Page 29 of Catnapped

May wanders off to the kitten cage.

“Sorry to hear that, ma’am. I was hoping we could get a look at your camera footage.”

She pulls a pair of glasses from her front apron pocket and puts them on as she looks up at the camera pointing toward the register. Her nametag says Frankie. “Those? They’re just for show. Haven’t worked in a decade, maybe longer.”

Shit.

“How do you know?” May says from somewhere behind the shelves.

The woman looks that way, cocking her head toward the sound of May’s voice. “Is she talking to me?” Frankie asks.

“No, she’s–”

“But that doesn’t mean the same person did the–oh! Thank you. I love this shirt too… No, you’re adorable… No,youare!”

Frankie gives me a strange look. “Your friend okay?”

“She’s great.” I try to give her a disarming smile.

She doesn’t return it.

“Did anything unusual happen that day?” I ask while May giggles sweetly.

“Other than some hooligan stealing my plates? No.” She turns to go back to stocking the bin, then pauses. “I take that back. A lady came in here. She was wearing some sort of crazy getup, like she was going dancing at Studio 54 right after she got done buying kitty litter. Had a hat the size of a flying saucer. Nowthatwas strange.”

“And she bought kitty litter?”

“Yeah, and a few other things.”

“Do you have her credit card information?”

“Another strange thing–she paid cash in big bills and told me to keep the change. The change was about fifty dollars.” She shakes her head.

“She didn’t have a pet with her?”

“No. Not that I saw. Unless she was hiding it under the hat.” She shrugs.

The shop door opens with the tinkle of a bell. “Hey, Frankie, got any more of that special diet cat food from last time?” A man strides in, then stops when he sees me, his eyes going wide. “Oh, sorry, didn’t know you were busy.”

“I was just leaving.” I give Frankie a nod. “Thanks for your help.”

“Anytime. Hope you find what you’re looking for.” She looks past me. “Gene. Yep, got another shipment just yesterday. Come on, I’ll show you.”

I head to the front of the store where I find May kneeling down and petting a large gray and white striped cat with a bobbed tail.

“I know. He’s big, right?” May smiles up at me. “Carson, this is Mama Kitty, Mama Kitty, this is Carson.”

“Hi, Mama Kitty.” Yep, May’s got me saying hello to cats now.

“Any info from Frankie?” she asks.

“A little. Still not much to go on, but I’m going to pull some more strings to find out about her one odd customer that day.”

“The woman in the hat?” May asks.

I may have doubted her at the very start when I first met her at Mrs. Farrol’s house, but that doubt was already wiped away. If it hadn’t been, the fact that May knows about the woman in the hat despite the fact she was too far away to hear Frankie tell me about it might have done the trick.

“That’s the one.”

---