by Kathi Daley
Oh, God! I squeezed my eyes close and said a little prayer.
When I opened my eyes, a white cat with a dark tail, dark ears, and a dark mask stood at the doorway, looking inside. I hoped it was the cat and not the man who tied me up who’d caused the crash I’d heard. I tried to call the cat over, although I really had no idea what good that would do since cats couldn’t actually untie ropes, but with the gag in my mouth, all that came out were grunts.
“Meow,” the cat said, wandering further into the room.
Please, please, please be a Tansy cat.
I looked directly at the cat. I couldn’t speak, but if my witchy friend, Tansy, had sent this cat, I knew he or she would and could figure out a way to help me.
Hoping the cat could read my thoughts, I began to mentally beg for it to go and get help. Find Finn, I screamed in my mind.
“Meow,” the cat said before turning and trotting back out the door.
Once the cat left, I tried listening again, hoping against hope that the person who’d knocked me out was long gone. I began to relax a bit when all I heard was silence. If the person who’d tied me up had left, I figured I’d be fine. I didn’t appear to be hurt, so all I really needed to do was wait. Of course, waiting patiently for a cat I didn’t even know for certain was a Tansy cat to go and get help wasn’t really all that easy with a gag in my mouth and a stiff rope cutting into my wrists, so I took several deep breaths in through my nose and tried to think about something else.
My mind raced from subject to subject, unable to really settle on anything until I hit upon the concept of why. Why had someone broken in here in the first place? It wasn’t like we had anything of value. We didn’t have cash on hand, nor did we store valuable antiques or precious gems. This building was currently used to print the weekly newspaper and prepare it for distribution. Old editions of the newspaper were stored in the room in which I was tied, and the printing press was of some value I supposed, but it certainly wasn’t the sort of thing one would break in and steal. Cody had files and a computer in his office, but again, nothing of value. The idea that anyone would break into this building made absolutely no sense, no matter how I looked at it.
After the cat had been gone for at least fifteen minutes, I began to grow antsy once again. I tried wiggling my wrists to loosen the rope, but all that did was tear the skin under the ropes. I was fine, I assured myself. I just needed to wait. Either the cat would return with help, or Cody would come back and find me. It’s fine, I said to myself over and over again, figuring that I might eventually begin to believe the lie I was telling myself.
The urge to thrash around was great, so I looked around the room, hoping to find something to focus on other than the panic in my gut. Having a total meltdown wasn’t going to help me in the least, and, in the end, thrashing around might actually hurt me. I wished the room had windows, so I had something other than shelves and shelves of old newspapers to look at. A man named Orson Cobalter had established the newspaper. When Orson decided to move to Florida to be near his family, he put the business he’d run for most of his life up for sale. Cody had just returned to the island after leaving the Navy, and on somewhat of a whim, he’d decided to buy it. Orson had been old school and hadn’t updated for a quarter of a century, so Cody had needed to put a ton of money, and even more labor, into the place. But he’d eventually modernized it to the point where he had a highly respected weekly publication. Between the two of us, Cody and I were able to eke out a comfortable living, doing work we felt was both important and worthwhile. Really what more could anyone ask for?
Still, there wasn’t a single thing in this building that, in my mind, would warrant a break-in. No matter how many times I mentally inventoried every item in the place, I still couldn’t come up with a single motive for anyone to have done what they had.
“Cody,” Finn called out.
Thank God.
I tried to yell, but all I came up with was a groan. I waited while Finn made his way through the building, calling out Cody’s name.
“Cait! Oh, my God, what happened?”
I glanced down at the gag in my mouth as a way of letting him know that if he wanted me to answer that question, he was going to have to remove the gag. He hurried forward and did just that.
“How’d you find me?” I asked as he worked on the ropes around my wrists and ankles.
“This stray cat showed up at the front door of the sheriff’s office, having a total freak out. I opened the door to see if I could figure out what her problem was, which is when she took off in this direction. After all the years of living around you and your magical cats, I knew I should follow.”
I put my hand on my head to check for blood once my wrists were free. “I’m glad you did. Cody would have found me eventually, but I really don’t know when he’ll be back, and I wasn’t all that comfortable waiting.”
Finn freed my ankles and then stood up. “Are you hurt? Should I take you to the emergency room?”
I rubbed my wrists as I shook my head. “I’m fine. A little bump on my head, but it isn’t bleeding. I just need an aspirin.”
“You might have a concussion. I’m taking you to the emergency room. You can tell me what happened on the way.”
“The cat,” I said. “Where is the cat?”
Finn looked around. “I don’t know. Maybe she figured her job was done and went back to wherever it is she came from.” Finn took my hand in his. “Do you have a purse or something?”
“My backpack. It’s on the front counter. We should call Cody.”
“You can call him from the car. Right now, I’m getting you checked out.”
“Yes, Dad,” I groaned.
Finn and I had been friends for a long time, and I really didn’t mind him fussing over me, but I was worried about the cat and wished he’d let me look for her before we left. When he insisted that she was probably fine, I supposed I knew he was most likely right; still, the cat had really come through for me, and I wanted to thank her. Little did I know it at the time, but the cat, whose name I would later learn was Mystique, had just begun her involvement in my life.
Chapter 2
“Caitlin Hart West?” the doctor asked.
“That’s me, but you can call me Cait.” I forced a smile, although smiling was the last thing I felt like doing. “You must be new to Madrona Island. I’ve lived here my entire life, and I’m sure we haven’t met.”
“I am new to the hospital and the island. My name is Doctor Whitmeyer.” He looked down at my chart. “I see here that you suffered a blow to the head and were knocked unconscious.”
“I was,” I confirmed. “But I’m totally fine now. I wouldn’t even be here except my overly protective brother-in-law insisted I come in so someone could verify that my brain wasn’t scrambled.”
He cocked a grin. “I see. Why don’t we start by you telling me exactly what happened.”
The next ten minutes consisted of him listening to my story, listening to my heart, checking my pupils, and checking for reflexes. He asked me a bunch of questions I assumed were to prove I really hadn’t lost my marbles, then he deemed me okay to go home as long as I had someone there with me who could and would keep an eye on me and watch for symptoms associated with a concussion. Cody’s trip to San Juan Island had run late, and he was still on the ferry, so Finn promised to take me home with him until my husband arrived to take over babysitting duty. Once we arrived at his house, my big sister, Siobhan, took over, and Finn left to return to the newspaper to meet with the deputy he’d assigned the job of dusting for prints and looking for physical evidence.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Siobhan asked after settling me on the sofa with a cup of tea.
“I’m fine. Really.” I lifted a hand to my head. “I do have a brand new lump that wasn’t there this morning, but except for a slight headache, I feel fine. Where’s Connor?”
“Mom took him to the park. They should be home in an hour or so unless Mom calls a
nd asks to keep him overnight. She’s been doing that more and more often lately.”
“It’s sweet that she and Gabe want to spend so much time with him, and it does give you and Finn some alone time.”
“It does, and I’m grateful. I’m also happy that Connor has a chance to really get to know Gammy and Gabe. He adores being with them as much as they seem to adore having him. In fact, Gabe even built a swing set with a treehouse of sorts and a winding slide in their back yard. Of course, Connor is too young to really appreciate the elaborate toy set, but in a year or two, I’m sure we won’t be able to get him off it.”
“It seems to me that Connor might enjoy the swing set even more if he had a little brother or sister to play with,” I hinted.
“Or maybe a cousin,” she shot back.
“Or maybe we can help him find a little friend to hang out with.” The last thing I wanted to do was to get into a discussion about Cody and I having a baby since adding to our family was not a possibility I even wanted to consider at this point.
“Does Cody know to pick you up here?” Siobhan asked, mercifully changing the subject.
“He does.” I glanced at the clock. “He should be here in about twenty minutes. I guess I should call Tara. We had lunch together, and she invited us all to the bar for beer and nachos, but there is no way Cody will want to do that now.”
“Let’s grab some pizzas, and all have dinner here. What time do Danny, Cassie, and Tara get off?”
“Not until eight,” I said. “Aiden went fishing, so there’s no one to cover.”
“Okay, then maybe you and I and Finn and Cody can have dinner, and the others can meet us here for a drink when they get off.”
“That’s a good idea. I’ll call Tara and suggest it. After what happened today, I’m sure each and every one of my siblings and friends is going to want to count all my fingers and toes and make sure I’m okay.”
“I’ll call Tara. You just relax.”
I laid my head back on the sofa and closed my eyes while Siobhan called the bar to make the arrangements. Cody pulled up while Siobhan was on the phone with our mother arranging for her to keep Connor overnight.
“Are you okay?” Cody asked, hugging me hard enough to push the air from my lungs.
“Except for the fact I can’t breathe, I’m fine.”
“Sorry.” He took a step back. “I can’t believe someone broke into the newspaper. We don’t have anything of value.”
“I know.” He sat down beside me, and I laid my head on his shoulder. “I’ve gone over it again and again in my mind, and I can’t think of a single reason for anyone to want to break into that building.”
“Is Finn there now?”
I nodded. “They’re taking prints, looking for evidence, all the normal stuff. Siobhan is arranging for Mom to keep Connor overnight. We thought the four of us could have dinner after Finn gets back. Maybe he’ll have some news by then.”
“I hope so.” Cody ran a hand through his hair. “I’m going to run home and check on Mr. Parsons. I’ll let him know we won’t be home for dinner, and take the dogs for a quick walk.”
“Okay. I’m fine here with Siobhan to hover over me. Before you go, did you learn anything interesting from the man you went to San Juan Island to speak to?”
“Interesting, yes; relevant, I’m honestly not sure. I’m sure Finn will want to hear what I have to say, so I think I’ll wait and go over everything when he gets here.”
“Okay. If you see a white cat with a dark tail and dark ears and mask, I think she is a Tansy cat. She’s the cat that went and found Finn and persuaded him to come and rescue me. She took off while Finn was untying me, but I have a feeling we have more to do. If she shows up at the house, please let her in. I don’t want her to take off again.”
“Okay. I will. Maybe you should call Tansy and see if she can fill you in on the details surrounding the cat. She usually has a name at the very least.”
“That’s a good idea. I’ll do that.”
Cody leaned over and kissed me gently on the lips. “I won’t be long. Do you need anything?”
“My blue sweatshirt. I think it’s going to get cold once the sun goes down.”
After Cody left to check on Mr. Parsons, I called Tansy, who informed me that the cat’s name was Mystique and that our relationship was indeed only just getting started. Tansy didn’t seem concerned that Mystique took off after leading Finn to me, so I decided not to be concerned either. I asked Tansy if she knew what Mystique and I were supposed to do together, and her only reply was that once we figured out what the person who broke into the newspaper was after, the rest of the mystery we were to solve would fall into place. That was a vague answer, but Tansy was always vague, so I supposed I really wasn’t expecting much more. Still, given the situation, more would have been nice. I really didn’t know if Tansy had information she chose not to share with me, or if her insights came to her in the disjointed way she shared them, but over the years, I had learned to trust both Tansy and the cats that came into our lives, which was exactly what I was going to do at this juncture.
Chapter 3
Cody and Finn arrived at the house at about the same time. It was already after seven at this point, so I called Tara and told her that we would wait for her, Danny, and Cassie to get off if they wanted to join us for pizza. Tara informed me that since the bar was dead, Danny had decided to close early, so they’d be earlier than expected.
“So, where do we even start?” Cassie asked once we’d all served ourselves and had gathered around the table. “Do we start with what happened to Cait, Cody’s trip to San Juan Island, or the status of Finn’s investigation to date into both cases?”
“We need to start with what happened to Cait,” Tara said. “Tell me everything that happened from the time you left me at the café until Finn found you at the newspaper.”
“It’s a short story,” I responded. “When I walked to the newspaper and found the front door unlocked, I figured Cody was back from San Juan Island. His truck wasn’t in the street, but he does occasionally park in the alley in the back, so I just assumed that was what he’d done. I called out his name, and when he didn’t answer, I walked down the hallway. I poked my head in the office and found it empty, so I poked my head in the morgue, felt a presence behind me and then pressure, like something or someone slamming into me, and when I regained consciousness, I was tied to a chair with a filthy rag in my mouth.”
“That must have been horrifying,” Tara gasped.
“It wasn’t fun.”
“How long were you there before Finn found you?” Danny asked.
I lifted a shoulder. “I’m not sure. Probably not all that long. When I came to, I struggled to get away, but all that did was chew up my wrists. I heard a crash and thought it was the person who tied me up, but it was a cat, who I’ve since learned is named Mystique. I couldn’t speak to the cat due to the gag, but I mentally begged for her to go and get Finn, and she did.” I frowned. “I wonder how she got in. I’m sure I closed the front door when I came in, and I didn’t notice the back door being open.”
“Maybe she slipped in when whoever broke in came in,” Finn said.
I supposed it could have happened that way. “Anyway, after Finn rescued me, he took me to the hospital to have my head checked out, and then I came here to let my big sister fuss over me.”
“It’s a good thing this person just tied you up and didn’t really hurt you,” Danny said.
Cody looked at Finn. “Do we have anything we can use to identify the person who did this? Prints? Fibers? Anything?”
Finn shook his head. “There were a lot of different prints on the front door, but the newspaper is the sort of place a lot of folks visit. We focused on your office and the morgue, but so far, we’ve only been able to identify prints belonging to you and Cait. As for other physical evidence, there doesn’t appear to be any, but I do plan to have the guys go over everything again. I think our best chance of disc
overing who broke in is to figure out what they took, assuming they took anything.”
“I’ll take a look around in the morning,” Cody said.
“There really isn’t anything to take,” I added. “Unless someone was after an old newspaper for some reason.”
“Why would anyone want an old newspaper?” Tara asked.
“Maybe they wanted information provided in one of the older editions,” I added.
“Isn’t all of that available online?” Tara asked.
Cody joined in. “No. Orson didn’t digitize anything. When I bought the place, the first thing I did was modernize so that every edition is available in both a physical format and a digital format. I’ve been meaning to go back and digitize the back copies, but so far, I haven’t had the time to do so or the funds to hire someone to do it.”
“So maybe someone wanted information provided in one of the newspapers printed before you bought the place,” Danny said.
“That does make the most sense,” I said.
“How can we figure out which one?” Siobhan asked.
Cody answered. “We’ll need to go through the stacks and stacks of newspapers we have and see which, if any, are missing. As far as I know, there was one copy of every edition ever published in the morgue, although we have two copies of the more recent editions. It will be time consuming but doable.”
“What if the person who broke in didn’t take the newspaper they were after?” Danny asked. “What if he or she simply found what they were looking for and took a photo of it? Or what if we’re wrong, and the goal was not to steal a newspaper but to do something else? Take something else?”
“Then figuring out why whoever broke in did so is going to be nearly impossible unless Finn is able to find some physical evidence,” Cody said.
The room fell into silence. The idea that there was someone out there who’d wanted something inside the newspaper office, which they may or may have gotten before I interrupted them, left me with a feeling of trepidation. If they hadn’t found what they were after, would they try again?