Karen Anne Golden - The Cats That 05 - The Cats that Watched the Woods (12 page)

Chapter Fifteen

“Get up, already,” Katherine’s mom scolded. “It’s seven-thirty, and you’ll be late for school.”

“Mom, I’m sick. I don’t feel good.”

“Not one of your more creative excuses, but I’ve got to be at work at nine, and I thought we’d ride the subway together.”

“Yes, Mom, but there isn’t a subway in Erie.”

“Of course not, silly goose. What are you babbling about? Get up,” her mom said adamantly. Then in a serious tone, “If you’re going to survive this, you must get up!”

“Okay,” Katherine startled. Her brisk movement scared Scout and Abra, who were snuggled against her. Scout flinched.

“I’m sorry, my treasures. I had a bad dream—a sad dream. I miss my mom.” A tear slid down from Katherine’s eye.

Scout got up and did a full stretch; Abra snuggled up more.

“Oh, great,” she said sarcastically. “We’re still in the crawlspace.” Carefully sitting up, she cried, “Ouch! Ouch!”

The lantern next to her was still on. Looking around, she could see that the crawlspace was a small area with a dirt floor. It had an earthy smell to it, and some other smell she couldn’t quite identify.

It was daylight and she noticed that one end of the crawlspace was open to the outside. A crisscrossed wood lattice covered the opening, and tiny beams of light filtered through. She didn’t know what the function of the lattice was, because clearly an animal or bird could get in and out without much effort.

“Where’s the crow?” she asked the Siamese.

Abra blinked a kiss, got up and walked to the corner.

“I hope he’s flown off to join his owner.”

Scout’s pink tongue was partially sticking out; she had a mischievous glint in her blue eyes. She trotted over to Katherine’s right side and patted her paw on a bottle of water, an energy bar, and a very dead catfish.

“Yuck, that’s the smell,” Katherine said, scooching back. She opened the bottle and drank most of it, then ate the energy bar. The Siamese looked at her curiously. Scout cried, “Waugh,” which sounded like “Are you going to eat the fish or not?”

“Thank you, Scout, but I’ll let you share it with your sister.”

Scout licked her lips.

“Oh, no, you didn’t just do that. Do me a favor, drag it off somewhere else to eat it. I never was a fan of sushi.”

Abra began digging frantically in the corner.

Katherine said, “You better join Scout. She’s got breakfast.”

Abra continued digging. With great effort, she jerked something out of the soil, and with several hard whacks, batted it over. Katherine followed the action with great interest and was startled to see what it was—her missing Glock.

“Stop, Abra! Let me have it.” Katherine slowly got to her hands and knees. Lifting the gun, she could see the magazine was missing, and assumed there probably wasn’t a bullet in the chamber either. She racked the slide and was surprised to eject a bullet.

Picking up the bullet, she said, “Okay, cats, this is a stroke of good luck.”

Abra cried “raw” and returned to the hole. She began digging again. She brought up an object and tried to hold it in her jaws, but it was too heavy. Undaunted, she gave the Glock’s magazine several hockey-worthy hits and it skidded and spun over to Katherine.

“Amazing,” Katherine said, taking it. “Come here for some power pets.” Abra came over and rubbed her face on Katherine’s leg. Katherine petted Abra on the head and praised, “Good girl. I’m not going to ask you why my gun was over there or how you just found it, but . . .”

Suddenly, a roar of chain saws sounded from the distance. Katherine remembered the great number of tall trees bordering either side of the lane. She imagined that a lot of them must have fallen in the storm. “Okay, my furry little friends, I’m going to force myself up the steps and get us out of here.” She picked up the Glock’s magazine, which was fully loaded. She used the bottom of her tank top to clean the outside and the top of the clip, where the last bullet was exposed. She tried to get as much dirt off as possible. She did the same for the handgun, then slid the magazine into the Glock. She pushed the gun into its holster in the back of her jeans and inched toward the stairs.

Loud footsteps sounded overhead. It sounded like two people were chasing each other. There was a scuffle, and then a loud thud against the floor. Someone yelled, “Drop your weapon.”

Katherine said determinedly, “We’re getting out of here—now!”

Scout bounded over to the wood lattice and pushed it. It swung open.

Katherine gasped in wonder, “It’s a gate.” Crawling outside, she saw the pond for the first time in the early morning daylight. The water was a brilliant green, and had a foggy haze over it. It had a surreal quality. Maybe it was the effects of the drug the man had given her, but she saw someone walking out of the pond—a man dressed in an army uniform.

She squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them. The apparition was gone.
I’ve just seen the ghost of Peace Lake.
But this isn’t the lake,
she thought.
It’s a pond
. Slowly inching outside, Katherine called to the cats, “Please stay with me. Don’t run off. If you do, I’ll never find you. I’m going to try and get help.”

Moving at a snail’s pace—with the cats staying surprisingly close to her —Katherine crawled to the corner of the house and was about to go farther when she heard an angry voice in the crawlspace. “I know you’re down here. Where’s the freakin’ Oxy?”

The fur on the back of Scout and Abra rose and their tails bushed out. Scout growled and Abra hissed. A large striped skunk waddled through the gate into the crawlspace.

The man shouted more. “Hey, back off. Get the hell out of here. You just sprayed me, you little bastard.”

The skunk ran out unharmed, paused just outside the lattice, and shot a glance at Katherine and the cats, seeming to say, “My work here is done.” Flicking his tail, he scampered off in the opposite direction. Jimmy launched out of the crawlspace, threw his gun on the ground, and dashed toward the pond, taking off his clothes as he ran. Katherine and the cats didn’t have time to react and were surprised when they saw Chief London, with his service revolver poised to shoot, jogging after Jimmy.

“Stop right there,” the Chief ordered. He aimed his revolver at Jimmy, who put his hands up, then leaped into the water.

“Get out of there,” the Chief thundered. Jimmy reluctantly got out and stood shivering on the bank. Chief London cuffed him, complaining the entire time. “I’m gonna need a new cruiser after this.”

A deputy bolted out of the crawlspace and rushed down to help the chief.

Katherine sat down in the grass, holding onto both Siamese; Scout was squirming to be set free.

“Quit it!” Katherine admonished.

“Katz,” Jake called, running up beside her. He kneeled down and started to embrace her, but stopped when he saw the bruises on her face. He kissed her on the top of her head, instead. “Are you in pain?”

“Only when I breathe—my chest and ribs really hurt. How did you know to look for me here?”

“Back at Townsend’s house, the chief and I talked to Stevie and Barbie Sanders. They said Jimmy Sanders was armed, and they thought he was heading for the cabin. We got back in the cruiser and the chief radioed for some backup. Just as we pulled in the drive, we saw Jimmy on the front porch. A deputy pulled up quickly behind us. He followed Jimmy into the cabin while the chief walked to the front.”

“Why’s Barbie
here
?”

“Barbie has been here since she left the mansion last Tuesday. She said she’s been hiding from drug dealers.”

Abra cried an impatient, “Raw.”

“It will be just a minute, sweet girl,” Katherine said, and then thought,
Barbie must have been the crazy lady I saw dart out from behind a tree. She caused my accident.
“Jake,” she asked, “Why’s Stevie here?”

“Yesterday Stevie drove here to pick up some tools he’d left behind. He was doing electrical work for Townsend last Monday and forgot them.”

Katherine thought suspiciously,
Likely story
. “How’s Barbie?”

“She’s fine, except she sprained her ankle. Right now she’s sitting in one of the deputies’ cars giving a statement, then Stevie is driving her to urgent care in Erie.”

The emergency crew with the chain saws was getting closer. The loud noises frightened the Siamese, who wriggled to get free. It was getting difficult for Katherine to continue holding the hyperactive cats.

Jake said, getting up, “I’ll be right back.” He returned shortly with their cat carrier. “I found this on the cabin porch. I’m surprised the wind didn’t blow it away.” Jake opened the metal gate and placed Scout and Abra inside. He petted them before he shut the door. “You’ll be home soon,” he whispered in a soothing voice.

“Jake, can we get out of here? My cabin adventure would make a great script for a B movie, but I don’t want to draw it out any more than I have to. I need to go to the hospital.” She heard the sound of an ambulance off to the west, roaring down the main highway.

“Yes, Sweet Pea,” Jake smiled. “I’m so thankful you weren’t seriously injured in the accident.”

“How’s the ambulance going to get back here? My SUV’s probably in the way.”

“When the chief and I arrived, there were three vehicles blocking the lane. Sheriff Johnson and his deputies were already on the scene, so the sheriff called in for a couple of tow trucks. Once they towed the blue pickup, Stevie was able to back out and park on the shoulder of the main drag. Now there’s a bunch of guys cutting branches and removing debris. They’ve cleaned up half of the lane, so there’s enough room for an ambulance to get through.”

“The guy who drives the blue pickup tried to force me off the road.”

Jake nodded in the direction of Jimmy Sanders. “The truck belongs to him. He’s Stevie’s cousin.”

Katherine shook her head. “My head’s swimming. None of this makes any sense to me.”

“I’m sorry, Katz. The ambulance will be here any minute. The Sheriff said you were forced off the road by Jimmy. There’s blue paint marks on the driver’s side of your SUV. Once we found you weren’t pinned in Sue-Bee . . .” Jake’s voice broke, then he collected himself. “Katz, your SUV was upside-down in a drainage ditch. The tow driver had to pull it out with a winch before he could load it on a flatbed wrecker. It’s a miracle you survived the crash.”

She thought,
I survived the crash because of the man in the woods. I’m worried about him. After he carried me to the crawlspace and left, I heard shots being fired. Did Jimmy kill him?
“Jake, will you ride in the ambulance with me?”

“Yes, Sweet Pea.”

“What about my cats? How are they going to get home?”

“My Dad’s on his way. I texted him when we got here. He’ll take them home.”

“I never met Mr. Townsend,” Katherine began shakily. “When I arrived here, there was an envelope with the cabin key in it tucked inside his front screen door. In hindsight, I should have just driven back home.”

“And I wish you would have, too,” Jake said seriously. “Elsa said Scout and Abra were very upset when you left, and that’s why you ended up taking them. We need to listen to them. They’re smarter than we are.”

“Ma-waugh,” Scout agreed inside the carrier.

“Did they find a body?”

“What?” Jake asked, surprised.

“The cats and I stayed one night and then decided to leave. It’s a long story, and my ribs hurt too much to go into detail, but we left around one p.m. There was a beat-up blue pickup parked in front of Mr. Townsend’s house. I thought it was his truck. I walked up to the house to return the key, but he didn’t answer the door. It was open, so I walked in, calling for him. That’s when I heard the gunshot in the backyard. So I ran to the kitchen window and saw that guy over there—Jimmy Sanders—holding a gun and standing over a man, who was lying face-down. I assumed it was the cabin owner.”

“What are you talking about? You witnessed a shooting?”

“Unfortunately, the answer is yes.”

“Right now they’re arresting Jimmy for criminal recklessness with a vehicle and fleeing an officer.”

“Oh, it’s a lot more than that.”

Sheriff Johnson and another deputy arrived and walked down to the shore. They took the prisoner from Chief London and headed up the side yard next to the cabin.

“Chief London,” Jake called.

Chief London came over. “Katz, you look pretty banged up. There’s an ambulance on its way.”

“I’m not doing any fashion shows today,” Katherine answered wearily.

“We meet again under unusual circumstances. Katz, sometimes I think you need a rabbit’s foot the size of an elephant,” the chief remarked.

“It seems since I’ve moved to Erie, I’ve become a murder magnet.”

“What’s up? Spit it out,” the chief said, tugging his beard.

Katherine relayed to the chief what she had just told Jake.

“You’re absolutely sure it was Jimmy Sanders?” he asked.

“One-hundred-percent sure,” Katherine said.

“Did you fire on Jimmy when he tried to run you off the road?”