I stared at her. She stared at me, her eyes drifting to the bundle in my coat that was JJ, then back to me. For a second that felt like ten years, we were both frozen in place.
Had she followed me? Debated busting JJ out of my car while I ate lunch with my sister? Why else would she show up here, exactly where I needed to go? My boyfriend’s shop, of all places? Last I knew, she didn’t have a dog. Unless she’d stolen someone’s. With everything going on at the moment, my thoughts went to a much more paranoid place then they usually would. Either way, I wasn’t having it.
“What are you doing here?” I burst out, before I could help myself. “Are you following me?”
She took a step back, startled. “No. No, I’m not following you. I’m just…” She made a gesture toward the other building next to us. The deli.
“Just what? Getting lunch?” I sniffed, although I admitted to myself that it was a perfectly reasonable time for lunch and that the deli was right there. “I don’t buy it.” She’d regained her composure at this point and crossed her arms over her chest. Despite her bravado, she looked more haggard than when she’d been in my cafe yesterday. The lines around her eyes were more pronounced, and the black circles under her eyes suggested something had been keeping her up at night. “Well, I don’t care if you buy it. You don’t own the island.”
“Oh. You don’t care.” I stepped forward and pointed at her, well aware that I sounded a little insane. “You should care. Why are you hanging around me? If you don’t leave me alone, I’m calling the police.”
“The police,” she snorted. “What, your grandfather? You’re the one harassing me. I just came here to get lunch. I’m the one who should be calling the police. And maybe Animal Control, since that poor cat is freezing while you stroll around outside!” She’d raised her voice now. We were having a regular standoff in the middle of the sidewalk. Luckily, it wasn’t too busy given the time of year, but the people who were out on the street were giving us a wide berth.
I bristled. “He is not freezing. He’s wearing a coat and he’s wrapped in my coat. Mind your own business.” I usually wasn’t this rude to people, but I couldn’t stop the words spilling out of my mouth.
“He is my business,” she returned coolly. “He’s my cat.”
I felt my chest puff up like a mama dog defending her pups, but not before the fear her words caused stabbed me in the gut. “This again? Your cat? He is not your cat. You want to call the police? Try it,” I snapped. “And yes, my grandfather used to run that police department. I’d love to see the response you get.”
Her eyes narrowed into slits. Despite Grandpa’s joke about her being old and skinny and no match for any of us, suddenly I could see the potential for danger there. “That a threat?”
I knew I should shut my mouth, but I couldn’t seem to. Just thinking about this woman trying to put her hands on JJ made me crazy. “If it has to be a threat, it will be. Stay away from my house. And my family.”
I was about to spin off in a dramatic exit, but I felt a hand on my shoulder and nearly jumped a foot. I spun around. Craig stood directly behind me. And no doubt he’d heard most of that.
“Maddie? What’s going on?” he asked, looking from me to the woman.
“Oh, look. Officer Tomlin.” I smiled sweetly at my nemesis. “The cops are here. Anything you wanted to say?”
“Yes, actually. I’d like to file a complaint,” she said, turning to Craig. “Public harassment! Unless you’re one of the corrupt cops who would cave because her grandpa was the chief.” She said the word grandpa with a sneer that made me want to slap her.
But Craig didn’t like her comment, either. He turned to her, his lips settling into a thin line. “Ma’am, that was out of line,” he said. “Our officers are certainly not corrupt. Now what’s the problem here?”
“She’s stalking me,” I said, before she could say anything.
“Stalking you?” Craig asked, frowning.
“She’s full of crap,” the woman snapped. “And a little insane, if you ask me.”
“I’m insane? You’re the one trying to steal my cat!”
“Whoa, whoa!” Craig stepped in between us. “Maddie. What do you mean, she’s trying to steal your cat?”
“JJ! She’s after JJ.”
“It’s my cat,” she said, her gaze steely. “You can cry to your precious grandpa all you want, but it’s the truth. He’s lying about how you got him.”
I turned to Craig, furiously blinking back tears. “You need to get her off this island,” I said, hating the way my voice shook.
“Okay, calm down,” Craig said. “Let’s all take a minute to get composed and we can talk—”
“Maddie? Are you okay?” Lucas, who must’ve seen the confrontation from his window, rushed out of his shop. When he reached us, he slipped an arm around my shoulders, looking from Craig to the woman. “What’s going on?”
Grateful, I hugged him around the waist. “She’s back,” I whispered.
“Harassing you about JJ?”
I nodded.
“Well, what’s he doing about it?” he asked, motioning to Craig.
I could see Craig’s jaw set out of the corner of my eye.
“I’m right here,” Craig said. “Feel free to ask me.”
“Okay,” Lucas said. “What are you doing about it?” His tone was pleasant enough, but his eyes were steely.
“This is ridiculous,” the woman said before Craig could answer. “I’m the one who has a gripe here. Talk about public harassment! Not to mention, she does have something of mine.” She pointed with a skinny, long finger at JJ.
“Something?” I heard my voice rise to a screech and hated it, but I couldn’t help it. I stuffed JJ’s head deeper in my coat, trying to get him out of her sight line. “You’re referring to JJ as something?”
Craig sighed and turned back to my nemesis, stepping slightly in front of me to block my view of her. “Ma’am, can you prove it?”
She faltered a bit. “I know my cat’s markings.”
Craig waited for her to say more. We all did. I held my breath. But his words made me feel a bit better. Of course she couldn’t prove it. It wasn’t like this foolishness would hold up in any kind of a court. But, a little voice reminded me, she could still try to steal JJ out from under my nose.
That thought left me cold.
“I don’t mean to sound disrespectful, ma’am, but cats can have similar markings,” Craig said finally. “Especially ones with the same lineage, which we see a lot out here on the island. There’s a lot of inbreeding, given the more narrow population of strays and ferals.”
I listened, impressed. I hadn’t realized Craig had become an expert on cats.
“I know cats can look similar,” she snapped. “But I know my cat.”
“Can I get your name please?” He pulled out his notebook. “And your address? Do you live on the island?” He held his pencil poised over the notebook, waiting expectantly.
She glared at him. “My name is Thea Coleman. I don’t live on the island.”
Craig, who had begun writing, paused. “Where do you live?”
“Why?”
“Because I’m asking,” he said. His tone was still polite, but I could tell he was getting annoyed, too.
“I live in California,” she said finally.
“Then how did you lose a cat here?” Craig asked.
“I come here a few times a year for vacation. One of the times I was here I rescued a litter of kittens. I was going to take them back with me, but one of them escaped.” She turned her gaze on me. “The orange one.”
“Well, maybe if you’d taken better care of them—” I countered.
Craig held up a hand to silence me. “When was this?”
She thought about it. “About three years ago.”
I felt my heart sink a little. The initial vet estimates put JJ right around three years old. Although it’s impossible to tell, with strays. Sometimes they appeared older than they actually were, especially if their living situations had been difficult.
But Craig’s expression didn’t change. “I see.” He flipped his notebook closed. “I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do about it now,” he said. “If there’s no way to prove this was your cat—like if you don’t have papers or anything to support your claim—there’s really no standing. I’m sorry, Ms. Coleman.”
I had no idea if what he was saying was true, but the fact that he said it meant a lot. I felt my throat tighten a bit, that kind of tight that means tears are coming. On the days I wondered why I’d come back here, this was what I always came back to. I had family and other people who’d known me all my life who still cared about me. No matter how annoying they got at times, you couldn’t beat that.
Thea looked like she was about to argue with him, then apparently thought better of it. She muttered something under her breath, then turned and headed toward the deli. “Thanks for nothing,” she spat over her shoulder.
“Excuse me, ma’am,” Craig called. “Did you still want to pursue harassment charges?”
She ignored him and shoved through the deli door. I swatted his arm. “What do you mean, does she still want to pursue harassment charges?”
He grinned. “I was just showing her that I really wasn’t taking sides.”