I raced to Molasses' house as fast as four paws could carry me. My mind was racing faster than my paws. It was all coming together. Nails had to be staying somewhere. I had just heard how she was taking care of food and water; shelter would be next on the list of basic needs. Molasses and Butterscotch's people were gone to Disneyland for the week so their house would be a fine place to stay. Yoshi probably guessed all this and then asked Duke to verify. Yoshi wouldn't have told me because he would've thought that I would rush right over there and gotten myself killed.
If things had gone as I had figured, Duke or one of the members of his Dog Patrol would be keeping an eye on Molasses' house. If so, Rocky the pit bull wasn't the one on that particular duty – he had been following me since I'd left my house this afternoon. I had discovered him when I was on my way to Willy's house and he had stuck with me ever since. That was fine with me. If I was running headlong into a confrontation with Nails, I was okay with another pit bull backing me up.
The first hint that something was wrong came when I was around the corner from my destination. Chuck shot around the corner and was coming right at me with a frantic expression on his adolescent cat face.
"Hey!" he yelled as soon as he saw me, "Get to Molasses house! Duke's in trouble!"
"What's wrong?" I asked. Then thinking better of it I said, "Never mind! I can go see for myself. Rocco's following me; go tell him what's going on!"
I took off. As soon as I turned the corner I saw something that made the fur on my neck stand straight up. Molasses' home was four houses down from the corner and on her front lawn I could clearly see Nails, Fusco and Geech about to attack Duke. Duke was backed up against a tree with the three dogs surrounding him. That was bad enough but the topper was that I could see a very frightened Molasses in the tree directly above the dogs.
I thought that I was going at full speed before but I kicked it up another notch and headed for the dogs. Nails and Fusco jumped Duke. He was able to fend Fusco off but at the cost of leaving himself open to Nails. She sunk her teeth into his underside. By that time I was right there and bracing to launch myself at Nails and Duke.
Now I knew full well that even as mad as I was, a Pit Bull, a Doberman and whatever Geech was were unlikely to be intimidated at the sight of a twelve pound, extremely handsome orange cat but I was still going to hit them with everything I had and hope that I could knock Nails off of Duke. Maybe I did look pretty ferocious –Geech and Fusco's eyes widened and they turned tail and ran. Then I heard pawsteps coming rapidly behind me and I remembered that Rocky had been following me. I eased up just a little and Rocky raced past me and launched himself at Nails.
Nails had seen him coming and released her grip on Duke's side so that she could face Rocky's attack. When he landed on her, they got tangled in a whirlwind of teeth and paws and they forcefully rolled into the tree behind them.
Their impact shook the tree causing Molasses to fall off of her branch.
Everyone knows that cats always land on their feet. Not always. Not if the fall is less than six feet. And not if they're so stressed that their body's natural instincts don't kick in. Molasses either didn't have time to right herself or the situation was too much but either way she fell from the tree and hit the hard, dried out ground head first.
I got to her fast. She was lying on her side and I wasn't sure if she was breathing or not. She was definitely unconscious. I swallowed hard and tried to keep calm. I have a vague recollection of fighting going on around us but I couldn't tell you what was going on with the dogs. My focus was entirely on the beautiful, injured cat in front of me. Only a few sounds got through to me: I could hear some humans coming out of their houses and yelling at the dogs and also the whine of approaching sirens.
It took me about half a second to realize that standing there and staring at her wasn't really helping the situation. The woman I lived with had once watched a first aid training video while I was in the room and I tried to remember if I had learned anything useful from it. Molasses's mouth was open but she didn't seem to be breathing. I took a deep breath, put my mouth against hers and breathed out. That got no reaction. I tried the same maneuver again while also using my forepaws to massage her chest. Still no reaction. I had nothing better to do so I kept at it.
After I had performed this procedure six times I took a second to look around. Nails and her crew were gone. Duke was lying prone by the street curb surrounded by cops and animal control guys. More and more neighbors were coming out of their houses to see what was happening. I took a deep breath and turned my head back towards Molasses. But it was a wasted breath. Molasses coughed a couple of times and opened her eyes.
"Wh- What are you doing?" she asked.
I felt a huge smile break out on my face. "I think that I just brought you back to life."
She coughed again and then smiled weakly. "Geez, what you won't do to get a kiss."
Apparently a human had been watching us. "Hey! I think that cat just gave that other cat CPR!"
That caused a stir and people began to approach us. "Okay, kid." I told Molasses, "The people are coming to take care of you. I'll see you later." I gave her a wink and took off down the street.
After I'd gone a safe distance I looked back. Mo was being attended to by a couple of policemen. I was pretty encouraged that she was going to be alright so I headed home.
****
I got back to my house at about 5:30 just before our people got back from work and daycamp. I kept to myself and away from Yoshi until the family all gathered in the kitchen for dinner. He and I headed for the master bedroom so that I could report. Yoshi jumped up on the bed and took his usual listening position, lying at the head of the bed. I took a seat on the floor beneath him and reported. I told him about my chats with Willy and Sunshine. Then I described how I'd figured out where Chuck had gone that afternoon and how that led to Molasses's house. As I described the chaos that I encountered I tried to keep the anger out of my voice. I don't think that I succeeded but Yoshi didn't seem to notice. He seemed to be asleep but I knew that he was listening to every word that I uttered and filing the information away in his head until it was needed.
Usually when I finished reporting I sat and waited for any questions that he might have. This time I just stood up and headed for the door.
"Excuse me!" The sharpness in Yoshi's tone indicated that he hadn't expected me to leave. I turned around and glared at him.
His eyes narrowed. "I have a few questions is you don't mind. Do you have any information as to the condition of Duke and Molasses?"
"Not really. I assume that they were taken to the vet's office on Brice road. I'm going to drop by there tonight and check up on them."
He grimaced at the thought of someone willingly going to the vet. "Be sure to give them my regards. I don't suppose that Nails was apprehended?"
"I heard that her buddies Geech and Fusco got picked up and are now cooling their paws at the Animal Control facility. Any more questions?"
"Just one. Are you angry with me?"
That seemed so obvious that it didn't need an answer. I didn't say anything.
"Apart from your report, you haven't said a word to me tonight. Are you giving me the silent treatment?"
I just looked at him.
"I suppose that you're mad that I didn't tell you that I'd theorized that Nails might be staying at Molasses's house. By the way, I'm very impressed that you figured that out. Your reasoning skills are really coming along."
I had to remember that I was mad so that my face wouldn't show any sign of the pride that I felt from that compliment.
He continued. "I'm sure that you want to know my reasons for not telling you –"
"Hey!" I interrupted, "Its kinda hard to give you the silent treatment when you keep speaking for me. I do have a couple of things to get off of my chest. If you and I are going to continue doing whatever it is we do, we need to make a new rule. I know that you like to withhold information from me when we're on a case. I assume that its so that you impress me when you make your grand explanations of whatever mystery it is we're investigating. But from now on, if you have even the slightest inkling that Molasses might be in harm's way, you're going to tell me. If you don't agree to that right now, you and me are through."
Yoshi blinked a couple of times. "If I don't always tell you all of my suppositions it's not from a need to impress you. Sometimes it's more of a training exercise. You need to learn to make logical leaps and see patterns that aren't obvious. I'm not getting any younger and –"
"You certainly aren't. I can hear your joints make this weird cracking noise whenever you jump up on the bed."
He rolled his eyes. "I'm glad that your sense of humor has returned. The other reason that I may not be completely forthcoming is your welfare. If I had told you what I suspected you would've rushed over there and gotten yourself killed. So I had Chuck tell Duke that I thought that Nails might be staying at Molasses's house. I realize that things didn't turn out optimally but I don't think that things would've gone any better had I informed you of my theory."
"Whatever" I replied. "The next time you have any theories, suppositions or whatever involving Molasses, you will tell me or you and I are through. Understood?"
Being the elder cat, it was usually Yoshi who would dictate things to me. He didn't seem to care much for the tables being turned but he nodded and murmured, "Understood. Now back to business. I have another question. This cat Sunshine, how was she acting?"
Apparently we were putting any hard feelings behind us. "Well she was kind of weird. " I answered. "She was nervous and laid back at the same time."
"Did you notice any drooling or shortness of breath?"
"You mean from the heat? No, no more than normal for a young female in my presence." Yoshi just stared at me until I said, "No, no drooling or shortness of breath. Why?"
Yoshi smiled at me. "Nothing that has anything to do with Molasses."
I was still a little annoyed with him or I wouldn't have said what came next. "It doesn't matter to me. I know exactly what's going on."
Yoshi had been laying down for our entire discussion but this got him to sit up. "Really? And what exactly is going on?"
This was dangerous. I thought that I had a handle on what was going on but if I was wrong he'd never let me forget it. On the other hand if I was right and I had worked this out before he had, I would never let him forget it. I had to buy time to make sure that I was correct. "I don't think that I want to tell you my theory at this point of the investigation. How's that feel?"
"I see," he said in a condescending tone.
I felt myself getting angry again. "You don't believe me? How about a bet? If I guess who actually attacked Sophie before you do, I want a full apology for not telling me that Nails was at Molasses's house, delivered from you to me in front of Molasses, Duke, Chuck and whoever else I decide to invite."
"I think that you know full well that my acceptance of your new rule in our relationship was a tacit apology."
"I don't know what tacit means but I'd like an apology where you actually say 'I'm sorry'".
Yoshi rolled eyes and then said, "What happens if you're incorrect?"
I didn't really have an answer for that. "Uh, we shake paws and pretend that nothing ever happened?"
"I think not. How about if when this is over, if whatever you've surmised is incorrect, you'll owe me a favor."
I snorted. "Are you kidding? My life consists of doing you favors."
"Yes, but you always have the ability to say no. This would be a favor that I would call on whenever I like. It might be something that you might not want to do and that you would have to do without question."
It didn't seem like a good idea to agree to something so open ended but I was too far gone to back down at that point. "Fine."
"And how do you propose we determine the winner?"
"When I go to see Duke tonight I'll tell him what I think is happening. When everything is over, he'll be able to tell you that I was right." With that I turned and left the room.
He didn't look very worried.
END OF CHAPTER FIVE