Vanished in Cherry Hills (Cozy Cat Caper Mystery Book 4) (4 page)

Kat fetched a top-opening carrier from the closet. She placed it on the floor and held the hatch open while Mrs. Polanski lowered Shadow inside. Shadow didn’t protest, not even when Kat shut the hatch.

Kat picked up the carrier. “I’ll return him as soon as the vet says he’s good to go,” she assured Helen.

The worry lines framing Helen’s mouth deepened. “I’d appreciate that.”

Mrs. Polanski grabbed the file folder. “Don’t forget this. Something in here could help you.”

Although Kat doubted that, she didn’t say anything as she followed Mrs. Polanski to the front door.

Mrs. Polanski had to sweep a few cats out of the way before stepping outside. She patted Kat’s shoulder as they walked. “Your mama, she was a kind woman. I don’t want you thinking ill of her.”

Kat looked down at the driveway. She didn’t really know what to think. When she’d first let herself imagine what a reunion would be like, she’d pictured her and Maybelle hugging and laughing and crying over all the lost years, both of them overjoyed to have found each other again. Even in her darker fantasies Maybelle would merely tell Kat to get lost and hang up the phone, leaving both of them free to go on with their separate lives.

Now, she had to account for the possibility that if she did find her mother, Chief Kenny might be waiting on the sidelines with a pair of handcuffs.

“There are lots of reasons why somebody might find themselves in the type of situation where they needed to take money that wasn’t theirs,” Mrs. Polanski continued. “Some aren’t as terrible as they might seem.”

Kat glanced at her. “What are you saying? You think my mother robbed that bank for honorable reasons?”

Mrs. Polanski frowned. “I’m saying, don’t jump to conclusions. Nobody ever got anywhere good from making hasty assumptions.”

A weight settled in Kat’s chest as she busied herself with strapping Shadow’s carrier in the back seat. As futile as she knew it was to speculate, she couldn’t shut off her brain so easily.

When Kat emerged from the car, Mrs. Polanski pulled her in for another hug. “It was good seeing you. I do miss you, you know.”

Kat returned the hug briefly before taking a step back. “I’ve missed you too.”

Mrs. Polanski handed Kat the folder. “Next time, don’t wait so long between visits.”

“Okay,” Kat replied, even though she knew Mrs. Polanski was just being polite.

Still, the thought of never seeing another adult from her childhood was too sad to consider at the moment, even if that adult didn’t hold her mother in the best light.

During the drive to the vet’s office, Kat couldn’t stop thinking about her visit with Helen and Mrs. Polanski. She kept turning back to the point in their conversation when Mrs. Polanski had talked about the stock market crash, unable to shake the notion that someone else had robbed that bank in the hopes of getting rich quick, first by taking money that wasn’t theirs, then by investing in an attempt to build an even bigger fortune.

Kat sighed, silently acknowledging that her scenario might be a little far-fetched. After all, would someone commit a felony only to buy stocks? A bank robbery was more likely to be executed by someone who needed money, not someone who merely wanted more. Was she only brainstorming wild motives to better convince herself of her mother’s innocence?

Shadow’s carrier shifted in the back seat, wrenching Kat’s thoughts back to the present. She stopped for a red light and twisted around, spying the cat’s dull, yellow eyes focused on her through the slats of his cage.

“Hang in there,” Kat told him. “We’re going to get you all better, and then return you to Helen.”

Shadow didn’t say anything. Kat hoped that meant he was content with this plan.

The light turned green, and Kat continued up the street until she reached Cherry Hills Veterinary. She parked, extricated Shadow’s carrier with as little jostling as possible, and entered the office.

Imogene Little was standing at the reception counter when Kat walked in. “Kat!” she greeted, waving so vigorously that her auburn ponytail danced.

Kat smiled at her fellow Furry Friends Foster Families volunteer. “Hi, Imogene.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I was visiting with Helen Trotter, Jessie Polanski’s aunt, and she mentioned one of her cats hasn’t been feeling well.” Kat lifted up Shadow’s carrier. “She said she didn’t have any money for vet care so I offered 4F’s assistance.”

“Oh, good. I hate to see an animal suffer because of financial reasons.”

Kat set the carrier on one of the plastic lobby chairs. “What about you? What brings you here today?”

Imogene poked her finger between the carrier slats to scratch the bridge of Shadow’s nose, prompting the feline to close his eyes and begin purring. “One of our foster cats is getting some stitches removed.”

“Anything serious?”

“No, just a few injuries from a fight he got into before we rescued him. He’s all better now.” Imogene reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. “In fact, since you’re here I’ll give you the invoice now.”

Kat took it from her and slipped it into her own pants pocket. “I’ll add it to what 4F owes when I process the bills this weekend.”

Imogene smiled. “I know you’ll take care of it.”

Kat walked toward the redheaded receptionist. “Hi, Sherry. I have a sick cat I’d like Dr. Harry to look at on behalf of 4F.”

“Good to see you again, Katherine.” Sherry tapped on her keyboard. “I’ll fit you right in.”

“Thanks.”

Imogene straightened as Kat rejoined her. “I heard you’ve been asking around about your mother.”

Kat stilled. Sometimes she forgot how quickly word traveled in a town like Cherry Hills, and how news seemed to reach Imogene in particular at the speed of light.

“I heard it from somebody at the police station,” Imogene went on, as if reading Kat’s mind. “They said Andrew’s been making inquiries on your behalf. Is that true?”

Kat nodded. “I talked to Chief Kenny yesterday.”

“What did he have to say?”

“That my mother disappeared right after PNW Financial was held up in 1985.” Saying the words out loud resurrected the nausea Kat felt whenever she let herself consider that her mother might have committed such a crime.

Imogene adjusted her ponytail. “I remember that. Happened in Wenatchee, and most people believed Maybelle was guilty, including the police.”

“She hasn’t been positively linked to the robbery,” Kat said, hearing the note of defensiveness in her tone. “Chief Kenny says he only wants to question her.”

“I didn’t mean to imply anything otherwise,” Imogene assured her. “But you do have to admit the timing is rather strange.”

Kat didn’t say anything, mainly because she couldn’t disagree.

Imogene scrutinized her. “You don’t believe she’s guilty?”

Kat folded her arms across her chest. “I’m not really sure what to believe.”

Imogene patted Kat’s elbow. “Naturally. A girl always feels ties to her mother, no matter how estranged they might be. Without knowing your roots, it’s hard to find your place in the world.”

Kat rocked backward, her hands dropping to her sides. She was surprised Imogene had pegged her so accurately. It made her realize she really didn’t know all that much about her fellow Furry Friends Foster Families board member.

Imogene glanced at Shadow. “I didn’t really socialize with Maybelle, you know, but I heard things.”

Kat’s stomach clenched. From Imogene’s tone, she gathered anything she’d heard had been negative. Still, she was desperate.

“What can you tell me about her?” Kat asked, fortifying herself.

“That she was troubled, for one thing.” Imogene paused, as if conflicted over what she had to say next.

“I know she used drugs,” Kat volunteered, hoping to encourage her friend to open up.

Imogene’s lips puckered. “That’s true, but that’s a rather simple way of putting it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your mom, she wanted something better for herself. I think she just struggled to find out how to achieve it.”

Kat absorbed that, trying to reconcile Imogene’s observation with a woman on the run after robbing a bank.

Imogene lowered herself into one of the waiting room chairs. “You know, the rumors about her motive for that bank robbery never really made sense to me.”

Kat sat down on the other side of Shadow’s carrier. “They didn’t?”

Imogene shook her head. “People liked to say Maybelle had hit rock bottom, but I didn’t believe it. It just seemed so out of character, Maybelle doing something like that. Your mom, she was trying to shake her drug habit. It didn’t make sense that she would regress so severely all of a sudden.”

“If you don’t think my mother robbed that bank, why do you think she disappeared at the same time?”

Imogene held her palms up. “I can’t say she didn’t hold up that bank, I can only tell you my perception of Maybelle the last few times I saw her.”

“You don’t have any theories?” Kat pressed. With Imogene having such a favorable impression of her mother, she was itching to hear her opinion.

Imogene bit her lip. “Naturally, I’ve thought about it over the years.”

Kat leaned across Shadow’s carrier. “I’d like to know what you concluded.”

“Well, I never really came to any definite conclusions,” Imogene hedged. “You have to remember, I didn’t know Maybelle all that well.”

Kat had to resist her urge to drop to one knee on the floor. “Please.”

Imogene regarded her for a long moment. Finally, she nodded, seeming to register Kat’s desperation. “I thought, perhaps, that she had robbed that bank for more noble reasons than others in town gave her credit for.”

“Noble reasons?”

“Like to get her life in order.” Imogene offered her a sad smile. “She loved you, you know. That I don’t doubt for a second.”

Kat stuck two fingers between the carrier slats and absently stroked Shadow’s back. She hadn’t realized until then how much she needed to hear that her mother had cared about her, and Imogene’s words caused tears to spring to her eyes.

Imogene crossed her legs. “But, naturally, she couldn’t care for you while she was still battling her own demons.”

“The drugs, you mean,” Kat said.

“Yes. And getting help for that sort of thing isn’t cheap.”

Kat tried to wrap her brain around what Imogene was saying. “So you think my mother robbed that bank in order to pay for treatment?”

Imogene shrugged. “Like I said, this is all speculation on my part.”

“But it makes sense.” And, Kat had to admit, it was a much more palatable theory than the notion of her mother only committing a felony in order to further fund her drug habit.

“I
do
know that rehab is not inexpensive,” Imogene continued. “A woman of Maybelle’s means . . . well, she wasn’t the type to have access to such resources under normal circumstances.”

Kat bobbed her head, feeling herself warming to her friend’s supposition. “Right.”

“And I believe she was motivated to regain custody of you.” Imogene sighed. “A mother who’s had her child ripped from her arms might feel inclined to do some things she might not do otherwise, things she might typically find morally reprehensible. You understand?”

“Yes, that makes complete sense.” Although, Kat had to wonder if she’d only embraced Imogene’s theory because it supported her own yearning for her mother to have cared.

Their conversation was interrupted when Sherry called out, “Katherine Harper? Dr. Harry will meet you in Room B.”

“Thanks.” Kat gripped Shadow’s carrier as she stood up. “Thank you, Imogene, for sharing what you know. You have no idea what it means to me.”

Imogene reached out and patted Kat’s hand. “I hope you find her. A girl shouldn’t have to go through life wondering about her mother.”

Kat firmed her hold on Shadow’s carrier, the truth of Imogene’s words weighing her down as she ducked into the hallway.

After leaving Cherry Hills Veterinary, Kat couldn’t do much more than mope around her apartment. She kept dwelling on her conversation with Imogene. The thought of her mother needing to rob a bank in order to fund treatment for her drug addiction made her infinitely sad.

Of course, it was better than what Chief Kenny had hinted at, that her mother had only robbed a bank to support an ongoing addiction.

Kat had been sitting on her couch wallowing in her thoughts for a good twenty minutes when Matty finally joined her. The tortoiseshell licked Kat’s hand before curling into a ball and burying her face in her front paws.

Kat smiled. She hoped Shadow was as comfortable as Matty appeared to be. Dr. Harry had told her the poor thing was extremely dehydrated thanks to a recent illness he was on the tail end of shaking. He had opted to keep the black cat on an IV overnight in order to get some fluids into his little body.

Kat’s eyes strayed past Matty and landed on the file folder Mrs. Polanski had given her. Although she couldn’t fathom how a bunch of old newspaper articles would help her find her mother, going through them would at least make her feel as if she were doing something productive.

Careful not to disturb Matty, Kat bent forward and pinched the folder between two fingers, pulling it toward her. She set it on her lap and flipped the cover open.

Her eyes alighted on the top article, a restaurant critic’s write-up of Country Eats. She didn’t expect to find anything useful, but she read through it anyway, looking for any references to her mother or PNW Financial. She even scrutinized the pictures of the various entrées, just in case a mysterious woman could be spotted in the background. There was nothing.

She set the article on the floor. Tom watched her from across the room, his ears pricking. Soon afterward he ambled over, stepped gingerly onto the newsprint, and settled down as if he’d found a comfortable new bed.

Kat reached over and petted him. “If you see anything I missed, let me know.”

Tom purred his agreement, although Kat gave up hope that he would be of any assistance when his eyes slipped shut.

She looked at the next clipping. This one was the obituaries page from the June 12, 1985 edition of the
Seattle Times
. Someone—Mrs. Polanski, she presumed—had circled the death notice of a pretty, twenty-seven-year-old woman named Kelly Watson. Kelly had died in a car accident, leaving behind her parents but no husband or children. None of the names mentioned were familiar to Kat, but maybe Kelly or one of her parents had been friends with Mrs. Polanski.

To be thorough, Kat read through the rest of the obituaries. Nothing stood out. Neither did she find anything of interest on the flip side of the page.

She leaned her head against the back of the couch, discouragement bubbling up inside her. Why Mrs. Polanski had thought a few random articles would advance her mission left her baffled.

Still, Kat didn’t have any better leads.

The next clipping was a
Cherry Hills Courant
reporter’s take on the PNW Financial robbery. Kat studied this one more closely, reading everything twice to make sure she didn’t miss anything. But the article only went over a few cursory details. It made no mention of Maybelle being a suspect, and it didn’t provide any information that Kat hadn’t already learned from Chief Kenny.

Kat placed the article on the floor next to Tom, revealing an invoice from a Wenatchee hospital addressed to a Nick Trotter. The words ‘second notice’ were printed in red on top of the page. Kat figured the bill belonged to Helen’s late husband and had gotten mixed up in Mrs. Polanski’s things. She set it on the coffee table. She could return it to Helen when she brought Shadow back.

There were a couple more articles on the bank robbery interspersed with others concerning everything from the best places to live to apartments for rent. When Kat was three-quarters of the way through the folder she had long since given up poring over every word. Instead, she skimmed over each page and moved on if nothing struck her as relevant.

She was about to give up hope when she spotted the words ‘Maybelle Harper’ embedded in one of the write-ups about the bank robbery. Her heart leapt into her throat, and she snatched up the page and read it as fast as she could. Although the reporter didn’t outright accuse her mother of being guilty, the suggestion was pretty obvious from the way he described how she was ‘wanted for questioning by local law enforcement agencies.’

Unfortunately, the article didn’t tell her anything new.

Kat sighed. As though sensing her frustration, Matty stood up, set one of her paws on Kat’s leg, and meowed.

Kat stroked her back. “I know, I know, I shouldn’t lose hope.”

Matty bobbed her head once as if to agree.

“But you have to admit this is pretty frustrating,” Kat said, scratching between Matty’s ears.

Matty meowed again before closing her eyes and pressing her head into Kat’s hand.

Kat grinned. “I see some of Tom’s chattiness is rubbing off on you. You usually don’t meow unless you’re hungry.”

Matty meowed again as if to disagree.

Or, Kat thought, an eerie sensation washing over her, was Matty trying to tell her something about her mother?

Kat shook the thought away, feeling ridiculous. Was she getting so desperate for answers that she thought Matty had them?

When Matty meowed this time, she batted her paw at the folder in Kat’s lap.

Kat frowned. “What is it, sweetheart?”

Matty jumped on the coffee table and sat down, her tail swishing.

Kat shivered as Matty’s penetrating green eyes bored into her own. She knew Matty possessed an uncanny awareness of things, almost a sixth sense. Somehow she always knew when Kat needed a little extra love and would come over to give her hand a lick. And she never failed to predict when Kat had something unwelcome in mind, like a claw-trimming session. Kat had yet to figure out how Matty deduced what she was up to before she even took out the clippers.

Kat clutched her head in both hands, wondering if she was going crazy. After all, what could Matty possibly have to tell her about her mother?

And yet, no human had offered any answers so what did she really have to lose?

She refocused on the tortoiseshell. “What are you trying to tell me?”

Matty settled down on the coffee table, tucking her paws under her chest.

Kat glanced at where Matty had chosen to rest, as if the cat were deliberate about her napping spots and not prone to sleeping wherever she happened to be. Right now, Matty was lying on top of the Cherry Hills Veterinary invoice that Imogene had given her earlier.

Feeling a little foolish, Kat leaned forward and studied the invoice. The part that was visible above Matty itemized all the expenses Imogene had accrued during her visit. Peeking through Matty’s fur at the bottom of the page was the total amount owed. Nothing struck Kat as peculiar. Certainly nothing revealed where her mother might be.

Kat flopped back against the couch, mentally chiding herself for actually believing Matty’s actions were cloaked in hidden meaning.

Matty meowed again. When Kat looked up, she swore the feline shook her head in dismay.

“If you’re trying to tell me something, you’re going to have to be more blunt,” Kat told her.

Matty flicked her tail in response. Then she began licking her paw, as though to indicate she’d done all she could.

Kat knew how she felt. If the past few days was any indication of what she expected to learn during her search, she might simply have to come to terms with the possibility that she might never find her mother.