Patricia Fry - Klepto Cat 03 - Sleight of Paw (10 page)

Iris glanced across the room. “It’s not usually busy this time of morning. Our crowds come in between six and seven-thirty. You two are usually at work by now petting puppies and kittens.”

“Oh that’s right,” Savannah said. “It’s Tuesday.”

Michael slapped his menu on the tabletop and said in jest, trying to keep things light on what was proving to be a dark day, “Petting puppies and kittens? Really Iris, is that what you think we do all day?”

Iris and Margaret laughed.

Savannah smiled. “What are you laughing at Auntie? You and Max spend the majority of your day doing just that.”

“Do not,” Margaret insisted.

Savannah leaned toward her. “Do so…”

“We don’t have one puppy on the place,” Margaret stated, indignantly.

“Well, excuuuuse me,” Savannah said, forcing a chuckle.

The others joined in on the laughter. Just then, Frank walked up with the coffee carafe and two cups. He poured coffee for Savannah and Michael and offered Margaret a refill. He then set the pot down, took a pad and pen out of his apron pocket, and asked, “Ready to order?”

“Yes,” Michael said, looking around at the others, who all agreed they were ready. “Go ahead, ladies.”

“I’m good,” Iris said. She smiled up at Frank. “Gotta come back to work in a few.”

Margaret pointed to the menu and then looked up at Frank. “Veggie omelet with a biscuit.”

“Oooooh, sounds good,” Savannah said. She winced a little. “…but I don’t think I could handle that much food today.”

When she hesitated, Iris suggested she consider a two-egg omelet.

“Yes, that sounds perfect,” Savannah said, handing her menu to the waiter. “With fruit instead of a biscuit, please.”

“Meat lover’s omelet,” Michael said as he picked up his menu. “Make mine with two eggs, too, would you, Frank?” He hesitated and then said, “I’ll have a biscuit with gravy—no potatoes.”

Savannah rubbed the back of Michael’s neck. “You
are
hungry, hon. That interrogation must have taken a lot out of you.”

Iris looked over at Michael. “So tell me what happened this morning.”

Michael pursed his lips. “Well, the long and the short of it is that someone killed that jerk Pete Gamble at the clinic and they seem to be trying to implicate me—or us…” He glanced over at Savannah

“What?” Margaret’s mouth dropped open. “The dead guy is Pete Gamble? I’m speechless.”

“That’s a first,” Savannah said, her attempt at keeping the mood light obviously failing.

No one spoke for a few moments. Margaret, who continued to stare down at her coffee cup, finally broke the silence. “Gosh, guys, this is unbelievable.” She shook her head slowly back and forth.

Savannah took a deep breath and her eyes filled with tears. “It’s pretty disturbing, to say the least.” She wiped at her eyes with her napkin.

Michael reached over and put his hand on her knee. “It’ll be okay, honey,” he comforted.

“How can you be so sure?” Margaret asked.

“Well, it’s just gotta be, that’s all,” Michael responded. He then stared past Iris, a look of slight apprehension on his face. “Here comes Craig.”

Iris craned her neck to see him, and Savannah finished dabbing at her eyes. She then wadded the napkin and reached over to stuff it into her jacket pocket. That’s when she remembered the swatch of fabric. She pulled it out and held it in her hand.

When Craig spotted Michael, he walked over to their booth. Iris stood and smiled brightly. “Hi there.”

“Hi, yourself.” He looked around the diner and then moved toward Iris and quickly kissed her on the lips. She looked at him, her eyes alive with excitement. Then she said, “Oh, I guess you came in to see the Iveys, huh?”

“’Fraid so.”

“Well, I have to get back to work. Can I bring you a cup of coffee?”

“Yeah, that would be great.” He then gave her a flirtatious look and added in a sultry voice, “You know how I like it.”

“Sure do,” she said imitating his flirty manner.

“You two are sickening,” Margaret said as Craig sat down next to her.

“Sickening?” Savannah said. “I think they’re cute.” She leaned in toward Craig. “Don’t let her spoil all that fun you and Iris are having.”

“Oh, no chance of that,” he said. He then took on a more serious demeanor. He looked across the table at Michael and Savannah. “So, how are you two doin’? Rough morning, huh?”

“Yeah,” Savannah said drawing out the word in a dull cadence.

He focused his eyes on Michael. “How are you holdin’ up, guy?”

“Okay, I guess. The reality of it hasn’t quite sunk in.”

“I can imagine,” Craig said, showing a concern they hadn’t seen from him before. “You two are probably still in shock.”

“Do you know when we can get back to work?”

Craig looked at Michael and then Savannah. “They oughta be out of the clinic this afternoon.” He placed his elbows on the table and tented his fingers before saying, “You may want to call the cleaning company to come in later today, when the investigators are finished.”

“Oh, right. Good idea,” Savannah said with a sigh. “Thanks for reminding us.”

“Yeah, wouldn’t want the employees to come in to that mess tomorrow,” Michael added.

He saw Iris coming toward them with a tray. “Ahhh, food,” he said, pulling back from the table. “Thank you, Iris. You have saved a man’s life today. I could kiss you!!!”

“Okay,” Iris said playfully. She then turned to Craig. “Do you want anything to eat?”

“Naw. I have to get back to work. Just wanted to check in with these folks.” He smiled up at Iris. “…and see you.” She returned the smile. She started to leave when he called out to her. “Oh, Iris, would you fix me a cup of coffee to go, please?”

“Sure.” A minute or two later, she set a covered Styrofoam cup in front of him on the table and picked up the five-dollar bill he had laid down.

He started to rise, when Savannah held her hand out toward him. “I don’t know if this is important or not, but I found it at the clinic this morning and neither of us have ever seen it before.”

Craig sat back down and took the swatch from Savannah. He studied it for a few moments and then looked up at her. “So what is this, anyway?”

Savannah shrugged. “Just a piece of tweed material, I guess.”

Iris walked up, set Craig’s change on the table in front of him, and then reached over him while pouring coffee into Margaret’s cup. She looked down at the swatch and said, “It’s frayed on the edges.”

Craig stared up at her as if hoping for more information. “Yeah?”

“Looks to me like it was torn from a larger piece of fabric.” She took the swatch from Craig and examined it more closely. “It’s kind of old and worn. I can see that it would rip fairly easily.”

“Tell him where you found it, hon,” Michael said as he poured gravy over his biscuit.

She looked a bit pensive when she said to Craig, “Rags had it.”

“Rags…” he said, tilting his head slightly. “Oh, that’s your cool cat.”

“Yes.” Savannah smiled. “When we moved the cats out of the big pen where they had been overnight, Rags was playing with this.”

Craig started thinking out loud. “And the large pen where the cats were is darn close to where the body was found.” He took the fabric back from Iris, rubbed it between his fingers, and said, “You know, we’re pretty sure the body was brought to that spot. I don’t think he was killed there. And the door wasn’t jimmied, so someone had a key. It doesn’t make sense, Michael, that you or any of your employees would open the door and then leave it open like that, unless…”

“Unless what?” Savannah and Margaret said in unison.

“Unless someone scared them off before they could lock up.” He appeared to be deep in thought. After a few moments, he said, “I need to speak with the neighbors around there. I met Mr. Taylor. And what is the name of the couple who rent your log house?”

“Giselle Patterson and Robert Martinez,” Michael said. “Then the Normans live on the other side.”

Craig took out his pad and made some notes. He then picked up the swatch and took one more look at it before tucking it into his jacket pocket. He winked at Savannah. “Tell your cat thanks.” He looked over at Michael. “I’ll be in touch.” He stood and started to walk away, then he turned and looked at Michael and Savannah. “You two take it easy. I know this is hard, but just know that we’re going to find out who did this and then you can have your life back. Until then, it may get gnarly.”

***

“Dang,” Michael said as he turned into their driveway and saw a sheriff’s car, an unmarked car, and a van parked close to the house. “What do you suppose they’re doing here?” He put the car in park and turned off the key. The two of them stepped out of the car.

Savannah took a sweeping glance around the property. “Sheesh, maybe we should have left the cats at the clinic.” As the couple walked toward the front door, they noticed their gardener Antonio approaching them. “Senora, what is this?” he asked, swinging his arm around toward a uniformed officer and a couple of plain-clothed men and women milling around the property.

“An investigation, Antonio. Nothing for you to be worried about. Everything’s okay.” She looked over and saw two people examining the cab and bed of Michael’s veterinary truck.
Well, I sure hope everything’s okay,
she thought.
They can’t actually believe that Michael would do such a thing.
She turned her attention back to Antonio. “If you’d like to take the day off, it’s okay with me. I think these people will be gone tomorrow. Come back tomorrow, if you like.”

The slight Mexican man let out a sigh of what seemed like relief. He reached for his cell phone. “I will have Esperanza come get me.”

The trio watched as the investigators climbed in and around the truck. After a few seconds, Michael opened the front door to their home and he and Savannah walked inside. “Hi Lexie,” Savannah said as the dog gave them her best tail-wagging reception. “We’re happy to see you, too.” She couldn’t help but smile a little at the dog’s enthusiastic efforts; but even Lexie couldn’t help her shake the sense of melancholy she felt gripping her. After giving the dog one last scratch behind her ears, Savannah removed her jacket and walked toward their bedroom. She returned wearing a brown cardigan sweater over her cream-colored pullover top. As hard as she tried putting the reality of their morning out of her mind, she was drawn to the front window.

“What do you suppose they’re looking for in your truck, Michael?” she asked.

He glanced up from the home remodeling magazine he was reading. “My guess would be, blood.”

Savannah closed her eyes, pretending she didn’t hear it. She then turned toward him. Her voice raised an octave, she said, “Michael, you hit that deer the other day on your way home from vaccinating Tim Bagley’s horses.”

“Yes, I did and I threw it in the back of the truck.”

“Why? Why did you do that?” she asked, walking across the room and plopping herself down in the overstuffed chair next to where Michael sat on the sofa.

“Well, honey, I didn’t want to leave it on that back road. Road crews don’t get out there very often,” he explained. “I took it over to the preserve for the vultures.”

“So they’ve probably already found blood.”

“Certainly, they did. I haven’t had a chance to clean my truck in a while.” He stared over at her. “Hey, honey. Not a problem. They’ll be able to tell it’s animal blood.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s just that…”

He placed the magazine on the end table and leaned toward his wife. “Savannah, you don’t think…”

“Oh my gosh, no, Michael. Of course not,” she said. “But we both know there are people accused of things they didn’t do. It happens all the time.” Her voice became more animated. “Just look at what happened a few months ago to Iris. She was accused of Steven’s dad’s murder and she obviously had nothing to do with it. Things got pretty scary there for a while.”

Michael lowered his head and took Savannah’s hand. He lifted her face so he could look into her eyes. “There’s nothing for us to worry about. The truth—whatever it is—will come out. Savannah, we haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Yeah, you’re right. We don’t have anything to worry about.”

Michael squeezed her hand before letting go, leaned back on the sofa and picked up his magazine. Just then Rags appeared. He jumped up on the chair and stood on Savannah’s lap pushing his head into her, demanding her attention.

Rap. Rap.

“Oh, someone’s at the door,” she said. “Sorry, Ragsy—come on, jump down, boy.” She made her way to the front door. Before she got there, the door opened and Margaret peered in.

“Yoohoo!”

“Oh hi,” Savannah said, a puzzled look on her face. “Everything okay?”

“Well, you tell me. I was driving by on my way home.” She motioned toward the front of the house. “Looks like the whole police force is out there—swat team and all,” she said, obviously exaggerating. “Stopped in to see what’s going on.”

Just then, there was another knock on the door. Savannah and Michael glanced at one another in disbelief at how complicated their day was becoming. “Oh hi Craig,” Savannah said upon opening the door. “Come in. What’s up with all these people climbing in and out of our vehicles? Will they be coming in the house?” Savannah asked, near tears.