“My dear Miss Appleton, you didn’t allow me to finish. It wasn’t simply your cat’s cage that was found open, but the rear door of the clinic itself. We were burglarized last night”

Cass continued to stare at him, unappeased. “Are you trying to tell me someone broke in here and stole my cat?”

Surprise ruffled briefly across Mr. Howard’s carefully composed features before he regained his self-possession. “Of course not,” he assured her. “Your animal, as you know, has very little monetary value. I meant that although your cat did, apparently, manage to get out of his cage, he still would have been perfectly safe and sound inside the clinic building had we not experienced this unforeseeable break-in. I’m happy to say our alarm system worked perfectly and the thieves were frightened off before any of the expensive drugs or equipment could be taken. Unfortunately, your—” he dropped his gaze to the file folder on his desk “—Cuddly evidently used the opportunity to run off through the outer office doors.”

“Crud-ley,” Cass corrected him through gritted teeth.

“Pardon?” Mr. Howard asked as if suspecting he’d just been sworn at in some foreign tongue.

“His name is Crudley, not Cuddly. The r isn’t silent.”

Mr. Howard straightened his tie and relaxed fractionally. “Oh. Of course. In any case, I did send the boys out immediately to search the area as soon as I was informed one of the animals was missing. But on these busy streets, with all the early-morning traffic that rushes by, they weren’t able to find any sign of him.” He shrugged philosophically, apparently able to detach himself from the unpleasant reality of the fate he’d just suggested Cass’s cat would inevitably meet

“All I can do now,” he continued, “is tender the doctor’s sincere sympathy for your loss and my personal apologies for the negligence of the kennel staff. I assure you, they will be sharply reprimanded for this oversight. Naturally you won’t be charged for your cat’s two days’ board. And although there is no question of your suffering any financial loss by your cat’s disappearance, the doctor has instructed me to offer you a free replacement, with all its shots, and a free neutering when the time comes. We have several nice kittens available right now, if you’d care to pick one out. Then we can all put this unpleasant incident behind us.”

Cass felt the hot color rising to her cheeks. “I don’t want a ‘replacement.’ I want Crudley back. I left him in your care. You’re responsible. Do something.” The last words came out almost a plea, and Cass instantly despised herself for asking anything of this heartless petty functionary. Were there people who could be appeased by the kind of cold-blooded drivel Mr. Howard had been spouting? Or was she merely too inconsequential to rate a conference with the clinic’s owner himself? “I want to talk to Dr. Bellingham,” she declared.

The office manager shook his head and sighed. “I’m afraid that will be impossible. The doctor’s schedule is quite full for the next several days—the annual dog show, you know. In any case, I assure you I have followed precisely the doctor’s instructions on this matter. There is nothing further that he, or I, can do for you.”

Cass stood and smoothed the creases from her rapidly wilting summer suit. “We’ll see about that,” she said, hoping but doubting that the words sounded vaguely ominous.

The office manager smirked priggishly and barely inclined his head in acknowledgment of her empty threat, then rose fluidly to open the door for her to leave.

Outside, the late-afternoon sun still blazed high in the sky, sending waves of heat rippling up from the hot asphalt parking lot. The scorching air suddenly seemed too suffocating to inhale, and Cass staggered slightly as she tried to catch her breath.

She never should have brought Crudley to this callous overpriced clinic. She’d deliberately chosen the most expensive veterinarian in town, a man whose patrons included most of the elite in Newport society, believing Crudley would receive the best possible care from him. Now, it turned out, she had been wrong to assume he was well cared for.

Cass stalked over to her car, threw open the door and then slammed it shut behind her. Shoving the key in the ignition, she started the engine with an unnecessary roar and turned the air-conditioning on full. The cooling blast did little to ease the fevered anguish that overwhelmed her. It was too much. On top of everything else that had been miserable and hopeless in the past three days, now Crudley was gone.

Gone. The word brought such a spasm of pain to her midsection that Cass felt nauseated, such a tightening of her throat that she could scarcely breathe. She slumped over the steering wheel and rested her head on her forearms, feeling the tears well up in her eyes and overflow down her flushed cheeks.

A gentle tapping on her window startled her. Cass looked up to see Bobby, one of the kennel attendants, peering anxiously at her through the glass. She pushed the air-conditioning switch to a lower setting and rolled down her window.

“Are you all right, Miss Appleton?” the boy asked. His brown eyes were warm with concern. Unlike most teenage boys, he didn’t seem to be uneasy in the presence of someone else’s emotional display.

Cass grabbed a tissue and quickly blotted her eyes. “I’m fine, Bobby. Thanks. I just had some bad news.”

Bobby glanced around the parking lot furtively, then hunkered down beside her car, out of sight of anyone looking their way from the clinic. “I know,” he said. “That’s why I was waiting for you. I’m the one who opened up this morning and found Crudley gone.” He shot a quick look in the direction of the building, then turned back to Cass. “He’s a great cat, Miss Appleton. Not like most of them that come to this place, all pampered and spoiled with no personality. Crudley is a real character. And smart? Miss Appleton, I’ve never seen a smarter cat. You could teach him to do anything, I swear. Whenever I see him here, I make it a point to look after him myself and make sure all his instructions are followed to the letter. I would never let anything happen to him.”

Cass experienced a rush of compassion for the boy. Unlike the office manager’s prepared bromides and rehearsed apology, Bobby’s words had the ring of truth. His feelings for her plight were genuine, based on his own affection for her cat. “It’s not your fault,” she assured him.

Bobby’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, I know it’s not. That’s what I had to tell you. I’ve known Crudley for three years and I know he can pick locks and open doors on regular cages. I’ve seen him do it During the day, if I’m working alone in the kennels, I let Crudley wander around with me while I feed the other animals and stuff. Then I play with him awhile before I put him away for the night But before I leave, I always put a special lock on his door so he can’t get loose during the night. I wouldn’t want him to get hurt or anything.”

Bobby gave the clinic another surreptitious glance. “Miss Appleton, Crudley was locked in tight last night. I saw to that. And then this morning, when I got here, he was gone, and someone had left a note for Dr. Bellingham. I heard the doctor and Mr. Howard talking about it, and then I sneaked into the office after they left and looked for it. It’s just like the kind of ransom note you see in the movies.”

“Ransom!” Cass interjected.

Bobby nodded. “Yes, ma’am. With words and letters cut out from old magazines and newspapers. It said that the kidnappers had taken Princess Athabasca and would be calling Mrs. Crosswhite tonight with instructions on how to get her cat back.”

“Princess Athabasca?” Cass frowned. “Mrs. Crosswhite? There’s another cat missing?”

“No, ma’am.” Bobby shook his head emphatically. “Just Crudley. But the kidnappers think he’s Princess Athabasca.”