Catnapped (A Klepto Cat Mystery) Read Online Free PDF Page B

remarked while helping her aunt settle into the passenger seat of Margaret’s Jeep Liberty. “Where are we going now?”
    “Toward the old dump,” Margaret responded without inflection. “Do you remember how to get there?”
    “Sure,” Savannah said as she slid into the driver’s seat. “That’s where Dad used to take me scavenging. Brianna and I found all sorts of neat things out there.”
    Margaret wrinkled up her nose. “What kind of things?”
    “Everything you can imagine—hair barrettes, pencils, wheels off toy cars, marbles, sun glasses—I used to love finding sun glasses cause I was always losing mine.” She glanced over at her aunt, saying, “Once I found a pipe like the one old Mr. Forster used to smoke.”
    “You remember Grandpa’s pipe? You were pretty young when he passed,” Margaret calculated.
    “I was eleven when he died. And that pipe of his used to fascinate me—that, and the fact that he was always looking for his eyeglasses. He’d say, ‘Hey, Skiddle, have you seen my specs?’ Remember how he called me Skiddle and Brianna was Doodlebug? The funny thing is, his glasses were always right there on top of his head.”
    The two women laughed.
    Savannah glanced over at her aunt, hesitated for a moment and then started, “Auntie, about his death, did they ever determine…?”
     

Chapter 2
    “Here. Turn right here—we’re going up on that knoll,” Margaret said with the giddiness of a teenager on her way to a weekend party.
    “Oh, those houses down there are new,” Savannah remarked.
    “Yes. Now stop up there near that brush.”
    Savannah looked around at their rather barren surroundings and asked, “Why are you whispering? There’s no one up here.”
    “Just pull over,” Margaret instructed. “I think we have a good enough view.” She leaned forward and reached under her seat. “Where are those things?”
    “What things? What are we doing out here?” Savannah wanted to know.
    “Is there a pair of binoculars under your seat?”
    Savannah felt around under her seat and pulled out a fairly large pair of Bushnells. A puzzled look on her face, she cocked her head slightly and asked, “What are we going to do with these? Spy on people?” She chuckled as she handed them over to her aunt.
    “We sure are.” Margaret held the glasses up to her eyes and began scanning the area. After a few seconds, she put them down and reached over to the console, pushing the window buttons for the driver’s and passenger’s side windows until they were all the way down. “Go ahead and shut off the engine, would you, Vannie?” She then turned toward her niece and said, “We believe that someone is coming out to these new tract areas and picking up cats. Not strays or ferals, but people’s pets.”
Savannah’s expression changed to one of concern. “Oh, that’s what Max mentioned this morning. That’s awful. What are they doing with them?”
    “We don’t know,” she said staring out across the terrain. “The cats are just disappearing without a trace.”
    Savannah looked around. “Maybe it’s coyotes—this is kind of a wilderness area.”
    “We don’t think so. There are quite a few cats missing now and no one has seen a coyote near here recently. Anyway, the cats seem to be going missing during the day—early morning and late in the afternoon. All these cats stay in at night.” She looked over at her niece before continuing, “We’re having an emergency meeting of the HCA tomorrow morning at my house. We hope some of the residents have something new to report that will help us figure out what’s going on.”
    “HCA?” Savannah queried.
    “Hammond Cat Alliance,” Margaret explained, as she raised the glasses to her eyes again.
    “You’ve formed an alliance for cats? That’s cool.” Savannah smiled. She then took on a more somber demeanor. “So you think someone is taking the cats?” She thought for a moment and then suggested, “Could be some deranged