Detective Milner chuckled. “It’s okay, Carson. I think these ladies might enjoy watching how we work.” He smiled at Savannah and Holly. “You’re both little wannabe investigators, aren’t you?”

  The women nodded apprehensively.

  He chuckled. “I can see how eager you are this morning. Besides,” he told the uniformed officer, “Mrs. Ivey has been living here with her cat.”

  The officer remained stoic. He nodded.

  “And she might know where we should be looking.” He gestured toward Savannah. “Go ahead and open the door.”

  Savannah glanced at Holly, then unlocked the front door. The women watched as the detective and two officers entered the home. Detective Milner reached into his pocket and held up a plastic bag. “Okay, this is what these ladies…um…or I guess it was the cat…have found so far.”

  One of the officers emitted a low whistle.

  “Wow!” the other officer exclaimed.

  The detective slipped the bag into his jacket pocket and said, “Okay, now you know what we’re looking for and it might be hidden in a small space that a cat could fit into.”

  “A cat?” one officer questioned.

  “Yeah, it appears that a cat dragged these pieces from where they’ve been hidden for decades. So look for inconspicuous openings, hidden panels, secret doors, or…” he took a deep breath, “…it might be in plain sight. Use your imagination.”

  “Yes, sir,” the officers said as they headed in different directions.

  Savannah and Holly watched the activity from a distance. After a little while, the detective summoned the women to the second floor and asked Holly to open the padlock on the off-limits room. He motioned for them to wait in the hall as he went inside. About five minutes later, the detective emerged and announced, “Nothing out of the ordinary in there. It’s just personal items belonging to the family.” When Holly moved forward to close the padlock, the detective took it in his hands. “I got it. Let’s go back downstairs.”

  ****

  About forty-five minutes later, the detective and his officers left the Verano home.

  “That was a bust,” Savannah said.

  Holly sighed. “Yeah, I thought for sure they’d find something.” She laughed. “I saw those officers looking in the oven, in the hot water heater cabinet, under the bathroom sink…”

  “Yeah,” Savannah said, “they were pretty thorough. Hey, I wonder if there are jewel-sniffing dogs.”

  “Huh?”

  “You know, they have search dogs, cadaver dogs, drug-sniffing dogs…” She faced Holly. “I even saw a produce-sniffing dog in an airport once.” She started to move toward the front door. “Well, I guess I’d better go rescue Mom from the kids. I suppose the guys are still packing the trailer.”

  Once the women had locked the front door to the Verano home, they walked back to the Pettits’. Gladys greeted Savannah. “Oh good, your back. You’re son’s hungry.” She said to the baby, “Your lunch is here, sweet boy. Here’s Mommy.”

  “Mommy!” Lily shouted as she ran into the room. She grabbed Savannah’s leg and hugged tightly.

  “Hi, punkin,” Savannah said, rubbing the child’s back affectionately. “What have you been doing?”

  “Bubbles!” she whined.

  “Oh,” Gladys said, “she and Bethany have been wanting to blow bubbles. I was just about ready to take them outside when Teddy got fussy.”

  “Well, I have an idea,” Holly said enticingly, “Why don’t we go outside and blow some bubbles?”

  “Yay!” Lily said. “Mommy blow bubbles?” she chirped.

  “Okay, I’ll come outside with you and you girls blow bubbles.” After stepping out with the others, Savannah sat down in a deck chair. “Let me feed baby brother first, then I’ll help you.”

  “I’ll help her,” Cassie said. “Come on, Lily, let’s blow bubbles.”

  By the time Teddy had finished eating, the children had grown tired of bubble-blowing. Savannah placed the sleeping baby in his rocking swing and cleaned the bubble solution off Lily’s and Bethany’s hands. Just then, something occurred to her. “Hey, did we give the cops the tennis bracelet?”

  Holly looked at her wide-eyed. “Uh-oh. After you found those rings and that fancy necklace, I guess we forgot about the tennis bracelet. Where is it?”

  “In that covered pot. You know what, I think I’ll go get it.”

  “I want to go,” Cassie said.

  “Me too,” Bethany said.

  “Me too, Mommy,” Lily said.

  “Okay, let’s all go for a little walk,” Holly suggested, “then we’ll come back and have lunch.”

  Once inside the Verano home, Savannah moved quickly toward the buffet. “Remember, we put it in this pot. She lifted the lid, and began digging for the bracelet. She grinned. “I suppose this means we’re withholding evidence.”

  Holly laughed. She pointed and walked toward Savannah. “Hey, what are those papers in there, anyway? Do you suppose it’s something related to what’s been going on around here?”

  “I don’t know.” Savannah looked at the pot. “Maybe we should find out.” When Holly nodded, she reached in and pulled out a fistful of documents, handing some of them to Holly. After they’d studied the pages for a few moments, Savannah said, “Looks like someone’s been doing their genealogy.”

  “Yeah, it does.” She read some of the names on the papers she held. “Silvestri,

  Lombardi, Mancini…” She chuckled. “Johnson. That’s not very Italian.”

  “Slattery,” Savannah read from another page. “I had a friend in college named Carmen Slattery. I wonder…” But before she could finish her sentence, she heard a voice.

  “Hello.”

  Savannah turned and saw a woman approaching from the kitchen. Savannah thought she looked to be about fifty with dark-blond hair pulled back into a ponytail and a heavy fringe of tendrils framing her face.

  “Sharon,” Holly said. “Hi. I didn’t realize you’d be cleaning today.”

  The woman nodded. “Yes, Vickie said today or tomorrow. She glanced at Savannah. “I hope this is okay.”

  Savannah started to respond, when Lily began to cry. She stuffed the papers back into the pot and hurried to her daughter.

  “What happened?” Holly asked.

  “Oh, it looks like she slipped on that wet floor and scraped her knee.” She cooed to the child, “It’s okay, honey. Mommy will fix it all up for you. Let’s go back to Cassie’s and Beth-Beth’s house and get you a bandage, okay?”

  “I want to go with you,” Bethany whined.

  “We can all go. Come on, let’s get out of Sharon’s way, shall we?” Holly suggested.

  As the others gathered near the front door to leave, Savannah watched Sharon disappear into the kitchen. She started to follow Holly out, when she thought of something. She doubled back into the house, picked up the pot off the buffet and rejoined Holly on the porch. Holly looked curiously at Savannah, who said, “I want to learn more about the family genealogy.” She creased her brow. “Plus, I don’t think we should leave this tennis bracelet in there while she’s cleaning.”

  “Good thinking,” Holly said. She glanced back at the Verano home. “Gosh, Vickie’s on the ball, isn’t she? I mean having the cleaning gal in there already and all. I wonder if she has someone else moving in when you leave.”

  Savannah squinted in Holly’s direction. “How do you suppose she got a key?”

  “Oh, well, maybe the door wasn’t locked and…”

  “I’m pretty sure it was,” Savannah said.

  Holly slapped the air with one hand. “Oh, Vickie has probably given her one. I think she has a key to several homes in the area.”

  Savannah stopped and gazed back at the Verano house. “Is that right?” she asked, sounding a little mysterious. She relaxed a little. “Well, I guess that makes sense.” After thinking about it, however, she said, “I doubt the cops will let Vickie move anyone else in there until they’ve finished their investigation.”

  “You don’t think they’re finished?” Holly asked.

  “Well, they didn’t find anything did they? I don’t imagine they’ll give up. In fact, they may bring bulldozers and metal detectors in now that they know what they know.” Savannah turned to her sister-in-law. “In fact, I’m surprised they didn’t find the stash when they refurbished the place back in the nineties.” She shook her head. “It must be really well hidden.”

  Holly grinned. “Except from your cat.”

  “What happened?” Gladys asked when the two women walked into the kitchen where she was arranging cold cuts and fresh sandwich garnishes on a plate.

  “Lily scuffed her knee,” Savannah explained, placing the pot on the counter.

  When Lily reached for her grandmother, Gladys wiped her hands on her apron and took the child, who continued to whimper. She sat down and comforted her. She then asked Holly, “So the police people didn’t find anything this morning, huh?”

  “Absolutely nothing.”

  “What do you think that means?” Gladys asked. “That there’s nothing to be found? I mean, they are experts—professionals.”

  Savannah walked back into the room and doctored Lily’s knee. She sat down next to her and Gladys, glancing at Rags as he walked past her. “Yeah, but they evidently don’t have the skills and techniques that Rags and Lucy have.”

  “And the perspective,” Gladys said. When the others stared at her, she explained, “The cats are at ground level. They see things from an entirely different angle than the police people do.”

  “So true,” Savannah agreed. “And they’re naturally curious.” She giggled. “Like me.”

  When Lily climbed down from Gladys’s lap, she asked. “Uh-oh, where are you going, Lilliana?”

  “Potty,” Lily said.

  Gladys took the toddler’s hand. “Here, let me help you. And we’ll wash up while we’re in there. Lunch is just about ready.”

  Once Gladys had left the room with Lily, Holly said, “Me too.”

  “You too what?” Savannah asked.

  “Me too, I’m curious, and I’d sure like to know where that jewelry’s hidden.” When she saw the sly grin on Savannah’s face, she narrowed her eyes and spouted, “What?”

  “We have keys,” Savannah reminded her.

  Holly smirked playfully. “You think we can find what our husbands couldn’t find and what the authorities couldn’t find?”

  “Maybe,” Savannah said smugly.

  “How’s that?” Holly asked suspiciously.

  Savannah motioned for Holly to follow her into the kitchen, where she continued to gather sandwich fixings for lunch. She explained, “We have a secret weapon.”

  Holly’s eyes grew wide. “We do?”

  “Yes,” Savannah said. “Not only do we have keys, we have Rags.”

  “Oh,” Holly grumbled. “You think we should break in and…”

  “We have keys!” Savannah repeated.

  “And you have Rags,” Holly said half-heartedly. “He sure didn’t lead the guys to any discoveries the other night.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s probably because he didn’t want to. Maybe with us he’ll want to. And we have Lucy.” Savannah frowned as she opened a loaf of bread and began arranging slices on a plate. “But I really don’t think I want to involve Lucy in case something goes wrong.”

  Holly took jars of mayonnaise and mustard from the fridge and placed them on the table. “What do you mean?”

  “Oh, never mind. Listen, how about this: tonight after everyone goes to bed, let’s take Rags, the keys, and a flashlight up there and do our own search. Want to?”

  Holly tilted her head. “What happened to, ‘I can’t stay another night in that house’?”

  Savannah shrugged. “Oh, that was before we found all the juicy information about that place. Come on, let’s have a little fun. We might just break the case wide open.”

  Holly looked suspiciously at Savannah. “With or without our husbands’ consent?”

  “Um…” Savannah hesitated.

  Holly laughed. “That’s what I thought. I may regret it in the morning, but yeah, count me in. We can tell the guys we’re going for a walk…um…to settle our nerves.”

  “Yes,” Savannah said. “…so we can sleep. That ought to work.” She leaned toward Holly and spoke more quietly. “Now wear all black or dark blue—no light colors, okay, even dark shoes.”

  Holly narrowed her eyes and said in an accusatory manner, “You’ve done this before, haven’t you?”

  “Maybe,” Savannah almost admitted.

  ****

  That night around ten Holly and Savannah walked toward the Verano house with keys in their hands and Rags on his leash.

  “Hold the light so I can see the keyhole,” Savannah instructed once they’d arrived at the front door. She asked, “So what did you tell Keith?”

  Holly looked at her. “Oh, you mean about our late-night walk? Just what we rehearsed: that I was too keyed up to sleep and we were going to take a little walk before going to bed. What about you?”

  “Same.” Savannah giggled. “I think Michael was glad to get rid of me for a while. She hissed, “Rags.”

  “What’s he doing?” Holly asked.

  “I think he wants to go back to your house. He can’t stand being away from Lucy. I don’t know what we’re going to do when we get home.” Savannah yelped, “Which reminds me, I need to call Bert and have one of her grandchildren or her daughter come get Lucy before we leave.”

  “Oh, she can stay. She’s no trouble at all.”

  Suddenly Savannah gasped. “Oh no!”

  “What now?” Holly asked.

  “No trouble at all, you say?” Savannah pointed. “Look who’s coming.”

  “Lucy!” Holly said when she saw the cat trotting in their direction, meowing frantically.

  When the fluffy gray-and-white cat caught up to Rags, she happily rubbed against him and he head-butted her. Then they both sat down next to Savannah and stared at the front door of the Verano home.

  Savannah grimaced. “Well, I’m stunned. How did she get out? Did she break one of your windows?”

  “I can’t imagine,” Holly said. “We’ll have to check when we get home.”

  “Okay.” Savannah focused on using the key. “Now, hold the light.” She chuckled. “Do you think anyone notices us—two women fumbling around for twenty minutes trying to open a door to a house that doesn’t belong to us without permission and with two cats in tow?”

  “Yeah, we must be quite a spectacle,” Holly agreed. “Let’s hope no one calls the cops.”

  Once the women and the cats were inside, Savannah closed the door behind them.

  Holly shined the light around the room. “Where do you want to start?”

  Savannah looked down at the cats. “Let’s leave it up to Rags and Lucy.” She spoke to them, “Take us to your hiding place, guys. Show us your secrets. What do you two know about that jewelry and stuff, anyway?”

  It appeared that the cats weren’t going to talk. While Lucy took the opportunity to clean one of her paws, Rags simply stared up at the women.

  Savannah sighed. “I guess we’ll have to use our intuition.” She added more excitedly, “Mine says let’s start in the locked room. I didn’t see what was in there this morning, did you?”

  “Evidently nothing of interest to the cops,” Holly said.

  “True. But let’s look in there from our point of view.” Savannah glanced down at the cats, adding, “And their point of view.”

  “Charge ahead,” Holly said. Once they’d reached the second-floor landing, she handed Savannah the flashlight. “Want to hold it for me?” However, when she reached for the padlock, she noted, “It’s open.” She glanced around nervously and hissed, “Someone else has a key or maybe they picked the lock!”

  Savannah moved closer and examined the padlock in the light. She said matter-of-factly, “Oh, we must have left it open this morning. Come on, let’s go in.”

  Holly balked. “I sure thought I locked it.” She tilted her head. “Wait, the detective locked it. I saw him do it.”

  “Yeah,” Savannah said, “Maybe it just didn’t latch. No biggie. Come on, I want to see what’s in there.” She handed Holly the flashlight, then opened the door and stepped inside, leading Rags and making sure Lucy followed. When Holly joined them, Savannah said, “Hmmm. That’s odd.”

  “What?” Holly asked.

  “Do you smell that?”

  “What? Oh, that fragrance? Yeah, it must be Vickie’s perfume. Nice.” She grabbed Savannah’s arm. “Do you think that klutzy cop broke a bottle when he was in here this morning?”

  Savannah thought for a moment, then said, “Nah. It would be stronger if that were the case.” She waved her hand in the air as if to capture the scent. “There’s just a hint of it in the air.” She smiled. “Yes, it is nice, but we’re not here to enjoy the ambiance. Let’s see what we can find.” Just then, Rags pulled on his leash and Savannah fell a little off balance. “Rags,” she scolded, “where are you taking me?”

  Holly shined the light toward the cats. “Hey, where did Lucy go?” She glanced around the room. “Gosh, I hope she doesn’t get too adventurous. We don’t want to lose her.”

  “I don’t think that will happen,” Savannah said. “She’s too devoted to Rags.” She chuckled. “So much so that we might open our door in Hammond one day and see her sitting on the porch with her knapsack.” She giggled. “Her cat-knapsack.”

  Both women laughed.

  “By the way,” Savannah said, “I talked to Bert this afternoon. She’ll be able to go home tomorrow. Good timing. Her daughter will come by and pick up Lucy.”

  Holly pouted. “Sure will miss her. And you guys.”

  “I know,” Savannah said. “Me too.” When she turned again to check on the cats, she didn’t see either one of them. “Where’d they go?” she asked. She tugged on Rags’s leash. “Well, he’s still attached. All I have to do is follow the leash.” But she still couldn’t see the cats. They had disappeared between a large chest of drawers and an armoire. She dropped to her hands and knees and reached into the small space, hoping to grasp a handful of fur. “I think they went behind this dresser.” She tugged on the leash. “Come on, Rags,” she urged. When he wouldn’t or couldn’t come out, she looked up at Holly. “I guess we’ll have to move one of these pieces of furniture.”