Моника Шонесси

The Tell-Tail Heart. The Black Cats

1. THE TELL-TAIL HEART

Philadelphia, 1842

An Object of Fascination

Eddie was never happier than when he was writing, and I was never happier than when Eddie was happy. That’s what concerned me about our trip to Shakey House Tavern tonight. An official letter had arrived days ago, causing him to abandon his writing in a fit of melancholy—a worrisome event for this feline muse. Oh, what power correspondence wields over the Poe household! Since that time, his quill pen had lain lifeless upon his desk, a casualty of the gloom. But refreshment only intensified these frequent and unpredictable storms—hence my concern. Irritated by his lack of attention, I sat beneath the bar and waited for him to stir. He’d been studying a newspaper in the glow of a lard-oil lamp for most of the evening, ignoring the boisterous drinkers around him. When he crinkled the sheets, I leapt onto the polished ledge to investigate, curling my tail around me. I loved the marks humans made upon the page. They reminded me of black ants on the march. They also reminded me that until I found a way to help Eddie, it would be ages before he’d make more of his own.

“A pity you don’t read, Cattarina,” he said to me in confidence. “Murder has come to Philadelphia again, and it’s deliciously disturbing.” He tapped a drawing he’d been examining, a horrible likeness of an elderly woman, one eye gouged out, the other rolled back in fear, mouth agape. “Far from the City of Brotherly Love, eh, Catters?”

I trilled at my secret name. Everyone else called me Cattarina, including Josef, Shakey House’s stocky barkeep. He’d taken note of me on the bar and approached with bared teeth, an odd greeting I’d grown accustomed to over the years. When one lives with humans, one must accommodate such eccentricities.

“Guten Abend, Cattarina,” Josef said to me. His side-whiskers had grown longer since our last visit. They suited his broad face. He reached across the bar and stroked my back with a raw, red hand, sending fur into the smoke circling overhead.

I lay down on Eddie’s paper and tucked my feet beneath me, settling in for a good pet. Josef was on the list of people I allowed to touch me. Eddie, of course, held the first spot, followed by Sissy, then Muddy, then Mr. Coffin, and so on and so forth, until we arrived at lucky number ten, Josef Wertm?ller. Others had tried; others had bled.

“Tortoiseshell cats are good luck. Yes, Mister Poe?” the barkeep continued.

“I believe they are,” Eddie said without looking up. He turned the page and folded it in half so he wouldn’t disturb me.

“Such pretty eyes.” Josef scratched the ruff of my neck. “Like two gold coins. And fur the color of coffee and tea. I take her for barter any day.”

“Would you have me wander the streets alone, sir? Without my fair Cattarina?” Eddie asked, straightening. “Without my muse?”

“Nein,” Josef said, withdrawing his hand, “I would never dream.” He took Eddie’s empty glass and wiped the water ring with a rag. “Another mint julep. Yes, Mr. Poe?”

At this suggestion, Eddie turned and faced the tavern full of drinkers. A conspiracy of ravens in black coats and hats, the men squawked, pausing to wet their beaks between caws. Eddie called out to them, shouting over their conversation. “Attention! The first to buy me a mint julep may have this newspaper.” The bar patrons ignored him. He tried again. “I say, attention! The first to buy—”

“We heard you the first time, Poe,” said Hiram Abbott. He sat by himself at his usual table by the door. His cravat had collected more stains since our last visit, some of which matched the color of his teeth. Once the chortling died down, he challenged Eddie. “A newspaper for a drink? I’d hardly call that a fair trade.”

“Perhaps for a man who can’t read,” Eddie said.

Laughter coursed through the room, ripening the apples of Mr. Abbott’s cheeks. I longed to understand Eddie the way other humans did, but alas, could not. While I possessed a large vocabulary—agrandiose vocabulary in catterly circles—I owned neither the tongue nor the ear to communicate with my friend as I would’ve liked. Yes, I knew the meaning of oft-repeated words: refreshment, writing, check-in-the-mail, damned story, illness, murder, madness, and so forth. But a dizzying number remained beyond reach, causing me to rely on nuance and posture to fill gaps in understanding—like now. Whatever he’d said to Mr. Abbot pricked the man like a cocklebur to the paw.

Eddie continued, “My news is fresh, gentlemen, purchased from the corner not more than an hour ago. The ink was still wet when I bought it.”

“You tell a good tale, Poe,” said Mr. Murray, a Shakey House regular with a long, drooping mustache, “but I’ve already learned the day’s gossip from Silas and Albert.” He jabbed his tablemates with his elbows, spilling their ale.

“I see. Then you and your quilting bee are aware of the latest murder.”

Murder set the ravens squawking again. Josef, however, remained silent. He wrung the bar towel between his hands, blanching his knuckles.

“Speak, Poe!” said Mr. Murray. “You have our attention.”

A chorus rose from the crowd. “Speak! Speak!” Mr. Abbott sank lower in his seat.

Eddie shooed me from my makeshift bed, folded the sheets, and waved them above his head. “The Glass Eye Killer has struck again. The penny dreadful tells all, in gory detail.” His mustache twitched. “And for those of strong stomach…pictures on page twelve.”

The portly man who’d kept his shoulder to us most of the evening lunged for the paper, knocking Eddie with his elbow by accident. I returned with a low-pitched growl. The man stepped back, hands raised in surrender, and asked Eddie to “call off the she-devil.”

“I will if we can settle this like gentlemen,” my friend said.

The man tossed coins on the bar, prompting Josef to deliver a julep and Eddie to calm me with a pat to the head. But I had more mischief in mind. I sprang for the glass, thinking to knock it sideways and end our evening early. Muddy would be expecting us for dinner; she worried so when we caroused. But Eddie’s reflexes were still keen enough to prevent the “accident.” Disappointed, I hopped to the floor in search of my own refreshment.

Weaving through the forest of legs, I sniffed for a crust of bread, a cheese rind, anything to take the edge off my hunger. If I didn’t find something soon, I’d sneak next door to the bakery for a pat of butter before they closed. I could always count on the owner for a scrap or two. Above me, the room returned to its usual cacophony.

“Read! Read!” a man in the back shouted. “Don’t keep us waiting!”

Once the tavern settled, the gentleman who’d received Eddie’s paper spoke with solemnity. “The Glass Eye Killer has claimed a second victim and a second trophy, striking terror in the hearts of Philadelphians.” He paused, continuing with a strained voice. “This afternoon, fifty-two-year-old Eudora Tottham, wife of the Honorable Judge Tottham, was found dead two blocks north of Logan Square. Her throat had been cut, and her eye had been stripped of its prosthesis—a glass orb of excellent quality.”

“Mein Gott!” Josef said. “Another!” He left his station at the bar and began wiping tables, all the while muttering about “Caroline.” I didn’t know what aCaroline was, but it troubled him.

The reader continued, “Mrs. Beckworth T. Jones discovered the body behind Walsey’s Dry Goods, at Wood and Nineteenth, when she took a shortcut home. Why the murderer is amassing a collection of eyes remains a mystery to Constable Harkness. The case is further hindered by lack of witnesses. Until this madman is caught, all persons with prostheses are urged to take special precaution.”

I jumped from Hiram Abbott’s path as he neared, his strides long and brisk. “Let me see the picture,” he said to the portly gentleman. “I want to see the picture on page twelve. Imust.”

“I paid for it, sir. Kindly wait your turn.”

“Do you know who I am?” Mr. Abbott asked. “I am Hiram Abbott, and I own acres and acres of farmland around these parts.”

The portly man faced him, their round bellies almost touching. “Do you know whoI am? Do you know how many coal minesI own?” he replied.

I yawned. I didn’t know either one of them, not really. They jostled over the newspaper, bumping another drinker and pullinghim into the argument. Three pair of shoes danced beneath the bar: dirty working boots, dull patent slip-ons, and shabby evening shoes with a tattered sole. Fiddlesticks. All this over ink and paper. Eddie turned and sipped his drink in peace, ignoring the row.

“Watch it, you clumsy simpleton!” Mr. Abbott yelled.

I wiggled my whiskers and held back an impending sneeze. The men had stirred the dust on the floor, aggravating my allergies.

“Git back to your table, Abbott, or eat my fist!” the man in boots said. Then he struck the bar. I needed no translation.

Nor did Mr. Abbott. He scurried to his seat, his head low.

Now that the entertainment had ended, I returned to my food search and discovered an object more intriguing—a curve of thick white glass—near the heel of Eddie’s shoe. It had seemingly appeared from nowhere. My heart beat faster, railing against my ribcage.Bump-bump, bump-bump. A regular at drinking establishments, I’d found numerous items over the years. A button engraved with a mouse, a snippet of lace that smelled more like a mouse than the button, and the thumb, just the thumb, mind you, of a fur-lined mitten that tasted more like a mouse than the other two. But I’d never found anything of this sort. It reminded me of a clamshell, but smaller.

I sniffed the item. A sharp odor struck my nose, provoking the chain of sneezes I’d staved off earlier. The scent reminded me of the medicine Sissy occasionally took. In retaliation, I batted the half-sphere along the floorboards where it came to rest against the pair of working boots I’d seen earlier. Their owner wore a short, hip-length coat and a flat cap—a countrified costume. Mr. Shakey’s alcohol must not have been to his liking, for a flask stuck from the pocket of his coat. “The guv’ment’s gonna make the Trans-Allegheny a state one day,” he said to the gentleman who’d won Eddie’s paper.

“It will never happen,” the portly man said. “Not as long as Tyler’s in office.”

“Tyler?” Eddie whispered. He kept his back to the two, half-aware of their conversation, and spoke to himself. “I should like to work for Tyler’s men. I should like to…” He rubbed his face. “Smith said he would appoint me. Promised he would.”

The man in boots didn’t bother with Eddie. “You’ll see,” he said to the portly man. “One day we’ll split. Then there’ll be no more scrapin’ and bowin’ to Virginia.”

“Leave it to a border ruffian to talk politics,” he replied.

The man in boots thumbed his nose. “My politics didn’t bother you before, Mr. Uppity.”

Humans typically followedmister andmiss with a formal name. I’d learned that from Sissy when she called me Miss Cattarina and from Josef when he addressed Eddie as Mister Poe, pronouncing itmeester. Muddy, too, had contributed to my education. Always the proper one, she insisted on calling our neighbors Mister Balderdash and Miss Busybody, though never to their faces. Out of respect, I surmised. At least now I knew the older, fleshier gentleman’s name.

“You think we need a Virginiaand a West of Virginia?” Mr. Uppity huffed. “Not hardly.”

Weary of their jabber, I hit the lopsided ball again. It spun and ricocheted off Eddie’s heel. Then I wiggled my hind end and…pounced! When the object surrendered, I sat back to study its curves. It studied me in return with a sky-colored iris. I thought back to the picture Eddie had showed me in the paper and the word he’d uttered—murder. The rest of the tavern had certainly used up the subject. And while details of the crime hovered beyond my linguistic reach, I knew my toy was connected. If not, some other numskull had lost his eye. Either way, humans were much too cavalier with their body parts.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_4]

The Three-Eyed Cat

I spent the rest of the evening nesting my glass eye like a hen, worried that the person who lost it might come looking for it with their other eye. I’d never owned such a toy, and I didn’t want to return it. When Eddie had finished “refreshing” himself—he could charm only so many drinks from so many people—the three of us left Shakey House: me, Eddie, and the unblinking pearl. Luckily, no one saw me depart with the prize between my teeth, not even Eddie.

We stood on the sidewalk in front of the shuttered bakery. Though I’d been blessed with a long coat, it withered against the autumn air. Eddie, however, seemed impervious to the cold. He whipped his cloak over his shoulder with a flourish and rubbed his hands together.

“Exquisite evening, Catters,” he said. He took three steps forward and stumbled into a sidewalk sign, righting himself with the aid of a lamppost. “Let’s tour the Schuylkill on our way home.” He hiccupped. “A walk down memory lane?”

Had I not been carrying something in my mouth, I would’ve bit him. That’s where Eddie and I met, on the boat docks near the Schuylkill River. I found him there one evening, his cloak inside out, his boots unlaced, staggering too close to the water’s edge. While I’d seen humans swim before, they usually undertook such irrational activities during daylight and when they had full command of their faculties. Fearing for his safety, I called out to him—a sharp meow to cut through his confusion—and lured him from certain death. Once I’d seen him home, he insisted I stay for dinner. How could I refuse a plate of shad? Two autumns later, Eddie was still in my care, an arrangement that both complicated and enriched my life more than a litter of eight.

I nudged him forward and herded him down Callowhill, switching back and forth across his path to keep him from veering into the street and getting hit by a wayward carriage or breaking his ankle on the cobblestones. At the intersection of Nixon, we passed two girls dressed in striped cotton dresses—a garish print, but terribly in fashion—huddled near a milliner’s door. They were trying without success to lock up for the evening.

“Good evening,” Eddie said to them. He nodded and swayed to the left.

They giggled and rustled their skirts in the moonlight. But when they looked at the bobble between my teeth, they screamed and left in a flounce of fabric. It didn’t help that I’d begun to drip at the mouth. Carrying the object these last few blocks had provoked a salivary response that soaked my chin.

“I assure you, I bathed last week!” he called out. Visibly perplexed by their behavior, he watched them depart. “Strange, Catters. I usually scare”—he hiccupped—“frighten women with my tales, not my appearance. Sissy says I’m quite handsome.”

We voyaged on, Eddie’s sideways gait growing increasingly slanted, until we bumped into husband and wife just this side of the railroad crossing. The man shook his fist and instructed Eddie to “steer clear of the missus.” I thought the misstep might lead to a row, but the wife’s piggish squealing put an end to my concern.

“Your cat!” she cried.

“Yes, my cat,” Eddie said. “What of her? One tail, two ears, four feet.”

The woman wiggled a fat finger at me. “And three…three…” She melted into her husband’s arms in a dead faint, her bonnet fluttering to the sidewalk.

I needed no enticement to leave. I bolted, the eyeball still between my teeth, and dashed along the railroad tracks. North of Coates Street, cobblestone boulevards gave way to the dirt roads of Fairmount, our neighborhood. Split-rail fences divided the land into boxes, some of which had been filled with dozing sheep and the odd cow. Unlike Eddie, I could cut through whichever I liked and did so to reach home well ahead of him. Lamplight spilled from the bottom-floor windows of our brick row house—a lackluster dwelling set apart by green shutters—cheering me immeasurably. My companion arrived shortly after, his cloak flapping about his shoulders. Out of breath, we tumbled through the front door and into the warm kitchen, heated through by a wood stove. The smell of mutton and of brown bread welcomed us.

Old Muddy stood by the stove, stirring a pot of stew, the fringe of her white cap wilted by the steam. “And where have you been?” she asked.

“Frightening the public, as is my duty.” Eddie cast off his cloak and draped it over a dining chair.

I hopped on the woolen fabric and ignored the ache in my jaw while I decided where to hide my treasure. The closet beneath the stairs?

“Have you been drinking?” she asked him.

Eddie held onto the chair back for support. “I am as straight as judges.”

“Humph. Sissy and I expected you an hour ago,” Muddy said to us. “The stew’s nearly boiled dry and—” She pointed her spoon at me, broth dripping to the floor, and shrank against the wall. “Ahhhh! The cat! The cat!”

Sobered by his mother-in-law’s reaction, Eddie knelt and examined me for the first time since we left Shakey House. “Oh, Jupiter!” He fell back in shock, one hand on his chest.

Sissy, an embodiment of feline grace, glided into the room. Her complexion had grown whiter in recent days, giving her the pallor of a corpse. While I feared for her health, I hadn’t yet revealed my concern to Eddie. He wasn’t ready. “What have we here, Miss Cattarina?” She bent down, plucked the object from my mouth, and examined it with eyes large and dark. A kitten’s eyes.

Eddie and Muddy joined her. The three huddled around the shiny half-orb that lay on her palm. Sissy leaned closer for examination, swaying the lampblack curls that hung on either side of her ears.

“It’s an eye,” Muddy said. She squinted one of her own, deepening her wrinkles.

“Of course it’s an eye, Mother,” Sissy said. “The bigger question is, ‘where did it come from?’”

“Astute as ever, my darling,” Eddie said to Sissy. “But the even bigger conundrum is ‘whom did it come from?’”

“Quite right,” Sissy said. “Quite right.”

Eddie stroked his mustache. “It has to be from the poor woman found…deceased this afternoon, Eudora Tottham.”

Muddy gasped. “The one in the paper? You don’t think—”

“I do,” Eddie said.

Sissy blinked, her confusion evident. I blinked, too.

“You’ve got to turn it in to the police,” Muddy said.

“And cast suspicion on myself?” Eddie said. “I think not.”

“What are you two talking about?” Sissy asked.

Eddie reached across and cupped Sissy’s face. “We mustn’t talk of such things around your delicate ears, Sissy. Serve the soup, won’t you, Muddy?” He snatched the object from his wife’s palm and stuck it in his pocket.

At once, Muddy sat her daughter on stool near the stove and began dishing stew into little china bowls painted with blue dragons. Anticipating the feast to come, I riveted my gaze to the dragon bowl on the floor, the one with the chipped rim. I longed for a big chunk of mutton, not just broth and a cooked carrot that looked like a shriveled finger. How I hated carrots. When Eddie scooped me up, it was clear the contents of my bowl would remain a mystery a while longer. He carried me to the front room, a small, spare area that served as parlor, keeping room, and office. Eddie may have liked his damned stories, but they never amounted to a check-in-the-mail, something I suspected correlated to the size of our home. Though I couldn’t be sure since the inner workings of human commerce were more confusing than a butterfly’s drunken flight path.

Eddie set me on his desk, hooked his thumbs in the pockets of his vest, and gave me a long look. The dying embers of the fireplace glowed behind him. “It’s clear to whom the eye belongs…rather, belonged to, Catters. Anyone with a copy of theGazette could deduce that. But where did you find your treasure? Along Coates? Near the razed tannery?” He took my toy from his pocket and tossed it in the air, catching it. “And, most importantly, did you see the fiend who dropped it? So many questions, so many murders.”

There it was again,murder. It looked as if he wanted me to talk about my discovery. While eager to tell him everything I knew, I couldn’t find the words.

*

My eyeball became Eddie’s eyeball following our little chat. He set it on the mantel before we left for dinner and shut the door, sealing the room from further investigation. Throughout the meal, I plotted how to recover the lost item, deciding at last on a midnight caper. Once the Poe family fell asleep, I would trip the latch on the door and take back my property. Easy as mouse pie. After we feasted—they on stew and bread, me on a chunk of mutton and crust soaked in broth—we retired to our separate chambers.

While I longed to sleep at the foot of Eddie’s bed, my place was with Sissy. I assigned myself that duty after she fell ill one winter’s afternoon in our old house. We’d gathered in the parlor to listen to her sing when, in the middle of a high-note, she caught her breath, looked at Eddie with surprise, and coughed blood onto her gown. Ghastly. I’d smelled sickness on her that fall but had been unable to alert the household due to my verbal shortcomings. As penance, I provided the one comfort I could: warmth. Since then, we’d moved again and again. But try as Eddie might, he could not outrun her illness.

The eyeball still pressing my thoughts, I accompanied Sissy to the bedroom she shared with Muddy and waited for them to peel away layers of dresses, slips, and corsets down to their chemises. I snoozed on the dresser between the tortoiseshell comb set and the hair cozy, eyes half-closed, for their routine. In my opinion, humans attached a distasteful amount of pageantry to covering their skin. Still, I pitied their lack of fur.

Sissy slipped into her bed. “What were you and Eddie talking about in the kitchen, Mother? Before dinner? You spoke of a woman named Eudora.”

Muddy took her own bed against the opposite wall and pulled the quilt to her chin.

“Mother?”

“Don’t trouble yourself, dear.”

“I know I’m ill, but I—”

“Virginia,” Muddy snapped, “you arenot ill. You are under the weather.”

Sissy gritted her teeth. I heard it across the room. “Yes, Mother.” She blew out the candle and called to me. “Cattarina, come.”

I alighted from the dresser and took my place on her chest, curling myself into a ball. As it did each night, her body trembled beneath me, shuddering and seizing with each little cough as it relaxed into a fitful sleep. I longed to heal her but didn’t know how. Yes, I loved Sissy, but I loved Eddie even more, and losing her would cast a shadow over his heart that nothing, not even a litter of suns, would banish. That’s why I hated to leave her.

But the eye had possessed me.

I tiptoed downstairs in the dark, moving like mist over the floorboards. I’d taught myself how to open the front door latch, letting myself in and out of the house at will. However, the office latch was nearly impenetrable. I knew because I’d tried it before. With no nearby bookshelf from which to launch myself, obtaining the proper trajectory and momentum had proved difficult in the past. Still, I had to—

Scratch, scrape, scratch,scrape.

I paused in the hall, listening to a sound I hadn’t heard in days. I hastened to Eddie’s office door and found it ajar, firelight streaming through the opening—a welcome sight, as he’d left the room unoccupied for days. I slipped inside to find my companion at his desk, quill pen in hand, furiously scribbling upon the page. But what had lifted his melancholy? When I leapt onto his desk, I found my answer. He’d set the eyeball near the ink blotter whereit watched him.

At once, jealousy struck me. Watching Eddie wasmy job. I batted the thing and knocked it to the floor, startling him. He looked up, his hair mussed, his cravat askew.

“Catters? I didn’t see you come in.”

I meowed softly, so as not to wake the women.

Eddie set aside his pen, retrieved the eye, and sat down again with it. “Imagine, the last person to touch this was a murderer. Isn’t it marvelous?”

Firelight glinted off the glass bauble, bringing it to life between his ink-stained fingers. For an instant, I wondered if it could see us. I dismissed the thought with a switch of my tail. Preposterous. Though if Eddie hadn’t taken such a liking to it, I might’ve carried it to the garden and buried it—just in case.

“In any event, it’s got me writing again,” he said to me, “and I have you to thank for it.” He scratched me between the ears and gave me a rare smile. I liked his teeth, small and square and not the least bit threatening. When he finished petting me, he set his new muse on the desk and picked up his pen again. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m deep in the middle of outlining and can’t go to bed until I’m done.”

I paced the desktop and let him write. I’d gone from liking the eyeball to hating it in the span of a good yawn. But if it gave Eddie a reason to write, I’d fill the house with them. With this in mind, I disappeared down the hall, jumped to the bookshelf by the door, and sprang the front latch on the second try. If I hurried, I’d reach Shakey House Tavern before it closed. Whoever dropped the eye might’ve dropped another one. And Eddie would be very, very pleased to own it.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_5]

Trouble by the Tail

By the time I’d backtracked along Coates to Nixon, the roads had emptied of all beasts sensible enough to shelter from the dipping temperatures. Ziggety-zagging south, I scampered along a combination of alleys and main thoroughfares to reach Shakey House in about the time it takes Muddy’s dumplings to boil. While a more efficient route existed, it would’ve taken me near the Eastern State Penitentiary. While most two-legged citizens considered it a marvel of construction, I stayed clear of it. A large tom named Big Blue lived behind the building, and I didn’t know if he’d appreciate an interloper crossing through his territory.

At Callowhill, I skittered around two salted meat barrels and ran down the block toward my destination. The way Eddie had boundeyeball andmurder together, I deduced that one human had slain another over the object. Which meant tonight, I tracked a killer. Whether or not this putme in harm’s way, I didn’t know.

I reached Shakey House in time to catch the last patron—Mr. Abbott—leaving. He ignored me and hurried down the empty street, glancing left and right several times, as one might during daytime traffic. As I neared the tavern steps, I caught that sharp odor again, the one that had caused me to sneeze earlier in the evening. It reminded me of medicine. Before I could ponder the association between the scent and Mr. Abbott, I ran into Josef. I tried to slink past him into the bar, but he blocked me from entering the darkened building. “Cattarina!” he said. “Are you roaming without your master?”

The fur around my neck rose atmaster. We never used such foul language in the Poe house. I ignored the transgression and batted the door, hoping he’d let me in to search for another eye. But he shut it, locking it with a key that swung from a large ring.

“If you are hunting for food,” Josef said to me, “I have theleberk?se. I was saving for the walk home, but I share with you. Yes?” He reached into his coat pocket, crinkled a wrapper, and broke off a small piece of meat that smelled of cow and pig.

I took the offering, gulped it down, and rubbed my chin along his arm to deposit my scent. Before finding Eddie, I could have been persuaded to take care of Josef. “Lucky you came now,” he said to me. “I should lock up twenty minutes ago, only Mr. Abbott lost his wallet. Wouldn’t leave until he searched the whole bar,die Idioten.But he never found it.” He took a piece of meat for himself and ate it. “I know the cheat when I see one. Mr. Shakey will blameme”—he thumped his chest—“when I tell him customer left without paying for drinks.” He stroked my back, releasing a crackle of static. “Good thing I have new job at the hospital. If I lose one, I keep the other.”

As Mr. Abbott grew smaller in the distance, my mind wandered to the scent I’d smelled upon arrival, the same one on the eye. As the feline philosopher Jean-Paul Catre once said, “There are no coincidences, only cats with impeccable timing.” If that were true, then my eyeball snatcher was getting away. Correction, mymurderer was getting away.

Forgetting my manners, I dashed down the street without saying goodbye to Josef and chased after Mr. Abbott. Another prize might fall from his pocket at any moment, and I would be there to catch it on Eddie’s behalf—a kittenish notion, but one that filled me with hope. He hadn’t journeyed more than a half block from the tavern when I caught up with him. I followed the man with ease, dipping in and out of lamplight as it suited me. Not long ago, I’d been a common gutter cat, and I still knew how to act the part—tail in neutral, eyes downcast, ears on swivel. No one would think me a kept feline who ate from a china bowl and slept in a bed and played with ribbons.

Mr. Abbott stopped at the corner to fill and light his pipe. Behind him, a rusty awning sign swung back and forth, squeaking with each pass of the wind. Sensing an opportunity, I emerged from the shadows and perched on a large planter of dead roses to study him. His fingers shook as he lit the match. It was entirely possible he’d killed a woman tonight. He took a long draw from his pipe, releasing the scent of burning leaves into the air, and shifted his gaze to the planter.

“Well, if it’s not Poe’s cat,” he said. “I’ve had enough of youand your owner.” He stomped his foot and drove me back into the shadows.

But he did not drive me from my task.

Once, I stalked a mouse for an entire afternoon, from midday church bell to dinnertime until I caught the vermin beneath the couch. A grave miscalculation on his part; my paw did, in fact, extend several inches farther when I flopped on my side. Now I needed Mr. Abbott to make a similar miscalculation. If he led me to his home, I could sneak in and steal as many eyes as I, rather, Eddie wanted—enough to keep my friend’s pen moving for weeks—provided a collection existed in the first place. The man would soon learn we tortoiseshells are tireless pursuers.

Mr. Abbott waddled across the street and slipped into a darkened alley that smelled of manure. I followed him at top speed, no longer caring if he saw me. I had already bungled that part of the hunt. Once inside the brick enclosure, I skidded to a halt, avoiding a two-wheeled gig harnessed to a dappled mare. But this overcorrection sent me sideways into a wooden crate. The box clattered against the cobblestones, drawing Mr. Abbott’s attention.

He turned, reins in hand. Our gaze met.

In a flash, he assumed the driver’s seat and cracked his whip, sending the mare into a gallop—straight in my direction. “H’ya!” he shouted to the horse. “H’ya!”

The scoundrel intended to kill me.

Unable to flee, I crouched, quivering in terror at the chop of horseshoes and rattle of wheels. The mare’s hooves struck the ground around me, avoiding my limbs and body. My tail, however, did not have the same luck. The wheel nicked the tip of it, torturing my nerves. But I dared not flinch. When the gig glided over me, it brought a rush of air that nearly froze my heart. A whisker length to the left or right, and I would’ve been dog meat. When the rumble of horse and cart faded, I rose and checked myself for injury. Thank the Great Cat Above, only my tail had been harmed. I smoothed it with my tongue, detecting a sprain, then dashed from the alley to catch my would-be murderer.

To my relief, he slowed the horse to a trot after a few blocks. But after ziggety-zagging through half of Philadelphia—theunfamiliar half, I might add—my lungs grew tired. Blasted paunch. I’d retained the instincts of a gutter cat, but not the physique. I sat back on my haunches and panted as my blue-eyed mouse escaped farther south. Tonight’s errand had been a foolish one. Instead of keeping Sissy warm, I’d been gallivanting about, trying to get myself killed. And what made me think Mr. Abbott had more than one glass eye in the first place? Desperation, I supposed. It thrilled me to see Eddie writing again, and this fervor had led to my own miscalculations.

I looked across the street to a large cemetery. If Sissy caught a fatal chill because I hadn’t been home to keep her warm, I would never forgive myself. I shivered, thinking it equally unwise forme to expire. So I fluffed my undercoat, trapping heat from my skin, and set off in the direction of perceived west. The sun set over the Schuylkill River—an immutable fact—and if I could find it, the water would lead me home before dawn. But I grew disoriented by the structures towering above the horizon, some eight or nine stories tall, and began to question my course. I’d lived many places in the city: the waterfront, the old house on Schuylkill Seventh, and the boardinghouse between moves. But each neighborhood could have been an island, for I never strayed more than a few blocks from their center. I paused to reflect. Somewhere in this labyrinth, I recalled a park and across from it, a pale stone building surrounded by a wrought iron fence. Except I needed more than an understanding of landmarks to guide me home; I needed Eddie.

For a time, I followed the wind, hoping it would carry the scent of the bakery next to Shakey House or the stench of the prison. But the local fishmonger and tobacconist shop obliterated all other smells. So I tried to remember the turns I’d taken on my wild gig chase. Left, right, right, left…and then? I trembled with the next gust of wind. If I didn’t find Coates Street soon, I’d be forced to take shelter or risk freezing to death, granting Mr. Abbott his wish after all.

When I neared the corner, the park and stone building I’d recalled loomed in the distance. What luck! With renewed confidence, I forged on, passing another cluster of shops and homes until a menacing growl froze me to the sidewalk. I glanced over my right shoulder. The sound had come from a nearby basement entrance. Someone had forgotten to shut both doors, giving passersby a glimpse into the unsettling abyss. For an instant, I wondered if I’d stumbled onto the Dark One’s lair.

Before I could escape, three gutter cats sprang—quick as demons—from the underworld and onto the sidewalk. The largest of them, a tom the color of fire, approached me with a slow and cautious gait. Scars marked his face, the cruelest of which intersected his lower lip, permanently exposing his left eyetooth. “You’re trespassing, Tortie,” hesaid, referring to my markings. “And we kill trespassers for sport around Logan Square.”

“I’m not trespassing,” I said. I lowered my tail. The bones at the tip still throbbed, but I didn’t dare show pain or weakness. “I’ve misplaced my home, that’s all.”

“Misplaced your home?” he said. “Fancy that. I misplaced mine the day I was born. But then, I ain’t been looking too hard for it.”

The other two cats, a grey tabby and a mottled Manx, yowled with laughter.

“Listen, please,” I said. “I have a home and a companion and—”

“Companion? You meanowner,” the tabby said. The molly flicked the tip of her tail, clearly amused. “Hear that, Claw?” she said to the lead tom. “Wretched little thing is someone’s property.”

My claws scraped the sidewalk as they unsheathed. “It’s not like that. Eddie and I have an evolved and symbiotic relationship that transcends—”

“Hah! Listen to the tortie talk,” said the Manx. No, not a Manx. His tail had been cut off three inches above the root. My own appendage felt better already. “What a sharp tongue she has.” He nudged past the tabby and joined Claw. “Can’t wait to rip it from her mouth.”

“Me, first, Stub,” the tabby said to him.

“You went first last time, Ash,” Stub said. “Remember the three-legged fella we took down near the tack shop?”

I flattened my ears and spat in warning. “If you think my tongue is sharp, try my teeth and claws.” When they didn’t back down, I struck the first blow, raking their leader across the side of the face and catching the scar near his mouth. This upset his balance, but Ash and Stub wasted no time in retaliating. The she-devil clamped down on my neck while her assistant held me and snarled in my ear. I turned and wrestled from their grip, but Claw clobbered me. He bowled me over with a strong jab that sent me into the street.

The cobblestones battered my ribs as I bounced along their surface. With my last remaining strength, I let out a screech and dashed toward the park a block away. The three demons followed me into the landscaped garden, matching my fence leaps and underbrush dives to the measure. My lungs caught fire as I raced through the bare trees, scattering leaves in my wake, but I could not outrun them. Swifter than wind, Claw outpaced me and flanked my right, Stub, my left. A seasoned hunter myself, I knew if I didn’t break away, Ash would overtake me while the other two closed off my passage. And in my fatigued state, the three of them would end me with little effort. Then I pictured Eddie’s face, sad and pale and ponderous, and wondered if he would weep for me the way he soon would for Sissy.

No, I would not put him through that hell.

With a final surge, I shot a tail-length ahead and ran into a pair of trousered tree trunks with a head-ringing crash. The human—definitely not a tree—scooped me up and rescued me from my pursuers. “What we got here?” I recognized him at once from Shakey House.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_6]

Plague of Mystery

Claw, Stub, and Ash scrambled to a stop against the man’s dirty working boots. Not only had the country gent stopped the fisticuffs between Mr. Uppity and Mr. Abbott in the tavern, he’d helped me out of a predicament as well. The demon cats hesitated, as if they might rebel against my liberator, but they scattered with a wave of his cap. Before the three retreated into the underbrush, Claw offered a final warning: “Without the human’s help, you would’ve been mine. Until next time, Tortie.”

I wriggled to escape the man’s arms, but he held me fast in the folds of his black-smudged coat. “Good thing I took the long way home, kitty cat,” he said. He examined me with soft brown eyes, not unlike Sissy’s. Moonlight filtered through the branches and glowed along the edges of his clean-shaven face, bouncing off the tip of his upturned nose. Though he was fully grown, his skin, teeth, and sun-touched hair still held the assurance of youth. “Wait. Haven’t I seen you before?” He pushed back his cap to get a good look at me. “I declare! In the tavern! I would’ve said hello—I like cats, you know—but that old man wouldn’t let up. Kept running his mouth about President Tyler. Gets into a fella’s brain until he can hardly think straight.”

I offered a feeble and helpless meow, hoping he’d show me mercy.

Brow furrowed with uncertainty, he looked through the trees to the pale stone building across the street. After a brief rest, he started back up the trail, traveling deeper into the park. I hadn’t noticed in the tavern, but he walked with a limp.Drag-step-drag-step. Despite not knowing our destination, the warmth of his coat lulled me into complacency, causing a purr to rise from my throat. Any man who used the term “kitty cat” couldn’t be that bad, I reasoned. Unsure of his true name, I gave him my own for the duration: Mr. Limp.

We soldiered on through the cold air until the canopy of trees gave way to a man-made canopy of shop awnings. As we strolled, Mr. Limp opined at length about digging and graves and diseases, giving me insight into his occupation—gravedigger. His choice of employment would have fascinated Eddie. My stomach lurched at the thought of my friend. Was he now, this very instant, pacing the floor with worry? The smell of baking bread interrupted this useless line of inquiry, and my purr grew louder. Now I understood where we were headed. A half block later, my savior set me on the steps of Shakey House—not home, but close enough. “There you go, kitty cat,” he said. “Safe as wet dynamite.”

I meowed in both gratitude and apology. In my fervor to free myself, I’d smeared the collar of his coat with blood. That tabby would pay for puncturing my neck. At least she hadn’t struck a vein.

Mr. Limp acknowledged my meow with a tip of his cap, then left the way he’d come. As I watched him go, I wondered if he’d end up in that building by the park. I licked my paw and cleaned my face. Strange that a shabby, unkempt man lived in such a grand abode. Yet Eddie, the dandiest man I knew, cohabitated with a family of cockroaches, a number of silverfish, and three—correction—two mice. Human manner and human condition didn’t always coincide. The clank of pans inside the bakery reminded me of the time. I wanted to be home before sunup lest Eddie send a search party for me.

A leap ahead of the sun, I arrived at our home on Coates, panting and wheezing from my run along the railroad tracks. What a foolish cat I’d been. No eyeball was worth the risk of Claw or Mr. Abbott ending me for good. I would have to find another way to lift Eddie’s spirits. Or he could darned-well lift his own. I pushed through the still-cracked door—no one had shut it—and entered the hallway to a mournful wail.

“No! No! No!” Eddie shouted. “It’s all wrong!”

I trotted to the front room to find my companion at his desk. He sat in much the same position as before, but he’d rolled up his sleeves and kicked off his shoes. His hair stood on end from, I assumed, being tugged by frantic hands, and his cravat lay on the floor like a dead snake. He’d allowed the fire to burn out, letting an autumn chill into the room.

“It was so easy with the Rue Morgue story, Catters,” he said to me. Judging by the occupied look on his face, he had no idea I’d been missing for half the night. Perhaps it was better that way. “That plot came to me as if in a dream. But this new story vexes me beyond comprehension. It’s not thewho or thewhat, but thewhy.” He stood and pulled the eyeball from his pocket. “And this trifle is doing me no good. It’s lost its magic.” He crossed to the fireplace and set it near the mantel clock with a finality I hadn’t expected. Then he turned and dropped to one knee. “Come here, my Cattarina.”

I obliged him, taking pleasure in the rug beneath my paws. It had been a long night of cobblestones and brick.

“Did you sleep well?” He stroked my fur. “Did Sissy?”

I arched my back at her name and curled into his hand. I hoped she’d fared well last night without my company.

Eddie picked me up and sat us in Muddy’s empty rocking chair, stretching his stocking feet toward the hearth. “If I knew more about the murder, Catters, I might be able to fix things on the page. But as it is…” He held me up to his face and repeated that word again,murder. “Cats know nothing of the kind, you lucky soul. Alas,Imust dwell on such atrocities.” He settled us into the chair and began to rock. “Madness, Catters. I know madness is the cause. It must be.” The rocking slowed, he whisperedmurder one more time. Then his lips parted in sleep.

Silly of me to think the glass orb had intrigued my friend. On the contrary!The means by which it had been acquired fascinated him, and this conundrum had evidently overwound his brain. Eddie had the mutability of a boundless sky: he could blind us, almost burn us, with his brilliance one day, then fall into a black and starless despair the next, never lingering too long at dawn or dusk. And no one in the Poe household was immune to these changes. Why, last full moon he broke one of Muddy’s dragon plates after merely reading a newspaper article. He’d read it aloud, but it muddled my ears with strange language likesupercilious andcommonplace. I had a hard enough time keeping track of our current vocabulary. Today, however, I sensed a difference. This riddle gripped him from the inside, as it did me. I wound tighter in his lap to keep from falling since his arms had gone limp, and though I shut both eyes, sleep did not come. I had a feeling we wouldn’t get much until I solved the mystery that plagued us both.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_7]

The Fickle One

Some time before dawn, I left Eddie’s lap and crept into Sissy’s bedroom to lie next to her. Even after old Muddy rose to stoke the kitchen fire, we stayed in bed a while longer, lingering in the relative warmth of the thin blanket. When a shaft of sunlight lit the room, I stretched and flexed my toes. My tail still smarted from last night’s mishap, but less so than before.

Sissy yawned and pushed an errant lock of hair from her face. Pinpricks of blood dotted the neck of her white chemise, yet her cheeks held color—a good sign. “Where were you last night, Miss Cattarina?” she asked. “I was so cold without you.” She rubbed the space between my eyes and smiled. “You were sleeping with Eddie, weren’t you?”

I rolled onto my back and offered her my belly. She took my suggestion and smoothed the fur on my stomach. After breakfast, I’d devise a plan for bringing Mr. Abbott and his alleged crime to Eddie’s attention. While I hopedsome measure of justice would come to that pernicious tail runner, my primary concern was my friend’s writing. As long as the ink began to flow again, the Poe house would be set to rights, and I would have fulfilled my job as muse.

Before long, the scent of frying mutton roused us from the covers. Sissy crossed to the wardrobe to dress, while I hopped into the chair by the door to supervise. I had no idea what humans did before cats crept from the primordial forest to observe them. Whatever the activity, it couldn’t have been that important.

“Can you keep a secret, Cattarina?” Sissy opened the tall wooden chest and withdrew her corset—an item she reserved for her “good days” when coughing spells were at their lowest. “I intend to look into this eyeball business. I know Mother would object, and Eddie, too, but I want to prove that I’m useful. That I’m not just a consumptive invalid. You understand me, don’t you?” She winked atme, then laced the corset around her chemise, keeping it loose. Petticoat and gown followed. I watched with fascination as she twisted her long, dark locks and secured them to the back of her head with a comb. I never tired of that hairstyle. It reminded me of a snail’s shell.

She continued, “Eddie and Mother think they’re keeping unpleasant things from me. But I read about them in the papers.” She turned from the mirror and whispered, “You know. The murders.”

I cocked my head, surprised by her knowledge of the term. I welcomed any assistance, of course. Yet in her debilitated state, I questioned how much she could offer. When Muddy called us to breakfast, we padded downstairs, the temperature climbing as we neared the kitchen. Once the “good mornings” had been dispensed with, Eddie, Sissy, Muddy, and I ate small plates of fried leftover mutton and fried leftover porridge. Ash may have belittled me yesterday, calling me someone’s “property,” but I was also the one eating a nice warm bowl of food today. I knew from experience that living feral meant living by the pangs of one’s stomach.

Once I’d cleaned the bowl, I licked away the last bit of grease and groomed the dragon painted on the rim of the bowl. Then I retreated to the corner near the woodstove for my morning spruce-up. I’d come home filthy last night, but hadn’t had the energy to give myself a bath before retiring. I began with my forepaws, still sore from my jaunt, and listened to Eddie drone on about this and that with a voice craggy from lack of sleep. He didn’t speak of the eyeball. I turned and worked on my hindquarters. In order to find Mr. Abbott and learn if he reallyhad committed the crimes I suspected him of, I needed to visit—what had Claw called it?—the Logan Square area and explore the uncharted south. I assumed the man lived in the direction the gig had traveled. Except returning meant facing that horrid gang of demons.

“What are your plans today, my dear?” Eddie asked Sissy. He crossed his ankles under the table.

“A little of this, a little of that,” she said breezily. She lifted her coffee cup and let the steam rise to her lips. “I may go out later if the weather stays fair.”

“Out?” Muddy frowned. “Do you think that’s a good idea? It may turn windy later.”

Sissy shot me a furtive look, though I knew not why. “I’ll be fine, Mother.”

“As long as you’re feeling up to it, let’s take tea outside,” Eddie said to Sissy. “We’ll have a little picnic along the river.” He pushed his chair from the table, scraping its legs along the floor. “Now if you’ll excuse me. I saw Mr. Coffin poking around this morning, and I want to talk to him about—”

“The wobbly porch rail,” Muddy said at once. She stood and gathered the dishes. “And the cracked window in the parlor.”

“Just what I had in mind,” he said.

“And don’t let that fatted goose convince you we owe money. We’re paid up until the end of October.”

Eddie drummed his fingers on the table. “Catters?”

I looked up from a rather indelicate grooming pose, one leg high above my head.

“Let’s visit Mr. Coffin,” he said. “Shall we?”

The remainder of my bath could wait. I followed Eddie outside, where we found Mr. Coffin hammering a board onto Ms. Busybody’s broken stoop next door. He looked up as we approached, a row of nails clenched between his teeth. Though I hadn’t known him long, Mr. Coffin had already secured a spot on my “favored humans” list. A gentle soul with the temperament of fresh, cold milk on a hot day, he’d never once raised his voice, not to Eddie, not to Muddy or Sissy, and most of all, not to me. Besides which, I rather liked fatted geese.

Mr. Coffin stood with a grunt and removed the nails from his mouth. He tossed them into his toolbox, along with the hammer. “Hullo, Poe.”

“Good morning, Mr. Coffin,” Eddie said.

“How is your dear wife? Any change?”

“Virginia is well.Very well.”

I wove between Mr. Coffin’s legs, gifting him with fur. When a fresh breeze blew in from the Schuylkill, I lifted my nose, reveling in the scent of fish. The pastureland we lived in now smelled better than our previous haunt, a dense city neighborhood that reeked of garbage and other human wastes of which I dared not think. Fairmount was a tree climber’s paradise, and I, for one, hoped we never left.

“Any news about your job in the Custom House?” Mr. Coffin wiped his hands on a rag he took from his back pocket. “I faithfully scour the papers each morning, hoping for a glimpse of your name.”

“The machinations of the federal government are beyondmy meager comprehension. In the meantime, I am hard at work on my future—The Pennmagazine. We are still looking for investors. Have I mentioned it before?”

“Youmay have,” Mr. Coffin said.

Eddie flashed his teeth. Devoid of merriment, the gesture intuited nervousness. Cats, I might add, are incapable of such subterfuge. He picked a piece of chipped paint from the finial. “Say, Mr. Coffin, what do you know about the murders near Logan Square? As alderman, your brother-in-law must have some insight into the crime.”

“What is it about violence that fascinates you?”

“I have so few hobbies. Without them, I might perish from boredom.Then who would pay my rent?”

Mr. Coffin laughed. “You got me there, Poe.” He replaced the rag in his pocket and turned to me, his double chin stretching with a smile. “I see you’ve brought God’s favorite creature round this morning. Hullo, Cattarina. Have you missed me?”

I nudged his leg.

With great fanfare, he took a sliver of jerky from his pocket and dangled it above me, his fingers a baited hook. Yet I made no move toward the treat. So he knelt down on one knee—a task that took real effort—and held it out for me. When he realized the futility of his scheme, he handed the jerky to Eddie, who in turn handed it to me. I wasn’t above taking food from Mr. Coffin. Things just tasted better from Eddie’s hand, and I ate from it when I could.

“She’s the fickle one, isn’t she?” Mr. Coffin said. He stayed low and helped himself onto the bottom step of Ms. Busybody’s stoop. “Now about those murders.” He paused, squinting into the sun. “I take it they’re research for a story.”

“Yes. I don’t have a title yet, but I do have a draft of the opening lines.” Eddie cleared his throat and recited a speech that, from its timbre, seemed to carry importance.

“TRUE!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story.”

He coughed, mumbled apologetically about the “anemic opening,” then continued:

“It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees—very gradually—I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.”

Eddie finished by bowing to Mr. Coffin. Mr. Coffin applauded. It was all too much for me. I sat on a sun-warmed patch of earth and kneaded my claws in the grass, the problem of Claw still taxing me. Perhaps I could offer him a bribe for safe passage. But he and his gang surely had all the mice they could handle. A carriage might move me through dangerifI could sneak onto one heading the right direction. A meadowlark landed in the dust near our porch and hopped about on little stick legs. Had I not been so full of Mr. Coffin’s jerky and my own questions, I might’ve dispensed with the nuisance for flaunting such nauseating patterns this early in the day.

“You assume madness as the motive for the killings,” Mr. Coffin said.

“How can anyone think otherwise?” Eddie gazed past the line of row houses into the adjoining field. “Though I’d like to be certain. Details matter. Details are everything.”

“The district, from what my brother-in-law tells me, knows nothing of the villain. No suspects, no witnesses. Two murders a fortnight apart, two prosthetic eyes taken as plunder, both of them pale blue. That is all.”

“Both of them pale blue?” Eddie asked. He gave Mr. Coffin his full attention. “I—I hadn’t realized. The paper never stated the color of the prostheses. How very curious.”

Mr. Coffin rose and retrieved his hammer. “No matter the color, two women are dead. And when they catch the culprit, I hope they lock him in the Eastern State Penitentiary.”

I froze at the utterance of the prison, a name I knew all too well, and a plan began to form. I didn’t need brains or bribes to get past Claw; I needed brawn. And the Eastern State residents had plenty.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_8]

Hunting the Spider

Big Blue and his extended family lived behind the Eastern State Penitentiary, near the northwest corner, away from the houses and roads. I’d spent long afternoons in the field separating our neighborhood and the prison, observing the band of ferals as one might a bird through a window. An extraordinary strategist, Big Blue moved his troops with the passage of the sun, staying hidden in the building’s shadow for much of the day. When individuals ventured into the light, they did so with great speed and cunning. This hearkened back to something my Auntie Sass taught me: unseen cats are safe cats. I hadn’t seen Sass since Eddie adopted me, but I thought of the cream-colored longhair often and the wooden crate we shared behind Osgood’s Odd Goods. If not for her, I would’ve starved on the streets after my mother died.

I turned and looked toward home. Eddie and Mr. Coffin, no bigger than fleas at this distance, were exactly where I’d left them. With any luck, my friend would continue chatting and my absence would go unnoticed. I slunk through the tall grass, crossing the boundary between Big Blue’s territory and mine, and came to rest at its edge where I yowled an all-purpose greeting.

A gust of wind replied.

This unnerved me more than anything. For all its criminals, the penitentiary was and always had been, from my brief surveillance, eerily quiet. I supposed the men inside were unable to talk, but I did not know why. This caused my imagination to create reasons more horrible than the silence itself, the worst of which involved the de-tonguing of prisoners upon arrival. I yowled again to fill the quiet.

A white cat rose like a specter from a grass patch to my left. She spoke, assuring me of her mortality, “State your business.”

“I’ve come to see Big Blue.”

The ruff around her neck rose, almost imperceptibly. “How do you know his name?”

“On a windless day, you can hear most anything—even a name.”

She cocked her head. “You look familiar.”

“I live across the field. In one of the row houses.” I motioned in their direction with my tail.

A look of recognition crossed her face. “Ah!You’re the one who sits atop the fence posts and watches.” She sniffed my nose in greeting. “I’m Snow.”

“I’m Cattarina.”

“That’s your human name. What’s your cat name?”

“I no longer speak it.”

“I’ve seen Big Blue refuse audience to those who’ve lost their wild streak, their…cattitude.” She twitched her whiskers. “So, Cattarina, what name do you give?”

Cattitude? What a load of fur. I had cattitude to spare. I sat back and switched my tail, creating a fan shape in the grass. He had nerve, passing judgment on me for keeping two-legged company. And yet I had no choice. If I wanted to catch Mr. Abbott, I had to play his game.

“It’s…it’s QuickPaw.”

“QuickPaw?” She eyed my ample physique. “I see why you cling to your new name, Cattarina. It suits you better.”

I stood, redistributing my waistline. “I’m still a good mouser. The best around by most accounts.”

“If you say so.” She turned with a flick of her tail. “Follow me.”

We trotted deeper into their territory until we arrived at the rear of the prison. A gang of cats patrolled a small brick structure adjacent to the main building. The door of this sturdy shed hung open, revealing hoes, rakes, and other gardening implements. Snow brought me to the entrance and instructed me to sit. I did as she asked, claws out, as she disappeared inside to speak to Big Blue.

The prison overwhelmed not just me but the whole of Fairmount with its size. An intimidating fortress, it reminded me of the castles in Eddie’s history books. Four corner towers connected the walls, creating a smooth stone box. However, the building lacked the gargoyles common in medieval architecture and had an altogether utilitarian feel—unsurprising considering its function. I craned my neck to look inside the garden shed. Nothing but darkness and tools. Earlier, the risks in coming here had seemed insignificant. But as I waited for the enigmatic leader to make an appearance, my nerves vibrated like piano strings. I grew wistful at this comparison. How I loved to sit atop Sissy’s square piano and watch the inner workings as she played. I licked my paw and wiped my face. Music graced the Poe household less and less these days—a pity.

Presently, Snow left the shed, followed by a large blue-grey cat with velvety fur of a thickness I longed to knead. His broad face and small ears lent him the regal air of a king, a comparison furthered by the castle behind him. Had he emerged with a crown, I wouldn’t have blinked. Quiet as smoke, he drifted toward me, studying my features with eyes the color of pumpkin. I’d just thought about slinking away when he spoke. “Why have you come, QuickPaw?”

“To seek your help.”

“Go back to your master.”

“Master? But how did you—”

“Your shape tells me everything I need to know.”

Clearly, a new health regimen was in my future. I steered us away from my oft-maligned midsection. “Current state aside, I once lived free like you. And when I did, Iearned my name. The waterfront knew no better mouser.”

A couple of the sentries snickered. Big Blue quieted them with a crook of his tail. “Then why seek my help?” he asked.

“While I am an excellent hunter, I lack the necessary skills to defend against a group of attackers.” I withdrew my claws and began to pace. “I need to travel past Logan Square and—”

“Claw,” Snow hissed under her breath.

I stopped, midstride. “You know him?”

“As much as anyone can know the deranged,” she said. She slunk beside the tom and whispered in his ear. “I say we help her, Blue.”

“I know you’ve had your quarrels with Claw,” Big Blue said, “but is that any reason—”

“Quarrels?” She switched her tail. “Your memory is clearly shorter than mine.” She turned and began grooming herself with a little too much force.

Big Blue watched Snow for a time, then spoke with hesitation. “War is a human folly. But…I’ll grant your request, QuickPaw.”

Snow quit licking her fur and glanced at us over her shoulder. “You will?”

“Yes,” he said to her. “Butafter she’s proven worthy of my help.”

He whispered something to Snow. She nodded. I swallowed.

“We have an excellent mouser as well,” he said to me. “But there can be only one champion. So I’d like to propose a challenge. If we win, you must tell every cat along the waterfront that my son, Killer, is Top Hunter.”

“K-killer?”

“And ifyou win,” he continued, “I’ll guarantee your passage beyond Logan Square.”

The rules were simple enough: hunt until Bobbin, the lead sentry, completed his rounds, catch as many mice as we could, and let Big Blue decide the winner. Yet his son was my opponent. Given their familial connection, I had serious doubts about the fairness of the competition. After a nod from Snow, the sentries called their goliath from the tall weeds, chanting, “Kill-er! Kill-er!” to summon him. I don’t know which shook more, my knees or the spear grass parting before the beast. Catching Mr. Abbott had better be worth this. I steadied myself as my opponent emerged: a grey-striped adolescent with a white chest, no more than a year old.

“Killer?” I asked, eyeing the scrawny male. “You’re a bit short in the whisker, aren’t you?”

Killer objected, “My whiskers are long enough—”

Big Blue stepped between us, halting the verbal jests. “Don’t underestimate my offspring, QuickPaw. What he lacks in experience, he gains in speed.”

My offspring. Fiddlesticks. The tournament had just become impossible to win.

Big Blue continued, “For this trial, you will catch as many mice as you can inside the Spider.” He glanced over his shoulder toward the penitentiary.

“Thewhat?” Either he didn’t hear me, or he didn’t care to explain. The tom left to speak to Bobbin, crossing the field in commanding strides.

“He means we hunt inside the prison,” Killer said. “We call it the Spider.”

“You’ve been inside the prison?”

“You don’t think we spend the night out here, do you, QuickPaw?” Killer said. He left to position himself near the base of the gardening shack.

I kept an eye on Big Blue, waiting for his signal, and puzzled over the name he’d given Eastern State. Did a giant eight-legged beast stand guard inside? If so, what did it eat? Prisoners? I shivered at the thought of a man bound with silken threads, waiting to be devoured by a carnivorous spider. Then I pictured Mr. Abbott—stained cravat and all—in the same confines and sniffed with satisfaction.

“Heed my advice, QuickPaw.”

“Hmm?” I turned to face Snow. She’d snuck away from the others and crouched beside me now, staying low.

“Use your ears, not your eyes to best my son.”

Before I could ask what she meant, Big Blue shouted “Begin!” and set the race in motion.

Bouncing from door handle to window casing to eave, Killer sprang straight up the gardening shed and onto its roof before Bobbin rounded the corner. The grey and white blur then leapt onto a mass of ivy clinging to the prison wall, which he expertly scaled to the top of the wall. I shook off my surprise and followed his route as best I could. It took a few tries to land on the shed roof, but I persevered, reaching the ivy in good time. I jumped, grabbed for the lowest vine on the wall, andsliiiiiiid back down the stone face amid laughter. After a string of failures—some from which my pride may never recover—I hoisted my hindquarters to the top.

The vast complex of the Eastern State Penitentiary lay before me, revealing the Spider. To my relief, I found not an arachnid but a scheme of buildings resembling one. Rows of prisoner dwellings spread out from a central watchtower hub that, on the whole, looked like legs connected to a central body. A marvel of construction, indeed. Never again would I snub its tourists. I watched unnoticed as guards marched single prisoners, each wearing an ominous black hood, across the compound and into adjacent dwellings. No words passed between the men, creating a silence that unnerved me.

My opponent had already hopped onto an interior greenhouse, dropped into the complex, and was fast approaching a series of private yards adjoining the prisoner dwellings. I thought about following him but recalled Snow’s advice. Had she said them to hinder or help me? While Iwas competing against her son, she seemed keen for Big Blue to help me. So I took her advice, listening to the swing of the doors, the rush of water through plumbing pipes, theskiff-skiff of shoes on steps. I listened for so long that the cats below likely wondered if I’d gone mad; I listened for so long thatI wondered if I’d gone mad. Throughout my quiet observation, I noted Killer’s routine. He would disappear into a prisoner yard, emerge with a mouse, scale the greenhouse to the top of the wall, and toss his prize to Snow. In between kills, he taunted me, calling me LazyPaw and LardBelly.

I persisted, swiveling my ears to catch any squeak, no matter how faint. Then I heard it: a scratching of rodents near the northeastern corner tower. Eureka! I scampered along the rear wall toward my destination, ignoring the jeers below. Without a doubt, the sound had come from a cast-iron downpipe that shunted rain from the tower’s parapet. I hung over, teetering on the wall’s edge, and examined the rusted T-joint that connected the vertical section of pipe to the horizontal. The mice had made their nest here, allowing them several points of access. Since no rain had fallen in recent weeks, they’d had time to set up house and reproduce.

The crowd cheered below as Killer added, one by one, to his growing pile. Snow may have provided this advantage, but winning lay inmy paws. I swung onto the drainpipe and kicked the back wall with my rear legs, trying to break the joint that held it in place. The mice inside began to scramble, rustling the metal with their tiny claws, driving me wild. I kicked harder and harder until the rust crumbled. With a final push, I freed the vertical section and rode it down, down, down until it hit the ground with a resounding crash that rattled my teeth and scattered Big Blue’s troop. Mice and nesting fluff erupted from the end of the downpipe.

Like a wild thing set free after captivity, I exploded with energy, swooping and pouncing on the mice with a precision earned through years of experience. And now that my feral instincts were back, none could best me. Once I’d caught the runners, I returned to the drainpipe to catch the small pink ones still in the nest. When it was over, I’d gathered every rodent but one, and only because his tail had ripped off during the chase.

Wheezing and smeared with blood, I collapsed near my heap as the contest ended. Somewhere beneath my exhaustion, an untamable feeling hatched deep within me. It pecked at the shell of domesticity, hardened this last year with Eddie. I hadn’t felt this vital, this necessary in a long time. Maybe hunting my largest prey yet—a human murderer—would be as much for my benefit as Eddie’s.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_9]

Midnight in Philadelphia

As I lay in the grass awaiting Big Blue’s judgment, I cleared my throat with a good cough. It didn’t take much to wind me these days. Killer, however, had fully recovered. The little saucebox hopped circles around the older sentries, batting their tails and flicking dirt on their toes. Had I ever been that young and insufferable? I coughed again as Big Blue and Snow approached, their faces solemn. I rose to greet them, still exhausted from the trial.

“I’m afraid we have a tie,” Big Blue said.

“A tie?” Killer howled. He skidded beside us, shredding grass. “Impossible.”

I lifted my chin. I hadn’t won. But I hadn’t lost.

“I counted them, son,” Big Blue said. “A tie’s a tie. But that makes honoring my word a difficult thing. We never discussed a draw.”

“May I suggest—” I coughed again, this time harder. The hunt had taken more of a toll than I’d thought. “May I suggest we—” I lurched forward and belched a long, slender object at their feet, settling the matter.

Much to Killer’s dismay, I’d won by a tail.

Snow and I strolled through Logan Square Park, intent on drawing Claw and his gang from hiding. Behind us, Big Blue and his sentries shadowed our movements along the trail, using bushes and tree trunks for cover. Most everyone had turned out for the skirmish, most everyone but Killer. He’d begged to come along, but his mother denied the request, instructing him to stay behind with Bobbin to guard the mice kills. I glanced at her. Snow’s life had taken a different path from mine—motherhood, a long-time mate, unfettered living—but was it any better? Dead leaves crackled beneath our paws, filling the silence until I summoned the courage to talk. “Are you happy?” I asked.

“Very happy. I have a large family, many friends, a big territory.”

We hopped over a fallen branch and crossed into a gloomy stretch of park that smelled of rotting vegetation. Shrubs and trees arched overhead, forming a tunnel of sorts that cloaked us in semidarkness and widened our pupils. Summer’s leftovers—moss and fern and toadstools—littered the path. Tinged with brown, they’d begun to lose their grip on the season.

“You didn’t ask, but I will tell you anyway. I am happy, too,” I said. “Without me, the Poe household would collapse. I watch over Sissy, eat scraps for Muddy, and serve as muse for Eddie. He’s a man of letters, you know. Of great importance.” My thoughts drifted to my friend, provoking a half-purr that I quickly stifled. “In return, Eddie feeds me breakfast and dinner, scratches me between the ears, and worships me in amost satisfactory manner.”

“You’re not the only one who watches from the field. I’ve seen your Eddie, and he looks very kind.” Snow lowered her voice. “Don’t tell Big Blue, but I’ve always wondered what it would be like to live in a house and have a human dote on me.”

“Most days, it’s grand.” I yawned to clear my head. “If you don’t mind me asking… Why did you help me win the contest?”

The snap of a twig stopped us.

Snow seemed relieved at the interruption. “Who’s there?” she called.

I tried to look ahead, to see beyond the shrubs obstructing our view, but they had grown too thick. “My whiskers are telling me this is a trap,” I said.

“Then let’s spring it.” She trotted past me along the curve, her tail high. I ran to catch up, praying Big Blue hadn’t lost us in the greenery. As we rounded the bend, Claw, Ash, and Stub leaped from the bushes, surrounding us on all sides. My whiskers are never, ever wrong.

“It’s our old friend, Tortie,” Claw said. “And she’s brought a friend.” He studied Snow with more care than I’d expected. “Haven’t I seen you before?”

“You knew my mother,” she said. “We met when I was a kitten.”

Stub rubbed along Snow’s side. “You’re all grown up now, pretty molly. You looking for a mate?”

“Take care, Stub,” Ash said. “Once I finish with her, she won’t be nearly as charming.”

“Leave her alone,” I said. “Your quarrel is with me.”

“No, QuickPaw,” Snow said. “It’s with me. It always has been.”

Claw arched his back. “With you? I don’t even know—” His eyes widened. He’d obviously recalled their connection—a strong one, from his mien.

“Yes… That’s it. Now you remember,” she said to Claw. “The way you chased my mother into the street.” She flashed her canines. “The way the carriage wheels dragged her over the cobblestones. The way she died, gasping for breath in front of a little white kitten.” Snow bristled her tail and shrieked, “Nowyou will die!”

At this, Big Blue and his sentries sprang from the hedges to attack the miscreants. Claw, Ash, and Stub met the challenge with furious rounds of scratching and biting. I backed away, giving wide berth to the brawl, and took refuge behind a tree trunk. Flying Feline! What hissing! What screeching! I may have missed the freedom of the street, but I didn’t miss the conflict. At one point, Ash jumped on Snow’s back and flattened her, forcing me to intervene. After a series of challenging calculations, I climbed onto a leggy, lowlying tree limb and brought it down upon their struggle, breaking the two apart. My weight, at long last, was an advantage.

Once the whirlwind of paws and tails sputtered out, I emerged and surveyed the splatter of blood. The three demon cats lay on the earth, beaten and battered, but still very much alive. They’d fallen from their throne in a hail of spent fur and spittle, giving me the passage I needed. I don’t know what became of Claw after I left the park that day, but I never saw him again.

*

Joy is a shadow cat that comes and goes when it pleases. A mere figment of mood, it slinks in from the ether and creeps beside you for a time, vanishing at the first sign of ownership. It delighted me with its company as I traveled south of Logan Square. Unlike yesterday, however, the longer I walked, the more familiar my surroundings grew until I became convinced of my bearings. I had lived here, or very close to here, near the nexus of Schuylkill Seventh and Locust, in the home where Sissy had taken ill. What fine times, before darkness descended on the Poe family and snuffed out the candles of gaiety and innocence.

While some buildings had come and gone since the spring move, the character of the neighborhood remained intact. A mishmash of dilapidated and divine, this parcel of Brotherly Love had remained an architectural contradiction. Brick townhomes still rubbed yards with shacks of yore. A good sneeze would’ve reduced most of the older structures to firewood, but they were no less charming to a cat with their fluttering clotheslines and free-roaming chickens. I know because we lived in one for a short period before settling on Coates.

While the houses coexisted without loss of dignity, I could not say the same of the humans. Ladies and gents kept to the right of the sidewalk, downtrodden to the left. As for me, I chose the middle path and traveled along the gulley of space between them—an unpleasant strip of classism that crackled with animosity—until I reached a butcher shop overrun with women robed in silk and fur. From my previous jaunts, I knew the refuse here to be of high quality. As I dug through the trash pits behind the store, I wondered whether my preference for elite butcheries made me ahauteur as well. Then I turned up a trout head and ceased to care. Delicious.

Stuffed with fishy bits, I lay on the stoop of a new three-story home next door and watched the skirts and cloaks whisk by on the sidewalk. I flexed my claws. The finery needed a good shredding, like curtains upon the breeze, and I was just the cat to give it. But what of Mr. Abbott? He needed a good shredding, too. I’d just chided myself for forgetting him when a tom padded toward me, a thin blue ribbon around his neck. Save for a patch of white upon his chest, his coat had the all-over hue of burnt candlewick, and it billowed about him like a cloud. He stopped and appraised me, the tip of his tail crooked.

“Hello,” he said. “What brings you to my doorstep?”

I tried to suck in my gut, but my lungs nearly collapsed from the strain. “Your doorstep? Forgive me. I’ll move along.” After the row in Logan Square, I didn’t want trouble.

“You can stay, miss. I’m just here for my midday snack.”

I hadn’t noticed before, but he had a bit of a paunch. It didn’t swell like mine did after a pot roast luncheon. Instead, it rounded his figure, giving him a relaxed, well-fed appearance that hinted at a want-free life. “So this is your home?”

“Yes, but take heart. A cat with beautiful markings like yours will find an owner.”

Cats don’t blush as humans do, thank the Great Cat Above. “I must confess…I have a home. A human dwelling, like yours.”

“I should’ve guessed. You’ve too fine a coat to be living on the streets.” He hopped up the steps to join me. “Do you live in Rittenhouse as well?”

“Kitten house?”

“No, Rittenhouse.”

“Oh,that’s what you call it. I used to live a few blocks from here, but moved.”

He lifted his nose. “Well, parts of it are becoming very uppity.”

My whiskers vibrated. “Uppity? Do you know the man from Shakey House Tavern?”

“Who?”

“Mr. Uppity.”

“I’m afraid you’ve lost me.”

“Well, you said his name. So naturally I thought you knew him.” He stared at me, his pale eyes fixed and unblinking. I continued. “Never mind. I’m not here for him. I’m here for a Mr. Hiram Abbott. He’s oldish and fattish and has teeth the color of gravy.”

“Turkey gravy or beef gravy?”

“Turkey. Definitely turkey.”

“Haven’t seen him. But I can help you look. I know the streets better than any cat.”

“Splendid. What about your snack?”

“My tuna can wait. Little Sarah never tires of feeding me.” He shook his head. “Or tying ribbons around my neck.” He leapt to the sidewalk and waited for me to descend the steps.

When we were eye to eye again, he presented himself as Midnight, a somewhat predictable name for a cat of his coloring, but one I liked. Humans, on the whole, exercised little imagination when labeling their pets or themselves. In our area alone we have three Johns and four Marys, with no similarities among them save for gender. Dogs, too, are subject to this illogicality, as every other one answers to Fido, though most are too dumb to mind. I offered Midnight my particulars, bragging about my Eddie and our “country estate” on Coates, and thus began our adventure.

We toured the stately homes around Rittenhouse Square, a park not unlike Logan Square, looking for Mr. Abbott. Along the way, we debated the contradiction of domestic life: how it both liberates and hobbles cats. We also spoke of our commonalities, including a shared interest in piano strings, clock pendulums, and needlepoint cushions. And while we’d spent our kittenhoods differently—mine on the streets, his on a velvet pillow—we couldn’t deny our harmony. When we didn’t find Mr. Abbott in or around the green space, my guide took me to the livery stables to look for the dappled mare and gig I’d told him about.

Alas, I didn’t find my quarry that day.

Hungry from the search, we crept into the grocer’s to steal a snack—Midnight’s idea, not mine, but one to which I agreed. Having conquered both Claw and the Spider this morning, my confidence had soared to an untold zenith. War may have been human folly, as Big Blue suggested, but we cats suffer no less from bravado. To wit, I volunteered to liberate a rope of sausages from a hook inside the door. Once we agreed on a plan, Midnight and I hid behind a sack of potatoes in the corner—the perfect spot to study the hook and its proximity to a soap display. The clerk, a young man with a mustache I first mistook for a dead caterpillar, had just finished stacking a table with the lavender bricks.

“What are you waiting for, Cattarina?” Midnight nudged me. “Just give it a jump.”

“I should say not.” I thumped the end of my tail. “The physics involved are staggering. One doesn’t ‘give it a jump’ and succeed with any poise. That is for rabbits. Besides, I’m waiting for the right moment.” And it had arrived. When the clerk turned to help a woman load turnips into baskets, I sprang to the table, scaled the soap pyramid, soared to the hook, caught the sausages between my teeth, and arced to the ground where I landed—there should be no doubt—on all fours. Not one bar of soap fell.Not one. The look of admiration on Midnight’s face was worthy of any aches and pains these acrobatics would earn me in the morning.

“Well done, Cattarina!” Midnight shouted. “Now run!”

[Êàðòèíêà: img_10]

The Thief of Rittenhouse

Sausages in tow, I took Midnight’s advice and ran from the shop. Yet in my haste, the links caught in the door’s hinge, sending me catawampus and snapping my confidence back into place. Midnight came to my aid, but not in time, for the clerk and woman turned round and caught us at our little game. Upended baskets and rolling turnips and high-pitched screams came next. My accomplice gnawed through the meat casing near the hinge, allowing us to escape with our remaining plunder. The clerk, nevertheless, gave chase. Our luck returned when I accidentally knocked over a cluster of brooms by the front window. They clattered to the sidewalk, tripping the young man and granting our freedom.

Behind the grocer’s, we split the links and feasted on the dry, waxy beef, commending each other between chews. Then, full of meat and mischief, we stretched our limbs and groomed ourselves in the sun-bright strip between buildings. I wiped my face with my paw. It still held floral notes from the soap.

“You’ve never stolen anything before, have you?” Midnight asked.

“No, never,” I said. “But it’s just as thrilling as hunting. Maybe more so.”

“I rid my home of mice long ago. But now I occupy myself in other ways. I’ll bet I’m the best thief in Rittenhouse. Maybe even the city. Name anything, and I can take it.” He puffed out his chest, expanding the small white ruff around his neck.

“A whole chicken.”

He offered a bored expression, lids half closed.

“A leg of lamb.”

“Give me a hill, and I’ll roll it home.”

“A side of beef. Now you couldn’t possibly—”

“Oh, I’ll steal it. One bite at a time if I have to.” He raised his face to the sun, looking more regal than the embroidered lions on Eddie’s slippers. Ah, the glorious Thief of Rittenhouse. Even if he hadn’t led me to Mr. Abbott, Midnight might still be able to give me insight into the man’s behavior.

“A good thing you’re qualified, because I need your opinion.” I paused, considering the best way to phrase my question. “What do you make of humans who steal body parts?”

“Arms? Legs?”

“No, no…eyes. And not real ones. Fake ones made of glass.”

“Would this have anything to do with Mr. Abbott?” His ears twitched when I didn’t answer. “Very well, Cattarina. There are two types of pilferers—those who steal for necessity and those who steal for pleasure. Get to know your man, and you’ll know why he does what he does.”

I gazed upon Midnight’s black fur, admiring its luster in the full light. He’d stolen my admiration as easily as the wind steals leaves from a tree. But he wasn’t, as he stated, the best. Eddie held that title, having chastely taken my heart long ago. As a man of letters, he cares about language, nay, theproper use of language more than any other human I’ve ever met, which thrills me because for some time, I’ve fanciedmyself a cat of letters. No, not of written ones, but of ones passed down in the oral tradition. To say that Eddie and I are sympathetic to one another’s needs is a grotesque understatement. For his sake and his alone, I ended my Rittenhouse adventure. Besides, teatime was nigh, and I yearned for the comfort and ritual of the Poe house. Muddy would be putting on a kettle, laying out salted crackers and jam and, if I were lucky, cheese.

With reluctance, I called an end to our hunt and asked Midnight if he would escort me part of the way home. Ever the gentlecat, he took me as far as Logan Square, the uppermost reaches of his roaming ground. I paused at the entrance of the park and examined the pale stone building across the street. Yesterday, Mr. Limp had taken great interest in the structure. “Do you know anything about that place?” I asked Midnight.

“I’ve never been inside, but I’ve heard rumors. It’s where they keep the broken humans,” he said. “The ones with shriveled legs or missing arms. The ones that bump into things.”

The ones like Mr. Limp.

Our tails overlapping, I sat beside Midnight in the waning afternoon. Clouds of clotted cream drifted over the Home for Broken Humans, cushioning the white marble fa?ade. Above it, a brilliant stretch of sky—eyeball blue, to be exact. “It’s been a lovely day,” I said. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. We didn’t find your man.”

“There is always tomorrow.”

He stared at me with eyes as wide and pale as the moon. “Will I see you again?” he asked.

“When I’m in need of a whole chicken or a leg of lamb, I’ll know whom to call upon.”

We touched noses and parted—a sad but necessary event. While I hoped to come across Midnight again, Eddie was my world, and it would take more than the cleverest, handsomest thief in Rittenhouse to change that. I waited until Midnight became a black smudge in the distance before approaching the home. I climbed the stone steps, fearing the horrors inside.Broken humans. The very thought of it thickened my blood. Still, if Mr. Limp lived here, it would be rude not call on him and thank him for saving my life. To quote the ancient philosopher, Ariscatle, “Without propriety, we are but dogs.”

Tucking myself into a loaf, I balanced at the edge of the small porch and waited for the door to swing open. I’d give it half a catnap, nothing more. If no one appeared in that time, I would depart for the Poe house and be home in time for tea.

A rattling harness stirred me from slumber as a closed coach pulled alongside the curb and stopped. The horse team danced back and forth, eager from the brisk air, but the driver set the brake and settled in to wait. Unless I missed my guess, someone would eventually exit the building and climb into the conveyance. I stood and stretched, readying my limbs. Just as I’d surmised, the door opened, revealing a man with a wooden leg and a lady in a long white apron and cap. I’d seen similarly dressed women before at the hospital Sissy visited, so I concluded this building served a similar function. Thankfully, this drained most of the terror from my visit. I waited for her to help him down the steps, then darted inside without notice.

*

Even in the shade of late day, the white walls and numerous windows lit the interior, giving it a cheery air, although further inspection put me to rights. The architecture may have been breezy, but the clientele was anything but. As I slunk along the corridors looking for Mr. Limp, I found the broken humans of which Midnight had warned me. At the time, I thought he meant their bodies. Now I knew he meant their spirits. A group of these pour souls—more than I could count on my toes—lived together in one long room that spanned the back portion of the building. Their beds lined the walls on either side, leaving a walkway up the middle for more ladies in white aprons. Nurses, I think they call them. Medicine bottles in hand, they tended their charges, engaging in lighthearted chitchat as they worked. I stood in the doorway and surveyed the room but did not see Mr. Limp. Then my eyes settled on the stocky man sitting by the bed of a young woman. It was Josef Wertm?ller. I had never seen him this far from Shakey House before.

Using the beds as an on-again, off-again tunnel, I crept closer to the barkeep and his lady friend. Though she lay with her back to me, the young woman bore a passing resemblance to Sissy with her long dark mane and pale hands, making her all the more appealing. But unlike Sissy, emaciation had ruined the woman’s body and thinned her hair. Her sparse locks spilled along the pillow like rivulets of the Schuylkill. I hid under an adjacent cot and listened for language I might recognize.

“Caroline,” Josef said to her in a soothing voice, “where were you last night?”

Caroline. Now I knew what, or rather, who had troubled him the previous evening.

“I was here, Josef. You saw me.” She tugged her blanket higher. “You emptied my bedpan, didn’t you? Filled my water glass?”

“Nein, miss. I work the mornings.”

“Why do you ask?”

He rubbed his side-whiskers and squinted. “No reason. No reason at all.”

“You know I can’t go anywhere in my…current condition.” Her voice trembled. “Please go. I consider your questions rather unkind.”

Josef stood. “Ich bitte um Verzeihung. I leave now. Just don’t tell Dr. Burton I was here.”

“Wait.” She stretched her hand and took his arm. “Can you deliver a note to my friend? He usually visits in the evenings, but it can’t wait.”

“Of course.”

“Good. I will give you his address.” Caroline gestured to the stationery and pencil on the nightstand with one fragile hand. “Can you write it for me?”

He shuffled his feet.

“I will help you spell,” she added.

Josef picked up the implements and sat down again.

Caroline began the dictation. “Dearest Owen…” I’d seen Sissy take down Eddie’s words when his hand grew too tired to write, just as Josef did now. He licked the end of the pencil and scratched marks on the paper.

She continued, “I have missed you terribly. Please do not come tonight as Uncle has promised to visit, too. You know how he dislikes our courtship…”

Bless the girl. She’d given me time to think. Last night, news of the murders shook Josef more than I would’ve expected, eliciting great anxiety over this Caroline woman. But why? I ducked when the patient above me jostled the mattress. At first, I’d thought Mr. Abbott guilty of the crime. I had, after all, detected the same medicinal scent on him as on the eye. But now I wondered if the smell had come from Josef instead. I wiggled my whiskers. Hecouldn’t be the killer. I fancied myself a skillful judge of character, and he’d shown no signs of amoral behavior. And yet…

Josef folded the piece of stationery and rose to leave. “I go, Caroline. Just as you said. To Rittenhouse.”

I stiffened.Rittenhouse. That infernal neighborhood lay at the center of the mystery. If I didn’t follow Josef, I would never put my suspicions to rest, and they had grown much, much stronger these last few moments. Before he could leave, I backtracked through my bed tunnel and waited behind a potted plant by the door. But he opened and shut the portal with such force that I did not have time to dart through it. So I waited for someone else to let me out. When no one came, I meowed.

I will say this: marble providessplendid acoustics.

A slack-chinned nurse escorted me out with more vigor than I’d anticipated, yelling “Shoo! Shoo!” as I left. To emphasize her point, she nudged me from the porch with saidshoe, as if I needed help understanding the word. I paid her no mind; I had a two-legged mouse to catch. I sprinted outside and found Josef but made sure to stay several paces behind him. Mr. Abbot may have caught me following him, but my new quarry would not.

After a few blocks, Josef passed the same grocer’s that Midnight and I had visited this morning, an indication we’d crossed into Rittenhouse. He turned the corner at the park, walked along the sidewalk for a time, and then stopped at a three-story townhome built of ornate limestone. While the structure impressed me, the landscaping did not—leggy bushes grew this way and that like uncombed hair. I flattened myself in the uncut grass. Eddie’s Detective Dupin fromThe Murders in the Rue Morgue was no match for me. I’d heard enough about the gentleman’s exploits to form this educated if somewhat biased, opinion.

Josef climbed the steps to the porch and rang the bell box. Almost immediately, the door opened, revealing another familiar face from Shakey House Tavern: Mr. Uppity, the man who’d purchased Eddie’s newspaper. Josef faltered, his eyebrows lifted in surprise, then handed him Caroline’s note.

I hadn’t bothered with Mr. Uppity’s details before other than to note his shoes and his weight, but his features intrigued me: white side-whiskers, long, hooked nose, and a fetching pair of sky-blue eyes. I wiped my face with my paw and looked again. Yes, they were theexact same color as the eyeball I’d found in the bar.There are no coincidences, only cats with impeccable timing. This physical evidence convinced me more than Josef’s or Mr. Abbott’s loose association.

My teeth chattered, longing to bite Mr. Uppity, the real Thief of Rittenhouse. I had found my murdering eyeball stealer at last.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_11]

Garden of the Dead

Teatime had almost ended when I arrived at the green-shuttered home on Coates. I tried to rush home to warn Eddie about Mr. Uppity, truly I did. But after the day I’d had, running turned to skittering, skittering turned to loping, and loping, well, let us say that my tender paws surrendered before my spirit. To make matters worse, I found no cheese or crackers waiting for me. I wandered through the unusually quiet first floor until I came across Muddy in the front room. She sat alone by the fireplace with a cup in her hands, sipping and rocking and gazing into the embers. I longed to ask her Eddie’s whereabouts, but she and I didn’t share the required empathy. A search of the second and third floors bore nothing, so I returned to the yard and climbed an ancient hemlock for a kite’s-eye view of Fairmount.

Between the needled boughs, I could see the Water Works, the elbow bend of the Schuylkill, and further south, boat masts poking above the docks. Dash it all. Too many humans populated these areas for my aerial search to be of use, though it did turn up a wake of buzzards circling in the distance. I looked north to the near-deserted landscape above the Water Works and, to my surprise, discovered Eddie and Sissy frolicking in a graveyard. Many old, forgotten burial grounds lay along the riverbank. I knew because I’d explored them in my kittenhood, finding solitude among the tilting tombstones. But why, for kitty’s sake, were my companions visiting one now?

After a short walk—anything was short compared to my trek from Rittenhouse—I squeezed through the wrought iron fence surrounding the cemetery. Trees obscured the river, but the rush of water and honk of geese served as a reminder. On my quietest paws, I snuck up to Eddie and Sissy and hid behind a statue of a winged lady. With expressions ranging from doleful to dreadful, these monuments were frightfully common in graveyards. But if they marked the burial place of flying humans, why hadn’t I seen them fluttering about the streets of Philadelphia? I switched my tail.Cattarina, have you seen your companion today? Why yes, he’s flapped to the market for a bag of seed. Squawk! Flying humans—what vulgar creatures.

In need of rest between escapades, I lay down on the soft earth and watched the pair with rapt attention. A basket between them, Eddie and Sissy dined on an old woolen blanket Muddy had sewn from cast-off coats. Nowhere lay the banquet: a block of Swiss stuck through with a knife, a gingerbread loaf, a jar of stewed apples, honey, and a pot of strong black tea. My belly rumbled. Surely Mr. Uppity would keep long enough for me to take part in the feast.

Eddie reclined on his side, head propped in one hand, and ate a piece of the rich, brown cake. When he finished, he lay back and stared at the sky. The setting sun lit the clouds, spinning them into gold. “What a splendid idea, Sissy. Teaal fresco. We haven’t dined outside since…”

“Since I became sick. Yes, I know.” She poured herself a cup of tea and drizzled in a spoonful of honey. She’d changed from her everyday dress to her town dress, a fawn-colored brocade gown with slim sleeves and a nipped bodice. A matching knitted shawl—the one I napped on whenever she left her wardrobe ajar—livened the costume. “But we shouldn’t dwell on the past. I’m feeling well today.”

Eddie sat up, set her teacup aside, and took her hand. “You give me hope, my wife. I’ve been so worried. You know I don’t do well when you’re under the weather. I become utterly lost.”

Sissy blushed.

“Ah, pink.” He touched her face and smiled. “Now that’s a fine color for cheeks.” The romantic interlude passed when he turned to carving the cheese. He served her a piece from the edge of the blade, then sliced one for himself. “I always fancy graveyards as gardens of the dead.” He chewed the Swiss thoughtfully. “You plant the remnants of human frailty, wait for a time, and then a monument grows in its place, declaring—in rhyme no less—the totality of a man’s worth. Some are flowers. Others are weeds.”

Sissy gave him a sidelong glance.

“I assure you, I am quite genuine.” He tapped the headstone next to them. “Read it. Go on if you don’t believe me.”

Sissy brushed a cobweb from the chiseled letters. “Here lies Jacob M. Weatherly. A man of great sin, he cheated his kin. Heaven he’ll never be.” She burst out laughing. “A dandelion, indeed!”

Eddie gazed at her with affection, eyes alight. Pish posh. I stepped through their feast, making spongy prints on the pancakes, and meowed with gusto. Teatime was over; me time had arrived.

“Catters!” Eddie scooped me up. “I turned around this morning, and you were gone. Mr. Coffin was beside himself. He had a pocket full of jerky and no one to give it to.”

The corner of Sissy’s mouth lifted. “Mr. Coffin ate it, naturally.”

“Naturally,” Eddie said. He held me up and stared into my eyes, trying to divine something from them. “Where have you been, naughty girl?”

“I’ll bet she has a beau,” Sissy said with a wink.

“If that is true, Catters,” he said, “then at least leave your heart with me for safekeeping.” He broke off a piece of cheese and fed it to me. My mouth watered at its sharpness.

“You spoil that cat too much,” Sissy said. She nibbled her own cheese like a mouse.

“Creatures provide such comfort.” He scratched behind my ears. “Besides which, she is my muse, and she earns her title every day.” He set me aside and took a piece of paper from his pocket. “Speaking of which, would you like to hear from my new story?”

“Yes, please!” Sissy said.

Eddie requires an audience for his writing, and I am often the one to grant it. So I lay down to listen, keeping one eye on the buzzards circling the Water Works. The wake had grown rather large, and while the birds’ presenceseemed innocuous, it hinted at something more sinister.

After a slight preamble, my man of letters began the tale:

“Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded—with what caution—with what foresight—with what dissimulation I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it—oh so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly—very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man’s sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! would a madman have been so wise as this, And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously-oh, so cautiously—cautiously (for the hinges creaked)—I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye.”

“Ghoulish, but still of literary merit,” she said. “Rufus Griswold would be impressed.”

“Rufus Griswold.” He shoved the paper into his pocket and took out the blue eyeball, turning it between his fingers. “To quote old Weatherly, heaven he’ll never be.”

She patted his shoulder. “I have some news you might find interesting. News about the eye.”

My ears shot forward at the coveted word’s mention.

“I traveled into town this afternoon,” she continued. “While Mother was napping, I—”

“You didn’t walk, did you? You know exertion isn’t good for your lungs.”

“No, no, Mr. Coffin took me and brought me back in his coach.” She pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders. “I spoke to an optician—a Mr. Ezekiel Lorbin—about your find.”

Eddie’s shoulders tensed.

“Don’t worry,” Sissy said. “I didn’t tell himhow you found it.” The breeze blew her earlocks along her cheeks. She brushed them away. “He said that glass prostheses are a new product from Germany. Not many places carry them, and they’re quite expensive, at least as far as the common man is concerned. Perhaps the murderer is selling them for profit?”

“I can think of easier ways to make money,” Eddie said. “I should know because I’ve chosen one of the hardest,” he added with a chuckle.

I tired of the conversation. At this very instant, Mr. Uppity could be hunting his next mouse, ahem, victim. I hopped onto Eddie’s lap, pressed my front paws into his chest, and stared at him with wood-boring strength. But I could not break through. Unaware of the urgency, he pushed me aside to study the orb again. To quote Genghis Cat, “Where empathy fails, force prevails.” Or was it Cattila the Hun? History be damned. I had to shake my friend from his self-indulgent stupor. Human life depended on it. So I did the unconscionable.

I bit him on the hand.

Eddie yowled like a rabid tom and dropped the eye, just as I hoped. I picked it up and shot across the cemetery, pausing at the gates to see if he’d follow. But he didn’t. I paced as he spoke to Sissy, his hands clasped round her shoulders, his face laden with concern. She waved him on, her smile visible even at this distance, and began packing their tea things. Then and only then did he give chase.

With Eddie behind me, I left the burial ground with the eyeball still in my mouth and headed south into the landscaped gardens of Fairmount Water Works—a fascinating complex of river locks, reservoirs, and pump houses. In the glow of the setting sun, men and women strolled its walkways, creating a circus of parasols and canes. Ziggety-zag, zigggety-zag, we ran between them. “Excuse me!” Eddie shouted behind me. “Pardon me!” Had I not been in such a hurry, I would’ve slowed to admire the fountains and topiaries. As I clambered up the hillside staircase toward Fairmount Basin at the top, I wondered what lunacy had taken me on this detour. Cutting through our neighborhood would’ve been a far superior—and level—route to the city. Perhaps it was the circling buzzards. Perhaps it was madness. With the smell of raw flesh, however, my uncertainty vanished. The humans around me didn’t appear the least bit alarmed. They likely hadn’t detected the scent yet.

Dashing up the remaining steps, I reached the plateau to find it emptied of humans. Well, live ones at any rate. Quite different from the scenic grounds below, the reservoir had been built for function and therefore attracted fewer tourists. At this late hour, the isolated hilltop—jutting some ten to twelve stories into the air, higher, even, than the tallest buildings of downtown—offered enough privacy for one to murder with discretion. The act, however, hadn’t escaped the notice of turkey vultures. A great many flapped about the woman’s body on the ground callingscree! scree! Eddie and Sissy hadn’t been the only ones to dine al fresco this evening.

Behind me, Eddie gasped as he topped the staircase. I, on the other hand, approached the scene with equanimity. When you’ve lived on the streets as I have, you learn to take death for what it is—a certainty. That, and I’d become too embroiled in this affair to let a little thing like a carcass befuddle me. After setting my orb down, I approached the body, keeping a respectable gap between the vultures and me. Even at a distance, I knew thishad to be Mr. Uppity’s handiwork. I sat back, dismayed at my inability to stop a killer, and stared at the woman’s two empty eye sockets.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_12]

A Considerable Mystery

“Oh, Jupiter!” Eddie exclaimed. With a pallor matching the victim’s, he staggered to the edge of the retention pond and scattered the vultures. Pity. The birds had already made a meal of her, pecking and ripping her face to sausage meat. What’s more, the smell of excrement permeated the area; the woman had given her daily due. Due to her recent killing, she’d not begun to rot yet. Cats, on the whole, are not a squeamish lot. This, I’m certain, applies to the rest of the animal kingdom—but not to humans. Men hold death in great regard, always waxing about the waning of life. But present them with a body, and they fall to pieces faster than a teacup dashed against the hearth. For all his macabre interests, Eddie was no exception to the rule. He knelt beside the woman, one trembling hand against his mouth.

“Just awful,” he said. “What’s become of this poor soul?”

Now that the carrion creatures had flown, I took a closer look at the body. Grey hair, wrinkles, a thickness about the waist—these marked a woman of advanced years. Her clothes, while wet with water from the reservoir, were of the highest quality—tight stitching, smooth gabardine, silk flowers at the bodice. If there’s one thing I know, it’s dresses. I doubt Snow or Big Blue could differentiate between summer-weightand winter-weight wool or crepe de chine and charmeuse. Having clawed countless examples in my time, I excelled at such things. Visitors of all walks frequented the Poe house—a testament to my friend’s standing—and, like any good host, I greeted them as they entered. No hem escaped my welcome.

Vultures had made a mess of her neck and face, but the empty eye sockets told me what I needed to know. The right side was a flowing cup of detritus, the left, a barren well. EvenI possessed enough knowledge of anatomy to know she’d lost one organ to bird claw and the other to accident or disease. In all likelihood, she’d worn an artificial eye. This also meant any doubt I had in Mr. Uppity’s role—and there was precious little—had disappeared. And while I hadn’t caught the fiend in the act, I’d at least involved Eddie in the mystery.

“Catters, we must do…something,” he said. “We must help.”

I knew the definition ofhelp, and she was beyond its reach.

“Her windpipe looks as if it’s been cut by a knife, but that’s not what interests me.” He gestured with his pinky finger. “Look there, at her face. One socket appears to have been surgically altered in recent years. I can’t prove it, but I’m sure she wore a glass eye.” Blood rushed his cheeks as he leaned over the body, his earlier uneasiness gone. “The buzzards have eaten most of her other eye…but wait! The tattered shreds of a pale blue iris. I knew it, Catters, I knew it!” He jumped to his feet, fled to the staircase, and shouted to the people below. “Summon a constable! A woman’s been murdered!”

On his return, he snatched the eyeball I’d dropped and stuck it in his pocket as sightseers flooded the plateau. At first, they kept their distance. But when they crowded the body, Eddie commanded them to leave “for the sake of the crime scene,” he said. Some listened, some did not. At last, two dour-looking gentlemen arrived and ran off the remaining onlookers. The first and older of the two wore a dark overcoat and carried a leather-bound notebook. The second I took for a night watchman, judging by his heavy cloak, wide-brimmed hat, and long brass-tipped stick. I’d befriended many over the seasons and always found them agreeable. They shifted towards us, two greying apparitions in the twilight.

“I’m Constable Harkness, Spring Garden District,” the older man said. His large white mustache covered his mouth. When he spoke, his bottom lip wiggled beneath the whiskers. “This is Watchman Smythe. Are you the one who found the body?”

“Yes, at first candle-light,” Eddie said. “I was out, strolling with my cat—”

“Sorry, your cat?”

Sensing the need for my input, I meowed to clear up whatever confusion had arisen.

Constable Harkness wrote something in his notebook with a pencil stub he pulled from his vest pocket. He dotted the page with sharp tap of the lead.

Watchman Smythe poked the woman’s body with his stick. “Cold as a wagon tire,” he said.

These two simpletons did not impress me. What was a “constable” any way? And why had Eddie involved one in our private mystery? Surely we could’ve handled things on our own. At this stage, we needed fewerhow dos you dos and more hunting. But since humans are impossible to herd, I sat idly by, waiting for them to catch the wave that had already swept me into deep water.

The older gentleman continued, “Your name?”

“E. A. Poe,” Eddie said.

“As in Edgar Allan Poe?” Watchman Smythe rested the end of his nightstick on the ground and leaned on it. “Why sure, I’ve read your stories.” He turned to the older man. “You’ve heard of him, haven’t you, Constable? He writes the popular pieces forGraham’s Magazine.”

“I don’t read thepopular pieces,” he replied. From his sour face, “popular” must’ve been one pickle of a word.

“‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’ was all-out sensational!” Watchman Smythe said. “You don’t find ‘em much smarter than Detective Dupin.”

“Balderdash.” Another sour pickle face from the constable.

The watchman tipped his hat at Eddie. “The wife will have a conniption when she finds out I met you, Mr. Poe. She fancies the way you kill people.”

Constable Harkness raised an eyebrow.

Eddie loosened his cravat with a finger. “They’re just stories, Mr. Smythe. Flights of imagination.”

“Be that as it may, Mr. Poe, I still find your presence here most…interesting,” Constable Harkness said. “Do you know this woman?”

“No. I’ve never seen her.” Eddie tucked his fingers in his vest pockets. “But I’m not sure anyone could recognize her in her current state. Buzzards. They got to her before I did, I’m afraid.”

More scribbling in the notebook.

“You seen anyone else up here?” Watchman Smythe asked. “Comin’ and goin’, that is?” He wiped his nose on his sleeve.

“Unfortunately, no,” Eddie said.

“The Irish are a shifty lot,” he continued. “They can slip past anyone. Even the likes of me.”

The older gave the younger a stern look and said, “We shall keep an open mind, Smythe.”

“Aren’t you going to inspect the body?” Eddie asked.

Constable Harkness harrumphed, then stooped over the remains.

“Look closely at her face.” Eddie leaned over the man’s shoulder and pointed at the woman’s face. “I think you’ll find that one eye socket is smooth and hollow, as if she’s had a surgery.” He then leapt into a discussion of glass eyes and murderers. While he talked, I sniffed a clear puddle at the woman’s feet. I’d thought it reservoir water at first, but after a series of uproarious sneezes, I knew it to be the same vile liquid I’d noted at Shakey House. Something about this bothered me. If Mr. Uppity was guilty of the crimes, why had I smelled the medicine on Mr. Abbott, or perhaps even Josef? My theory of the murder had more holes than a mole’s den.

Constable Harkness straightened and shook out his overcoat. “It’s too dark to see. Smythe, fetch a cart and collect the body. Quick as you can, bring it to Dr. Anderson’s.” He stepped aside to let the watchman pass, then turned to Eddie. “I can’t be sure of anything until I get Dr. Anderson’s report, and I won’t rush to judgment. But her deathis a considerable mystery.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Eddie said. A weak smile crossed his lips, as if he’d found some small amusement in the situation.

The constable studied my friend through narrowed lids. “Would you mind coming back to my house to discuss the matter? Strictly a formality, of course.”

Eddie eased his hand into his pocket. “I’ve told you everything I know, sir.” He withdrew the glass eye with care, keeping it hidden from the constable. “I’m not sure what else I can add.” With slow, subtle movements, he tossed the object behind him, ridding himself of it. Constable Harkness took no notice, but I did. “My wife and mother-in-law will be beside themselves if I don’t return before supper.”

“From your…cat stroll.”

“Precisely.”

Surprised that Eddie would throw away our lone clue, I leapt on the lopsided orb. He gave a little shriek and snatched me up backwards before I could grasp it between my paws. How undignified, to be tucked under a man’s arm, my hindquarters flying like a flag. I waved my tail beneath his nose to show my displeasure. He sneezed and brought me round the right way to face Constable Harkness.

The man fixed Eddie with a gaze that chilled me. “You know more than you’re telling, Mr. Poe,” he said. “And I need answers.”

“Why don’t I give you my address?” Eddie offered. “You can come by in the morning if you like. Around ten?”

“Very well.” Constable Harkness took Eddie by the elbow and ushered him from the body. “I’ll drop in after I speak to—” He frowned. “Hello, what’s this?” He bent and retrieved the object that had plagued Eddie and me these last few days.

“I think it’s an eye,” Eddie said.

“I can see that,” he said. “It must be the victim’s. That makes three so far. The murderer is obviously amassing a collection and won’t stop until he’s completed it—whenever that may be. But why would he leave this one and not the others?”

Eddie shrugged. “Carelessness?”

They talked a moment longer, then the constable let us go. Eddie waited until we’d descended the steps to speak. He kept me under his arm, but I didn’t mind. After the day I’d had, I needed the break. “Don’t think me callous, Catters,” he said. “It’s perfectly dreadful that another woman has died, but, oh, the fascination!” Keeping to the manicured paths, Eddie walked around the central fountain and headed toward the main entrance. “Constable Harkness thinks the murderer is collecting these body parts, but I don’t. I think he needed two of them. When he lost the one you found, he had to kill again to make a pair, a pale blue pair. If the culprit strikes again, I am wrong. If he doesn’t, I am correct.”

I meowed in agreement. While I didn’t understand the conversation, I found it amenable. Still, my friend had said nothing about Mr. Uppity, meaning my work was far from done.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_13]

A Visit from the Constable

Eddie and I left the garden of Fairmount Water Works, crossed the road, and veered into the field that led to our neighborhood. Window lights speckled the landscape like fallen stars. When we entered the Poe house, Sissy greeted us with a series of breathless questions. Tired and dirty, I jumped to the floor and retreated to the kitchen. There, I secured my spot behind the wood stove and groomed my paws before dinner. Muddy whirled about the room with a wooden spoon, stirring and tasting, and didn’t notice me. I settled onto the warm floorboards and thought of Snow and what she would have for dinner. I sniffed. For me, it would be broiled shad, egg sauce, and stewed cucumbers, the latter of which they would put in my bowl, but I would heartily ignore. Running the streets had been fun, but I liked home.

Before long, the four of us huddled around the dinner table, my bowl near Eddie’s feet, to talk of the day’s events. Truth be known,they talked, not me. My mouth was too full of shad. I picked at the fish and listened to the murmurs above.

“What do you think the killer is going to do with them?” Sissy asked.

“What oneusually does with two glass eyes,” Eddie said.

“And what would that be?” Muddy asked.

“He’s being purposely obtuse, Mother,” Sissy said. “He has no more idea than we do.”

The clink of cutlery filled the room. My bowl cleaned of its contents, I lay on my side—legs spread in either direction—and rested my eyes.

“He’s building an automaton,” Sissy said, breaking the quiet spell. “And needed a realistic touch for the face.”

Muddy snorted. “What man in Fairmount has the smarts to build such a thing? I think he’s selling them for money. Not enough to go round these days.”

Eddie remained uncharacteristically silent, so I raised my head to check on him. His body remained, but his mind had gone to a faraway place, heralded by a familiar gaze that looked at nothing in particular. This empty stare almost always preceded fits of pen scribbling. A muse knows things a mere wife, even afine wife, does not.

“My dear?” Sissy touched his arm. “Are you well?”

Eddie smirked, rousing from a dream that had obviously pleased him. He leaned forward and called them closer, speaking just above a whisper. “I will tell you what he’s doing with the eyes. Prepare yourselves, ladies. He’s making a doll of human cast-offs. What will he steal next? A wooden leg? False teeth? One can only hope!” When Muddy groaned, he tipped his head back and laughed.

“Stop, Eddie,” Sissy said. “My stomach is turning somersaults, and I need my appetite, thank you very much.”

“You needn’t worry, my darling. Whatever project he’s working on, I intend to uncover it. That much Ido know.” He set his fork and knife aside. “Now that the finger of suspicion has swung in my direction, I have no choice.”

“Then speak with the optician,” Sissy said. “He may have your answers.”

“Optician?” Muddy asked.

“An acquaintance of mine from…from West Point,” Eddie said quickly. “Splendid idea, my wife. I’ll pay him a visit tomorrow, provided Constable Harkness doesn’t arrest me first.”

The evening passed in a dull march of drudgery: dishes and sweeping up and the like. Even Eddie forwent writing to help with chores. Once the Poe family moved camp upstairs, I curled into a ball at the foot of Sissy’s bed, too exhausted to oversee their nightly endeavors, and let their sweet voices lull me into a relaxed state. But images of Mr. Uppity’s wizened face and sharp blue eyes taunted me when I closed my eyes. As hunterextraordinaire, how could I have let him slip through my paws so many times? Had my skills lessened with age? No, I’d bested Killer—in the Spider, no less. I tucked my tail around my nose. Perhaps I’d met a quarry beyond my reach. Perhaps the man would never be caught, and Philadelphia would soon reek with the stench of his victims.

I set aside this disquieting notion in favor of Midnight and the adventure we’d had. A sublime specimen, he possessed qualities I looked for in a mate: a handsome coat (black fur always made me swoon), intelligence, long whiskers, devilish charm, and a vocabulary that rivaled mine. In fact, he reminded me of Eddie, but with more fur and a tail. This unsettled me more than Mr. Uppity’s tomfooleries, so I thought of Snow. She’d been so curious about human companionship; the longing in her voice had been unmistakable. Mr. Coffin’s voice held it as well the odd times he spoke to me alone. An introduction between the fatted goose and the white cat was in order, provided I could arrange it. Satisfied that I’d solved at least one problem today, I drifted into a fitful slumber.

*

The next morning, a staccatorap-rap-rap on the front door startled Eddie and me. At the sound, he scratched a line of ink across the page, spoiling an otherwise well-penned sheet of paper. “Dash it all,” he said, tossing the quill onto his desk.

We’d been at writing awhile.

After breakfast, he’d announced his intention to work and called me into the front room, shutting the door and stoking the fire. There, I assumed my post—the corner of his desk—with unusual cheer. Even though Mr. Uppity was still free to kill, I’d shaken Eddie from his melancholy, and this had been my goal from the start. Success had, indeed, come from failure. Taking solace in this notion, I set aside my qualms over the botched hunting expedition and immersed myself in Eddie’s genius, watching his feather dance to the complicated waltz in his head.

Until the knock interrupted the music.

Muddy greeted our guest—mumbled niceties in the hallway—and showed him into the front room. Constable Harkness entered, hat in hand, and eyed our meager surroundings. Eddie rose from his chair and dismissed Muddy with a shake of his head. To comfort my friend, for I could smell his anxiety from across the desk, I stepped over the scattered papers and nudged his hand. He stroked my head with fingers damp from worry.

After the usual formalities, the constable stated his business. “Well, Mr. Poe, you are officially above the district’s suspicion.”

“I am delighted,” Eddie said. He relaxed his posture and leaned on the desk.

“Doctor Anderson confirmed the woman died well before you discovered her, by several hours. Rigor mortis had just begun to set in when we carted her over. That’s when the body—”

“I am aware of rigor, sir.”

Constable Harkness fingered his watch chain.

Eddie cleared his throat. “Who was she, and how was she killed?”

“Her name is, orwas Minerva Paulson, a socialite who’d recently moved to Rittenhouse. Dr. Anderson spoke to her family and confirmed she wore a prosthesis. Lost the original in a childhood accident.” He rubbed his mouth. “And she was killed like the others. A knife to the throat.”

Eddie winked at me and whispered, “Itwas the Glass Eye Killer, Cattarina. Never wager against me.”

“There is no satisfaction in death, Mr. Poe, save for meeting one’s maker,” Constable Harkness donned his hat in the house, a sign of disrespect apparent to even me.

“I agree it is a tragedy. I only meant—”

“You spend too much time dwelling on the misery of others, Mr. Poe, and while you haven’t committed any crimes—that I’m aware of—I find you altogether disagreeable. I bought a copy ofThe Gift this morning, read your ‘Pit and the Pendulum,’ and nearly lost my breakfast on the ride over. You should stick to poetry. Good day to you, sir.”

Eddie offered no reply. He waited for the front door to shut and then let out a sigh strong enough to stir a windstorm. “What a relief,” he said.

Muddy stuck her head in the room, her cap strings swaying. “Mrs. Busybody’s been tongue wagging to all of Fairmount about the constable’s visit.” She lowered her voice. “Even the fatted goose knows about it.”

Mr. Coffin appeared over her shoulder, causing her to jump. “Hullo, Poe,” he said. “Are you in a fix?” He’d arrived without benefit of jerky, but I forgave him since concern tempered his usual merriment. I heard it in his voice when he spoke to Eddie about the murder. I tried to leave and find Snow for an introduction, but someone had wrapped a piece of leather string around the latch, preventing my escape. The old widow, Mrs. Busybody, followed next with skirts so wide they dragged the doorframe and knocked Sissy’s bric-a-brac from the side table. “It’s too horrible for polite discussion!” she cried. “I feel a faint coming on. Who will catch me?” She fanned herself with chubby fingers, all the while smiling demurely at Mr. Coffin. Then came quiet Mister Balderdash, who listened more than he spoke, and Mr. Murray from Shakey House, and Dr. Mitchell, Sissy’s doctor and long-time friend, and on and on until the front room bulged like a stuffed hen at Christmas.

Shortly after Mrs. Busybody’s arrival, I began to suspectI was the guest of honor, for when Eddie recited his tale—and he did so many,many times, to the delight of his audience—he spoke my name. Though I longed to vanish into the upper floors of the house, what could I do? With so many guests to entertain, I hopped on the mantel and provided a living, breathing illustration to Eddie’s account. With each retelling, my friend grew more animated, flapping his arms in a sort of pantomime when he reached the part about the vultures. I hadn’t seen him this happy since he’d gotten that slip of paper in the mail he called “the gift.” Yet I took no pleasure in his stories. They reminded me of my own futile efforts and made my stomach go all gurgly. I had never—never!—failed at hunting. My claws ached at the very thought of it.

During the initial stages of revelry, Sissy crept into the room. She sat at Eddie’s elbow, commenting when she could, and took coins in exchange for his poetry pamphlets. Muddy, meanwhile, scurried between the front room and the kitchen, exclaiming, “What’s a visit without tea? Guests must have tea!” Yet with but one jar of leaves on the shelf, each brew grew lighter and lighter until she finally served something she called “an invisible blend grown in the mountains of the Orient.” Fiddlesticks. I knew plain water when I smelled it.

Alas, all this excitement was not without price.

Naturally, I sensed Sissy’s downturn first. But from the first cough, Eddie stood and asked everyone to leave. “You must excuse us now,” he said to the visitors. “Mrs. Poe has grown tired and must rest. I know you understand.” By the time we reclaimed the house, midday sun streamed through the windows.

“To bed, my girl,” Muddy said.

“To bed, my wife,” Eddie said.

Sissy did not object.

Once she disappeared up the stairs, I paced the hallway with scant awareness of Eddie and Muddy’s quarrel in the kitchen. Everywhere I looked, the color blue: the cornflower shawl hanging on the coatrack, the deep twilight covers of Eddie’s leather-bound books, the tufted blueberry pillows on the couch…the hue taunted me from every crevice of the house until it drove me partially mad. How could I give up catching Mr. Uppity now?

When Muddy gave us permission, Eddie and I climbed the stairs to pay Sissy a visit. The old woman met us at the landing and spoke in hushed tones about “keeping her daughter quiet and calm.” After this solemn warning, she left to gather the guest dishes, a conclusion I drew from the careless clink of china below. Sensing Eddie’s need for privacy, I let him enter alone but kept watch through a crack in the door. He spoke to the dear girl and stroked her forehead with a tenderness he usually reserved for me. Uncommonly possessive of my friend, I made the odd exception for Sissy. I batted the door and opened it a little wider.

“I will stay here,” Eddie said. His back was to me, shoulders stooped. “I want to, my darling.”

“No, please, go to Mr. Lorbin’s office,” she said. Her complexion had gone the way of the tea, turning paler with each shallow breath.

“But Constable Harkness says I’m no longer a suspect.”

She clutched the bedcovers and restrained a cough that could’ve been much deeper had she allowed it. “You want to solve a mystery like Detective Dupin. Admit it.”

Eddie grew quiet. I couldn’t see his face, but I knew the conflict that must’ve been written upon it because the damnable feeling had already waylaid me in the hallway. Despite a rational desire to set aside the hunt for Mr. Uppity, my pride would not allow it. But with this change in Sissy’s health, I wondered if I should leave the house. My tail swished back and forth as I contemplated the dilemma. I had grown to love the girl almost as much as I loved Eddie.

“Go,” she said. “I insist.”

He kissed her on the cheek. “I do not deserve a wife as fair-minded as you, sweet Virginia.”

She smiled wanly. “I will agree with you, but only because I am too tired to argue.”

Whatever she said must have convinced him to go, for we made straightaway for the city, leaving behind the last of my uncertainty.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_14]

Two Makes a Pair

Two majestic townhomes sandwiched Mr. Lorbin’s spectacle shop in the neighborhood of Logan Square, a fact confirming all roads did, indeed, lead to the blue-eyed bandit. Eddie and I stepped from our hired coach and approached the building with mutual urgency. This time, however, I minded my step. At the start of our journey, I’d neglected to match Eddie’s stride and accidentally tripped him as we left the neighborhood. He admonished me for following him—he looked genuinely surprised that I had—but I overcame these protestations with a gentle trill, and we were on our way.

Once we reached busy Coates Street, Eddie hired a public carriage and told the driver to “seek out Ezekiel Lorbin’s office, full chisel.” We bounced through the cobblestone streets, my bones rattling like a sack of Mr. Coffin’s nails. For my own amusement, I sharpened my claws on the tufted velvet cushion and sniffed the horsehair that spilled from the rips. Paradise on four wheels! From now on, I would stop running about like a madcat and use human transportation for all my future endeavors. Eddie ignored me and stared out the window, his brow furrowed. So I followed suit, observing the city from the back window of the closed coach. The faster we flew, the blurrier the people grew until I became almost dizzy.

Near the park, a group of nannies stopped their baby carriages and waved, signaling me out to their charges. The squeal of children seemed to shake Eddie from his preoccupation, and he began to talk again, first about the warm weather streak, then about his books. “We sold four copies ofTamerlane in an hour, Catters.Four,” he said. He unbuttoned his overcoat and pulled the window shade, cutting the sun. “They’d been in storage for years—oh, how young and na?ve the author!—and now they are in the hands of readers. If I solve this mystery, what might it do for my public profile? I could raise money forThe Penn in no time.”

The Home for Broken Humans appeared in the carriage window. As we passed, I stared back at the building and chirped with anticipation. When we traveled this way again, I would create a ruckus and force Eddie to stop the carriage. While I longed to hunt in Rittenhouse, a meeting with Caroline would have to suffice until I could detour our investigation. Between Josef’s mention of her name in the bar and Mr. Uppity’s receipt of her note, the young woman knewsomething of the crimes. I switched my tail and wondered if the hospital door would swing open for our arrival, because it would take this degree of precision to carry out my plan.

Our driver pulled curbside, and we departed for the optician’s shop. What a funny word,optician. Why didn’t they just say spectacle? I didn’t know who this Lorbin fellow was, but I questioned his usefulness. To our mutual agreement, I waited for Eddie outside on the stoop and surveyed the street for any sign of the dappled mare and gig. Mostly residential, this sedate piece of Philadelphia held little activity, save for a group of mourners in the cemetery across the way. I recognized it as the burial ground I’d passed before my confrontation with Claw. I watched as the humans lowered a coffin into the ground with ropes, their grip unsteady and faltering. The wailing that accompanied the event pricked my ears. For all its certainty, death’s timing is decidedly uncertain.This I feared most. One day, one very unexpected day, I would wake up beneath Sissy’s cold, grey arm. But I would not wail as these humans did. I would become very, very still—

A bespectacled Mr. Lorbin opened the door, pushing me from the step, and, mercifully, from my morbid obsessions. The glasses magnified his eyes to an alarming size. I could’ve watched the twin brown fish swim in their bowls all afternoon. “Sorry I couldn’t be of more help, Mr. Poe. Try the Wills Hospital. They should be able to help with your inquiry.”

“Thank you, Mr. Lorbin. You’ve been most helpful.” Eddie leapt to the sidewalk with excitement. “If you are to follow me, Cattarina, you must be quick. I am a man in search of answers.”

I scurried down the street after him, working to keep pace. Imagine my surprise when we turned up the walkway toward the Home for Broken Humans. Great Cat Above, I hadn’t expected this! A comely woman with slender hands and narrow shoulders greeted Eddie and invited him into the entry hall. The smell of boiled chicken permeated the air, giving it a gelatinous feel.

“Good afternoon, sir,” she said to Eddie. “Welcome to the Wills Hospital. Are you here to see a patient?”

“No, I’m here to see Dr. Burton.” He reached to take his hat off. When he realized he’d left it at home, he clasped his hands behind his back instead. “On the recommendation of Ezekiel Lorbin.”

Not wanting the “shoo” again, I stationed myself behind the usual potted plant and waited.

“Dr. Burton is occupied. A patient died rather suddenly this morning, and he’s been attending to the details.” Her bottom lip quivered. “Terrible tragedy the way Mr. Sullivan passed. The police are being summoned—” She inhaled sharply and covered her mouth with her fingertips. “Youmust forgive me. I talk far too much.”

“On the contrary.” The corner of Eddie’s mustache lifted. “I find it helps during trials of fortitude. Madame, I stand before you, eager to share in your burden. Now then, howdid Mr. Sullivan die?”

“I cannot speak it.”

“Then show me.”

She motioned to her throat, drawing her finger across it in a line. “Who would be heartless enough to kill a man with one leg? And then steal his artificial one?” She laid her hands along her cheeks. “He’d just gotten it, too. Brand new steel contraption with springs at the knee.”

I slunk from my hiding place and crawled around the room, scuttling the baseboards like a cockroach.

Eddie’s eyes shone in the sunlight cascading through the window. “Tell me more about this leg.”

I left them mid exchange and entered the long room where I’d found Caroline and Josef yesterday. Most patients sat upright against their pillows, eating the boiled chicken from metal plates. Not all had the strength to lift a fork, however, and had to be fed by nurses—including Caroline. I ducked under the tunnel of bedframes to arrive at hers, making sure to stay out of view of anyone in a white pinafore. Once the nurse left with Caroline’s empty dishes, I jumped onto the young woman’s lap.

“Hello,” Caroline said. “What’s this?”

I froze beneath her pale blue gaze.

“I like pussycats,” she said to me in a whisper. “I can’t see you, but your fur feels exquisite.”

I put my paws on her chest and examined her eyes. To my horror, they were identical to the one I found at Shakey House and altogether unnatural looking, giving her the appearance of a china doll. I hadn’t seen them on my last visit because she’d kept her back to me. At least now I understood her involvement in the murders. She’d been the recipient Mr. Uppity’s ill-gotten pearls.

Caroline stroked my head. “Who let you in here, Miss Puss?”

I glanced at Eddie in the entry hall, still deep in conversation with our greeter. Desperate to draw his notice and draw it now, I yowled with all my being. The patients pointed and laughed at me with riotous enthusiasm, as if I’d provided post-luncheon entertainment. Fiddlesticks. Their ruckus drew the attention of both Eddieand the nurses. The women rushed us, causing me to ponder—ah, the burden of verbosity!—what a group of them might be called. After all, geese had gaggles, dogs had packs, crows had murders. I settled onstern of nurses and ran like the devil.

I hopped from bed to bed, exciting the broken humans into an unmanageable state as I avoided the nurses’ grasping hands. Pillows and bedpans and spoons filled the air—hoorah! Several boys with crutches banged them against the bedframes, creating a rhythm that drove me around the room faster than the horse-drawn carriage. I was a lion in a jungle of blankets. I was untouchable. I was glorious.

“Run, cat, run!” they cried. “Run, cat, run!”

Eddie hovered in the doorway, shamefaced, his hands in his coat pockets. On my second go-round, someone beseeched him to help, and he reluctantly obliged. When he headed in my direction, I doubled back, landed in Caroline’s lap, and waited for truth to break the horizon. He reached us, out of breath. “I am ashamed to admit,” he said to Caroline, “the wayward cat is mine. May I take her?”

Caroline handed me to Eddie and looked up at him. Perhapslook was the wrong term.

His reaction to the girl’s eyes surpassed even my own. He stared into their depths and stammered, “Two makes a pair!”

[Êàðòèíêà: img_15]

A Ghost of a Girl

A girl with two glass eyes can be most persuasive. The stern of nurses crumbled at her request that I be allowed to stay, and, after issuing several admonitions about “the hell cat,” they left to quiet the rest of the patients. When the room returned to a state of normalcy, I curled in Caroline’s lap, where she stroked my fur with hands spun—I swear it—from silk. If not for her unfortunate association with a murderer, I might’ve added her to my list of approved humans.

Eddie fell into the familiar role of bedside companion and pulled up a chair. When he introduced himself, she mentioned one of his older pieces, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” a tale he wrote the summer we met. “A fan!” Eddie said with a toss of his head. “And a fair one at that. If I may admit, you remind me of Mrs. Poe.”

“I do?” She nestled her hands into my fur to warm them.

“Yes, except for your eyes. Hers are hazel, and yours are the loveliest shade of…let me think.”

“Blue?”

“How mundane a description. No, I shall call themoceania.”

“We secretly call them Ferris Blue since most of us are graced with the color. But I like your description better.”

“Ferris? As in the great Ferris family?”

“Miss Caroline Ferris. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” She held out her hand, skeletal and frail, and waited for Eddie to shake it. He did so, gently.

“That’s a very old name you carry,” he said, “one of the oldest in Philadelphia.”

“It is heavy at times,” she said. “But one cannot simply set these things aside when one grows weary. Still, being a Ferris has its charms. Or, rather,had them. Gala invitations have dropped off sharply since my unfortunate turn. Most are factories of tedium, but Iam sad to have missed Charles Dickens in March. My second cousin Bess hosted a dinner in his honor.”

“I met him then. Twice. An enthralling storyteller, if I may confess. Boz and I run in the same circles, and he was cordial enough to grant me interviews.” Eddie took his coat off and pushed it back on the chair. “I could have listened to him for hours.”

“Did he tell many stories?”

“We spoke mostly of poetry.”

“And his manner?”

“As if Philadelphia would make a fine footstool.”

“I knew it!” She giggled, rousing me from my contentment. But the delight was short lived. Her voice resumed its usual dirge. “My Uncle Gideon still mingles with that crowd. You may have seen his name in the paper or heard it in the streets around Rittenhouse Square.”

“Gideon Ferris? I thought he fell on hard times after Jackson killed the U.S. Bank.”

“No, no, we still own several coal mines to the west.” She began to stroke me again, and I rolled belly side up. “How else could he have afforded my new eyes?”

“Yes, itis a considerable mystery.”

I peeked at Eddie. Strange that he’d repeated the constable’s phrase from yesterday. He smoothed his mustache, as if uncertainty preceded his next statement.

“If you don’t mind me asking, Miss Ferris, how did you lose them?”

“Vanity,” she said matter-of-factly. “It is a sad story, Mr. Poe, and I do not wish to trouble you.”

“Sad stories are my life’s work.” He crossed his legs and rested his hands on his knee. “I would be honored to hear yours.”

Caroline sat back against her pillows and blinked her doll eyes. I fairly expected them to roll back in her head. “You wouldn’t know it to look at me now,” she said, “but I was once quite pleasant to behold. The summer I turned eighteen, I received three marriage proposals.” Her face brightened. “In those days of never-ending sunshine, I wanted for nothing. Private tutors in art and poetry, dancing assemblies at Powel House, gowns stripped from the fashion plates, regattas on the Schuylkill. And, Mr. Poe, you havenever properly summered unless you’ve summered on Cape May. I’m almost ashamed to admit these pleasures in the company of unfortunates.” She gestured to the occupied beds around her. “Pity would be no more, if we did not make somebody poor. And mercy no more could be, if all were as happy as we.”

“William Blake,” Eddie replied. “Well stated.”

“Like all good fairytales, however, mine was not without tragedy. And it struck soundly my twentieth year.” She reached for a glass of water on her nightstand, and Eddie handed it to her. After a sip, she continued. “In October of 1837, my parents booked passage on the steamshipHome to travel from New York to Charleston. But a gale overtook the vessel and broke her apart near Ocracoke, scattering bodies to the sea. Lifeboats were of no use as they capsized in the boiling surf. Ninety-five souls lost, including those of my parents, only a quarter mile from the shore.” The liquid in her glass trembled, so Eddie took it from her and replaced it on the nightstand.

“Take heart, Miss Ferris. I, too, lost my parents at a young age, and I am no less a man.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I will remember that in my darkest hours. Though I suppose,all of my hours are dark now.”

“I did not mean to take you from your story.” He patted her hand. “Please continue.”

I stood and stretched. Caroline’s lap had grown too bony for comfort, so I crossed to the end of the bed and secured a new spot until they’d finished their conversation. Hunting requires a great deal of patience, and I had plenty.

“After my parents died,” she said, “I went to live with my Uncle Gideon. He and my father were close,very close, so my uncle treated me as his own flesh and blood. Life was tolerable, if not acceptable, for several years until my illness. Rapid heartbeat, general weakness, thinning hair. For the longest time, doctors didn’t know what was wrong with me. And then my eyes began to…” She sat forward. “Mr. Poe, are you constitutionally prepared?”

“For things of a physical nature, I am not. But for this, none are more suited than I.”

She lay back again. “It started with pressure behind my eyes, propelling them forward as if drawn by magnet. This predicament wasn’t so much painful as alarming. But we Ferrises are hardy stock, and I persevered without complaint. A year later, however, they’d begun to bulge from their sockets with such protuberance that leaving the house was no longer possible unless I wore a mourning veil. And what is a mourning veil without the rest of the costume? From then on, I became a black ghost, drifting the streets of Philadelphia, wailing for a life lost—my own.”

“Dear, God,” Eddie said.

“Just going to market for bread and cheese became a hardship, and every night, I needed help binding my eyelids closed with a strip of muslin so I could sleep. As you can imagine, Uncle Gideon became my constant caretaker, leaving only for business trips to Virginia. It was during one of these jaunts that I caught an infection in both eyes, turning them as red and runny as ox hearts. Yet I was too proud to ask for help. How could I, looking as I did? He returned three weeks later to find me crawling around the kitchen on all fours, weeping and scratching at the bottom cupboards for a tin of crackers. Why, I had almost starved! By the time Uncle checked me into Wills, my eyes were beyond hope, and Dr. Burton had no choice but to remove them. So you see, vanity stole my sight.” She delivered a stillborn smile. “They diagnosed me with Grave’s Disease the same week. That was nine months ago.”

“I have never heard of such an illness,” Eddie said.

“There are infinite ways to die, Mr. Poe,” she said, “and we are still learning them. You, of all people, should know that.” She sighed and crossed her ankles under the blankets. “I sit before you now, an invalid at the age of twenty-five. Uncle Gideon wants to take care of me, but cannot, the poor dear. He talks of enrolling me in Perkins School for the Blind so that I can care for myself one day. But sadly, that day is not today.” She clasped her hands across her stomach, signaling the end of her tale.

Sensing an immanent departure, I rose and arched my back, working out the knots in my spine. I prayed Mr. Uppity’s home would be our next stop. If the serendipitous meeting with Caroline didn’t persuade Eddie, our cause lacked hope.

“Thatwas quite a tragedy, Miss Ferris. Worthy of pen and paper,” Eddie said. He uncrossed his legs, creaking the chair. “Where is your uncle now?”

“He visited just last night and brought me my second eye. It does not fit as well as the first, but I cannot complain.” She yawned, covering her mouth with her hand. “Oceania. I shall tell Uncle about it when he visits before dinner. He promised he would.”

Eddie rose and put on his coat. “I can see that you are tired, so if you’ll excuse me.”

She felt for his hand one last time, shook it, then let it drop feebly in her lap.

“Come, Catters,” he whispered to me. “It is time we left.” On the way out of the hospital, he stopped by the front desk to speak to the narrow-shouldered woman again. “I was touched by Miss Ferris’s story. May I have the address of her benefactor? I would like to speak to him about a donation.”

“Benefactor?” she said. “Miss Ferris is a charity case. Her uncle could no more pay for lunch than hospital care, as least not from what Dr. Burton says. Said the man sold his piano to pay for her eyes, but I have my doubts.”

“Oh?” he said. “How do you think he got them?”

“Won the money in a card game. My fella lives in Rittenhouse, and he knows Mr. Ferris as a gambler. Everyone does.”

“I see.” Eddie rubbed his chin. “Still, I’d like to pay him a visit. Do you have his address?”

She opened a small wooden box on her desk, flipped through several cards inside, and said, “Walnut Street, near Rittenhouse Square. That’s all he wrote.”

“You have been a great help,” Eddie said. He turned to leave, snapping his fingers to bring me along.

“Oh, and Mr. Poe?” she called after us. “Visitors are welcome. But next time, leave your hell cat at home.”

[Êàðòèíêà: img_16]

Answers and Questions

“We found the murderer, Catters,” Eddie said to me. He’d hired another public carriage after leaving the hospital, and we rode in it now, heading north toward Fairmount—the opposite direction of Mr. Uppity’s home. “If it hadn’t been for you and your naughty streak, I might have left without meeting Miss Ferris and learning her ghoulish secret. I can’t help but feel for Gideon Ferris, though. Who knows what lengthsI would go to if Sissy were in that bed instead of Caroline. Even so, murder is murder.”

We hit a loose cobblestone, bouncing us to the roof of the coach. I had grown weary of “full chisel.” The driver slowed the horse and mumbled an apology we scarcely heard through the glass.

“Once we tell Constable Harkness about the affair,” Eddie continued, “it will be over. I never dreamed to catch a murderer. Sissy will be thrilled, and Muddy will be… Well, Muddy will be asking if there’s money in it.”

I meowed. Yes,catch a murderer. But Mr. Uppity did not live to the north. He lived to the south, a direction from which we were heading away. Had the visit with Caroline been for naught? I sat near him and formed a strong mental picture of Rittenhouse Square, hoping my friend would take it into his own mind. Telepathy between cats is common, but I had never tried it with a human, and certainly not with Eddie. Due to our similar interests and tastes, we operated in tandem so often that alternative communication hadn’t been necessary.

Eddie laid his hand on my back. “I hope the constable pays Mr. Ferris a visit before he flees, for surely he will when Miss Ferris tells him of my visit. I was overly curious about her eyes, and that detail will not escape a businessman like him.” He pressed his mouth into a grim line and stared out the window. “Think of it, Catters, that black-hearted fellow may be leaving Philadelphia—right now—as we journey to Constable Harkness’s house.” A half block later, he rapped on the glass. “Driver, turn around and take us to Rittenhouse Square, Walnut Street.”

I rubbed my head along his arm, cheered by the discussion of Rittenhouse and the swerve of the carriage. My gambit had worked! When we reached the park, the driver stopped at the end of the block, nowhere near the correct address. Very well. Eddie had taken me this far; I would take him the rest of the way. As he exchanged money with the driver, I hopped to the sidewalk and dashed down the street until I arrived at Mr. Uppity’s home. In the bright afternoon sun, the structure looked even more ramshackle than it had before. Paint peeled from the shutters like dead snakeskin and cracks disgraced the walkway. When Eddie approached, I climbed the front steps to the porch and waited.

“Catters!” he shouted. “Youmust stop running from me. My heart cannot take it.” He leaned on the brick fence that closed the yard and studied the house. When he’d caught his breath, he joined me at the door and read the tarnished brass plate beneath the bell box. “Mr. Gideon Ferris.” The astonishment on his face amused me beyond description. “I don’t believe it. I simply donot believe it,” he said. “How did you know?”

I meowed, prompting him to turn the ringer. Did I have to do everything myself? When the bell failed to summon anyone, Eddie knocked. No response. Minding an overgrown thistle patch, he crossed the lawn and shouted into a partially open front window. Again, no response. Eager for answers, I jumped to the sill and listened through the gap.Bump-bump.A sound not altogether human reverberated from the structure. Mr. Uppity may not have been home, butsomething was inside.

“I tell you, Sissy,” Eddie said, “Caroline Ferris was as beautiful as she was sad. But a single glance of her dull, lifeless eyes is enough to send a man to his grave.”

Eddie hadn’t given me a chance to investigate the oddbump-bump. He’d whisked me from the sill and down the street where we hailed an omnibus to Constable Harkness’s neighborhood. I say this in warning: the omnibus is a torture device wherein humans squeeze together on little bench seats, sneeze and cough at intervals, and natter on about the weather. Private transport agrees with me so much more. Once we arrived at our destination, Eddie told the constable countless stories of Mr. Ferris while I listened from the front windowsill. Throughout the day, I began to understand that Mr. Ferris and Mr. Uppity were one and the same. But he would always be Mr. Uppity to me. Shortly after, the Poe family gathered in the front room of our little house on Coates.

“Send a man to his grave?” Sissy sat on the chaise and fanned herself with a lace fan, her face flushed. “How you exaggerate, husband.”

“A skill for which I am paid,” Eddie said.

“Not often enough,” Muddy said. She rocked her chair.Squeak, squeak.I sat on the hearth near her, swiping my tail back and forth in a little game with the rails. They’d caught me once. But only once.

“Mother,” Sissy said, “must you always turn the talk? Let Eddie finish.”

“Actually, Virginia, she reminded me a little of you.” He leaned back in his desk chair, hands clasped behind his head, and began the full account of our adventures. Even though the fire had died, the hearth retained enough heat to warm me during the retelling. From the length of his speech, he’d spared no detail. He finished by adding me to the story. “We have Catters to thank for the outcome. If not for her, I wouldn’t have met Miss Ferris or known where to find her uncle.” He looked at me. “You ran right to 207 Walnut and waited for me, didn’t you?”

Sissy smiled. “Detective Dupin would be proud.”

“That doesn’t matter,” he said. “As long asyou are proud.”

“I am, very, but I wish Mr. Ferris had been caught. Is there nothing else we can do?”

“No. Constable Harkness will handle the rest.” Eddie sat forward and rubbed his hands together. “At any rate, I am glad that you’re feeling better. My thoughts scarcely left you today.”

“Yes, the nap did wonders for me,” she said.

I approached Sissy and let her pet me. I liked Caroline, but she was no substitute.

Muddy yawned. “NowI am tired.” She resettled her shawl around her shoulders and nestled into the chair.

They talked awhile longer, speaking of tea and dinner and other things that made my stomach go grumbly. So I turned to groom my back haunch, noticing I reached it more easily today. Perhaps running about town had trimmed my middle. I stretched to the other side and found those curves equally easy to navigate. I’d lost Mr. Uppity, but I’d also lost weight. I could live with that—for now. But that sound, that blastedbump-bump, gnawed at me.

A loud knock drew our attention to the front door. Eddie rose to answer it, speaking to the guest with incredulity. “Constable Harkness? I didn’t expect to see you here. Come in. Please.” He showed the man into the front room and introduced him to his “sweet wife, Mrs. Poe.”

Nodding and hand shaking and so forth.

“I’m here to let you know about Gideon Ferris.” The constable’s tone had taken on newfound civility since his last visit to Coates Street. But I still didn’t like him.

“What happened?” Sissy asked. She sat upright on the chaise and closed her fan.

“He’s left Philadelphia,” Constable Harkness said. “We spoke to his houseboy, Owen. He’d just come from the livery stable, complaining of a bum knee. Seems a horse had thrown him that morning. Once we pressed him, he told us how Mr. Ferris killed those women and stole their eyes. He even said Ferris admitted to murdering the Wills patient, Tom Sullivan.”

“He’s growing bolder,” Eddie said. “But why take a leg?”

“Hah! To make your doll,” Muddy added with a snicker.

“What’s that?” the constable asked.

“She suffers the occasional spell,” Eddie whispered to him. “Please continue.”

“Owen, the houseboy, was half out of his mind, scared to even speak with us. I’m sure he knew we’d come to send his employer to prison. Nonetheless, he invited us in, we had a look around, and saw no sign of the old man.” He fingered the brim of his hat. “Apparently, Mr. Ferris rode west this morning by train, bound for Virginia, without so much as a goodbye to his niece.” He nodded to the women, then headed for the door. “Just thought you should know.”

Eddie saw him out and returned, his face darkened by disappointment. “They will never find him. Never,” he said. “Gideon Ferris is gone.”

Sissy rose and put her arm around him. “You did your best, Eddie. Why don’t you go out and get some air, clear your head. It will be good for you.” She smiled. “And you’re in need of a new pen, aren’t you? Why don’t you visit the stationer’s store? Have a look around. Cheer yourself up.”

“Are you sure?”

“Mother will keep an eye on me.”

Muddy waved dismissively.

“And bring me back a sweet from Jersey’s Dry Goods on the way home,” Sissy said. “Licorice cats if they have them.”

“Of course.” Eddie rocked back on his heels. “I may stop by Shakey House to tell Murray, Abbot, and the rest of the boys about this business. But I won’t be long.”

Shakey House? I had no intention of following him there.

“Just be back by dinner,” Sissy said.

He kissed her on the cheek and left, giving us the quiet house. I yawned with the growing afternoon, tired as Old Muddy. But I had not abandoned the hunt as Eddie obviously had. I leapt to the windowsill to watch him leave for the pub. This was no longer about writing or despondency or any other damnable thing. It was aboutmy satisfaction now. Mr. Uppity would not best me. I would not let him. I pictured him hiding in his house, waiting for cover of darkness to either kill or escape. And thatbump-bump… I could not rest until I learned its source.

When Sissy and Muddy left for the kitchen, I tripped the front door latch and started for Rittenhouse with the goal of luring Mr. Uppity to the Eastern State Penitentiary. I would put him where he belonged with a bit of humbuggery, for it would take a thief to catch a thief. And I prayed Midnight would help devise a plan.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_17]

Bump-bump

After my earlier apprenticeship in public transport, I embraced these ways, hopping on and off the backs of carriages to reach Rittenhouse in half the time. If anyone noticed me, I jumped down and waited for another horse and buggy to pass. I became so adept at this game that toward the end, my paws rarely touched the ground. I even stooped to catching an omnibus at one point. While I loathed these high-occupancy coaches, they let me ride inside when the roads grew too crowded. Cats are adept at underfoot travel, and with proper concentration, they can slip in and amongst human legs with near invisibility. So I gained egress with no appreciable hardship, save for a bent whisker.

Some time between lunch and tea, in the squishy middle of the afternoon, I arrived at Midnight’s house, confident that he could devise a scheme for drawing Mr. Uppity to the penitentiary. I yowled and yowled outside his front door, but only little Sarah came to greet me. A slip of a girl, she wasn’t much more than two braids and two skinned knees clothed in velvet. She gave me a ham rind, which I accepted, and a red ribbon around my neck, which I did not. So I left for the grocer’s, thinking Midnight might’ve gone back to steal another sausage. I wish I had not been right.

His voice drifted from the entrance as I neared the shop. “It’s easy to steal,” he said. “Watch me, and I’ll show you how it’s done. Which do you want, the jerky or the salted cod? Or both. I can get both, I know it.”

I waited for a woman and her two children to pass. Then I ducked around the doorframe to catch Midnight and another cat, a beautiful tiger-striped molly, at their plotting. They sat beneath a teepee of mop handles, surveying the baskets and bins. At the sight of them together, my hackles rose and my claws unsheathed. Midnight must have meant more to me than I’d realized.

“The salted cod,” the molly said. She flicked the tip of her tail. “That’s my favorite.”

If Auntie Sass were here, she’d have given them the “ol’ spit and hiss.” It took some effort, but I pulled my claws back and smoothed my hackles. A fight would only delay the search for Mr. Uppity, and, whether I liked it or not, I had no claim to Midnight. We didn’t share a connection like Snow and Big Blue or even Eddie and Sissy. Yet I could not leave without inflictingsome sort of wound. I switched my tail and said, “I prefer the sausage. Pity I shared mine yesterday with a cad.” The bon mot zipped through the air and landed at the center of Midnight’s chest.

He looked at me with big, round eyes. “Cattarina?” I turned to leave. “Wait! Cattarina!”

I ignored his pleas and dashed up the block, detouring through Rittenhouse Square. A group of nannies and baby carriages provided cover along the paved paths that intersected the lawn. The wheels rolled over my paws at several turns, but these pains paled to the one in my heart when I exited the park alone. Midnight had given up without effort. I swallowed. Then again, so had I. Blasted pride. Now I had no one to help me with my plan or, rather, absence of plan. I uttered a curse far more scathing than “fiddlesticks” and crossed the street to Mr. Uppity’s house. I sat before the three-story building and licked my aching paws. I had started this hunt alone; I would finish this hunt alone. Except without Midnight’s help—or even Eddie’s—the logistics of depositing a full grown human inside a fortress of stone seemed impossible. I couldn’t very well carry him by the scruff of the neck, though not for lack of want.

A light breeze blew, fanning my whiskers and stirring the curtains in the front window. Mr. Uppity had yet to close the sash. I hopped on the sill and examined the slender gap below the casing, an opening too small for my ample figure. What an embarrassing predicament to get stuck!Excuse me, sir, would you mind laying a boot to my backside and pushing me through? There’s a good boy. Now come along to prison.Humph. I blew out my breath, wiggled a bit, and slipped through with unexpected ease, slumping into the parlor with a thump. I’d lost more weight than I’d thought.

I crouched behind the curtains and waited to see if the noise of my unfortunate landing would call someone from another floor. When it did not, I emerged and surveyed the room. The man had no furniture, well, none to speak of with any fondness, and what little he did have had been pushed against the walls, as if in anticipation of a dance assembly. I blinked at the busy striped wallpaper, dizzied by the pattern. Mr. Uppity already lived in a prison of his own making, complete with bars! Most men had no decorating sense. Thinking of our own home, the pieces that gave it a cozy feel had been supplied by Sissy. Pillows and doilies and the like. Yet Eddie was not without these sensibilities. He had many strong opinions on the placement of furniture and exercised them to Muddy’s consternation. I lingered in the doorway and swiveled my ears, listening for human activity. I heard not a thing, not even thebump-bump of before. This emboldened me to enter the hallway.

The house smelled of rancid meat and dander enough that I wondered why the man hadn’t opened all his windows. Perhaps he’d grown used to the scent or even liked it. Either way, I had no interest in the idiosyncrasies of a killer, save for those that would help me catch one.

My pulse intensified as I entered the kitchen. Beyond a scrap bucket full of cabbage leaves, I found nothing of interest, and yet, for some inexplicable reason, my heart began to beat faster still as I reentered the hallway. I followed it to what I guessed would be the drawing room or even the dining room. My assumption, however, proved wrong, and I discovered a bedchamber instead. I had never seen one on the first floor of a house so grand. Then again, I hadn’t been inside any grand houses aside from Mr. Coffin’s. Curiosity got the best of me one day, and I followed him home for tea.

I stood in the open doorway of Mr. Uppity’s private abode. The shades had been pulled, casting the room in shadows that flitted between the bed and dresser in a most unsettling way. They weren’t real. They couldn’t be. I scolded my imagination and entered the room. The further I progressed toward its center, however, the faster my heart pounded until I thought it would leap from my chest, such was the ferocity of its tempo.Bump-bump, bump-bump. The constant drumming drove me mad as it shuddered along my bones, my skin, my muscles. I sat back to consider this strange turn in my health—bump-bump—and solved the conundrum. My chest cavity didn’t contain the beat; the floorboards did. The sound lay beneath my haunches.

Bump-bump.

I shot forward and arched my back.

Fright pricked me with her pin-sharp claws. What the devil lived beneath the floorboards? Ignorance seemed like a reasonable state in which to remain. Yet I could not give in to my fear. Not only was my pride at stake, Philadelphia’s citizens depended on my success. I listened once more.

Bump-bump.

My toes vibrated with the sound. At first, I thought it mice. But the pulse was too strong. It writhed beneath me with the strength of a full-grown man. Ihad to take a closer look. I reentered the kitchen and found the cellar entrance—a whiff of damp earth beneath the jamb told me as much. With the help of a close-by worktable, I pawed the knob and had it turning in no time.

The door swung open. I descended the steps.

Bump-bump. Bump-bump.

The rhythm grew louder as I entered the chilly subterrain. Clever as I may be, I hadn’t mastered the working of a gas lamp or candle. So I crept through the dark, unsure of my route until my eyes adjusted. Even then, footing remained far from certain. The smell, however, did not. Decaying flesh had an unmistakable odor.

Bump-bump. Bump-bump. Bump-bump

I followed the noise to an area directly beneath the bedchamber. Owing to the quality of the home, workmen had finished the space with more lumber and white plaster. However, someone or something lived between the cellar ceiling and the first floor because a large, wet stain marred the patch overhead. Using a cannery shelf as a viewpoint, I located the entrance with little difficulty. Carved in the ceiling atop the stairs, the black mouth hung wide and round, waiting to be fed. I reached it by scaling the handrail and jumping to a sconce. The size of the opening gave me courage, for it appeared no bigger than my head. Whomever or whatever lay in wait could not be any larger than this, I reasoned. I said a little prayer, leaped into the unknown, and belly-crawled between the floors.

Bump…bump.

The thumping stopped. I paused. I crept forward. I paused. I sniffed. The odor of rotting meat mingled with that of another: rat urine. My whiskers shot forward.

Silence.

The rodents must have caught my scent, too, because they began to scramble in countless number. They scurried between the joists, knocking the bedchamber floor with their backs as they tried to flee.Bump-bump-bump-bump-bump.I’d never caught a creature this large before, and I could hardly count that chicken last summer. She was an old, fat pillow—mostly feathers. But I’d come too far to let a little thing like teeth stop me. Ahead I forged. I hadn’t gone three steps when I broke through the mysterious wet patch I’d seen earlier. From this small hole grew a very large one that unraveled half the ceiling. I fell in a jumble of blood-soakedplaster and rats upon the cellar floor. Great Cat Above! Half the rodent population of Philadelphia had been living here.

And they’d been feasting on Mr. Uppity.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_18]

A Leg Up

Pieces of Mr. Uppity’s body lay scattered in the rubble. An arm here, a leg there—still clothed, I might add. They could’ve belonged to another human if not for the head.That familiar item lay near my front paws, nose pointing north like a sundial. Covered by a milky veil, his eyes were no more useful than Caroline’s, an irony that did not escape me. Yet even in death, the blue orbs still had the power to terrify. I let the rats slither into the corners, undisturbed, and contemplated this bizarre outcome. Even if Mr. Uppity had been the one to kill those women, someone else had killedhim.

The front door opened and slammed shut.

I waited, hoping I wouldn’t be discovered. A spry human with a bed sheet could’ve caught me here, given the cramped space and lack of escape choices. My gaze traveled to the ceiling. What luck! The floorboards of the bedchamber hadn’t given way, increasing the odds of my deception. If need be, I would stay here all night and slip out in the morning. I’d just settled into my predicament when I recalled the basement door. I’d left it ajar.

Footsteps struck the wood overhead with irregularity.Thud, clack, thud, clack.

If escape was my first priority, evidence finished a close second. I couldn’t leave without a piece of Mr. Uppity. Setting aside my disgust, I clawed loose the body part that would convince Eddie: an eye. If I made it out alive, I would show it to him, he would show it to the constable, and my killer would be caught. I grasped the item gently between my teeth and headed for the door.

Thud, clack, thud, clack. The villain stood in silhouette at the top of the stairs. A match strike. The hiss and crackle of a candlewick. I narrowed my eyes to protect them from the light.

“Hello, kitty cat. What’cha doing here?”

Mr. Limp. What was he doing here?

“I see you found Mr. Ferris. We’ve been keeping peculiar company since last night, me and him.” He sat on the top step and took a flask from his pocket. “He talked like a book, that one, always calling me a border ruffian. Wobbled his chin about President Tyler and the guv’ment so much, a body couldn’t think. So I heshed him up. But hestill makes noise.” He swallowed, sliding his Adam’s apple along his throat. “You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? I can see it on your face. You heard it, too.” When he unscrewed the lid and took a drink, I sneezed and dropped the eye. I recognized the smell at once from Shakey House and the plateau of Fairmount Water Works. Eddie sampled the occasional dram of hard alcohol, but none carried this strength.

“I see corn liquor’s not to your satisfaction.” He grinned. “That Abbott fella didn’t like it either, ‘specially when I spilt it on him in the tavern. Damn fool had it coming, though. Made me drop the old bat’s eye afore I could give it to Mr. Ferris. I looked under the bar for the damned thing, but never found it. What else could I do? I had to steal another.” He took a sip and grimaced. “Hoo! Mother’s milk to a miner, ain’t it? Also comes in handy for washing blood off knives and hands…and such.” He laughed louder and longer to himself than he should have.

Mr. Limp had changed since rescuing me in the park. And it wasn’t the alcohol. Madness had overtaken him, dimming his eyes, turning them dark. “I declare. This new leg a mine’s giving me terrible blisters.” He tucked the flask away and pushed up his pant leg to reveal a shiny metal prosthetic with springs at the knee. This had caused the change in his cadence, different from the night we’d met. “Like it? The invalid who owned it afore just laid in bed all day.” He let the hem drop, covering the limb again. “What call did he have to use it? None, I tell you. None.”

I slunk across the plaster mound and picked up the eye again. Light from the candle shone down upon his jacket collar, illuminating the red stain I’d seen that night at the park. I’d initially thought it my own blood. But now I realized it had come from the poor woman he’d killed earlier that day. I’d found my murderer, or rather, he’d found me.

“What’cha got there, kitty cat?”

I took the bottom steps, thinking to dash past him when I reached the top.

“If that’s what I think it is, I can’t let you leave.” He stood and held out his arms to grab me.

We stared at one another.

Then I ran.

I darted between his legs and into the kitchen with the precious evidence still in my mouth. He rattled and squeaked behind me on that metal contraption, gaining momentum in the hallway. By the time I reached the parlor, only a few paces separated us. Freedom, however, was mine. I leapt for the window, hit the glass, and fell back to the ground.

“Closed it when I got home,” he said with a wink.

Still clutching my proof, I flew past him and up the stairs, thinking the climb would slow him down. And it did, just long enough for me to secure the last bedchamber on the hall. Even more barren than the first floor, the second held no furnishings in which I could hide. What’s more, I’d begun to salivate, making the eye that much harder to hold. Rounder and fuller than its glass counterpart, it occupied my mouth to the roof.

Thud, clack, thud, clack.“Here, kitty, kitty,” Mr. Limp said. He laughed again—a maniac’s laugh—as he strode hallway.

Frantic, I scaled the drapes, cleared the curtain rod, and dove—physics be damned—onto the candelabra that hung from the ceiling. I wobbled and kicked with my back legs, depositing my bottom in the shallow brass bowl that formed the fixture’s base. My luck, however, did not hold. A single taper fell to the ground with a clatter.

Mr. Limp entered and spied the candle at once. He lifted his gaze. I swung several lengths above his head on a most precarious perch. Mr. Uppity’s ceilings were higher than those in the Poe house, and they provided my salvation. He jumped, missing by a comfortable margin. “We’re gonna dance now, you and me.” He jumped again. His fingertips grazed the lower arm of the fixture and swung it round, making me queasy. But I held fast, each claw grasping as it never had before.

“Think you can outsmart me?” He grinned, flashing pointed canines. “Mr. Ferris thought he could outsmart me, too. Just ‘cause I’m a poor coal buster from the Allegheny don’t mean I can’t think for myself. Don’t mean I can’t fall in love with the young lady of my choosing.”

How I longed to understand Mr. Limp’s arguments, the last to grace my ears for eternity. For despite my peril, I wanted to knowwhy he’d killed those women. I trilled, prompting him to speak again.

“Hesh up, now. I wasn’t born a murderer.” He rubbed his face, thick with blond stubble. “The whole thing was Mr. Ferris’s idea. Paid me to cut those women and take their eyes. ‘Look for the petite ones,’ he said. ‘Look for the ones with the smallest sockets.’ I didn’t want to at first, but after I met his niece…” His gaze drifted to the floor. “I couldn’t refuse an angel like that. No man could.” After a moment’s reflection, he sat down and began unstrapping the artificial leg from his misshapen thigh. “I tell you, once a body starts killin’ it’s hard to stop. Mr. Ferris shore foundthat out.”

Mr. Limp pushed himself to standing using the prosthesis as a crutch. Slowly and carefully, so as to maintain his balance, he lifted the metal limb and stood below me on his one good leg. He had more control of his muscles than I’d thought possible and didn’t sway, as one would expect. “The old man had no call to stop our courtin’. No call! ‘Owen,’ he said, ‘leave Caroline alone. She’s a Ferris, and she’s not for you.’ And now he’s mocking me from the Great Beyond.” He rubbed the blisters on his stump and grimaced. “Iknow you heard it. Bump-bump, bump-bump. That’s his heart beatin’ beneath the floorboards. Don’t know how, after I cut him up, but it keeps a goin’.”

I cocked my head. He must have heard the rats, too.

“Bump-bump, bump-bump. That’s why you can’t leave with evenone piece of that man before I can send him to hell. If you do, he’ll haunt me till I’m old and gray.”

I should’ve waited for Midnight. I should’ve waited for Eddie. I should’ve done a great many things that were no longer possible, now that I dangled from a brass lamp.

“Don’t you see? To stop that infernal sound, I have to burn the house down. With or without you in it, kitty cat.” He shouldered the metal prosthesis. His intentions couldn’t have been clearer. “Now give me that eye!” he growled.

That I understood. I would’ve given it to him, too, if I thought he’d let me leave without harm. But he’d sunk too far into his mania. I held my breath and waited for the shattering swing of the leg. And it would have come, had it not been for the front bell.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_19]

Tail’s End

I dropped the eye into the lamp base and yowled for Eddie with all my being, hoping to breach the windowpane. He must have noticed me missing after his return from Shakey House and left straightaway to find me. The fact that I’d gone to Mr. Uppity’s home must have been an easy one to deduce for a man of his intellect. I screeched again for good measure.

Mr. Limp strapped on his leg and paced the bedchamber floor, slapping the side of his head at each turn. “What do I do? If it’s the constable, I should escape. Sprout little bird wings and fly away. Ha, ha! But how? And what if it’s nice Mrs. Bellinger from next door? Do I ask her in? Do I kill her? Do I serve her for supper? Ha, ha! The three little pigs will be next. I’ll huff, and I’ll puff…” His speech devolved into a stream of gibberish that sounded less human the more I listened.

Another knock, this one insistent.

Mr. Limp gave me a warning look before disappearing down the stairs. “Don’t get riled!” he shouted to the visitor. “I’m coming!”

My elation subsided when I pictured Mr. Limp, half out of his wits, bashing Eddie over the head with the silver leg. Thinking to warn my friend, I retrieved the evidence, hopped to the ground, and padded downstairs as the door opened. The caller in the bonnet could not have shocked me more.

“Hello, I’m looking for a Mr. Gideon Ferris. I’ve come about his niece.”

Mr. Limp gasped and took the woman by the hand. “Caroline? Is that you?”

“No. You have me confused with someone else. My name is Virginia. Mrs. Virginia Poe.”

He pulled her into the entryway and fell to his knees. “Don’t deny it’s you, Caroline! It’s you!” He hugged the bell of her skirt and began to weep. “I knew you’d leave the hospital when you found the strength. Now we can be together. Forever.”

Besotted and more than a little confused, Mr. Limp didn’t see me enter the foyer behind him. He’d evidently noticed the similarities between Sissy and Caroline and had mistaken one for the other. In the midst of his bewilderment, I ran to Sissy and dropped the eye at her feet.

Her face tightened at my offering. But she did not scream. “Y-yes,” she said to Mr. Limp. “I have returned to you…my love.” She tried to loosen his arms, but he held her fast.

“Oh, Caroline! It’s over! I never wanted to kill those women, but your uncle made me. Said he couldn’t afford glass eyes, so we had to get ‘em other ways.” Mr. Limp dried his tears with her skirt. “You understand, don’t you? We did it for you.I did it for you.”

Sissy laid her palm on the man’s head, her fingers trembling. “I understand.”

I stared at her. Did she not realize our situation? This was no time for sentiment. I nudged the eye closer with my nose.

“And the fella in the hospital…that was on me. Guess I wanted to be whole, too.” He lifted his gaze, his eyes glittering with tears. “Killin’ does things to a man. Frightful things. I’m not the Owen you fell in love with.” He tapped his head. “Once that worm finds a way in, it turns and turns…”

“I understand,” Sissy repeated, her voice brittle. He let out a high-pitched laugh, a most inappropriate response, and she flinched at the sound. Given her frail constitution, I feared for the girl.

“Caroline, dear Caroline, I beg your forgiveness. I had to tuck your dear Uncle away,” he said, “just for a spell. But don’t be afeared. His heart still beats. Can you hear it? Bump-bump, bump-bump.”

Sissy addressed him sternly. “Let me go now! I insist!”

“Hold on,” he said. “You’re not thinking straight.” He eased back and lifted up his pants leg, keeping one hand on her skirt.

“I most certainly am,” she said. “I’ll have no more of this. Take your hands off of me this instant or I shall scream!”

“Can’t do that.” He began to unlatch the dreaded prosthesis.

Curse him; I would not suffer that threat again. I arched my back and hissed, flattening my ears and bushing my tail in a frightful and fearsome display.

Sissy glanced at me beneath the hood of her bonnet, then addressed him with a voice as soft as a kitten’s belly. She’d clearly heeded my warning. “No, my love,you are not thinking straight. I need to pack my belongings at the hospital before I can return here. If you don’t let me go, I can never be yours.”

He offered a tender gaze before releasing her. “Hurry back.”

She snapped her fingers to call me along, and we left, each having saved the other’s life. I thought it wise to leave the eyeball. When we returned a short while later with the constable and a posse of watchmen, Mr. Limp locked himself in the house and begged for “one last glimpse of Caroline” before they hauled him away. Another member of our hunting party, Detective Custer, protested. By the by, he and Constable Harkness argued most of the way over in the carriage, flinging phrases like “city jurisdiction” and “district lines” and “not my damn fault.”

Sissy, compassionate to the end, spoke with Mr. Limp through the front window under Constable Harkness’s watch. I hopped on the windowsill to oversee the conversation as well. “You must go away,” she told Mr. Limp. “But I will think of you often, and you of me. And we will be together here—” She touched her heart. “Forever.”

“I can’t leave you,” Mr. Limp said. He took her hand, prompting Constable Harkness to step closer. “Can’t we visit a little longer?”

“No, we can’t,” Sissy said. She tried to pull away, but he squeezed her fingers, turning them whiter.

“Unhand her, sir,” Constable Harkness said. “Or I shall be forced to set the watchmen on you.”

The three grew silent. I sensed the change in energy.

I gave Mr. Limp a piteous look, baiting him. I had no doubt Constable Harkness would dole out punishment on behalf of Philadelphia. But frankly, Philadelphia hadn’t been at the mercy of an artificial leg all afternoon. And Sissy and I needed to go home. Mr. Limp lifted his free hand to stroke me one last time, and when he did, I bit him to the bone. Before he could loosen me, I latched onto his arm and dug in with my back claws, kicking and scratching like a madcat. Auntie Sass would’ve been proud.

Mr. Limp let go of Sissy. Oh, yes, he did.

Once they’d removed him from the premises, Sissy and I waited in the parlor while the men searched the basement and tore up the floorboards of the bedchamber, looking for the last of Mr. Uppity. I did not envy their puzzle. Presently, the watchmen took over the heaviest, dirtiest work, leaving the constable and the detective to our company. We met in the hallway, just outside the kitchen: one bonnet, two black hats, one bare head with ears that swooped to an elegant point. I loved my ears.

“Had it not been for you, Mrs. Poe, we might never have caught the Glass Eye Killer,” Constable Harkness said. “The Spring Garden District thanks you for your assistance.”

“As does the City of Philadelphia,” Detective Custer said. A clean-shaven man, his good looks had been spoiled by a preponderance of white teeth, which he flashed at every opportunity. “When we incorporate, these jurisdictional problems should go away. But until then—”

“Until then, criminals are free to commit an act one place, and run home to the other,” Constable Harkness said. “Without recrimination.”

“I’m just glad he let me go.” She picked me up and hugged me. “Cattarina and I could’ve been in real trouble.”

“Youwere in real trouble,” the detective said. “But not to worry. Owen Barstow is now a guest of Eastern State Penitentiary, at least until his trial.” He stopped smiling for once. “You never said, Mrs. Poe. How did you know to come here?”

“I think I may have the answer,” Constable Harkness said. “You seemed keen on the affair this morning. Did you get the information from your husband?”

Sissy blushed. “He spoke of the address and well…I could not resist. However, it was whatyou said, Constable, that prompted my visit.” He lifted his bushy grey eyebrows in surprise, a gesture that made Sissy smile. “Yes, you said that Gideon Ferris left for Virginia without saying goodbye to his niece. After all the trouble he went through procuring her eyes, I could hardly believe such a thing. I thought I would find him cowering here, in his home, and flush him out with a ruse about his niece’s health. I was set to pose as a nurse from Wills.”

“Terribly clever, Mrs. Poe,” Detective Custer said. He patted the top of my head. For Sissy’s sake, I let him—but just the once. He would seemy teeth if he tried it again.

“I’m more clever than my husband and mother will appreciate, I’m afraid.”

“Can I give you a ride home?” Constable Harkness asked.

“Yes, but before we go, I’ll request you keep my name out of the papers and away from Mr. Poe. He fears for my health, and my outing today would upset him, to say the least.”

The constable patted her shoulder. “Our secret, madam.”

We arrived home in time for tea, and I’m not sure who was happier: my stomach or me. With all the weight I’d lost, I felt practically malnourished. Sissy entered the kitchen and kissed Muddy on the cheek without any mention of the constable or our harrowing escapade. The old woman yawned, causing me to do the same. I opened my jaws wide and curled my tongue in a fantastic yawn.

“How was your nap, Mother?”

“Fine, fine. And yours?”

“Splendid.”

Sissy winked at me. I winked back.

The woodstove burned too hot for me today, so I hopped into my friend’s chair instead. The women set about their preparations, making tea sandwiches from the breakfast ham and biscuits. When they finished, Sissy requested they make “strong coffee, the strongest possible.” Muddy set a kettle on to boil. Not long after, Eddie entered, his cape half flung round his shoulders, his hat misplaced.

“What glorious weather!” he said. “Abbot says it’s going to change next week. He’s got a sore toe that tells him these things.” He produced a bag of licorice cats and handed them to Sissy. She curtsied. “I asked if his toe knew whether the Whig party would win in ‘44, and he kicked me. Kicked me! Can you believe it?” He twirled Sissy around the room, humming one of the songs she liked to play on the piano.

Muddy ignored them and sat down, helping herself to a sandwich. “Tea’s on.”

Eddie set me on the floor, thanked me for warming his chair, and joined the women at the table. He frowned at the coffee pot. “If it’s tea, then where is our tea?”

Sissy poured him a cup. “We’re out, remember?”

“Yes, I had forgotten. The neighborhood quilting bee.” He stole a piece of ham from the serving plate and handed it to me. The world was right again. “How was your rest, Sissy? Do anything of note while I was away?”

“Oh, nothing to bother you with,” Sissy said. “Listen, Eddie, about your story…” She put a sandwich on his plate and took one for herself.

“The Tell-Tale Eye?” He took a sip from his cup.

“Well, I—” She giggled. “You’ll think me childish and more than a bit nosy.”

“Never.” I rubbed against his leg, angling for another piece of meat. He obliged.

“I think I have a better title.” She clasped her hands and put them in her lap. “And even a few ideas about the plot.”

“You?” Muddy asked. Her mouth was full of biscuit. “That was quite a nap you took.”

Eddie ignored the old woman. “Do tell, dear wife. I await your every suggestion.”

She topped off his coffee and smiled. “I have much to tell, my husband. Join me in your office?”

“I shall be delighted.”

Some days later, Eddie sat on the stoop outside our house, chatting with Mr. Coffin. The season had begun to turn, andNovember graced everyone’s lips. I lay in the dry grass near them, along with Snow. We soaked up heat from the earth.

“How are you liking Mr. Coffin?” I asked her.

“We are getting on,” she said. Her coat gleamed in the morning light. “I am his ‘sometimes cat.’ He sometimes owns me, and I sometimes own him. I still go home at night to Blue and Killer and the rest of our troop. But Mr. Coffin—I call him Pudge—and I have a special bond. He feeds me and plays with me, and in return, I lie about his cushions like a queen. He likes this. He says it ‘tickles him,’ though I’m not sure what that means.”

“Humans.”

“Humans,” she agreed.

I turned my belly to the sun. I liked the sound ofPudge. It was a good word, a slumpy word, much like Mr. Coffin. Eddie laughed, and I twitched my ear at the merry sound. I worried his writing would suffer after Sissy and I caught the murderer. But he’d gone on to finish his story at a frenzied pace that lasted for days. True, Sissy may have stoked the fire, but I had lit the kindling. Let us not forget that. The two men droned on about Abbott’s toe, whatever that may have been, until Mr. Coffin produced a newspaper from his toolbox.

“I read about the Glass Eye Killer,” he said. He shook the paper at Eddie. “I didn’t catch your name, even though you found one of the victims.”

“Yes, they left it out. Chalked it up to good police work, of all things.” Eddie smoothed his mustache. “I was surprised to learn that the barkeep at Shakey House had suspicions as well. He confided in me yesterday.”

“That right?”

“Yes. Josef works the morning shift at Wills. He’d seen Caroline’s new eyes, too, but kept quiet out of fear.” Eddie shrugged. “I can’t say as I blame him.”

“A shame Gideon Ferris lost his anthracite mines in a poker game. If not for that tragedy, he might never have killed. Or, I should say, Owen Barstow might never have killed. And that cripple at the Wills Hospital never stood a chance, did he?”

“Once a man passes the point of reason, madness overtakes him,” Eddie added. “Gideon Ferris must have discovered how suggestible Owen was during his frequent trips to the Allegheny mines and pushed him into doing his bidding. I’m just glad Caroline didn’t suffer at the hands of that lunatic.”

“Ferris must’ve felt a deep responsibility to his niece, having gone to those lengths. What will become of her?”

“I called upon a friend of mine, Dr. Mitchell. You met him last week.” Mr. Coffin nodded, and Eddie continued, “He says he may be able to arrange for her care at the hospital for the blind.”

“Nicely settled, Poe.” Mr. Coffin folded his newspaper and tucked it away. “And what ofyour story?”

“I am in talks withThe Pioneer. Publication is immanent.” Eddie buttoned his coat and blew out his breath in a white cloud. “Sissy helped with a few details, adding a certain—” he wobbled his hand back and forth “—depth to the story, but I provided the mastery. Though the woman amazed me with her foresight.”

I tired of their talk and closed my eyes. I did not know it at the time, but Sissy would become very ill in a matter of days, and the cream of our happiness would thin until spring. Right now, however, we had enough to fill all of Philadelphia. I curled my tail round my body and nestled into the grass. I may not have belonged to a troop like Big Blue’s or lived free like a feral, but I had my liberties. I could run about all day and return home to warmth and food and my beloved Eddie—the best life imaginable. Reassured by this thought, a purr rose deep from within my chest.

I peeked one eye open and watched my friend joke and talk with Mr. Coffin. Now that he’d finished the manuscript, everyone knew of his elation, even a passing bird. Yet the lull between stories would come—a certainty not unlike death—and a storm would once again settle over the Poe house. At least now I knew how to change the weather. But please don’t think me a selfless cat, for Eddie was never happier than when he was writing, and I was never happier than when Eddie was happy.

Dear Friends:

I submit to you, in its entirety, “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Consider my indispensible role in its telling, but do not mistake my genius for Eddie’s. He is thetrue Master of Macabre. For those interested, my friend has other fine stories for sale, and any purchase would keep me in shad and ribbons for quite some time.

Gratefully yours,

Catters

P.S. - Muddy would be glad of a few coins as well.

THE TELL-TALE HEART

by Edgar Allan Poe

January, 1843

TRUE! —nervous —very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses–not destroyed –not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily –how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture–a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees –very gradually –I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.

Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded–with what caution –with what foresight –with what dissimulation I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it –oh so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly –very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man’s sleep. It took me an hour toplace my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! would a madman have been so wise as this, And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously-oh, so cautiously –cautiously (for the hinges creaked) –I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. And this I did for seven long nights –every night just at midnight –but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye. And every morning, when the day broke, I wentboldly into the chamber, and spoke courageously to him, calling him by name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he has passed the night. So you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept.

Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door. A watch’s minute hand moves more quickly than did mine. Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers–of my sagacity. I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. To think that there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea; and perhaps he heard me; for he moved on the bed suddenly, as if startled. Now you may think that I drew back –but no. His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness, (for the shutters were close fastened, through fear of robbers,) and so I knew that he could not see the opening of the door, and I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily.

I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my thumb slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in bed, crying out–“Who’s there?”

I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was still sitting up in the bed listening;—just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.

Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief–oh, no! –it was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept, it has welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me. I sayI knew it well. I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart. I knew that he had been lying awake ever since the first slight noise, when he had turned in the bed. His fears had been ever since growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not. He had been saying to himself –“It is nothing but the wind in the chimney –it is only a mouse crossing the floor,” or “It is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp.” Yes, he had been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions: but he had found all in vain. All in vain; because Death, in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel –although he neither saw nor heard –to feel the presence of my head within the room.

When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little–a very, very little crevice in the lantern. So I opened it –you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily –until, at length a simple dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye.

It was open–wide, wide open –and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness —all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones; but I could see nothing else of the old man’s face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot.

And have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the sense?–now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound well, too. It was the beating of the old man’s heart. It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.

But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eve. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man’s terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment!–do you mark me well I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me –the sound would be heard by a neighbour! The old man’s hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once –once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulledthe heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes,he was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eve would trouble me no more.

If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs.

I then took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and deposited all between the scantlings. I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye–not even his –could have detected any thing wrong. There was nothing to wash out –no stain of any kind –no blood-spot whatever. I had been too wary for that. A tub had caught all –ha! ha!

When I had made an end of these labors, it was four o’clock–still dark as midnight. As the bell sounded the hour, there came a knocking at the street door. I went down to open it with a light heart, —for what had I now to fear? There entered three men, who introduced themselves, with perfect suavity, as officers of the police. A shriek had been heard by a neighbour during the night; suspicion of foul play had been aroused; information had been lodged at the police office, and they (the officers) had been deputed to search the premises.

I smiled,—or what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome. The shriek, I said, was my own in a dream. The old man, I mentioned, was absent in the country. I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them search –search well. I led them, at length, to his chamber. I showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim.

The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was singularly at ease. They sat, and while I answered cheerily, they chatted of familiar things. But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears: but still they sat and still chatted. The ringing became more distinct:—It continued and became more distinct: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained definiteness –until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my ears.

No doubt I now grew very pale;—but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased —and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound –much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath –and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly —more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men —but the noise steadily increased. Oh God! what could I do? I foamed –I raved –I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder –louder –louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Wasit possible they heard not? Almighty God! –no, no! They heard! –they suspected! –they knew! –they were making a mockery of my horror! –this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocriticalsmiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! and now –again! –hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!

“Villains!” I shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed!–tear up the planks! here, here! –It is the beating of his hideous heart!”

2. THE BLACK CATS

Philadelphia, 1843

The Black Cat

THE BODY HANGING FROM the tree spoiled our glorious constitutional. While Eddy and Sissy abhorred the discovery, it enraged me, filling me with desire for revenge. During my last adventure, I’d become accustomed to the transience of human life, perhapstoo accustomed, developing a relationship most informal with Death. So much so that when our neighbor, Mrs. Busybody, swallowed her false teeth and expired last winter, my whiskers barely registered the passing. But this morning’s butchery shocked me more than the ones that plagued Philadelphia last fall. Why? Because a fellowcat had been murdered.

I shuddered at the black tom overhead, at once suspicious of our new neighbors. Eddy had insisted on moving, and I, fulfilling my role as feline companion and muse, had followed him on his quest fornew air. We’d settled apparently, in the darkest, cruelest part of the city. Though I had no idea how dark and cruel when we set out this morning.

Shortly after breakfast, Sissy, the lady of the house, summoned Eddy to the kitchen and uttered one of my favorite phrases.“Let’s go for a stroll,” she said to him. “I am in need of a breeze, and from the snap of bed linens on the clothesline, God has provided one. The market would be lovely today. Besides, Mother’s out of rosemary.”

Eddy rested his fingertips on the windowsill above the sink and looked into the side yard. I hopped to the table for a peek myself. Muddy lingered near the clothesline with a basket of laundry and a mouthful of clothespins. One by one, she removed the little wooden teeth from her lips, using them to peg the sheets.“I suppose your mother will be busy for a while,” he said. “Join us, Catters?”

He meant me, of course. Eddy seldom used my full name, Cattarina. I wasn’t sure of his question, so I gave an all-purpose meow that meant both yes and maybe at the same time. Catspeak is not without subtlety.

Once Sissy changed into her rose-printtown dress, we left to marvel in the ripe delights of summer. Such a merry prelude to murder! In this new and strange part of the city, Spring Garden Street unbuttons down the center into an outdoor market filled with fish, hot corn, pickles, gutted pigs, fish, paper whimsies, tobacco products, tin wind-up toys, and fish. Yet I grieved for the wide-open fields of Fairmount. Nothing could replace the tickle of Indian grass beneath my paws.

Entering the market before Eddy and Sissy, I wound this way and that between their legs, guiding them without suspicion while they chatted. When humans are preoccupied, directing their actions is mere kitten’s play. So it took little effort to steer them to the appropriate stall. “Get my fish! In yer dish!” the monger shouted. “Shad enough to grant yer wish!” His sign held the usual marks: FISH. From my tenure with Eddy—a preeminent man of letters—I knew these squiggles communicatedsomething. But I doubted they adequately described the striped bass, walleye, and catfish heaped on the counter, their scales glistening in the sun. Flies, too, had arrived in great number to admire the merchandise.

Sissy waved them from her path with a copy of theGazette she’d brought along. She opened the newspaper and examined the contents. “Three thefts, two beatings, and not a single murder,” she said.

My ears swiveled atmurder—just one of the many human words I knew. Some, likebreakfast,lunch, anddinner, could stir me from the deepest slumber; others, likeno,out, andthat damnable cat, had little effect on me despite their obvious meaning. And while a great many remained beyond comprehension,murder had clawed its way into my vocabulary. I found a piece of discarded fish skin and chewed it thoughtfully as I listened to Sissy’s voice. When she spoke, her words came out in a whisper. I imagined them floating from her lips like dandelion puffs.

“It’s been so hot lately,” she said. “You’d think the heat would sendsomeone on a killing spree.”

“Peace and tranquility are most troubling, aren’t they?” Eddy said.

“I am reading the news foryour benefit, dear husband, not mine.” She folded the paper into a fan and waved it to cool herself. “I know how you love crime stories. I could scarcely keep you from that wretched eye business last October.”

“Am I the only one with an interest in murder?”

Sissy pursed her lips and fanned harder, fluttering the strings of her bonnet.

Murder, the liveliest, most oft-discussed topic of the Poe household. After I nabbed the Glass Eye Killer last autumn, my deeds inspired Eddy to write“The Tell-Tale Heart.” He then penned “The Gold Bug,” a second tale for which I take full credit. I am still not sure how Muddy found my beetle collection between the couch cushions. Now, with the passing of the seasons, life had dwindled to a predictable series of events for this tortoiseshell: breakfast, nap, lunch, nap, dinner, nap, repeat. How I longed to chase human quarry again! Alas, murderers were not as plentiful as mice.

Sissy took Eddy by the arm and led him from the fish and flies. I shadowed them, pausing to smell the cat spray on a nearby lamppost: male, geriatric, failing kidneys. Fiddlesticks. This was no way for a huntress to live. We stopped at a table stacked with herbs and assorted cut flowers where Eddy bought a spray of rosemary from a roundish woman in an apron. She rolled the green twigs in a cone of old newsprint and secured the bottom with a piece of twine. Once finished, she presented the bundle to Eddy, who in turn presented it to his wife with a flourish.“For you, Sissy,” he said to her. “May our love be ever green.”

She smelled the herbs and coughed into her handkerchief.

Moving from western to eastern Spring Garden District to samplenew air had not been therapeutic enough for Sissy. Eddy’s health had declined these last few moons, too. Was it any wonder? How disheartening to know that despite one’s best efforts, one’s beloved had no chance of surviving. And while Eddy’s appetite had only recently resumed, his thirst for spirits had remained steadfast through the winter. I turned and licked my shoulder, biting at a gnat. In truth, I blamed the drinking more than Sissy’s ailment for his malaise.

I pushed through their legs and headed for the gate, cutting our ramble short. Eddy had spent the dawn hours sipping black tea and pacing the floor—a preamble most familiar. He needed to write, not parade about the market. The humidity, too, had taken a toll on Sissy’s lungs. I turned and paused, fixing Eddy with a stare he could not ignore. The slight downturn of his mouth told me he’d received my message.

He touched Sissy’s arm. “Let’s leave for home, dearest.”

“But we were having such a grand time,” she said. “I thought we might stop by—”

He took the makeshift fan from her and laid it on a nearby stall.“You need to rest, Virginia. Your cheeks are positively flushed.”

She offered no resistance, and we retraced our steps to North Seventh, turning left on Minerva in front of our home. Before we could enter the front garden, voices rang out near Franklin, the neighboring intersection to the west. Eddy led us down the street toward the commotion. We rounded the corner to find a pawful of men in front of Mr. Fitzgerald’s hardware store. Rather, they’d gathered in front of its sprawling sassafras. The colossal tree grew in the unpaved courtyard between his shop and the next, rising up and obscuring the buildings behind its canopy.

“I say!” Eddy called to them. “What’s the trouble?”

“Someone’s hung a cat!” said one of the men.

“God in Heaven,” Eddy said under his breath.

Naturally, with the mention ofcat, I thought they referred to me. When we arrived, however, I realized they spoke of a different feline: an unfortunate with matted black fur. The tom swayed from a limb, a rope strung round his neck, one eye gouged from its socket. The Glass Eye Killer came to mind, yet Constable Harkness had lockedthat murderer in Eastern State Penitentiary. I sat on my haunches and studied the gruesome sight with equal parts anger and sadness, my tail tapping a pattern in the dust. I don’t know what devastated me more—the senseless death or the sullying of my favorite, nay, myonly climbing tree. Furthermore, someone had nicked the bark in several places. The marks looked like failed attempts to chop the tree down.

“It’s horrible!” Sissy cried. The spray of rosemary trembled between her hands.

Eddy held her by the arm, steadying her.“Look away, my love. Look away.”

Mr. Fitzgerald, the latest entry on my list of tolerable humans, scratched the top of his balding head as he considered the scene. He’d run from his shop without a jacket and stood before us in his waistcoat and bare sleeves. I hadn’t realized before how thin a frame he possessed. I’d seen fatter scarecrows.

The wind blew, swaying the carcass like a bell clapper, disturbing the flies that circled. I dug my claws into the earth. Was the victim my old pal, Midnight? I circled the trunk and examined the fur on the cat’s chest. It held no white mark like his. Their eyes were different, too. Midnight’s irises were buttercup yellow, much lighter in color than the tom’s lone eye. I purred with relief.

“Who has done this?” Eddy asked the man next to him.

The gent wore all black like Eddy and carried a book, which he held to his chest.“The supernatural is at work here,” he said. “I fear we’ve been visited by the devil.”

The worddevil sent a murmur through the crowd. Strange. The only deviling I’d encountered had been that of an egg, and with delicious results. I scaled the trunk, casting bits of bark to the ground, and walked along the branch in question to the knotted piece of rope. A unique piece of workmanship, the cord had been coiled from lengths of brown and tan jute, the former dyed with a bitter solution that smelled of walnuts, the latter leftau natural. I sniffed the air. Decomposition—a distinct and unmistakable odor—had not set in. One had only to keep an expired mouse too long beneath Muddy’s bed to understand these things. So the cat had been murdered this morning. I turned to the scents on the rope, learning two things: the killer was male, and he wore a nauseating amount of cologne. If humans bathed as often as cats, there would be no need for copious amounts of lavender and citrus oils.

On the hunt for more clues, I cast my gaze upon footprints below. The courtyard had not been paved, and loose dirt preserved the marks. These prints traveled from the sassafras’s trunk to the steps of Fitzgerald Hardware then disappeared into the alley between his shop and Tabitha Arnold’s cobbler shop next door. I cocked my ears at the curious sound arising from her establishment.Brush, brush, brush. Brush, brush, brush.

Eddy handed Sissy off to the man in black before addressing the crowd.“If anyone knows who committed this atrocity, please step forward. You will face no quarrel with me.”

“Or with Constable Harkness,” someone shouted. “If you can wake him from his nap!”

The crowd tittered with uneasy laughter.

I settled on a higher branch away from the dead cat and the flies. Just thinking about the cruelties my fellow feline suffered churned my stomach. I watched the men through the mitten-shaped leaves. Having moved here three moons ago, I’d encountered most of the humans in the neighborhood and recognized all but the gentleman soothing Sissy. He patted her shoulder and said, “Take comfort in Isaiah. Woe unto the wicked! It shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.” I lifted my head and peered between the leafy branches to spy another unfamiliar face—an old man with a bent spine. He scratched his rear then his elbow then his long, white beard. Fleas. I made a note to avoid him in the future. He loitered between the buildings, away from the turmoil.

“Come now,” Eddy said, “surely one of you saw something?”

Brush, brush, brush.

“Not me,” Mr. Cook said at last. A blustery fool who lived around the corner, his large protruding eyes reminded me of peeled onions. “Ask ol’ Eakins. Cats are his business.”

At Mr. Cook’s utterance ofEakins, the flea-ridden oldster scurried the way of the footprints and disappeared between the shops. Not a soul noticed—not a human soul, at any rate.

“Eakins?” Sissy asked. She’d recovered from the earlier shock and stood near her husband. “I don’t recall anyone by that name, and I’ve met most everyone on our street.”

“He stays to himself,” Mr. Cook said, “for our comfort as much as his.” He surveyed the diminishing crowd. The onlookers had begun to wander. “He was here a minute ago,” he said. “I’m sure of it.”

When the street had emptied of everyone except Mr. Cook and Mr. Fitzgerald, Eddy drew Sissy and the two men to the threshold of the hardware shop to discuss the event, speaking the phrase“killed the cat” more than once. Every so often, Sissy would glance at the tree and shake her head. Soon, the talk turned to lighter subjects, for the men began to chuckle and gesture with their hands. That was when Sissy left their company for mine, the dear girl. She stared up at me with a mournful expression, the rims of her large eyes wet. “Who would do such a thing, Cattarina? And why?”

From the lilt in her voice, she had questions for which I had no answers. Though I could not comprehend her speech, more than a language barrier prevented my response. The brutal killing of the tom had stripped me of reason. Who could have harmed the noblest of creatures? The finest, cleverest, handsomest of creatures?

“Well, we can’t leave him up there, can we? There has to be some dignity in death.” She laid her rosemary aside and reached for the rope around the cat’s neck. But the dear girl was too short to grasp it. So she tried to knock the cat’s body down with a slender branch she found near the roots. The more she twisted and turned the corpse to free it, however, the tighter the noose grew. Overcome by failure, she tossed the stick, leaned against the tree trunk, and wept into her handkerchief.

Eddy did not notice.

Brush, brush, brush. The sound from the Arnold’s shop would plague my dreams tonight. I joined Sissy on the ground and rubbed along her skirt, doing my best to comfort her. The cat’s death had upset her more than I had imagined. Throughout our previous adventure, I had grown to…respect Sissy—yes,respect, that was the right word—and it pained me to see her in such a state.

She touched the tip of my tail, her fingers wet with tears.“No one should die in their prime, Cattarina. No one.”

While the black cat’s death presented me with another killer to catch and another story to inspire, it also filled me with dread. A murdererand torturer lived in our new neighborhood, and I, for one, would not sleep until the scoundrel was caught.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_4]

The Peaceful Society of Friends

ONCE SISSY’S WEEPING REACHED Eddy, he left the gentlemen and joined us by the sassafras. “You mustn’t cry, Virginia. It isn’t good for you.” He brushed the tears from her cheek. “This has been a most unsettling morning for all of us. I think we should go home. Muddy will be expecting us for lunch.”

I trilled in agreement. Eddy and I shared the same concern:lunch. Yet I could delay my mid-day meal if it meant gathering more evidence. Last autumn, I learned the importance of early clue discovery; the longer one waited to find them, the more likely they were to sprout wings and fly south. In truth, I had become a ratiocinator in my own right, with powers rivaling Eddy’s Detective Dupin, and I had certain duties to fulfill. The fact that Constable Harkness hadn’t been summoned made my presence even more crucial.This crime fell under feline jurisdiction.

“She’s serving cheddar and ham,” Eddy added. “And sour pickles. She told me on the way out—”

“How can you think about eating?” Sissy said. “We can’t leave until we bury this unfortunate soul.” She laced her fingers in front of her, signaling her resolve.

Eddy lifted his palms in supplication.“Be reasonable, Sissy. My tool is the pen, not the shovel. I am ill-equipped to dig.”

“I am not moving, husband, untilthat cat is down fromthat tree.” She pointed to both objects, underscoring her words.

Eddy would attempt to win the quarrel with appeals, but he could no more refuse Sissy than I him. Confident in the outcome, I headed toward the shops to look for evidence, entering the cobbler’s first to learn the source of that infernal brushing sound. I found the aged proprietress inside, hard at work. Tabitha Arnold sat near the window on a low stool, her back to the door and her face to the sun. In her hands she held a pair of black boots and a stiff horsehair brush dipped in—I wrinkled my nose—a mixture of beeswax and soot. She raked the bristles across the toe of the shoe.Brush, brush, brush.At least one mystery had been solved.

I sniffed for the human scent I’d noted earlier, but an examination of the floorboards bore no fruit. The murderer had certainly worn shoes, masking his scent with a layer of leather. Had he been a customer? Further examination revealed nothing, not even a trace of citrus and lavender cologne. Before I could steal back to the street unnoticed, Mr. Fitzgerald appeared, blocking the doorway with his legs. I slunk to the shelves on the rear wall and hid behind a row of wooden foot forms in varying sizes.

The woman greeted Mr. Fitzgerald with a cool stare.“Have you something to say for yourself?” she asked. She set the boots on the floor and wiped her hands on her apron, smearing it with polish.

“HaveI?” Mr. Fitzgerald asked. “Haveyou?”

She tucked a loose strand of gray behind a hairpin.“What do you mean by that?”

He tapped his thin bottom lip.“The cat. It was Abner’s doing, wasn’t it? Instead of settling the hash like gents, he used violence to make a point. How English of him.”

She sprang to her feet.“How dare you accuse him of somethingyou’ve done, you…you bogtrotter!”

Mr. Fitzgerald and Mrs. Arnold stared at each other, two mongrels on the brink of war. I shrank against the wooden feet and waited for blood. The woman surprised me when she sat down and picked up her horsehair brush again.“What’s the talk on the street?” she asked.

He leaned against the doorframe and crossed one ankle over the other.“Craic is, Mr. Cook blames Mr. Eakins, and Reverend Bray blames the devil.”

“And you blame Abner.” She pointed the brush at him and scowled. “If you go spreading rumors about him that aren’t true, Mr. Fitzgerald, you won’t like the results. You’ll do well to keep your mouth shut.” She looked to her empty shop. “I ask you this: who’s going to shop near such a horrible scene? Business is bad enough as it is, what with that—”

Mr. Fitzgerald held up his hand.“Don’t say it. We’ve enough trouble this morning.” He crossed his arms. “Mr. Poe said it might bring people in,” he said. “The cat, that is. Curious onlookers and the like. You never know.”

“Harrumph. Only in Mr. Poe’s world.” She resumed her polishing. “He’s an odd bird, isn’t he? Flitting about in black, no matter the season. Dresses like a pallbearer, for heaven’s sake.”

“I think it suits him,” Mr. Fitzgerald said.

Sensing the shift in mood, I stepped from my hiding place and padded toward the door. Mrs. Arnold spied me and clicked her tongue in disapproval.“We have a trespasser,” she whispered to Mr. Fitzgerald.

“We needn’t whisper in front of Cattarina,” he said. “She keeps all kinds of secrets. Don’t you, girl?” I meowed at my name, giving him a good laugh, though I knew not why. He stood at the threshold, preventing my departure. “Well, I’m gone,” he said to Mrs. Arnold. “The saws won’t sell themselves.” He hesitated. “Whereis Abner, by the way?”

“Under the weather.” She gave the boot a last pass with the brush.

Mr. Fitzgerald touched his protruding Adam’s apple with a look of concern. “Is something going round?”

“Yes.” She set the boots aside and picked up a new pair to shine. “Something’s going round, all right, and that’s Abner—round the tavern.”

Mr. Fitzgerald shifted, and I shot past his ankles into the street again. The scratch of the shoe brush had penetrated my teeth. I could not stand it any longer!

Once outside, I followed the footprint trail to the cut-through between shops. The shifty man with fleas had stood in this very spot, making me think he might be the murderer. I glanced at Eddy and Sissy—still deep in conversation—and ducked into the opening. After a few strides, I connected with a larger alley that ran the length of shops on Franklin. The prints led me north where they eventually stopped at a paved sidewalk on the other side. A dog could’ve pursued the culprit by scent alone. But since I had the good fortune to be born a cat, I’d need to use my superior intellect to continue. A brownstone with a gabled porch lay to the left of the alley; a small clapboard cottage with shutters and a weathervane lay to the right.

“Kitty! Kitty!” a little boy squealed. “Pet kitty!”

I backed away from his outstretched hands, narrowly escaping the tot’s grasp. Had I not been focused on the rooster atop the weathervane, I would’ve seen the two children traipsing past with their mother. The shorter, pudgier whelp had been the one to reach for me. The taller one—a littermate from his coloring—slapped his brother on the head. “Dang it all, Marvin. Don’t touch it. You’ll get fleas.”

The mother slapped the older boy on the head.“Don’t cuss, dang you.”

When first born, humans are little more than plucked chickens. It’s when they learn to walk upright that they become tail-yanking, whisker-pulling monsters. And then there are birthing complications. I hoped Eddy and Sissy would abstain from reproducing in the coming seasons. In my youth, I witnessed an unhappy outcome with a baby and did not wish to see another.

Once the family passed, I emerged again. Whenever we moved to a new locale, which was often, I made it my business to memorize street names as Eddy said them out loud. This, from our daily walks, I knew to be Green Street, the road around the corner from the Poe residence. It lacked the unkempt variability I’d grown to love and expect from the older areas of Philadelphia. I licked my paw and washed my face. A murderer lived in one of these mouse holes. Yet without more clues, finding him would be impossible.

I returned to Franklin to find Eddy on tiptoe, sawing the black cat’s noose with his penknife. Sissy waited nearby, offering suggestions, the majority of which perturbed him, judging by the slant of his brow. When I reached the tree, the tom fell at our feet. I hopped back, sickened by the hollow thud of his body against the earth. His remaining eye lay open, glazed and unblinking; the other had been gouged out by the murderer. This was speculation, of course, but one supported by observation and experience from the Glass Eye Killer case. The area around the cat’s eye held no claw marks, so he hadn’t lost it in a fight. This left accident or torture. Considering the manner of death, I’d bet my whiskers on the latter. Eddy, Sissy, and I remained silent until the wind rattled the sassafras leaves.

“We must bury him,” Sissy said. “In our garden.”

“We do not own a shovel,” Eddy said.

“Borrow one from Mr. Fitzgerald. I’m sure he has several in his store.”

“Shopkeepers are not usually in the habit of lending their wares, Sissy.”

“Then we will improvise.” She knelt and lifted the tom onto her skirt, folding the floral cotton around him. With the day’s increasing temperature, the body had taken on an unpleasant aroma. Sissy carried out her task undeterred, concealing the body in the folds of her dress. For all anyone knew, she could’ve been carrying potatoes home from the market.

“My dear…” Eddy pointed to her chemise. The white hem flashed in the sun.

“Let us hurry before I’m the talk of the town,” Sissy said. “And don’t forget the rosemary.”

We arrived home to find Muddy sweeping the front walkway. The trim on her lace cap framed her face like the petals of a flower. I pitied the bee that madethat mistake. I trotted ahead of the others and nudged through the unlatched gate to join the old woman.

Our new red brick home was grander than the one on Coates, though no less cozy. Eaves protruded from either side—a bit like ears—and shaded twin entrances that opened onto to allotments of grass. The parlor garden, on the eastern side near North Seventh, held flowers and a spindly weeping willow. The kitchen garden, on the western side, consisted of a vegetable patch and a small plot of dirt bordered by a fence snarled with morning glories. In temperate weather, Muddy and Sissy would pull their kitchen chairs under the western eave to shell peas or shuck corn. On the rare occasion I did not accompany Eddy to the tavern, I stayed behind to chase the errant pod or husk that slipped from their fingers. We had left Fairmount and the country, but we had not left good times, not yet.

When Muddy caught Sissy with her skirt hiked to her knees, she dropped the broom and gasped.“Virginia Eliza Poe!” she said. “What has become of you?”

“Nothing, Mother.” Sissy gathered her skirt tighter so as not to lose the carcass.

“You are half-naked. Put your dress down before the neighbors see.” Muddy’s lips disappeared beneath the press of her mouth.

“Dear Muddy,” Eddy said, handing her the herbs, “ours is a long story, and you are adding unnecessarily to the length. Allow me to edit.” He led Sissy through the gate and up the walkway to the old woman. “Join us by the vegetable patch with your largest kitchen spoon, and all will be revealed.”

“What is that smell?” Muddy asked. She held her finger under her nose.

“The cat, Mother,” Sissy said.

Muddy leaned to sniff me. Curious woman.

“No, it’s not Cattarina,” Sissy said. “It’s…well, you will see.” She set off for the kitchen garden and disappeared around the corner of the house.

Muddy retrieved her broom and squinted at Eddy.“What have you done—”

He held up his hand, stopping the conversation.“I have not done anything. This is Virginia’s scheme, and we must support her.”

They spoke a moment longer and joined Sissy. I elected to go inside. Whatever they planned to do with the remains concerned me less than the aroma wafting through the kitchen window. I leaped to the sill with some effort—the winter months had been bountiful—and entered Muddy’s domain. She’d laid out a plate of sliced ham and cheddar on the table, along with a loaf of bread, a crock of pickles, and a pitcher of water. Lunch was served. A cat of lesser intelligence would have plundered the platter. Not I. Over time, I’d perfected the art of skimming—take enough to be full, leave enough that one’s theft is not obvious. As long as Muddy considered me inept, the kitchen would remain a cornucopia.

I leapt to the table and admired the old woman’s handiwork. She’d fanned the meat and cheese in an alternating pattern. I licked the salt off the ham slices without disturbing them then peeled the top piece from the stack and ate it. A slice of cheese came next. The bread bored me, and the pickles repulsed me. I finished with a few laps ofcool water from the jug and left the house through the parlor window. From what I’d gleaned, Sissy meant to bury the dead cat, as humans often did for one another at the end of life. I had no need for this unnatural ritual. I preferred to honor the tom in a more practical way—by catching his murderer.

I trotted through the garden to North Seventh where I doubled back onto Green, the same street I’d happened upon after my trip through the alley. I wasn’t na?ve enough to think I’d find my prey by accident. On the contrary, I planned to seek out his potential victims and extract information from which to devise a hunting strategy.

Confident in my plan, I strode through the neighborhood, head high, gait quick and light, in search of fellow cats. One might’ve mistaken this section of Philadelphia for a cemetery, it was that quiet. Unlike western Spring Garden District, the people of eastern Spring Garden District—Eddy called themQuakers—kept to themselves.

The roads held carriages, but many travelers preferred to walk in silence. I hoped their feline companions leaned more toward congeniality and that my presence would not raise fur. I had not yet reached the Franklin intersection when I observed two tabbies—one orange and white, the other pale gray. “Hello!” I called to them. They did not answer and waited for me to approach their front steps. I did so guardedly, praying I hadn’t provoked a fight with the block’s toughest ferals. “I am Cattarina. I live in the Poe house at the end of the street.” I waved my tail in the general direction of home.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, friend,” the gray tom said. “I am George, and this is Margaret.” He nodded to the orange and white tabby. “We live with Thaddeus Beal.”

“Welcome to Green Street,” Margaret said. She had impossibly long whiskers. “You’ll find a peaceful society in this neighborhood. We offer our blessings.”

My ear twitched. I could not fathom a non-violent gathering of felines, save for one in the bastion of my mind. Immanuel Katt’s theories of utopia are stunning; sadly, they remain out of reach. The only semi-peaceful society I’d met had been Big Blue’s troop near the penitentiary, and even they weren’t above aggression. “If I am welcome,” I countered, “then you won’t mind answering questions.”

“Questions delight the mind, miss,” George said. His dull coat had the color and density of a thundercloud. I pictured a lightning strike in its midst.

“Do you know of the black cat?” I asked. “The one that was hanged this morning?”

Margaret sat and wrapped her ginger tail around her feet.“We know of him.”

“Who was his owner?”

George looked to Margaret then back to me.“Why do you want to know?” he asked.

“It is important to my companion,” I lied. While Eddy had an interest in the tom’s death, I had become obsessed with it. “Please.”

“Should we tell her?” Margaret asked George.

George blinked his approval.

“The Butcher of Green Street,” she said. “He makes cats disappear.”

[Êàðòèíêà: img_5]

Jolley Spirits

MARGARET’S DECLARATION SOURED MY stomach more than the wooly cheese I’d pilfered from the cooling cupboard yesterday. “The Butcher of Green Street,” I repeated. “I gather sausage is not his specialty.”

“Unless you mean cat sausage,” George said.

“Surely you speak in jest,” I said.

“They go in,” Margaret said with a tremor, “but they don’t come out.” She glanced over her shoulder before speaking again. “The black cat disappeared into the Butcher’s house around the quarter moon. Now he’s swinging from a tree. Draw your own conclusions.”

“You said ‘They go in.’ Have there been others?” I asked.

“Yes. It all started with the Water Giants.”

I flicked the end of my tail.“That is utter hyperbole.”

“Hi-purr-bo-lee?” She cocked her head. “I have never heard of it. But I amvery sure of my facts. The Water Giants made the mistake of sleeping on the Butcher’s doorstep one night. The next morning, they were gone. Just ask them if you don’t believe me.”

“If they are gone,” I said, “how can I ask them?”

“Precisely,” George said with a sniff. “After that, other ferals vanished. Always near the Butcher’s home. No one knows what he does with them, but I’ve heard rumors of a cat cookery book—”

“George!” Margaret said. “Gossiping is most unseemly. Our Thaddeus would not approve.”

George dipped his head.

Cat cookery book? No matter how sorry I felt for the black feline, I would not sacrifice my life to give meaning to his. The Poe household, namely Eddy, depended on me, and getting ground into sausage would complicate matters. Moreover, I have never been fond of mustard. And yet…curiosity, the cat, and all of that. “If I wanted to see this human, where would I find him?” I asked.

“A half block down, across the street,” George said. “The one with petunias in the window boxes. Don’t say we didn’t warn you, miss.”

“I will take your words to heart,” I said. “If anything, I now know which house to avoid.”

The door to George and Margaret’s home opened, and Mr. Thaddeus Beal—a drably clothed man with spectacles—summoned them with a kissy sound. George dashed inside. Margaret hesitated. “Give up this pursuit before it’s too late,” she said to me. “Promise you will, Cattarina.”

“I promise. Cat’s honor.” I waited for her to leave then started for home. Though I longed to avenge the tom’s murder, I had met a villain too despicable to hunt.Fancy a Leg of Manx tonight, dear? With mint jelly? No, thank you. I’d much rather dine on Tortie Pot Pie. Cat cookery book, indeed.

As I neared North Seventh, I noted a grey plume rising in the vicinity of home. This new area heralded surprises at every turn. I trotted ahead and rounded the corner, discovering the smoke’s source—the Poe residence. Scents of char and kerosene wafted from the rear of the structure.

Egad, the house was on fire!

Nothing distracted Eddy from writing. Nothing. I envisioned him looking up from his desk, pondering aloud about the warmth of his bedroom floor, and dipping his pen to resume work. Muddy must have fallen asleep at the stove again! I leapt over the picket fence and dashed toward what I feared would be a raging kitchen fire. I collapsed with relief at the small blaze in the kitchen garden.

Clad in her brown checkedeverydaydress, Sissy stood over the burning remnants of the rose print frock she’d worn to market, tending the flames with a rake. Eddy stood next to her, arm around her shoulder. A heap of stones had been piled beneath the morning glory vines in the corner of the yard. The final resting place of the victim, I surmised.

“Mother said it was beyond repair, and Mother would know,” Sissy said.

“I don’t have the means to replace it,” he said, looking at the dress.

“Do not fret, Eddy,” she said. “I would give a hundred gowns to know his soul is at peace. And now that he has a memorial,”—she gestured to the mound of stones—“he will not be forgotten.”

Eddy kissed her forehead.“He willnever be forgotten.”

The breeze lifted a cinder into the air. It popped and flashed, clinging to life, before vanishing into the firmament.

“You are too good for this world, Virginia. Too good.” He tucked his thumbs in his vest pockets. “I will buy you another dress when I can. In the meantime, I will give the black cat a fine eulogy—a story of his own. Will that satisfy you?”

“Yes. Very much.” She smiled, her face wan. “When will you begin?”

“At once,” Eddy said. He looked to me with lifted eyebrows. “Catters? Where have you been?” He snapped his fingers. “Lunch can wait. We have work to do.”

On our way into the house, Eddy tripped on a nail head protruding from the threshold.“Don’t tell Muddy,” he said to me, “or she’ll be after me to fix it.”

We entered and climbed the winding staircase to his writing chamber on the middle floor. Instead of officing in the parlor, as he’d done on Coates, he’d taken to working in solitude. I believed this was for the better. Not only did the eastern window capture more light, it looked out onto a splendid stretch of road. Whenever the ink stopped flowing, he would stand, stretch, and watch the parade of humanity. This gave himthe thrust to finish his work. I, too, loved the view. Swifts would fly in at candle-light, pricking my ears with chatter, and roost inside the chimneys of Spring Garden. I imagined Auntie Sass slinking along the rooftops, hunting them into oblivion.

Eddy lifted the window sash, and I settled onto his desk to supervise the preparations. Two pens he owned: one of common goose, which he used for hasty notes, the other of crow, which he used for manuscripts, official correspondence, and so forth. The crow offered a finer point that made writing in a small, neat hand easier. As expected, he plucked the black quill from its wire holder, withdrew his penknife from his pocket, and shaved the nib to his liking. The scraping lulled me into a purr. Once he’d prepared the instrument, he uncorked the ink, a blackish-brownish liquid that smelled of rust, and laid out a clean piece of paper, cut the day before from a long scroll. The day’s writing could begin.

He dipped his pen and drew marks across the top of the page.“‘The Black Cat,’” he said. “An obvious title but a fitting one, eh, Catters?”

I hopped on his shoulder and surveyed the work. The scrawl looked like a dribbling of weak tea now but would soon dry to a strong, fine brown—the color of Eddy’s hair. I meowed with approval and resumed my spot on the desk. He stroked my back then sat forward to write, completing several lines before stopping again. “Listen, Catters, and tell me if I have captured the requisite voice.” He took up the paper and read aloud: “Forthe most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad am I not—and very surely do I not dream.”

I stretched and yawned, curling my tongue. Life was much too comfortable to pursue a man who made sausage of cats. Although something about the challenge piqued my curiosity. I wondered if I had enough stamina to chase such a villain. Alas, I’d regained some—not all—of the weight I’d lost last fall. Blasted pot roast dinners. It was almost as if Muddywanted me to eat them, the way she left them on the sideboard time and again. I rolled on my back, exposing my ample midsection. Eddy tickled my stomach with his quill, and I batted the feather more out of obligation than interest. I shut my eyes and waited for the pleasant scratch of goose nib on paper once again.

Some period afterward, light played across my eyelids. I awoke to find Eddy slumped in his chair, the penknife—not the quill—between his fingers. He turned the sharp object, catching a ray of sun with the blade. Any other day, his fascination with the knife would have raised little concern. Today, however, was not any other day, not with a one-eyed cat planted in the garden.

“What would possess a man, Cattarina? What?” He looked at me with pained expression. “I could not fathom it, unless…” He placed the penknife in a leather case that he tucked in his jacket pocket. “Come, Catters. Jolley Spirits awaits.”

I accompanied him out of concern, for I did not like Mr. Jolley, nor did I like the effect of Mr. Jolley’s spirits on my companion. They dulled my companion’s wits, a fact apparent to everyone but him. We descended the steps and entered the kitchen where he cobbled together bread, cheese, and ham pulled from the cooling cabinet. He finished by heaping the concoction with a generous portion of mustard and sour pickle.

Sissy poked her head into the room, embroidery hoop in hand.“I see you have an appetite, my love.”

“I have a great thirst as well.”

“For water?”

Eddy chuckled.

“For words?”

Eddy did not answer. He wrapped his sandwich in a kitchen cloth, folding and tying it with great consideration. From the attention he gave the bundle, I would have thought it no less important than a manuscript.

Sissy’s gaze fell to the floor. “When will you be back?”

Eddy tied the top of the cloth and headed for the back door.“Before dinner. I swear it.” He held up his hand in oath. “Catters will keep me out of trouble. Do not worry.”

Sissy regarded me, her jaw clenched. This winter, I had become not just her nursemaid but also his. Like the morning glory vines in the back garden, Eddy and Sissy’s woes grew in tangles, each pulling the other down, until the couple’s fate became inseparably entwined: the sicker Sissy grew, the more broken Eddy became; the more broken Eddy became, the sicker Sissy grew. It was enough to drive a cat mad.

“Very well,” she said. “If you must.”

***

Eddy and I arrived at Jolley Spirits, a tavern on Spring Garden. Trimmed by a ripped awning, the single-story eyesore sat amongst newer, taller edifices, and had—of all things—a stable out back. The interior was no less squalid. We took our usual table near the window. The air smelled faintly of horse dung, a scent I attributed to someone’s boots. From the crumb-covered tabletop, I assessed the crowd. Men with sooty faces—rowdies from the rail depot—had gathered around the bar. They shouted and slapped one another’s backs in a manner most aggressive, disturbing a table of dark-suited gentlemen in the back. Despite occasional jeers from both sides, spirits flowed, and a war between the camps seemed unlikely. I thought about starting one later for my own amusement.

Eddy untied his kitchen bundle.“Sissy worries about me, Catters,” he said in a low voice. “But it isI who should do the worrying, don’t you think?” He lifted the sandwich to take a bite. “Virginia was so…despondent when we left and over a trivial matter.” His face soured. “Curses, I have lost my appetite again.” He shrouded his lunch with the cloth, laying it to rest. “I am certain it is ‘The Black Cat.’”

I recognized these words from our writing session. Had he been referring to this morning’s feline? Or his story? I couldn’t be sure. Either way, I was glad the tom’s death still occupied his mind because it had yet to leave mine. I thought about the killer—the Butcher of Green Street—while I groomed my haunches.

“At any rate, I cannot seem to—” Eddy stopped mid-sentence when Mr. Jolley, the barkeep, arrived with a glass of port wine.

“How is my best customer?” Mr. Jolley asked. A hideous old man with fewer teeth than fingers, he’d outlived most humans. He set the drink before Eddy and reached for me with a spotted hand. Blue veins bulged beneath his thinning skin. I flattened my ears and growled, letting the pitch rise tomatch my agitation. He heeded the warning and withdrew. Common sense may have been his lone attribute. “Your cat is most peculiar, Mr. Poe,” he said.

Eddy slid a coin across the table then took a draught of wine before speaking.“Peculiar, yes.Most peculiar? Good sir, you have not met my mother-in-law.”

Mr. Jolley chuckled, dabbing the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. His dark suit smelled of cedar and dust.“I have seen Maria Clemm on the street, and she is a fetching woman.”

“Sheis rather good at retrieving,” Eddy said.

Mr. Jolley’s chuckle turned into a belly laugh. “Oh, Mr. Poe, I beg you! Stop at once!”

“It is all in jest,” Eddy said. “I could not do without dear Muddy. She is my salvation.” He finished his wine and set the glass down with finality.

He pointed to the empty vessel.“Another?”

Eddy hesitated.

“How is your magazine coming?”

“No longer thePenn, it is theStylus, revived and restyled under better auspices. And while thePioneer and others like it have collapsed, theStylus is in capable hands.”

“Is that right?” Mr. Jolley held onto the back of a nearby chair. “I read Mr. Clark withdrew his support. Unless theSaturday Museum prints lies these days.”

Eddy shifted in his seat.

“Let me get that refill,” Mr. Jolley said, hobbling away. “Good afternoon, Mr. Arnold!” he shouted to a departing patron. “Give my best to Tabitha!”

Mr. Arnold, the cobbler of Franklin Street, sneered in reply. A coarse man with a bulbous nose, he slumped more than walked. One could argue that his frame had been sewn of wet burlap. And, dear me, his sun-worn skin needed polishing more than the boots in his shop. When he passed our table, he jerked one of the empty chairs, startling us both. I flattened my ears and hissed.“What are you looking at?” he bellowed. “Well? Answer me!”

“Nothing, sir. I pride myself on minding my business,” Eddy said. He must have responded on my behalf since Mr. Arnold had addressed me, not him.

“People shouldn’t bring animals into public houses.” He spat tobacco on the floor near our table. “It’s not sanitary.” His crazed laughter lasted all the way out the door. “It’s not sanitary!” he shouted again before crossing the street.

“That fellow is corned, Catters, from top to tail. No wonder Mrs. Arnold stays ill-humored.”

In a fashion, Mr. Jolley brought another glass of port. Once Eddy finished it, the old man returned with yet another, walking more briskly than I would have guessed his age would allow.

“No, Mr. Jolley,” Eddy said. He held up his hand in refusal. “I have had enough.”

EvenI, humble cat that I am, understood his answer. Mr. Jolley, however, did not, or rather pretended he did not. With a gummy smile, he set the drink in front of my companion and left. The barkeep gave me many reasons to hate him, but this bested them all. Josef, the server at Shakey House Tavern, always heeded Eddy’s wishes. I’d even seen him refuse Eddy when my friend’s gait grew uncertain or his speech slurred. Not Mr. Jolley. He cared more for coins than people.

Eddy sipped the blood-hued liquid and watched a couple on the street. The youngsters strolled past the tavern windows, elbows linked beneath a shared parasol. How rosy their cheeks; how gay their steps! The woman laughed with nary a cough and tugged her beau toward an oyster vendor across the way. Eddy’s gaze fell to his wine glass. When the rising chatter of patrons interrupted his contemplation, he took the penknife from his pocket again.

As he toyed with the blade, his expression changed from one of concentration to one of despair, signaling the return of his melancholy. As they’d done so many times before, clouds overtook him, dampening his spirits with unremitting drizzle. This came as no surprise. One cannot hide from the tempest when it resides in one’s heart. Yet changing the weather was as easy—or as hard—as stoking his imagination. I’d learned this duringour last adventure.

“What state of mind must a man possess to commit this morning’s atrocity?” Eddy placed the object on the table next to me for my perusal. I sniffed it, detecting the scent of crow—nothing out of the ordinary. “An enraged state, an altered state…” He picked up the glass again and held it to the sunlight, casting a dappled reflection on the table. “I still do not know how anyone with a right mind could kill a cat,” he said to me.

Kill a cat.

Grasping tail in teeth, I worked on a cocklebur I’d picked up in the market. Constable Harkness wouldn’t likely jail a cat killer. But tracking down the murderer and involving Eddy in the hunt would blow away the storm. Sissy, too, might be cheered by our exertions. Nevertheless, one thing prevented my endorsement: the cat cookery book. I stood and stretched, anticipating the arrival of Mr. Jolley. To banish the pall over the Poe family, I would immerse us in the mystery of the hanged cat.

As I sharpened my claws on the table, I questioned whether or not I had the speed and tenacity to bring down a human again. Winter feasting had given me a roundish, fattish shape, akin to a lump of dough—a detriment to fieldwork. If I couldn’t shake my sloth, I might end up on the Butcher’s plate next to boiled turnips. The floorboards vibrated. I turned to find the old raisin nearing with more blasted refreshment.

I crouched.

“Here you are, Mr. P—”

I flew at Mr. Jolley’s face, scratching and clawing with my own set of penknives. He dropped the glass—my objective—and held his arm aloft. This protected his rheumy eyes and little else. With unusual vengeance, I latched onto the limb, shredding the thin skin of his elbow like newspaper. He would not serve another drink to Eddy tonight, maybe not even tomorrow. I withdrew and waited by the door for a swift exit.

Mr. Jolley slipped and skated on the bloody port pooling underfoot, unable to gain his balance.“Get out!” he screamed. “You and that damnable cat, get out!”

The rail yard rowdies and the gentleman laughed, united in his ridicule.

Eddy grabbed his penknife and tucked it away.“Shall I come back tomorrow?”

“Out!” Mr. Jolley clutched his injured arm and fell into a chair.

We departedfull chisel, leaving Jolley Spirits behind. Cookery book be damned. Catching the Butcher would be no problem for a cat like me.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_6]

Cat Cookery for Beginners

I ACCOMPANIED EDDY AS far as our front garden and waited for him to enter before skittering back to Green Street. With extreme care, I approached the house with the window boxes—a little down, a little across from the Franklin cut-through—stopping short at the neighboring brownstone. From the holly bushes next door, I surveyed the Butcher’s lair. His bottom floor windows hung open, and the curtains billowed in and out with the draft. Trim garden, new paint, clean walkway—I found nothing awry, save for wilting petunias. The dwelling looked innocuous enough. But then, so had the Glass Eye Killer’s, and the dangers that lurked behind his door had been genuine.

Margaret’s caution returned as I slunk into the open. “He makes cats disappear,” she’d said. I dismissed it and hopped the low wrought iron fence surrounding the Butcher’s property. A cage large enough for a parrot sat to the right of the front door, but the contraption was empty, lacking perch, seed cup, and, chiefly, a feathered occupant. A horse and carriage rolled by on the cobblestones,clackety-clack, startling me. When I faced the house again, a figure loomed in the window beyond the curtain veil.

I froze.

When my legs could hold their position no longer, I disappeared into a cluster of zinnias, stirring a patch of butterflies. The Butcher would leave at some point and walk by the flower patch, giving me access to his ankle. A well-placed strike to this area would incapacitate him. I flexed my claws. Once he fell, his eye would be mine. I swatted the last remaining butterfly, scraping it into paste. Street justice was a concept most familiar to an ex-feral like me. And then I thought of Eddy and the scorn he would heap upon this act of retribution.

In the twitch of a whisker, I’d sunk to a place unbefitting a cat of my status, a cat who cohabitated with an esteemed man of letters. I lowered my chin to my paws. While the Butcher deserved a punishment equal to one he’d doled out, I would bring him to his knees and nothing more.

The hinges cried as the front door swung open. My stomach tightened.“Heeeere kitty, kitty,” the Butcher called. His voice cracked from strain or disuse, I could not tell which. This much I knew: the zinnia patch had grown smaller. Or maybe I had grown larger. Both were possible. “Heeeere kitty, kitty.” He descended the stone steps to the garden.

The flowers obstructed my view of his face, though from his gait I judged him to be a man of advanced years. Considering my success with Mr. Jolley, I had less to fear than I’d originally thought. I unsheathed my claws and lifted my paw to assault the oldster. I would be home for tea.

“There’s a pretty kitty,” he said. He stopped at the flower patch, casting me in a crooked shadow. It was the man with the bent spine.

I spat in terror, not at his outstretched hands but at the object between them—a net.

***

The struggle had been epic—a vicious roiling of claws and teeth and tail—and one, I dare say, worthy of Eddy’s pen, yet it belonged to me alone. Once the Butcher threw the net, he stood aside and let me wind deeper into the ropes until even my whiskers could not wiggle. What a sight I must have been—Philadelphia’sonly ball of yarn with a cat inside. After I surrendered, he scooped me up and dumped me into the large birdcage next to the front door. TheGazette lined the bottom of the prison, completing the indignity. What next? A cup of seeds?

The Butcher knelt and appraised me. A wave of white hair and beard covered much of his face, though his eyes remained bright. The faded green of winter grass, they shone beneath his hooded lids, suggesting a quick mind. He stood and picked up my cage with some effort.“Oh, me, you’re a heavy thing, aren’t you? They’re feeding you well.”

He took me inside where he placed me on the kitchen table next to a cutting board of diced onion and carrot. A pot of water boiled on the stove. Queasiness replaced hunger when I realized the scoundrel meant to serve me for dinner. I imagined myself, tied up like a pot roast, surrounded by vegetables. In a panic, I pawed the latch to free myself.

The Butcher bent the wire hook and fastened the cage door tighter.“Not to worry, pretty kitty.” He chuckled. “I’ll take you out when it’s time to eat.”

I settled into the corner of my enclosure and watched as he retrieved a leather-bound notebook and a stick of charred wood from the cupboard. He sat down at the table, flipped to a new page in his book, and started to sketch. I assumedI was the subject of his portrait since a handsome cat with patches of light and dark fur and the most exquisite ears took shape beneath the charcoal. To finish, he scribbled a series of notes beneath the drawing. I could not read them, of course…I swished my tail. Great Cat Above! I had been entered into the cookery book!

[Êàðòèíêà: img_7]

The Water Giants

HORRIFIED BY THE CAT cookery book, I lurched against the cage, thinking to knock it sideways and break it open. The Butcher responded by depositing my prison beneath the table and draping a large kitchen cloth over its top. I thumped my tail. I was a cat, nay, atortoiseshell cat, and I would not be hidden away like a noisy parakeet. There I keened with great volume:yoooow, yoooow, yoooow, yoooow. I hoped George and Margaret would heed the call since they—not Eddy—lived close enough to hear it.

“Hush now, pretty kitty,” he said. “Just a little longer.”

The Butcher’s admonishment mattered not, and I continued to wail, stopping only when he banged lid and pot together. Alarmed by the noise, I ceased and prayed for deliverance. I imagined Eddy at the kitchen table, drinking tea and eating gingersnaps, his shirtfront full of crumbs. With the strong connectionbetween us, my visions usually heldsome veracity of mood, if not manner, so it jarred me to picture him joking with Sissy and Muddy, giving no thought to my whereabouts. Who could blame him after my spat with Mr. Jolley? I crouched in the corner, remaining quiet lest the Butcher bang another pot.

Come sundown, the Poe household would suffer if I weren’t there to help Muddy with the leftovers, warm Sissy’s lap, or coax another page of writing from Eddy. The Butcher tossed another log into the woodstove. Come sundown,I would suffer. I had but one option left: wait until the cage door opened and come out fighting like Auntie Sass. If the old manwere to make a meal of me, he would earn it.

For an agonizing period, I listened to the clink of teacups and the clatter of cupboard doors as the Butcher prepared for the feast. The cadence of his footfall created music upon the floorboards that would have soothed me in brighter circumstances. Now the vibrations jarred my muscles, plucking them like the strings of Sissy’s old harp. Just when I’d become accustomed to his steps, they increased in speed, traversed the kitchen, and faded from hearing. “Goodbye, Silas! Goodbye, Samuel!” he called.

Silasand Samuel? To whom did these names belong? The Butcher’s offspring? The wondering petrified me more than the knowing.

The front door opened and closed.

The house fell quiet, save for the crackle of the woodstove.

Clever Butcher. He’d said these names as a ruse to keep me inside my cage. He hadn’t counted on my tenacity. I reached my paw through the bars to try the latch again. The wire held fast. A second and third try yielded disappointment as well. I’d just begun to study the lock when paws padded toward me. Silas and Samuel? I ducked low to see beneath the kitchen cloth, but dash-it-all, the fabric reached the floor. I sniffed through the bars, detecting toms of middle age, perhaps from the same litter. If they supported the Butcher as I did Eddy, crisis had just given way to calamity.

“Should we say hello, Silas?” the first tom asked.

“It would be rude not to, Samuel,” the other said.

Silence.

“Well, aren’t you going to say something?” Samuel said.

“Oh, I thoughtyou were going to say something,” Silas said.

A sneeze. More silence.

“Won’tsomeone speak?” I said.

A large cat ducked beneath the kitchen cloth. Dark and light gray stripes graced his fur, and tufts of white adorned his chest and underbelly, giving his coat a dapper suit-and-shirtfront pattern. Large did not begin to describe him. I had never seen a cat of such grandiose proportion. And his ears! Fur tipped their ends, swooping them even higher than mine, like those of a lynx. Had I not been scared, I would have been envious.“Hello,” he said to me. “I am Samuel.”

“Please,” I begged him, “let me out before the man comes back and cooks me.”

Samuel cocked his head.“Cooks you?”

Silas joined us beneath the cloth. His markings were almost identical to Samuel’s, save for white-tipped toes. “Cooks you?” Silas repeated. “No, no, no. He does not cook cats. He has another end in mind. He’s going to—”

The front door opened and closed.

“Our Robert returns,” Samuel said to Silas. “To the parlor, brother. At once!”

The two toms vanished from view.

“Go? Wait! What fate? What fate!” I shouted after them.

Two humans entered the kitchen, one with the gait of the old man, one with a lighter step. Splendid. A dinner party. With renewed vigor, I reached a paw through the bars and tried to bat the lock open one last time. When that failed, I sank my teeth into the metal. Imagine my surprise when a hand snatched the cloth from my cage.

“There you are, Cattarina!” Sissy said. Her face burned red beneath her bonnet. The walk to Green Street had winded her. “I’m glad you are safe.”

Sissy, dear Sissy! I yowled to state my displeasure. Then I yowled again, varying the intonation to let her know I unabashedly approved of her presence. The Butcher pulled my enclosure into the open and set it on the tabletop again. He motioned Sissy to a chair and took one for himself, placing his leather-bound cookery book on the table.

“I can’t thank you enough, Mr. Eakins,” Sissy said. She untied the strings of her bonnet and removed it. “Cattarina wanders off with some frequency, causing my husband undue worry.” She smoothed her hair into place.

“You do not worry?”

“No.” She winked at me. “Cattarina is a first-rate gadabout.”

“In any event, I’m glad to be of service. To all cats.” He wiggled a finger inside my cage.

It took some restraint, but I didn’t bite him. Doing so now would complicate matters, as it had done with Mr. Jolley. So I sniffed his hand instead. Great Cat Above! The Butcher’s scent varied from the one on the rope, which meant he hadn’t hung the black tom. I had been so preoccupied that I hadn’t noticed before. While this conclusion reassured me, I had, nevertheless, drawn it from parrot prison.

“Cats are your business, aren’t they, Mr. Eakins?” Sissy wiped a bit of sweat from her neck with a handkerchief. “That is what I heard on the street today.”

“You heard right.” His eyes crinkled at the corners. “Tea?”

“Yes, please.”

Tea? The woman had lost her faculties. Could she not fathom my predicament? I was a captive, for kitty’s sake.

The Butcher—or Mr. Eakins?—crossed to the cook stove and poured hot water from the once-boiling pot into two waiting cups. He returned with their refreshments, taking a seat once more. “I have no cream or sugar, Mrs. Poe. Please accept my apologies. My meager income is spent on my…business, as you say.”

Sissy took the cup from him and placed it on the table.“That’s a lovely book you showed me earlier. The one with Cattarina’s sketch.”

“Oh, me, yes,” he said. “It’s taken years of meticulous work.” He, too, set his teacup aside and reached for his notebook. “Every cat I rescue gets a page. I sketch their picture and make notes about their health, the location in which I discovered them, any distinguishing marks, and soon before I find them a new home. It’s quite consuming. Philadelphia is overrun with the creatures.” He opened the book to my entry and handed it to Sissy with a shaky hand. “Now that I’m too old to work for Mr. Lansing—I was a law clerk, you know—I spend my days on this. It keeps me from thinking too much about Mrs. Eakins, God rest her soul.”

“So the cat hanging this morning…”

“Shocking.”

She flashed her teeth.“You had nothing to do with it!”

“Dear, me, no. In fact, just talking about it upsets my stomach. I feel partly to blame.”

“Why? Because despite saving so many strays you couldn’t save the one?”

Mr. Eakins hesitated.“As I said, Mrs. Poe, I’d rather not talk about it.”

“You have done enough good in this world. Let that be of comfort.” She thumbed through the book, perusing a few sketches before shutting it. “Mr. Eakins, I’m glad we crossed paths.”

“As am I. I knew the tortoiseshell belonged to you because I saw you out with her this morning. She’s a pretty thing, isn’t she?” He unhitched the latch and opened the cage door.

I flew onto Sissy’s lap, anchoring my claws into the brown checked fabric of her dress. Sweet freedom at last! She laid her hand on my back to comfort me, and I settled at once into the folds of her skirt, shifting to an uneasy calm. To make my position clear, I turned my ears back and fixed the old man with a stare. I would not suffer the cage again.

Before long, Silas and Samuel trotted into the room, their fat tails bobbing behind them. Sissy touched her collarbone.“Mr. Eakins, those are the largest felines I have ever seen. They are as big as bobcats. And their tails! Why, they look like feather dusters!” She replaced his book on the table and leaned forward to study the pair.

“They are from Maine, Mrs. Poe. Do you like them?” When she nodded, Mr. Eakins added, “They are called Coon Cats. If you think they’re special now, just wait.” He retrieved a bucket of well water from the bottom of the cupboard and set it in front of Silas and Samuel. They took no interest. “Prepare to be fascinated,” he told Sissy. At this, he produced a jug cork from his pocket and floated it on top of the liquid, giving it a spin to set it moving.

To my bewilderment, Silas and Samuel dipped their paws into the bucket and played with the cork, batting it as one might a fish. Before long, water covered the floor, even dampening their tails with the vile liquid. I shuddered at the thought of it between my toes. How much grooming would it take to put them to rights again? When my paws tingled at the thought, I licked them. Why, Silas and Samuel might not even be cats at all. They might be— I looked again to the brothers. I had found the Water Giants mentioned by George and Margaret. Mr. Thaddeus Beal’s companions had been right, or partly right, about the cookery book as well. But they had been wrong about the old man. The Butcher was nothing more than a false goliath built of rumor and dread.

“Hello,” Samuel said to me. He shook the water from his paws and hopped to Mr. Eakin’s lap, engulfing his companion in a mat of fur and bones.

Sissy and Mr. Eakins continued their conversation, which we ignored.

“Why didn’t you tell me before that Mr. Eakins meant no harm?” I asked Samuel.

“No one is ever in danger here,” he said. “I thought you knew that.” He looked to Silas. The other tom had fished the cork from the bucket and was chewing it to crumbles. “She didn’t know, brother,” Samuel said to him. “Brother?”

Silas turned his back to us and finished killing the cork.

“Don’t mind him,” Samuel said to me. “Once you do away with all the mice, that leaves little else to hunt.”

“The feeling is familiar.” I thought about telling him of my escapades but decided against it. The City of Brotherly Love had room for only one feline ratiocinator. “Mr. Eakins took you in and gave you a home?”

“Yes, a very good one. We don’t leave much. He thinks it best that we stay inside. But we sneak out on occasion. Mostly at night.”

“And the book he keeps?”

“It’s a record of all the feral cats he’s rescued over the seasons.” Samuel jumped to the table and pawed the notebook open. “There are many pictures. Too many to count.”

I joined him and looked over his shoulder at the sketches.“And what becomes of them?”

“He finds them homes, of course.”

“What do you know about the hanged cat this morning?”

Samuel crooked his tail.“What hanged cat? We do not get out much.”

With Samuel’s next swipe, the book fell open to the middle. A tom with luxurious fur and a white mark on his chest stared back at me from the page, his coat the color of…Midnight. My old pal from Rittenhouse did not come from noble lineage, as he’d once said. He’d been born feral, like me, the cad.

Sissy picked me up and laid me over her shoulder like a fox stole.“Thank you again, Mr. Eakins. I don’t know how I can repay your kindness.”

“You have repaid it by giving Cattarina a good home.” He showed us to front the door.

Samuel followed, scampering behind Sissy.“What was the black cat’s name?” I asked him. “The one with the white mark on his chest?”

“Mr. Eakins named him Crow because he was as black as—”

“Yes, how fitting,” I said. This very afternoon, I would confront Midnight about his lies. He would soon eat an uncomfortable portion of his namesake.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_8]

RittenhouseRedux

WHAT NERVE MIDNIGHT HAD, masquerading as a house-born cat when he’d sprung from the gutter like me. Our relationship commenced last fall when I was but a fledgling crime solver. I’d tracked my quarry, the Glass Eye Killer, as far as Rittenhouse Square before running out of clues and ideas. That’s when I happened upon Midnight—a chance meeting that led to, I am loath to admit, an infatuation. He dazzled me with kittenhood tales of velvet pillows, everlasting tuna, and silken collars, and in my naivet?, I believed every word. Having spent my formative years as a stray, living in a wooden crate behind Osgood’s Odd Goods, I was in no position to judge the veracity of his stories. Looking back, his proclivity for thefthad hinted at a less than fortuitous upbringing. I’d just been too enamored to notice.

As the omnibus turned the corner of North 9th onto Spring Garden, I thought of the ancient proverb: scratch me once, shame on you; scratch me twice, shame on me. I would not be scarred by Midnight again. The long four-horse carriage stopped at the curb near my paws.

“Afternoon, Miss Puss,” Mr. Coal said from the driver’s perch. His top hat swallowed his small head, and the size difference caused the hat to wobble when he spoke. “You’re looking well today. Catch any good mice lately?” I did not know Mr. Coal’s true name. Rather, I’d assigned it based on his route. He worked the black line, Mr. Goldenrod worked the yellowish line, Mr. Sky worked the blue line and so forth. Endearing myself to the city’s omnibus drivers had been easy; a plaintive mew, a blink of my eyes, and they were mine, present company included. “Mind your step,” he said, working the door lever.

I boarded the horse-bus and walked between a preponderance of legs, looking for a seat. After realizing the joys of transportation last autumn, I became a public transit devotee. Yes, yes, the cobblestones rattled a body, tail to teeth. But, oh, the convenience! The journey to Rittenhouse by paw would have taken until sundown, and I had neither the patience nor the stamina to see it through. I found a seat next to a bespectacled woman with a pheasant plume on her bonnet. The slender brown feathers fluttered in the open window behind her as the carriage lurched forward. Despite the gaiety of her hat, however, the woman’s face had all the charm of a pitted prune.

She leaned out of the window and shouted to Mr. Coal,“Driver, why does the cat ride free? I demand to know, where’sher dime?”

“I asked her for fare once, missus.” Mr. Coal’s voice floated in through the window. “She tried to carve me like a Sunday ham. But you go right ahead and get the money from her. I’d be much obliged.”

“Dear me,” the woman muttered. She rose and took a new seat, squeezing between two gentlemen in the rear of the coach. This suited me, and I settled into the rhythm of the horses’ steps. By and by, their cadence calmed me, lessening my need for blood. I would engage Midnight in a battle of wits, not claws, I decided. It took two transfers to reach my destination, but I made it to Rittenhouse near teatime.

I yowled to be let off and disembarked, taking in the familiar smell of the place. The odor of limestone and new construction prompted memories, both good and bad. I could not say I missed this neighborhood, not as I did Fairmount. I set out for Midnight’s imposing townhome, reaching it several blocks later. Climbing the steps the wide stone porch, I began a campaign of vocalizations until a small child answered my call. Her blonde curls sprang from her head like a bird’s nest. If memory served, this was Sarah, the miniature mistress of the house. In her arms, she carried a baby swaddled in a tapestry shawl with black fringe all around.

The girl knelt and patted me on the head, giving me a peek inside the bundle she carried. My first assessment had been incorrect. She held not a baby but a large grey kitten with a shiny ribbon tied round her neck. The tabby’s permanent teeth poked jaggedly through her gums, as if they hadn’t had an opportunity to grow in yet.

“You’re cute,” Sarah said to me. “Do you have a home? Would you like to come in? We’re playing house, and Lovie needs a sissy.” She bounced the kitten-baby in her arms.

Sissy? Could she have met Mrs. Poe? I doubted it.“I am looking for Midnight,” I said to the kitten. “Does he still live here?”

“For the time being.”

“Then will you get him for me?”

“He is napping,” the kitten said with a touch of boredom.

“He is a cat,” I said. “He isalways napping, you supercilious scrap of fur. Now retrieve him at once, or I will reach into that blanket and—”

“Cattarina?” Midnight padded onto the porch. Sunlight glistened on his long black fur, lending him a regal air I found irresistible, even today. He still wore the blue ribbon round his neck, the one I remembered from our last visit, but it had frayed at the edges.

“Oh,” Sarah said, “she’s come foryou,handsome boy.” She leapt to her feet and sang, “Midnight’s got a sweetheart. Midnight’s got a sweetheart.” She skipped into the house with her kitten-baby. As the door swung shut, the grey fur ball gave me a direct stare, ears tipped sideways. What insolence.

“A matched pair,” I said to Midnight. “Good riddance.”

“Sarah used to dote on me, until Lovie showed up,” he said to me. “But enough about them. Let’s talk about you and where you’ve been the last six moons.” He sat on his hindquarters and puffed his chest fur, displaying the white patch over his breastbone—the most glaring difference between him and the murdered cat. “I tried to visit you last winter, but your pal at Eastern State Penitentiary—”

“Big Blue?”

“Yes, that’s him. He couldn’t say where you’d gone.”

I turned my nose to the sky.“You kept busy with other mollies, I am certain.”

“None like you, Cattarina.”

I paused to consider my strategy, settling on Circle and Pounce.“Perhaps my charm comes from a feral upbringing.”

“Maybe.”

“You and I are different, aren’t we, Midnight? You have never known the hardships of street life. I, on the other hand, know them too well.” I circled him, treading with slow, soft steps.

“Well…yes. But don’t feel bad. Not everyone is fed from a silver spoon at birth.”

“And what, pray tell, came on your silver spoon?”

“Oh, you know…the usual.”

“Minced lamb? Creamed tuna? Bacon drippings?” I circled tighter.

“Of course.”

“Ha!” I spat. “Lie upon lie upon lie!”

“What are you talking about?”

I faced him, hackles raised.“Why didn’t you tell me you were born a stray, Midnight? Or should I call you Crow?”

His pale eyes shone bright, twin moons against his dark fur.“H-how did you find out?”

“Silas and Samuel, my new neighbors.” I walked to the edge of the stoop and wrapped my tail around me. “I am sure you are acquainted with their caretaker, Mr. Eakins.”

“Yes, I know Mr. Eakins. If not for him, I would probably be dead by now.”

Like the cat in the tree. I dismissed the thought.“Then why did you hide the truth, particularly when we share the same heritage? To humiliate me?”

“What? No! To impress you.” He joined me on the top stair. “Therehave been other mollies, Cattarina, but none with your…fire.”

“Ido have fire, don’t I?” I unwrapped my tail and cast it lazily upon the steps.

“Yes,” he said. “Enough to burn down the whole of Philadelphia.”

“And my ears. Do you like them? I think they are my best feature.”

“They are, without a doubt, your best feature.”

We brushed cheeks. All was forgiven.

“So you came all the way to Rittenhouse to catch me in a lie?” Midnight said. “I’m flattered.”

“No, of course not,” I countered. Many untruths had been told this afternoon; I did not mind adding to their number. “My purpose lies with another stray, hanged this very morning near Green Street. To find the tom’s executioner, I must learn his identity. So I am speaking to as many of our kind as possible in the hope that someone knows something. He looked a little like you but all black. On the small, scrawny side with a single orange eye. I shan’t tell you about the other eye.”

Midnight swallowed.“When you say orange, do you mean pumpkin or copper?”

“I don’t see what difference—”

“Please!”

“Very well, copper-ish.”

“If it’s who I think it is, the cat’s name is Snip. I hadn’t thought about him in…” He stared at a passing wagon filled with anthracite. “Well, it’s been ages. We met during our stay with Mr. Eakins. The old man placed me in a home first, and I never thought about him or that old life until today.” He sighed. “Funny little tom. Always worked for the laugh. He ran loops around the Coon Cats. Loved to spill their water dish and watch them play in the mess. He wasquite the entertainer.” Midnight faced me, his eyes narrowed. “I hope you find who killed him, Cattarina.”

“As do I.” I arose and paced the stoop. “The black cat— I mean, Snip’s death has proved most discomforting to Sissy, the mistress of Poe House. And my Eddy can scarcely think of anything else. I am hunting for them, you see, as well as Snip.”

“Now who’s the liar, Cattarina?” Midnight said. “I see the excitement in your tail.”

I looked back at the aforementioned item and found it sticking straight in the air. I lowered it, dusting the limestone.“Very well. Itis exhilarating to hunt for big game. But my family is no less the reason. Nor is retribution for a fallen brother.”

“Maybe I can help,” he said. “When you called on your neighbors, Silas and Samuel, did you happen to see a large leather-bound book in their home?”

“The cookery book?”

Midnight cocked his head.

“Never mind. I know of it.”

“Midnight!” Sarah screeched from the front hall. “Let’s play hopscotch!” The sound of her voice flattened Midnight’s ears. It had a similar effect on me, driving me back to the steps.

“Mr. Eakins scribbles things inside it,” he said quickly.

“That’s what humans do,” I said. “It’s how they communicate. Though I cannot read the marks, they are of great importance to Eddy.”

“It’s possible Mr. Eakins wrote about Snip’s new owners in the book.” The door opened, banging against the inside wall. Sarah snatched Midnight under the ribcage, his back legs dangling. “Find Snip’s entry, and find your answers,” he wheezed. “Charmed to see you, Cattarina. Do come ag—”

The door slammed, cutting our conversation short. Fiddlesticks. I longed to heed his advice, except the memory of this morning’s capture troubled me. Then I had to overcome the small problem of my illiteracy, at least in the ways of human writing. Even if I located the book, its contents would be indecipherable. I arched my back, releasing the crick in my spine, and left for the omnibus stop.

The carriage trip home gave me an opportunity to reflect on Midnight’s advice, enough so that when I reached Spring Garden, I’d talked myself into visiting Mr. Eakins. Heading north, I reached the Butcher’s dwelling and climbed to his kitchen windowsill. I peered through the glass. The old man sat at the dining table, charcoal twig in hand, doodling in his leather-boundcat-pendium. Dash it all. Before I could snoop for clues, Mr. Eakins would have to set his drawing aside, a difficult task given the allure of the feline form. I watched him a while longer, fascinated by the movement of his hand on the paper. Eddy usually frowned as he worked; I think it helped him. But Mr. Eakins smiled—a fool’s grin, toothy and without reason—as he sketched. The task consumed him such that the folly of his Coon Cats passed unnoticed.

Behind him, Silas and Samuel crept to the sideboard where they plundered a near-empty soup pot. The brothers took turns, each allowing the other a few licks of broth. It was a polite affair until Silas—in a fit of gluttony—butted Samuel out of the way, jumped into the vessel, and upended himself by accident. His back legs punched the air as he tried to extract himself from the stew he’d gotten himself into.Stew. I twitched my whiskers, pleased with the pun. Samuel elected to escape trouble and dashed into the parlor out of view.

Mr. Eakins laid down his twig and closed his book. When he rose to help Silas, he brushed the tablecloth with his leg, revealing the cage hidden beneath it. I could not be an inmate of parrot prison again! Terrified, I leapt to the ground and ran straight home. There had to be another way to help Snip.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_9]

For Sale: One Muse

“THAT IS NO WAY to hammer a nail,” Muddy said. She stood under the western eave, surveying her son-in-law’s handiwork. Eddy, meanwhile, had removed one of his shoes and was using it to chastise the threshold. He brought it down repeatedly on the board, much to Muddy’s consternation. “You’ll never fix it,” she said.

I approached them, fresh from Mr. Eakins’s house, to observe the undertaking.

“Iwill fix it,” Eddy said. “You will see.” He raised his shoe again, laces swaying, and smacked a protruding nail head. Everyone in Poe House had either tripped over the errant barb or snagged clothing on it since moving here this spring. Though physical labor disagreed with my companion, he persisted in amanner most enthusiastic. Sweat formed on his brow, and his hair flopped forward into his eyes.Smack! Smack! With every blow of his shoe, he grunted.

“I told you,” Muddy said. “It will never work. You need something harder.”

“Your head, perhaps,” Eddy muttered under his breath. He struck the nail again.

“A shoe is no substitute for a hammer,” she said.

“We don’thave a hammer, Mother,” Sissy called from the open kitchen door. “And the Poyners aren’t home, so we can’t borrow one from them.”

“Then tell your husband to buy one.” Muddy crossed her arms over her stomach and addressed Eddy. “I’m sure the Irishman deals on credit.” She turned and disappeared into the house.

Eddy stood and slipped his foot into his shoe.“Catters, old girl, why don’t we visit Fitz together?” He reached to stroke my back, releasing a puff of fur. “Muddy won’t let up until the nail is fixed. What’s more, ‘The Black Cat’ isn’t coming along like I’d hoped. I think fresh air and a trip to the store would help with both. But we’d better hurry. He’s closing soon.”

We journeyed down Minerva, the westward sun on our faces. As we walked, I recalled the day’s events: a murder, a catnapping, a romantic rekindling. Why, I’d had enough adventure to last the summer! I glanced at Eddy, his dark silhouette a comfort. The life he provided was thrilling enough; did I need to seek diversion elsewhere? No, in this happy moment, I was content to leave the affairs of the black cat to the black cat himself.

The feeling lasted until we reached the sassafras tree.

Snip’s body had long since been removed, yet sorrow marred the courtyard, thickening the air like chowder. I pictured the little tom, running circles around Silas and Samuel, working, as Midnight said, for the laugh. I swished my tail. I could not overlook his murder now that I’d come to know him. But I needed to find a way to help that didn’t involve Mr. Eakins.

Eddy entered Fitzgerald Hardware with a spry hop. Humans were a pitiable species, but I envied their dull senses at times like these. I stepped inside the narrow store, pausing behind my friend. Glass cases stocked with an assortment of nails, metal fittings, and hinges lined the space. Atop the cabinetry, more items had been arranged: lanterns, tin funnels, boxes of gunpowder, downspouts, cast iron spiders…almost too much to behold. We found Mr. Fitzgerald in the back, dusting a row of pot-bellied stoves. The floorboards creaked, announcing our arrival.

“Afternoon, Mr. Poe.” Mr. Fitzgerald laid down his duster and winked at me. “If you’ve come for thecraic about the cat, sir, I don’t know a thing about it.”

My ear flicked at the mention ofcat.

“No, Mr. Fitzgerald, this call is strictly business.” Eddy clasped his hands behind his back. “I’m in need of a hammer. Do you carry them?”

“I have claw, mallet, sledge, tinner’s… What kind are you looking for?”

“The kind that punishes nails.”

“I have just the one.” The man stepped behind a long glass case and pointed to a row of tools inside. I joined the men, hopping to the counter to peruse the objects below me. I was no expert, but they looked better at pounding nails than Eddy’s shoe. The men spoke at length, exhausting the topics ofhammers andhardheaded women. Since I did not think Mr. Fitzgerald sold the second, I decided the implements in the case must be the first. I had no interest in either. My attention drifted, settling on an attractive box of twine balls at the end of the counter.

And then I saw it.

The now-familiar rope hung on a peg near the pot-bellied stoves. I traversed the cabinetry and studied the cord’s composition:brown and tan jute, the former dyed with a bitter solution that smelled of walnuts, the latter left au natural.Great Cat Above, I’d located the source of the murder weapon! I narrowed my eyes at Mr. Fitzgerald and watched him share a joke of some sort with Eddy. The two men laughed. It baffled me that a human of gentle demeanor could commit such a cruelty. But Mr. Fitzgerald, indeed, had been the one to kill the black cat.I yowled to catch Eddy’s attention.

“We will leave soon, Catters,” he said. He gave the shopkeeper a somber look. “Now about your store credit…”

Mr. Fitzgerald had already killed one cat this morning, and I, for one, didn’t want to be the second. So I nudged the box of twine balls from the counter to accelerate my plot. They bounced and rolled along the floor, coming to rest beneath the pot-bellied stoves. The men stopped speaking and looked at me. Splendid.

“Catters?” Eddy said. “What on earth are you doing?”

I knocked a tin of thingamabobs to the floor. One needed a glossary just to shop here.

“Catters!”

When both men approached, I leapt to the rope to draw notice. Naturally I brought it down on top of myself. Rationation is not without peril. I poked through the heap of loops and meowed for Eddy. He would recognize this as the same material from which the killer had made this morning’s noose, and Mr. Fitzgerald would be exposed as a torturer and a fiend. The neighbors might turn against him, but this mattered less than the truth. Three cheers for me, the greatest cat in all of—

“Cattarina, stop this tomfoolery at once!” Eddy said.

Mr. Fitzgerald stood behind Eddy and peered over his shoulder.“Well, I’ll be graveled. Think she’s chasing a mouse?”

“I think she’s chasing her sanity,” Eddy said.

I sank my teeth into the jute and held fast to the clue. To quote the famous philosopher, Cato,“We are twice armed when we bite in faith.” I had just become a formidable opponent.

Eddy tried tugging the line from my jaws. Then he pulled me around the floor like a child’s toy—a wooden cat on a string. When he paused to rethink this strategy, I doubled my efforts, tangling and winding into the coil until I’d knotted myself to the bitter end. With enough tortitude, any problem could be solved, I reasoned. Soon, Eddy would appreciate the significance of the rope, and I could let go of the blasted thing. I hoped it happened before dinner.

“Well, that is that, I’m afraid. Good day, Mr. Fitzgerald.” Eddy placed the hammer in his pocket and dragged me toward the door, my teeth still grasping the clue. To my horror, my fur cleaned a path on the dusty floor behind us. Still I did not let go.

“Wait! Mr. Poe!” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “Don’t mean to start a chafe, but I can’t let you to leave without paying for that item.”

Eddy paused near the entrance.“I have already purchased this hammer on credit. Perhaps we can make a similar arrangement for the rope?”

“We have a limit, and you’ve reached it.”

Eddy scowled at me, his cheeks red.“Then would you like to buy a cat?”

The shopkeeper eyed me.“At the moment, no.”

“A barter, then.” He took a deep breath. “The hammer for the rope.”

“That I can do, Mr. Poe,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “That I can do.”

Eddy left the hardware store, dragging me belly up in the dirt behind him. At least we were no longer in the company of a murderer. Tabitha and Abner Arnold watched us from the doorway of the shoemaker shop next door. Abner appeared to have recovered from his trip to Jolley Spirits and stood a little straighter. Tabitha, meanwhile, hadn’t changed a whit. She scowled at us, unamused by our conduct. Throughout the courtyard, I wished for street. When we reached Franklin, I wished for soft earth. Cobblestones are for paws, not backs. The entire trip home, Eddy did not speak to me. And hecertainly did not speak to the neighbors, try as they might to engage him.

“You’ve got an odd anchor, Poe!” Mr. Cook shouted from his front stoop. “It’s got teeth and tail!”

Mrs. Cook stuck her head out of an upstairs window and pointed.“Look! He’s caught acatfish on his line. I know what Mrs. Clemm is cooking for dinner!”

Their jeers held no meaning. I had a job to do, and nothing would stand between me and my quarry, not even my pride. Just the same, I hoped I wouldn’t encounter the tabbies, George and Margaret, or the Coon Cats, Samuel and Silas. Vanity aside, I still prized my dignity.

Eddy continued in silence, stopping every few houses to see if I’d let go of the rope. But he never once looked—reallylooked—at the object between his fingers. With each passing stone that scraped my back, my course grew more certain. Midnight was right. To help Snip and protect the cats of Philadelphia from Mr. Fitzgerald, I had to steal Mr. Eakins’s book.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_10]

Buried Secrets

JUST AS I LICKED the last twig from my tail, Muddy served dinner. Unfortunately, my harrowing drag was for naught. Nothing came of these heroics, save for a bruise in a very delicate place; my bottom had polished every cobblestone on Franklin. In the absence of a hammer, Eddy pressed a candle stub onto the nail head, preventing Sissy or Muddy from tearing their skirt again. But what skills he possessed in shirking handiwork, he lacked in hunting. To snare Mr. Fitzgerald required the cunning of a cat, nay, atortoiseshell cat.

I pondered the complexities of the crime during the evening meal. I’d detected no lavender or citrus anywhere in Mr. Fitzgerald’s shop, and I remembered smelling it on the noose this morning. Further, what possible reason could he have for killing Snip? And had he been Snip’s owner? Lastly, I judged him a fair human. I have been mistaken or misguided on occasion, even ill advised, but I have never been wrong. Doubt over his role in the murder abounded. I prayed Mr. Eakins’s book would provide answers.

Once I’d downed Muddy’s feeble offering of chicken broth, I proceeded to Green Street, stopping first at the Beal residence for help. The grey tom and orange molly napped on the stoop, warming themselves in the dwindling sun. I thanked the Great Cat Above for the long stretch of summer daylight. It made my investigation that much easier, and quite an investigation it had been. I’d done more today than I had all spring. I climbed the terraced steps and chanced upon a crockery bowl of water. I took a sip of the cool liquid, thinking the Quaker cats would not mind.

George lifted his head, one eye still closed.“Cattarina?” He nudged Margaret. She awoke with a start and sprang to her feet.

“Y-you’re alive,” she said to me. “But how? Every cat tongue on Green Street is a-wag. They’re saying the Butcher got his hands on you.”

“He did,” I said. “It was quite an ordeal.” I licked the water from my lips.

George sniffed me.“And you’re not dead?”

I shifted to my hindquarters, minding the bruise.“You should be asking about the Butcher.”

“The way you talk!” Margaret said.

“Were you terribly frightened?” George asked. “How did you escape his sausage grinder? Skeletons. Were there cat skeletons in the home?” He backed into the water bowl, spilling it. “Do tell us, Cattarina! Do tell us!”

“You misunderstand Mr. Eakins,” I said.

“Who is Mr. Eakins?” George shook the water from his paws and licked them.

“The Butcher. Please keep up.” I flicked the end of my tail. “From what Silas and Sam— I mean, the Water Giants, tell me, he is a kindly old man who rescues homeless cats. Though hemay have a small flea problem.”

Margaret’s eyes grew wide. “You met the Water Giants?”

“They are not dead, either,” I added. “You may meet them yourself.”

George and Margaret sneezed, one after another—a clear rejection of my proposal.

“I assure you, I am serious. In fact, I would like you to accompany me to the Butcher’s home.” I rose to all paws, keeping my tail low. “He is in possession of a clue, and I need your help obtaining it.”

“A clue?” Margaret asked. “What is a clue?”

I told them the story of Snip, the book, and Mr. Fitzgerald. I’d even come up with a plan on the way over, which I explained to them now. I softened the danger by calling it a game of cat and mouse with unorthodox rules. This seemed to calm George a bit, for he relaxed his ears toward the end of my speech.

“We don’t condone stealing,” he said once I’d finished. “Taking the book would be against our code. Mr. Beal would be unhappy if we—”

“Don’t think of it as stealing,” I said. “Think of it helping a fallen…friend.”

Margaret blinked.“Very well. We will help you. But once you enter the Butcher’s home, you’re on your own.”

***

For all the wailing, I would’ve thought George at death’s door. He lay on the walkway leading to Mr. Eakins’s home, legs kicking in spasm. When I explained he would be themouse, not the cat, in our charade, he took some convincing. But I am nothing if not persuasive. I crouched in the holly bushes next door and waited for the game to begin.

“What do you think of my performance?” George asked me.

“Can you cry louder?” I asked. “The Butcher is old and does not hear so well, I imagine.”

George obliged, shrieking at full capacity. Another cat down the block screeched in reply. Every performance needed an audience, I supposed. In a fashion, the caterwaul lured Mr. Eakins outside, parrot cage in tow.“Heeeere kitty, kitty. I’ll fix you up.”

“Run, George, run!” I shouted.

George needed no prompting. He leapt to his feet and disappeared from the garden like a puff of smoke. Mr. Eakins gave chase, but the tom was in no danger of being caught, not without aid of a net and perhaps a horse and driver. When George reached the street, he signaled Margaret. She streaked across the old man’s path, and the two tabbies ran ziggety-zag, luring Mr. Eakins down Green Street and away from his home.

I slipped inside Mr. Eakins’s front hall and headed for the kitchen. Having been a “guest” this morning, I navigated the rooms with ease, finding no Coon Cats. Thecat-pendium lay on the tabletop, waiting for my perusal. I climbed topside and pushed the book open to search for Snip’s entry. Spotted cats, striped cats, black cats— I paused on Midnight’s page. Mr. Eakins had captured his likeness quite well. I continued flipping until I reached Snip’s page. The black cat stared back at me with both good eyes. I’d been right about him losing one after his rescue. Had Mr. Fitzgerald taken it? I studied the marks beneath Snip’s sketch and wondered if they told of his new owner and street address. I switched my tail. This I would leave to Eddy, my man of letters.

I tried to lift the volume with my teeth. It dropped to the floor with a weighty thud. Fiddlesticks.

A thump and a crash rang out on the second floor. The Brothers Coon?

I tried nudging my prize from the kitchen to the parlor. I gave up when my nose hit the raised threshold between rooms. Too many cobblestones lay between here and home to continue in this manner. I knew this firstpaw or rather, firstbottom. I swiveled my ears and caught the sound of footfall upon the stair—Silas and Samuel, without a doubt. I opened the book again to Snip’s entry. If I could not take the whole clue, I would take a piece of it. Minding the precious black marks, I gnawed the page near the binding. Despite my swift action, Silas and Samuel entered and caught me with a mouthful of paper. I had been reduced to a common woodchuck.

“Don’t look now, brother,” Silas said to Samuel, “but Cattarina is back, and she is eating from the Book of Cats.”

“How very curious,” Samuel said. “Our Robert usuallyreads from the Book of Cats. Doesn’t Mrs. Poe feed her?”

Silas twitched his whiskers.“One look at her stomach, and you’ll know the answer.”

I spat a mouthful of paper.“I do not have time for this!”

The Coon Cats stared at me.

“At this very instant, Snip’s killer runs free,” I said. “And Mr. Eakins’s Book of Cats may hold the scoundrel’s identity. I must, simplymust be allowed to take this page.”

“Snip’s killer?” Samuel cocked his head. “You mean he is dead?”

Silas grew quiet.

“That was the hanged cat I spoke of this morning,” I said. “You did not hear the gossip?”

“I told you,” Samuel said. “We stay inside much of the day. Locked doors. Locked windows. Mr. Eakins doesn’t let us wander like other cats. He talks aboutdanger anddisease and all sorts of bad things, most of which we don’t understand. But we know he means to keep us safe.”

“I thought you spoke in jest.” I had heard of indoor plants, indoor rugs, and indoor wicker. Butindoor cats? How barbaric. The beautiful Coons were no more than furniture. I prayed this new-fashioned practice would end with Mr. Eakins.

“Dear brother, our Robert was right!” Silas wailed. “Itis dangerous out there!” Samuel tried to comfort him with a sideways rub. Silas pushed him away. “I wish we had never found that hole in the roof. ‘Sneak outside at night,’ you said. ‘He’ll never catch us,’ you said. We could’ve been killed, just like Snip!” He left the room, dragging his tail behind him.

“Forgive my brother,” Samuel said. “He has a nervous condition.”

“I agree with Silas,” I said. “The world is a dangerous place. But Snip’s human killed him, not illness or accident. Say, do you happen to know the new owner’s name? This will save me much work as I am on his trail.”

“I’m afraid not. We meet some of the humans Robert works with, but not all.” He glanced at the book. “Taking this page will help you find Snip’s owner?”

“Yes.” I considered explaining the black marks and what they might mean but decided against it. In the end, the simplest answer won out. Samuel helped me tear Snip’s page from the book and walked me to the door. Whether or not the paper contained Mr. Fitzgerald’s information remained to be seen.

“Good luck with your hunt, Cattarina,” he said. “If there’s anything else we can do, let us know. We are able to come and go by a hole in the roof. Silas will take some coaxing, but we’ll be there if you need us.” He watched Mr. Eakins huff and puff toward us down the street, his cage empty. “Snip was a good friend. I hope you find his murderer.”

I bade him farewell and left with Snip’s information, escaping past Mr. Eakins by the garden gate. The old man gasped at the torn page in my mouth, but George and Margaret had winded him, and he could not give chase. He scratched his ribs and yelled, “You are much too curious for your own good, Cattarina! Some secrets should stay buried!” This sounded like a warning.

Near the corner of North Seventh, I detected the stench of rotting flesh. I followed it all the way to Poe House and around to our kitchen garden where someone had committed the unconscionable.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_11]

A Sinister Scent

EDDY KNELT NEAR THE morning glory vines, a heap of fresh earth by his side. I left the torn page by the back door and crept through the vegetable patch with more than a little trepidation. I hoped the man hadn’t done what I suspected he had. I ducked under the cucumber trellis, advancing unnoticed. Sweet horror! Snip’s exhumed body lay on the ground near Eddy’s feet. Carrion insects speckled the tom’s fur, causing the carcass to writhe with activity. My companion leaned closer to compare the rope in his hand—Mr. Fitzgerald’s rope—to the one around Snip’s neck.

“It is a match,” he whispered to himself. “Aperfect match.” His shirt reeked of spirits, different from the ones he’d drunk at Jolley’s this afternoon, and his cravat dangled round his neck. “A neighbor is responsible, I am certain. But what perverse imp moved this person to kill Heaven’s finest?” He tugged his hair, lost in thought, then said: “To do wrong for wrong’s sake only. To give in to the soul’s unfathomable longing to vex itself.”

Judging from his ink-smeared cheek, he’d abandoned a writing project for this grimundertaking, so to speak. My hunt had stoked his imagination, yet a narrow path lay between satisfying my own desires and satisfying his. The job of muse is a delicate one. I found that out during my Glass Eye Killer caper. Introduce too much inspiration too soon, and I risked losing my charge down a drunken, rambling trail from which he might never return.

I approached him.

“Catters?” Eddy said. “Have you come for another bite?” He dangled the rope in front of me, tossing it aside when I took no interest. “What else do you know, you crafty thing? I suspect much.” He appraised me with what I took for admiration. “I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat.”

I considered Snip’s entry and wondered if it would take Eddy too far from his story, to a place beyond my reach. I did not have long to think. The back door opened, and Sissy entered the garden with an easy, elegant air. She opened her lips to speak but stopped when she realized what he’d done. Even her fever-bright cheeks could not sustain color with this new discovery. Legs unsteady, she took a single step toward her husband. “Edgar? What’s this?”

“Sissy?” Still kneeling, Eddy turned and spread his arms, trying to hide the cat carcass. “I-I thought you were inside mending. Or knitting. Or mending your knitting.”

I trotted to her and rubbed the length of her skirt, delighting in thewhishhh of fabric.

“AndI thought you were writing,” she said to him. She leaned to touch my head. “We both changed our minds, it seems. Though what yours concocted is disturbing, to say the least. Tell me, dear, have you been drinking?”

“I am as straight as judges.” He leaned a little to the left.

“I see.” She put her hands on her hips. “Why have you dug up the cat?”

“To check on him, of course.” Eddy offered a queasy smile. “Still dead.”

Sissy took another step, alighting on Snip’s page by accident. She bent and retrieved it, giving the entry a quick glance. The meaning of the words played across her face, lifting the corner of her mouth. I had not stolen the clue in vain. When she finished reading, she looked at me the way Eddy had, with approval.

“What have you got?” Eddy asked her.

“Nothing. An old market list. Mother must have lost it.” She folded the page and stuck it down her dress front. I thought it an odd place for a carryall, but humans never ceased to surprise me. “Why don’t I leave you to…whatever you were doing. I have an errand to run.”

“An errand? At this hour? It must be six o’clock.” Eddy rose and dusted the dirt from his pants.

“It’s seven.” Sissy snapped her fingers, and I trailed her out of the front garden. “I still have daylight and will only be a block away. Do not worry.” She latched the gate behind us. “Mother is polishing the furniture, so you needn’t disturb her with my comings and goings. And for heaven’s sake, Edgar Poe, wash your hands!”

***

To my surprise, Sissy and I headed down Green Street instead of toward Mr. Fitzgerald’s shop. She’d left without her bonnet and squinted into the setting sun. “Cattarina, between this crime and the ones last fall, you’re turning into a four-footed constable,” she said to me. “I know you pilfered that page from Mr. Eakins’s book. I can tell by the teeth marks.” She removed the slip of paper from her bosom and showed me its frayed edge. “It was beyond clever of you to bring it home. I’m impressed.” She replaced the item and gave me a worried smile. “I want to know who took the poor tom’s life, too. It’s peculiar, but I’ve taken an interest in him.”

Unlike the brightly clad ladies of Fairmount, Quaker women dressed in dull browns, free of adornment—no ribbons, no velvet flowers, no dizzying patterns. The gentlemen sported equally somber attire. Sissy spoke to a few them, including Mr. Beal, George and Margaret’s companion, and a lady she called Mrs. West, which struck me as odd since the woman traveled east. But what these Quakers lackedin fashion sense, they more than made up for in culinary acumen. Delicious smells drifted from the dwellings on either side: roasted chicken, broiled pork, stewed beef. I battled my stomach, fending off hunger pangs. Muddy’s broth had done little to appease me.

We crossed over Franklin and arrived at the cottage with the rooster weathervane, the one I’d encountered this morning. An entire lifetime had passed since the murder, or so it seemed. “We should knock, shouldn’t we?” Sissy said to me. She touched the brass knocker, wiped her fingers on her bodice, and tried again.

Tabitha Arnold answered the door. Perhaps she had not been taught to smile as a child.“Mrs. Poe?” she said. “Store’s closed, but I can fit you for shoes if you like. Come through to the workshop.” From our interactions on the street, she’d proved unlikeable. But I didn’t take her for a killer. And a man’s scent graced the murder weapon, not a woman’s.Mr. Arnold, however, had just become my chief suspect.

Sissy retreated to the walkway, widening the gap between them.“No, no. I’ve come to…” She touched her throat. “I’ve come to ask you about the black cat this morning.”

I trilled in agreement. Yes,black cat. We needed answers, and we needed them now.

Mrs. Arnold flew at Sissy and grabbed her by the arms.“It was so awful! Poor Pluto! Why did he have to hang him like he did?” She looked skyward and appealed to forces unknown. “Why? Why did this have to happen?”

I noted her shoes. They held too many scuffmarks to count, and tarnish flecked the buckles. An old proverb came to mind, something about the mouser’s kittens going hungry. Humans must’ve had a similar saying about shoemakers, and if so, it applied to Mrs. Arnold. I realized something else, too. While Green Street housed a preponderance of Quakers, the Arnolds did not seem to be of their ilk. I sniffed the hem of the woman’s dress—nothing of concern.

Sissy extracted herself from the woman’s grasp. “So it’s true. Youare the hanged cat’s owner.”

“Yes. We’d adopted him from Mr. Eakins a week ago, maybe a little longer. I scarcely think anyone knew we had him except the dentist fellow. Why should I admit this and have people think ill of me? I have a business to run, you know.” Mrs. Arnold dabbed her nose with a tattered handkerchief she pulled from her sleeve. “How didyou find out? Did Mr. Eakins tell you?”

Sissy glanced at me.“No, there’s a constable involved.”

“Harkness?”

“No.” Sissy smiled demurely. “Constable Claw.”

My ears pricked at the skittering of tiny feet. I sniffed the air. A mouse lived in the Arnold residence. They should’ve taken more care with their cat.

“You said ‘he’ a moment ago,” Sissy said. “‘Why didhe have to hang him like he did?’ To whom were you referring?”

“Mr. Fitzgerald, of course. The only thing he hates more than Englishmen are cats.” She tucked her handkerchief away, leaving a lace corner poking from her sleeve. “It all started with the tree in the courtyard. I’ve wanted to chop it down for ages. No one can see my shop with all that greenery, and it’s hurting my business. But he didn’t want to, the fool. Now he’s gone and hung Pluto from one of the limbs to…to…” Her bottom lip trembled. “Warn me away!” She sobbed into Sissy’s shoulder.

Sissy patted her back.“There, there. We gave Pluto a Christian burial.” She leaned around the woman and glanced through the open door. “Where is Abner? Is he gone?”

“Having a Jolley good time, I’m sure.” She straightened and wiped her face.

Sissy sighed.“If I’ve caught your meaning, Mrs. Arnold, we have a similar problem.”

“I’m going to a meeting tomorrow—the Sons of Temperance. Why don’t you join me?”

The women blathered on aboutteetotaling, a subject unfamiliar, leaving me to my work. I padded up the walkway and into the house, thinking to flush out my quarry. One sniff of Mr. Arnold or his possessions, and I would have the truth. I paused in the front hall to catch what scents I could.

Tiny footsteps to my left.

I crouched and peered beneath the entryway bench. A pair of mice scurried near the baseboard. Dash it all, I could not resist. I raked under the wooden seat, missing them by a whisker. The mice slipped into the adjoining parlor with asquee, squee, squee! I gave chase, bounding over an armchair and darting across the room to meet them at the kitchen threshold. But the vermin had the advantage of familiarity. They headed for a hole they’d gnawed in the wall and escaped to the other side. I sprinted into the kitchen after them, ziggety-zagging around a pie cupboard, a wash pail and mop, a dining chair. During my pursuit, I focused on the sights, sounds, and smells of my prey, ignoring all else. I could not have guessed the trouble this single-minded attention would soon cause.

The mice slipped through the cracked cellar door and disappeared into the dark. I charged through the portal and dashed down the cellar steps—a mistake of gigantic proportion, but one easily predicted by Sir Isaac Kitten. The door banged back on its hinges and slammed shut, causing an equal and opposite reaction to my action. A student of physics, I should have known better. I tried yowling for Sissy, but her human hearing proved too meager.

I was trapped.

Seeking an open window or warped door, I traveled deep into the earthen chamber. My history with cellars is a storied one, full of grisly exploits. This made it all the more difficult to proceed. Yet I had no choice. When I reached the bottom step, I paused and smelled for new, fresh air, thinking to follow it to freedom. My stomach tightened at the sinister trace of lavender and citrus.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_12]

Judgment Day

THE COLOGNE DISSIPATED SOON after its discovery. This meant I had stumbled upon the killer’s smell and not the killer himself. This did little to assuage my fear, for the realization had occurred in his blasted cellar. I lost track of time without the sun, so I marked its passage with hunger pangs, abandoning this strategy when they struck with maddening frequency. Somewhere between starvation and death—why, oh, why hadn’t Muddy served something heartier for dinner?—footsteps marched overhead.

From the top stair, I peeked through a wide gap under the door that revealed the lowest portion of the kitchen. Light filled the room, indicating Mrs. Arnold had fired a lamp. I thought about meowing for help until a second pair of feet entered the room. The culprit, I presumed. Until he left for either the bed or the tavern, I was stuck.

“I saw Mrs. Poe in the street,” Mr. Arnold said. I recognized his voice at once. “It wouldn’t surprise me if she passed away this Christmas.” He hiccupped and laughed. “She looks positively used up.”

“Abner!” Mrs. Arnold said. “She may be married to a strange little man, but so am I. Now I’ve taken a liking to Virginia Poe, and I’ll not have you speak about her like that.”

He dashed a cup to the floor and strode toward her.“I’ll not have you speak aboutme like that! Do you hear?”

“Please, Abner, I can’t take that again.Please.”

Silence. With only their shoes visible, the scene terrified me less than had I been with them. Even still, I feared for the woman.

“Don’t know what comes over me,” he muttered.

“Why don’t I make you some tea?” Mrs. Arnold said. Her voice flowed like tap water. “It’s just what you need after a trip to the tavern. Sit, dear. Sit. Are you hungry? Or did you eat at Mr. Jolley’s?”

Mr. Arnold heeded her advice and settled into the dining chair.“I ate already. A bowl of pepperpot.” He hadn’t bothered switching his shabby boots for slippers, and I found their condition distasteful, considering his occupation. He shuffled them, knocking dried mud to the floor. “How was business today?” he asked. “Slow?”

“Is it any wonder?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he snapped.

“The cat, Abner. The damned cat hanging from the damned tree.”

“Forget Pluto. One less mouth to feed.” Mr. Arnold’s boots shifted sideways, as if he leaned a bit in his chair. I flinched when a small pocketknife clattered to the floorboards. Fingers reached to retrieve it, and the blade disappeared from view. In the presence of this weapon, I should havefocused solely on the predicament at hand. Yet Eddy’s story occupied my thoughts. My companion had come close to understanding the killer and writing with true vision.

“I paid the landlord and the county tax collector this month. It took the last of our savings,” Mrs. Arnold said. “Won’t be long until we’re in the poor house, with or without our cat.” A cook stove burner grated against its metal fitting. The pop and crackle of a stoked fire filled thekitchen. A thin line of smoke drifted beneath the door, irritating my nose. I didn’t dare sneeze, not if I wanted to avoid the hangman’s loop. While I was at it, I fancied keeping both eyes.

“Our luck will turn around, Tabby,” he said. “It’s got to.”

“Yes, Abner, I’m sure it will.” A kettle lid rattled. The spicy sweet smell of loose tea permeated the room. “Why don’t you wait for me in the family room? I’ll bring your cup on a tray.”

Mr. Arnold staggered to his feet.“Tabby, I’m…I’m a different person sometimes. Especially when I’m not feeling well.”

“Go rest, dear. All is forgiven.”

He plodded from the room with uncertain steps, a gait I knew all too well. Soon the teakettle whistled, masking the sound of Mrs. Arnold’s weeping. It reminded me of Sissy’s, any given evening at Poe House.

***

That night, my appetite grew so severe that it deserted me, leaving a cramp in its place. During Mr. and Mrs. Arnold’s tea party, I crept downstairs to relieve myself. The lamplight beneath the door illuminated the cellar, giving me a sense of the space. Crates of onions and potatoes, a washboard, an old rocking horse—nothing edible. Someone had placed a basket of dirty linens near the bottom of the stairs, so I hopped in, left my offering, and pawed a dressing gown over the evidence. To no one’s surprise, least of all my own, the cologne on the clothing matched the scent on Snip’s noose. I had caught my man. Or rather, he’d caught me.

I returned to my post with a heavy heart. Eddy, Sissy, and Muddy wouldn’t miss me until morning. Even if they searched for me tonight, they wouldn’t know where to begin. Sissy might think to return here, but Mr. and Mrs. Arnold would tell her they hadn’t seen me. And in truth, they hadn’t.

Before retiring that evening, the woman of the house entered the kitchen and turned off the lamp, cloaking the kitchen and cellar in black. I would not spend the night in this place. Using the dark to my advantage, I jumped and rattled the doorknob.

“Hello?” she said. “Who’s there?”

I jumped and rattled it again.

Her steps grew louder.

I balanced on the edge of the step and waited for the woman to open the door. She leaned into the portal and queried the dark.“Who’s there?” she asked. With the speed of a grass snake, I slithered into the still-dark kitchen, brushing her leg by accident. She shrieked and sprang back from the cellar. “Pluto? Is that you?” she said. “It c-can’t be you. You’re dead. Unless you’ve come back to haunt me. Please tell me you haven’t.” I hid behind the wash pail, staying quiet. She finally cackled. “You’re losing your mind, Tabby, old girl. It was your dressing gown against your skin.”

The stairs creaked following Mrs. Arnold’s departure as she climbed to what I guessed was her bedchamber. After an interval, when the couple surely slumbered, I searched the bottom floor for an escape route. It was no use. The cobblers had laced their house tighter than a lady’s boot.

Loud snoring lured me to the second floor and to their sleeping quarter—a solitary room at the top of the stair. A low, slanted ceiling and plastered timber walls confined the area, giving it the feel of an attic. Because of its cramped size, the chamber held only a small cabinet, which Mrs. Arnold used as a side table, and a spindle post bed. The couple lay fast asleep, a patchwork quilt pulled to their chins. I paused at the threshold and studied the lit candle on the cabinet. Mrs. Arnold must have forgotten to snuff it out before falling asleep. The flame danced atop the white pillar, mesmerizing me. It dipped and swayed, drawn by a draft. A draft!

Above Mr. Arnold lay a partially open window, hidden behind a pair of tapestry curtains. With so little floor space, the couple had pushed the bedframe against the wall directly beneath it. The man could’ve used the draperies for a blanket had he so chosen. To escape, I needed to bypass the pair without waking them. I planned my trajectory, adjusting for dim lighting, unsure footing, and other variables. My course contained enough degrees and angles to make Ren? Descattes proud: a hop to the side table, a leap to the headboard, a sliiiide to the tapestry curtains, and an elegant landing on the sill. There I would use my substantial frame to open the sash. Except my scheme did not include revenge.

I turned in a circle, hoping to change my mind. It did not work. I could not leave without giving Mr. Arnold a well-deserved lashing for Snip’s murder. So I analyzed anew, took a deep breath, and jumped to the side table…

…knocking over the candle.

I’d failed to account for the greatest variable: my lumbering physique. I watched helplessly as the flame ignited a bundle of mail. The blaze grew bigger, leaping onto Mrs. Arnold’s nightcap with enviable grace and setting her head aflame.

“Aaaaiiiyyyeee!” the woman screeched.

She swatted her nightcap and knocked it to the bed, catching the quilt on fire. The stench of singed hair filled the room.“Wake up! Wake up and help me, or we’ll lose the house and the store!” she shouted to Mr. Arnold. She shoved her husband, but he continued to snore. “Drunk old fool,” she said. “If you won’t fetch help, I will.” Then she leapt from the bed and fled the room, shutting the door behindher. She did not notice me.

Frantic to escape, I bounced off the headboard and landed on the sill, avoiding the flames. I’d no sooner alighted than thedrunkold fool woke. Mr. Arnold sat forward and wiped the sweat from his brow, unaware of the campfire in his lap.“Tabby? Is it hot in here? Let’s open the window.” He reached for the sash and froze. “A cat! A cursed cat!” The blaze lit his face, giving it cruel angles. “What’s this? Have you sentenced me to hell, you minion of the devil?”

The fire ravaged the left curtain panel and climbed to the ceiling, consuming the timber with appetite. Since I had no desire to join Snip, I tried to squeeze through the window before roasting in this self-made oven. Mr. Arnold, however, had other plans. He threw back the quilt and smothered the bed flames before dragging me back to wring my neck. How I scratched and spit, fought and bit! Pickled by spirits, the old man shrugged off the prick of my teeth and the terrible heat suffocating us both. When smoke clouded my vision, I lashed out wildly, catching Mr. Arnold’s nightshirt or what I mistook for Mr. Arnold’s nightshirt. I’d hooked the unlit portion of curtain instead. I tried flexing my claws to remove them, but they’d become tangled in the tieback cord. That was when the rogue picked me up and threw me against the plaster wall, curtain cord and all.

“I will not stand for this judgment!” he screamed. “I will not! Do you hear me?”

I dove for the window, squeezing under the sash and falling—feet first, I should add—to the alley below. Aside from sizzled whiskers and a blackened tail, I had escaped relatively unharmed. Mr. Arnold was not so lucky. He fell from the window, nightshirt ablaze, and landed beside me with a skull-ringing thump.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_13]

A Wicked Impression

“GOOD MORNING, CATTARINA,” SISSY said. I flicked my ear in response. I’d crawled into bed with her last night after licking the soot from my fur. Too tired to knead the covers, I fell fast asleep until dawn. Luckily, my tail suffered no permanent damage. My back paws were not so fortunate. I discovered the seared pads on my walk home from the Arnold bonfire. “I asked Muddy to leave the kitchen window open for you last night,” she said. “I knew you’d come home late. Catting around with a handsome fellow, are we?” She lifted my chin and studied my face. “Why, Cattarina Poe, where are your whiskers?” She turned me over and examined me. “And your back paws are burnt, poor thing. What happened to you last night?”

Sissy left the bed.“Mother will make a salve. She is an excellent nursemaid, even if she dotes on her patients a trifle much.” She crossed to the wardrobe. Since destroying hertown dress yesterday, only hereverydaydress remained, along with an extra pair of stockings and white chemise. I think she looked fine without clothing. I also thought the Delaware should flow with milk and shad should grow on trees.

Pots clattered in the kitchen below. Muddy had risen before dawn, as she always did, to build a fire and make breakfast. I yawned and stretched, reveling in the warmth of the cotton-stuffed mattress. I was the only cat I knew with two jobs: muse by day, chest heater by night. Since his wife’s illness, Eddy had given up marital cohabitation so Muddy could nurse her daughter through nighttime spells. The old woman stayed in the adjoining bedroom and entered at the first cough. I did what I could to keep Sissy warm while she slept, but it was not enough; it would never be enough, and I carried this truth in my heart. Death is a natural process until it happens in one’s family, then it’s a tragedy.

Once Sissy twisted her hair into a coil, she carried me from the topmost floor, past Eddy’s chambers on the middle floor, to the bottom floor. We found Eddy at the kitchen table with tea and newspaper, sitting among the vestiges of breakfast. Muddy fussed with a kettle of water. Now that the black cat’s death had vanished into the past, life at Poe House had returned to normal. Sheset me in front of a bowl filled with scrambled eggs, and I gobbled the food without a good morning rub to Eddy’s leg. I possessed a hunger so severe that I finished before the dear girl took her chair. She sat next to Eddy and poured a cup of tea from the pot on the table. “Cattarina has lost her whiskers,” she said.

I disappeared beneath the kitchen table for my post-breakfast routine. Seated upon the straw rug, I started my usual preen. But I abandoned this activity when my whisker stubs pricked my paw. How I missed them. I brushed against Eddy’s pants and Sissy’s skirt instead, marking them with fur for the day.

Sissy continued,“What’s more, she’s burnt her paws.”

“How very curious.” Eddy peeked under the table at me, eyes narrowed. “The Arnolds’ house burned down last night.”

“How do you know? Is it in the paper? What happened?” The words left Sissy’s mouth in a tumble. “Do tell!”

I emerged from my hiding place to see Eddy tip a non-existent hat.“I sit before you, Mrs. Poe, a proud member of the bucket brigade. The engine company needed help, and the menfolk obliged. We saved the neighborhood.” He looked at Muddy. “What time was it? Around midnight?”

I stared at him. What did he know about my pal from Rittenhouse?

“Half-past,” Muddy said. “You didn’t come home until two.”

“Tabitha Arnold escaped unharmed,” he said. “Abner Arnold was not so fortunate.”

Abner Arnold? I crept under the table again, dreading a talking-to from Eddy.Yes, I burnt down the neighbor’s house. No, I am not sorry. Now then, what is for lunch? But he didn’t bother. I wondered if I’d paid the neighbors a favor by ousting the cobblers from Green Street. I’d certainly paid the cats a favor. I took the center of the room again and commenced with a stretching regimen.

Eddy tipped his cup and took the last sip.“They sent him to Almshouse last night, but I do not know how he fared.”

“What heroics! Why didn’t you wake me?” She dropped a sugar lump in her tea and stirred it. “I would have helped.”

“That’sexactly why we didn’t wake you.” Muddy wiped her hands on her apron and joined them, pulling up a chair. “It would have been too taxing for you.”

“And to think I spoke to Mrs. Arnold yesterday,” Sissy said. “Hours before it happened.”

“Where, Virginia?” her mother asked. “At the market?”

“No,” Eddy said. “It was later in the day, wasn’t it, my love? Your mysterious seven o’clock errand?”

“Yes, I-I needed to speak to her about a pair of shoes.” She took the last piece of fried bread from the plate and slathered it with jam. “They were supposed to be a surprise for you, Eddy, but now you’ve gone and spoiled it.”

“Is that so?” He scooped me up to examine my paws. Dark circles rimmed his eyes, indicating a night of interrupted sleep. “Catters must have been near the fire last night. But why?”

“Constable Claw,” Sissy said under her breath.

Muddy cupped her hand around her ear.“What’s that?”

“Nothing, Mother, nothing.” She turned to her husband. “Cattarina followed me to Tabitha’s house and stayed behind. That’s the simplest explanation.” She smiled at him, but mirth did not crinkle the corners of her eyes. “Did you know Tabitha Arnold attends the Sons of Temperance meetings?”

Eddy ignored her query and rose to set me on the sideboard, his brow knitted.

“I didn’t know she attended,” Muddy said. She patted her daughter’s arm with a hand roughed by housework. “The Sons meet at Saint George’s Methodist, don’t they?”

I settled onto a lace doily while they prattled aboutteetotaling again. One day, I should like to know its meaning. As the women talked, Eddy kept his back to them, focusing on me. He scratched the top of my head, paying close attention to my ears. I rewarded him with a purr. In this relaxed state, my thoughts wandered to yesterday. I had solved a crime, and the wrongdoer had received punishment, though to what extent I did not know. Death would have been fitting, considering Mr. Arnold’s transgression, but I would settle for disfigurement. Another triumph for Philadelphia’s favorite rationator.

“I learned another interesting tidbit from Tabitha,” Sissy said.

“What’s that?” Muddy asked. “That their shoes fall apart when you wear them?” She lifted her foot and showed off the split sole of her shoe.

“I learned they owned the black cat. And his name was Pluto.”

Eddy faced them.“Thatis disturbing, but not altogether surprising. Did the old woman admit to killing the creature?”

“No, she blamed Mr. Fitzgerald. Something about a rivalry over a tree.” Sissy spooned eggs onto her plate from the serving platter. “Mother, will you make a salve for Cattarina? Her paws are in need of ointment.”

Muddy nodded.“I think I have the ingredients.”

“Well, I, too, discovered a tidbit,” Eddy said. He crossed his arms and leaned against the sideboard. “Whoever killed Pluto bought the rope from Mr. Fitzgerald’s hardware shop.”

“Or Mr. Fitzgerald took it from his own store,” Sissy offered.

“I know Fitz all to pieces,” Eddy said. “He is not a cat killer. Mr. Arnold is the more likely culprit.”

“What is this fascination with dead animals?” Muddy said. “It’s unnatural and unhealthy. Why can’t we discuss pleasanter things? I hear Mr. Crumley’s getting tossed in debtor’s prison for skipping rent. And Mrs. Porter’s husband left her for—” The whistle of the teakettle cut her off. “Oh, fiddle.” Heeding its call, she gathered every dish but Sissy’s and deposited the lot into the basin. Then she doused them with water from the kettle and commenced to washing, leaving husband and wife to converse in private.

“Speaking of the black cat, how is your eulogy coming?” Sissy asked Eddy.

“It is not.” He kissed his wife’s head. “What are your plans today, sweet Virginia?”

“Oh,” she said, “I will be mending. Or knitting. Or mending my knitting. Do not worry, husband.” She took a bite of egg.

“Well, try and rest.” He laid his hand on her shoulder. “I do not like your color this morning.”

I watched below the table. Sissy clutched a handful of skirt fabric in response to Eddy’s comment. As the household’s most astute observer, I learned my humans’ secrets without them even knowing they’d shared. No matter. I kept them all. She released the fabric and asked him, “What areyour plans?”

“Cattarina and I have business at Mr. Jolley’s.” He put his finger to his lips before she could object. “I will touch neither drop nor dram. I promise. When I return, I will know about the fire and Mr. Arnold’s current state. If I am lucky, I will also hear about the black cat, for his story vexes me greatly.” He whisked me into his arms and laid me over his shoulder. “Muddy! Catters and I will await your salve in the parlor.”

***

The tallow, lard, and beeswax Muddy applied to my paws smelled good enough to eat, but I resisted the salve, for it soothed my burns. It would also provide sustenance later, should the need arise. Blasted appetite. Eddy carried me to keep my tender paws off the ground, and we arrived at Jolley Spirits. As we entered the tavern, the shrunken old apple gave us atsk-tsk. I noted a bandage on his arm, the arm I shredded yesterday.“Good morning, Mr. Poe. It’s a little early for drink, but I’m happy to oblige a customer and his money— I mean cat.” Mr. Jolley touched his wound and sneered at me. “As long as it stays far, far away from me. If it doesn’t, it will meet with my boot.”

“She will behave,” Eddy said. “You have my word.”

“What can I bring you?”

“No refreshment this morning, good sir. Just water.”

“Water?” Mr. Jolley grumbled. “You’ll be back later for something stronger, I trust?”

“Of course.”

This seemed to satisfy Mr. Jolley. He started to leave then thought better of it.“What’s that smell? It’s awful.” He curled his upper lip.

Eddy glanced at my paws and cleared his throat, his cheeks red.“I suspect it’s coming from your kitchen. Now if you’ll excuse me.” He ignored Mr. Jolley’s scowl and walked to the bar, setting me on the oaken surface. I waited for the ancient barkeep to hobble back with Eddy’s order. When he did, Mr. Jolley delivered a glass of water, not liquor, and I let him go with a warning glare.

“We must keep our wits about us, Catters,” Eddy said to me. “We’ve important work ahead.”

For most of the morning, we eavesdropped on the other patrons. Many instances I caughtfire andAbner Arnold and evencat. These I had anticipated; humans love their gossip. But Eddy seemed to expect them, too, for he did not show interest until he heardsupernatural. Upon the expression, my companion struck up conversation with the fellow who’d spoken it—a portly gentleman with ruddy cheeks and a diamond stickpin in his lapel. They shook hands and introduced themselves.

“Orson Pettigrew, dentist,” the man said to Eddy.

“Edgar Allan Poe, petrified of the dentist.”

Mr. Pettigrew laughed.“Ah, Mr. Poe! I read ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ in thePioneer last winter. Unnerving story. How did you think of it?”

“Yes, howdid I?” Eddy laid a hand on my back. “It’s a mystery.”

Mr. Jolley dispensed two glasses of whiskey to Mr. Pettigrew and withdrew to break up a heated discussion between two coalminers—something aboutwestward expansion andOregon Trail. Mr. Pettigrew downed the first drink.“One for me,” he said. The other he poured into a flask pulled from his vest pocket. “And one for my patient. I’ve got an extraction in an hour.”

Eddy loosened his cravat with a crooked finger.“Mr. Pettigrew, I heard you tell another gentleman that supernatural elements caused the Arnold house fire. Why would you say that?”

Mr. Pettigrew elbowed Eddy.“Working on another story, eh?”

“A eulogy.”

“But the old codger survived, Mr. Poe.” Mr. Pettigrew took a swig from the flask. “Lost his hair and burnt himself, but he’s alive, by God.”

“It’s not for Abner Arnold. It’s for another man,” Eddy said. “Pluto…Katzenheimer. Black hair, green eyes, trim physique? I’m sure you’ve met him.”

Mr. Pettigrew scratched his head.

“Forgive me, but I am in a hurry. The supernatural?”

Mr. Pettigrew leaned into Eddy and lowered his voice.“It’s payback, Mr. Poe, for the cat.” He grinned, exposing several teeth trimmed with gold. “I heard about the hanging from a patient—horrible woman with bleeding gums. Elmira…? Well, it doesn’t matter. I wanted a peek as much as the next man. So I closed office yesterday afternoon and ran into Reverend Gerry on the way over. We got to talking.” He took another drink from the flask. “When he described the hanged cat, I knew it belonged to Tabitha and Abner Arnold. I’d seen the creature at their shop when I picked up my new boots.” He lifted his shoe, showing Eddy the peeling sole. “They’re less than two weeks old. I’ll never buy another pair from those crooks.”

The rumple and snap of a newspaper enticed me to the end of the bar. Leaving a trail of greasy footprints, I walked past a row of patrons, brushing their noses with my tail. The paper’s owner departed as I arrived, giving me full access to the plaything. I sat on the folded pages and delighted in the crinkle under my bottom. Between my paws, I noticed a sketch of a man with a passing resemblance to Mr. Arnold. Bald patches covered his head and fresh wounds marred his cheeks. If it was really the shoemaker, he’d paid for his crime.

“The cat, Mr. Pettigrew?” Eddy asked.

Drawn by my companion’s voice, I rejoined the men and sat near Eddy’s elbow.

“The cat!” Mr. Pettigrew said, eying me. “Yes, the cat. Sad creature. I suspected Abner Arnold put an end to its life, but when I visited the remnants of their home this morning, Iknew he’d done it. That mystical mischief is the talk of Green Street.”

“I suspect him as well. But why do you think supernatural forces are at work?”

He finished the flask and slapped the bar to call Mr. Jolley, professing his need for another round.“I suggest you visit what’s left of his home, Mr. Poe. Then you will see for yourself.”

***

Eddy marched up Franklin to Green Street with me tucked under his arm. Panting and wheezing from the exertion, he arrived at the Arnold’s razed home and set me on the sidewalk. Easily half the neighborhood had gathered to view last night’s accident, including Mr. Cook and Mr. Eakins. The men and women clustered around the debris, forming a wall of parasols, flat-brimmed Quaker hats, and the odd top hat. “Pardon me,” Eddy said, pushing between them. “I must get to the front. I am here on important business.”

I slipped through the human fence and meowed for Eddy to join me near the alley. The fire had blackened the bricks of the brownstone next door, but the building had experienced no real hardship. The blaze hadn’t jumped the alley or the street either, which meant I’d caused no harm to the innocent, unless you counted Mrs. Arnold. The guilty, however, had paid dearly. The cobbler shop, adjacent to the rear of the property, had suffered damage to its back wall but remained largely intact. Little remained of the home, save for a charred timber skeleton and a few determined walls.

“I do not see Mr. Pettigrew’s supernatural evidence, do you, Catters?”

I meowed and sniffed the still-wet pile of wood.

“By the by, I feel sorry for Mrs. Arnold,” he said to me. “Though I am not sure about Mr. Arnold. If hedid hang the black cat, this may be divine retribution.” He smoothed the back of his hair. “Or maybe he went on a spree before coming home and fell asleep with candles aflame. Mr. Arnold was quite the tippler, Catters.”

“Tippler, indeed,” said the woman at Eddy’s elbow. A lady of some wealth—not a Quaker—she wore a silken blue gown with a lace-paneled neckline. She closed her parasol with a snap. “In all my days, I’ve never seen a man more taken with drink than Abner Arnold. I don’t know how his poor wife copes. She’s up half the night, crying and pacing, waiting for him to come home from the tavern.” She pointed to the charred home next door with her umbrella. “I live right there, and I see everything.Everything.”

“Madam, was Mr. Arnold a cruel man?” Eddy asked her. “Capable of, say, cutting out a cat’s eye?”

She touched her breastbone and frowned.“He’s never been a kind man, always quick with his fists. Many a night I’ve heard them quarrel, and many a morning I’ve seen bruises on Mrs. Arnold’s face. But these last few months, he’s gotten worse. Much worse.” She shook her head. “It’s the drink, I tell you. It rots a man’sbrain. And don’t tell me otherwise, because I read it in Godey’s. Thank goodness the temperance movement is taking hold in Philadelphia.”

Eddy pressed her.“The accident…do you think it was supernatural?”

“That’s what Mr. Pettigrew says. He’s been in and out of the shops this morning, spouting nonsense about ghost cats and revenge from the grave. He’s a regular Dickens.” She huffed. “It’s got nothing to do with ghosts and everything to do with spirits.”

Eddy nodded thoughtfully. The woman tried talking to him a while longer, but he’d already withdrawn into his thoughts. I brushed his leg to bring him round. “I do not like keeping company with Abner Arnold, Cattarina. I am convinced he killed Pluto in a drunken rage, and it frightens me that I—”

“Look!” Mr. Cook shouted. “It’s the ghost cat!” One large, flabby arm shot forward, and he pointed to a plaster wall near the center of the wreckage. It had fallen straight down from the second story and remained upright, bolstered by scorched furniture and twisted stovepipe.

The woman in blue shaded her eyes.“Wait! I see it! Mr. Pettigrew was right.” She caught her breath. “And it’s got a rope around its neck!”

Try as I might, too many legs prevented me from seeing the ghost cat.

“Oh, me! A sign from the Other Side,” Mr. Eakins said above the crowd. “I knew Abner Arnold killed the poor creature, and this proves it!”

A series of exclamations rose from the men and women:“Strange!” and “Singular!” The neighbors of Green Street pressed closer to look at the curiosity.

Eddy whisked me from harm’s way and sat me on his shoulder. A lady with a coalscuttle bonnet darted in front of us, causing my companion to stand on tiptoe for a look. “Oh, Jupiter!” Eddy said. He covered his mouth with his hand. “Can it be, Catters?”

On the lone piece of wall, I glimpsed the apparition in question—the outline of a hanged cat. Egad!I had been the one to make the impression. The heat from the fire must have reacted with materials in the plaster, softening it enough to accept my mark when Mr. Arnold dashed me against it. Soot from my fur added depth and shadow to the gruesome likeness. The curtain cord that tangled my neck last night had been preserved, too, and looked very much like a noose. I hadn’t just caught and punished the murderer; I’d announced his wrongdoing to all of Philadelphia.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_14]

The Hundred-Dollar Bug

A MIRACLE OCCURRED AFTER Eddy and I left the Arnold house that day. He gave up spirits, home and away. Sissy’s mood and overall health improved, too. I cannot say that Eddy’s sacrifice caused the upturn—it may have been the dry weather—but more and more time passed between her coughing spells. This, in turn, lifted Muddy’s spirits. For the next half moon, Poe House took on a breeziness I could not explain but enjoyed nonetheless. Sissy filled our home with piano music and laughter again, Muddy whistled during chores, even waltzing with her broom on occasion, and Eddy wrote. He took up a quill pen each morning, prepared his ink and paper, and wrote to my heart’s content.

Musing occupied me most days. There were papers to weight and desktops to tail-dust and curtain cords to be batted when Eddy needed distraction. But when my companion took a much-deserved break, so did I. During one such respite, I caught an omnibus to Rittenhouse and told Midnight about Mr. Arnold and the penalty he’d paid for killing Snip. Midnight and I decided to remain friends and nothing more since neither of us fancied a long-distance relationship. I also made several trips to Green Street to gossip about the ghost cat, giving the facts of the case to George and Margaret, Silas and Samuel. During one such visit, I learned that while Mr. and Mrs. Arnold still ran their shop, they had taken up residence a few blocks north. As for the Snip’s grave, one could scarcely see it through the morning glory vines.

One summer afternoon, after a long session at his desk, Eddy and I entered the parlor in search of Sissy and Muddy. The two women sat on either side of the hearth in their rocking chairs—the elder knitting, the younger darning. “It is official,” he said to them. “I have finished ‘The Black Cat.’ It is an excellent eulogy, if I do say so myself.”

Sissy set down her mending and took the scroll he offered. She unrolled it and crossed to the open window. The sheer curtains blew into the room, fluttering against the page.

Eddy put his hands on his hips.“You don’t have to read it now, my—”

“Shhh!” Sissy said. “It has been weeks, and I cannot wait any longer.”

Eddy left to pace the hallway. I stayed, alighting to Sissy’s square piano. Certain we’d turned in our best work, I wanted to receive congratulations first. Sissy read to herself for a spell then finished by speaking aloud. “‘The falling of other walls had compressed the victim of my cruelty into the substance of the freshly-spread plaster; the lime of which, with the flames, and the ammonia from the carcass, had then accomplished the portraiture as I saw it.’” She glanced at me, her eyebrow arched.

She continued,“‘Although I thus readily accounted to my reason, if not altogether to my conscience, for the startling fact just detailed, it did not the less fail to make a deep impression upon my fancy. For months I could not rid myself of the phantasm of the cat; and, during this period, there came back into my spirit a half-sentiment that seemed, but was not, remorse, and this lack of regret sentenced me to a hell beyond any imagined. The Black Cat had taken his revenge!’”

Muddy stopped knitting.“Is that it?” she asked.

Sissy flipped the scroll over and found it as Eddy had left it—free of letters. “Yes, that’s it.” She dropped into her rocking chair and gave her mother a troubled look.

The creak of wood called Eddy into the room. His hair stood on end, as if he’d been pulling it again. “Well?” he asked.

“It is…amusing,” Sissy said.

Muddy resumed her knitting. The needles clicked furiously.

“Amusing?” His eyes turned dull. “Is it not to your liking, Virginia? I worked so hard on it. I thought for certain—”

She rose to take his hands.“It was a good story, Edgar. I liked the supernatural elements. And the main character is sufficiently mad. I’m just not sure of the ending.”

“Did it not satisfy you?”

“It lacked your usual…well, your usual severity.”

He let go of her and crossed to the piano. I nudged his fingers. They remained limp. From the furrow on his brow, I knew we had more writing ahead of us.“Since the story is for you, wife,” he said. “I will try again. It must be perfect.”

“Don’t make it too perfect,” Muddy added. “You need to sell it and make rent.”

Sissy joined him.“The parts about the cat were realistic.” She tousled the top of my head. “Perhaps a little too realistic, considering Cattarina’s involvement in the fire.”

“Alleged involvement,” Eddy corrected her. He chucked me under the chin.

“Yes, yes, alleged. But the ending felt, I don’t know, incomplete, as if the horror hadn’t run its full course yet.”

“Did you at least like the beginning? Because I spent—”

A knock at the door cut him off.

Eddy left to greet the visitor and returned a moment later, his teeth in full view.“I have done it, ladies! I have won thePhiladelphia Dollar contest with‘The Gold Bug.’” He waved the torn envelope, and I wondered if someone had mailed him a bug and if they had, why it pleased him so.

“Husband, I could not be prouder!” Sissy said. She clapped her hands.

Eddy handed the mail to Muddy and bowed.“Mr. Alburger’s rent, Mrs. Clemm. One hundred dollars ought to cover it!”

***

The gold bug turned our lives catawampus, and Eddy forgot about the black cat story. After the letter, Poe House overflowed with goodness. The first night, we celebrated with a feast to shame Christmas: corned beef with brown gravy, cod cakes, potato whip, succotash, cold slaw, rolls, and teacake. I could not attest to the vegetables or the sweet finish, but the beef and cod were delicious and their supply plentiful.

In the following days, Eddy lavished everyone with gifts. Muddy, he bought a brass soup ladle. He called it ascepter, and told the old woman togo forth andrule the kitchen when he gave it to her. I did not pretend to understand this. Sissy received a new dress to replace the one she’d burned after burying Snip. Sewn from grey-green silk, the frock rippled about her frame as she walked, mimicking the current and hue of the Delaware River. Tiers of bows, crafted from the same fabric, adorned the skirt hem and neckline. She called it her newtown dress. But I thought it more a river dress. Eddy also gave her a mother-of-pearl cameo that she pinned at her bosom and a red leatherette box in which to store the trinket.

And me, he bought the most wonderful gift of all.

One hot, prickly afternoon, Eddy snuck from the house and left me napping on the settee. When he returned, he called Muddy and Sissy into the parlor and set a cat-sized wooden box on the floor in front of me.“Watch and be entertained,” he said to the women.

Sensing the chest had been purchased for me, I obliged him and jumped to the floor to investigate. Wonder of wonders! The smell escaping the interior drove me wild. I bounced straight in the air and chattered my teeth. Had Eddy bought me a hen? When I pawed at the lid latch, he unfastened it, revealing the treasure inside—chicken feathers, heaps and heaps of glorious chicken feathers. I dove into their midst, sending the smaller, lighter ones into the air.

Sissy and Eddy laughed.

Even Muddy laughed and stamped her foot.“Where did you buy such a thing, Eddy?” she asked.

“I bought the box from Fitz. But the feathers came from the butcher. Didn’t pay a penny for them.”

I poked my head above the box rim and let the feathers cascade around me like falling snow. I loved the smell. I loved the squish. Far and away, this was the best gift I’d ever received, outside of Eddy’s love. I dove again and buried myself amidst the Poe family’s laughter. Sissy laughed loudest until a coughing spell overtook her, and she had to be led upstairs to bed. The gold bug had fixed many ills but could not right the one that mattered most.

Alas, our joy lasted only until the next wave of misery. After Sissy’s health scare, Mr. Cook gave a copy of theDaily Forum to Eddy that sent my companion into a rage.“‘The Gold Bug,’” he read from the paper, “a decided humbug? What rot!” I wanted to understand the new words that surfaced in the wake of Mr. Cook’s delivery—accusations andplagiarism—to comfort Eddy. But alas, I could not. Then things got worse, proving once and for all that misery plaguedevery member of the Poe family.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_15]

The Other Black Cat

LATER THAT DAY, SAMUEL charged into our front garden, crushing the hydrangeas with his immense frame. His white chest puffed in and out with heavy panting.“Cattarina! Silas and I need your help! Urgently!”

“Whatever is the matter?” I asked. The toad I’d been stalking hopped away.

“Abner Arnold is adopting another cat!”

“Goodness gracious.” Earlier this summer, I’d told the brothers about Mr. Arnold and his nefarious deeds, embellishing the tale with my own exploits. Now, they possessed all the facts of the case. “How do you know?”

“He came to see our Robert about adopting again.” A hydrangea petal sat atop of his head. “After an alarming exchange, Robert threw him out of the house. Told Mr. Arnold togo home and pray for salvation. I think that meant‘no.’”

“Most assuredly,” I said. “Then what happened?”

“Mr. Arnold laughed! Laughed, all the way down the street.” Samuel raked the petal from his head. “That’s not the end of it. As he left, he shouted more things about cats, things I didn’t understand. But I know he means to look for one elsewhere. I feel it in my whiskers.”

“Your whiskers? Oh, my.” I thought of my own, half-grown at this point.

“We can’t let that happen, Cattarina. Mr. Arnold must not be allowed to adopt again.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” I walked to the gatepost and waited for him to catch up. “Where is Silas?”

“He was too afraid to come. But if it’s urgent, I can persuade him to leave by the hole in our roof. That’s how I escaped. Robert is sleeping and won’t miss us for a while.”

“Gather George and Margaret Beal and Silas and meet me in your front garden. I will be there when the sun is at mid-point.” I said on my way to the sidewalk.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“To Rittenhouse!”

***

Midnight needed no convincing. I had but to utter Samuel’s words, and he accompanied me to the omnibus stop for the return trip. Coaxing him onto the conveyance, however, took every argument in my arsenal. When words failed, I bit him in the rump, and he boarded the horse bus without further quarrel. We arrived at Mr. Eakins’s house in time for the meeting. Per my request, George, Margaret, Silas, and Samuel waited for us in front garden by the zinnia patch. Mr. Eakins must’ve still been asleep since the cat social on his lawn had not drawn him from the house.

Once we’d dispensed with the how-do-you-dos, I opened with a question: “How can we stop Mr. Arnold from killing again?”

“We show him the error of his ways,” Margaret said. “If he repents, he will be a changed man.”

“My dear,” George said, “even with the help of an entire meeting house, that sounds impossible.”

“I know! I know!” Silas said. “We find a giant cage—like the one our Robert uses, but bigger—and we trap Mr. Arnold in it. Then we set him free in the country.”

“He’s not a rabbit, brother,” Samuel said.

I glanced at Midnight and thought how very much he looked like Snip.“Does the Thief of Rittenhouse have anything to offer?” I asked him.

“I’m sorry to not be of help, but—” His eyes grew wide. “I’ve got it! We can steal his shoes. Without them, he can’t leave the house and find another cat.”

“Did I not mention Mr. Arnold is a cobbler?” I said. “And that hemakes shoes?”

Midnight’s tail tapped the walkway.

“We could lure a pack of wild dogs to his house,” Samuel offered. “They would do our work for us. I’d tie a mutton chop round Silas’s neck and—”

“I am against violence,” George said.

“So am I!” Silas added, his whiskers aquiver. “Listen to George, brother. Oh, listen!”

“No one is tying meat around anyone’s neck unless it is mine,” I said. “And lunch is near.”

“What about you, Cattarina?” Margaret asked. “You’re the cleverest molly I know. You must have an idea you’re saving. Tell us.”

“I am clever, aren’t I?” I cleaned my face, pretending to think. Then I reallydid think. Mr. Arnold had useddevil andhell the night of the fire—two words I’d learned through Eddy’s work—and he’d treated me like a creature possessed. Mrs. Arnold had also usedhaunt, another term of familiarity, when she looked into the cellar. While I’d never faced these things in real life, I understood their gist, at least in human terms, and I took the cobblers for a superstitious couple. We cats have our own underworld, filled with fanged demons and ragged souls, but it is largely relegated to lore, stories used to scare kittens into behaving. After a fashion, I said, “I think you are right, Margaret.”

“I am?”

“You said to show Mr. Arnold the error of his ways, and I have a way to accomplish this feat. I’m not sure he’ll repent, but he may be frightened enough to leave cats alone. Forever. Except my plan involves a fair bit of danger…” I glanced at Midnight. “For one of us.”

“I’ll do it, Cattarina, whatever it is,” Midnight said. He fixed me with a round-eyed stare. “I can’t let another cat suffer.”

“Tell us your plan, Cattarina,” Samuel said.

I narrowed my eyes.“Snip is about to pay Mr. Arnold a visit…from beyond the grave.”

***

We reached agreement. Midnight would masquerade as Snip and scare Mr. and Mrs. Arnold into giving up the notion of pet adoption. The rest of us would take turns keeping watch over our pal from outside the home, lending a paw if danger surfaced. How I worried for Midnight’s safety! Abner Arnold had already killed once. If he killed again, I’d never forgive myself.

In order for Midnight to look like Snip, he needed to undergo certain transformations. For this, he accompanied me to Poe House. Outside our garden gate, I asked him to stand by until I secured a route since the last thing we needed was for Muddy to give him the sweep. I crept into the kitchen and found the old woman at the sink scrubbing a cooking pot and talking to herself. I encountered Sissy in her top floor bedchamber, napping. Eddy—my biggest concern—was not home. With the women of the house busy and the man of the house elsewhere, Midnight and I stole through the parlor window and upstairs to Eddy’s chamber.

“You are lucky to live here, Cattarina,” Midnight said.

“Our home is cozy, but it is not grand like yours,” I said.

We leapt to the desk and sat on the blotter pad.

“What does a cat need, beyond a bowl and pillow? I’m talking about what a catwants.” He blinked. “You have purpose. A companion who sees you as an equal, not a plaything.”

I nudged his cheek.“Your Sarah may surprise you one day. She is young.”

He looked out the window, his pupils narrowing in the sun’s light. “She will never treat me the way your Eddy treats you.”

I could not disagree.“You have purposehere, Midnight, with Snip. Why don’t we work on your costume?”

He faced me again.“Where do we begin?”

I flipped the glass stopper from the inkbottle and drew my paw through the blackish-brown liquid speckling the blotter. Then I wiped it over the snowy mark on his chest, thinking to cover it and make him all black. The effect was less than convincing. The ink obscured part of the fur, leaving several visible patches of white that, when observed at a distance, appeared to form a gallows and noose…or a broiled chicken astride a galloping horse—I could not be sure which. Fiddlesticks. My lack of thumbs had never been a problem before.

“How do I look?” he asked.

“Purrrfect,” I said as convincingly as I could. “Now for your eye.” I jumped from the desk and nudged Eddy’s shallow closet open, following the scent of wax to hair pomade on the third shelf. The tin opened like a steamed mussel when it hit the floor. I dabbed a bit on Midnight’s eyelidto seal it, and hoped it would not cause an infection later. “There we are! You look just like Snip.”

“Do you have a mirror?”

“Er, no. We do not believe in such things in our house,” I said. “Vanity and all that.” I walked to the doorway and waited for him. He seemed to have difficulty navigating with one eye closed and bumped into the chair. “Are you okay?” I asked him.

“Purrfect,” he said.

We were both terrible liars.

***

Unsure of Abner Arnold’s whereabouts, Midnight and I headed to the cobbler shop first. Mr. Arnold was not there, but we noticed his wife outside near the sassafras, a small hand axe in her grip. It would’ve taken days to fell the colossal tree with this implement, especially when wielded by a woman of her stature. Yet Mrs. Arnold appeared resolute. She reared her arm back and let the blade fly. At first chop, Mr. Fitzgerald marched from his hardware shop and into the courtyard to confront her. He stood in the path of the woman’s swing, preventing another. Midnight and I scurried to the mouth of the cut-through and watched the argument unfold.

“We’ve been through this before, Mrs. Arnold,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “You will not touch this tree. Not so long as I own my shop.”

“Go away.” She circled the trunk and whacked it again.

Mr. Fitzgerald met her on the other side and grabbed the axe handle. They wrestled over the tool, stumbling over tree roots. Mr. Cook stuck his head from Mr. Fitzgerald’s shop and shouted, “I say, Fitz! Can I leave payment for the purchase?” He waved a handful of money. “Well?”

The shopkeepers ignored him.

“Leave me to my work!” Mrs. Arnold screeched at Mr. Fitzgerald. “Leave me, or we will pay!” She pushed the axe toward him, almost cutting his cheek.

Mr. Fitzgerald fell backward and, in doing so, wrenched the blade from her grasp. He scrambled to his feet and pointed the weapon at her.“No,you will pay, Mrs. Arnold, if you touch this tree again! Do you hear me?”

She picked up a chunk of fallen bark and wagged it in his face.“Leave me to my business,” she said, sticking it in her pocket, “and I’ll leave you to yours.” Then she entered her shop and slammed the door.

Still carrying the woman’s axe, Mr. Fitzgerald gave an exasperated cry and returned to help Mr. Cook with his shopping.

“What a ruckus,” Midnight said. “Did you understand any of it?”

“Not a word. But Mrs. Arnold’s aversion to shade is obvious.” I approached the tree and sniffed the newly hewn trunk. It smelled similar to the tonic Eddy purchased every now and again—spicy and sweet.Sarsaparilla, that was the word.“If Mr. Arnold is not here, then he is either at home or at the tavern. Which should we visit first?”

“I’ll leave that to your intuition,” he said. “I trust it completely.”

We left at once for Jolley Spirits, traveling at a slower pace than usual because of Midnight’s closed eye. Franklin teemed with fast-rolling carriages and wagons and gigs; it also stunk with the byproduct of progress: manure. One didn’t need street signs to navigate Philadelphia; one only needed a nose. The sidewalks were no less congested. Once, I lost my pal in the folds of a lady’s voluminous skirt until he muddled through the fabric and into the light again. Oh, that eye! We traveled east on Spring Garden, passing by the open-air market across the street, until I spied the familiar ripped awning. Someone had placed an empty rum barrel near the front door of the tavern, providing Midnight and I with a platform. We sprang to the cask and peeked through the window.

“What does Abner Arnold look like?” Midnight asked.

“He is the cruel one,” I said matter-of-factly. “With a brooding face and eyes devoid of soul.”

Midnight ducked his head.“There! The old man who looks like beef jerky!”

“No, that is Mr. Jolley. He is no friend to cats, either, but Mr. Arnold is—” I set my paws on the glass, aghast at the figure of Mr. Arnold weaving across the tavern floor. The fire had contorted his neck and chin, giving his skin a molten appearance, like that of a melted candle. Bald patches, interspersed with tufts of hair, covered his head. “He’s coming! He’s coming!” I dove from the barrel and hid behind a stack of egg crates next to the grocer’s.

“Cattarina, how will I know him?” Midnight asked. His closed eye weeped from the pomade.

Mr. Arnold opened the door before I could answer. He hung onto the frame with hands the color of rare lamb and leered at Midnight.“Hello, pusssssss,” he said to him. “Don’t I…don’t I know you?” He hiccupped. “Why don’t you come home with me tonight, pussssss? I could use the company.”

Midnight’s good eye opened wide.

Mr. Arnold looked even more hideous in the daylight. A man of competing ills, his scabby neck and chin contrasted with the sallow tones of his cheeks, forehead…even eyes. He laughed and gave Midnight a shove, depositing him on the sidewalk. As I shadowed the pair to his new home—blocks from Poe House and from the help of feline friends—dread settled in for the journey.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_16]

Big Game Haunting

MR. AND MRS. ARNOLD lived a few blocks north of Green Street, in an area filled with shanties. The destruction of their old house and the partial ruin of their cobbler shop had put them in league with humans of low means. The wooden cottage had but a single story, no shutters, cracked or broken panes in almost every window, a walkway made of hand-dug stones, and a lopsided chimney I wagered kept more smoke in than it let out. Mr. Arnold staggered up the walkway, opened the door for Midnight, and shooed him inside with his boot.

The door shut behind them, sealing my friend inside.

A window ledge provided a perch from which to observe the interior. This proved less than fruitful since Abner Arnold slumped to the front hall floor after entering, too drunk to stand. There he fell into a deep slumber, allowing Midnight and me the full range of his property.“Hurry!” I said to my friend through a broken pane. “Explore every door and window. You may need an escape route later. I have some experience with this.”

“I’ll look inside,” he said to me. “You look outside.” With this, he vanished into the next room, but not before bumping into the doorframe.

The cottage had more in common with a produce crate than a home, yet I turned up no extraneous portals, save for a locked back door. On to the cellar. The home’s lower environs opened onto the street, guarded by a set of wooden panels warped by rain. I slipped through the crack between them, certain I could escape again if necessary, and descended to the flagstone floor below.

Abner Arnold’s cellar contained nothing of interest, save for a bag of quicklime, a bag of crushed rock, and a tower of bricks in the corner. The earthen room bore but one interesting detail—a recess in the wall near the kitchen stairs. The alcove had the makings of a fireplace, abandoned in early stages by bricklayers. Coincidentally, our cellar at home had a similar niche. Muddy had lined it with boards to store her summer canning.

A door opened and shut above me.“I’m home, Abner!” Mrs. Arnold shouted.

I left the cellar and retraced my steps to the rear of the home. With growing concern for Midnight, I became more brazen, alighting to the kitchen windowsill in full view. On this fine and fair day, the sun on my back, the cobblers would never catch me. Mr. Arnold had arisen from his stupor and sat with his wife at the kitchen table. They stared not at each other but at their new guest, who’d situated himself in the dry basin on the washstand. At first Midnight did not notice me. So I scratched one of the intact panes, loud enough for him and no one else to hear. Our gaze met briefly.

“Where did you find him?” Mrs. Arnold asked.

“Outside of Jolley’s,” Mr. Arnold said.

The window glass blunted their words.

She tilted her head.“Except for the white fur on his chest, he reminds me of—”

“Don’t say it.” Mr. Arnold crossed his arms. “Not sure if we should keep him.”

“Of course we should keep him,” she said. “It’s your chance to make amends.” Mrs. Arnold rose, poured a pitcher of water into a kettle, and set the kettle on the cook stove.

Mr. Arnold and Midnight eyed each other with an unbroken gaze. The room bristled with confrontation, though Mrs. Arnold seemed oblivious. When the teakettle whistled, the man reached for a pot of ointment in his pocket and applied it to the wounds on his neck, chin, and hands, turning his skin shiny. I thought of the salve Muddy put on my paws and licked my lips.“I liked the look of him before,” he said. “Now I don’t know.”

“He’s a fine cat, even if he’s missing an eye,” Mrs. Arnold said. “You didn’t do it…did you, Abner?”

“No. I swear it. It was missing when I found him.” He rubbed his stomach. “Don’t know why I eat at Jolley’s. Makes me sick every time.”

“I’ll fix you up.” Mrs. Arnold put several heaping spoonsful of loose tea in a cup and poured boiling water over the top of it. Then she set the refreshment on the table before her husband.

Mr. Arnold sat forward and pushed the cup aside.“Do you see a picture in his fur?” He pointed at Midnight. “There, on his chest.”

“Now that you mention it, the whitedoes make a pattern.”

“What do you see?” he asked.

Mrs. Arnold chuckled and said,“Roast chicken on horseback!”

“Bah,” he said, rising from his chair. “You think too much about food. I’ll be in the parlor.”

Mr. Arnold left the kitchen, followed by Mrs. Arnold and her tea tray a short while later.

Midnight hopped to the floor and approached the window.“They’re keeping me, Cattarina, just as we planned. Let the haunting begin.”

***

Throughout the waxing moon, Samuel, Silas, George, Margaret, and I kept watch over Midnight as he performed his otherworldly duties. This effort alone wouldn’t convince a man like Abner Arnold to abandon cats, so we all played a part. In the morning, I would follow him on errands, usually to the tavern, hissing and spitting from the shadows. If he stayed home, I’d dart to his bedchamber windowsill, careen off the glass, and leap to the ground in a continuous arc, performing this action over and over until he lifted the sash. “W-who’s there?” he’d say, followed by, “Is it the g-ghost cat?” Come afternoon, Silas and Samuel would sneak out of a hole in Mr. Eakins’s roof and gallop across the Arnold’s roof. The pitty-pat of the brothers’ footsteps kept Mr. Arnold on the threshold of insanity until dinnertime, when George and Margaret would take over. They caterwauled from the garden to upset Mr. Arnold’s digestion.

These efforts supported Midnight’sreal work inside the home. Eye ablaze,“Snip’s ghost” would stalk our victim room to room, unnerving him with an eerie low-pitched growl. I’d heard the sound more than once during my rounds, and it chilled evenme. If the man tried to sit—in the parlor, in the bedchamber—Midnight would linger in the doorway and gaze at him with a hypnotic stare we cats reserve for mice and birds, the kind that turns prey into pudding. “What do you want from me? Leave me alone!” Mr. Arnold would shout.

Whenever the man of the house left, our pal turned into a different feline, different even from the one who lived in Rittenhouse. I’d never seen Midnight so vulnerable, so kitten-like. Over the days, he endeared himself to Tabitha Arnold, becoming an indispensible companion by warming her bed, catching her spiders, and listening to her stories. She did the same for him, scratching himjust so, moving his blanket to follow the sun, even squiggling the odd piece of yarn for him.“There’s a good boy,” Mrs. Arnold would croon when he sat on her lap. Yet as soon as the man returned, Midnight would assume his role as specter.

And these exertions worked. I’d never seen a twitchier human than Abner Arnold. In a misguided attempt to restore her husband—I’d witnessed my share of useless home remedies—Mrs. Arnold plied her husband with tea every morning and every evening. But it was little use against the liquor he consumed and the mental anguish we doled out. Each day, his eyes grew yellower, his neck redder, and his stomach greener, the latter evidenced by daily purging.

Our“ghost’s” health fared only slightly better. Though the pomade had worn off days ago, Midnight’s eyelid remained closed. Poor thing. The infection I dreaded had become a reality. He’d showed me one afternoon while the Arnolds attended church. “Does it look bad?” he asked. “Will I lose the eye and become like Snip? Tell me the truth.”

“If you do, you will be evenmore handsome,” I told him.

I should state here that these shenanigans came at no expense to the Poes. Muddy supervised the house during my absences, but I always—always—returned home to Sissy each night to warm her. The other cats took turns sleeping in the Arnold’s front garden so night duty wouldn’t fall derelict. Eddy didn’t write much these days and had no need for a muse, though a secretary might have been useful. He departed the house on more than one morning with a messy satchel of manuscripts and scrolls, scattering a paper trail up and down North Seventh. The first time, I tailed him as far as the omnibus stop, and overheard him tell the driver, Mr. Coal, he wasoff to file a libel suit. I couldn’t hazard what became of thislibel suit for Eddy never wore anything other than his somber black uniform.

While pulling these capers at the Arnold house, the loose friendship I had with Silas, Samuel, George, and Margaret tightened into a genuine troop—the Green Street Troop—and I began to think of them as family. Midnight, however, I thought of as more than family.

***

Around mid-summer, I met the Coon Cats by the Arnold’s garden gate as they headed home for dinner. I’d just finished my own meal and had come to fill in for George and Margaret since Margaret had caught a cold and could not rid herself of it. Even though this upset our schedule, the impending storm would’ve been the death of her. “Smell the rain? It’s coming,” I said to them. “It’s been so dry lately, I can’t complain.”

“I hope we make it home before the downpour,” Silas said. “It takes my coat ages to dry.”

“Cattarina?” Samuel asked. He rubbed against the picket post and scratched his back. “Do you think Midnight has taken a liking to Mrs. Arnold? The comfort he gives her seems more genuine these last few days.”

“And not at all pretend,” Silas added. He licked his nose.

“I am not sure,” I said. I did not wish to voice my concern to the others. “But I can tell that Mrs. Arnold has taken a liking to him. When she is with Midnight, her face shines.”

“Changed by the love of a good cat,” Silas said.

Samuel trilled in agreement.

“Until Mr. Fitzgerald enters the picture,” I said. “They fight like couple of rabid dogs. Oh, the fist shaking and screaming!Axe this andtree that. Humans.”

“The heat drives them insane,” Samuel said. “Makes them do things they normally wouldn’t. They should try weathering it with a coat.” He turned and bit his rump, as if mentioning the coat caused the itch. “How much longer will it take Mr. Arnold to give up cats I wonder?”

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

“I shan’t expect much longer,” I said. “What’s the report?”

“Mr. Arnold’s mood is fair to poor,” he replied. “He’s been pacing a lot.”

Silas chimed in,“They are just about to dine—beef stock and crackers. If the haunting doesn’t do them in, starvation will, right brother?” His stomach rumbled. “Speaking of starvation, our Robert will be serving dinner soon. We must be home by then.” He nudged Samuel toward the street.

“I will be back for the overnight shift,” Samuel said as they left. “Until then, Cattarina!”

As I watched the brothers disappear down the street, I, too, wondered how much longer it would take to break Mr. Arnold of his“fondness” for cats. Soon, I hoped. I couldn’t see keeping this pace until fall. And Midnight’s eye needed to be washed and cared for lest he lose it. I approached the house and jumped to the kitchen sill to observe the goings-on.

Tragically, the answer to“how much longer” presented itself this very night.

During my brief conversation with the Coon Cats, Mr. Arnold had turned hysterical, evidenced now by his tortured expression and gnashing teeth. Perspiration darkened the shirt fabric under his arms, and his skin gleamed with sweat. Just as Samuel said, the man marched back and forth across the kitchen with large, angry strides. Soup and crackers lay on the table, untouched. Mrs. Arnold cowered in the corner. The grave situation grew worse when Mr. Arnold snatched Midnight and deposited him on the kitchen table, upsetting a soup bowl.“I see it! I see it!” he yelled.

Midnight quivered on the tabletop, no longer play-acting. I leaned in closer and bumped my nose on the window frame. Dash it all, I’d never catch the brothers in time.

“What is it, Abner? What do you see?” Mrs. Arnold said from the corner.

“The pattern on the cat’s chest.”

She joined him.“For pity’s sake, have you lost your mind?”

“It’s a gallows and hangman’s noose.” He turned Midnight around. “See for yourself.”

She inspected the white fur.“I see no such thing.”

“Look again,” he demanded. “It’s a sign from the devil. I know it. He’s come to make me pay for killing the black cat.”

Killing the black cat. I didn’t need his admission of guilt but got one all the same. I paced the sill. George and Margaret could not be expected until morning, and the brothers were half way to Green Street by now. If Midnight ran afoul, I’d have to save him by myself. I inspected the cracked glass in the window. Should Ibreak it and give my pal passage? Or should I go round front and create a diversion first? If the old man saw me, he would recognize me from the fire, and—

“You’re drunk,” Mrs. Arnold said, crossing her arms.

“No! No! Not a drop since lunch! I swear it!” Mr. Arnold clasped his hands and pleaded with his wife. “Oh, Tabitha, relieve this misery and confirm my greatest suspicion, that this cat is from the underworld!” He fell to his knees and grabbed his ears. “I am weary from the meowing and hissing and spitting—it follows me everywhere! I cannot escape it! The fire, the ghostly imprint upon the plaster… There is no corner of Philadelphia safe from four-legged demons, not even my home!”

“You need to rest, dear,” she said. She brushed Midnight from the table and tried to push him into the next room. I think she meant to save him, except the stubborn tom refused to leave and hid behind the washstand instead. The old woman turned to her husband with an insincere smile. “Abner, why don’t I fix—”

“No more tea! No more cats!” He sprang to his feet and grabbed her by the throat. “Mark my words, Tabitha Arnold. This hell ends tonight.”

[Êàðòèíêà: img_17]

Ravages of the Storm

THE BROKEN PANE SHATTERED with my charge, scattering glass to the kitchen floor.“Flee, Midnight!” I screeched. “He’s going to kill you!”

Abner Arnold twisted toward the window, fingers tight around his wife’s throat. His bottom lip trembled. “The hell c-cat lives! She’s b-back from the fire!”

Hell cat?Fire? All hope of anonymity vanished. This mattered less compared to a much bigger fix. Midnight had not moved from behind the washstand.“Have you lost your wits?” I said to him. “Run, you fool! Run!”

“I can’t leave without her, Cattarina,” he said. “She’s my companion now.”

“Tabitha Arnold?”

Abner Arnold released his wife and lunged for the window. I could not risk another go-round with this madman. As his hand burst through the jagged hole, I jumped from the sill, escaping his fingers at the last instant. He withdrew and slapped the window, depositing bloody handprints on the glass.“I will kill you, hell cat! I will strangle you with my own two hands!”

But these were not the words that haunted me on my race to Green Street. They were Midnight’s. “Save me, Cattarina!” he pleaded as I left. “Save us both!”

***

The wind blew me south toward my own neighborhood, shortening the time to Mr. Eakins’s home. I reached his front garden with scant daylight remaining. As luck would have it, the Coon Cats sat at the parlor window and witnessed my approach—frominside the house.“Silas! Samuel!” I yowled to them. “Midnight is—”

Bang, bang, bang.

I looked skyward. Mr. Eakins sat astride the roof peak, a hammer in his hand and nails between his teeth.Bang, bang, bang. He brought the tool down again and again, striking a board that spanned a hole…just big enough for a cat to escape through. “Rain’s coming, mister,” he muttered to himself. “Better hurry or you’ll have your indoor plumbing yet.”

I bounded up the walkway and laid my paws on the large front window.“Midnight’s in trouble!” I said to the brothers. “You’ve got to help me!”

“We can’t,” Samuel said. “Our Robert found the hole and is sealing our route as we speak.”

Silas hung his head.“We are sorry, Cattarina.”

Bad luck, indeed. I left without goodbyes and ran to Mr. Beal’s home down the block to fetch George and Margaret. They, too, had been locked inside. They stood at the front window, their faces forlorn. “It’s the rain, Cattarina. Our Thaddeus wants to keep us safe,” Margaret said. She sneezed. “And warm. I am sicker with this weather.”

“There’ll be no talking him out of it,” George said. “It’s up to you to save Midnight.”

His words choked me, and I experienced—if but partially—the anguish Snip must have felt as the noose tightened around his neck.

***

As I entered the Arnold’s neighborhood, the magnificent ball of yarn disappeared from the sky, ushering in the night. We cats operated best in the dark, so I prayed this would be to my advantage. My heart pounded, more from my mental state than my physical, as I dashed past rows of houses. If anything had happened to Midnight while I’d gone for help, Mr. Arnold would pay with his life, if not tonight, at some point in the future. I reached the familiar front gate and skidded to a stop near the post.

Great Cat Above! Would this night of horrors never cease?

Mr. Fitzgerald stood at the couple’s door with Mrs. Arnold’s hand axe—the object of their continued bickering. He knocked with the back of the metal head and waited, his tall, gaunt frame mirroring the gables on either side of the eaves. The wind blew again, lifting his thin hair. I did not move for fear of drawing attention to myself.

Mrs. Arnold answered, her hair tangled and about her shoulders, the skin under her eye swollen. The fight between her and her husband had raged on in my absence.“Mr. Fitzgerald?” she said. She wiped her face and straightened her dress.

“Good evening, Mrs. Arnold.” He raised the axe and spoke in monotone. “I think we should bury the hatchet once and for all.”

In her fear, she committed the unthinkable. She opened the door and let him into her home. As the door closed behind them, sealing Midnight inside, I thought of our salvation: Eddy.

***

Sissy’s protestations echoed down Minerva. “How could you?” she wailed from inside the house. “How could you go back on your word?” Her voice carried far enough to give Mr. Cook something to gossip about tomorrow. Raindrops pelted my fur, urging me up the walkway and into our home through the open kitchen window. I located husband and wife in the parlor. Eddy lay on the settee, his suit coat turned inside out, his hair brushed onto his forehead. Sissy stood in the center of the rug, arms crossed.

“You promised you would stop, Edgar,” Sissy said. “Promised.” She stamped her foot.

I slunk into the room and sat on the hearth, pondering this new turn of events. If Eddy had taken ill, I couldn’t engage his help. The front door opened and closed, and Muddy entered the parlor still wearing her straw bonnet, the one with faux cherries. Much too gay a hat to be paired with her somber black dress, it nonetheless suited her. She’d always been a woman at odds with herself. “The storm is coming, Virginia. We’d better latch the shutters and—” She spied Eddy on the settee. “What’s this?”

“It’s what it looks like, Mother,” Sissy snapped.

The old woman approached her son-in-law, laying a hand on his forehead.“Don’t be too hard on him, dear. You can’t expect him to shed his condition in a single month. Not without help.”

Sissy sighed.“I suppose all the money from ‘The Gold Bug’ is gone.”

“I saved a little back. We are not destitute.”

Sissy knelt and shook Eddy’s shoulder to no effect. “Husband! Wake up!” she cried.

I would not be so delicate. I trotted past Sissy and jumped on my companion’s chest. He did not stir. At this very moment, Mr. Arnold or Mr. Fitzgerald could be turning Midnight to mincemeat. With great vigor, I sharpened my claws on Eddy’s shirtfront, catching, I hoped, a bit of skin in the process. He giggled. Curses.

“There is no waking him, Cattarina,” Sissy said to me. “He is beyond help.” She offered her mother a weak smile. “How is Mrs. West? Still complaining about President Tyler?”

“His Accidency? Yes, ad infinitum.” She removed her bonnet and laid it on the mantle. “Let’s get him ready for sleep,” she said.

I slunk to the hearth to think while Sissy and Muddy removed Eddy’s jacket and shoes. Midnight needed a human’s help, but that human would not be Eddy. Sissy had proved handy during the Glass Eye Killer affair, and she might again, I reasoned. As I watched the dear girl drape Eddy with a crocheted blanket, I settled on a new plan. Once Muddy went to bed, I would lure Sissy outside and to the Arnold home where she would intervene on my behalf. Midnight could stay here for one night and return to Rittenhouse in the morning. I got my wish when the old woman announced, “It’s bedtime, Virginia.”

“I’ll be along, Mother,” she said. She knelt by Eddy and smoothed his hair from his face. “I need another minute.”

“As you wish,” Muddy said. “Turn off the lamp before you come up. And check it twice. That Arnold fire still has me spooked.”

Once Muddy left, Sissy whispered to Eddy,“Edgar, can you hear me? You tried. Iknow you did. Tomorrow will be better, won’t it, my dear? We will make do.” She pulled the covers around his chin then coughed into her hand. “I love you, husband. Good night.” She kissed him on the forehead and rose to light a candle, still coughing all the while. When she extinguished the lamp, I started for her, winding around her skirt to drive her to the door.

“Cattarina? What do you need?” She knelt beside me and held the candle near. Her cheeks burned brightly in the golden flicker.

Keeping my tail high, I trotted into the hallway.

“Do you want out?” She followed me to the door.

Near the threshold, I curved the end of my tail, calling her forward like a fish to a hook. We did not communicate with our upper minds as Eddy and I did. That required a deep bond, deeper even than the one Sissy and I shared. Yet her tail reading showed promise.

“Oh, you clever girl,” she said. “You want me to follow you. Is there trouble like last time? Mother won’t miss me if I’m back in a blink, and why should Eddy be the only one behaving irresponsibly? Two can play at that.” She took her wrap from the coat hook and opened the door. Rain blewinto the entryway, pricking my face. Sissy coughed.“Ready when you are, Constable Claw. Lead the way.”

I thought of Midnight beneath the axe. Then I thought of Margaret and her sneeze and how the wet weather made it worse. No matter how much peril Midnight faced, I couldn’t send Sissy to an early grave. She would expire in this gale and leave Eddy even more anguished than before. I scampered back into the hallway and waited for her to close the door. I wheezed with relief when she did.

“Change your mind?” she asked.

I sat at the foot of the stairs, indicating her next move. She took my advice, and we ascended to her chamber. So she wouldn’t wake Muddy, Sissy tiptoed about the room, preparing for bed. I curled at the foot of her mattress and waited for her to come and sleep, too. Then I would sneak out and do what I could to help Midnight.

All night thunder boomed and lightning cracked, keeping Sissy awake. Every time I tried to leave the bedchamber, she would sit forward, rub the center of her chest, and whisper,“Where are you going, Cattarina?” and “Is there trouble? Should I follow?” I doubted she would go out so late at night, but I could not take the chance. She’d done as much last fall when I least expected it, and after the argument with Eddy, her mental state appeared compromised. I tried to convince myself Midnight had hidden in the attic to escape Mr. Arnold and Mr. Fitzgerald, except I’d witnessed his loyalty to Mrs. Arnold. He would no more desert her than I Eddy. Or Sissy.

When thunder rattled the windowpanes, I wrapped my tail around my nose and prayed for morning. Keeping one friend alive meant dooming another.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_18]

The Search Begins

AT FIRST LIGHT, I awoke at the foot of Sissy’s bed. Between my apprehension and hers, I got very little sleep. My bedmate must’ve nodded off during the night, however, for she slumbered beside me now. I looked across the room at old Muddy. I’d beaten her to the dawn. With my thoughts still on Midnight, I slunk downstairs, unbeknownst to anyone. Eddy snored from the parlor, right where the women had left him last night. Before the family could wake, I unlatched the front door, loosening it with a jump and jab, and fled into the neighborhood.

Water shimmered on the empty cobblestone streets, reflecting the rosy hues of sunrise. The storm had blown over. I noted a few broken tree limbs and flipped umbrellas as I headed north, but otherwise the Spring Garden area appeared normal—save for the carnage at the Arnold house. I began to run and did not stop until I reached the cobblers’ stone walkway. Setting aside thoughts of my own safety, I leapt through the hole I’d made in the window last night and alighted to the kitchen floor. The room stood empty. “Midnight!” I called.

No answer.

“Midnight! Are you here?”

Silence.

I searched the tiny single-story for any sign of the Arnolds, Midnight…even Mr. Fitzgerald. When that failed, I looked in the cellar. Not one person. Not one cat. Not one drop of blood.

***

Mr. Fitzgerald stopped sweeping to watch me enter the courtyard in front of his shop.“Hello, Catterina,” he said. “You’re out early this morning.” I sat nearest the cobbler shop and studied the man next door. At least I had found one of the humans in question. Had he killed Midnight and the Arnolds last night? Or had Abner and Tabitha taken Midnight for a stroll in the Spring Garden market, as Eddy and Sissy had done with me? Since the latter scenario was unlikely, the former scenario, however unfortunate, took root. Nevertheless, I clung to hope. In order to conduct a search for my friend, I needed some measure of it to function.

I examined the area in front of the shoemaker workshop, looking and sniffing for any sign of my pal. The shop’s dark interior, observed through the plate glass window, confounded me. Tabitha Arnold always closed shop on “the Lord’s day,” or at least that’s what Muddy called it. Yet that day had not come. I knew because the eldest member of our house hadn’t laid out hertown dress or her black book last night in preparation.

A man brushed by me as I turned to leave. I recognized the stocky gentleman at once—Mr. Pettigrew. He jiggled the handle to the Arnolds’ shop and scowled. After uttering a few terse words I shall not repeat, he surveyed the courtyard and located Mr. Fitzgerald. “You there!” he bellowed. “Do you know when the shoemaker will arrive? I’ve got a bone to pick with him. Rain seeped in my shoes last night and ruined my stockings.”

“I imagine the store will be closed today,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “The Arnolds are suffering from…maladies. I called on them last night, and they were doing poorly. Come back tomorrow.” He brushed the collected debris into the street and entered his shop.

“Maladies,” Mr. Pettigrew said under his breath. He looked me. “Stay away from here, pussycat. Mr. Arnold doesn’t like your kind.” With a tip of his hat, he left the way he came, the soles of his shoe flapping on the sidewalk.

Though I could not imagine Mr. Fitzgerald cleaving anyone, least of all Midnight, I entered his shop just in case. It presented no new evidence, so I left for Mr. Beal’s house to speak to George and Margaret, cutting through the alley. The Quaker Cats, too, had set out early, and I caught them near the razed Arnold home. The lot had been cleared shortly after the fire. In recent days, bricklayers had built a maze upon the blank earth. I’d watched them at their work, a dull affair second only to Muddy’s scrubbing of the walkway.

“We were coming to find you,” George said. “The Coon Cats are still with Mr. Eakins and won’t be leaving today. Maybe not even tomorrow. Any word on Midnight?”

“No, haven’t seen him. And worse, the Arnold house is empty.”

“Empty?” Margaret said with a sniffle. “Where could they have gone?”

“I intend to find out,” I said. “But I need your help.”

“We are always here to help,” George said. He lowered his head. “Except for last night. Margaret and I are sorry, Cattarina.”

“Truly sorry,” Margaret said. “But Mr. Beale locked all the windows and doors—even the shutters—with the coming storm. We couldn’t leave. And with my cold, it would’ve been too dangerous.” She sneezed, illustrating her point.

“If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine.” I sighed. “It was my plan.”

“And now Midnight’s dead,” Margaret said forlornly.

“No, we mustn’t think like that,” I said. “Grief will slow our efforts.”

“Don’t worry, Cattarina. We’ll turn over all of Philadelphia if we have to,” George said. “Midnight will surface.”

***

George and Margaret agreed to search the streets while I returned to the Arnolds’ residence to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. Since I’d botched things last night, I decided to once again enlist human help. Sissy’s keen eye rivaled my own, and Eddy’s mind worked in ways beyond comprehension. At this point, I would even take Muddy if I could push her from the kitchen. Across the street from Poe House, I caught Eddy and Sissy leaving a cab. From their costume, they had come from a grand affair. Eddy wore his brocade waistcoat he saved for readings, and Sissy had donned her new river dress. Arm in arm, the couple lingered on the sidewalk, in no particular hurry to go home. I watched them for longer than I should have, considering Midnight’s predicament. Perhaps sentimentality had gotten the best of me, but I had never seen Eddy so happy, so far from the melancholies of last autumn. I wanted him to stay that way forever. My one regret? ThatI had not been the one to bring about the change.

The carriage driver snapped the whip and urged the horse down the street. Then a pony cart driven by a freckle-faced girl whizzed past. What traffic! When the road cleared, I joined the pair mid-conversation.“Was the meeting to your liking?” Sissy asked Eddy. She’d curled her hair. Two black locks hung in spirals on either side of her ears. A closed fan dangled from her wrist.

“The Sons of Temperance is a fine organization,” Eddy said. “I should’ve attended a meeting sooner, but I was waiting for the right moment.”

“And it came.”

He patted her hand.“I am sorry, Virginia.”

She gazed at him.“Today we start anew, Edgar.”

It did this cat good to see her companion so full of merriment. But I had a task and could not be deterred. I waited for them to begin walking then introduced myself to their cadence. This step could not be skipped when attempting a feat of this complexity. It was one thing to bring a human from parlor to kitchen; it was quite another to guide them through the neighborhood.

“Good day, Catters,” Eddy said. “I trust you slept well.”

“Oh, she didn’t sleep well at all,” Sissy said, looking me over. “Poor thing wouldn’t stay put last night. Must’ve been the storm.”

I ziggety-zagged in front of them, orchestrating their strides without raising suspicion. They paid me no mind and continued chatting as they passed Poe House.

“It’s odd that Tabitha Arnold wasn’t at the meeting,” she said. “She even urged me to go. Told me she’d meet me there.”

“I didn’t mind,” he said. “It gave me more time with my beloved.”

I pushed them north past the intersection of Green Street.

“An afternoon stroll is an exquisite idea,” Sissy said. She opened her fan and waved herself.

“I thought it was your idea,” Eddy said.

“As long as it wassomeone’s idea.” She laughed and hugged her husband’s arm tighter.

We navigated wicker buggies filled with tots and toddlers wielding horehound sticks. The tiny humans delighted Sissy, for she smiled and pointed at each one, remarking on theircherub cheeks andangelic smiles. I stayed the course, thinking solely of Midnight, and detoured them west toward the Arnolds’ home.

She closed her fan.“Do you ever want children?”

“What has gotten into you, Virginia?”

“On days like this, when you are…” She cast her eyes downward. “…healthy, I think what a wonderful father you would make.”

“We’ve been through this before,” Eddy said. “It would be too taxing for you.”

She bit her lip then said,“Are you sad?”

“I am always sad, my wife. But you and you alone make me better. You are my queen in this kingdom by the sea.” He gave her a wink.

“That’s a lovely sentiment, Edgar. You must think about putting it to verse.” She laid her head on his shoulder and continued in silence.

Ziggety-zag, ziggety-zag, all the way to the cobblers’ home. Exhausting work, but I’d done it. I deposited them in front of Abner Arnold’s house and turned up the walkway. They did not follow. Running out of both patience and time, I yowled. And good.

“I think she means for us to join her,” Sissy said. She pulled Eddy to the door. “Who could live here, I wonder? Do we know anyone on Logan Street? What a gay adventure!”

“I am game for an escapade.” He rapped the door with his knuckles. His enthusiasm vanished when Abner Arnold answered the door.

Frightened, I dashed behind the folds of Sissy’s skirt. We would never gain access to the home, now that the cobbler was home. Midnight could be inside, in need of my help, and I could not give it. I peeked around the volume of silk and watched the exchange.

“What do you want?” Mr. Arnold said. His shirt had come untucked and hung about his waist like a short dressing gown. Even from behind Sissy’s skirt, I caught the scent of rum. He scratched the peeling scabs on his chin and neck.

Sissy regained her composure first.“We are looking for your wife, Tabitha,” she said. “Is she here?”

“No, and you can thank Mr. Fitzgerald for that,” he said. “She ran off with him last night. Can’t trust the Irish, can you?” He swayed, leaning against the doorframe for support. “If he tells you any different, he’s a liar the size of Pennsylvania.” He rubbed his stomach and winced.

“Your wife left you?” Eddy asked.

Mr. Arnold pushed the door open with his foot.“You see her inside? You see her at the shop?” He scowled. “Didn’t think so.”

“Did she give a reason?” Eddy asked. I could not see his face, but his voice held genuine concern.

“Women don’t need a reason, do they?” Mr. Arnold said, casting an eye at Sissy. “Don’t drink, Abner, it’s not good for you,” he said in a high timbre. “Don’t go to Jolley’s tonight, Abner, you’ll put us in the poor house.” He spat on the ground and lowered his pitch to normal. “Bah! Good riddance to her, and good riddance to you.” With that, he slammed the door in our face.

Eddy didn’t move. He looked at his shoes. Mr. Arnold had given him something to think about, though I knew not what.

Sissy took his hand.“Husband? Are you well?”

He lifted his gaze and searched her face, his eyes glassy and wet.“I amvery well today, thank you, Mrs. Poe.”

***

Sissy waited until we’d reached North Seventh before speaking of the cobblers. “Husband, something is wrong. I do not trust Mr. Arnold’s story. Why would Mrs. Arnold run away with Mr. Fitzgerald? It doesn’t make sense.”

“I’ll say. I never pegged ol’ Fitz as a lover.” His mood had brightened since our chat with the cat killer.

“Eddy!” she said. “That is not what I mean! And lower your voice. I don’t want anyone hearing you saythatword in public.”

“What?Fitz?” Eddy said.

“Oh, how you tease.” Sissy slapped him on the arm with her fan.

I trailed several lengths behind them, disheartened by countless failures. If I didn’t find Midnight soon, I’d have start looking for his grave. What had I done? When I thought of George and Margaret, I trotted ahead, in line with my companion. Maybe the Quaker Cats had discovered Midnight this morning, alive and well.

“I think Tabitha Arnold could be in real trouble,” Sissy said. “Mr. Arnold gave me a queer feeling. He had an untamed look about him, like a hungry tiger.”

“A hungry tiger! What wild imaginings!” Eddy chuckled. “May I remind you, Mrs. Poe, that you wrongly suspected Mr. Fitzgerald of killing Pluto. Not everyone can rationalize like my Detective Dupin.” He steered them around a window-shopping couple before resuming their path on the sidewalk. I stepped onto the cobblestones to accommodate the detour. “Mind the street, Catters,” he said to me. “Mr. Arnold may drive his carriage down the street and kill the lot of us.” He waved his hand. “In one pass.”

“Make fun if you will,” Sissy said. Her earlocks bobbed as she spoke. “But Tabitha told me she’d be at the temperance meeting this morning. She would never close shop on a Saturday. And by the by, Mr. Fitzgerald’s not out of the stew pot yet. He and Tabitha have been arguing over that tree for months. What if he did something to her—”

“My dear! I have heard enough! We will speak to Mr. Fitzgerald and get the story from him.”

It didn’t take long to reach the shops of Franklin Street. We discovered Mr. Fitzgerald sitting in the shade of the sassafras tree, his back to the trunk, sipping a cool drink. I wasn’t sure we’d find Midnight here, but my ideas had run their course. After pleasantries about the weather—did they not understand the urgency?—Eddy and Sissy recounted much of what they said on the walk. It did not match word for word but contained many of the same themes, includingTabitha Arnold. This gave me courage, for if we found her, we’d probably find my pal.

“Abner Arnold is a right fibber,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “It’s true. I paid them a visit last night. But I left alone, coming back to the store to tidy up. There’s been a run on buckets since the fire at their house, and I can’t keep the display in order.” He took another sip from the glass. I admired the bony apple bobbing along his neck.

“How lucrative,” Eddy said.

Sissy elbowed her husband.“Did Mrs. Arnold seem well, Mr. Fitzgerald?”

“Not at all. In fact, I think she and Mr. Arnold had been arguing. A real knock-about if you ask me. I’d bet anything the old man had just come from the grog shop.” He winked at me. “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you, Cattarina? You’re a lady.”

I turned to show off my tail.

“Thank you, Mr. Fitzgerald. You’ve been most helpful,” Sissy said. She pulled her husband in front of the cobbler shop, and I joined them. “You see!” she whispered. “Mrs. Arnoldis in trouble.”

Eddy frowned.“I think we should call Constable Harkness.”

I swiveled my ears, catching the name. Though I did not hold much stock in Constable Harkness’s rationation skills, hedid serve on the side of justice. A shame he hadn’t been summoned for Snip’s killing. This could have all been avoided.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_19]

The Return of Constable Harkness

CONSTABLE HARKNESS LIVED ON Green Street, but much farther west than I could’ve traveled by paw—nearly half way to the Schuylkill River, by all accounts. For expediency’s sake, Eddy hailed a private car for us, an open carriage meant, I was certain, for bird watching. Iso admired the acrobatics of the purple martin. Presently, the driver parked in front of a brownstone hung with potted ferns. Smoke filled the sky here, blanketing the firmament with the haze of burnt metal. This stench ruined an otherwise handsome neighborhood.

We strode the sidewalk, and Sissy coughed straightaway in the foul air. Eddy touched her shoulder with concern, but she proceeded to the constable’s stoop and rapped on the door. We waited. The constable shuffled inside, moving and shifting things around, as if our arrival had taken him from an important task. “I’ll be right back, Matilda,” he said from the interior. “Never fear.”

The door opened.

An older, white-haired gentleman I hadn’t seen since the fall stood before us in a brown suit and blue waistcoat. I hadn’t been the only one to pack on flesh since our move, though Constable Harkness wore it better than I. He held a watering pot that dripped onto the toes of his shoes. “May I help you?” he asked.

Sissy assumed the lead.“We’ve come to—”

“By God, it’s you! It’s really you!” the constable said to her. He smiled at me, teeth hidden by his bushy mustache. “And you’ve brought that cat of yours! Fine specimen, she is. Beautiful tortoiseshell.”

A cough escaped her mouth instead of a greeting.

“Come in! Come in! The air is terrible here.” The older man led us, ratherher down the tapestry hall runner.“You can thank the iron works for the smoke. The factory’s almost next door.” We entered the parlor. On my last visit, I’d stayed outside and eavesdropped from the window. The interior had a brassy, bright feel, more so than I would’ve imagined given the man’s tarnished demeanor. “Howhave you been? Why I haven’t seen you since—”

“Since you came to our house on Coates,” Sissy added.

“Harumph, yes, of course,” he said.

The constable offered us the couch, a tufted affair that poked my hindquarters with buttons. Eddy and Sissy sat on either side of me, and I made a home between their knees. Skulls, a strange brass tube, a raccoon tail, glass orbs in every size, a collection of dead butterflies, and other oddities beckoned me from a large curio cupboard spanning the wall adjacent to the fireplace. While these items intrigued me, they paled when compared to the large ivy sitting atop the cabinetry. A fantastical plant, its numerous tendrils tumbled over the woodwork and cascaded toward the floor, giving one the impression they had entered not a brownstone, but a jungle. I longed to scale the greenery and explore the upper environs. Alas, a diversion was out of the question. Any tomfoolery on my part would unravel the investigation faster than lace tatting between the claws. Muddy had still not forgiven me for shredding her favorite doily.

“So you and Constable Harkness are acquaintances?” Eddy asked his wife. “You spoke only briefly last October.”

Sissy shook her head at Constable Harkness. Eddy did not catch it as I did.

“I am a memorable fellow,” the constable said to him. He set his watering can on a side table.

“And my cat?” Eddy asked.

“Cattarina? Why I barely know her,” he replied.

When the constable called me, I jumped from the couch and rubbed along his pant leg, ingratiating myself to him. I had escaped parrot prison, battled fire, grappled with a killer, survived bodily harm, and yetthis act took the most courage. I am not, nor have I ever been one to grovel. Nevertheless, Constable Harkness had the resources to find Midnight. The older gentleman sidestepped my generous deposit of fur. Odd. Had he not spoken my name? He retreated to a wingback chair near the fireplace and flapped his fingers, discouraging me from further attempts.

“Barely know her. I see,” Eddy said. He turned to Sissy.

Her cheeks flushed more than usual.“We should explain ourselves, Constable Harkness,” she said. “We have much to tell.”

“It’s not a social call?” He glanced at the sprawling plant. “Matilda and I get so few.”

“No, it’s a matter of urgency,” Eddy said. “We fear a woman’s been harmed.”

The constable scowled and clutched the arms of his chair.“Mr. Poe, you should work on your story openings. You might’ve told me this in the first place. Now take the work of Washington Irving—”

Eddy shot to his feet.“Washington Irving is much overrated. And there is nothing wrong with my storytelling.”

“Really, sir, I must object. Washington Irving is a brilliant writer, a visionary—”

“Visionary? I’ll grant you Irving is a pioneer. Butsir, he is no writer.”

Sissy tugged Eddy’s coat sleeve and coaxed him back to the couch of many buttons. “Husband, we are here to discuss Mrs. Arnold, not debate literature.”

I jumped on his lap to keep him seated. Midnight could not afford another delay.

Eddy stroked my back and settled onto the cushions. Once he began the oft-told story, I left him in favor of the curio cabinet. I pawed open the door to inspect the skulls. Some belonged to humans, others belonged to dogs and rabbits, others still belonged to species of unknown origin. I wondered if the gentleman had hunted them himself. If so, my estimation of him had just increased whiskerfold.

“Thoseare suspicious circumstances, Mr. Poe,” he said at the end of Eddy’s tale. “What is your account, Mrs. Poe?”

Eddy crossed his armsand his legs.“Yes, Mrs. Poe, I am awaiting your account as well. Yourfull andtruthful account. Will you give it?”

She laughed gaily, an odd response to what should have been a serious conversation.“You must excuse my husband, Constable. We’ve had an unsettling day. And we owe it to Abner Arnold. He is up to mischief, I know it.” She fixed the older man with a dark stare. “Ifeel it.”

Constable Harkness pursed his lips then said,“I don’t like the sound of that Arnold fellow. I’ll round up the watchmen and question the neighbors, new and old. Don’t worry, Mrs. Poe. We’ll find Tabitha Arnold if she’s alive.” He offered his hand to her, helping her from the couch. “Or even if she’s dead.”

***

“Quiet! Quiet!” Constable Harkness shouted over the voices. A familiar crowd assembled near Mr. Arnold’s house on Logan, evidently at the behest of the watchmen. A pawful of these black-cloaked enforcers lined the sidewalk, spacing themselves like crows on a clothesline. They held their long,pointed poles at an angle, forming a crisscross between each man to keep people from wandering. I did not count Watchman Smythe among their number. A pity. I’d met him during my last adventure and considered him trustworthy.

“Thank you all for coming,” the constable said to the people once they’d settled. “If you are forthcoming, I will be brief. If you are not, you will stand beneath this hellish summer sun until I am satisfied.” He mopped his brow with a handkerchief and tucked it in his waistcoat pocket.

I climbed to Eddy’s shoulder and surveyed the gathering over the top of Sissy’s bonnet: Mr. Eakins, Mr. Cook, Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Pettigrew, Mr. Jolley, even the old lady with the parasol whom we’d spoken to near the Arnold’s old home, and of course, Abner Arnold. Anyone with knowledge of the cobblers had been invited. I couldn’t have done a better job if I’d picked them myself. The watchmen must have escorted them here while Eddy, Sissy, and I dined at home with Muddy.

“Can we get on with this nonsense?” Mr. Jolley asked. “I left my cook in charge of the till, and I’ll bet my dying breath he’s filching it.”

“Very well,” Constable Harkness said. “Today, Mr. E. A. Poe and his wife paid me a visit, claiming that a Mrs. Tabitha Arnold, citizen of the Spring Garden District, has gone missing from her home.This home.” He motioned to the shanty behind him.

Abner Arnold leaned against the garden gate, his shirt collar damp with sweat. His perspiration didn’t register as peculiar on a summer day. The sun had dampened my coat, too. But when combined with his vacant stare and yellowing skin, it pronounced health problems for all to see. This illness had affected his reason, for he seemed less concerned with the citizens gathered against him than the object in his pocket, which he fingered beneath the fabric.

“We’ve heard as much from the watchmen,” Mr. Pettigrew shouted. “Tell us why we’re here.”

“There were too many conflicting stories about the woman,” the constable said. “So I brought you here to sort it out. Some believe Abner Arnold is behind her disappearance. Who holds this opinion? Speak now.”

“Oh, me,” Mr. Eakins said. “Anyone who can kill a cat is deranged enough to kill a human.” He scratched his elbow.

“Kill a cat?” Constable Harkness asked.

Kill a cat. Yes,now they were snapping the reins. What had taken me a day to solve had taken these people over a moon. Poe family excluded, most humans exhibited a feebleness of mind I found appalling. For this very reason, cats allowed themselves to be domesticated. Had we not, humans would have gone extinct from sheer stupidity. One had only to witness the use of a chamber pot to agree.

“Yes,” Mr. Eakins said. “I set him up with a black tom named Pluto. A few weeks later, the poor creature was hung from a tree near his shop…with its eye gouged out! Who else could have done it?” He motioned to the cobbler with a gnarled finger. “Out with it, Arnold. Acknowledge the corn.”

The accusation woke Mr. Arnold from his daze, and he took his hand from his pocket, giving full attention to the crowd.

“It’s true,” Mr. Pettigrew said. “Pluto’s ghost visited that same night, burning Mr. Arnold’s house down and leaving a demonic mark as a warning for all to see.”

Eddy touched my tail.“A fine likeness of you, eh, Catters?” he whispered.

I was too busy avoiding Mr. Arnold’s cold stare to reply. The man had noticed my personage atop Eddy’s shoulder and gazed at me with consternation, as if he recognized me but couldn’t sort the particulars.Pardon, but do we frequent the same stationer’s? The same grocer’s? No, no, I burned your house down and drove you insane. Ah! That clears it up! Good day, miss! The few instances we’d met, he’d been inebriated, and I attributed his memory loss to this. For once, I thanked liquor.

The lady with the parasol nodded.“You won’t find a more pickled human being than Abner Arnold. The devil drove him to drink, and the drink drove him to kill. I lived next to him on Green Street.”

“What superstition!” Constable Harkness said. “Who hasevidence of the cat’s killing?”

“I do,” Sissy said. She opened her white tasseled wrist bag—she’d secured the carryall after our luncheon—and produced the page I’d torn from Mr. Eakins’s Book of Cats. “This proves Mr. Eakins gave Mr. Arnold the black cat. It contains the Arnolds’ old address and a drawing of thecreature.” She ignored Eddy’s sharp inhale and offered the clue to the constable. “And many witnessed Pluto hanging from the tree. The courts aren’t interested in animal cruelty, I know. But this proves he’s capable of dreadful things.”

Mr. Eakins gave a little hop and clap.“Hee! That came from my book all right. But I don’t know howyou got it, Mrs. Poe.”

“I-I found it in the street,” she said. She glanced at me, then back to the crowd. “Mr. Fitzgerald, tell everyone about the rope Abner Arnold bought from your shop.”

Eddy gave Sissy a wry smile and whispered,“This isyour affair, not the constable’s, is it not? Superb orchestration, my dear. Detective Dupin may yet have a rival.”

Sissy put her finger to her lips.

“That’s right, Mrs. Poe,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. With his near-emaciated frame, he was the only one among us not sweating. “He bought the rope from me in May. I’ve long suspected Abner of the cat’s hanging. And just last night, I witnessed the couple arguing.”

Abner Arnold forgot about me. He shook his head as a dog might after a good rain shower then took a series of slow, labored steps toward Mr. Fitzgerald. Had he been this feeble last night, Midnight might’ve escaped unharmed. I wondered what had caused the stark change in his personality.

“This is all very interesting,” Constable Harkness said, “but I fail to see how the killing of a cat—”

“Forget the cat,” Mr. Arnold said with a rasp in his throat. “Fitzgerald took Tabitha from me. Then he killed her!”

Whispers rose from the crowd, the loudest of which came from Mr. Pettigrew,“Pshaw, that Irishman couldn’t scare a crow from a cornfield.”

The watchmen knocked their poles together, quieting the crowd.

Mr. Arnold screwed himself up to his full height, still a tail-length shorter than Mr. Fitzgerald.“Fitzgerald! Tell everyone how you came to my house last night with an axe.” He wiped his mouth with his jacket sleeve.

Mr. Fitzgerald laid his hands alongside his cheeks.“I’m afraid it’s true.”

“You turned up last night to threaten me. Said if I didn’t let you leave with my wife, you’d give me the blade.” He made a chopping motion against his scarred neck. “You gave it to her instead.”

The lady with the parasol gasped.

“No!” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “You’re lying!”

I yawned. Talk, talk, talk. We needed claws on the ground and tails in the air. And why had no one thought to search the home? I hopped to the ground and wove my way to the garden gate, avoiding the many feet. Something about this morning’s exploration bothered me, though I could not say what. I thought back to my investigation, going over each room in my mind. I remembered nothing of importance. I’d found the house in perfect order and the cellar empty.

The dispute continued behind me.

“Constable Harkness!” It was Mr. Cook’s turn. “I saw the shopkeepers arguing a few weeks back, something about a tree. Mrs. Arnold wanted to chop it down, and Mr. Fitzgerald didn’t. They came at each other, hammer and tongs, I tell you. Then he finished the fight by saying he’d make herpay if she touched the tree again.”

Mr. Fitzgerald pinched the bridge of his nose.

Mr. Pettigrew spoke next.“Mr. Fitzgerald had plenty of answers when I visited him this morning. He knew Mrs. Arnold wouldn’t be around to open her store. It was all very mysterioussss.” He drew out the last word.

“Whose side are you on, Pettigrew?” Constable Harkness said.

“Fitz is no murderer,” Eddy announced to the crowd. I so admired his speaking voice. He saved it for recitation since it commanded full attention—as it did now. All listeners turned to him. “Mrs. Poe and I are united in our support.”

“I could not agree with my husband more,” Sissy said.

“Thank you,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “I am gladsomeone will vouch for me.”

I sat on the walkway and swiveled my ears. Mr. Arnold had shut the front door, but I had other means of entry. I reached the kitchen window to discover a rag stuffed in the broken windowpane. Drat. I could not enter here. I retraced my steps to catch Mr. Fitzgerald and Mr. Arnold on the brink of physical confrontation. They faced each other, hands balled into fists.

“You killed her, Arnold,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “And are looking to blame me.”

“Not true! Not true!” Mr. Arnold shouted to the listeners. “Mr. Fitzgerald did it. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, you can’t trust the Irish.”

Mr. Fitzgerald charged Mr. Arnold and knocked him to the ground. The meaning ofIrisheluded me, but it held power. The two men grappled on the sidewalk, punching and flailing and kicking. One of the watchmen inserted his pole between the men and pried them apart. This did not please the shopkeepers, and the men rejoined to finish the battle. At Constable Harkness’s signal, the full complement of watchmen intervened. I marveled at the writhing pile of humans. Extinction indeed.

On my second sweep, I detected an indistinct yelp, so faint I could not divine its direction. Then I heard it again. It could’ve been my imagination. Or the wind. Nonetheless, I trotted around the house to investigate, pausing before the cellar doors. I had examined the earthen room this morning and found it empty. Empty? Had I not seen the bag of cement and the tower of bricks? No, they’d been missing. I’d found another clue! As before, I squeezed through the warped opening and descended the street staircase into darkness. A respite from the sun, the damp stone floor welcomed my paws. The sharp odor of quicklime permeated the air, along with a weaker but no less nauseating smell. I sneezed.

“Help me,” someone said.

I froze near the kitchen staircase, frightened by the request.

“Oh, won’t somebody help me.” The weak but familiar plea arose from the wall to my right. My tail switched side to side. Someone had placed bricks over the recess near the stairs, entombing my pal between the layers. Damnation. The new masonry resembled the old, and in my haste this morning, I’d failed to notice the damp mortar.

“Don’t worry, Midnight!” I yowled. “I have found you!”

[Êàðòèíêà: img_20]

Midnight’s Tale

“I WILL FREE YOU,” I said to Midnight. “But for kitty’s sake, how did you become trapped behind this wall? Masonry is not the swiftest of endeavors.”

“I had no choice,” he said.

I moved closer to hear him and caught another whiff of the stench. At least it was not Midnight’s rotting flesh I smelled. “Speak louder,” I told him.

Midnight raised his voice.“When you left last night, Mr. Arnold became enraged. He took the anger he had for you and turned it on Tabitha. He tossed dishes, turned over chairs. And then…and then he grabbed Tabitha by the neck again. I was convinced he would kill her on the spot. Then someone knocked on the door and interrupted him.”

“Mr. Fitzgerald.”

“Yes, how did you know?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “Please continue.”

“Mr. Arnold blew like the north wind when Mr. Fitzgerald arrived. As soon as he spied the axe the other man had brought, though, he put on a good face and invited him into the parlor. I couldn’t believe the civility! They talked abouttrees andgrudgesandburying the hatchet. You’d have taken them for a couple of nannies strolling through Rittenhouse Square! At the end of everything, Mr. Fitzgerald saidI’m sorry and handed the axe to Mr. Arnold. I’m sure you can guess this sealed our fate. Once the tall, bony gent left, Mr. Arnold turned to his wife with a look I never want to see on another human being as long as I live, a look of gleeful hatred. She fled through the kitchen and into the cellar, and I, of course, followed. The lock did not catch in time. I still don’t know why she chose to hide instead escaping to the street.”

“Humans do not think when they are afraid,” I offered.

“Mr. Arnold crashed through the door and down the steps. With a cruel laugh, he swung the axe, catching Tabitha in the head.”

“Goodness gracious. Another murder. This one should land him in the penitentiary.”

“Mr. Arnold must have been planning it all the while.”

“Indeed,” I said. “I found his masonry supplies at the start of our adventure, but I could not have guessed their purpose.”

“The fiend shoved her body in the alcove, and when he turned his back to prepare the mortar, I crept in behind Tabitha. There I hid for the duration.”

“Whatever for?”

“She is my companion!” he wailed. “Would you leave your Eddy?”

“No. Not even in death,” I said. “I will save you, Midnight. Let me return to my humans, and—”

“Don’t abandon me again, Cattarina!” he cried. “It’s very dark in here. And my perch is…uncertain.”

My heart beat a little faster.“Do not be frightened,” I said. “Take comfort in the words of Meowl?iere. ‘The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it’.”

“Do not quote at a time like this!” he screeched.

“Sorry,” I said. “The burden of verbosity is heavy. There are moments when—”

“Cattarina Poe!”

“Yes, yes, of course.” I took a deep breath and let out a scathing caterwaul that echoed throughout the chamber. I gave another and another until the doors at the street opened.

A shaft of sunlight filled the cellar. I dashed to the opening, expecting to find Eddy. The misshapen face of Abner Arnold loomed above me.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_21]

The Specter of Memory

ABNER ARNOLD REACHED FOR me and missed. I longed to slip through the portal and into the crowd above, but he blocked the entrance. So I repeated Mrs. Arnold’s mistake and looked for a hiding place in the interior. Poor woman, had she been a cat, she might’ve evaded her husband, for I found one straight away. I bounded up the kitchen staircase, careened off the top step, and sprang to a wooden beam, coming to rest in the space above the floor reserved for bats. Mr. Arnold had just entered the cellar when Eddy charged down the street entrance steps, followed by Sissy, Muddy, the constable, Mr. Fitzgerald, and the cadre of watchmen. The remainder must have taken their leave in the interim, for they did not appear next.

“Unhand my Cattarina, sir! Do not touch a single whisker!” Eddy said to Mr. Arnold. “Or you will feel my fists upon your head!”

Fear prevented me from leaping into Eddy’s arms. If I did, would the cobbler turn his fury on my companion, as he had on his own wife? Midnight’s cautionary tale chilled me, and I did not wish a similar version to play out here and now. Myhaunting performance had rendered Mr. Arnold insane. If the memory fog lifted and he recognized me as the same apparition from before, unpleasant would not begin to describe the outcome.

I walked along the joist and sat above the group. I convinced myself the situation called for strategy and patience, two things a huntress like me had in great supply. Moreover, now that Eddy and Sissy—two of the most capable humans in existence—had arrived, the wall puzzle would soon be solved, Midnight would be freed, and Constable Harkness would apprehend Mr. Arnold. I likened these machinations to the guts of Muddy’s mantle clock, and they must not be disturbed. Or eaten. I wondered sometimes how the old woman tolerated me. Slowly, very slowly, I lifted my tail and withdrew it from sight, laying it next to me on the wooden beam.

“Your cat?” Mr. Arnold said. “She’s Satan’s cat. And she’s here somewhere. I’ll find her yet.”

Eddy grabbed the man’s lapels, but Mr. Fitzgerald intervened, wresting my companion away. “Let the law handle him, Poe,” he said. “He’s finished.”

Sissy coughed into her handkerchief.“What is that smell?”

“It’s quicklime,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “I’d know it anywhere. Mr. Arnold bought a bag from me a week ago.”

“More lies,” Mr. Arnold said. He wiped sweat from the back of his enflamed neck.

A large cloth sack wedged between the joists by the stairs drew my attention. With perfect balance, I walked toward the item along the narrow beam. The bag contained the dry, gritty material I’d seen the masons mix at the new home site on Green Street. I glanced at Mr. Arnold’s head below. The tufts of burned hair formed a forest of stumps on his scalp.

“Enough talk,” Constable Harkness said. “Abner Arnold, now that we are in your house, do I have your permission to search it?”

“Go right ahead,” he said. The cobbler ascended the steps and flung open the kitchen door. “You will find nothing.” I shifted into shadow, certain he’d see me from this height. To my relief, he resumed his spot without incident.

Constable Harkness dispatched all but a single watchman to the ground floor of the cottage, commanding the enforcers toinspect every room for Mrs. Arnold. Human olfactory senses did not rival a cat’s or everyone in the room would have realized the woman lay beyond the brickwork and not upstairs. The constable posted his remaining man, a fellow he called Johnson, at the staircase near the street and stayed to converse in topics of which I had no interest.

Dust settled through the cracks, sifting us with debris as the Watchmen pounded above. Mr. Arnold withdrew and sat on the stairs, his head between his hands. Meanwhile, Eddy searched for me in the damp, dark corners, calling,“Catters…here, Catters.” As I expected, he paused at the newly bricked recess and studied the mortar. He tugged the top of his hair, lost in thought. I settled onto my perch and tried to influence him from a distance. Eddy did his best thinking under my gaze.

Sissy wiped the sediment from her hair and clothes.“Cattarina!” she said. “Are you here? You can come out now. It’s quite safe, I assure you.”

“She will turn up, Mrs. Poe,” Mr. Fitzgerald assured her. “Cats are rather genius.”

“Mr. Fitzgerald,” Sissy said, “what is quicklime used for? Mother useslime to preserve her eggs, but is that different—”

A watchman leaned through the kitchen door and said,“We’ve searched the entire house, what little there is. Mrs. Arnold isn’t here.”

“Gather the men and leave for my house,” Constable Harkness said. “Johnson and I will be along shortly.” He glanced at his pocket watch and buttoned his coat, indicating a departure.

The cobbler jumped to his feet, his ailment forgotten.“Go! That’s it! Go! I told you I was innocent.” He laughed and danced a little jig.

The constable ignored him and approached Sissy and Mr. Fitzgerald.“Sir, you have my leave. For now,” he said. “But I may have questions for you later.”

Mr. Fitzgerald hopped to it. He waved to the Poes as he made for the street.“Goodbye all! Goodbye!” He slapped Johnson’s shoulder on his way out. “Have a good afternoon!”

I stood and switched my tail. Eddy and Sissy had not solved the wall puzzle in time. Fiddlesticks. If Constable Harkness left, Mr. Arnold would never pay for his crimes. I contemplated which head I should pounce upon, Mr. Arnold’s or Constable Harkness’s. I settled on the constable’s. In the interest of solving the bigger crime, he would likely reserve punishment for my much smaller one. Besides which, Mr. Arnold scared me furless.

“You can’t,” Sissy said to the constable. She clasped her hands together. “Please. We haven’t found our cat yet.”

Eddy returned to his wife and held her close.“With or without Mr. Arnold’s blessing, we will stay and look for Cattarina. Do not fret, my dear.”

I crouched, calculating my angle.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Poe, but I must depart for home. Matilda is waiting. If you wish, I can leave Johnson,” he said. The man eyed a large crack in the brickwork near his feet. “I’m surprised the hovel didn’t collapse during our visit.”

I wiggled my rear, preparing for the jump.

“Hovel?” Mr. Arnold said. “I’ll have you know, this is a very well-constructed house.” He rapped against the brick wall with his knuckles.

“Meeeeoooowwwrrrrrr!”

Surprised by the howl—it had not come from me—I almost slipped from the beam. The room fell silent. The blood drained from Mr. Arnold’s face, turning him chalky.

“Meeeeoooowwwrrrrrr!” Midnight said again. The blow upon the bricks must have stirred him.

“That sound, it’s…it’s inhuman,” Eddy said, “and it’s coming from behind the wall! I knew the masonry looked recent.”

“Quicklime,” Sissy said under her breath. “Of course.”

“Johnson! Come here!” Constable Harkness clapped his hands. “Tear it down!”

“No!” Mr. Arnold protested.

Yes! Demolish the wall and reveal the evil deed! I leapt to another joist for a better view.

Eddy grabbed the cobbler by the shoulder and held him back while Johnson broke through the bricks with the watchman’s pole. As the mortar had not set, the structure fell with ease, revealing the body of Tabitha Arnold. She lay crumpled against the alcove’s interior and stared back at us with eyes much farther apart than nature intended. She had her husband to thank for this new look, as he’d split her skull nearly in half. The axe cleave ran from the top of her pate, along the bridge of her nose, and down to her chin, parting the hemispheres of her head. Perched on top of the woman’s corpse was Midnight. Infection had swollen his eye shut, giving him a rather hellish appearance. His tail bristled,and he spit fire at the man who’d killed his companion.

Sissy swooned. Constable Harkness caught her in time.“Poe,” he said, “you’ve got a murderer in your hands. Hold him tight.” He helped Sissy to her feet and lent her his arm.

“It’s Pluto, b-back from the dead.” Mr. Arnold strained to reach Midnight. “I walled the monster up within the tomb!” Eddy struggled to keep him still while Watchman Johnson looked on, dazed by Tabitha Arnold’s bloody corpse.

“Johnson! Drop your pole and help Mr. Poe,” the constable said. “Place Mr. Arnold under arrest.”

Watchman Johnson blinked.

“Never! I will not go to jail for something I didn’t do!” Mr. Arnold said. He twisted from Eddy’s grasp and pulled a knife from his pocket—the same pocketknife I’d seen at his house on Green Street. Before Watchman Johnson or Constable Harkness could stop him, Mr. Arnold unlocked the blade and dove for Eddy.

I unlocked my own and sprang from the joist.

I did not believe in hell, but if it existed, Abner and I would go together. I landed, claws first, and opened his scalp like a mouse belly. He dropped his knife and tried to swat me from his head, but I persisted. Unable to see with my back claws digging into his face, he staggered toward Eddy, and Eddy tripped him. The cobbler stumbled to the floor and stayed there. At last I had felled my quarry! I jumped to safety, settling near my companion’s feet without so much as a bent whisker.

“Don’t forget, Mr. Arnold,” Eddy said to him. “You can’t trust the Irish. Or their cats.”

Mr. Arnold stared at me, his eyes round and unblinking.“Release me from your power, you demon!” he shrieked. His eyes flickered with recognition. His memory had returned. “You are the cat in the fire!” he said to me. “You are the cat that haunts me! You are the c-cat…” He rolled to his side and drew up his knees. “It is coming back to me! It’s all coming back! The drink addled my brain. I have blacked out before, but never…never…” He slapped the flagstone floor in anger. “No, no, no!”

“What is coming back?” Sissy asked.

“Speak, man,” Eddy said.

“I killed Tabitha! I am the villain!”

***

Eddy wanted nothing more to do with Abner Arnold or his dreadful cellar. Despite his wishes to the contrary, Sissy demanded to stay andminister to the sick. This involved feeding Midnight a saucer of milk and wiping his ruined eye with a damp cloth. She completed these tasks in the Arnold’s kitchen after giving her husband a kiss on the cheek and a promise to return homesoonest. At their parting, I divined that Eddy knew Sissy had secrets, and Sissy knew Eddy had secrets, and they each resolved to let the other keep them. My intuition aided more than just the hunt.

Sissy set Midnight on the kitchen table and examined him all over.“You poor thing,” she said to him. “A hot meal and a warm bed are what you need. I know just the home for you.”

I supervised from the floor. The murmured voices of the watchmen floated up from the cellar through the planks. They’d been with Mrs. Arnold for the duration and would probably remain with her long after Sissy, Midnight, and I left. As for Mr. Arnold, Constable Harkness put him in a wagon that I hoped was bound for Eastern State Penitentiary.

“Your mistress is kind,” Midnight said to me. “I like her.”

“She is not my mistress,” I said. “That implies inequality. However, we can agree on her kindness. You will not find a more caring human, besides my Eddy, of course.”

Sissy left us to wash her hands in the basin.

Midnight looked at me with his one good eye.“We did it, Cattarina. We avenged Snip. Though at the cost of a woman’s life.”

“Your companion’s life.”

“Yes. That pains me. Deeply.” He settled into a kitty loaf and tucked his front paws under his chest. “Now that I know true companionship, Cattarina, I can’t go back to Sarah.”

“Dear me, that is a problem. I will think on it.” I joined him on the tabletop and groomed his ears. We purred together, harmony and melody.

“Mrs. Arnold may have a salve I can use on your eye,” Sissy said to Midnight. “It can’t hurt to look.” She began a search of the kitchen cupboards, opening and closing the drawers to the jingle of flatware. She unfastened the cabinet at eye level to reveal rows and rows of canning jars filled with brown shavings. “Hello, what’s this?” She took down a container and unlatched the metal catch, releasing a spicy sweet smell that filled the room.

My tongue paused, mid-lick.

“Sassafras bark,” Sissy whispered. “And so much of it.”

The odor drifted through my thoughts, a long forgotten ghost that haunted my memory. I traveled to the edge of the table and studied the jar in her hand. Mrs. Arnold’s tea, of course. The woman had served so many pots of it to her husband—watering him as Constable Harkness did Matilda—that the scent had etched itself into the story, the black cat’s story.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_22]

Strong Medicine

“DOCTOR LEABOURNE,” SISSY ASKED, “what do you think of Sassafras tea?”

In the days following the discovery of Mrs. Arnold’s body, Eddy invited Dr. Leabourne to Poe House. The physician visited often, and though he could not cure Sissy, his presence always seemed to give the family hope—in my estimation, the strongest medicine. Late this afternoon, he and I sat on the edge of Sissy’s bed, examining our patient, who reclined against her pillows.

“Sassafras tea?” he asked. Robust of frame and nature, Dr. Leabourne was the catch of the litter. I had never seen a more angular jaw, a fuller head of wheat-colored hair. But he was no Eddy. “Do you mean taken as a tonic?” He took her wrist and placed his fingers over her veins. I did not know what covering them would do but noted it anyway.

“Yes, do you have any faith in it? I thought it might help my ailment.”

“Sassafras is a blood tonic.” He released her wrist and felt her forehead, a more familiar procedure. “It will do nothing for consumption, I’m afraid.” He withdrew his touch and reached for his black bag. “If you like the taste, you may have it as a refresher. But I caution you. It has poisonous effects.”

Sissy sat forward.“Poisonous? How so?”

“It’s very damaging to the organs, especially if they’re weak to start. If taken for too long a period, it causes sweating, nausea, even hallucination.”

“Can it kill a person?”

Dr. Leabourne snapped his bag closed.“In large doses? Most certainly.” He rose from the bed. “You are as well as can be expected, considering the fright you had. Get plenty of good food, plenty of fresh air, and stay—”

“I know, stay home and rest.” She flopped back against the pillows. “That may comfort the body, but it positively shrivels the mind.”

“Feel better, Mrs. Poe. Feel better.” Then he left, as he usually did, to speak Muddy and Eddy in the parlor and give them hisdiagnosis. In truth, I had already made my assessment. But I much preferred the doctor’s optimism.

Sissy pulled me onto her lap.“Cattarina? Did you hear the doctor? He said sassafras causes hallucinations. Even death.”

Death. Her glee did not match the topic. Perhaps the doctor had left too soon.

“Do you know what this means? Tabitha Arnold didn’t want to fell the sassafras tree. She wanted its bark for tea. Don’t you see?” She held me up and looked into my eyes. “Mrs. Arnold wanted to kill Mr. Arnold, and who could blame her? The debt, the drinking, the violence. Liquor had already weakened his liver, and the sassafras doomed it.” Her eyes twinkled. “This must have caused the delusions that led to his murderous actions, not the trips to the tavern. Oh, I am so astute!” She hugged me tight. “We make a grand team, don’t we, girl?”

When I wiggled, she released me and left the bed to tidy her hair in the mirror over the dresser.“I give this secret to you and you alone, Cattarina. We must never,ever tell Eddy that any means other than the bottle moved Mr. Arnold to violence.” She slid another pin into her bun. “I have my reasons. And besides, it won’t make a bit of difference to Mr. Arnold since he will live out the remainder of his days in an asylum. And I do mean days.” She finished by giving the back of her head a partial look in the glass.

We arrived downstairs to find Dr. Leabourne at the door. Eddy tried to press a few coins into his hand, but the good doctor refused and took a handshake instead. Once we were alone, Muddy revived us with a suggestion.“Who would like an early supper? If you don’t expect fixins, you can have it now.”

Supper? Yes, I would take piece of chicken skin, dear Muddy. I’d already smelled it from upstairs.

“For once, I have an appetite,” Sissy said. “Let’s eat.”

“That is no wonder,” Eddy said, guiding his wife by the small of her back. “Dr. Leabourne says you are in good health.” He ushered her into the kitchen, along with the rest of us, and sat her at the table. “And to celebrate, I’d like to present my story, ‘The Black Cat.’”

“You finished it?” Sissy asked.

“I will leave that to your conclusion, wife.” He produced a scroll from inside his coat. “You broke my heart after the first draft. See if this one is to your liking.” He handed the curled page to her.

The story had taken but an instant to finish after the horror in the Arnolds’ cellar. That very night, once Sissy and Muddy had been put to bed, he and I worked at shaping the letters, staying up until dawn to finish them. My crime solving had yet again inspired him to write. As his muse, this thrilled me since I had begun to feel my importance slipping as of late, at least with regard to his work. The document stayed on his desk another day while he considered it. I likened it to a pie on a windowsill. He must have thought it cool enough to bring down this morning.

Muddy stoked the cook stove with a piece of kindling.“Read the story aloud, Virginia.”

Once Eddy took his seat, Sissy unrolled the paper, her fingers shaking, and recited his words:“‘One night as I sat, half stupefied, in a den of more than infamy, my attention was suddenly drawn to some black object, reposing upon the head of one of the immense hogsheads of Gin, or of Rum, which constituted the chief furniture of the apartment. I had been looking steadily at the top of this hogshead for some minutes, and what now caused me surprise was the fact that I had not sooner perceived the object thereupon. I approached it, and touched it with my hand. It was a black cat—a very large one—fully as large as Pluto, and closely resembling him in every respect but one. Pluto had not a white hair upon any portion of his body; but this cat had a large, although indefinite splotch of white, covering nearly the whole region of the breast.’”

Muddy floured and fried the chicken while her daughter read, nodding at parts of the story. When the old woman turned her back, Eddy took down a tin of jerky from the pantry and fed me a piece. And then another. I came back again, but he waved me away. So I settled next to his feet and contented myself with the sound of Sissy’s voice. I realized now that Eddy could not live without either one of us. To thrive, a writer must have a muse to bring the story and an audience to appreciate it. Sissy and I were not exactly a team. But to quote Ariscatle, “Our whole was greater than the sum of our parts.” Constable Harkness would have to agree. We’d helped him, too.

“Oh, Eddy,” Sissy said at the end, “this is a marvelous eulogy.” She handed the scroll back to him, and he replaced it in his jacket.

“So you like it?” Eddy asked.

“How could I not?” she said.

“I liked it, too,” Muddy said. “Even if it parts from the truth here and there.”

“Some of the circumstances have been changed to protect the innocent,” he said. He reached down and patted the top of my head.

“Mother? Can you give us a minute?” Sissy asked. “I need to talk to Eddy, alone.”

“Watch the stove,” Muddy said before leaving. “I don’t want it to get too hot.”

After a quiet period, Sissy spoke.“Your writing had more depth than usual.”

“It did?” Eddy’s shoes shifted beneath the table. The elation in his voice heartened me. “I simply paid the black cat the kindness he deserved—”

“That’s not what I meant,” she said. “Mother may not have heard it between the lines, but I did. How the main character’s drunkenness led to the ruination of his sanity? And took away his wife?”

Eddy did not answer.

“I will always be with you, Edgar, in life and in death. Do not fear. But our kingdom by the sea needs a strong ruler. Will you try again? For me?”

“Yes, Virginia, of course.”

A light scratch at the kitchen door stirred me. I hopped on the sideboard and peeked through the window. Midnight sat at the backdoor, waiting for it to open. I looked to Eddy and Sissy, still in the midst of their talk. Though from her smile, it had turned to lighter subjects.

“I’ve been wanting to tell you for weeks, Sissy, but we’ve been so busy,” Eddy said. “I heard from William again about the collection.The Prose Romances of Edgar Allan Poe will soon be for sale. I am the luckiest man alive!”

When they embraced, I jumped down to visit with my pal, causing the tom to leap with fright.“I only meant to startle you, not set your heart afire,” I said to him.

“It’s just been a few days since my Tabitha’s death, and my nerves are still mending,” he said. He stared back at me with both eyes. “My infection is mending, too. Mr. Eakins applies a cream every morning and every evening. But I can open the lid now.”

“Cats are his business, you know.” I sat near the nail head that once vexed Eddy. Muddy had knocked it flat with a rock and a curse in recent days. “Do you mean to stay with the old man?”

“That’s one of the reasons for my visit.”

“We are the others!” Silas said, skirting the corner with his brother. His fur shook as he trotted. “Greetings, Cattarina! We found a new escape hole in the cellar!”

“You are looking well,” Samuel said to me.

“I am resplendent with victory,” I said. “I trust you heard our haunt was successful?”

“All of Spring Garden has heard!” Silas said.

“Join us?” Midnight asked.

Eddy and Sissy would not miss me if I returned by moonrise. I followed the toms to the now-familiar courtyard on Franklin. Near the base of the sassafras tree, George and Margaret waited next to a coiled snake of sausage links.“Hello, Cattarina!” they said in unison.

“How marvelous!” I said. “Where did the meat come from?”

“You may be the Huntress of Spring Garden,” Midnight said, “but I am the Thief of Rittenhouse.”

And so he was. He would steal part of my heart this night, the part I considered feral and free and utterly feline, and he would never return it. We tore apart the links and ate them by the tree that started it all, honoring Snip with our camaraderie. Mr. Fitzgerald’s shop was closed this time of day, and Mr. Arnold’s shop stood vacant and boarded. Aside from the lamplighter working his way along Franklin, we had our privacy.

When we’d finished our repast, my pals offered their goodbyes, along with assurances of future meetings. While our friendship had just begun, I could not say the same of Midnight. He and I stayed behind, nestled among the roots of the tree. “Thank you for the gift,” I said to him.

“The sausage? It was nothing.”

“No, the gift of memory. I love this tree, and I will be glad to think of pleasanter things when I pass it. There are so few scaling trees left in this part of Philadelphia. It’s all in the bark, you know. If it’s too smooth—”

“Cattarina, I’m leaving.”

Twilight settled into the courtyard, blending with the tree’s shadow until they became one. “Yes, I know,” I said at last. “When Sissy took you to Mr. Eakins’s house, I predicted the outcome. Will you be very far away?”

“I will be with a family on a wagon. From the way it’s packed, I think they mean to travel a great distance. They need a mouser for the journey, you see. I put that much together. Though I still don’t know what aMissouri is.”

“Mizzzzouri. The word that tickles my tongue,” I said. “Are you pleased with your family?”

He stood and arched his back, giving it a stretch, then walked into the open.“Very pleased. My new companions are a young man about Sissy’s age and his wife—Ben and Aggie.”

“Any children?” I followed him and brushed along his side.

“No. But I expect that will change. By then, I will be king mouser and will have earned a good place in their home.” His pupils grew very large. “Think of it, Cattarina, I will have a job. A purpose.”

“All cats should be so fortunate,” I said.

“Come with me?” When I did not answer, he licked my cheek. “Then I’ll visit you one day.”

“Or I will find you.”

We were both terrible liars.

Once he left, I climbed the tree and watched the black cat,my black cat, vanish between the darkened buildings of Green Street. I would miss him, but I could not leave Eddy, for my companion held the other part of my heart, the part that was constant and pure and completely devoted. From here, Poe House was no bigger than Sissy’s red trinket box, so fragile and small. Oh, how I longed to protect that little dwelling and keep its occupants safe and merry, if not for all time, then for as long as possible.

And I did until fall, the season of the raven.

Dear Friend:

Soon after our adventure, the newspaper printed the black cat’seulogy. I surmised as much from the stack of copies Eddy brought home and from the fuss he made over one particular page. Nothing escapes this cat of letters. Speaking of me, and I amalways speaking of me, I considered the papers splendid napping material.

In the meantime, we do hope you purchase one of Eddy’s works. Winter is coming, and we are in need of mutton.

And chicken feathers.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_23]

Yours truly,

Cattarina Poe

“The Black Cat”

by Edgar Allan Poe

Originally published in theUnited States Saturday Post, August 19, 1843

FOR THE MOST WILD, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad am I not — and very surely do I not dream. But tomorrow I die, and to-day I would unburthen my soul. My immediate purpose is to place before the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events. In their consequences, these events have terrified — have tortured — have destroyed me. Yet I will not attempt to expound them. To me, they have presented little but Horror — to many they will seem less terrible than barroques. Hereafter, perhaps, some intellect may be found which will reduce my phantasm to the commonplace — some intellect more calm, more logical, and far less excitable than my own, which will perceive, in the circumstances I detail with awe, nothing more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects.

From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions. I was especially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets. With these I spent most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them. This peculiarity of character grew with my growth, and, in my manhood, I derived from it one of my principal sources of pleasure. To those who have cherished an affection for a faithful and sagacious dog, I need hardly be at the trouble of explaining the nature or the intensity of the gratification thus derivable. There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man.

I married early, and was happy to find in my wife a disposition not uncongenial with my own. Observing my partiality for domestic pets, she lost no opportunity of procuring those of the most agreeable kind. We had birds, gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat.

This latter was a remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black, and sagacious to an astonishing degree. In speaking of his intelligence, my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise. Not that she was everserious upon this point — and I mention the matter at all for no better reason than that it happens, just now, to be remembered.

Pluto — this was the cat’s name — was my favorite pet and playmate. I alone fed him, and he attended me wherever I went about the house. It was even with difficulty that I could prevent him from following me through the streets.

Our friendship lasted, in this manner, for several years, during which my general temperament and character — through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance — had (I blush to confess it) experienced a radical alteration for the worse. I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others. I suffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife. At length, I even offered her personal violence. My pets, of course, were made to feel the change in my disposition. I not only neglected, but illused them. For Pluto, however, I still retained sufficient regard to restrain me from maltreating him, as I made no scruple of maltreating the rabbits, the monkey, or even the dog, when by accident, or through affection, they came in my way. But my disease grew upon me — for what disease is like Alcohol ! — and at length even Pluto, who was now becoming old, and consequently somewhat peevish — even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill temper.

One night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, I fancied that the cat avoided my presence. I seized him; when, in his fright at my violence, he inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with his teeth. The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame. I took from my waistcoat-pocket a penknife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket ! I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity.

When reason returned with the morning — when I had slept off the fumes of the night’s debauch — I experienced a sentiment half of horror, half of remorse, for the crime of which I had been guilty; but it was, at best, a feeble and equivocal feeling, and the soul remained untouched. I again plunged into excess, and soon drowned in wine all memory of the deed.

In the meantime the cat slowly recovered. The socket of the lost eye presented, it is true, a frightful appearance, but he no longer appeared to suffer any pain. He went about the house as usual, but, as might be expected, fled in extreme terror at my approach. I had so much of my old heart left, as to be at first grieved by this evident dislike on the part of a creature which had once so loved me. But this feeling soon gave place to irritation. And then came, as if to my final and irrevocable overthrow, the spirit of PERVERSENESS. Of this spirit philosophy takes no account. Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives, than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart — one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments, which give direction to the character of Man. Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile or a silly action, for no other reason than because he knows he shouldnot? Have we not a perpetual inclination, in the teeth of our best judgment, to violate that which is Law, merely because we understand it to be such? This spirit of perverseness, I say, came to my final overthrow. It was this unfathomable longing of the soul to vex itself — to offer violence to its own nature — to do wrong for the wrong’s sake only — that urged me to continue and finally to consummate the injury I had inflicted upon the unoffending brute. One morning, in cool blood, I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the limb of a tree; — hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heart; — hung itbecause I knew that it had loved me, and because I felt it had given me no reason of offence; — hung itbecause I knew that in so doing I was committing a sin — a deadly sin that would so jeopardize my immortal soul as to place it — if such a thing were possible — even beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the Most Merciful and Most Terrible God.

On the night of the day on which this cruel deed was done, I was aroused from sleep by the cry of fire. The curtains of my bed were in flames. The whole house was blazing. It was with great difficulty that my wife, a servant, and myself, made our escape from the conflagration. The destruction was complete. My entire worldly wealth was swallowed up, and I resigned myself thenceforward to despair.

I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause and effect, between the disaster and the atrocity. But I am detailing a chain of facts — and wish not to leave even a possible link imperfect. On the day succeeding the fire, I visited the ruins. The walls, with one exception, had fallen in. This exception was found in a compartment wall, not very thick, which stood about the middle of the house, and against which had rested the head of my bed. The plastering had here, in great measure, resisted the action of the fire — a fact which I attributed to its having been recently spread. About this wall a dense crowd were collected, and many persons seemed to be examining a particular portion of it with very minute and eager attention. The words “strange!” “singular!” and other similar expressions, excited my curiosity. I approached and saw, as if graven inbas relief upon the white surface, the figure of a giganticcat. The impression was given with an accuracy truly marvellous. There was a rope about the animal’s neck.

When I first beheld this apparition — for I could scarcely regard it as less — my wonder and my terror were extreme. But at length reflection came to my aid. The cat, I remembered, had been hung in a garden adjacent to the house. Upon the alarm of fire, this garden had been immediately filled by the crowd — by some one of whom the animal must have been cut from the tree and thrown, through an open window, into my chamber. This had probably been done with the view of arousing me from sleep. The falling of other walls had compressed the victim of my cruelty into the substance of the freshly-spread plaster; the lime of which, with the flames, and the ammonia from the carcass, had then accomplished the portraiture as I saw it.

Although I thus readily accounted to my reason, if not altogether to my conscience, for the startling fact just detailed, it did not the less fail to make a deep impression upon my fancy. For months I could not rid myself of the phantasm of the cat; and, during this period, there came back into my spirit a half-sentiment that seemed, but was not, remorse. I went so far as to regret the loss of the animal, and to look about me, among the vile haunts which I now habitually frequented, for another pet of the same species, and of somewhat similar appearance, with which to supply its place.

One night as I sat, half stupified, in a den of more than infamy, my attention was suddenly drawn to some black object, reposing upon the head of one of the immense hogsheads of Gin, or of Rum, which constituted the chief furniture of the apartment. I had been looking steadily at the top of this hogshead for some minutes, and what now caused me surprise was the fact that I had not sooner perceived the object thereupon. I approached it, and touched it with my hand. It was a black cat — a very large one — fully as large as Pluto, and closely resembling him in every respect but one. Pluto had not a white hair upon any portion of his body; but this cat had a large, although indefinite splotch of white, covering nearly the whole region of the breast.

Upon my touching him, he immediately arose, purred loudly, rubbed against my hand, and appeared delighted with my notice. This, then, was the very creature of which I was in search. I at once offered to purchase it of the landlord; but this person made no claim to it — knew nothing of it — had never seen it before.

I continued my caresses, and, when I prepared to go home, the animal evinced a disposition to accompany me. I permitted it to do so; occasionally stooping and patting it as I proceeded. When it reached the house it domesticated itself at once, and became immediately a great favorite with my wife.

For my own part, I soon found a dislike to it arising within me. This was just the reverse of what I had anticipated; but — I know not how or why it was — its evident fondness for myself rather disgusted and annoyed. By slow degrees, these feelings of disgust and annoyance rose into the bitterness of hatred. I avoided the creature; a certain sense of shame, and the remembrance of my former deed of cruelty, preventing me from physically abusing it. I did not, for some weeks, strike, or otherwise violently ill use it; but gradually — very gradually — I came to look upon it with unutterable loathing, and to flee silently from its odious presence, as from the breath of a pestilence.

What added, no doubt, to my hatred of the beast, was the discovery, on the morning after I brought it home, that, like Pluto, it also had been deprived of one of its eyes. This circumstance, however, only endeared it to my wife, who, as I have already said, possessed, in a high degree, that humanity of feeling which had once been my distinguishing trait, and the source of many of my simplest and purest pleasures.

With my aversion to this cat, however, its partiality for myself seemed to increase. It followed my footsteps with a pertinacity which it would be difficult to make the reader comprehend. Whenever I sat, it would crouch beneath my chair, or spring upon my knees, covering me with its loathsome caresses. If I arose to walk it would get between my feet and thus nearly throw me down, or, fastening its long and sharp claws in my dress, clamber, in this manner, to my breast. At such times, although I longed to destroy it with a blow, I was yet withheld from so doing, partly by a memory of my former crime, but chiefly — let me confess it at once — by absolutedread of the beast.

This dread was not exactly a dread of physical evil — and yet I should be at a loss how otherwise to define it. I am almost ashamed to own — yes, even in this felon’s cell, I am almost ashamed to own — that the terror and horror with which the animal inspired me, had been heightened by one of the merest chimaeras it would be possible to conceive. My wife had called my attention, more than once, to the character of the mark of white hair, of which I have spoken, and which constituted the sole visible difference between the strange beast and the one I had destroyed. The reader will remember that this mark, although large, had been originally very indefinite; but, by slow degrees — degrees nearly imperceptible, and which for a long time my Reason struggled to reject as fanciful — it had, at length, assumed a rigorous distinctness of outline. It was now the representation of an object that I shudder to name — and for this, above all, I loathed, and dreaded, and would have rid myself of the monster had I dared — it was now, I say, the image of a hideous — of a ghastly thing — of the GALLOWS! — oh, mournful and terrible engine of Horror and of Crime — of Agony and of Death!

And now was I indeed wretched beyond the wretchedness of mere Humanity. Anda brute beast — whose fellow I had contemptuously destroyed —a brute beast to work out for me — for me a man, fashioned in the image of the High God — so much of insufferable wo! Alas! neither by day nor by night knew I the blessing of Rest any more! During the former the creature left me no moment alone; and, in the latter, I started, hourly, from dreams of unutterable fear, to find the hot breath of the thing upon my face, and its vast weight — an incarnate Night-Mare that I had no power to shake off — incumbent eternally upon my heart!

Beneath the pressure of torments such as these, the feeble remnant of the good within me succumbed. Evil thoughts became my sole intimates — the darkest and most evil of thoughts. The moodiness of my usual temper increased to hatred of all things and of all mankind; while, from the sudden, frequent, and ungovernable outbursts of a fury to which I now blindly abandoned myself, my uncomplaining wife, alas! was the most usual and the most patient of sufferers.

One day she accompanied me, upon some household errand, into the cellar of the old building which our poverty compelled us to inhabit. The cat followed me down the steep stairs, and, nearly throwing me headlong, exasperated me to madness. Uplifting an axe, and forgetting, in my wrath, the childish dread which had hitherto stayed my hand, I aimed a blow at the animal which, of course, would have proved instantly fatal had it descended as I wished. But this blow was arrested by the hand of my wife. Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot, without a groan.

This hideous murder accomplished, I set myself forthwith, and with entire deliberation, to the task of concealing the body. I knew that I could not remove it from the house, either by day or by night, without the risk of being observed by the neighbors. Many projects entered my mind. At one period I thought of cutting the corpse into minute fragments, and destroying them by fire. At another, I resolved to dig a grave for it in the floor of the cellar. Again, I deliberated about casting it in the well in the yard — about packing it in a box, as if merchandize, with the usual arrangements, and so getting a porter to take it from the house. Finally I hit upon what I considered a far better expedient than either of these. I determined to wall it up in the cellar — as the monks of the middle ages are recorded to have walled up their victims.

For a purpose such as this the cellar was well adapted. Its walls were loosely constructed, and had lately been plastered throughout with a rough plaster, which the dampness of the atmosphere had prevented from hardening. Moreover, in one of the walls was a projection, caused by a false chimney, or fireplace, that had been filled up, and made to resemble the rest of the cellar. I made no doubt that I could readily displace the bricks at this point, insert the corpse, and wall the whole up as before, so that no eye could detect any thing suspicious.

And in this calculation I was not deceived. By means of a crow-bar I easily dislodged the bricks, and, having carefully deposited the body against the inner wall, I propped it in that position, while, with little trouble, I re-laid the whole structure as it originally stood. Having procured mortar, sand, and hair, with every possible precaution, I prepared a plaster which could not be distinguished from the old, and with this I very carefully went over the new brickwork. When I had finished, I felt satisfied that all was right. The wall did not present the slightest appearance of having been disturbed. The rubbish on the floor was picked up with the minutest care. I looked around triumphantly, and said to myself — “Here at least, then, my labor has not been in vain.”

My next step was to look for the beast which had been the cause of so much wretchedness; for I had, at length, firmly resolved to put it to death. Had I been able to meet with it, at the moment, there could have been no doubt of its fate; but it appeared that the crafty animal had been alarmed at the violence of my previous anger, and forebore to present itself in my present mood. It is impossible to describe, or to imagine, the deep, the blissful sense of relief which the absence of the detested creature occasioned in my bosom. It did not make its appearance during the night — and thus for one night at least, since its introduction into the house, I soundly and tranquilly slept; aye, slept even with the burden of murder upon my soul!

The second and the third day passed, and still my tormentor came not. Once again I breathed as a freeman. The monster, in terror, had fled the premises forever! I should behold it no more! My happiness was supreme! The guilt of my dark deed disturbed me but little. Some few inquiries had been made, but these had been readily answered. Even a search had been instituted — but of course nothing was to be discovered. I looked upon my future felicity as secured.

Upon the fourth day of the assassination, a party of the police came, very unexpectedly, into the house, and proceeded again to make rigorous investigation of the premises. Secure, however, in the inscrutability of my place of concealment, I felt no embarrassment whatever. The officers bade me accompany them in their search. They left no nook or corner unexplored. At length, for the third or fourth time, they descended into the cellar. I quivered not in a muscle. My heart beat calmly as that of one who slumbers in innocence. I walked the cellar from end to end. I folded my arms upon my bosom, and roamed easily to and fro. The police were thoroughly satisfied and prepared to depart. The glee at my heart was too strong to be restrained. I burned to say if but one word, by way of triumph, and to render doubly sure their assurance of my guiltlessness.

“Gentlemen,” I said at last, as the party ascended the steps, “I delight to have allayed your suspicions. I wish you all health, and a little more courtesy. By the bye, gentlemen, this — this is a very well constructed house.” (In the rabid desire to say something easily, I scarcely knew what I uttered at all.) — “I may say anexcellently well constructed house. These walls — are you going, gentlemen? — these walls are solidly put together;” and here, through the mere phrenzy of bravado, I rapped heavily, with a cane which I held in my hand, upon that very portion of the brickwork behind which stood the corpse of the wife of my bosom.

But may God shield and deliver me from the fangs of the Arch-Fiend ! No sooner had the reverberation of my blows sunk into silence, than I was answered by a voice from within the tomb! — by a cry, at first muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalous and inhuman — a howl — a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as might have arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the dammed in their agony and of the demons that exult in the damnation.

Of my own thoughts it is folly to speak. Swooning, I staggered to the opposite wall. For one instant the party upon the stairs remained motionless, through extremity of terror and of awe. In the next, a dozen stout arms were toiling at the wall. It fell bodily. The corpse, already greatly decayed and clotted with gore, stood erect before the eyes of the spectators. Upon its head, with red extended mouth and solitary eye of fire, sat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder, and whose informing voice had consigned me to the hangman. I had walled the monster up within the tomb!

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Моника Шонесси The Tell-Tail Heart. The Black Cats