Free PAWSitively Sinister (A Klepto Cat Mystery Book 11) by Patricia Fry Page B

isn’t good with crowds. She’d rather stay alone at her place on the other side of the marsh.”
    “She has a car now?” Savannah asked. “She was so isolated when Aunt Margaret and I were at her house a few months ago. She had no phone… no car.”
    “Yeah, I insisted she get both. So she drives over here every day. The more people here, the farther away from the place she stays.”
    Savannah grimaced, then said to Ruth, “Well, you felt something… odd here, too, didn’t you?”
    Ruth nodded. “Yes. It was almost unbearable before Mrs. Peyton had her worker put that wall up in the affected area of my room.” She then asked, “Aren’t cats supposed to be sensitive to such things?”
    “I think so,” Arthur said, deferring to the others.
    “I’ve heard that,” Savannah said. She looked at Ruth. “Why?”
    “Well, Artie might remember that the cats stayed away from there.”
    “That’s right,” Arthur said, looking off into space for a moment. “Almost every new cat we’d bring in would explore the place, and before getting to Ruthie’s room, they’d react by either hissing or appearing frightened, or they’d just split.” He looked at Savannah. “We all saw Rags’s reaction last night. There’s something that frightens them or puzzles them in that area.” He swallowed a sip of coffee before continuing. “You know how Koko loves to chase her ball? But if I toss it into that one hallway, she won’t go after it.”
    “So whatever upset Rochelle and Rags last night has been there for a while?” Savannah asked.
    Arthur and Ruth nodded.
    “Now that’s odd—like that area is corrupted somehow,” Michael said. “—like there’s a vortex there. What is a vortex, anyway? Is that what they think is in the Bermuda Triangle? An out-of-control evil energy or something?” He glanced around the room and saw most of the diners shrug and look to someone else for the answer.
    “I guess that’s a question for Rochelle,” Savannah said. “… or Iris.”
    Arthur peered at Ruth, expecting her to respond, but she chose not to.
    “I’m interested in your mother’s construction people,” Michael said to Arthur.
    “In what way?” he asked, furrowing his brow.
    “Well, you were a well-kept secret for many years. But whoever did the construction down there had to know about you… at least they knew someone was being hidden away in luxury in the basement with the main door being closed off and hidden doors being built.”
    Arthur looked wide-eyed at Ruth and Rupert. “Gosh, I don’t know who did that work or how Mother kept them quiet. Probably money, I guess.” He asked, “Rupert, you didn’t know anything was going on did you?”
    He shook his head.
    Ruth put her hand on Rupert’s and explained, “Before you were brought home from the burn center, Artie, your mother insisted that your stepfather take her on an extended trip abroad. They closed up the place and gave all the staff two weeks off. Those who lived here were given travel money. Remember that?” she asked Rupert.
    He looked puzzled for a moment, then said, “Yes. Yes, I do. That was the first and last time the staff were ever given a vacation all at the same time.”
    “That’s right. And you’re right, Artie,” Ruth continued, “the construction company was paid very well to keep the secret. But I do not think they actually knew the whole truth… that you would be living in the secret quarters.”
    “Mother is sly, isn’t she?” he said, grimacing. “She even kept the secret from her husband.”
    No one spoke for a few moments, then Michael asked, “So did you girls learn anything about the people whose documents we found?”
    Savannah shook her head. “Not really.”
    “What do you mean, not really?” he asked.
    She looked at Suzette, who said, “There was one piece in an old newspaper about a missing man named Richard Marshall. It seemed that he and his buddy had hopped off a train in Frisco. His friend