Purrfect Obsession

by Nic Saint

  Chapter 31

  Marge was stocking Danielle Steel books, enjoying these rare moments of quiet before the library opened. She loved her job, and had been a big library fan even as a child, finding herself here almost daily. Her folks used to drop her and Alec off at the library when they went into town to shop, and little Marge found plenty of books to keep her busy until their return. Alec had a tougher time finding something to occupy his time. He’d never been a big reader, and even now preferred watching ESPN to picking up something to read.

  To work in the place that had offered Marge so many fun memories was a dream come true. And even though the library was small—basically a one-woman operation—she didn’t mind. She had plenty of opportunities to socialize as she knew pretty much every single person who came into the library. As a long-time resident of Hampton Cove she knew everyone in town, and never stinted for conversation with her steady set of regulars.

  The first people through the door every morning were what she called her old-timers, who were already waiting before she opened the doors, and who headed straight for the reading room, where all the important national and local newspapers and magazines were stocked. The second most favorite station was the bank of internet computers, where those who didn’t have internet at home came to check their email or surf the web.

  Marge had taken a crash course in computers and the Internet just to handle all the requests from people not habituated to working with these machines. She sometimes joked she was part IT person, part psychologist, and part literary critic, as people relied on her to advise them on what to take home as reading material.

  And since she knew her customers, she unfailingly picked the right book for them.

  She checked her watch. Ten to nine. Time to open her up.

  She liked to open early, and didn’t mind if she closed late. It wasn’t as if she was running an army barracks. This was Hampton Cove, and she ran a pretty relaxed ship.

  Speaking of ships, she decided to quickly check the pirate ship that was the hallmark of the kids’ section. The boat, which was a reading space made up to look like an actual pirate ship, was very popular with the younger readers. Marge had placed cushions on the seats, and there were plenty of nooks and crannies where kids could curl up with a book, just the way she herself had done when she was their age.

  And she was just fluffing up one of the pillows when suddenly there was a creaking sound just over her head. When she looked up, she detected movement where no movement should have been. She jumped clear of the ship just in time before she was crushed by whatever had come loose. And as she lay there, a little dazed, she saw that it was the ship’s mast, which had come crashing down. If she hadn’t had the reflexes to jump when she had, she would have been seriously injured or worse. That mast was pretty heavy.

  From inside the library, there was a loud commotion. She pushed herself to her feet and staggered to the main part of the library. When she saw that her brother Alec was pounding on the door, along with Tex, her husband, fear suddenly gripped her heart. She hurried over, her cheeks flushed, and turned the key in the lock as fast as she could. She yanked open the door and cried, “Odelia! Did something happen to Odelia?!”

  “Odelia is fine,” said Alec, instantly understanding her fear. He put his hand on her arm. “How about you? Are you all right?”

  “Well, something did just almost fall on top of me, but apart from that I’m fine. Why? What’s going on?”

  Tex fixed her with an intent look. “Did you see a man with a yellow parka?”

  She shook her head. “No. It’s just me in here. Why? Did something happen?” She remembered the man with the yellow parka being mentioned in that horrible murder of that girl Odelia worked with, as well as in connection to the man who almost ran over Brutus.

  Just then, Vesta came running up, panting like a horse after the Preakness Stakes.

  “Marge! Thank God! It’s the man in the yellow parka! He’s coming for us! He tried to kill me!”

  “And me,” said Tex.

  “You said something fell on top of you,” said Alec, looking grim. “Can you show me?”

  She led them to the back, and when Mom and Tex saw the wreckage, they both gasped. Alec’s frown deepened, as he crouched down with some effort to study the wreckage. Finally he looked up. “I’m not an expert but it looks like this has been tampered with.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Marge, horrified.

  He pointed to the mast. “This has been sawn clear through.”

  “Oh, my God,” said Marge. “The children. Someone could have gotten killed!”

  “You almost got killed,” said Tex, and drew her in for a bracing hug.

  “We’re under attack,” said Gran seriously. “We have to warn Odelia. She needs police protection.” She looked at Alec. “We all do.”

  Chapter 32

  Odelia had gotten up late. By the time she opened her eyes, Chase had already left for work. She groaned. She must have forgotten to set her alarm last night. Then again, it had been pretty late, so the extra sleep had been welcome.

  At her feet, her cats were dozing, or at least Max and Dooley were. Of Brutus, there was no trace, and neither of Harriet.

  She stretched and yawned. Time to get up and start a new day.

  She smiled to herself as she recalled her dream. Chase had finally taken her out on a date. It was a running joke between them that every time they arranged to go out for dinner and a movie, something happened to make sure they didn’t get to the end of their date.

  That was the problem when a cop and a reporter dated: some crisis always cropped up.

  She didn’t mind. At least in her dream they’d gone to see the movie and had actually managed to watch it until the end. It was a Nancy Meyers movie, not exactly the kind of movie Chase would like, which also showed her it had been a dream, and not a memory.

  Then another memory stirred: Max telling her about their meeting with the owl, and the owl telling them about the killer’s birthmark. But since she vividly remembered Wolf Langdon having a birthmark on his right hand, that had sealed the deal for her.

  Ringo had been mistaken: his master hadn’t been right next to him. His master had been murdering Dany Cooper, and either Ringo hadn’t recognized Wolf from behind, or he’d purposely lied to protect him.

  Which wasn’t a big surprise. Pets would often do whatever they could to protect their humans. She knew Max would do anything for her, and so would Dooley.

  So the case was closed, and all that remained was to write a front-page article detailing the nocturnal bust, and interview the people involved. She hoped her uncle would help her get access to Wolf so she could interview him in prison. Maybe to her he’d finally admit what he’d done, and they could put this whole terrible episode behind them.

  Max opened his eyes and yawned, which triggered another bout of yawns from her and Dooley, who’d also woken up.

  “Where is Chase?” asked Max.

  She smiled. It was adorable how quickly her cats had warmed to her boyfriend.

  “Gone to work. Where are Brutus and Harriet?”

  “No idea. Brutus was with us when we came home last night, but of Harriet no trace.”

  “She said she needed to get some perspective,” said Dooley. “I don’t know what perspective is, but it sure seems to take her a long time to find it.”

  “Perspective is a state of mind,” Odelia explained, throwing off the covers and slipping her feet into her Hello Kitty slippers.

  “A state of mind?”

  “Harriet probably meant she wants to sort out some stuff in her life.” Perhaps the Brutus thing, Odelia thought. She hoped they would be able to settle in a new amicable relationship. Otherwise it would be very unpleasant for the others if two cats kept on fighting and bickering. If worse came to worst, she’d have to have a talk with Harriet and Brutus herself. Clear the air. Play cat therapist.

  She walked over to the window and yanked the curtains wide
to let the sun stream in. From her window she had a great view of the backyards of all the neighboring houses. Nearby was a middle school, and she could hear the kids playing the moment she cracked open the window. A church spire gleamed in the distance, and she took a deep breath. A new day, and a fresh beginning. And she was just running a few scenarios through her mind on how to arrange her day, when suddenly her phone started buzzing, and buzzing, and buzzing some more. She frowned as she picked it up. Messages from her uncle, her mother, her dad, and her grandmother rolled across the screen, one after the other.

  ‘Where are you?’

  ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘Answer me!’

  What was going on?

  She picked up the phone and called up her mom’s number and was just about to hit Connect when she slipped over the bedside rug and went down hard, hitting her head against the bed as she did. The last thing she remembered was Max, yelling, “Odeliaiaaaah!”

  And then the world went dark.

  It was by far the scariest thing I’d ever encountered. One minute I was chatting happily with my human, the next she went down and was gone. The phone slipped from her hand, bounced three times on the hardwood floor, and then kept sliding across the floor, buzzing all the while with incoming messages.

  Both Dooley and I gathered around Odelia, and I watched in horror as a trickle of blood seeped from her temple.

  “Is she dead?” asked Dooley in a choked voice.

  “I don’t know! What do we do?”

  “We have to wake her up,” said Dooley. “Make sure she stays awake. If she closes her eyes, she’s a goner.”

  “Her eyes are closed already!” Nevertheless, I pawed her face. “Odelia, wake up,” I said urgently. “Odelia! Can you hear me?!”

  Oh, this was bad. This was very, very bad.

  I lifted an eyelid, but all I found was a deadish-looking eye staring back at me.

  “I think she’s dead,” I said, and stifled a panicky sob.

  “We have to do what humans do,” said Dooley. “Call 911.”

  “And how do you suppose we do that?!”

  We both stared at Odelia’s phone, which was still buzzing away.

  ‘How hard can it be?” said Dooley. “It’s a touchscreen. So let’s touch it.”

  We moved over to the phone and stared at the thing. Then I gathered my courage and flicked it to life. Messages flashed across the screen. I ignored them. Instead, I called up the phone app, then tapped 911 and hit the Connect button.

  “Now what?” I asked.

  “Now you tell them Odelia may be dead or dying and to get here immediately!”

  A woman’s voice intoned, “Nine one one, what’s your emergency?”

  I yelled, in case she couldn’t hear me, “You have to come quick. Odelia has bumped her head and she’s not responding! There’s also blood!”

  “Sir or ma’am, I can’t hear a thing on account of the fact that your cat is meowing. Please remove your animal and tell me what your emergency is.”

  “It’s Odelia!” I tried again. “Send an ambulance! Quick!”

  “I have to advise you once again to remove your cat. I can’t hear a thing with all the meowing.”

  “Help!” Dooley cried. “Help!”

  “I can’t believe this,” the woman said, sounding annoyed, and just hung up!

  “I don’t think she understood us,” said Dooley.

  “I think you’re right,” I said.

  There was only one thing we could do, and that was to get help.

  So we both ran from the room and down the stairs, then out through the cat flap and into the backyard. First destination: Marge. She wasn’t home, of course, having gone to the library. So we ran out into the street, on our way to the library. Marge would understand. She would call 911 and tell that silly woman that there was an emergency.

  We hadn’t even run a hundred yards when a strange sight greeted our eyes: Uncle Alec, Tex, Marge and Gran all came huffing and puffing around the corner, as if they’d just run a marathon. When they saw us, they all started talking at the same time, and so did Dooley and I.

  Finally, I managed to shout, “It’s Odelia! She took a nasty fall and she looks dead!”

  That urged them into action, and soon they were galloping towards the house.

  “It’s the man in the yellow parka,” Gran huffed as she passed us. “He’s done it again!”

  I hadn’t seen any man in a yellow parka. Just Odelia slipping on the rug. But Gran seemed sure of herself, and there was no time to argue, so I kept my mouth shut.

  At the house, they all stomped up the stairs, and so did we.

  Tex sank down on his knees next to his daughter, pressed his fingers into her neck and quickly said, his voice quaking with emotion, “She’s alive. She’s alive!”

  They all laughed with relief, and so did Dooley and I. Funny how your life can change in the blink of an eye, and how a few words can bring you from the depths of despair back to the surface.

  “She just had a nasty bump,” Tex said, examining her further. “We need to get her to a hospital, though, just in case. She might have a concussion.”

  Soon the humans in the room took control of the situation, an ambulance was called in, and moments later a car screeched to a stop in front of the house, and another heavy body came stomping up the stairs. It was Chase. The moment he saw an inert and pale Odelia, he bellowed, “Odelia, no!”

  “She’s fine,” said Tex, putting a hand on the cop’s arm. “She slipped and fell but she’ll be fine. I’ll stake my reputation on it.”

  Chase sank down on the floor next to Odelia and took her hand. He now looked as pale as she did, and I wondered why that was. Low blood pressure, maybe. Or blood sugar? Someone should probably have offered him candy. He looked like he was about to faint.

  The sound of an ambulance reached my finely tuned ears, and moments later the humans picked up the sound, too, for they all looked very much relieved.

  Then Gran turned to me and Dooley. “There’s one thing I need to know from you guys,” she said sternly. “And don’t you dare lie to me.”

  I saw how Chase was watching on, a puzzled look on his face.

  “Was the man in yellow involved in this ‘accident?’” She used her fingers to make air quotes.

  “There was no man in yellow,” I said.

  “There was a yellow carpet, though,” said Dooley. “It made Odelia slip and fall.”

  Gran narrowed her eyes at us. “You’re sure about that?”

  We both nodded.

  “Huh,” she said, as if she hadn’t expected that. “How weird is that?”

  Chase shook his head. Luckily Gran has a reputation for being slightly unhinged, so he probably didn’t think much of her talking to us. Besides, he had other things to deal with, now that the paramedics came galloping up the stairs, a stretcher dangling between them. They quickly scooped Odelia up, then carried her down the stairs, with some grunts and groans. And as we watched on, she was loaded into the waiting ambulance, Marge and Tex joining them while Chase jumped into his pickup and took off after the ambulance.

  “What a morning,” said Alec once they were gone. “What. A. Morning.”

  “You can say that again,” I said, even though Alec couldn’t understand.

  Chapter 33

  Brutus had heard the commotion, but he’d opted not to get involved. He had enough problems of his own to contend with to get mixed up in the ongoing human drama that seemed to be an important part of life at the Pooles. He was sitting in one of his favorite spots in the world: the rosebushes at the back of Odelia’s backyard. It was here that he and Harriet had always used to sit. Here that they’d spent some of the best moments in their love affair, and it was here that Brutus decided to come to cherish those sweet memories.

  Also, he’d had three brushes with death already, and wasn’t looking for a fourth.

  So no more ponds for him, or high places where all he could do was st
umble off and hope there was someone to break his fall. This time he was going to stay in his beloved rosebushes and dream of his beloved Harriet.

  And as he dreamed, he thought he could almost hear her voice. He’d closed his eyes and imagined things could go back to the way they were before the incident. And as he thought about Darlene, he suddenly had a sinking feeling.

  And then he realized that he was actually sinking. For real.

  He opened his eyes and realized the ground was swallowing him up!

  He was sinking faster and faster. Nearby, he thought he could hear Harriet shouting, “Brutus!” But that was just his imagination, of course. Why would Harriet be shouting his name like that? Not in anger, as she had for the past two days, but in anguish, almost as if she were watching him sinking deeper and deeper.

  And even as the ground kept swallowing him up, he thought that this was probably the way it had to be. Life seemed adamant on casting him into these dangerous situations, so maybe this was the punishment he deserved.

  “Brutus!” Harriet shouted.

  This time it sounded even closer.

  “Hold on! I’m going to try something!”

  “Harriet? Is that you?”

  But it couldn’t be. She wasn’t talking to him.

  “Don’t give up, Brutus!”

  “Is that really you?”

  The muddy muck he was sinking into was up to his chest now, and he was starting to make attempts to keep on floating. It was hard going, though, as the crud seemed to suck him down like quicksand. Practically his whole body was now caught in the sticky stuff.

  “Watch out!” Harriet shouted.

  Suddenly he felt something bubbling underneath his butt. And then he was flying, a powerful stream of water propelling him into the air. He flew up and away, and finally landed on the lawn, rain spraying him. Only it wasn’t rain, as there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. But water was still raining down on him. And then he saw what was going on: Harriet had opened the sprinklers, a part of which was installed in the rosebushes. She must have opened them all the way, for they’d propelled him right out of that puddle he was caught in.