Patricia Fry - Klepto Cat 05 - The Colony Cat Caper Read online

  Adam knelt down and peered into the crawl space again. “I see some cats. I see their eyes.”

  Michael walked over, squatted next to him, and said, “Son, these cats are what you call feral.”

  “Oh, like some of those at Aunt Maggie’s and Uncle Max’s.”

  “That’s right, and they’re afraid of people. Some of them are more frightened than others.” He looked Adam in the eye and said, “I sorta thought maybe you could make friends with one or two of them today. People your size have a way with animals that sometimes big people don’t.”

  “You mean kids?” Adam said.

  “Yeah, kids. Even frightened animals will sometimes relate to kids. Now, I don’t want you to try picking any of them up, but you might entice one of the younger ones to play.” Michael pulled something out of his back pocket. “I brought this roll of yellow cord for you to drag around. If you walk and wiggle it behind you, some of the cats might come out and play. Want to try it?”

  “Okay.” He looked around. “Then can we go exploring?”

  Michael glanced over at Savannah, who was sitting in one of the chairs watching him and his son. He winked at her and then said to Adam, “Yeah, we can go exploring. Sounds like fun.” He squeezed the boy’s shoulder. “But first work—okay?”

  Adam took on a serious look. “Okay, work.”

  “Do you want to drag that hose over here and fill these water bowls?”

  “Yeah. I can do that!” Adam said as he ran toward the spigot. After a few moments he called out, “I can’t turn it on. It’s too hard.”

  “Dang, been meaning to fix that,” Michael said. “Where are those pliers, Savannah?”

  “In Auntie’s car, I’m afraid. But there might be some in my car. Go look in the trunk.”

  Michael stood and thought for a moment, ran his hand through his hair and then said, “Heck, maybe I can turn it.” He took his usual long strides over to where Adam stood at the spigot, got a good grip on the handle, and strained to turn it. Finally it loosened just enough to release a slow steady stream of water.

  “What are those cages under the building for?” Adam asked as he held the hose and allowed water to trickle into the cats’ water bowls.

  “They’re traps.” When Michael saw Adam’s scowl, he added, “Not harmful traps—just cage traps. We want to catch the cats and examine them to make sure they’re not sick.”

  Adam leaned over as far as he could and peered under the building again. “I don’t think you caught anything, Dad.”

  “Well, let’s see,” he said. Kneeling, he reached in with Margaret’s cane and pulled one of the humane traps out. “You’re right. Nothing in this one.” He grabbed the other one and pulled it out. “This one’s empty, too.” He leaned back on his heels and scratched his head. He then examined the traps more closely. “Savannah,” he said, “these traps were sprung.”

  “Well, yeah, I can see that—and still no cats inside.”

  He furrowed his brow. “So did someone spring the traps before the cats got inside, or did they let the cats out?”

  “Why would someone let them out?” she asked.

  “Oh, people do all kinds of odd things, Savannah. Who knows?” He thought for a minute and then said, “In fact, people probably wonder why we want to trap cats. They think we’re odd.” He squinted his eyes and looked more closely at one of the traps. He motioned to Savannah. “Come here. Look at this.”

  She eased up out of the chair and walked over to where Michael knelt. “Most of this tuna is gone. It looks like a cat has been in here. I’ll just bet someone did let it out.”

  She sighed. “That’s disappointing. How in the world can we help these cats if we have someone working against us?” She walked back over and sat in the chair. “Who could it be?” She leaned forward and said, “An elderly gentleman came one day when we were here. He didn’t seem any too happy about what we were doing. I wonder if he’s sabotaging our efforts.”

  “Water bowls are finally full,” Adam said with a deep sigh. “That took a long time…drip, drip…drip,” he mimicked.

  Michael smiled over at his son. “Okay, I’ll turn off the faucet. Good job, Adam.” He grabbed the bag of kibbles and filled the food bowls, then pushed them into the crawl space. He looked over at the boy, winked, and said, “Want to go scavenging while the cats eat?”

  “Sca-ven-ging?” he questioned.

  “Uh, searching for treasures,” Michael explained.

  “Sure,” he said, his face lighting up.

  Michael smiled over at Savannah. “Wanna come?”

  “I think I’ll just sit and watch the cats. The sun feels good,” she said, looking up at the sky, “whenever it peeks out from behind those clouds.”

  “Okay, see you later.”

  “’Bye Savannah,” Adam said with a wave.

  She waved at them and then settled back to enjoy the intermittent warmth.

  When Michael and Adam returned, Michael stopped in his tracks. He quickly held his hand out to halt his son’s forward motion. “Will you look at that,” Michael whispered. He pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket, snapped a picture, and then grinned down at Adam, who was also smiling. Just then Savannah stirred. She opened her eyes, raised her head, and looked around. “Oh hi,” she said when she spotted Michael and Adam. She sat up, moved her feet from their resting spot on the second chair, and yawned.

  “Awww, you scared them away,” Adam said as he rushed toward Savannah eager to show her his treasures.

  “Scared who?” She sat up straight, looking from side to side.

  Adam grinned. “The cats.”

  “Yeah,” Michael said, “there were cats over here watching you sleep.”

  “There were?” she looked down at the ground around her, behind her.

  He held his phone out for her to see the photo. “Oh my gosh, look how close they were. There’s one of the pretty—dirty—white ones. Wish I could get my hands on that one; give it a bath and a pristine environment. It doesn’t belong out here.” Her voice cracked. “Oh darn…none of them do. This just makes me so mad…and sad.”

  “It’s okay honey,” Michael said.

  She looked up at him and then over at Adam, who stared back through wide blue eyes.

  “I’m sorry, Adam,” she said. “I just don’t like to see cats mistreated—well, none of us do.”

  Adam asked solemnly, “Is somebody hurting them?”

  “No, I don’t think so, but cats shouldn’t have to live under a building. They should be in homes with people to take care of them.”

  Adam thought for a moment and then said, “Those cats I saw didn’t look sad. Maybe they like camping out.”

  Savannah couldn’t help it; she chuckled. “Camping?” she said. “Yeah, I guess that’s one way to look at it; they’re camping out. Camping is fun, isn’t it Adam?” she said, patting him on the chest. “You know, you sure have a way of making me smile.” She pulled him to her in a hug. “I just love that about you.”

  When she let him go, he stepped back a little. Head down, hands in pockets, he shrugged. “I guess I just don’t have anything to be sad about,” he said.

  Savannah glanced up at Michael and saw him press his lips together and wipe at his eyes. He took a deep breath before saying, “So, wanna show Savannah your treasures?”

  “Yeah,” he said enthusiastically as he reached deep into one of his front pockets and pulled out a closed fist. He turned his hand over and opened it.

  “A marble…wow. That’s a nice one—a cat-eye, right?” Savannah asked.

  “Yeah,” he said excitedly. And then hesitantly, he asked, “But not a real one, right?”

  Savannah glanced at Michael, who was smiling. She looked back over at Adam. “Certainly, not a real cat-eye; no. But it’s a fine marble. And a bottle cap off of…”

  “RC Cola,” he said, turning it over to show her.

  “Good job. What else is here? A screw—gold screw. Nice,” she said.
r />   “And a penny. I found it over by the big trash box.”

  She hesitated. “Oh, the Dumpster? Cool.”

  “I found cigarettes and a bandage and…what else, Dad? Oh a bottle for winos.”

  Savannah laughed. “A wine bottle?”

  “Yes. Dad said I couldn’t bring that stuff home. I found rocks, but Dad said they weren’t usual, so I should leave them here.”

  “They weren’t unusual,” Michael corrected. “They were just ordinary.”

  Savannah squeezed Adam’s shoulder. “Well, you did pretty good.” She looked at Michael, who sat in a chair next to her. “What do you have there? Did you find a treasure, too?”

  “Oh,” he said, looking down at the object in his hand, “I believe it’s part of an emblem off an old car.”

  “I found it; Dad’s just carrying it for me ’cause it won’t fit in my pocket,” Adam said, taking the piece of chrome from Michael and showing it to Savannah.”

  “Hmm, I wonder what kind of car,” she said.

  “Dad said maybe a…what did you call it, Dad?”

  “Could be from a Hudson or a Nash.”

  “We’re going to look it up on the computer,” Adam said.

  “Way cool, guys. Hey, how about some water? You’re probably thirsty after all of that exploring.” She pulled three plastic water bottles out of her tote bag and handed one each to Michael and Adam.

  “Are you ready to try playing with one of the cats now?” Michael asked. “…if they’re not all sleeping after having a good meal.”

  “Yeah, I guess,” Adam said.

  Michael took out his pocketknife, which drew Adam to him immediately. “What’s that?” he asked.

  “Pocketknife.”

  “Why do you have it?”

  “It’s actually a tool—you can cut with it,” he said as he cut a piece of the cord from the roll. “You can use it as a screwdriver—see the flat edge on this blade? You can open packages with it, whittle—do all kinds of things.”

  “Cool.” Adam stood quietly for a moment and then said, “We can’t bring knives to school.”

  “Well, of course you can’t. Knives are tools for adults.” He handed Adam the cord and said, “Now, I’ll sit here with Savannah, and you walk slowly over to the hole and see if you can get any cats interested in playing. Just walk back and forth dragging the cord.”

  Adam did as Michael suggested, moving slowly toward the hole and wriggling the cord at the entrance.

  “I see a couple of cats watching you,” Michael said. “Just walk around, slowly.”

  “Oh!” Adam exclaimed, as a cat edged out from under the building, crouched, and then pounced on the cord the boy dragged through the soft dirt. “That scared me,” he said giggling.

  Savannah and Michael laughed. “You caught something,” she said.

  “Yeah, a cat-fish,” Adam said. He then stopped. “Hey, there really are catfish, but I caught a cat that isn’t a fish.”

  Adam was able to engage four of the young cats in various levels of play. A few of the adult cats were curious enough to sit just inside the crawl space and watch the action. After about fifteen minutes and several rounds of laughter, Savannah said, “Adam, when you’re through fishing, let’s go back to the house and have hot dogs and root beer floats.”

  “Okay!” He looked down at the cat that had been attacking his cord and said, “I think we’re tired now. Can we go eat?”

  “Sure,” Michael said. “Let me set the traps again and we’ll be off.” Once that task was accomplished, Michael folded the chairs and headed for the car, carrying them.

  Adam followed along, continuing to drag the cord. He looked up at Savannah and said, “Hey, maybe Rags, Walter, and Buffy will want to play cat-fish.”

  “Could be,” she said. Then she asked Adam, “Did you bring another pair of jeans?”

  “Yeah, I think so. Why?” he asked.

  “I want to wash the ones you’re wearing. You and your cat-fish really got those dirty.”

  ***

  Later, Savannah carried a load of jeans into the service porch, including Adam’s pair. He had since changed his clothes. Before tossing the jeans into the washer, she checked all the pockets for tissue, money and other things left-behind. When she got to Adam’s jeans, she was pleased to discover that he had done a pretty good job of emptying his pockets. The front pockets were empty, except for a little dirt, which she dumped into a nearby trash can. She squeezed the back pockets, however, and felt something in one of them. She reached in and pulled out a photograph. Hmm, she thought. I wonder where he got this? She stuffed it into one of her pockets, started the washing machine, and headed back out to the wrap-around porch where Michael stood grilling the wieners and Adam sat nibbling on chips out of a bag. “Hey Adam, where’d you get this?” she asked holding up the photograph.

  “Oh, that’s one of my treasures. I found it way behind the big house.”

  When she looked puzzled, Michael said, “The Fischer building. We walked around to the other side. Do you know who it is?”

  “No,” she said taking another quick look. And then she stopped and looked hard at the photograph. “Wait!” she said, causing Adam to stop mid-bite and Michael to look up from the grill. Savannah tapped her finger against the photo. “This is the same guy in that picture Colbi found at her house after the meeting, only…” she hesitated “…in a different pose.”

  “Who is it?” Michael asked, walking over to take a look.

  “I don’t have the slightest idea. Never saw him before. Iris thinks she might have seen him or his dad in the diner.” She continued to stare down at the picture. “He’s really rather non-descript—he looks slight, blond, really nothing outstanding about him. He’s not bad looking, but…”

  “You mean no pimples or scars or crossed eyes…?” Michael said.

  Adam laughed, which spurred Michael on. “No tongue sticking out…” He stuck his tongue out in an attempt to look scary.

  Adam laughed louder.

  “No fang teeth,” Michael said eerily. “No…”

  “No cat ears,” Adam said laughing.

  “Yeah, no cat ears or dog nose…”

  “You two are silly,” Savannah said grinning and shaking her head.

  ***

  After two days of fun and frolic with Adam, Savannah and Michael drove him home. On their way back, Savannah said, “So what are we going to do about our trapping project?”

  “Our trapping project?” Michael asked, winking over at her.

  She smiled, arched her eyebrows.

  “Yeah, okay,” he said, “I guess I’m involved, whether I want to be or not.” He thought for a moment and then said, “I don’t know, Savannah. I think Max is right—it seems that the traps are being sabotaged.”

  “I wonder who could be doing it and why?”

  Michael was quiet for a while and then he asked, “Do you know anyone who has outside video cameras? Maybe you could set up cameras and catch someone in action.”

  Savannah straightened her posture and turned in her seat. “I love it! Yes, that’s what we’ll do. I’m calling Auntie right now.”

  Chapter Six

  “Yoo-hoo,” Margaret called as she stepped into Savannah’s and Michael’s living room Monday just after noon. “Shouldn’t leave your door unlocked, you know.”

  Savannah replied from the bedroom just down the hall, “I only unlocked it because I knew you were on your way over. Be out in a minute.”

  Colbi’s here, too,” Margaret said loudly.

  “Hi Savannah,” Colbi called out.

  “Hi girlfriend,” Savannah said as she walked through the bedroom door and into the hallway toward the living room. She hugged Colbi and then her aunt.

  Margaret looked down at Savannah’s stomach. “Gads, you can’t get much bigger, can you?”

  “Every month I think the same thing,” Savannah said, easing into a sitting position on the edge of a wingback chair.

  �
��What’s this?” Colbi asked, picking up a photograph lying on the coffee table.

  “Oh yeah, I wanted to show that to you guys,” Savannah said. “Adam found it this weekend.”

  “Where?”

  “You’re not gonna believe this…” she said.

  “Where?” Colbi asked again.

  Margaret gasped. “Not on your property, Vannie?”

  “No.” Savannah shook her head. “But almost as weird—out at the Fischer place.”

  Margaret drew her brows together; her mouth agape. “What?” she said.

  “That is weird,” Colbi said. “I’m stunned. How…I mean…what’s going on?”

  “Yeah, he said he found it toward the back of the building.” She walked over and looked at it as Colbi held it. “Looks like it’s been out there for a while. It’s the same guy as the one in the picture you found, isn’t it, Colbi? Only a different pose.”

  “Yes. I think so. He looks like he’s modeling or something, doesn’t he?”

  “Yes, in both shots. Speaking of photos,” Savannah said, looking from Margaret to Colbi, “were you able to put your hands on some surveillance cameras?”

  “Yes,” Colbi said excitedly. “Damon and I put them up last night. And we checked the video this morning.”

  “So what did you see?” Savannah asked eagerly.

  “A lot of cats,” Colbi said grinning, “and…”

  “And what?” Margaret insisted. “I don’t like suspense, tell us.”

  Savannah laughed out loud. “You don’t like suspense, Auntie?”

  She gave her niece a sheepish look and said, “Well, unless I’m creating it, I guess.”

  Colbi laughed and then said, “Okay, here’s the deal, ladies. Yes, someone is letting the cats out of the traps and we think we know why. The camera has sound and you ought to hear those cats yeowl when they get caught. We couldn’t see who released the cats last night—didn’t get a look at his face—but it may be someone from that tract behind the old place, who can’t sleep through all that noise.”

  “Oh, well that makes sense,” Savannah said.

  “Yeah,” Margaret agreed. “So it isn’t someone with a greater cause.”