PAWSitively Sinister (A Klepto Cat Mystery Book 11) (4 page)

“Come on, Koko,” Arthur urged. “You can do it, girl.”

Meow. Meooowww
.

“She doesn’t seem to get it,” Suzette said. “What if I climb down and stand on it to show her?”

Arthur pondered the suggestion. “I don’t want you stepping in there and falling on that slippery ledge. Anyway it would probably work better if Rags showed her, don’t you think, Michael?”

He sighed. “Yeah, probably, buddy. Let’s give it a try. Come on Rags,” he said, picking up the cat. He stepped carefully onto the ledge and placed Rags on the ladder as far down as he could reach. He then used gestures to encourage the lanky cat to climb the rest of the way up and out of the hole in demonstration for Koko.

Rags, however, wasn’t in a climbing mood. He wanted to see what Koko was doing. The Siamese beauty simply ignored Rags and continued to yowl. Before Michael could react, Rags turned around on the ladder and jumped the remaining four feet into the pit. There was little Michael could do but let the leash go, lest the cat was left dangling a few feet above the dirt floor.

“Oh no!” Savannah said under her breath.

Michael grimaced. “Well, darn. Now we have both cats down there.”

With Arthur’s help, Michael climbed back up to ground level.

“What’s he doing?” Arthur asked, using the flashlight to peer into the pit. When the others moved in closer, he said, “I saw Rags pick something up in his mouth—good gosh, here he comes up the ladder with it.”

“Will you look at that,” Suzette said. “Now that’s something I’ve never seen before.”

“That’s because you hadn’t met Rags before,” Arthur said, chuckling.

When the large grey-and-white cat reached the ledge, Arthur leaned over and took the items from him. At the same time, Michael tried to grab the cat, but he wasn’t quick enough, and Rags promptly backed toward the ladder, stepped on the top rung, and carefully worked his way down to the bottom again. Everyone watched as the cat scooped up a few more documents and began to climb the ladder again.

“Let me get him,” Michael said, as Rags stepped on the top rung. He reached toward the cat and grabbed him before he could return to the hole. He then handed Arthur the papers Rags had retrieved.

At the same time, Suzette picked up the flashlight and shined it into the crater. “Hey, look at that!” she shouted. “Here she comes!”

The two couples leaned over and watched with delight as Koko began pulling herself out of the hole one rung at a time. When the spunky Siamese stepped up onto the ledge, Arthur quickly dropped the papers and leaned over the rim. Michael held onto the young man as he gripped the cat and brought her to safety.

“Hold onto her, buddy,” Michael instructed. “I saw a couple pieces of plywood outside the tool shed. Let me see if I can find one that will cover that hole. Then let’s go inside and examine those mysterious documents.”

Later that evening, the table in the large dining room of the Peyton Mansion was set to accommodate eight. Laura and Gail from the estate sale company joined the others for a lamb-chop dinner, and the conversation around the table was lively. During the course of the evening, Laura overheard Arthur and Savannah talking about the strange papers they had found.

“They were buried?” she asked.

“More like hidden in this pit,” Arthur explained.

“That’s fascinating,” Laura said. “Was it like a room down there with a filing cabinet or boxes?”

Savannah shook her head. “No, just a hole under an old fish pond or fountain. We found it when the guys dug up a strange empty metal box.”

“So it wasn’t a deep hole?”

“Yeah, it was,” Savannah said, nodding. “Too deep for the cats to climb out.”

Laura lowered her brow. “There were cats in there?”

Arthur chuckled. “No.
Our
cats went down there.”

“Oh no, Artie, how did you get them out?” Ruth asked, looking concerned.

“We thought that was going to be a giant problem,” Savannah said. “The pit is too narrow for any of us to climb into, so the guys lowered a ladder down there and...”

“Yeah,” Arthur interjected, “would you believe it, Ruthie? Koko climbed a ladder! Rags showed her how.”

Laura raised her eyebrows. “A cat did? Really?”

“So how did you get the papers out?” Gail asked.

Savannah said hesitantly, “Rags… ” she glanced in Michael’s direction, “our cat… he brought some of them up.”

“In his mouth?”

When Savannah and Arthur nodded, Laura said, “I’ve never known a cat to do something like that. Isn’t it kind of unusual behavior?” She looked at Savannah and then Michael. “Is he trained?”

The couple found that question humorous. “Not hardly,” Savannah said, chuckling.

Michael added, “In fact, we spend a lot of time trying to teach him
not
to do it.”

“Why?” Gail wondered.

Savannah and Michael made quick eye contact, and she said, “Because he tends to steal things. He’s a klepto cat.”

“Ohhh, I see,” Gail said. “I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never known one. So what does he take?” she asked, looking from Michael to Savannah.

“Just about anything he can carry,” Michael explained.

Savannah chimed in, “Paper money, letters, pill packets, keys, jewelry, the baby’s toys… he’s even been known to take bathing suits from unsuspecting neighbors… at least a couple of times.”

Michael laughed. “… not while they’re wearing them, of course.”

“I didn’t know he was a klepto,” Rupert said. “He was well-behaved while he was under my care in the cat room last time you were here. I did find out he’s an escape artist, though.”

“Yes,” Savannah said, grimacing. “He certainly caused a commotion with his Houdini act; nearly got my aunt killed.”

“Where is he now?” Rupert asked.

“In his pen. He hasn’t figured out how to pick the lock on his pen, yet,” she said.

“You lock it?”Arthur asked. “Aren’t you afraid of fire? How would anyone get him out of there in an emergency?”

Savannah shook her head. “Oh no, we don’t actually lock it with a key. The latch we use can easily be opened by anyone over eight years old.”

Michael added, “And as far as we know, Rags hasn’t figured out how to open it yet.”

Laura peered at the Iveys for a moment, then asked, “So what do you think the papers are? What do they mean? Who put them there?”

“You sure have a curious streak,” Gail said, laughing. She confided in the others. “She was a history major and loves digging up local history.”

“That’s why I do what I do,” Laura said. “I learn so much at these estate sales. But I haven’t worked one as grand and intriguing as this in years. There’s a lot of history here.” She leaned toward Savannah. “You know, some of the furnishings came with the house when the Peytons bought it. A few pieces may even be original—from the late 1800s.”

“I didn’t know that,” Arthur said. “So it’s pretty old stuff?”

“Do you know anything about some of the other people who lived here, Arthur?” Michael asked.

He shook his head.

“I do,” Laura said. “I got some insight today when the granddaughter of a former owner stopped in.”

“That was the woman who came with my sister,” Ruth said.

“Ruthie, your sister was here?” Arthur asked, his eyes wide.

“That’s right; I have not had a chance to talk to you. Yes, she came with the former resident. She did not know I worked here… or used to work here. She was surprised to learn that I had been your nanny for all those years, Artie. It was a very unexpected reunion.”

“So how did it go?” he asked. “I mean, will you… did she… ?” he stammered.

Ruth shook her head. “I do not know what will happen. If Mattie is ready to get off the streets and form a relationship with me, I am open to that.” She frowned. “But I will not tolerate the drug and alcohol lifestyle. That is for sure.”

Arthur smiled at Ruth, then asked Laura, “So when did this family live here?”

“I guess between the 1970s and early nineties.” She peered at Arthur. “Do you remember hearing anything about the Randall family—Gordon and Pamela Randall? They moved in with their son-in-law, who was raising a young child—Miriam. She’s the one who visited here with Ruth’s sister this afternoon.” She rolled her eyes. “She’s an… interesting individual.”

“How so?” Savannah asked.

“Well, kind of out of touch with reality, if you ask me. You know those two women are homeless—they both live on the streets of San Francisco.”

“Many of the homeless are living in another world, don’t you think?” Suzette interjected.

“My aunt and uncle, who mostly raised me, volunteer with the homeless and I help sometimes. Some of the men and women should be in treatment programs or institutions. Instead, they’re self-medicating with drugs and alcohol and living in squalor. The system, or in some cases, their families, have let them down.”

Laura thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. But she asked me something that I can’t stop thinking about.”

Arthur quickly looked up from his meal. “What?”

“She asked if we’d found the… awful secret.”

“What did she mean by that?” he asked.

“She didn’t elaborate. That’s all she said. She seemed a little frightened, actually. She didn’t stay long.” Laura took a sip from her water glass, then spoke to Arthur again. “She seemed fixated with one area of the house.” She hesitated before explaining. “Since she once lived here, I agreed to give her a tour.” She grinned sheepishly. “I thought I might learn more about the history of the place from her. Anyway,” she continued, “when we came to the basement door—the one that leads to your quarters, Arthur, she suddenly stopped and said she’d seen enough. Like I said, she seemed nervous and frightened. She couldn’t get back to the living room fast enough and then she left in a hurry to meet her friend outside.”

“Crazy,” Rupert said. “Awful secret, huh? Did she mean poor Artie being kept here secretly by his mother for all of those years?”

“I don’t think so,” Laura said, shaking her head slowly. She then addressed Arthur and Suzette. “So what’s in those papers you found today? I wonder if that’s the secret she’s talking about.”

Arthur responded. “They were personal documents—driver licenses, social security cards, insurance papers. One looked like part of a will.”

“All for the same person?” Rupert asked.

“No,” Suzette said. “That’s what’s really strange. We saw papers down there belonging to at least four different people, right?” She asked, glancing at the others.

“Yes,” Michael said. “Maybe more.”

“How many documents are there?” Laura asked.

After glancing at Arthur, Michael said, “It’s hard to tell. Our view to the bottom of that pit was somewhat obstructed.”

Gail put down her fork. “Sounds like an identity-theft ring to me.” She tilted her head. “Were people doing that before computers?”

“What were the dates on the things you found?” Laura asked.

Suzette said, “The driver license the cat brought up expired in 1975. And one of the other papers had a date of July 1964.”

“I could see through my telescope other similar dates. The latest date I saw was 1988,” Arthur explained.

“All dated around the time the Randalls were here,” Laura muttered.

“Yeah, and it seems that someone had a purpose for storing them there—that pit was very well hidden,” Michael said.

“Only… ” Arthur started.

“Only what?” Michael asked.

“Well, it seems to me that the papers were discarded rather than being stored.” He faced Michael. “Don’t you think?”

Michael shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so—like maybe they were tossed down into that hole before it was sealed off.”

“But if the object was to dispose of them, why didn’t they destroy them?” Arthur asked. “They could have burned them in that old incinerator.”

“Could someone have kept the documents for blackmail purposes?” Savannah asked, glancing around at the others. When no one responded, she said, “Okay, so what do we know? That it was probably the Randalls who tossed those papers in there.”

“Or,” Suzette interrupted, holding one finger in the air, “someone who worked for them.”

Everyone stared at Suzette for a moment, digesting what she had said.

“But why?” Savannah asked no one in particular. “Who are these people, and why did someone have their private papers?”

“Yeah, what do these people have in common?” Arthur said.

“Ah yes,” Michael said. “Good question. What did they have in common?”

“They all must have known the person who put their papers in that pit,” Suzette suggested. “That’s one common denominator.”

“But,” Arthur said with an air of intrigue, “were those papers given over to this person or did he steal them?”

“And why?” Savannah added.

****

“I’ve been thinking about how we can get the rest of those papers out of that pit,” Michael said the next morning at breakfast.

Arthur glanced up from his meal. “Did you come up with anything?”

“I have a couple of ideas.” He leaned forward. “Do you think it’s important that we retrieve them?”

While Arthur thought about the question, Suzette responded, “They must be important, Michael, or why would someone have gone to so much trouble to preserve them like that?”

Michael chuckled. “That’s still the mystery, isn’t it—did they hide them or discard them? Maybe the answer is in the papers, themselves. I think we should try to get our hands on them.”

“I agree,” Arthur said. He grinned. “Maybe it’s the wannabe attorney in me, but I can’t stop thinking about how those documents wound up down there.”

Savannah’s eyes widened. “You still want to be an attorney, Arthur? I thought you’d given up on that.”

He grimaced. “Yeah, I don’t particularly want to get involved with the courtroom drama, but I’m still intrigued by the investigative aspect of the profession.” He laughed. “You know how I like trying to figure out puzzles.”

“Well, I’m kinda curious, too,” Michael confessed.

More excitedly now, Arthur asked, “How do you suggest we approach the project?”

“It seems to me we need to make that hole wide enough so that one of us can climb down in there. From what I could see, the pit is wider at the bottom.”