Lyddia stood up briskly.  “I’ll get that,” she said, projecting more confidence than she felt.  “I think it would be best if everyone else was out of sight.”

She straightened her jacket with a decisive tug, and quickly walked to the door.  She glanced back toward the kitchen, and was relieved to see that neither cat nor human were visible.

She pulled open the door, putting on her best professional face.  “May I help you?”

A uniformed police officer, a woman with a briefcase, and her husband’s boss stood on the doorstep.  The policeman spoke, “Mam, we believe that animals have been unlawfully returned to this residence after being impounded; and that an elderly woman escaped from a care facility last night, and is also here.”

“I see.” Lyddia put on a thoughtful face.  “And what made you think they might be here?”

“Well, you see, they came from here.  We, uh, picked them up yesterday, mam.  And last night–well, last night they all disappeared.”

“Disappeared?  Oh, dear!  Do you suspect wrong doing?”

“Well, uh, yes, mam…we do.  I mean, they disappeared!  Cats and old women…they don’t just vanish into thin air.   The woman got out of a locked room, and the cats did, too.  There’s an APB out on all of them.”

“Isn’t that rather drastic?  I hardly think an elderly woman would be dangerous.  I can’t imagine cats being a real problem, either, unless you keep birds.  What precisely seems to be the issue here.”

“Well, uh, well, uh…well, ya see, mam, the old woman kept a big bunch  o’ cats  here–and that ain’t sanitary like.  She seemed real wild yesterday when the Shelter people came to pick up the critters, so the guys had to tranquilize her, too.”

Lyddia stared at him down her nose, the same way she did to Junior when he came in late and offered excuses.  “I see,” she said.  “Officials from the animal shelter entered her home, without notice, confiscated her cats, dosed her with a tranquilizer–were any of these persons licensed to dispense medicine to humans, by the way? –and then you carted her and her cats off.  I think I might have seemed a little wild myself.”

“well…uh…well…anyways, I’d like to come in and look for them, mam.”  The officer shuffled his feet nervously.

Lyddia’s look became even colder and more censorious.  “Do you have a search warrant?”

The policeman blushed a beet red from his collar to his hair-line.  “Well…well, uh, no, mam.  I don’t.”

“Then you may most certainly NOT come in.  I received a call this morning from a friend of my client, saying she had been unlawfully detained and her property confiscated.  Furthermore, merchandise which she sells to maintain herself and her pets was destroyed.  I would be very much interested in knowing who instigated this incident.”

The policeman turned a deeper shade of red, and his diction further deteriorated.  “well..uh..well…uh..uh…I ain’t exactly at liberty to say.”

“Really.” Lyddia fixed him with a gaze that usually reduced her son and husband to squirming.  She reached into the pocket of her suit jacket, and pulled out a business card.  “Here is my card.  If you become at liberty to communicate, please, do call that number.  Since I am out of my office, you will get a recording; however, I check my voice mail regularly.”  With that, she shut and locked the door firmly.

She then steadied herself against the wall with one hand, while her knees quit shaking.  She should have asked for his badge number.  Should she have given out her card?  There really wasn’t an office–just her cell phone’s voice mail.  Thank goodness, she had opted not to put their home address on the card!