By Cat or By Crook (A Klepto Cat Mystery Book 20) Read online

  By Cat or By Crook: A Klepto Cat Mystery

  Book 20

  by Patricia Fry

  By Cat or By Crook

  A Klepto Cat Mystery

  Book 20

  Author: Patricia Fry

  ISBN: 978-0-9975190-8-2

  All rights reserved

  © 2016 Matilija Press

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 1

  Savannah gasped. “Iris, what happened?” She glanced beyond her friend into the darkness, then quickly ushered her inside.

  Iris pushed the door closed and turned to face Savannah. “I…uh…I,” Iris muttered, just before she collapsed.

  “Oh, my gosh,” Savannah said under her breath as she supported Iris and helped her walk to the sofa. She caught a glimpse of blood matted in Iris’s red hair. “Were you in a wreck? What are you doing out so late?” she asked, still trying to make sense of what was happening.

  “Who is it, hon?” Michael asked, stumbling a little as he shuffled down the hallway in his slippers. He squinted toward the women. “Iris, what…uh…what happened?” he stuttered when he saw Savannah struggling to lead their friend into the living room. He rushed to help his wife just before Iris sat down hard and fell back against the sofa cushions.

  “Here, lie down,” Savannah coached, placing a pillow under Iris’s head and helping her put her feet up. “Michael, get a glass of water and a wet cloth, would you?” As he started to leave the room, she called, “And a towel. She’s bleeding.” She turned on a nearby lamp, then returned her attention to Iris. When Savannah got a better look at her friend’s injuries, she yelped. “Iris, your face!”

  “I got out to the property kinda late,” Iris muttered, rolling her head from side to side. “As I was leaving, I heard something behind the house—a scraping sound—so I went out there.” She took hold of Savannah’s hand and closed her eyes. “I know, stupid, stupid, stupid.” Iris looked up. “Savannah, he jumped me.” She cringed. “He thinks I found something.” Her voice was barely audible. “I didn’t know what he was talking about. He didn’t believe me and he…” Iris started to cry.

  By then, Michael had returned to the living room. “Are you saying someone did this to you?” he asked, anger evident in his tone. When she nodded, he took a closer look at Iris in the light and clenched his teeth. “I’m calling 911.” Once he’d retrieved the nearest phone, he frowned in Iris’s direction. “Where’s Craig? Does he know about this?” Before she could respond, Michael said into the phone, “Hello, can you send paramedics out to 33 Cranberry Way? We have a badly injured woman. It appears that she has been attacked. Yes she’s conscious, but pretty banged up and bleeding.” After ending the call he turned on the outside lights, then returned to Savannah and Iris. “They’re on their way. Iris, do you want me to call Craig?” He grimaced. “Wait, he’s out of town, isn’t he? Did you call him?”

  Iris shook her head and said haltingly, “I didn’t want to…to…bother him. He’d…a…he’d worry.”

  “Of course he will. We have to call him,” Savannah said, dabbing the washcloth against Iris’s head wound. As Iris writhed in discomfort, the front of her hooded sweatshirt gaped and Savannah noticed blood seeping through her blouse. “Gads, you have a gash on your shoulder, Iris!”

  “He had a knife.” Before Iris could say anything more, she went limp.

  Savannah gulped. “Oh my gosh, Michael! She’s passed out. I hope help gets here soon. I think she’s in pretty bad shape.”

  “I know,” he said, moving closer to check Iris’s pulse.

  Savannah rushed to the window. “Please hurry,” she said into the night.

  “She’s probably going into shock,” Michael said. “Why don’t you get some blankets?” In the meantime, he raced to the door, unlocked it, and swung it open. “I hear them coming. Dang, the sirens will probably wake your aunt and Max. She’s going to freak out.” He walked back toward Iris, nervously running one hand through his straight, dark-brown hair.

  “Did you call Craig?” Savanna asked as she carefully arranged a heavy blanket over Iris.

  “Not yet.” He turned just as two male paramedics approached the front door. “It appears that someone attacked her,” Michael explained, as he ushered them into the living room. “In fact, that’s what she told us before she passed out. She has a gash on her head and one on her shoulder there.”

  “She said he had a knife,” Savannah said, her voice slightly shrill.

  “Someone really worked her over, didn’t they?” the younger of the medics muttered.

  The other one said, “Hey, isn’t this Detective Sledge’s wife?”

  Michael and Savannah nodded.

  Just then they heard another voice. “Dr. Mike? Savannah?”

  They turned to see Deputy Ben and Deputy Jim standing at the front door.

  “Come in, please,” Michael called.

  “She says someone attacked her,” the younger paramedic told the officers. “Looks like this is one for you guys.”

  “That’s Iris Sledge, isn’t it?” Ben asked, glancing from Iris to the Iveys.

  Savannah and Michael, who stood off to the side, nodded.

  “Did she say what happened?”

  “No, just that whoever did this had a knife,” Savannah said, choking up. “And that he thought she had found something.” She turned to Michael and asked quietly, “Did you call Craig?”

  “I’m going to do that right now.” When he stepped back into the room, he told her, “He’s on his way to San Francisco. I’ll call him back when we know more.”

  “Well, she’s going to the hospital, I can tell you that,” the older paramedic said. He looked Savannah in the eyes. “Better call her family and have them meet us there.”

  By the time the second paramedic had wheeled the stretcher into the house, Iris was beginning to regain consciousness. “Oh good, you’re awake, Mrs. Sledge. Do you know where you are?” he asked.

  Iris looked around. “Savannah’s and Michael’s house. Where are they?”

  “Right here, Iris,” Savannah said, walking up to her and squeezing her hand.

  Iris began to weep. “My shoulder hurts.”

  “I know. Can you sit up for us?” the older paramedic asked.

  “Oooh, I’m dizzy,” she said as the two men helped her to a sitting position.

  “We want to apply a temporary bandage,” one man explained. “I think you’ll feel a little better for your trip.”

  “Trip?” she asked weakly.

  “To the hospital.”

  “Oooh,” Iris moaned. “I hoped it wasn’t that bad.”

  “It’s that bad,” the younger paramedic said. “You have a head injury and that needs to be checked out.”

  Upon hearing this, Savannah put her hand on Michael’s arm. “Hon, would you call Damon and Colbi? Tell them I’ll pick them up in fifteen minutes.” She watched as the medics transferred Iris to the stretcher.

  “You’re going to the hospital?” Michael asked.

  Savannah nodded, then said, “Oh, that’s my phone. It’s probably Auntie. Would you answer it while I get dressed?”

  “Just as I thought,” Michael said, chuckling a little when he joined Savannah in their bedroom a few minutes later. “Your aunt heard the commotion and had a
conniption. She’s sorry to hear about Iris, but awfully relieved to know that we’re all okay.”

  “I imagine so,” Savannah said, just before stepping into the bathroom. She stopped at the doorway. “Would you grab me a bottle of water? No, make that three of them. And get my red jacket out of the hall closet, please.”

  “Sure,” he said, taking his usual long strides out of the room.

  As Savannah slipped into jeans and a t-shirt and brushed her hair, she thought back to the day Iris first talked about her fear that she was being stalked. It was a glorious day in July one week earlier. Iris had stopped by to wish Lily a happy birthday.

  ****

  “Oh Iris, I told you and Colbi we don’t celebrate her month birthdays,” Savannah said, smiling. “You’re spoiling her.”

  “You said you might celebrate her year-and-a-half milestone, then you were gone practically all month. So consider this a late eighteen-month birthday gift.” Iris looked at the date on her cell phone. “A five-week-late birthday gift to be exact. Besides, I’m practicing.”

  “Practicing?”

  “Yeah, for spoiling my grandchild when he or she gets here.”

  “Aww, Iris. I think that’ll come naturally, don’t you?”

  “What, spoiling? Probably, I guess.”

  Savannah watched Iris play peek-a-boo with Lily, laughing when her daughter began to giggle.

  “I brought you something, Lily. Look inside this pretty bag and see what Aunt Ris-Ris brought you.”

  “A new baby!” Savannah exclaimed as the toddler pulled a colorful cloth doll from the gift bag Iris held.

  “Baby,” Lily repeated, hugging the doll to her. Suddenly, the child ran out of the kitchen into the dining room to one of her toy boxes. The women watched as Lily reached in and pulled out toy after toy, finally settling on a rubber doll dressed in polka-dot pajamas. She scampered back to Iris and tossed the doll in her direction.

  When Iris looked confused, Savannah said, “I think she wants to play babies with you. That’s your baby.”

  “Oh,” Iris said, picking up the doll and rocking it in her arms. “Where’s the baby’s blanket?” she asked Lily. “Baby wants to go night-night.”

  Both women smiled when the toddler ran out of the room again, only to return with a small blanket.

  “You are so cute and smart,” Iris said, hugging Lily to her.

  “Night-night,” Lily said, pulling away. She sat on the floor in front of Iris and clumsily tried to wrap her new dolly in the small blanket. “Night-night,” she said, kissing the doll.

  “How sweet,” Iris said, reaching out and running her hand over Lily’s soft curls. She then said, rather enticingly, “There’s something else in the bag, Lily.” When the toddler looked up at her, Iris held the gift bag out and shook it a little. “Come see what else Aunt Ris-Ris brought you.”

  “Cookie!” Lily said excitedly, taking the box of animal crackers to her mother. “Open? Cookie?”

  “Sure. Sit down there at your little table and you can have a couple of cookies,” Savannah said, scooting out one of the small chairs for her. “Here’s a doggie cookie…a wow-wow. And what’s this—a cow?”

  “Moo-cow,” Lily repeated, looking the cookie over before taking a bite.

  Once the toddler was involved with her cookies, Iris asked, “How’s your mom after her accident? Now, what happened to her? I heard a couple of different stories.”

  “She fell in the garden and broke her arm. Thankfully, a neighbor saw it happen and was able to get her some help.”

  “That was fortunate,” Iris said. “It would be awful to fall when no one was around.” She patted the cell phone in her jeans pocket. “That’s what makes these horrible inventions so useful and important.”

  “Horrible invention?” Savannah repeated.

  “Yeah, they won’t leave you alone. They ding-a-ling at you day and night like a nagging wife.” She grinned. “You can’t live with ’em and you sure can’t live without ’em.” She then said, “You really were gone a long time. I would have missed you terribly if I wasn’t so dang busy.”

  Savannah chuckled. “I missed you, too.” She then added, “Yeah, they had to do surgery on Mom’s arm, which probably delayed her recovery, but she’s doing well and we had some good times while Lily and I were there.”

  “So it wasn’t all nursing and cooking and changing beds, huh?”

  “Oh, no. When she was still lying low—before they put her permanent cast on—we had some good talks and I wrote a lot of stuff down.”

  “What stuff?” Iris asked, tilting her head a little.

  Before Savannah responded, she reached for the box of animal crackers, handed Lily a few more, and set the box on the kitchen table where she and Iris were sitting. “Want one?” she offered.

  Iris shook her head, but Savannah took one and ate it.

  “So what stuff did you write down?” Iris asked again.

  “Oh, you know, things Mom told me—memories of her childhood, her wedding day, my grandparents, and stories about some of my ancestors I never got to meet. We should all record our parents’ and grandparents’ memories so they live on for generations to come. I’m so glad I had that opportunity.”

  “Yes, that is a good idea. I wish I’d thought of that when my people were still here.” Iris cringed. “I was too damn busy trying to eke out a life for myself and I have to tell you, I wasn’t doing a very good job at it, either.” Focusing on Savannah again, she asked, “So what did you learn—anything juicy?”

  Savannah grinned. “Not from my mother. But if I ever get a chance to sit down with my aunt, that’s probably when I’ll get the juicy stuff.”

  “I’ll bet you’re right there,” Iris said, laughing. “I didn’t know your mother well when we were in school, but she always seemed more proper than Maggie. It was kind of a shock when she married an older man.” She shook her head slowly. “I guess she knew what she was doing, because they had a good life, didn’t they?”

  Savannah nodded. “If Mom was open to such a concept, I’m sure she’d say Dad was her soul mate. They really had a nice relationship.”

  “So what fun things did you do when she got the new cast on?”

  “Oh, that’s when we cranked up the excitement. We went sightseeing. I think Mom enjoyed it even more than Lily did.” Savannah leaned forward. “Iris, you have so much to look forward to with that little grandbaby coming. As Mom said, it’s like you’re seeing things for the first time through fresh eyes when you share them with your grandchild.”

  Iris bounced a little in her chair. “Oh, I can’t wait.”

  “Yeah, we took Lily to a great petting zoo.” She smiled. “She loved the little lambs—I got to help her feed one with a bottle. Mom bought her an adorable stuffed lamb and, of course, a doll bottle. She loves it. That was such a great day. We went to a carnival and I rode some baby rides with Lily. She especially loved the little train. Oh, and we took her to her first movie. It was animated. She was mesmerized—for about fifteen minutes. Then it was up and down, wiggle, wiggle, so we went out for an ice cream.” More excitedly, she said, “We went to a butterfly park. I have some of the cutest pictures of Lily looking at a butterfly that landed on her arm.”

  Iris smiled. “Sounds wonderful. But it’s sure good to have you home. How long were you gone?”

  “Almost two weeks. Yeah, it was a great trip, but it is good to be home. I missed everyone. Hey, I did get some cat love while I was in LA,” she said, reaching out and petting their lanky grey-and-white cat as he rubbed against her. “Mom had been feeding a stray cat—well, a half-grown kitten, actually—and I convinced her to take him in. I think she’ll enjoy the little guy. He’s pretty cute.” She laughed. “Lily kept trying to feed him with her doll bottle.”

  Iris smiled at the toddler, then asked Savannah, “Doesn’t your mom have a man friend? How come he didn’t take care of her after her surgery?”

  Savannah pressed her lips toge
ther before speaking. “That’s a sad story. His daughter put him in a nursing home close to where she lives in Arizona. They think he’s in the early stages of dementia.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear it.”

  “Yeah, so Mom’s alone again, but she does keep busy. She’s well supported. I think I only cooked once or twice while I was there. People brought food on a very organized schedule—once we’d finish one casserole, a pot roast with all the trimmings, or a pan of enchiladas, another would show up.” Savannah looked Iris in the eye. “How about you? How’ve you been doing?”

  “Good,” Iris said.

  “And what about your remodeling project? How’re things out at the Kaiser place?”

  Iris thought about the question, then tilted her head and grinned. “Interesting.”

  “Huh?”

  “Well, I’ve had this feeling lately that I’m being watched.”

  “Really? Who’s watching you—do you know?”

  Iris shook her head. “I’m not sure. But I imagine it’s one of those Kaiser siblings or someone they’ve hired, maybe. Savannah, they’re just plain weird. Not one of them has a handle on reality. It’s been a challenge from day one. I truly don’t know how we’ve come this far as successfully as we have. Working for them has been like something out of Alice in Wonderland or The Wizard of Oz—surreal, you know. But we’re making headway, and that’s probably because the brothers are traveling so much. Mainly I deal with Melody. She’s the older sister and the one who appears to be most interested in the old homestead.” She leaned toward Savannah. “You need to come out and see the improvements.” She smiled broadly. “It’s really going to be something.”

  “So when do you think the bed-and-breakfast will open? Do they have a date?”

  “We’re shooting for late August or early September.”

  “Wow, that soon? I guess you have been busy. Can’t wait to see the old place in all its glory and with all of your lovely touches.”