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like this keep coming back to their shelters on and off for the consistent source of food. It’s such a great way to save these guys.”
    “I take it Shawn needs help lifting these shelters,” Tom said. “Glad to help. Finn’s nearly nineteen and since he’s put on some muscle since he’s moved in with me, I’ll get him involved, too.”
    “That would be great. Thank you. But first things first. Before we can move cats, we have to help Jeannie. If I knew more about her, maybe I’d be better equipped to talk her into leaving the mill. I’m betting Ed knows her story in detail.”
    “All we can do is ask him. He’s at the shop. Want to run over there?” he said.
    “Yes.” I hopped up, forgetting I held a nearly full mug. Coffee sloshed over the rim, spilled onto my shirt and splashed onto the coffee table. I set the mug down and started for the kitchen to grab a towel. “Call me your Klutz of the Day.”
    Tom laughed. “Okay, Klutz. I’ll clean this up while you change. And I’ll give Ed a call, too. For all I know, maybe he closed up the shop. Went fishing or went out looking for junk. You know how he is.”
    “Indeed I do.” I thanked Tom, gave him a quick kiss and hurried off to change.
    And no cats followed me. I wondered why.

Five
    Ed’s Swap Shop sat on a piece of property right off Main Street. The place was once a small house, but now each room was crammed with items Ed had found—everything from old computers to true antiques. He rescued old magazines, newspapers, dishes, clothing—you name it. For Ed, everything was recyclable.
    The cold morning had segued into an even colder afternoon, so after I’d doused myself with coffee, I’d changed clothes and added two new layers. Now I wore a Henley and a cardigan under my wool jacket.
    We heard Yoshi barking the minute Tom turned the doorknob to enter the shop. When we walked in, the little brown and white dog began to jump as if he had springs on his feet. Tom held out his arms and Yoshi leapt into them and began licking his face.
    Tom smiled broadly and set the dog down. I knelt before the jumping could start again and Yoshi slathered me with doggy kisses, too.
    “Hey there,” Ed called. He’d appeared in the small hallway beyond this most cluttered part of his shop and waved Tom and me to the back of the house.
    Yoshi bounded ahead of us and we all joined Ed in what had once been the kitchen. It was now used as a break room. There was no stove, but there was a smallround table in the corner opposite the refrigerator. The old pink fridge was a recent find; I guessed it was maybe circa 1960. Though Ed probably could have sold it for a pretty penny in this day of shabby-chic decorating, he’d decided to hang on to it.
    Ed had recently trimmed back his long gray beard to stubble because Yoshi had gotten his feet tangled in the beard a few times too many. Ed was compensating by growing out his wiry silver hair to shoulder length.
    I smelled coffee and hoped I could actually drink the stuff rather than spill it all over again. Ed poured us each a cup in jadeite mugs. We then sat and doctored our coffee with the cream and sugar sitting in the center of the table. Yoshi picked up a rawhide bone almost as big as he was and settled at our feet.
    “Good to see you two,” Ed said, and then fixed on me. “What’s this about Jeannie Sloan? She’s been gone from here a good ten years.”
    “Maybe not.” I went on to explain about my morning at the mill.
    “I’ll be a second cousin to a monkey,” Ed said when I’d finished. “You think she’s been livin’ in that old building all this time?”
    “Hard to tell,” I said. “From what I saw, I’d guess she’s been there awhile.”
    Ed slowly shook his head. “I thought she was long gone. Her daughter went and disappeared and Jeannie was beside herself. The woman wandered the streets, bothered the heck out of Morris Ebeling to keep lookin’ for her daughter. After she got put in the clink