Блейз Клемент - The Cat Sitter And The Canary

Ms. Kramer laid her hand on the doorknob and pulled it toward us, blocking my view.

She said, “Everything okay, Al?”

There was an indecipherable grunt from inside.

“Albert’s not feeling very social today.” She turned and whispered as she shut the door behind her. “Or ever. ”

I smiled to myself. His name fit him perfectly. I could hear my grandmother’s voice: That man is such an Albert! Paco had said Ms. Kramer and her husband owned an expensive women’s accessories store in the Village, but Albert hardly seemed like the kind of man to trifle with jewelry and fancy women’s things. I knew the type well—gruff and inelegant, perpetually in a bad mood. There’d been a lot of them on the force, although that rough exterior was usually just a cover-up for a sweeter version hidden inside. I had a feeling Albert reserved that part of himself for Elba Kramer alone.

She continued ahead, her stride long and confident, tempered only by a slightly restless fluttering of her hands. “He only comes out of his study to eat. It’s just work, work, work. My sweet Jane has her cage, and he has his!”

The hallway opened into a sprawling living area. To the right was a full bar, glistening with hundreds of cocktail glasses of all shapes and sizes, and to the left was a giant marble fireplace big enough to park a car in. There was a sunken area in the middle of the room, with a trio of low-backed couches circling a marble-topped coffee table and a giant glass bowl piled high with lemons and grapefruit. It was all pretty breathtaking, but the most notable feature of the room, and the most impressive, was the back wall. It was made entirely of glass, and the view was nothing short of spectacular. I could see the entire span of the John Ringling Bridge sparkling over the bay, and I could even see halfway down the western shoreline of Siesta Key.

Before I could say a word, Ms. Kramer nonchalantly pressed a button next to the fireplace, and I watched in mute amazement as the entire glass wall lowered seamlessly into the floor.

Ms. Kramer said, “Fancy, huh?”

I managed a nod and a muffled, “Wow.”

A rush of warm air moved in, and now it seemed as if we were sitting in a very nicely furnished outdoor patio, where the polished granite floor of the living room continued out to the covered patio, ending at a row of giant columns entwined in blooming mandevilla.

Rajinder appeared through a swinging door with a silver tray and two glasses of iced tea, each with a thinly sliced lemon wedge perched on the rim. He put the tray down on the coffee table, nodded discreetly, and then headed for the front hall. I noticed he was wearing woven grass slippers. They made a soft shushing sound as they slid along the tile floor.

Ms. Kramer stiffened. “Raji? What are you doing?”

He stopped and turned. “Mr. Kramer asked me to help him unpack the shipment that just arrived.”

She shook her head. “No. I’ll help him with it later. I need you to pick up that prescription now.” She glanced at her watch. “I told you already. The pharmacy closes at six. If you don’t leave now, you’ll miss it.”

Rajinder shrugged, which gave me the impression he didn’t care one way or the other, either that or he was well accustomed to following Elba Kramer’s every command. As he came back up the hall, Ms. Kramer sat down and handed me one of the glasses of iced tea.

“It’s mint. From the garden. I’d like to take credit, but it’s the gardener’s doing. She’s the one with the green thumb in this family, such as it is.”

So far, Ms. Kramer hadn’t mentioned why she needed me, like where she was going or for how long, nor had I seen any signs of a bird—which was, after all, the entire reason I was here—but I figured it must have been in a cage somewhere. Lots of bird owners give their feathered friends free reign of the house, but considering the entire back wall of Elba’s living room was open to the outside, I doubted she’d let hers loose.

“Raji tells me you’re perfectly qualified to care for my little girl, and Raji’s a good judge of character. I’d trust him with my life, but I wanted to meet you first. This town’s full of hacks looking for gossip to sell to the tabloids, and I’ve been fooled more than once. As you can imagine, I have to be very careful about who I let in my house.”

I nodded self-consciously, wondering what was the proper etiquette for meeting a semicelebrity. Was it more polite to acknowledge that, yes, I knew all about her exploits in the tabloids, or was it better to be discreet and treat her like any other client? And would she be offended, or even suspicious, if I pretended I’d never heard of her?

She smiled. “I’ve seen that look before. It’s fine. I get a good vibe from you.”

I cleared my throat, realizing I’d barely said a word since I’d arrived. I said, “Ms. Kramer, I take my job very seriously, and I treat all my clients with the same degree of professionalism, no matter who they are. I would never in a million years reveal any personal details about you to anyone, least of all the press.”

“That’s good to know.” She set her glass down on the table as her expression darkened. “So … shall we discuss the elephant in the room?”

My heart skipped a beat.

The “elephant in the room” could only mean one thing—I was right. She had recognized me. It also suddenly dawned on me that even if she hadn’t immediately recognized my name, the chances she’d run a background check before deciding to hire me were very high. In fact, I wouldn’t have been a bit surprised if she knew every bit as much about my past as I did about hers … which meant she was probably well aware that our paths had crossed once before. And now I was in the very awkward situation of explaining why I hadn’t owned up to it earlier.

I said, “Ms. Kramer, first of all, I’m sorry I didn’t say something when we first talked on the phone. But you have to understand, I was just doing my job. There’s a very strict code of ethics when it comes to law enforcement, and even though I’m a pet sitter now, I still have to be very careful not to violate anyone’s rights under the law, no matter how long it’s been, even if I’m talking to someone…” I gestured in her direction, trying to come up with the right words. “You know, someone who was … involved .”

“Involved! What makes you think I was involved?” She shook her head and snorted. “Oh, my god. What a stupid cow!”

My chin dropped and I felt my hands curl into fists. Yes, that business on the boat had eventually led to the end of Senator Cobb’s political career, and it had definitely put another black mark on Elba Kramer’s reputation, so I could understand why she might be angry—even though in the end it certainly wasn’t all my fault. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t put a few black marks there herself. But if this was the tone she was going to take, there was no point in my hanging around. I was in no mood for this woman’s drama. I’d had a hard enough week as it was.

I stood up and pulled my backpack over my shoulder. “Okay. Again, I apologize. If you’d like me to give you recommendations for other pet sitters, I’d be happy to do that, but this is obviously not going to work out.”

She shot off the sofa and made a step toward the front door, as if she might try to stop me. “Wait a minute. At least tell me what she’s saying!”

“Huh?”

She shook her head, disgust plainly visible on her face. “This is absolutely unbelievable. I should have known. When those cops came over here all full of questions, acting all suspicious … there’s no telling what that stupid woman has told them about me.”