Charles and I made it to that dingy motel in Cooper Cove in record time. When we arrived, we found Nan waiting with the Calhoun twins in the parking lot. Nan and Charles sat together in Nan’s sports coupe while Breanne sat parked a few spots away, flipping through a giant stack of papers in the driver’s seat of her luxury SUV.
The moment Charles and I pulled into that parking lot, everyone scrambled out of their cars and rushed over to join us.
Cal gave me a huge hug. “Welcome back,” he said with a charming grin.
Breanne tried to hug Charles, but he was having none of that.
“Let’s do this!” Nan let out a battle cry and led the charge up the outdoor staircase and toward motel room number twenty-six.
The rest of us followed like obedient little ducklings.
We found the room, third on the right, after exiting the narrow stairway. Charles nudged his way to the front of our pack and banged on the door. “Open up,” he called, his voice much deeper than usual. Maybe to sound more intimidating. Yeah, because that was the way to get her to voluntarily open the door.
“Are you sure Anne’s even in there?” I asked. A frustrating sense of déjà vu had already begun to set in. What if this was Boston all over again?
“Anne? No,” Nan admitted with a look of determination that didn’t waver. “The catnapper? Yes.”
“How…?” I began. My voice shook just as much as my hands in that moment.
Cal generously explained the situation to Charles and me, who were now both utterly confused. “So hang on a sec. Here’s what happened. First off, Breanne felt really bad about her role in all of this, so she agreed to help.”
“It’s true. I did. I do.” Bree placed a hand on Charles’s arm, but he ripped it away.
“I’d prefer to hear this from your brother, thank you very much,” he grumbled, refusing to even look at his recent ex.
Cal waited until I nodded for him to go ahead. “Well, um, Bree sent an email since that was the only form of contact she had for the ransom note writer, and basically, well, she said that the plan had worked and that you had agreed to give up the house, Angie.” The poor guy seemed so nervous. It was obvious he didn’t like being the middleman in this lovers’ spat, and I couldn’t say I blamed him.
When Cal hesitated again, Breanne took over the recap. “I told the person that I had the preliminary paperwork and that we needed to meet face-to-face in order to move on with the next phase of the plan. About an hour later, I was sent this address and room number.”
“Have you been inside yet?” I asked, glancing back toward the closed door.
“No, we were waiting for you,” Nan said. “We wouldn’t have solved the case without you.”
“Yes, unfortunately, we’ve been here for quite a while now,” Bree snapped, focusing all her hostility on me now that Charles had made it clear he didn’t want to have anything to do with her. “So can we please just get this over with already? I have other things to do today, you know.”
“Like delivering more ransom notes?” Nan quipped, laughing at her own joke.
It may not have been the most mature decision, but I couldn’t resist giving her a high five for that perfect joke.
Bree scowled at both of us, reminding me how serious this situation was.
“She’s not answering,” I muttered, staring at the cheap motel door and wishing I had the power to see right through it. “Why is she not answering?”
Nan cleared her throat and held up one pointer finger. “Housekeeping,” she called out happily, giving the door an upbeat series of knocks.
The door in front of us remained closed, but the one to the next room opened a crack and a middle-aged man peeked his head out. “Housekeeping?” he asked us with a confused expression.
“They just went inside another room. Looks like you’ve got a bit of time to make yourself decent,” Nan said with a flirtatious wink.
“Wait,” I cried just as the door was closing the last bit of the way.
The man nudged it open a few inches and stared at me curiously.
“Did you happen to run into the woman who was staying in this room? We were supposed to get together today, but she’s not answering.”
He shook his head. “Sorry, no. I just got in last night.”
Click. The door closed again.
“Oh, this is ridiculous,” Breanne groused. “C’mon,” she told Cal, grabbing his arm and pulling him along. “We’ll go check with the front desk. You can all stay here.”
Nan, Charles, and I waited in silence. What was left to say? Octo-Cat might be in the room, but he might also not be. It was like Schrödinger’s cat but without the box and hopefully without the dead cat, too.
Thankfully, it only took five minutes for the twins to return.
“The occupant checked out,” Cal explained with a sad shake of his head. “And we were so close, too. I’m sorry, Angie.”
Nan patted Cal on the bicep. “That’s okay, dear. Did they give us a name?”
“No, they wouldn’t,” Bree seethed. “Some ridiculous code of privacy or something.”
Angry tears burned at my eyes and throat. “Now what?” I screamed at the closed door.
Charles and Nan hugged me from either side, which apparently was enough to send Bree tip-tapping out of there on her impossibly high heels. “It’s been swell,” she said, waving as she walked away. “Keep me posted. Or, you know, don’t. Whatever.”
“What a piece of work, that one. You know I never did much care for her,” a smooth, haughty voice informed us from below.
“Not now, Octo-Cat,” I murmured. “We have to figure out what we’re going to do next.”
Wait… Was that…? Oh!
My head snapped up, and I ran to the edge of the outdoor hallway so fast I practically tumbled straight over the edge.
“Watch it there,” Charles cried, looping his arms around my waist and catching me just in time.
But I didn’t care about the fact my crush held me tight or that I’d almost fallen a full story. All I cared about was the blurry, brown-and-black-striped figure that sat in the small courtyard below, regarding me irritably.
“You know…” Octo-Cat said slowly, his way of making sure I understood. “I’ve been gone for three whole days. That’s three whole days drinking tap water and choking down store brand cat food. Three days without my iPad or cat door. Do you know how much I’ve suffered? Honestly, Angela, what took you so long?”
I choked on a sob and jabbed Charles with my elbow. “Give me twenty bucks,” I said, holding out my hand.
“Are you going to take me home now?” Octo-Cat demanded. “I’m not stepping a paw on that dirty cement again, and I’ve had more than enough of an adventure for this week, thank you very much.”
I wiped my nose on the back of my arm and ran down the stairs. When I reached Octo-Cat, I scooped him up into my arms and squeezed him to my chest.
“Gross!” he protested. “I just finished my mid-day ministrations, and now you’ve gone and wiped your germs all on me. Unhand me, you filthy human. Unhand me right now.”
I set him back on the grass and laughed like a crazy person. I didn’t care what anyone thought. This was one of the very best days of my entire life. Octo-Cat was here, and he was no worse for the wear—no matter what he claimed. I did wonder, though…
I stared into his glinting amber eyes as I asked, “How are you here on your own? Where’s the person who took you?”
My tabby jumped up onto a nearby bench seat and waved his paw around dramatically. Whatever he was about to say, it was sure to be entertaining and to overexaggerate his importance. Ahh, it was so good to have him back.
Octo-Cat smiled as he launched into his harrowing tale. “Well, she was leaving in a hurry a couple hours back. She tried to take me with her, but I let these babies out, and—”
Schwink. His claws popped out in all their menacing glory.
“Let’s just say I won that particular fight.” He laughed in that favorite villainous way of his.
“You said she. Do you know who took you? Was it a woman?”
He shrugged his adorable little kitty shoulders. “It was definitely a person I’ve seen before. I’m pretty sure it was one of Ethel’s relatives, and I am at least sixty percent sure the person was a female.”
I patted him between his ears. “Good work.” He still had a hard time telling humans apart, but he was getting better. Slowly but surely, he was getting better, and he was back with me where we belonged.
“Um, Angie?” Charles said, approaching with Nan and Cal at either side. “We can still make the arbitration, if you want to—”
“Let’s do it,” I said.
Now that I had my best friend at my side, there was no way I would let anyone hurt him ever again. We were back together, and that’s how we would stay.