Free Romeow and Juliet by Kathi Daley Page A

had been in the cabin earlier. I’d fed him and he’d sat on my lap while we watched a movie on television. When the movie was over I’d gone out to take care of the cats in the sanctuary. I’d left Max and Romeo in the cabin, but now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen Romeo since I’d come back in. I didn’t think I’d left the door open, but the window had been cracked a few inches to let the warm spring air inside. Could Romeo have squeezed through? Danny had taken the screen for the window with him when he was here this morning. It had been torn for months and he’d decided that as long as he was going to fix the screen door he might as well fix the screen on the window as well.
    “Juliet,” I realized.
    I looked at Max. “You stay here and keep an eye out for our little tomcat. I’m going to go check next door. If Francine realizes that Romeo has come courting so soon after her lecture she’s going to kill both of us. If I’m not back in twenty minutes call 911.”
    Max barked as if he understood, but even I didn’t believe he really could call for help should I run into a wrathful Francine.
    Luckily, it was low tide, which allowed me to sneak around the hedge that separated the two properties without getting wet. I was actually hoping Francine would still be away, as she had been for most of the day. Things would go easier if she never found out that Romeo was trespassing again. Unfortunately, when I rounded the corner to her house the light in her living area was on. I didn’t want to call out for Romeo in case she heard me, so I silently slunk toward the back of Francine’s house. I doubted she would let Juliet get out twice in one day, so chances were that Romeo was near the back of the house, looking in.
    I crawled onto the back deck and looked in through the large picture window. I almost let out a screech when I saw none other than Camden Bradford standing in the middle of Francine’s living room.
    What in the heck was Mr. Bradford doing in Francine’s living room?
    I squatted down so that only the top of my head could be seen through the window. I hoped the man wouldn’t turn around; the last thing I needed was another embarrassing encounter to add to my Camden Bradford Embarrassing Encounter portfolio. I looked around the room but didn’t see Francine or Juliet. It appeared Mr. Bradford was on the phone. I crawled along the ground toward an open window in the hope of overhearing his conversation.
    “It’s all taken care of,” I heard him say. “It was really no problem at all. I’m glad to help with the cleanup. It’s the least I can do.”
    Cleanup? Was the man here to clean Francine’s house? And then I noticed that the furniture was all shoved to the side of the room and the area rug that was normally under the furniture had been rolled up and placed near the door leading down to the basement.
    “Don’t worry; I’ll take care of her,” Mr. Bradford said.
    Take care of her? Take care of who?
    “No one will ever know; now I gotta go.”
    Mr. Bradford glanced in my direction. I slumped down so as not to be seen. When I didn’t hear anything more going on I looked back through the window after a moment. The door to the basement was open and the rolled-up rug was gone.
    Francine?
    I watched through the window as Mr. Bradford came back upstairs. He looked around the room and then headed toward the kitchen. I was trying to decide whether to try to sneak in and check out the basement when I saw the exterior light at the back of the house come on. I managed to leap off the two-foot-high deck and into the thick shrubbery a split second before Bradford opened the back door. He stood there looking around before closing the door and returning inside.
    I scurried across the yard and then back around the hedge to my own side while trying to figure out what to do. Should I call Finn? It seemed like the logical choice, given the fact that I was certain Francine Rivers was wrapped up in