Chimera and the Cat Burglar (FUC Academy #46)

Chapter 7

Chapter

Seven

Willy hustled Boo out of the auction and didn’t break until they reached the van and were locked inside. He recognized the coded note, not to the point that he could solve it without help, but he had access to programs as well as the internet through his cell phone.

“You’re scaring me,” Boo said. “Is the message threatening?”

“I don’t think so, but look here.” Willy turned his cell phone toward Boo to show her the decoding program he’d mastered at the Academy.

“What am I seeing?” Boo sat forward in her bucket seat. The van was parked in a dark alley, causing her to squint at the screen. “It all looks like gibberish.”

To anyone else, the FHPHWHAC wouldn’t read CEMETERY. But to Willy, decoding—the ability to decipher code—was the one thing he’d picked up easily. His mind worked magically, revealing the type of cipher as instantly as any computer program.

Still, he wanted to show Boo how to find online applications if she needed them in the future.

“Encoding—writing code—takes several forms,” Willy said. “Substitution ciphers replace letters with other letters or symbols while keeping the order the same. Transposition ciphers keep the original letters but change their order.”

“Which means?” Boo tipped the phone to get a better read on the letters.

Willy jabbed a finger at the receipt stub Boo had pilfered from Ginnie’s coat, pleased Boo had the foresight to go after a clue, even though she’d done so on her own.

Boo had taught him more about gathering evidence and how to become an investigator— whether she knew it or not—than he’d learned from his Academy professors, who only presented fictional scenarios.

He continued, “An Atbash cipher replaces each letter with its corresponding letter in reverse order so that PLOT would become TOLP. A Pigpen cipher uses symbols made from spatial constructs to represent letters. The Freemasons in the eighteenth century used this type.”

“Is that what we have?” Boo looked closer. “It’s hard to make out the wonky handwriting.”

Luckily, the note was legible. “Coding specifics is one of the optional courses you can take at the Academy.”

Boo sighed and smoothed her gown where wrinkles had gathered in her lap. “Perhaps something to look into in the future, but for now, Alyce will want answers. Can you do this or not?”

He should have been offended that Boo challenged him, but this coding business was important to solving their case, and time-crunch or not, he wanted to include his partner. “Boo, I’m giving you a crash course.”

She sighed again and placed her hand on his knee. “Go on.”

At least she was trying to understand his reasoning.

“Just three more. A Playfair cipher uses an encryption technique. Keywords or phrases are substituted by pairs of letters that are arranged in a box. By shifting the lettered pairs, it spells out a code.”

“That type seems as impossible to decipher as the Pigpen type. We could be guessing all night.” Boo crossed her legs and folded her arms. “Please tell me this isn’t what we have.”

“No. Luckily.” Willy breathed a sigh of relief. “Nor do we have a Scytale cipher. Otherwise, we’d be staring at a long Roman scroll.”

“Then what do we have?” Boo scooted closer, handing him his cell.

Willy leaned into her, sharing the screen. She trusted him with her body. Could she trust his expertise to lead them to the mystery behind the cemetery plot?

“We have a Caesar cipher,” he explained. “This type dates back to one hundred BC, and the encoder replaces letters with new letters.”

“And the note tells us to order a pepperoni pizza and BYOB?”

Willy smiled, gazing deeply into Boo’s pretty eyes. Time stilled as she stared back at him. They connected deeper than at a partner level, even though she was struggling and he was on edge.

Would she take off on her own once he detailed the location written on the note?

“It’s not food we’ll dig up.” He strapped his seatbelt on and started the engine. “Trust me?”

“I do.” She fastened her seatbelt.

Willy nibbled on his lip. The last thing he wanted was to spook her. A haunted cemetery was for campfire storytelling. However, the location meant stirring up Boo’s past. “The note provides the plot number at the Willow Wisp Cemetery.”

“Wait. What?” Boo twisted in her seat. “I heard Ginnie mention a plot, but I had no idea she was hunting buried artifacts in our town. I thought she meant an ancient gravesite on a continent far from here.”

Willy hadn’t known Boo was a grave robber until the Willow Wisp Observer published her arrest. “I never asked about your incarceration because it wasn’t my place, and I was dealing with my own shit at the time.”

“You mean understanding chimerism.” She placed her hand on his, squeezing.

Horns, fangs, and a smooth fur coat, which replaced his wiry gorilla-shifter hair, and more. “Yeah. But I admit I was curious. Why dig up founding townspeople? Why not leave them to rest?”

Boo dropped her hand and stared out the window, watching the trees race past as Willy sped toward the cemetery.

The mention of graves had hit a nerve with Boo, and he hoped she’d share her reasoning, but she remained silent.

Willy parked and unloaded the shovel and rope from the back of the van.

Boo whistled. “You came prepared?”

They were the first words she’d spoken since his prying question. “Of course. I’m on a mission, same as you are.”

He tossed her scrubs and a shirt, a few clothing staples he’d managed to grab back at the Academy. He set the size seven rubber boots on the ground. “These should fit.”

She took the outfit, pausing to watch him as he hung up his tux and began to dress.

He pulled button-fly jeans over his hips, a line of belly hair curling over the band, but she’d paused dressing herself. “I had to grab scrubs for you because the commissary doesn’t have jeans.”

Noticing she was staring as he pulled on his shirt, he said, “What?”

“Nothing. You’ve matured… nicely.”

He gazed over her curvy figure, pausing at her very kissable lips as well as other places he’d never forgotten. “You’re still as beautiful as I remember. Now dress so we can solve this case.”

The shirt she pulled over her head covered her smile. “Well, I don’t think you know the dangers of digging. It’s not only cave-ins. The inside of a jail cell, stewing over being charged for your attempt to right wrongs, is the pits.”

“I’m trying to understand.” After FUC agents rescued Willy from DIC, Willy locked himself in a prison of his mind for a while.

Boo continued, “I’m the good guy. I still believe this even after the courts locked me up for eight long months. Mission or not, I’m not digging up another corpse. I learned my lesson.”

Willy hitched the shovel over his shoulder and handed Boo a rope. “Fine. I’ll dig. But here’s the thing. Maybe the lesson isn’t what you learned—to leave the truth buried. It’s to learn from your mistakes, to believe in yourself even when it seems impossible.”

Boo studied him for a minute, and he gave her that time as they entered the cemetery.

“Willy, you really believe that, don’t you?”

He did. “I wouldn’t be here if light hadn’t shown through my darkest days and led me back to you.”

Boo threw her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his, showing him the wall she’d built around her heart had fallen away. At least that was how he read her affection.

Mist floated about their ankles as if they were standing on a cloud, and the midnight air whipped around their bodies as he welcomed her passion.

She broke away.

He reeled her back. “I want to understand you better. Why dig here all those years ago? What were you trying to prove?”

Boo exhaled. “I don’t want to talk about it…”

Only, she did.

And once she started spilling how driven she’d become to learn family’s secrets, she kept talking.

“The founding fathers buried their dead over my ancestors. Over my heritage. I was looking for proof that our founding fathers claimed our lands and buried their dead on top of my ancestral gravesites. By proof, I mean artifacts.”

Willy’s body warmed if that was possible. Boo’s admissions gave him hope that she’d continue to open up and trust him. “It means a lot to me that you’re trusting me with this.”

Boo tucked a fallen spiral curl behind her ear. “I found many small items, but nothing absolutely concrete.”

Willy clucked. He understood Boo’s passion, but her reasoning and her path had holes. “Okay. Let’s say you discover the proof. Then what?”

“To be determined.” Boo shrugged. “I’ve found a few artifacts, a knife, which I keep with me always, and jewelry that once belonged to my family, worn by the 1823 founders.”

“There could be a logical reason they were buried with treasures.” Willy thought back to his history classes. “Indigenous people often traded with newcomers.”

“I know.” Boo twirled the end of the rope she carried. “But imagine if you dreamed of joining your people in death and being buried on a grassy knoll overlooking the river and town, only to learn others had claimed the land, erasing the thousands laid to rest generations prior.”

Willy took a moment, empathy causing his blood to boil as he dodged headstones with names he recognized as the founding families.

Hell, his parents and grandparents were buried there. “I’d want to return the land to its rightful people, which would be a hard battle to win, but I applaud you for trying.”

“It was a mistake.” Boo marched off, taking the rope with her and stomping a trail into the darkness before circling back.

Willy attempted to understand her anger, which muddled his actions. He glanced around the grounds. The mist had swallowed up the hillside. From where he stood over the gravesite, Boo was close and safe.

Guess he was digging a hole, and the symbolism wasn’t lost on him. He sank his shovel into the soil, peeking at Boo now and then to make sure she hadn’t ditched him.

Boo’s murmurs reached his ears.

Was she praying, chanting words of respect, singing a folksong, or talking to the dead?

Willy shoveled one scoop after the other. Another shovelful followed the last. Time ticked by, and the moon slid toward the next day, its glow through the mist illuminating the dig site.

He thought about asking for help but resisted.

Boo and Willy had forged a partnership, and sometimes, one partner had to carry the load when the other tired.

Her shadow crawled over him, and he paused, his muscles straining from digging for what seemed like hours even though he was a powerful chimera. He wasn’t pissed, but he snapped, “What?”

She held up her cell phone. “Alyce sent a text. Zeb is conscious. She wants to see us at ten in the morning.”

Willy breathed relief. Even though they’d yet to secure the statue, that was the best news he’d heard all day. “That’s great news. So, you are helping me look for the reason we’re here?”

Boo jumped into the hole and reached for the shovel. “I’m ready.”

“Without securing a rope?” he barked. “Now that you’re down here, how are we getting out of this hole without the tethered rope?”

As if he were a magical beast after creating a four-by-six-by-six hole in the ground, she asked, “Can’t you sprout wings and fly us out of here?”

“While I do have wings, yes, they’re… well, let’s just say that if some men make up for a lack in size by driving large vehicles, then I should own a monster truck of epic proportions.”

“Inadequacy and overcompensation. Two of my best friends.” She laughed.

The sound gave him butterflies in the pit of his belly, even if the topic was uncomfortable. His chimerism was evolving as much as his new feelings for Boo.

Were they out of the woods in their budding romance? Not a chance.

Could they get caught by a night watchman? Absolutely.

“I’m sorry for snapping,” Willy admitted. “I’m six feet under, and the view leaves me vulnerable. Plus, I haven’t hit a casket, spotted bones, or anything that leads me to understand the reasoning for coming here other than the name and date of death on the headstone: Tal Basta June twenty-second, 1823.”

“June twenty-second, 1823… That’s the day Zeb mentioned.” Boo gripped Willy’s arms. “And I just remembered what it means! That’s the year the town was officially founded on the summer solstice.”

“Okay…” Willy was having trouble following her logic. “But why is the grave empty?”

“I don’t know.” She began pacing in the small rectangular space. “It makes no sense that his body is missing. Where else would his family bury him? If he was moved, why leave the headstone here?”

“I agree.” Willy tried to make sense of his findings.

“I’ve found most bodies around the four-to-six-feet range,” Boo explained. “But the thing is, this isn’t the first empty grave I’ve found. On some, I’ve dug up to eight feet into the ground and found nothing, which surprises me every time.”

Willy punched his shovel another foot, pulling up only dirt. “What are you thinking that means?”

“I believe the founding fathers crafted fictitious persons to own the plots. Why? I have no idea.” She shrugged then shook her head. “Whatever the reason, the real question is this, why are we here tonight? Why did Sophia send Ginnie here?”

A swish of material at ground level above them preceded a shadow appearing over them.

Static danced across Willy’s skin.

The whites of Boo’s eyes flashed as she scuttled into the darkest corner.

Ginnie?

The woman held a rope in her hand. “If one of you climbs out, I can show you exactly why I sent you here before you’re both arrested or disappear forever.”

Was that a threat?

Willy’s scalp itched as his scimitar oryx DNA caused him to sprout three-foot-long horns. Something was up with Ginnie. Why was his skin prickling as if dancing with ants?

“Whoa, whoa! Put away your prongs, sir. I’m here to help Boo,” Ginnie said, and one end of the rope rolled down the slope.

“So you say.” Willy gripped his shovel and put Boo behind him, protecting her. “How do I know you haven’t called the police? Someone ratted out Boo the last time she was here.”

“It wasn’t me.” Ginnie held up her free hand. “It was Cecilia.”

Boo gasped and darted around him, showing herself. “My mother?”

“Yes. Cecilia didn’t want you to learn the truth about our ancestral land on this hill. See, the dead and fictitious aren’t covering a shifter burial site.”

“But I’ve found feline artifacts here.” Boo lifted her hand, brandishing her knife etched with feline hieroglyphics.

“That may be true,” Ginnie said. “Our ancestors traded with the founding fathers. Together, the dead rest with their precious valuables.”

“Then what am I missing?” Boo kicked at the end of the jute rope.

“Have you ever dug below eight feet? Ten?” Ginnie motioned to the shovel.

Boo shook her head, more of her hair falling from her bun. “No. Once I hit bones or eight feet, I stopped.”

“Well, if you had, you’d have located something more dangerous than any Bastet statue with similar abilities.”

“Like what?”

“A portal.”

Boo gasped, and she gripped Willy’s arm, her claws suddenly appearing and denting Willy’s skin.

“A portal?” Willy’s horns lengthened to a fine point, and he snorted. “Right.”

“Believe what you wish—or don’t.” Ginnie swept her hood from her face. “But I’m telling you that the founding fathers were said to use the portal for time-traveling, treasure hunting, and for disappearing. That Bastet statue is a harbinger of sorts, leading the chosen one here so we can finally locate the portal. Of course, getting locked up in a museum would have been a sad conclusion for it. Which is why I had to steal it to ensure it didn’t go with that agent to Egypt. Pity I had to poison him in my efforts to get away.”

“The FUC agent could have died!” Boo unlocked her grip.

Before Willy could stop Boo or come to terms with the fact that Ginnie had been the thief and the one who’d done Zeb harm, Boo shifted into a black cat, her sleek shape clawing out of the confined space with the help of the rope, leaving her clothes puddled on the earthen floor at his feet along with her boots.

Willy retracted his horns and shifted into his preferred bulked-up puma form. Forgoing getting muddier, he used robust pads and sprouted claws to scale the dig, scooping up their clothes before leaving the hole.

Above ground, he spotted Boo wrestling with Ginnie, who had also shifted. The two black cats were locked in a twist of eight legs and two tails. Fur flew as the two shifters bounced about the graveyard, knocking headstones as they ping-ponged around the cemetery.

Roar!

His warning didn’t faze the two.

Willy had taken a backseat with Boo these past two days. He was done with letting her lead. Her decisions affected both. He didn’t like trumping her, nor did he want her hurt, but he roared again, only louder this time.

The booming catcall didn’t slow down the fight.

Fuck’n A. And here Boo had given him a warning about not losing control.

Willy chased after the ladies, who resembled firework flower spinners, their bodies bouncing off the ground a good two feet and splattering the sod with tufts of hair.

When Boo hissed, Ginnie yowled.

Were they cussing, kitty-style?

Before any real damage happened or the cops showed up, Willy pounced on the more diminutive duo, grabbing Boo by the nape and dragging the hissing feline away from her foe.

He retook his human form, trading his teeth for gentle but firm hands. “That turned nasty quickly.”

Boo took her human form and lifted her fists, her tumbleweed hair threaded with grass. “You haven’t seen anything. I’ve been lied to by the two people who were supposed to protect and love me.”

Ginnie coughed until she spit a golf-ball-sized hairball, and then she took her human form. “You’ve always been feisty and curious, which we all know gets our kind killed.”

“Our kind? I didn’t see you jailed. I didn’t see you doing something to better yourself by protecting the furry kind, when, clearly, you’ve known more than you’ve let on.”

Ginnie objected. “You don’t understand. The Bastet artifact being nearby means the portal could be activated, and that means that we’re potentially facing a big problem in the form of a resulting black hole.”

Though Boo alluded to her training at FUCN’A, Willy didn’t believe Ginnie had any knowledge of it, or their mission.

The woman’s words made no sense to Willy, and they apparently didn’t to Boo either, as she balled her fists at her side and screamed her frustration then tore up the lawn as she paced.

“Are you insane?” Boo shouted. “Can I believe anything you say? You were probably lying about my mother being the one to turn the police on me.”

“She did it to save you,” Ginnie replied. “To keep her from disappearing without a trace and landing who-knows-where.” Ginnie looked to Willy as though he might help her.

“Don’t look at me.” He held up his hands. “I’m just learning about all of this right now, and to be honest, I have to wonder why a mother wouldn’t attempt a conversation to halt Boo from digging up the dead before going to such drastic measures.”

“You know how impossible it is to get her to listen to you,” Ginnie huffed. “She didn’t even want to admit she knew me at the auction. That’s why I baited her with the note. That paper was nothing more than a parking stub. I falsified the code and fed the information to Boo when I stood behind her in line.”

Boo’s shoulders deflated.

Trust came hard for Boo, and this new information about her mother would make it even harder.

“She was a kid,” Willy defended. “But not so young that you and her mother couldn’t have told her the truth about your worry for her.”

“She wouldn’t have believed us.” Ginny shook her head sadly. “That being said, her mother tried. But in the end, Cecilia decided she’d rather have her daughter locked up than lose her to time like Boo’s father.”

And there it was—another strange mention of time travel. Willy shook his head. It seemed useless to talk to the woman any further. “Come on, Boo, let’s get out of here.” He tossed her the clothes he’d brought up with him while he dressed in his own.

“You can’t leave before you have this,” Ginnie offered.

Willy didn’t expect Ginnie to produce the wrapped statue. One look at it caused his skin to prickle like it was on fire.

To his surprise, Ginnie handed it over to Boo, who took it gently into her arms and cradled it with a tenderness that brought a tear to his eyes.

“Why are you just handing it over?” Boo asked.

“Because it belongs to you.” Ginnie shrugged. “But before you had it, I needed to make sure you heard me, that you understood my warning. Do not let it fall into the wrong hands. And more importantly, you should never go back to digging in this town.”

Ginnie left them standing there as she disappeared into the mist.

“Let’s return it to the Academy,” Willy suggested, thrilled that they’d succeeded in their mission. He couldn’t wait to hand the statue over to Alyce.

Boo glanced up at him. “I have an apartment close by. We aren’t due to meet Alyce until ten, so we could go there and shower.”

“Okay. I can drive us there.” Willy gathered his shovel and rope, leaving the hole behind, and they walked back to the van.

He considered Boo’s mental state. Nothing about obtaining the statue felt climactic. “You okay?”

“Not really.” She climbed into the van clutching the artifact. “I have a lot to think about.”

“That’s understandable.” The information Ginnie had given Boo about her mother’s role in her arrest had to weigh heavy on her.

They rode in silence all the way to her place, but when he parked, Boo spun in her seat.

She took up his hand. “I don’t want to be alone for what remains of the night.”

“Neither do I.”

He followed her into the apartment and closed the door behind him.