Meet Me in Venice (33 page)

“Why not?”

“Because I’m in love with you.”

The words made her spirits soar. “Funny way of showing it,” she said with a sparkle in her eyes. “Why not come over and kiss me?”

And he did. And one thing led to another, and all in all it was another week before they finally headed “home” to Paris, and a new life. Together.

PARIS

P
RESHY
had been gone a long time and Maow was alone and bored. She sat in the exact center of Preshy’s bed, feet daintily together, a stern look on her narrow face, as though she were plotting something. After a while she got up and stretched one long svelte chocolate leg all the way out in front of her, then she did the same with the other. After that, she went in search of action.

Her first stop was the kitchen where she sniffed the food the concierge had left that morning and decided against it. She hopped onto the counter and prowled its length, daintily crisscrossing her legs as she negotiated the stove top, until she came to the small cardboard egg carton the concierge had left out, along with a loaf of bread, for Preshy’s return.

Maow found it interesting. Sniffing and poking her paw at it she soon had it open. Six brown eggs, like balls she could play with, awaited her. She scooped one out, and rolled it across the counter. Sticking her head over the edge, she watched it fall with a satisfying plop onto the tiled floor. She stared curiously at the little ball that had now turned into a yellow blob, then went back and got another egg. She rolled that to the edge, watched it plop. She trotted back to the carton four more times, until six eggs lay scrambled on the kitchen floor. Then she looked for something else to do.

Tail up—Siamese tails are always up—she stalked into the dining room, a little tired after all that activity. The nice big antique glass bowl in the center tempted her. It was just the right size to curl up in. She put tentative front paws on its edge, then aimed her jump. The antique bowl tipped, crashed under her weight and smashed into a dozen pieces. Maow looked at it puzzled, then she picked her way carefully through the shards, jumped down again, and went to see what was doing in the living room.

She stood on the window seat, looking out at the traffic and the people. Bored, she scratched a tentative paw at the glass, looking for an escape route. Impossible.

Filled with a sudden ferocious energy, she spun round into a crouching position. Then she took off across the room, over the sofas, up the back of the chair, into the bedroom, flying over the bed in one giant leap, spinning round, mashing the coverlet into a tangled heap, hurling herself back again, over the bed, over the sofa, up onto the shelves, scattering photographs and artifacts.

She sat on the shelf, paws together, the graceful wrecker, looking very pleased with herself. She rested her head on the terracotta statue of the Xi’an warrior, rubbing her ear against it. She leaned harder. The warrior tottered for a moment, and toppled. It lay hanging over the edge. Then it slid slowly forward. Interested, Maow leaned forward also, just as it slid the last few inches. And then fell, She stalked to the edge of the shelf looking down at it, smashed into a hundred pieces on the floor.

It was odd but like the eggs that started out as nice brown balls and ended up as yellow lumps, the statue was not all it seemed either.

Bored again, she went back to the window seat, curled round and round a few times, then finally settled down on her favorite cushion to wait for Preshy to come home.

EN ROUTE TO PARIS

S
AM
slept most of the flight “home.” It was the sleep of a relieved man, Preshy thought, watching him tenderly. She’d bet he hadn’t slept like this in years. But now, with a new start, and the two of them beginning their lives together, and the horror of being a murder suspect and the sadness of Leilani’s death finally behind him, and with Bennett finally eliminated, she knew life was about to change for both of them.

The word
happiness
danced before her eyes. Would she finally be
happy!
Would Sam? Glancing again at him, she believed she would.

Paris swam into view beneath them, still scattered spottily with snow, and still the most beautiful city on earth.

The pilot informed them they were coming in to land and she
nudged Sam gently. “Almost home,” she said, smiling as he rubbed his eyes and looked groggily back at her. “Tell you what,” she said, inspired. “Tonight I’ll cook you the best omelet you ever had in your life.”

“Sounds good,” he said, smiling.

THERE’S NOTHING QUITE LIKE COMING
home,” Sam said as, a while later, she unlocked the door. Outside was sleeting and cold, but in Preshy’s home the radiators were hissing with warmth, and there was a delighted cry from the cat, who launched herself out of the darkness at them.

“Maowsie, Maowsie.” Preshy clasped the cat in her arms, laughing while at the same time joggling her elbow at the light switch. The lamps sprang to life, and the two of them stared, stunned, at the scene of destruction.

“Looks like the demolition derby was here,” Sam said, awed.

Oh, Maow, what
have
you done?” Preshy stared horrified, at her expensive antique glass bowl now lying in shards on the table, and at the photos and the smashed artifacts. In the bedroom the coverlet was trampled into a muddled heap and there were eggs all over the kitchen floor.

“So much for omelets,” Sam said from the kitchen.

But Preshy was surveying the destruction in the living room. “Sam, come here,” she said urgently.

The necklace gleamed up at her from the piece of scarlet silk it had been wrapped in. “It’s Grandmother’s necklace,” she said,
awed. “Lily must have hidden it inside the statue and sent it to me for safekeeping. Look, Sam, it’s magnificent.”

Picking it up, she ran a tentative finger over the giant pearl. It felt cold, and remembering where it had come from, she put it hastily down on the dining room table. They stood, looking at it.

“This is what Bennett killed Lily for,” Sam said. “It’s probably worth a fortune. I’ll bet he also killed his wife for her money, and when he didn’t get it, he had to find another source of income. Unfortunately, Rafferty, that was you.

“When that fell through,” he added, “Bennett latched on to the necklace, but Lily stood between him and it. When she didn’t hand it over to him, he killed her. But he still didn’t have the necklace. And the trail led, via Mary-Lou Chen, back to you.”

“And now what?” She looked at the sinister corpse pearl, gleaming like moonlight on the black glass table. Picking it up, Sam clasped the necklace around her neck. The jewels gleamed somberly. “It’s magnificent,” he said, awed.

Preshy shivered. “It doesn’t belong to me. It was stolen from a dead empress. It’s part of history. It should go back where it belongs, back to China. I’ll donate it to them. Maybe they’ll put it in a museum.”

He nodded. “I’ll contact the embassy. I’m sure they’ll be thrilled with your gift.”

She picked up the cat. “If it were not for naughty you, Maowsie, we would never have found it,” she said, kissing the cat’s smooth chocolate ears.

Maow hooked her paws onto Preshy’s shoulders and peeked triumphantly at Sam. He could have sworn the cat was laughing at
him. He went into the kitchen and began to clean up the eggs. There would be no omelets tonight.

Preshy followed him and he turned to look at her. A smile lit his lean narrow face. “Put down that cat and get over here, Rafferty,” he said, holding out his arms.

Maow watched from her place on the countertop as Preshy walked right up to him. And then their faces blended in a kiss.

Life was going to be a little different here, in future.