The Super Spies and the Cat Lady Killer (11 page)

“What did Uncle Walt say?” Lacey asked when Sarah returned to the tent.

“He just laughed. He said he would put her in her kennel for the night.”

“So sneaking out is still on?” Jackie asked.

“You bet. Let's just wait until Uncle Walt falls back to sleep.”

After checking to make sure there were no more fumes, the girls crawled back into the tent.

“Boy, Lily sure has stinky farts,” Sarah said.

Jackie rummaged around in her backpack and pulled out a small bottle of perfume. She began spraying it in the corners of the tent.

Sarah laughed at her. “What are you doing?”

“Making sure the fart smell is gone.” Jackie continued spraying the perfume until the tent was filled with the flowery aroma.

“Knock it off, you're making my eyes water,” Sarah protested.

All three girls laughed until tears came to their eyes. Wiping her eyes, Sarah sat down on her sleeping bag; the other girls followed her lead.

The Super Spies lay on their sleeping bags talking, the stories turning
to the town of Harrisburg. Sarah and Lacey sat wide-eyed as Jackie regaled them with tales about the quirky characters in the tiny burg.
There was Mr. Copinski, a shrunken old man who walked around town sweeping the sidewalks and the streets. Jackie said he wasn't right in the head, and on a number of occasions he appeared drunk and had to be taken to jail. She giggled as she stood and imitated his hunched, drunken walk.

Sitting back down, her expression turned serious and her eyes darkened when she told the Cole girls about Mr. Dewilde. If the Cat Lady was the town's crazy lady, then Mr. Dewilde was the town's crazy man. According to Jackie, he came home from work one day and found his family brutally murdered. The police investigated, but the mystery remains unsolved to this day. Mr. Dewilde locked up the house and left it just the way he found it and has never returned.
Another True Crime mystery,
Sarah thought to herself.

“Wow, there sure are a lot of crazy people in this town,” Sarah said.

Jackie flopped down on her sleeping bag. “Tell me about it. This town is full of crazy people. It's amazing that I'm as sane as I am.”

“You're sane?” Sarah laughed.

“Are you questioning my sanity?” Jackie sat up and put her hands on her hips, pretending to glare at Sarah.

“Okay, okay.” Sarah put her hands up in mock surrender.
“What time is it?”

Jackie placed her wrist in the beam of the flashlight. “It's midnight.”

“It's time to go.”

“Are you sure we should do this at night?” Lacey whimpered.

“We have to move fast,” Sarah said, casting a sideways glance at Lacey as she sat up.

“You don't have to go, if you don't want to,” Jackie said.

“I'm just nervous.”

“Then don't go,” Sarah said.

“I don't want to miss anything, either.”

“Here, have some tootsie rolls.” Sarah handed Lacey a handful of the treasured candies. “It'll calm your nerves.”

“Okay.” Lacey grabbed the candy and pulled it out of its wrapper with trembling hands.

“Let's head out.” Jackie pulled her curls into a fuzzy ponytail. “Grab a flashlight.”

Armed with flashlights and backpacks, the Super Spies left the safety of the tent and began their journey to the Cat Lady's.

Sarah sighed as she walked, the moon lighting her way. Listening to the crickets and katydids, Sarah's mind wandered to the nagging questions haunting her.
Why would Klonsky want the Cat Lady dead? Who was the man that was with him by the creek? What is the connection between the Cat Lady and Klonsky?
No answers came to her.

Shaking her head, she focused her attention on the streets of Harrisburg. They were different at night. The moon hung in the sky like a half-eaten lollipop minus the stick. Moonlight hit the giant trees and houses, throwing eerie shadows everywhere. A chill ran down Sarah's spine, and she shivered in the heat. Finally, the girls reached the Cat Lady's house and once again hid behind the oak tree across the street.

“Cross your fingers, girls. Let's hope we find some answers tonight,” Sarah whispered.

She peeked out from behind the tree and stared at the house. It sat dark and forbidding. No lights shone in the windows, and the worn out look it had by day turned sinister at night. Sarah's stomach clenched into a tight knot.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Lacey gulped.

“We have to. We can't let Klonsky get away with murder,” Sarah said. Her voice sounded braver than she felt, but she was more determined than ever to put the crooked cop away.

“We don't even know if it's Klonsky,” Lacey argued.

“What about the knife we found?” Sarah whispered.

“We don't even know if it's the murder weapon.” Lacey peered at the house as she spoke.

“We don't know it's not, either.” Sarah rolled her eyes, refusing to believe anything but her own theory.

Lacey sighed. “I don't think this is a good idea.”

“Then stay here, wimp.”

“No way! I'm not staying here by myself.”

“Guys, we're wasting time,” Jackie said, drumming her fingers on the tree trunk.

“Jackie's right. Let's get going.” Sarah peered out from behind the tree again.
“Well, here goes nothing.” She took a deep breath, and sprinted across the street.

Jackie and Lacey caught up with Sarah at the basement window. She sat hunkered down in the dark, waiting for them.

“What took you so long?” Sarah grumbled.

“You do that every time,” Jackie groused.

“I suppose I'm going in first?” Sarah whispered.

“Yep.” Jackie peered into the dark window.

Sarah pushed her backpack through the window, and then backed up and went in feet first.
She remembered to arch her back.
Once inside she took a deep breath, working up the courage to go down the box stairs. It was so dark she couldn't see her hand in front of her face. Nervous sweat broke out under her arms; she felt swallowed by the inky darkness.

Her heart raced as she fumbled for her backpack.
Images of the Cat Lady's ghost invaded her mind. Her hands trembled and she willed them to stop. Sarah swallowed her fear. It was a huge lump that didn't go down easily. Reaching into her pack, she pulled out her flashlight. Turning it on, she took several ragged breaths, easing her panic. Finally, she descended the makeshift stairs, the beam of her light casting eerie shadows on the walls and ceiling.

“Okay, it's safe. Come on down,” Sarah whispered when she reached the floor.

She heard Lacey mutter in a strangled voice. “I want to go next.”

“Hurry up.”

Finally, all three girls were together at the bottom of the box stairs.

“It's a lot different being here at night,” Lacey whispered.

“You can say that again,” Sarah answered as she watched Jackie come down the box stairs.

All of a sudden Jackie shone her flashlight under her chin and contorted her features. “Blaaaah.”

Lacey shrieked and jumped back, tripping over the box stairs. She landed on her rear and clouds of dust erupted around her. “Knock it off,” she sputtered.

“It wasn't me, it was the Cat Lady's ghost,” Jackie snickered.

“Shut up.”

Jackie laughed at Lacey sprawled in the dirt. Sarah's lips twitched, but she stifled her laughter and took a deep breath. She felt some of the tension leave her body.

“You guys are total freaks!” Lacey snapped.

She coughed spastically.
Standing, she brushed the dirt off her sweatpants and adjusted the waistband. Glaring at Jackie, she stepped closer to her sister.

“Okay, you guys, let's start looking for clues,” Sarah said.

The girls climbed the stairs to the basement door. Sarah opened it and shone her flashlight into the inky darkness of the kitchen. Repugnant air hit Sarah as soon as she stepped into the room. She pulled her collar up over her nose, hoping it would mask the smell.

“What are we looking for?” Jackie asked, covering her nose with her sleeve.

“We're looking for anything connecting Klonsky to the Cat Lady. Let's look in the living room.” Sarah walked through the kitchen, her flashlight cutting through the murkiness.

The house was stifling. It had been closed up since the murder, and the foul stench of cat urine polluted the air. Sarah pulled her collar tighter around her nose and mouth. Jackie and Lacey followed her, covering their noses. Taking a deep breath, Sarah stopped between the kitchen and the living room.

“Okay, guys. Let's look for more pictures, a photo album, or better yet a diary,” she said, in a muffled voice.

The girls fanned out, and aimed their lights on the shelves. Sarah avoided shining her light on the blood spatter and concentrated on the pictures sitting on the far wall. She hoped to find some answers in the faces of the photographs.

“There's not much down here,” Jackie said after a few minutes. “Just piles of newspapers.”

“Let's go upstairs.” Sarah gestured for the other girls to follow her.

She tiptoed toward the staircase beginning in the living room. Climbing slowly, she focused on finding clues. The air grew warmer as Sarah ascended. Sweat broke out on her brow, and she wiped it away. All of a sudden, the stairway seemed to narrow. Sarah's heart beat rapidly, and her breathing came in shallow gasps. Relief flooded through her when she reached the top of the stairs and found a wide hallway. Stopping, she bent down and took huge gulps of breath. The panicky, closed in feeling went away. Turning, she noticed the stairway appeared normal again. Jackie and Lacey were staring at her, both of their faces shiny with sweat.

“It's hot up here, let's hurry,” Jackie said.

Sarah nodded and opened the first door at the top of the stairs. It was a boy's bedroom. She flashed her light around and then stepped inside.

Shining her light around the room, Sarah noticed the airplane wallpaper was peeling away from the walls. A twin bed sat across the room near the window.
It had been made, but by a child's hands. Sarah could tell because the bedspread draped the bed in a haphazard fashion. On one side, it hung all the way to the floor. Perched on top of the bed was a well-loved teddy bear. Its brown fur had been worn away in spots, and one button eye hung by a thread. Strewn about on the floor were toy soldiers, along with a baseball and glove. The closet door stood open, and Sarah caught a glimpse of clothes hanging on hangers. In a heap on the closet floor were clothes that had been hastily discarded, as if the young boy hadn't had time to re-hang them. Sarah's throat constricted as it dawned on her this room hadn't been touched since the day David disappeared.

Her eyes welled up. “The poor Cat Lady, she must have been so sad. Losing her son just ruined her life.”

“She must have been totally grief-stricken,” Jackie sniffled.

Lacey nodded. “Yeah, can you imagine, waking up every day, not knowing where your kid is?”

The girls stood in silence as Lacey's words washed over them. Sarah felt a deep sense of loss and her heart went out to the weird old woman. Tears threatened to spill down her cheeks, but she forced them back. She cleared her throat. “Let's go down the hall. I don't think we'll find anything in here.”

Jack
ie wiped her eyes on her sleeve
. “Okay.”

The next room appeared to be the master bedroom. Where the rest of the house was cluttered and dirty, this room had been well maintained. There was very little dust on the shelves, and a single baby picture of David sat on the bureau.

“I think the Cat Lady spent most of her time here,” Sarah said.

“It looks like it. Jackie pursed her lips and wiped the sweat from her brow.

“There's only one picture of David?” Lacey said, raising her hands in a gesture of confusion.

“It might have been too hard to have a bunch of pictures around.” Sarah peered around the room, wondering where to start.

“Yeah, I think this poor woman was tormented by grief.”

“You're right about that. Why don't you guys start looking over there on the shelves, and I'll start going through the night stand.”Sarah's
fingers tingled as she rummaged through a drawer.
We're close.
I can feel it.
“I so want to get Klonsky, you guys,” she said, closing the drawer. “We have to get justice for the Cat Lady.”

“Absolutely,” Lacey said in a determined voice.

“Guys, I found a photo album,” Jackie whispered. She opened the cover, looking for clues.