Chapter 8. Abigail's mother was already gone when she woke up. Another early morning

meeting doing whatever it was that she did. For Abigail, it meant one more day. Her mother

had said she was going to have a talk with her, but Abigail knew the talk would probably

be more at her than with her, and that the

result might be the end of her detective agency. That gave her one more day to find Ezekiel

High Tower. Although Abigail was careful not to mention that when she met with her client that

morning. She also failed to mention pirates, ginger, cat-napping rings, or girls named after

leafy green vegetables. Karen Hightower was suitably impressed. She was disappointed by the lack of

results, of course, but there was a map, and all this talk about a home range, and a detailed

house-by-house accounting of the entire afternoon's search.

There was no question in her mind that she had received very good value for her money,

and that there was a plan in place that seemed like it would return her cat to her, and very

soon. There are no guarantees in this sort of work, Miss Hightower, Abigail said, looking across the desk to where her client sat pouring over her notes.

Abigail had brought the second folding chair up from the basement, which meant the second meeting felt much more professional than the first.

"'Apart from your own block of Sycamore, there are only a handful of houses I haven't been able to search,

and I plan on hitting them early today in hopes of catching someone at home.

"'And what if you can't?' Karen said, looking up from the book.

"'What if everybody is at work every day?'

Abigail tried to look like this possibility had occurred to her, even though it hadn't.

"'There are ways of dealing with that, Miss High Tower,' she said.

"'The less you know the better.'

Her client's eyes grew wide.

...