Cat Trick

“No,” I said slowly. “But Owen’s . . . in the tent.”

For a moment there was silence. “Which tent?” Marcus finally asked, his tone cautious.

“The one that’s surrounded by crime scene tape,” I said, cringing as the words came out.

I heard him sigh on the other end of the phone, and I could picture the tight line of his jaw.

“Why? How?” He paused for a second. “Never mind. I’m on my way. Don’t move.” He stressed the last two words.

“I won’t,” I promised, but he was already gone.

I stood on the grass, hands in the pockets of my sweater, jingling the keys that had started this whole mess. I kept one eye on the flap of the tent just in case Owen decided to grace Riverwalk with his presence. I knew he’d come out when it suited him and not a moment before.

Marcus pulled up about five minutes later. “I don’t suppose Owen decided to come out by himself,” he said as he came around the front of his SUV.

“I haven’t seen even a whisker,” I said. At least that was true. If Owen wasn’t in the tent anymore, then he was likely sitting somewhere close, watching us, hiding in his own personal Cloak of Invisibility.

Marcus started for the yellow tape. “Do I want to know how this happened?” I’d expected him to be a lot more, well, annoyed—mad—about what Owen had done. There was a time he would have been. Of course, there was a time I never would have imagined Marcus cooking dinner for me.

“I think you do,” I said, “being someone who likes to stick to the facts.”

He almost smiled. Then he ducked under the plastic tape and beckoned to me with one finger. “So tell me the facts.”

“You want me to come with you?” I said.

He nodded and I got a small smile as well. “I saw what happened when somebody other than you tried to pick up that cat. Remember?”

I did. Owen and I had almost been killed when a couple of propane tanks exploded. I’d ended up in the back of an ambulance, suffering from hypothermia. Despite Marcus’s warning to everyone not to touch the cat, a police officer had tried to move him out of the paramedic’s way. The officer had ended up needing his own paramedic.

Marcus held up the heavy canvas flap, and I followed him into the tent, pausing a couple of steps inside to let my eyes adjust to the dimmer light. Everything looked pretty much the same as the last time, except, of course, that the body and the white resin chair were gone. And there was a gray tabby cat, digging at the ground by the long side wall of the tent.

“Owen,” I said sharply. “What are you doing?”

The cat looked from me to Marcus. Then, with his golden eyes locked on the detective’s face, he scratched at a spot on the grass where about two inches of the tent wall made a lip on the ground and meowed loudly.

I walked over and crouched down beside him so I could get a closer look at where he’d been digging. Something seemed to be stuck in the damp earth. “Marcus, you better look at this,” I said. “I think Owen found something.”

Marcus came to stand beside me, leaning over to see where I was pointing.

“I think it’s a button,” I said. It looked as though it had fallen on the grass and then been stepped on, pushing it down into the ground. It was metal, and at first glance, it looked to be vintage. Handmade, maybe.

He bent down for a better look. He didn’t say anything, but I caught an almost imperceptible nod of his head. Then he straightened and felt for his phone.

I reached for Owen. “Good job on the button or whatever it is,” I whispered. “Don’t think you’re not in trouble, though.” He rubbed the side of his face against my neck and shifted in my arms so he could watch Marcus.

Once Marcus had finished his call, he looked at me. “You can take him outside,” he said, inclining his head toward the cat while his eyes were already drifting back to the tent wall.

I pointed at the small patch of torn-up grass and earth. “Do you think that button belongs to the person who killed Mike Glazer?”

That got me all of his attention. “I didn’t say anyone killed Mike Glazer,” he said. He hadn’t, but I knew him well enough to hear the tiniest edge in his voice, and I knew that just because he hadn’t said it didn’t mean I wasn’t right.

“No, you didn’t,” I said. “Owen and I are just going to wait out there for you.” I’d said I was going to stay out of his case and I was, even though it seemed as though the cats were on a mission to drag me into it.