Amy and I made quick work of the new few sales we attended once we’d kicked Agent Loser to the curb. We still weren’t having any luck, however.
“Think we can make this one our last for the day? I’m starting to get real hungry,” I said with a sigh. “I never got to finish my sandwich at lunch, you know. I was trying to help get you away from that creepy guy.”
“Well, I do appreciate it,” Amy said as she navigated our car down a long driveway. “I thought I was going to pee myself trying not to laugh at his ridiculous attempts at flirting.”
I could rest easy, knowing I never had anything to worry about when it came to my so-called rival.
“Whoa,” I said as the massive house came into view. “It’ll take us a while to make our way through this one.”
“People really live like this?” Amy whispered as she gathered me into her arms and exited the car. “It seems insane.”
Now this was a sale, worthy of the estate name.
The interior was all plush carpets and paneled walls. Lush paintings and expertly carved statues peppered each room, and everything looked crazy expensive. Despite all the obvious luxury that surrounded me, I couldn’t stop focusing on the thick, soft carpet beneath my paws.
Ah, it would be so, so nice to pee on it.
But, no, I was still a human somewhere deep inside. And such a maneuver would have been a bit too beastly, even for a full-blooded cat.
“Resist the urge, resist the urge,” I muttered to myself.
“Everything okay?” Amy asked.
“Hold me,” I said, which thankfully she did not hesitate to do.
I relaxed as she carried me up a beautiful, curved staircase with intricately carved banisters. As soon as we reached the upper floor, something tugged at the edges of my consciousness.
Could it be…?
“Amy, wait,” I practically shouted.
She stopped and glanced around the wide hallway. Nodding once, she moved decisively toward the right and stepped into a bedroom lined from floor to ceiling with ornate red wallpaper.
The intensity of the magic increased dramatically as we passed through the doorway. We weren’t alone.
A thin man with a willowy frame, sandy blond hair, and liver spots all over his hands stood inspecting something on the bureau.
Was this our exposer? This frail old dude? Really?
The strange old man turned abruptly, and the magical waves crashed into nothingness.
Gotcha, dude.
“Look, Mossy,” Amy said in a sweet voice, drawing my attention back to her. “They have old jeans. I love old jeans.”
Old jeans? What in the world?
“Really?” I asked with a tilt of my head while keeping one eye on the suspect who stood across the room. “Is collecting old jeans a thing?”
Amy didn’t answer as she scratched behind my ears. She hummed while walking slowly around the room.
The man kept shooting us furtive glances. Honestly, he couldn’t have been more obvious.
“I’m watching him,” I said quietly. He glanced at me when I spoke but didn’t react. All he heard were cutesy, little meows. At least sometimes this whole cat thing came in handy.
“That’s a good boy,” Amy said in a cutesy-coo voice. “Let me look at these nice things here, then we’ll go get you some treaties. Yes, we will.”
She was really overplaying this act. “You’re going to make me puke,” I muttered, but still I couldn’t help smiling.
The old man shuffled around, drifting from the bureau toward the closet.
“I think he’d been looking at that old snuffbox when we arrived,” I informed Amy as we approached the dresser.
And my partner didn’t miss a beat. “Oh, Mossy, look at this lovely snuff box.” She picked it up and examined it, opening and closing the lid.
I reached out a paw. “Let me touch it.”
Hmm. Cool metal, but no magical residue. “I don’t sense anything,” I said with a frown.
“I bet you your Aunt Kaye would like this,” Amy said, playing the part of the eccentric cat lady perfectly. “She collects snuff boxes, you know.” She pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of the little green box.
“He’s leaving,” I hissed.
The old man shuffled toward the door, quietly pulling it closed behind him. “Count to three,” I said. “Then follow.”
She nodded once, sucked in a breath, and counted. “One, two… three!”
When Amy grabbed the doorknob, though… it didn’t open. “Uh.” She set me on a little table near the door and tried again.
“It's locked,” she moaned, yanking at the knob with all her might.
“Bang on it,” I suggested. “We can’t let him get away. Not when we’re so close.”
Amy pounded at the door with her fists and even gave it a swift kick, but nothing happened. And nobody came to our aid. “I bet he spelled it so they can’t hear us.”
“You’ll have to call for help,” I said. “Like on the phone. Tell Kaye where we are and what this guy looks like. We’re not going down like this.”
Jumping from the little table, I darted across the bedroom and over to the big window. “Locked.”
Amy crossed the room with her phone to her ear and banged on the window. The view looked out over the front lawn, but no shoppers or attendants stood within view.
“Kaye,” Amy shouted a few seconds later. “I’m going to text you an address. We ran into our culprit, and he’s locked us in an upstairs bedroom. We can’t get out, and I don’t think anybody can see or hear us. We may be stuck here for a while, so this is on you now.”
I settled down on the jeans, doing my best to derive comfort in this unfortunate situation. “These are pretty nice,” I murmured. “Makes for a good nap spot.”
Amy sighed and went back to banging on the door. “It’ll take Kaye at least an hour to get to us here,” she grumbled between knocks. “And you and I don’t share a teaspoon of useful magic between us. What were we thinking going off on our own? We were so close, and we just let him get away. Aaargh.”
I was just about to tell her that everything would be all right, that we hadn’t messed up too badly—at least not yet. But a sudden burst of movement on the front lawn drew my attention. “Hey, Amy, come here.”
The old man shuffled out of the house toward an old, beat-up sedan.
“Is there a dog inside?” I asked aghast. I didn’t much care for dogs, but even I wouldn’t leave one stuck inside a car on a hot day.
“Oh, yes, there is,” Amy said as she peered down. Thinking fast, she pulled out her phone and zoomed in, snapping picture after picture. The man, the car, the dog. She even got the license plate.
“Good thinking,” I said as my eyelids grew heavy. So much excitement for one day. It really took a lot out of a guy.
The rays of sunshine beat down on my head, warming me and the jeans around me. Ahh.
Yeah, we let the bad guy get away. But hey…
Comfortable bed, gorgeous company, things could have been a whole heck of a lot worse.