I picked it up, opened it and was instantly disappointed. No locket. No gold at all. Curiously, I found two shell and fishing line bracelets. I didn’t recall ever seeing Delia wearing any bracelets like them. In fact, I didn’t recall ever seeing her wear any jewelry at all, not even the missing locket. I closed the box and set it back on the bureau. Perhaps the bracelets were keepsakes, gifts her nephews made for her when they were children.
Ryan handed me the shoe box, and inside I found a pair of barely worn teal blue shoes with sensible one-inch heels.
Back in Delia’s room I found her undergarments neatly folded in the dresser drawer. I took out a set and then realized I didn’t have anything to carry them in. I told Ryan we were ready to go but I’d need to stop in the kitchen for a bag.
Still carrying the shoe box, he led the way downstairs, took a few steps to the rear of the house and through an archway into the kitchen. That’s when I saw the kitty litter box sitting in the hallway.
“Bow! Oh Lord. Where is Bow?” And I crouched close to the floor calling, “Bow, here kitty, kitty, Bow. Here sweet girl.”
I saw her food and water dishes, little white bowls with a paw motif, sitting in a far corner. Neither was empty.
“Ryan, where is Delia’s cat? Augusta doesn’t have her. Where is she?”
Ryan looked at me as though I’d gone quite mad when I ran to the cupboard and took out a can of cat food and pressed it under the electric can opener.
“She’ll come when she hears a fresh can being opened,” I explained. But even when I sent the can spinning around the opener a second time, Bow didn’t scamper into the room looking for a meal. We searched the entire house, upstairs and down, looking for any out-of-the-way space where Bow might be sleeping.
“Cats are nocturnal; they sleep a lot during the day,” I told Ryan since I seemed to be the cat authority of the moment. Finally we ran out of places to look and gave up the search. Then I had an idea.
“Ryan, is it possible that one of your colleagues called Animal Rescue to come take care of Bow?”
He wasn’t aware of any such call, but he told me he’d check at the district.
“Sassy, I was first on the scene, and even with everything going on, I’m sure there was no cat in the house. Don’t forget, the front door was open when we got here.”
I fretted all the way back to Augusta’s house. How could I tell her that I couldn’t find the locket and that Bow was missing as well?
Miss Augusta perked up a bit when she saw me get out of Ryan’s car carrying the blue dress on its satin-covered hanger. Ryan grabbed the packages we’d put in the trunk and handed them to Pastor John. Then he took the dress from me and hung it on a planter hook screwed into the porch overhang. I took my seat on the swing once again.
Augusta patted my hand. “Thanks for taking care of this. Delia’ll be so pleased to be dressed proper.”
I took a deep breath and told her about the missing locket. She was quiet for a long time and then sighed. “You tried your best. Delia’ll miss the locket, still, there’s nothing to be done.”
When I told her Bow was missing, too, I was shocked when she dismissed the idea.
“Missing, my foot. She’s out gallivanting is all. Try the coral clapboard house directly across the street from Delia. Woman who lives there had a yen for Bow from the first day we found her in Bowditch Point Park, all hungry and scraggly-like.
“Delia brought her home, cleaned her up, got her healthy and gave her a place to live. But Bow liked to be on her own. Now and again she’d sashay down to the water’s edge for some exercise. She’d leave with a green bow tied to her collar, and hours later she’d come home with a yellow one and a full belly to boot. I can’t swear it was always the lady in the coral house fussin’ over her, but I can swear it was her most of the time. I bet she took advantage of the situation to get what she always wanted—Bow.”