Софи Келли - Faux Paw

He looked up at me, his tail whipping across the floor in annoyance. Then he looked across the yard again and meowed once more.

And then I got it. “I could call Rebecca,” I said slowly. “She might know something about Diana and Marshall Holmes. It’s possible Everett knew Charles Holmes.”

Owen turned and headed back to the kitchen, making muttering sounds all the way. Trust a cat to want to have the last word.

I sat down on the bench by the window in the porch and took my cell out of my pocket.

“Hello, my dear, how are you?” Rebecca asked when she answered the phone.

“I’m well, Rebecca,” I said. “How are you?” Hearing her voice automatically made me smile.

“Well, at the moment I’m beating the pants off Everett at Texas Hold’em,” she said.

“She cheats,” I heard Everett call in the background.

Rebecca laughed. “He’s not losing graciously.”

“That’s because you’re cheating,” he countered.

“I won’t keep you,” I said. “I was hoping you might be able to get a little information for me.”

“Does this have something to do with everything that’s happened at the library?” she asked, lowering her voice a little.

“Yes,” I said, wondering if this was such a good idea after all. I didn’t want to put her in any kind of conflict with Everett.

“I’d love to help, my dear. What do you need? And don’t worry about Everett.”

“How do you manage to read my mind?” I asked.

“It’s my secret power,” she said. I could imagine her smiling as she said the words.

“Well I’m glad you’re using it for good and not for evil,” I teased.

“So how can I help?”

“Do you know anything about Marshall or Diana Holmes?” Owen was sitting at my feet, intently watching my face.

“I know Everett did some business with their father, Charles. That’s how the exhibit ended up coming to the library. I can certainly find out more about them.”

I pulled my free hand down over the back of my head. “I don’t want to put you in a difficult position, Rebecca.”

She laughed, and somehow the warmth of the sound came through the phone at me. “Oh, Kathleen, there’s nothing difficult about playing a nosy old lady. Give me a day and I’ll see what I can find out for you.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“I’m happy to help.”

We said good night and I hung up the phone.

I went back into the kitchen to discover a guilty-looking Owen under the table and the garbage can tipped over on the floor.

“Owen!” I exclaimed.

This wasn’t the first time Owen had tipped over the trash, although he hadn’t done it in a while. The last time, he’d leapt on the can in an ill-advised effort to snag a scarf from the hooks by the door.

He hung his head, but I could see one eye watching to gauge how mad I was.

I set the can upright and sent a stern look in the cat’s direction. “Don’t do that again,” I warned. “Or it won’t be Hercules who’s making your chickens disappear.”

I cleaned up the mess and then went to the sink to wash my hands. I felt a furry body wind around my ankles. I bent down and picked Owen up.

“Merow?” he said, cocking his head to one side.

“I’m still mad at you,” I said.

He leaned forward and nuzzled the side of my face.

“I am,” I insisted. “You can’t jump up onto the garbage can. You’re not one of the Flying Wallendas. Next time I go to the thrift store I’ll get you a scarf.”

His response was to lick my chin. I couldn’t help feeling that somehow I’d just been had.

I set Owen back on the floor and he walked over to the back door and looked in the direction of Rebecca’s little house. Then he turned his wide golden eyes on me.

“She’s in,” I told him. “The game is afoot.”

20

I was just coming around the side of the carriage house in the morning, heading back to my truck and feeling very grateful for my boots because it had rained overnight and it looked like it was going to start again, when Marcus called.

“Hi,” he said. “Where are you?”

“I’m up at Wisteria Hill,” I said, wiping my feet on the grass by the front of the old building before walking back to the truck. “I just fed Lucy and the others.”

“Roma’s out of town?” he said. “Where did she go? When did that happen?” He’d suddenly switched into what I thought of as cop mode, for some reason.

“She’s not out of town,” I said, opening the truck door and tossing the bag with the food dishes onto the floor on the passenger side. “She had an early surgery so I volunteered to come up.”

I brushed off my jeans and slid behind the wheel. “Did you need Roma for something? Is Micah okay?”

“She’s fine,” he said. “She swiped part of a piece of toast off my plate this morning, but other than her possible criminal bent, she’s fine.”

It had taken a little persuasion from Roma and me to get Marcus to adopt the small ginger tabby, but they made a good pair. She brought out the softer side of him that a lot of people didn’t always get to see.

“It’s nothing,” Marcus continued. “I’m just a bit surprised you’re out there without me.”

I smiled. I had good memories of feeding the cat colony with him as we’d gotten to know each other. “Roma asked me at tai chi last night,” I said. “I figured you’d be tied up with the case. Has anything changed?”

He exhaled loudly. “We’re going to start searching the library, book by book, this morning, but it’s going to take some time. Do you know how many items we’ll have to go through?”

“Forty-one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, counting DVDs and CDs,” I said. I paused for a moment. “Give or take.”

He laughed. “Okay, I deserved that.”

“Are we still on for tonight?” I asked as I fished my keys out of the pocket of my jeans.

“Yes,” he said. “I was planning on picking you up at about six thirty, if that works.”

Mayville Heights was experimenting with offering some outdoor concerts on the Riverwalk during the spring and summer. The senior high band was kicking things off with a concert planned for seven fifteen on the grassy area in front of the St. James Hotel.

“That’s fine, but I think it’s a safe bet that we’ll be in the community center, not outside, judging by how it looks overhead.” I leaned forward to look through the windshield. Gray clouds were rolling across the sky.

“That’s okay,” he said. “That’ll work.”

I heard voices in the background. “I have to go. I’ll see you at six thirty and then we’ll pick up Roma.”

Marcus had suggested we invite Roma to go to the concert with us. “You and I are together and Maggie is seeing Brady Chapman.” He’d managed not to roll his eyes at the last part. “I know Roma has Eddie, but he’s not here.”

I knew Roma was still struggling with the idea that Eddie wanted to marry her. I thought it might be a good idea to get her out of the house for a while, so I’d enlisted Maggie to help me convince Roma to join us all at the concert. What I really wanted was to tell her to trust that Eddie loved her and to marry him. I agreed with Maggie: There was more than one way to make a family. I also wanted to tell her not to waste any time with him, but I hadn’t exactly listened when she and Maggie had tried to tell me that about Marcus, so when she talked about Eddie I listened and tried not to judge.

I spent a large part of the day at Maggie’s studio, trying to keep the various groups that had relocated from the library working in their temporary space. Abigail came to help me and I was very glad to have her unflappable presence beside me.