Chapter 19
Scarlett sat on her bed and looked at the empty space beside her. The space where Clarice normally sat.
Where could she be? She didn’t understand. Clarice always came home after cat choir, only tonight she hadn’t.
Of course, it was understandable that Clarice may have decided to wander off and hunt for the kind of vermin she used to eat when she was still living the life of a street cat, but mostly she had become quite the homebody. She had even gained some pounds.
She loved nothing more than to sit next to Scarlett on the couch as the two of them watched some show together. And then, of course, Clarice loved nothing more than to lie at the foot of the bed as Scarlett slept. Or to lie right next to her, her head on her own pillow.
Oh, how Scarlett loved those moments. Who needed a man when you could have a Clarice to keep you company?
She glanced at her phone and wondered if she should call Vesta. She would know what to do. Or she could ask her cats. Make sure that nothing bad had happened.
She decided that sending a message would be fine. If Vesta was fast asleep, she simply would ignore the message, whereas a phone call was far more disruptive.
‘Have you seen Clarice? She hasn’t come home,’ she tapped into the device, her long fingernails expertly navigating the touchscreen keys.
She waited a moment, and much to her surprise, saw that Vesta was typing a response.
‘Haven’t seen her,’ the reply came. ‘I’ll ask Dooley. He’s lying at the foot of the bed right now.’
Scarlett pressed the button to call, and moments later was in communication with her friend.
“I’m worried,” she confessed. “Normally, she always comes home after cat choir, only tonight she hasn’t.”
“Wait, I’ll ask Dooley,” said Vesta.
“Why are you still up, by the way?”
“Oh, there was this big hullabaloo here earlier,” said her friend.
“This Germinator character had caught a burglar red-handed, and so Chase had to go and arrest him. He also tried to take the Germinator in, but he said he was a superhero, and superheroes are never taken to the police station, so he fled the scene.”
“I haven’t heard of this Germinator. Who is he?”
“No idea. Some dude who dresses up like a bumblebee and goes around fighting crime. Earlier, he caught Johnny and Jerry peddling fake bitcoin, so he tied them to a lamppost.”
“So he’s some kind of vigilante?”
“Yeah, something like that. Only he’s driving me nuts. I mean, this is the kind of work you and me should be doing. In our new BearCat. Scaring the living daylights out of the criminal classes.”
“We can go out tomorrow, if you like,” she said, feeling a little guilty that she had been spending so much time at the senior center.
But could she help it that they had asked her to spread her expertise as a nail stylist?
And since pretty much all of the senior citizens at the center wanted to have their nails done, she had been in there every day for weeks now.
She heard Vesta talking to Dooley, and even though she couldn’t understand a word, she got the impression Dooley knew exactly what was going on, as she had hoped.
“Yeah, Clarice is upset with you,” said Vesta when she came back on. “Turns out she feels neglected. You left home today without taking her along with you, and she didn’t like that. So she’s leaving.”
“Leaving? What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said: she’s leaving. She said she will go back to living in the woods, since humans can’t be trusted.”
“Oh, my God!” This was much worse than she thought. “But why? I mean, I figured she didn’t want to come with me. I took her to the senior center once, and she clearly hated it.”
“Yeah, cats don’t like the smell of nail polish all that much,” Vesta said.
“But that doesn’t mean that you should have left her at home.
You should always give her a choice. That way, she knows that you still want her to come along with you.
And if she decides to stay behind, it’s her choice, and not because you ditched her. ”
“I never ditched her,” she said, feeling pretty shaken up by this whole thing. “I mean, I love that cat, Vesta. I love her with all my heart. I can’t imagine life without my sweet Clarice.”
“Sweet Clarice?” Vesta chuckled. “You’re probably the only one in all of Hampton Cove who refers to her like that. But I understand. I couldn’t be without my sweethearts either. Do you want me to help you look for her?”
“You know where she is?”
“Dooley says she left for the beach. Said she needed to think about her future.”
“Let’s go,” said Scarlett. She didn’t care that it was the middle of the night. She needed to find Clarice and bring her back home.
“I’ll pick you up,” said Vesta, who sounded excited. “In our new BearCat!”
Vesta had certainly stepped on it, for it wasn’t even ten minutes later when a loud tooting sound came from outside, and when Scarlett glanced through the window, she saw that Vesta’s new military-grade monstrosity stood parked at the curb.
Windows opened all along the block, and angry neighbors looked out, but when they saw the tank-like vehicle, they quickly closed their windows again. Possibly they thought that the army had arrived and that a siege was underway. Nobody likes a siege.
Scarlett hurried out of the building and took a seat next to her friend. In the back seat, as expected, she saw Max, Dooley, Harriet, and Brutus.
“Hey, you guys,” she said by way of greeting. “Are you going to help me find Clarice?”
“They feel a little guilty,” said Vesta. “They feel they should have done more to convince Clarice that you haven’t abandoned her. So they want to make things right.”
“I don’t understand how she could ever think that I abandoned her,” said Scarlett.
“I just figured that she was fine on her own, you know.” She shook her head.
“I should never have spent so much time at the senior center. But Dick kept pushing me to do more people, and they all seemed to love it so much.”
“And you know why, don’t you?” said Vesta as she put the vehicle in gear. It made a strange crunching sound that Scarlett didn’t think was a good sign.
“Because I’m so good at doing nails?”
“No, because they can get it done on the spot. They don’t have to go to the nail salon.”
“I have a feeling someone has been taking advantage of me,” she said as she settled back. The vehicle accelerated suddenly, and they were making great time. “I blame Dick.”
“Dick convinced you to do these sessions?”
“Of course. He said I was such a great nail stylist, and he wanted me to share my expertise.”
“He’s been asking for money. Did you know that?”
“What!”
“Oh, sure. For every person he sends your way, he charges fifty bucks. And apparently these people don’t even blink at the price.”
“Fifty bucks! He never said!”
“I figured he was splitting the money with you.”
“No, he isn’t. I didn’t even know he was charging anything. I’m doing this for free!”
“Well, looks like Dick has been scamming you, honey.”
For some reason, Vesta seemed happy with this situation.
Well, Scarlett certainly wasn’t. “Okay, this is the final straw,” she said.
“First he made me lose Clarice’s trust and affection, and now he’s actually been making money off of this?
Today was my final demonstration. No more!
And if Dick wants to make money, he can find himself another mug! ”
“Spoken like a true Neighborhood Watch member,” said Vesta. She glanced over. “You know, I figured that you didn’t want to be in the Watch anymore. Since you haven’t been wanting to go out with me.”
It sounded a little funny, the way she said it, but Scarlett got her meaning perfectly. “It’s just that after spending a day at the senior center doing nails, I don’t feel like being in the car with you all night,” she explained. “I just don’t have the energy.”
“Yeah, I get that. But now that you won’t be doing nails anymore…”
“Of course I will start doing patrols with you again, honey. I love it. It’s my fun time.”
“It’s my fun time, too,” said Vesta. “And I have missed it.”
“I have missed it, too.” And so, apparently, had Clarice.
Poor darling. Where could she be?