded.”

  “Sherman?” Savannah questioned.

  “My husband.” She smiled down at the cat. “I just think she’s well-behaved and lovely.”

  “It sounds like she got more of her mother’s ragdoll genes than Rags did,” Savannah said.

  Claudia looked down at Rags. “So he’s unruly, is he? Is that why you keep him on that dog leash?”

  “He can be,” Savannah said. She decided to try a different approach. “So tell me, Claudia, what’s the naughtiest thing April has ever done?”

  Claudia stared at Savannah for a moment, then glanced at Chris and down at Rags. “Well, I caught her on the dining room table once just as guests were arriving for a fundraising luncheon.” She rolled her eyes. “That was embarrassing.” She sat up straighter. “Oh, she fell into the tub with me when she was still a kitten. My, was that unbecoming. Can you just imagine her soaking wet? Of course, I had to take her to the groomer the very next day.” On a roll, she said, “She started digging dirt out of my big ficus plant and it went all over the carpet. I couldn’t break her of that, so I had to get rid of the plant. It lives outside on the patio now.”

  “Well, it sounds like you have a pretty nice cat there,” Savannah said. When Rags started pulling on the leash she held fast to it, then picked him up and attempted to get him to lie down on her lap, but he kept turning and pulling against the leash. “Oops,” she said, when he slipped off her lap. She lifted him back up and tried to hold him steady.

  Meanwhile Claudia stared across the room at him and so did April. “He is rather active, isn’t he?” Claudia said. She started to say something else when suddenly April leaped from her lap and strolled toward Rags. “No!” she shouted, chasing after her.

  Chris laughed. “I think she just wants to meet her brother.”

  “Is he safe?” Claudia asked. “He won’t scratch her or bite her will he?”

  “No,” Savannah said. “He’s very fond of other cats—a gentle giant, you might say.”

  Claudia put her hands up to her mouth and reluctantly returned to her chair. She watched as her elegant cat approached Rags. April put her paws on Savannah’s knees and sniffed Rags. They touched noses.

  Meanwhile Chris took a couple of pictures with her phone. “Awww, that is too cute.”

  When Rags stood up and began pawing at April, Claudia left her chair and ran to her cat’s rescue. “No,” she scolded. “What’s he doing?”

  Savannah chuckled. “I don’t think he likes that outfit on her. He does that with our calico when our daughter dresses her. He sometimes lies on top of her, trying to remove the dress or hat or whatever it is.”

  “Really?” Claudia said. She picked up April. “Well, let me take it off then so he doesn’t chew it up. We’ll see how he likes her without it.” She removed the tutu and placed April on the floor. When the cat walked away from the others, Rags followed her and batted at her tail a few times. “What’s he doing now?” Claudia asked.

  “They’re just getting to know each other,” Savannah said, taking a few photos on her phone.

  “Oh,” Claudia said, jumping from her chair a short time later and scooping April up into her arms, “It’s time for her afternoon treat. We’ll be right back.”

  “Before you go,” Chris said, “Is it okay if I swab her?”

  “Do what to her?” Claudia asked.

  “I just want to get a sample of her saliva on a swab so we can see how much similar DNA these two cats have. It’s for our study,” Chris explained.

  “Oh,” Claudia yelped. “It won’t hurt her, will it?” “Not at all,” Chris assured her.

  Once Chris had the sample, the women thanked Claudia for allowing the cats to visit and they left.

  “Okay, now let’s go see what we’ve got,” Chris said, patting her DNA-testing kit.

  Minutes later, they arrived at the lab and exited the car. Savannah looked around and said, “I think I’ll just stay out here with Rags. He would probably like to move around some, and I wouldn’t mind breathing in some fresh air for a few minutes,” she told Chris. “You’re just going to drop that off, right?”

  “Yeah, I think so. It probably won’t take long.”

  Savannah smiled. “No problem. I can use a little down time. I imagine you can too.”

  “Yeah,” Chris said. “I was hoping for a nap, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. I’ll be back shortly.”

  Savannah had been walking around the landscape in the parking lot with Rags for a few minutes when her phone chimed. “So much for down time,” she grumbled. “Hello,” she said into her phone.

  “Savannah? This is Pam, Jeannie’s sister. Listen, you said to call if I need anything. Well…”

  “What is it, Pam? What’s going on?”

  Her voice pinched, she said, “Savannah, I’m afraid to go home—I mean back to Jeannie’s.” She took a couple of quick breaths. “The animal-control people came to the house. I called to tell Drew. I didn’t tell him how it came about, but he was sure that I had turned him in, and he’s furious.”

  “Pam, where are the children?” Savannah asked.

  “With me. Evan and I picked up Shari from school, and we’re hanging out at a park. We have Angel with us. I’d taken Angel out of her cage after you left and sneaked out of the house with her in Evan’s backpack. Jeannie loves all of the cats, but Angel is very special to her. I couldn’t let them take her.”

  “Pam,” Savannah said, “I’ll text you the address to the house where we’re staying. Chris and I’ll be going back there soon; we should be there within half an hour. Go there and if we’re not home yet…hey, I’ll call the neighbor to the right of the house and have her let you in. If she isn’t home, we won’t be long. We’ll see you there, okay?”

  “Okay,” Pam said. “Thank you. I just don’t know what he’d do if we went home. I’d like to give him time to calm down before I take the children back there.”

  “No problem,” Savannah said. “We have the room, and we’d be happy to help you out. See you there in a short while.”

  “What’s goin
g on?” Chris asked when she approached Savannah minutes later. “You look worried about something.”

  Savannah faced Chris. “Oh, Pam called…”

  “The freaked-out gal at Jeannie’s house?” Savannah nodded. “Animal control showed up.”

  “Already?” Chris said.

  “Yes, they took the cats. Pam called and told Drew about it and he was so angry that she left with the kids and wants to stay away until he calms down. Oh, and she has Angel with her.”

  “Really? Well good. So glad those cats will be taken care of. Where did they take them?”

  “I don’t know. We’ll meet Pam at Mom’s house and maybe get more details.”

  “Let’s go,” Chris said eagerly.

  “So you were able to leave the samples?” Savannah asked.

  Chris nodded. “Yes, they were pretty interested in your project and said they should have something for us later today or tomorrow.”

  “Wow! Cool.” Savannah took a deep breath. “Now to find the sire.”

  “Yeah, do you have any idea how you’re going to do that?”

  “I thought maybe we’d nose around Jeannie’s neighborhood.” Savannah suggested. She grinned. “Or Mrs. Gallagher’s.” She faced Chris. “By the way, after seeing Angel, do you have any idea what color cat we’re looking for?”

  “Probably red,” Chris said.

  “Red?” Savannah repeated. “What makes you think he was red, for heaven’s sake?”

  “That’s the way the cookie crumbles,” Chris said. She shook her head. “I know it seems odd, but that’s the largest probability as I see it, and I double-checked with some of the folks in the lab; they agree.”

  “Wow, now that would not have been my wildest guess,” Savannah said. “So we’re looking for an orange tabby?”

  “Yup! Most likely with short hair.”

  “Yeah, I would imagine.” She shook her head in disbelief and followed Chris to the car.

  ****

  “Pizza was a good idea,” Savannah said later that evening as the three women and two children sat around the kitchen table eating together.