The Telltale Turtle (The Pet Psychic Mysteries) (24 page)

"No, thanks. I'm not hungry. Maybe just some water."

Buck tried to summon his housekeeper but the intercom seemed to be dead. "I'll go get it myself. You just sit right there."

When he was gone, Charlie swallowed the last of his bourbon and got to his feet. "I guess I'll be going. I wanted to make sure you were okay. I'll talk to you later."

"Where are you going?" Mary Catherine hated to lose even a small part of her audience. It wasn't every day a woman got to be admired this way. "We haven't solved the problem yet."

"Listen, MC," Danny butted in. "I think this guy is part of the problem. Maybe you should let him go"

Baylor hissed at Danny, assuring Mary Catherine that Charlie was not part of the problem. He was sure the man could help end all the trouble so he could go home and flex on his favorite sofa.

"What'd I say?" Danny patted Baylor's head. "We're amigos, right?"

Baylor walked away from Danny with a swish of his tail.

"Thanks" Charlie smiled at Mary Catherine and touched her cheek with a long finger. "But I don't think you're up to solving anything tonight and I think Buck has been on the verge of kicking me out ever since we got here. I don't want to get into that. Call me when you get home."

"Tell me what really happened with my cousin." The words came out of her mouth before she knew what she was saying. "I don't know why yet, but I think it has something to do with all this."

"When you're better," Charlie promised as Buck came back with water in a crystal goblet. "We'll talk."

Mary Catherine knew there was nothing else she could say. Men weren't particularly social creatures in the first place-adding rivalry for a female only made matters worse. She'd have to follow her sudden hunch about her cousin tomorrow or the next day; whenever she was on her feet again.

It made sense now that she thought about it. The man who'd attacked her was looking for something without monetary value, at least at first glance. Maybe he was looking for something that could help her cousin take the building from her.

The deed was in a safety deposit box and her aunt's will was finalized two years ago. Nothing he could find in her bedroom could help him, but he couldn't know that. Was it possible her cousin would stoop so low as to try and steal the building from her?

Mary Catherine's mind was filled with images from the last few days. There was the car accident, Baylor's accident, and now the man in her room. That sounded like a pattern to her. Maybe her cousin thought he could get rid of her.

There was no way to prove any of this, at least none she could see. She could tell Angellus her theory in the morning, she yawned. Despite being unconscious for several hours, she was exhausted.

"Maybe I should go too." Danny got up and put on his ball cap. "Give me a call when you're ready to go, MC. You know I'll be here."

"Thanks, Danny. I'm sure I'll be fine tomorrow. Thank you for staying."

"Sure. I hope we can figure out what's going on with all this. Things have just gotten kind of crazy."

Buck walked Danny to the front door, obviously not threatened by the younger man. Mary Catherine sat back in her chair and tried not to think about the mess she was in. It was hard not to think about it since it involved her well being, but she tried to clear her mind. A good night's sleep would help this situation.

She was glad when Buck was polite and unassuming, walking her back upstairs to her room without complaint. She could've handled him if he'd gotten out of line, but she was relieved that she didn't have to.

"I hope this will clear things up between us," Buck said before he left her at the bedroom door. "I've always had the greatest admiration for you, Mary Catherine. I hope we'll be closer when this is over."

"I hope so too." She didn't want to commit to any kind of relationship with him. Right now her thoughts were with Charlie. She wasn't sure what it was about him that she found so intriguing. She'd been kissed many times and that peck he gave her couldn't even be considered passionate.

Maybe it was that odd psychic sense about him. She'd met many men and married many men. None of them had been psychic. She believed Charlie had a gift for finding things and being there when there was trouble. It put him in a bad light; she could see that now.

Baylor yawned and meowed from the bed, taunting her that it had taken her long enough.

"Are you okay, Mary Catherine?"

She glanced up, surprised to find Buck still standing in the doorway. "I'm so sorry. I'm not myself. I hope you understand. Maybe we can talk tomorrow." She shooed him out of the room. "Good night. Thank you for letting me stay here."

She closed the door and stood against it for a few minutes. She was really feeling very well now that she'd been up and moved around. Some of that was the pain medication for the gash in her head, no doubt, but most of it was her. Life was too interesting to lie around for long.

"Baylor, I think we owe Charlie an apology and we need to straighten out this rivalry between him and Buck. Buck is a good man, I'm sure. He certainly has a nice house and plenty of money. Normally he'd be my first choice."

The cat rolled over and started preening himself. He was unimpressed with her thought processes. None of them actively pertained to him.

"But I'm older now and I can take care of myself. I don't need a man to support me. I like Charlie and I can see a place for him in our lives. I know you like him too. Don't pretend you haven't stood up for him all this time."

Baylor responded it was only his place to make sure Mary Catherine knew what was going on. If she chose to have Charlie in her life, that was up to her. She could certainly do worse for a mate, in his estimation.

"I appreciate that." She turned out the light and got into bed. "We'll call him first thing in the morning. There's something he knows about my cousin he's not telling. We'll see."

She stroked the cat's fur as he climbed up near her chest and put both front paws on her arm. He purred as he buried his nose in her side and flexed his claws into the down comforter. "It's all right. I know you were worried about me. I was worried about you too the other night." She laughed. "No, not when you were playing dead. You know I can tell the difference."

The cat fell asleep beside her, but Mary Catherine had a hard time closing her eyes. It had been a traumatic week, not the least of which had been those few moments when she thought she might never hear another animal's thoughts.

The sounds were so ingrained in her; it was frightening simply to think about it. It had been over quickly, but what if it hadn't? What if she never heard Baylor's thoughts again? Her mind almost shut down at the idea.

She couldn't imagine what she'd do or how she'd continue with her life. Many times, she'd wondered how people lived without hearing those things. Sometimes she thought it was more a curse than a blessing. As she got older, she realized it was truly a gift to be able to share herself with Baylor and Bruno and Cheetos, for that matter. She couldn't always help them, but she did the best she could and it was very satisfying, but not in the same way it had been when she was younger and looking for attention to highlight her gift. Now it was something more personal and spiritual.

Her cell phone rang and she stubbed her toe in the unfamiliar room trying to get to her purse. "Hello?"

"Mary Catherine," Colin's whispered voice was barely audible. "I'm out at the convenience store in Landfall Park. Teddy called me. The psycho caller is on his way out here. I need backup!"

DESPITE BUCK'S PLEAS FOR her to ignore Colin's call for help, Mary Catherine dragged herself out of bed, called Danny, and headed to the convenience store. Buck tagged along, grumbling about being out so late at night.

Baylor, who sat next to Mary Catherine, agreed with her feelings that Buck was definitely the wrong man for her. Imagine being so put out by a little jaunt at night! She and jenny had gone out much later to pick up stray animals along the waterfront.

"How much farther is it?" Buck asked for the third time.

"Not much," Danny said. "But you don't get an Icee when we get there since you've been so impaciente"

Buck was quiet after that; he wasn't so thickheaded he didn't get the childish insult. Mary Catherine tried to plot their strategy, but without knowing the circumstances, it was difficult. "Maybe you should wait by the car," she said to Danny. "Keep your eyes open and be ready to move as quickly as possible."

"No way! I'm not staying with the car. I want to be where the action is. You stay with the car. You were injured earlier. Let me and Colin handle this."

"All right." She could see the logic in that strategy, even though she didn't like it. "We'll get there, park on the far left side, then look for Colin. I hope he hasn't done anything stupid."

Danny shrugged. "He's Colin. He doesn't have much choice."

But when they got to the convenience store, there was no sign of Colin. Danny got out of the taxi and walked around the building, but couldn't find Colin. "His car is in back but I didn't see him. I told you," he reported back to Mary Catherine. "What were the chances of him not doing something stupido?"

Mary Catherine considered the possibilities. She was afraid to try and call Colin-what if he were in a vulnerable position when his phone went off? On the other hand, they couldn't wait here all night not knowing what was going on.

"I'll go in and talk to Teddy," she volunteered. "Maybe he's already talked to the psycho caller and Colin is going after him."

"Can I just say one thing?" Buck held a finger in the air.

"No!" Mary Catherine and Danny said it at the same time. Buck sat back and drummed his fingers on the car seat beside him.

"Okay." Danny took Mary Catherine's arm. "Don't take any chances. If anything looks weird, you come back out and we call the police. Okay?"

"All right." She took a deep breath and began limping to the door. The outside of the store looked as empty as the inside. No one was there pumping gas or buying snacks and lottery tickets. She looked for Teddy before she got to the door but didn't see him behind the register.

She pushed open the door and a chime rang loudly. She called out for Teddy but there was no response. She was about to use her cell phone to call 911 when a back door opened and a man ran into the shop. "Where's Teddy?"

He glanced at her and started running toward the front door. She fumbled with her cell phone, trying to alert Danny and Buck. She limped after him, but there was no way she could keep up. She couldn't speed dial fast enough and reached the door, certain the man had gotten away.

She was about to yell for Danny when she saw him sitting on top of the man who'd run out of the store. "You got him!"

Danny grinned. "Si! I'm hoping he was someone I was supposed to get. He looked suspicious."

Mary Catherine finally reached them and said to the man under Danny, "Have you seen Colin Jamison?"

"Who?"

"The man you're trying to frame for his aunt's murder. Where is he?" She searched his face, but as far as she could tell in the dim lighting, there were no scratches on his face.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Buck went into the convenience store and came out yelling for help. "He's in here with the store clerk."

Mary Catherine rushed in (as fast as she could) and looked behind the counter. Colin and Teddy were both tied up on the floor. "Are you all right, Colin?" she asked. "Do you know what happened?"

Buck untied both men and rudely pulled the duct tape from their mouths.

"It was the psycho caller," Colin replied when he could move his lips. "That's what happened. I saw him talking on Teddy's phone in the back. He had a gun and tied us up here. He's probably gone by now.

"I don't think so. I think Danny has him in the parking lot." Mary Catherine explained even as she started back outside to warn Danny that the man he captured could be armed.

Colin and Teddy followed Buck and Mary Catherine out of the store. By that time, Baylor had joined Danny, sitting on the man and hissing at him.

"We better search him," Buck said. "He might be armed."

"I don't have a gun," the man protested. "I ain't done nothin'. Get these two off of me."

"Is this the guy who tied you up?" Mary Catherine asked Teddy and Colin.

"Yeah. He's got a gun somewhere on him." Colin didn't make a move to search him.

Buck and Danny did the dirty work, but couldn't find a weapon. "He's clean," Danny said. "Are you sure he had a gun?"

Colin looked at Teddy who shrugged. "It looked like a gun in his pocket to me."

The man Danny had captured laughed. "I didn't need the real thing for you jokers. What's wrong with making a few phone calls anyway? The pay's good and it don't hurt no one."

"We'll let the police make that decision, my friend." Colin puffed out his chest and jabbed his finger in the man's face.

"Yeah," Teddy said. "This guy's with the FBI. You're going away for a long time."