He checked the label.
NORA BELL.
He knew the name.
He delivered there at least twice a week.
Books.
Stationery.
Occasionally cat food.
Caleb set the package beneath the awning and took the photograph.
When he straightened, Lumi was gone.
“Perfect.”
He returned to the van.
Thirty-two packages.
1 hour 57 minutes.
He climbed into the driver’s seat.
Fastened his belt.
Started the engine.
Then heard something.
A faint scratching sound.
Caleb frowned.
He looked toward the passenger window.
Nothing.
Then down.
Lumi stood beside his door.
She meowed.
Caleb lowered the window.
“What?”
Meow.
“Your package is delivered.”
The cat stepped toward the rear of the van.
Then looked back.
Caleb started to close the window.
Lumi meowed again.
Longer this time.
“Go home.”
He put the van into gear.
The cat ran in front.
Caleb hit the brake.
“Are you serious?”
Lumi stopped near the opposite wall.
She looked toward the bend in the alley.
Then at him.
Then back toward the bend.
Caleb stared.
The alley continued another seventy yards before curving behind a row of garages.
Nothing unusual.
No people.
No vehicles.
Just dumpsters, loading doors, and brick walls.
Caleb eased the van forward.
Lumi moved again.
Not away.
In front.
He stopped.
“You are going to get yourself killed.”
He opened the door.
That was his mistake.
Lumi immediately came toward him.
Caleb stepped out.
“Okay.”
He pointed toward the bookstore.
“Home.”
The cat ignored his finger.
Instead, she circled his boots once.
Then looked down the alley.
“Go.”
Nothing.
Caleb took one step toward the van.
Lumi suddenly reached out.
Her front paws wrapped around the loose fabric of his delivery pants just above the ankle.
Not clawing.
Holding.
Caleb froze.
“Hey.”
Lumi tightened her grip.
“What are you doing?”
The cat released him.
Ran six feet toward the bend.
Stopped.
Looked back.
Meowed.
Caleb stared.
Then laughed once.
“You cannot be serious.”
Lumi took three more steps.
Stopped again.
It was unmistakable now.
She wanted him to follow.
Caleb looked at his scanner.
1 hour 53 minutes.
He looked toward the van.
Then at the cat.
“Thirty seconds.”
Lumi immediately turned and ran.
Caleb followed.
Not because he believed anything important waited around the corner.
Because if he did not, Lumi might run into the street or disappear farther into the alley.
That was what he told himself.
The cat moved quickly but never so far that Caleb lost sight of her.
Ten feet.
Stop.
Look back.
Another ten.
Stop again.
The alley curved behind a detached garage.
Lumi disappeared.
Caleb quickened his pace.
“Lumi.”
Then he heard a voice.
Very faint.
“Hello?”
Caleb stopped.
The scanner in his hand suddenly felt irrelevant.
“Hello?”
Something scraped against concrete.
He rounded the garage.
An elderly man sat on the ground beside a wooden fence.
One shoulder rested against the wall of the garage.
A cane lay almost six feet away.
A paper grocery bag had split open beside him.
Apples.
A loaf of bread.
A carton of eggs.
Two cans of soup.
One orange had rolled beneath a parked car.
The man’s left hand trembled against the pavement as he tried to push himself upright.
He could not.
Lumi stood beside him.
Caleb forgot the scanner.
He moved forward.