Chapter 17

I moved away from the hedge, entering Rita's backyard.

The woman was still seated in her rocking chair, encircled by the host of cats. All three tiny kittens slept on their backs cradled in her arms, their fuzzy tummies round with milk.

She looked up, startled. Her eyes widened as I approached to stand just outside the enclosure. Her pale brows rose. "I met you at the Red Hat party, but I can't remember your name. What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Rita." I kept my voice steady. "My name is Kat Smith. I need to talk to you about two cats named Lady Sapphire and Tiki."

Rita gently set the kittens into a small basket at her feet. She stood up and dislodged the large tabby from her aproned lap, brushing away stray hairs with her hands. Her face was unreadable as she responded at last, "I don't know any cats by those names. All my cats are strays."

I remained undeterred. "Rita," I said, "I saw Lady Sapphire here earlier." I turned to point at where I'd seen the cat, but the Himalayan was no longer visible. "Her owner is worried about her. And Tiki is my cat. Not a stray. There might be others who you thought were feral, but have owners. We've heard of indoor-outdoor cats missing in this area."

Rita gazed at the animals surrounding her. Her expression filled with sadness, her shoulders drooping. "These cats are all I have," she whispered. "My daughter died years ago of cancer. The holidays are so hard when you're alone." Her words tugged at my heart. The loneliness in her voice was palpable, and I felt a wave of sympathy.

"I'm so sorry for your loss." I took another step closer to the structure.

"These cats are feral. Strays. Unwanted. No one looked for them before."

"Rita," I said gently, "I understand you love these animals. But Lady Sapphire and Tiki have families, and people who miss them. They need to be returned to their true homes. There may be others, too."

Rita sighed deeply, a sound that seemed to resonate around the cat-filled enclosure. "I truly don't know which ones you're talking about," she insisted. "They're all special to me."

"I can identify them, Rita," I said with resolute calmness. "Let me come inside and look for them."

Rita's expression was a mix of defiance and sorrow as she crossed her arms on her chest, gazing around at the cats. Interestingly, the animals showed little interest in me, unlike those at The Cat Shelter. Their attention remained on Rita. Finally Rita's gaze met mine, a myriad of emotions flickering in her blue eyes. "I didn't . . . I didn't mean to take anyone's pet. I thought they were lost. Lonely," she confessed in a hushed tone. "Like me."

"I understand," I said. "But we need to do what's right. For Lady Sapphire, for Tiki, and perhaps for others here as well."

Rita looked down and her hands nervously wrung the edge of her apron. "I . . . I don't know which ones they are."

"May I?" I asked, indicating the motley collection of cats surrounding her. At her nod, I stepped forward, opening the simple latch door and walking forward to scrutinize each feline and cubbyhole in search of Tiki and Lady Sapphire.

After a thorough search, my chest tightened with disappointment. The beautiful Himalayan turned out to be a spayed male, and none of the cubbies contained my familiar kink-tailed, one-eared calico.

Neither of our targets was there.

I turned to address Rita, disappointment making my shoulders sag.

"Neither Tiki nor Lady Sapphire is here," I said, my voice low.

Rita frowned. "That's too bad."

"It's okay," I said, though my chest felt heavy as lead. "We'll find them. But we need to make sure this doesn't happen again. Missing pets, who end up in your cage."

Rita nodded. "I . . . I just wanted to help the endangered birds," she murmured. "And the cats. There are so many feral ones all over the island."

"How did you capture all of these?" I gestured to the felines shedding hair all over my pants as they wound around my legs.

"I had the help of two kind young men, Chad and Dave."

My eyebrows shot up. "Chad? Our mail deliverer?"

"Yes. Chad set traps in Kahului and brought those he captured out here. He would also empty the ones Dave set up around town, then drop all the cats he caught here at my house. He hid them in the back of the mail truck."

I remembered the wall of boxes at the rear of the truck that never seemed to move. He must have had his captives behind it.

"Hmm," I said. "No wonder Chad was looking so tired before the holidays with all that extra work. It's abuse of postal property to use the truck that way and double dip on his salary."

"Please don't get him fired, Kat." Rita made prayer hands. "Chad's a sweet young man who wanted to help with the problem and earn a little extra money that I was happy to pay him. Dave, too. He's the one who got his friend Chad involved. He built this big cat house for me."

Now I knew what Dave had been doing with the rolls of chicken wire!

"Okay." I would have to talk to my boss, Mr. Hanoi, about Chad, but I didn't need to tell Rita that. "Please stop collecting more cats until we figure out what the legalities are for this situation, okay?"

"I understand."

"You can help the genuine strays as long as it's not against the law, and I don't think it is though I have a detective looking into it for us. But first, we need to make sure any cat you currently have is really without a home. Maybe we could check for microchips or find out if they're being searched for."

After a moment, Rita nodded. "Yes," she agreed. "That sounds like a good plan. I hope you find the pets you're looking for."

"Me too. I'll be in touch."

I left Rita's yard and headed for my bike.

Tiki and Lady Sapphire were still gone, but at least I knew what was going on with all the missing cats and who'd trapped them. We'd still have something to celebrate tonight when Keone came over and we made gingerbread houses with Aunt Fae.