Secrets Trickery and Meows (Klepto Cat Mystery Book 27) Read online

  “Sure will,” Savannah said.

  He started to laugh. “And that crazy cat.” He walked away shaking his head. “I’ve never seen such a crazy cat.”

  “Holly, are you going to cry?” Savannah asked after the foursome had driven off.

  “Yeah,” she said. “Actually I might. I’m just so pleased for Keith and Michael and for Aggie.” She fought back tears. “She has her son back after all those years thinking he was dead. What a blessing.”

  Savannah nodded. “Yes, Aggie is one happy, happy woman.” She faced Holly. “I just wonder how much Michael’s and Keith’s lives will change now that they know their real father.”

  “It’ll be interesting to see,” Holly said. She looped her arms in Savannah’s and Gladys’s. “Well, let’s go on that treasure hunt, shall we?”

  “Treasure hunt?” Gladys asked.

  Holly nodded. “Yes, the kids want to go on a treasure hunt, right guys?”

  “Yay!” Adam and Cassie cheered.

  Three-year-old Bethany jumped up and down, prompting two-year-old Lily to do the same. “Yay!” the little girls cheered. Then Bethany asked, “Mommy, what’s a treasure hunt?”

  Lily stood by waiting for an explanation as well.

  Adam handed each of the girls a plastic bag, saying, “I have a list of things we’re supposed to find. When you find them, you get points.”

  “And there are prizes!” Cassie exclaimed.

  “Prize!” Bethany shouted.

  “Prize!” Lily repeated.

  “Can Rags go with us?” Cassie asked. “I’ll hold his leash.”

  “No!” Adam insisted. “He might mess things up.”

  “Mess things up?” Savannah questioned.

  Holly chuckled. “He might just win the prize.” When the others looked at her, she explained, “He’s the treasure-hunting champion.”

  Cassie thought for a moment before saying, “Yeah, but he can’t read. He doesn’t know it when you say ‘Rags, find a rock or a toad or a…’”

  “Shhh,” Adam cautioned. “Cassie, don’t tell the whole list until everyone’s ready.”

  “Shall we break off into teams?” Savannah suggested. When Adam hesitated, she added, “The little girls will need help.”

  Adam pondered the idea. “All right, you can help Lily, Aunt Holly can help Bethany, and Cassie and I can be by ourselves.”

  Holly shook her head. “No. I don’t want you kids going off on your own.”

  Savannah agreed. “Absolutely. How about this, Adam—you can be the leader of a team with either me and Lily or Holly and Bethany. Cassie can be the other team leader. Which adult do you two want on your team?”

  Adam turned to Gladys. “Grammy, are you going on the treasure hunt?”

  She shook her head. “No. I think I’ll stay here with Teddy. We’ll watch from the porch.”

  Adam and Cassie looked at each other and Cassie said, “I’ll go with Aunt Savannah.”

  Adam thought for a moment before deciding. “Okay, I’ll go with Aunt Holly.” He chuckled. “Then we’ll both be with our aunts.”

  “Hey, is ants on the list?” Cassie asked, laughing. She grabbed Savannah’s arm. “If so, I found an aunt.”

  “Good one,” Savannah said, reaching for a high five with Cassie. She addressed Adam. “So does Team Cassie have a point? We found an aunt.”

  “Nice try,” Adam said, grinning. “There are no ants or aunts on the list.”

  “So what is on the list?” Holly asked. “Can we have a copy of it?”

  “Sure,” Adam said. Before handing her the list, however, he read from it. “Pinecone…”

  “Oh that’s too easy,” Cassie complained.

  “Hang on,” Adam insisted. “Savannah said we need some easy things for the little kids.” He referred to his list again. “There’s more. Toad…but you don’t have to put it in your bag.”

  “Yeah, we can take a picture of it,” Holly suggested

  “Yes. Take a picture,” Adam agreed. He continued, “A flower. A rock that looks like a heart.”

  “A heart-shaped rock?” Savannah asked.

  He nodded. “Something metal.” He looked up from his list. “Like a ring or a key.”

  “Should have brought a metal detector,” Savannah said.

  “That would be cheating,” Holly insisted playfully. “What else, Adam?”

  “Clothes…something someone would wear.”

  “Does a scarf count?” Cassie asked. “Or a barrette or a scrunchie?”

  Adam frowned. “A what?”

  “Clips and ties for your hair,” Savannah explained.

  “Oh. I guess that could count. Okay, anything you can wear. The next thing is trash.”

  “Hey, good idea,” Holly said. “If we each pick up a piece of trash, we’re doing a good deed.”

  Savannah agreed. “Then our treasure hunt becomes a beautification project.”

  “I wouldn’t consider trash a treasure, though,” Holly said.

  Adam nodded and continued reading. “Food.”

  “Food?” Cassie questioned.

  “Yeah, like a berry off of a plant or grass. It might not be food we could eat, but if an animal might eat it, it’s food.”

  “A gnat or a bug?” Holly asked.

  “Sure,” Adam said. “Birds eat bugs.” He squinted up at her. “But maybe you’d better take a picture of it instead of putting it in your bag.”

  “Good idea, buddy,” Savannah said. “We don’t want to bring creepy crawlies into the lodge.”

  “Bark,” Adam read from his list.

  “Woof, woof,” Holly responded, laughing.

  Adam shook his head. “No, Aunt Holly. I don’t mean for you to bark. Bark from a tree.”

  “Oh,” Holly said, “you want us to undress a tree?”

  Adam stared at her for a moment before explaining, “Sometimes bark falls off or it peels off. If you can’t get a piece of bark, take a picture.” He looked around at the others, then read, “Needles. You know, like from a pine tree.”

  “Another easy one,” Cassie said. “I see needles from here. Can I pick up needles now?”

  “No,” Adam said. “Not until I say go.” He referred again to his list. “The last thing is something valuable.”

  “Valuable?” Savannah asked. “Like a diamond ring or a watch?”

  “Yeah,” Adam said, grinning. “Sometimes people lose money or a cell phone.” He glanced around at the others. “That’s it. Is everyone ready?” He reached out to Cassie. “Here’s your list.”

  “Wait!” Cassie shouted. “Let me go get Rags.”

  “I still don’t think it’s fair for you to take Rags,” Adam grumbled.

  “You can take Lexie.” Cassie suggested. “She can sniff things out.”

  Adam thought about it before saying, “Good idea. Savannah, can I take Lexie?”

  “Sure. She needs some fresh air and exercise too.”

  Once they’d put the harnesses and leashes on the animals, Adam announced, “Okay, ready, set, go!”

  ****

  The two enthusiastic treasure-hunting teams had been roaming along the pathways, among trees, and through small meadows for about half an hour when Holly called out, “Hey, Adam, is there a time limit?”

  “Yeah, there should be a time limit,” Savannah said from a short distance away. She looked at her watch. “Shall we return to the lodge in, say, fifteen minutes?”

  “Only fifteen minutes?” Adam complained. “We haven’t even found half our stuff yet. They’re hard.”

  Savannah chuckled and reminded him, “You’re the one who made the list.”

  “Yes, in fifteen minutes I turn into a pumpkin!” Holly exclaimed. When the children looked at her, she said, “I mean, I’ll be serving pumpkin pie. It’ll be time for a snack by then, don’t you think so?”

  “Yay!” Cassie cheered.

  “Yay!” Be
thany shouted.

  “Lily, say ‘yay,’” Cassie urged.

  “Yay!” the toddler squealed.

  “Cassie,” Savannah whispered, “we haven’t been up in that stand of trees. See those interesting rocks on that knoll? I’ll bet we can find something up there.”

  “Yeah,” she agreed. “Come on, Rags.”

  After carrying Lily part of the way and helping her through a couple of rough patches, Savannah led her group to the knoll. “It’s kind of eerie up here.”

  “Spooky and dark,” Cassie agreed.

  “Rags seems to be at home, though,” Savannah noticed. She grimaced. “I wonder if he’s been here before—you know, on one of his sneaky outings when he was robbing the other guests blind.”

  “He can’t get out of the lodge anymore, can he?” Cassie asked.

  “No. Your dad and Uncle Michael found where he was squeezing through. Didn’t we show you that?”

  “No. Where was it?” she asked.

  “Behind that big old stove. Rags found a small hole cut in the wall back there for the hookups and he somehow managed to squeeze his big body through there so he could get under the lodge. He went out through where that grate was missing on the back of the building. Uncle Michael blocked the hole and I don’t think Rags has found another place to escape through.” Just then, Savannah stopped. “Hey, look. I think Rags has found something. What is it, Rags, a toad? We still need a toad.”

  “Or something valuable,” Cassie said excitedly. She struggled to join the cat higher up on the knoll and rushed to the clump of grass where he’d been sniffing around.

  “What is it, Cassie?” Savannah asked from a short distance below her. “He’s not bothering an animal is he—a chipmunk or—worse—a dead animal?”

  “No. But hey, Aunt Savannah, he found a shoe. Clothes. Yay! Finally we found someone’s clothes. Good job, Rags,” she said, petting him. Cassie moved him out of the way and tried to pick up the shoe. “I can’t get it. It’s stuck. Do you think you could help me?” the girl asked.

  “Yes. How about if you bring the cat down here and watch Lily. I’ll come up there and see if I can get it.” Once Savannah reached the spot where Rags had found the shoe, she tugged on it, attempted to dig the dirt out from around it, and finally gasped and recoiled.

  “What’s wrong, Aunt Savannah? Can’t you get it?” the six-year-old asked.

  Savannah gulped and said, trying to remain calm, “Cassie, go get your mother, would you? Wait. I’ll come down and stay with Lily and Rags.” She made her way down to where Cassie was, took the leash, and pointed. “I see your mom on the other side of those trees.” She glanced down at Lily, then edged her phone out of her pocket while she watched Cassie run toward the stand of pines. “Hello, 911? This is Savannah Jordan. I’m at Brody’s Lodge and I think we—oh, my gosh, I think we just found a body.”

  Chapter 2

  Within the hour, the mountain resort was alive with emergency vehicles. Michael and Keith had returned by then, and they accompanied Savannah and a couple of investigators to the site where Rags had found the shoe. The children stayed back near the lodge with Gladys and Holly.

  “Ma’am, what were you doing climbing around up here?” the lead investigator, Detective Jerry Stahl, asked.

  “My sister-in-law and I took our children on a treasure hunt and our cat…” Savannah started.

  “Your cat? You took a cat on a…a treasure hunt?”

  Savannah nodded. “Yes. We followed him up to that pile of boulders and he led us to…um…it. We thought it was just a shoe and we were going to take it.” She chuckled nervously. “It would have meant points for our team.” When the detective looked at her, she said more quietly, “But maybe not so much if it has a foot in it.”

  The officer who accompanied them seemed amused. He asked, “What were you trying to find?” He offered her his hand. “By the way, I’m Officer Thomas.”

  “Hi. I’m Savannah Ivey. But then you know that. Well, we were looking for pieces of metal, something of value, pinecones, trash…things like that.”

  “Not a body, huh?” Officer Thomas quipped.

  “Absolutely not a body. We were interested in the shoe, though. One of the items on the list was a piece of clothing.” When she realized the detective was staring curiously at her, Savannah pointed. “Okay, do you see those two boulders up on that knoll? There’s a little trail between them and that’s where we found it.”

  The two men stared up at the boulders and Stahl shook his head. “Looks too steep for me. Thomas, you’re young and agile. Why don’t you go up there and see what you can find? I’ll come up if you need me to.” Before Thomas took the trail, the detective noticed a couple of other officers in the vicinity. He called out to them, “Hey, would one of you go up the hill with Thomas?”

  “Sure, Detective,” the younger of the two said.

  Savannah watched the men make their way up the steep, narrow trail. When she saw them looking around in the area where Rags had found the shoe, she called out, “It’s just left of there, sort of hidden in that tuft of grass.”

  “Oh, I see it,” Thomas said. He and the younger officer crouched to get a better look, then he stood and shouted, “Hey, someone bring that shovel and pickax up here, will you?”

  “What do you have?” the detective called out a few minutes later. He then decided to follow the trail up and see for himself.

  It didn’t take long for the three men to return with the shoe in a clear plastic bag. When the detective saw Savannah cringing, obviously afraid of what they might reveal, he said, “Just a shoe. That’s all. No body.” He gazed up at the knoll and said, “I guess that overnight rain a few days ago caused a little mud flow up there. That’s why it was buried like it was.”

  Savannah relaxed. “Thank heavens.”

  “But this might still be a crime scene,” he added.

  “What?” Keith asked. “Why’s that? If you don’t mind my asking.”

  Detective Stahl faced the Iveys and Keith. “Do you have a knife?”

  Michael patted his jeans pockets. “Um…not on me.”

  Keith shook his head.

  “Why?” Savannah asked.

  The detective thinned his lips and hesitated before saying, “Well we have the mate to this shoe down at headquarters and, if my guess is correct, this one will confirm that they belong to a missing person.” He glanced up for a second before saying, “We’re fairly certain that person has met with an accident or something worse.” He scratched his head and spoke as if thinking out loud. “But how did this shoe get so far away from where we found the other one?”

  This piqued Savannah’s curiosity. “Where did you find the other one?”

  Stahl looked at her. “Huh? Oh, well, down in the village near the group home—about an hour from here by car.”

  “When was that?” she asked.

  “Right after he went missing.”

  Keith took a step forward. “From the group home? What kind of group home? For seniors?”

  The detective laughed. “High school seniors, maybe.” He shook his head. “No, these are kids—you know, wayward kids and those without a suitable home. This lad just disappeared overnight.” He looked at Keith, then Savannah and Michael. “You haven’t seen a barefoot boy around here, have you?” When no one spoke up, he called out to the officers, “Anyone have a knife or something I can use to cut into this shoe?”

  “Here you are, sir,” Officer Thomas said, handing a pocket knife to the detective.

  Michael nudged Savannah. “Shall we get back to the family?”

  “Yeah,” she whispered, “after I see what they find in the shoe.”

  Keith couldn’t help but chuckle at his sister-in-law.

  Michael rolled his eyes. “She’s as curious as her cat.” When he saw the detective remove a laminated card from beneath the insole of the shoe, he asked, “What is it?”

  With a nod of
satisfaction, Stahl said, “Yup, this verifies that the shoe belongs to the missing boy, all right.” He glanced at the onlookers. “The caretakers at the home mark every item of clothing for each child in case one of them gets lost or runs away. They even glue these ID cards inside their shoes. But it was missing from the other shoe.” He slipped the card into his pants pocket, slapped the shoe against one hand, and said, “I think we have what we need.” He turned to Savannah. “Thank you for calling us and…” he chortled, “…tell your cat thanks.”

  “Sure will,” Savannah said. She quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket. “Wait. Let me get a picture, will you?” When the detective lowered his brow, she explained, “For the game. I need proof that we found a shoe.”

  Michael shook his head, then addressed the detective, “Good luck with your case.” “So what did they find?” Holly asked when the others had returned to the lodge.

  “Yeah, was there a body hooked to the foot?” Adam blurted.

  “A dead one?” Cassie questioned, wide-eyed.

  Keith put his arm across Cassie’s shoulders. “No dead bodies. Just a shoe.”

  “Bummer,” Adam said.

  “Adam,” Savannah scolded, “let’s not wish anyone dead.”

  He looked at her. “Well, if it wasn’t someone we know…”

  “Doesn’t matter, Son,” Michael said. “But no; no one has died that we know of. Someone is missing, though.”

  Savannah flashed a mischievous grin. “Yeah, I want to do some online research and see if I can find out who they’re looking for.” When she saw Michael smirk playfully at her, she asked, “Aren’t you curious to know who he is, where he went, why he left the group home, what has happened to him, how he lost his shoes so far apart from one another…?”

  “He’s barefoot?” Adam asked. “My friend goes around barefoot a lot.”

  Savannah looked at Adam just as her mother approached with Teddy in her arms. “Here, want to entertain your baby son while I set the table?” Gladys glanced around at the others. “Is everyone ready for lunch?”

  “I want pumpkin pie,” Cassie whined.