Cats in Cahoots (A Klepto Cat Mystery Book 18) Read online

  “I don’t know. Better look at your garden and see if anything’s missing.”

  “Are you sure he’s gone?” Craig asked, shining the light out over the orchard.

  “I’m pretty sure,” Brianna said. “He sprinted in that direction and disappeared.”

  “Well, let’s take a look around, then,” Craig suggested. “Savannah, do you notice anything missing?”

  “Um, it’s hard to tell. But wait, yeah, looks like someone picked carrots. Maybe Antonio took some home.” She turned and listened for a moment. “Do you hear that?”

  “What?”

  “That haunting sound. It seems to be coming from the Crane’s house.”

  “Yeah, what is that?” Craig asked, creasing his brow. “A whine from a saw? Is Mr. Crane a builder or carpenter?”

  “He’s a minister—a tattooed minister.”

  “But he could do carpenter work as a hobby like Michael does,” Max suggested.

  Brianna shivered. “Sounds to me like an animal.”

  “That’s what I thought the first time I heard it,” Savannah revealed.

  “Or a baby,” Iris said. “Oh, it stopped.”

  Savannah rubbed her upper arms. “Well, it’s chilly out here. Let’s go inside, shall we?”

  “So what was it?” Margaret asked when the others returned to the kitchen.

  “It’s more like who was it?” Brianna said.

  “Someone was out there?” Gladys whispered. “Who? What were they doing?”

  Brianna grimaced. “We’re not sure. Maybe picking carrots. If he planned to take anything else, we may have scared him off before he did.”

  Iris yawned and said to Savannah, “Well, girlfriend, this has been delightful. Thank you for including us.” She turned to Craig. “I have an appointment with a new client in the morning, I should get to bed.” She put her hand on Savannah’s arm. “It’s for the new people who bought that big old house on the other side of the lumber yard. They want to do a complete renovation.” She shivered with excitement. “Sure hope I get that decorating job.”

  “Wouldn’t that be a fun one? Good luck with it.”

  In the meantime, Craig hugged Savannah. “Thanks. I had a great time, except…”

  “Except what?” she asked, lowering her brow.

  “Except you guys all beat me at the trivia game…again.”

  Margaret chuckled. “I guess you’ll have to study harder next time, Craig.”

  Max waved as he and Margaret stepped out through the front door. “Night all.”

  “Night, Max…Auntie,” Savannah called after them. “Thank you for everything. It was super delicious.”

  “Yes, wonderful,” Gladys said.

  “You’re all welcome. See you soon.”

  “That was fun,” Brianna said as Savannah closed the front door. “I really miss evenings like this. My life is so one-dimensional.”

  “Well, move your practice here to Hammond and join in on all the crazy fun we have,” Savannah suggested.

  “I might think about that,” she said as she headed up the stairs.

  “You too, Mom,” Savannah said, hugging her.

  “Oh, I don’t know, Vannie. I kind of like my quiet life down south.”

  As Gladys started to take the stairs, Savannah asked, “Mom, what did Melanie say when you talked to her earlier this evening?”

  Her face brightened. “Oh, they’ll be here tomorrow around noon. I told her we’d have sandwiches and cold drinks ready. Is that okay with you, Vannie?”

  “Sure. It’ll be fun to see them. I’d better get to bed, too. We’ll probably be up late tomorrow catching up with Mel and her family.” She waved to her sister and mother as she headed toward the downstairs hallway. “Sleep tight.”

  Chapter 3

  ****

  The Ivey household had been quiet for a couple of hours when Savannah was suddenly awakened by the sound of shattering glass. She sat straight up in bed. Her first thought was of her child. When she didn’t hear anything more, she slipped into her robe and headed toward the nursery. Sleeping like an angel, she thought to herself. She yawned. Rags must have knocked something off a shelf. I’ll check it out tomorrow. However, when she stepped out of the nursery, she saw a flicker of light coming from the living room. Fire! Is something on fire in there? Oh my gosh, did we forget to blow out one of the candles? She rushed down the hall, then stopped abruptly, her heart in her throat. Dear God, the alarm. I forgot to set the alarm. Mustering all the courage she could, she shouted at the figures she saw moving through the near darkness in the room. “Who are you and what do you want?”

  A split-second later, she was blinded by a bright light. A gruff voice demanded, “You know what we want. Now where is it? Hand it over and no one gets hurt.”

  This can’t be happening, Savannah thought to herself. It’s surreal. Am I dreaming? Confused and weak in the knees, she insisted, “You must be at the wrong place. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Naw, we followed you here. We know you have it and you must have found it by now. So, give it up, sister. Where is it—in the baby’s room?”

  “No!” she shouted, feeling a surge of anger and panic rush through her body. “Tell me what you want and I’ll get it! I swear, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Diamonds,” a woman’s voice said. “It’s with the baby.”

  “Huh? How?” She shook her head in an effort to clear her mind and try to make sense of what was taking place. When the man began shining the light around the living room and into the dining room, Savannah caught a glimpse of him and his companion. She pointed at the woman. “Oh my gosh, we saw you downtown today.” She lowered her brow. “You were arrested.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” the man said. “We took something and now you have it. It’s in the baby’s bag.”

  “The baby’s bag?” she repeated quietly. She peered at him sideways. “You put something in the stroller.”

  “Yeah,” he said. “And I want it back.”

  “Well, I don’t think I can help you,” she said, her mind reeling with the very real fear that these two would not believe her. “Whatever you put in the bag must have fallen out, because I emptied it this evening and there’s nothing in there.”

  Obviously riled, the man rushed to Savannah, grabbed her by one arm, and poked something in her ribs. “You’d better find it missy, and quick. We don’t have much time.” He glanced nervously at the windows. “Get it,” he hissed, pushing her toward the staircase. “Now!”

  When Savannah looked up and saw Brianna standing in the shadows on the second-floor landing with her phone to her ear, she quickly said, “The bag’s not up there—it’s down here. I tell you, I’m not lying. I did not find anything in that bag. Wait here; I’ll go get it.”

  “Not on your life,” the man said, pushing her toward the hallway.

  “Shhh, please don’t wake my baby,” she said, struggling to walk as he shoved her along. “It’s just inside the door. I’ll grab it and we can go back to the living room.”

  “Get it!” the man ordered his female companion, who followed along behind them.

  Savannah watched as the woman stepped into the baby’s room, looked around using her flashlight, and picked up the diaper bag. The man let go of Savannah and quickly grabbed the bag, shining his light into it.

  But Savannah focused on the woman. She’s only a girl, she thought. She stole a look at him. His daughter? She wondered. She can’t be more than sixteen.

  In the meantime, the man tossed the bag aside and scowled at Savannah. “Not here.”

  She gritted her teeth. “I told you I didn’t find it. It must have dropped out someplace—on the street, perhaps.”

  “In the car?” the girl suggested meekly.

  “Go look,” the man ordered. “I’ll keep an eye on her.”

  But before the young woman could leave through the front door, they were distracted by
something they heard above them. The man looked up just in time to see a wooden stool fly through the air over the stair railing and right toward him. He turned away and it hit him across the back, knocking him to the floor. The girl screamed. Before Savannah could react, Brianna ran down the stairs and headed for the man.

  Savannah was horrified. What does she think she’s going to do? She’s no match for him and he has a gun…at least I think it’s a gun.

  Before Brianna reached the man, however, he turned and aimed the handgun at her. She froze in place.

  “Anyone else up there?” the man growled.

  “Uh…no,” Brianna said, stepping back toward where Savannah stood.

  “Go look,” he ordered the girl. When she hesitated, he hollered, “Go!” And she took off up the staircase like a scared rabbit.

  When she returned, she was walking alongside a sleepy-eyed Gladys, who asked quietly,

  “What’s going on? Who are you people?”

  “All of you sit,” the man insisted after the young woman had led Gladys into the dining room. He waved his pistol in the direction of the staircase. “Sit!” he demanded. He handed the woman the gun. “Hold this on them. I’m going out to get something.” He started to leave, but stopped and glared at the three women, who were seated on the lower steps of the staircase. “If they so much as move a muscle, shoot.”

  The three victims watched as he left, then their focus turned to the young woman. Savannah was first to speak. “What are you doing with that guy, anyway? It looks like he’s about to ruin your life.”

  “Shut up,” the woman spat.

  “She’s right,” Brianna said. “Being arrested for burglary is one thing; kidnapping is something else. Do you know how long you’ll stay behind bars for that charge?” Her voice cracked. “Make it murder and you’ll never see the light of day again.” She swallowed hard. “If I were you, I’d rethink what you’re doing. There’s time, you know.”

  “No!” she said. “Stan’s good to me. He takes care of me. No one else has ever cared about me like he does.”

  Savannah spoke up again. “Yeah, he’s really taking good care of you. You know, if you end up in prison, you’ll probably never see him again. Is that how you want it?”

  “I do what he says. He’s more experienced in life than I am. He’s watching out for me.” She smiled weakly. “I’ll be just fine.”

  Soon the man returned with a large roll of duct tape. After wrapping each of his victim’s wrists together behind her back, he demanded of Savannah, “Where are the car keys?”

  She nodded toward her purse, which was sitting on the buffet a short distance away in the dining room, and he promptly dumped it. He found the ring of keys and headed for the front door again. When he returned, he said, disgustedly, “Nothing.” Now appearing even more angered, he took the gun from the gal and aimed it at Savannah. “Where is it?”

  Suddenly, the girl began to look worried. “Stan, maybe she’s telling the truth. Maybe it fell out somewhere downtown.”

  He turned and glared at her, then mimicked her. “Maybe elephants can fly.” At that, he turned the gun on her and warned, “Maybe I just ought to …”

  Before he could finish, they heard another voice call out, “Sheriff! Drop it! Drop it, now!”

  “Jim! Ben!” Savannah said, feeling a sense of relief. However, when she saw the man turn and point the gun at the deputies, she cringed and quickly looked away, expecting to hear a shot ring out. Instead, she heard a scuffle and someone shouting something about a damn cat. When she dared to look in the intruder’s direction again, she was surprised to see him lying face-down on the floor, Deputy Ben straddling him and locking a pair of handcuffs around his wrists.

  “What happened?” she asked when she saw Deputy Jim rush to pick up the weapon the man had dropped. Just then Savannah saw Rags leap through the banister posts onto the third step and dash halfway up the staircase. Oh my gosh, he must have tripped the guy. She watched as the cat licked his coat. I hope he wasn’t hurt. When she determined that he looked unharmed, she turned her attention back to the intruders. Deputy Ben had the man sitting against a wall and Deputy Jim had cuffed the young woman, easing her down next to her partner.

  Still in a state of shock, Savannah glanced at her sister and her mother, who seemed even more alarmed than she felt. But before she could utter a word, she heard another voice. “You ladies have sure found yourselves in a pickle tonight, haven’t you?”

  “Craig,” Savannah said when he approached her and began cutting the tape off her wrists.

  Ben released the other two women.

  “So what’s going on?” the detective asked, looking from the women to the intruders. He and the deputies waited for an explanation and all three women began talking at once.

  “Good God, one at a time,” Craig begged. “Savannah, you go first.”

  “Well, they got in here somehow—I guess they broke a window or something.”

  “Didn’t you set your alarm?” he scolded.

  She winced. “No, I forgot. Michael does it when he’s here.” She buried her face in her hands for a moment. “He’s going to be furious.”

  Craig nodded. “Yeah, I imagine so.” He asked, “Do you know what they want?”

  Savannah swallowed hard before saying, “Diamonds.”

  “Diamonds?” Craig repeated.

  “They took them from a store downtown and…” her voice accelerated, “…we saw them being chased and...” She choked up.

  That’s when Deputy Jim jumped in. “Yeah, Detective, there was a jewelry store burglary at Lana’s Jewelers today—a man and a woman matching their description. They got away with a pricey diamond necklace.”

  “Is that right?” Craig said, gazing into the eyes of the women who still sat huddled on the steps. He scratched his head, cleared his throat, and asked, “So, pray tell, how did you three get involved in a jewelry heist?”

  “They said they put diamonds in Lily’s diaper bag while we were shopping. I didn’t find anything in there. We haven’t seen any diamonds.” Before Savannah could continue, she noticed that something had caught the detective’s eye. When he started to chuckle, the three women quickly looked in the direction he stared.

  “I don’t believe it!” Brianna said.

  Gladys gasped. “Oh my goodness!”

  “Rags!” Savannah shouted. “Where did you get that?” She raced up the staircase toward the cat, who quickly dropped something at his feet. She could only stare at it for a moment, then finally said, “As Auntie would say, ‘holy cow!’ Would you look at this?” She picked it up in her hands and walked slowly down the stairs, holding it out for the others to see.

  “Wow!” Brianna said, taking it from her sister. “Isn’t it exquisite?”

  “It surely is,” Gladys agreed. She glanced at the handcuffed couple. “Is this what those criminals were looking for?”

  “That’s a good guess,” Craig said, taking the necklace from her and handing it over to Deputy Jim. He had started to turn away, when he noticed something else. He approached the young woman and asked, “What’s your name, miss?”

  She tightened her lips and looked down at her lap.

  “All right,” he said, “have it your way. We can arrest you tonight or turn you over to your parents—that is, if you’re as young as you look. It’s up to you. Do you want to go to jail and see how the scum of the earth live or would you rather sleep in your own bed tonight?” When she appeared to be listening to what he was saying, he added, “If you take option two, you’d better be prepared to straighten up—make better choices, listen to your parents, go to school, and stop mingling with knuckleheads like this.”

  “I…I’m Jessica…uh…Jessica Adamson. I live in Straley.”

  “Okay, Jessica. How did you hook up with this jewel thief, anyway? Or was it your idea to take the bauble?”

  She shook her head and revealed, “I met him online. He sounded so nice. W
anted to meet me.”

  “How old are you?” Craig asked.

  “Almost fifteen.”

  “Gawd,” Stan said, turning away from her. “She told me she was twenty. I swear. Look at her; she looks twenty.”

  Jessica nodded. “Yeah, I did tell him that. He said he was twenty-five.”

  Craig chuckled. “That ship sailed—what—twenty years ago?” He studied Stan’s face. “What are you, forty-five, forty-six?”

  “Forty-nine, according to his driver license,” Ben said.

  Jessica lowered her head in shame.

  “Will you give the deputies your parents’ phone number and address?” Craig asked. When she nodded, he motioned toward the deputies. “They’re all yours.”

  As soon as Ben and Jim had driven off with their prisoners, Savannah rushed to the nursery to check on Lily. “Sleeping like a baby,” she reported when she returned to the living room.

  “How do you think they got in?” Craig asked.

  Savannah shook her head. “I don’t know. I heard a crash, like glass breaking.”

  “Let’s look around,” he suggested, after checking the windows in the living room and dining room.

  “Oh, it’s the glass in the kitchen door…again…” Savannah said.

  “This happens often?” Brianna asked, her eyes wide.

  “Not really, but it has happened a few times,” she said, watching Craig examine the door.

  He asked, “Does Michael have a piece of plywood around here?”

  Savannah flipped on the porch light and stepped outside with a flashlight. “I’m sure he does. Come on; I’ll show you where he keeps stuff like that.”

  Once Craig had chosen a small piece of plywood from some that were leaning against a wall in the shed, he asked, “Do you know where Michael keeps his hammer? I’ll need nails, too.” When he noticed that she was staring down at the floor, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “Some of his tools seem to be missing.”

  “Did he take them with him?” Craig asked.

  “I can’t imagine why he would. No, I’m sure he didn’t take them. He keeps his hammer and other tools he uses a lot in a wooden caddy right there,” she pointed. “Antonio and I cleaned this shed out a week or so ago and I know it was here when we finished.” She looked around. “Where could it be?”