“Here, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie!” I should have saved my breath. If he’d wandered off in search of whatever, the last thing he was going to do was reverse his direction to answer my call.

“I am so sorry,” Julia said, coming up alongside me.

“Don’t worry about it. Did you see what direction he went?” We stood at the bottom of the bookmobile steps. “Left? Right? Straight?” Please not straight. That would be directly north into a thick forest where there was even less light.

“Mrr!”

“That way,” Julia said, pointing right, and the two of us jogged in that direction.

“Ms. Hamilton?” Deputy Nowlin called. “Ms. Beaton? Is there a problem?”

“Be right with you,” I said over my shoulder. “We have to capture a cat, is all. Shouldn’t take a minute.”

Julia snorted. “Can’t believe you said that and didn’t get struck by lightning.”

I was a little surprised myself. “Eddie! Where are you?”

“Mrr.”

“Did he sound closer?” Julia asked. “I think he did.”

I thought she was delusional, but I didn’t want to burst her bubble. “Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, come out come out, wherever you are!”

“Mrr!”

Julia, who’d turned on her phone’s flashlight app, aimed it in the direction of the feline vocalization. “There! I saw something.”

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and thumbed on its light. “I saw something, too, back behind that first line of trees.” But it hadn’t looked like my black-and-white cat. It had looked metallic.

“Wait here,” I told Julia, and jumped across the ditch.

“Mrr.” Eddie materialized out of nowhere and thumped the top of his head against my shin.

“Yeah, good to see you, too, buddy.” I scooped him up into my arms. “But I want to see what this is about, okay?” We waded through thigh-high grass and then under a canopy of maple trees, where last year’s leaves scuffed underfoot. And there, leaning against the back side of a massive tree trunk, was an expensive-looking bicycle with a helmet dangling from the handlebars.

I stood there, staring, then called out, “Deputy? You’re going to want to see this.”

*   *   *

Later, I was on the houseboat’s deck with Eddie, curled up on one of the two lounges, staring at the stars and thinking sadly about this and that, when I heard familiar footsteps on the marina’s dock. I smiled into the dark. Soon, everything would be a little bit better.

“Saw your kitchen light was on,” Rafe said. “You still awake?”

“Mostly.” I scooted over to one side of the lounge. “There’s room for all three of us if you don’t mind a bit of a squish.”

“Squishy is my favorite thing. I thought you knew.”

“Last week you said beer was your favorite thing.”