Ник Сайнт - Purrfect Heat

“A sweatshop is a place where unscrupulous businessmen keep a bunch of workers—often even kids—and make them work really, really hard for pretty much no pay, for long hours and in horrible conditions.”

“I knew that,” I murmured, even though I didn’t.

“I get it,” Dooley said. “They make them sweat a lot and don’t pay them anything.”

“But isn’t that, like, illegal?” Brutus asked.

“Good point, buddy!” said Kingman. “Of course it’s illegal!”

“Yeah, they probably don’t pay any taxes,” I said.

“And they’re breaking pretty much every labor law,” Kingman added.

“So where is this sweatshop? And how do you even know this?”

“A cat that hangs out there told me. Said they’ve got a bunch of illegal aliens locked up in there.”

“Aren’t all aliens illegal?” asked Dooley. “I mean, I’ve seen Independence Day . Those horrible creatures definitely weren’t invited.”

“Not aliens from outer space,” I said. “Aliens as in immigrants.”

“Oh. Right,” he said, understanding dawning.

“Norma said they look Chinese,” said Kingman. “One of the workers actually feeds her milk from time to time. Through a crack in the window. She said there are bars on all the windows and they’re not allowed outside.”

“Terrible,” Brutus said, and I could tell he was moved by the story. So was I. In this day and age, in this country, this was a real outrage.

“So where is this sweatshop?” I asked.

Chapter 22

Odelia was hitching a ride in Chase’s car when suddenly she saw three cats tripping along the sidewalk. They were Max, Dooley and Brutus. When Max spotted the car, he motioned for her to pull over.

“Pull over, Chase,” she said. “Pull over right here.”

“What’s going on?” he asked, doing as she asked.

Without responding, she opened the door and allowed the three cats to hop in.

“Oh, God. Not your cats again,” Chase said.

She ignored him. If Max signaled her to stop, he had something important to tell her.

“There’s a sweatshop in town, Odelia,” he said the moment he got into the car. “Kingman talked to Norma who said there are a lot of Chinese illegal aliens being kept on an old farm on the edge of town.”

“They’ve got bars on the windows, Odelia,” said Dooley.

“And they’re not allowed to leave,” said Brutus.

“And they have to work really hard,” Max added.

She glanced over at Chase. “You’re going to have to trust me on this, Chase.”

He looked puzzled. “Trust you on what?”

“Remember when you said I should use my sleuthing magic to solve this case?”

“Uh-huh?”

“Well, this is me pulling the sleuthing magic card and telling you just to drive where I tell you to drive and not ask me any questions.”

“Wait, what?”

She turned around, to the three cats who were now propped up on the backseat. “It’s the old Tucker place, out on Dubarq Road,” Max said.

“Go straight and then take a right at the end of the block,” she told Chase.

It didn’t take them long to arrive at their destination. And even though Chase had thrown her a lot of curious glances, he’d managed to refrain from asking her any questions. Now that they were nearing their destination, he abruptly pulled the car onto the shoulder, cut the engine and turned to her.

“So what’s this all about? What is back there at that old house?”

“It’s an old farm, and… I think there’s a sweatshop out there.”

He stared at her. “A sweatshop. In Hampton Cove. And you know that how?”

Now came the tricky part. “You remember when I told you about the note Gran found in her new Ziv Riding sweater?”

“The cry for help, yes.”

“And when Mom found a similar note in her blouse?”

“You think those notes came from this place?”

“Yes, I do. I think Ziv Riding isn’t having his clothes manufactured in Asia, like he claims. I think he’s having them manufactured right here in Hampton Cove, only in appalling conditions by people who are being held here against their will, and forced to work in terrible circumstances.”

He looked over the dashboard at the old farm. It didn’t look like a sweatshop, but she knew that if Max told her there was a sweatshop out there, he was most likely right. Cats had ways of finding out stuff.

Chase rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then turned back to face her. “So how do you know?”

“I, um…” She glanced back at the cats through the rearview mirror. They were shaking their heads, No! “See, the thing is…”

“I’m listening,” he said.

“I can’t tell you,” she finally said.

He uttered a surprised grunt. “What?”

“I simply can’t tell you.”

“That’s ridiculous. Either you knew already about this sweatshop, and completely forgot about it until you saw your cats parading down the street, or somehow your cats told you about this sweatshop, which is completely ridiculous.” He studied her for a moment. “So which is it, Odelia?”

She threw up her hands. “You’re right. Silly me. I totally forgot about the sweatshop. Seeing Max and Dooley and Brutus brought it all back to me.”

“Because…”

“Because…” She rooted around for a plausible response. “Because the person who called me last night and told me about the sweatshop also has a cat,” she said finally. “And seeing Max and the others reminded me.”

In the backseat, Max slapped his paw to his face. “Oh, God,” he muttered.

“And you can’t tell me who this person is?” Chase asked.

“I promised her I wouldn’t reveal her identity.”

He nodded, tapping his steering wheel. “Of course. And how did this person happen to find out?”

“She just happened to pass here the other day, and heard muffled shouts and cries. So she went to investigate closer and saw a bunch of people in there, locked up and being forced to sew Ziv Riding’s clothes.”

He gave her a comical grimace. “That’s just about the most ridiculous story I’ve ever heard. But I’m willing to give you a pass, Odelia.”

“You are? I mean, it’s the honest-to-God’s truth.”

“Of course it is.” He directed a suspicious look back at the cats. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’m going to hazard a guess it’s got something to do with those cats. I don’t know what it is but I’m not going to pressure you into telling me.”

She blinked. “You’re not?”

“No, I’m not. I guess when the time comes and you feel you can trust me, you’ll tell me. For now I think our first priority should be to get those people out of there. But first we need to make sure your… source is telling the truth.”

“My source never lies,” she assured him.

He gave her a lopsided grin. “Honey, I’m a cop. Double-checking hot tips is what I do for a living. So please humor me.”

“Sure,” she said, pleasantly surprised that he’d let her off the hook so easily. “I’ll come with you.”

“No, that’s all right. You better stay here and out of sight. We don’t want to spook them and make them close up shop before we can get the cavalry out here.”

He opened the door and got out. But before he did, she said, “Chase?”

He stuck his head back in. “What?”

She gave him a warm smile. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. One of these days I’m going to get you to spill all of your secrets, Odelia Poole. Just you wait and see.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

“Oh, but you will.”

He gave the roof a pat and then he was off, keeping low, moving with surprising agility and grace. She saw him dart through a meadow, then he disappeared from sight.