PAWSitively Sinister (A Klepto Cat Mystery Book 11) (7 page)

The young man walked swiftly toward Rochelle and embraced her. He shook hands with Peter, and then said to them both, “I’d like you to meet Suzette. Suzette, this is Peter; he’s an artist, and Ms. Rochelle,” he said smiling at her, “… well, she’s my savior.”

“Oh, Arthur,” Rochelle scolded, playfully. She smiled at Suzette and reached out, hugging her warmly. “So nice to meet you.” She turned to Arthur. “She’s beautiful.”

“I know,” Arthur said, beaming.

Rochelle stared into Arthur’s face. “And look at you. You look great.”

“Oh, the surgery, yes, thank you. Now I have new scars that need healing, but better, huh?”

Rochelle smiled. “Well, I didn’t have any complaints about your looks before—but, yes, you’re even more handsome.”

Arthur grinned at her, then said, “Hey, I don’t know if you’re interested, but Michael wants to see my old quarters. Want to join us?”

Peter and Rochelle exchanged looks and agreed they’d like to tag along.

“Leave the baby with me,” Ruth suggested. “She can hang out here—it’s been a slow afternoon.”

“Sure,” Michael said, handing Lily to her. “She’s napped and changed. She might want some of her snacks.” He turned, saying, “I’ll go get her stroller.”

“Snacks are in a baggy in the stroller,” Savannah said. “So is her sippy cup.”

“I’ll stay here and help Ruthie,” Suzette offered. She chuckled, “I’m supposed to be on duty today, anyway.”

“Okay then, let’s go to the dungeon,” Arthur quipped. As the two couples followed him through the cavernous room, Koko appeared from inside a box half full of linens. “Oh, there you are,” Arthur said. “Come on, girl, wanna join the tour?” He stopped. “Wait. Where’s Rags?”

Savannah gestured toward their suite. “In his pen.”

“Awww, he’s probably ready for some company and exercise,” Arthur suggested.

“Yeah, probably,” she said. “I’ll go get him.”

Once Savannah had returned to the group with Rags on his leash, the entourage walked through another room and down a long hallway to the theater. Arthur then led them into a dressing room to the right of the stage. “This is the way my mother came into my quarters,” he said, opening a carefully hidden door inside a large closet. “She had one of her highly paid workmen put this in. I wasn’t allowed to use it because I might be seen, of course. Anyway, she kept it locked from the outside, so I devised the entrance into the turret. One day I stumbled upon the secret door in the pantry where Savannah and Detective Craig found me that night and I was finally able to go outside… but only at night, after dark, as you know.”

“How inventive of you, Arthur,” Rochelle said.

“Hey, where there’s a will, there’s a way,” he said, chuckling. “Anyway, Suzette and I are more civilized now. We use the original basement door, which Rupert helped us find concealed in one of the laundry rooms.”

“Concealed?” Michael questioned.

“Yeah, they’d nailed it shut and built a broom closet over it,” he explained. Rupert had remembered where the original door was and we use it now, mostly.”

Rochelle asked, “You don’t mind staying down here, Arthur, after… ?”

“No,” he said as he opened the door. He turned toward the others. “Watch your step, these stairs are kinda steep.”

Once inside, he turned to Rochelle. “I feel a sort of power over this place now. I’m here because I want to be. It’s a choice.” He confessed, “I do sometimes wake up in the night feeling trapped. But soon realize I’m free and safe. I just laugh at my ridiculous fear and go back to sleep.”

“You’re an amazing young man, Arthur, you know it?” Rochelle said, a wide smile on her pretty face.

“Thanks, coach,” he said, winking, as he led the group into his expansive quarters.

“So this is the basement?” Peter asked.

“Yeah, as one reporter put it, ‘the belly of the mansion.’” He continued, “This is my living room.” He pointed. “My game and workout room are in there and the bedrooms are down that way. Come on, look around.”

“No kitchen?” Savannah asked.

“No, the food was brought in by Ruthie or Mother. We have a microwave, so we could heat up cocoa and things like that,” he explained.

Savannah frowned. “And the kitchen staff didn’t get suspicious when they’d see food leaving the kitchen?”

“I don’t know; I guess not,” Arthur said with a shrug as they moved slowly from room to room. “This was Ruthie’s room. Suzette is staying in here this week.”

“It’s the smallest room down here, isn’t it?” Peter said, laughing. “Even your bathrooms are larger.”

“Yeah,” Arthur said, “it was bigger, but something in here was bothering Ruthie, so she asked my mother to block off that section of the room. Come out in the hall and you can see how big it used to be.”

“Wow, they did cut it down by more than half, didn’t they?” Michael said.

“Yeah, she liked it better after they did that. There’s a bathroom at the end of this hallway, but she wouldn’t use it.” Arthur shook his head. “There’s just an odd energy here… like the Bermuda Triangle or something...that seemed to mess with Ruthie’s mind.” He shrugged. “I don’t get it, but it really upset her.”

Suddenly Rochelle moaned. Her knees buckled.

“What’s wrong,” Peter asked, helping to steady her.

“I don’t know. I was overcome there for a moment.” She looked up and down the hallway and shook her head as if trying to clear it. “Arthur, do you know what this area was used for before you were moved down here?”

He shook his head. “No. I don’t recall ever being here until Mother brought me here after I left the burn center. Why?”

“I sense something—probably the same thing Ruth felt.” She frowned. “Oh, my gosh, it’s… dark.” She shivered and put her arms around herself. “Peter, I can’t stay here. It’s too strong.” She looked around at the others. “We should all leave.”

“Sure,” Peter said, taking her arm and leading her back to Arthur’s living room.

Before the others could follow, Michael pointed. “What’s wrong with Rags?”

Savannah and Arthur glanced down and noticed the cat was lying on his stomach in the hallway, staring at the far wall. He cocked his head from side to side as if listening intently. When Koko tried to engage him in play, Rags jumped to his feet and took a few steps toward the wall, slowly, staring straight ahead.

Koko, in the meantime, sat in place, watching Rags with interest.

Suddenly, Rags stopped, let out a yowl and retreated. He walked around Savannah, the leash encircling her ankles, and sat down next to her.

“Does he hear something? Look at how he’s moving his ears,” she said.

Michael took the leash and untangled it from her legs. “I don’t know,” he said. “But maybe Rochelle’s right; we should get out of here.”

When the others joined Rochelle and Peter in Arthur’s basement living room, they found Rochelle sitting on the sofa, her head in her hands.

Savannah eased down next to her. “Gosh, something really affected you, didn’t it? Can you talk about it?”

She shook her head and said, “Peter, I’d like to go back upstairs, if you don’t mind.” When she noticed the others were following her and Peter toward the stairway, she said, “I’m sorry. I can’t explain it. I’m just sensitive to… well, I’m not sure what I encountered in there, but it… I really must leave,” she said, rushing up the stairs and through the doorway.

Savannah hurried after her. “Rochelle, are you okay?”

“Yes,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I think it has left me. Whew, it was strong. I can see why Ruth would not want to live with it.” She faced her friend and spoke sternly, “Savannah, you must keep your distance and don’t take the baby in there, whatever you do.”

****

“Peter and Rochelle couldn’t stay for dinner?” Ruth asked as the usual eight were being seated at the dining room table later that evening.

“It would have been nice,” Savannah said, “but they had to get back. They’d like to bring Miriam out here for a session, so we’ll see them soon.”

Ruth nodded. She then turned to Arthur. “So what were in the papers you dug up, Artie?”

He rolled his eyes in Michael’s direction. “We’re still not sure what they mean.”

“Just a bunch of personal papers, such as those you’d find in someone’s home and wallet—or safe deposit box,” Michael explained.

“Who do they belong to?” Laura asked.

Arthur winced. “It appears to be about half-dozen different people.”

“Seven. Wasn’t it seven?” Michael corrected.

Arthur nodded. “Yeah, I think you’re right. Driver licenses, social security cards, a will, insurance papers, state welfare paperwork, a hospital bill… things like that.”

“For men? Women? What ages?” Gail asked.

“Different ages,” Michael said. “Men and one woman.”

Laura looked from Michael to Arthur. “So who were they?”

“I don’t know; what were the names, Arthur?” Michael asked. “I remember Marshall, Gibbs… ”

“Simpson,” Suzette said, “my maternal grandparents’ name. Oh yes, and Cobos.”

Savannah was quiet for a moment then said, “I wonder what information we could find about this place at the library and the museum. I mean, what went on here? What kind of people lived here before the Peytons?”

“Good idea,” Suzette said. “And maybe we could discover something about the people those papers belong to.” She leaned forward. “Oh, there were some pay stubs. We should be able to find out something about that man through his former employer.”

“If the company still exists,” Savannah remarked.

Suzette nodded, then turned to Arthur. “Wanna go to the library?”

“Yeah, but I told Ruthie I’d help at the sale tomorrow—it’s the weekend and they expect a lot of people. Hey, why don’t you and Savannah go?”

The two women looked at each other. “Sure. Sounds fun,” Savannah said. “Michael could you watch… ”

He shook his head. “Can’t entertain Lily tomorrow; it’s conference day, remember? Rags and I have to work.”

“Oh, that’s right. Well, we can take her with us.”

“Sure, I can help with her. She’s such a good baby,” Suzette said.

“Uh-oh,” Savannah said. “Michael will have the car.”

“Not a problem,” Arthur said. “We have cars here—take your pick.”

Savannah’s eyes widened. “A low, sleek sports car would be nice. Or a classy town car.” She tilted her head and asked, “Arthur, are you driving now?”

He nodded. “Got my license last week. How about that?”

“Well, congratulations,” she said. “What car do you drive?”

“A Jeep SUV, mostly. Want to take it tomorrow?”

“Sure. That’s perfect. Thanks.”

****

“You know your way around the city pretty well,” Suzette said as she rode with Savannah toward the library.

“Not really. But we have been to this library before.” Savannah glanced at Suzette. “… to do research on the mansion, actually.”

“It is an interesting place, with many stories, it seems.”

“Evidently so,” Savannah agreed. She spoke more quietly when she said, “I’d sure like to know what it was that freaked Rochelle out last night, wouldn’t you?”

Suzette nodded. “Yes, I wonder what that was all about. I’ve never known anyone who was… sensitive like that—you know, to… perhaps, otherworldly vibes or whatever. Have you?”

“My friend Iris is into woo-woo stuff, but I don’t know if she is… as you said… a ‘sensitive’ like Rochelle is.” She then asked, “Hey, Suzette, did you call that company we have the paystubs for?”

Suzette sat forward in the seat. “Yes!” she exclaimed. “After getting quite a runaround, I talked to a long-time employee of Carberry Products and she actually remembers a young man named Jeffry Gibbs who worked there briefly in the mid 1970s. She said she had a date with him, but he never showed up. By then, he had quit to take another more lucrative job in the out-of-doors—as a gardener at a private home. She said they dated a few times after he left the company. But this one night, she waited for him at their usual meeting place and he didn’t’ show up. She tried to call, and later went to his apartment to see if he was okay. His landlord said he left one day and didn’t come back. She never heard from him again.”

Savannah drove quietly for a moment, then said, “Well, I guess he could have just been ditching her… didn’t have good dating manners.”

“Yeah, but then why did his personal papers show up in that pit at the mansion?” Suzette asked. She shook her head. “Something’s just not right. It doesn’t make sense.”

As Savannah pulled the car into the library parking lot, she said, “Gosh, we have a lot of questions, don’t we? I hope we can discover at least some of the answers here today.”

Suzette nodded. “Hey, we’re lucky that rain stopped. It sure poured last night, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, Michael and Arthur went out and covered the pit with a tarp. They didn’t want water running in.”

“Why? Do they think there are more documents in there?”

I don’t know,” Savannah said as she placed the baby in the stroller. She chuckled. “They seem to have some sort of fixation with that hole out there, don’t they?”

The two women, the baby in tow, found a suitable corner table inside the spacious library where they could spread out documents related to the mansion and some of its residents. While Suzette viewed old newspapers on microfilm, Savannah skimmed through books, articles, and essays in the local history section. They had quite a pile of photocopies and notes by the time Lily woke up, two hours later. Lifting her from the stroller, Savannah said, “She needs to be changed… probably wants to stretch her legs. Shall we take her out to the lobby? Then maybe we can walk somewhere and get a bite to eat. If she’ll allow us, we can come back for another hour or so.”

Suzette pondered the suggestion. “Sounds good, only… ”

“Only what?”

“Well, I’m onto some interesting stuff, actually.” She looked up at Savannah. “Hey, would you mind if I stay for a while? I kinda hate to lose my place.”

Savannah nodded. “Sure, if you want. I’ll bring you a sandwich.”

“Yes, do that. I can sit in the lobby and eat while you do more research.”

“What are you working on, anyway?” Savannah asked.

“It appears that one former madam of the mansion was a seer.”