Will was about to spend another Saturday night watching television and had just plopped down into his recliner with a bag of chips when the phone rang. He perked up as he saw it was Rory. “What’s she doing calling me tonight?” He answered the call. “This is Will...”

“Hi, Will, it’s Rory Callahan. Sorry to bother you on a weekend. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“No problem, I’m on low power after this week, so I was just catching up on all the stuff on my DVR. What’s up?”

“Well, Skylar and I are about to go out of town and I lost my cat sitter at the last minute. Any chance you could drop by tomorrow and feed Hemingway? We’ll be back tomorrow night so I only need you to come by once.”

“Sure, not a problem. Happy to take care of the little tiger. He’s a great cat.”

“Thanks, you’re a lifesaver. And I know Hemingway likes you. One more favor...can you swing by at some point tonight so I can give you a key?”

“Actually, I was going to run some errands, so I can be there shortly.”

“Sure. Come on by.”

***

RORY HEARD A CAR PULL up in front of her house and turned to Skylar. “Okay, you know the script?”

The artist tapped her forehead. “Locked and loaded. You do realize we’re playing with fire and are going to be in real trouble with Will if he finds out what we’re doing and realizes we don’t trust him.”

“I wouldn’t worry if I were you. No way he’ll see the camera behind a plant on the high shelf in the kitchen. And he’ll probably only be here for a few minutes.”

“Hope you’re right because his girlfriend could kick both our asses. Anyway, one way or the other we’ll know if he stole your idea.”

The doorbell rang; Rory picked up her cat and headed over to let Will in. She opened the door and gave him a warm smile. “Will, can’t thank you enough for doing this. I really appreciate it.”

“Not a problem, especially for this cat.” He reached out and scratched Hemingway’s head. “Hey buddy, I’m back. Miss me?” The cat gave him a lick.

“I’d say that’s a yes.” Rory handed him the key. “Okay, here’s the key, and please remember to lock up when you leave. Cat food is on the counter in the kitchen, you have my number and know where the vet lives.”

“I know the routine.”

“Great.” She turned to Skylar. “You finished and ready to roll?”

Skylar nodded. “Yep. The storyboards are done and I’m leaving them on the credenza next to your proposal. Damn, Rory, if we can get a client this big, we’ll be set for life.”

“I know. Millions in billings.”

Will turned to Skylar. “Oh, hi, Skylar. Didn’t see you there.”

“Hi, Will. Thanks for bailing us out.”

Rory walked him to the door. “Okay, the cat is already fed for today so just come by tomorrow morning.”

“Okay.” He put the key in his pocket. “Have a good trip and I’ll return the key on Monday.” He turned and left.

Rory closed the door and turned to Skylar. “Okay, we’ve set the trap. Now let’s see if we catch a spy.”

***

RORY AND SKYLAR RETURNED from the Sunday afternoon movie at dinnertime and sat on the couch in Skylar’s apartment. Rory immediately grabbed her tablet, turned it on, and connected to the nanny-cam she’d set up in her house. “Okay, time for some must-see TV. Hope this thing works.” The tablet booted up and she tapped the app connected to the nanny-cam. The screen immediately filled with a view of her house from the kitchen, along with a graphic that showed thirteen hours had been recorded. “Looks like it recorded everything since we left last night.”

“Hope this thing has a fast-forward feature or we’ll be here forever.”

“It does. And you can jump an hour at a time. Otherwise we’ll see what my cat does all day when I’m not there.” She tapped a button and the video moved forward hour by hour. Occasionally they saw Hemingway move through the shot, but other than that, nothing. Finally with the clock showing it was nine in the morning they saw Will enter the house carrying a brown paper bag and a newspaper which he set on a dining room chair.

Skylar pointed at the screen. “Okay, here he is. Slow it down.”

Rory tapped the screen and the video played at a normal rate. She saw Will look for Hemingway. Once he found the cat he headed to the kitchen to feed him. As soon as he put the food on the floor he moved back to the dining room, grabbed a bagel and coffee from the bag, took a seat on the couch and started to read the newspaper. “Huh. Guess he’s gonna stay a while and give the cat a little attention.”

“This is not exactly riveting watching a man eat breakfast and read the paper. Go faster,” said Skylar.

Rory adjusted the video to triple speed. Will continued to read the paper until Hemingway moved in front of him and put his front paws up on the couch. Will put the paper aside, grabbed a cat toy from the coffee table and started to play with Hemingway.

Skylar exhaled. “Man plays with cat, film at eleven. Speed it up some more.”

Rory made the video go faster. They saw Will play with the cat for a few minutes. Then Hemingway jumped on the couch and curled up next to him. He stroked the cat’s head, looked at his watch, picked up the TV remote and turned on the television, then tuned to a football pre-game show. “He’s not taking the bait, Skylar.”

“It’s early yet. Give him time. He’ll be more curious than the cat. Speaking of bait—”

“I didn’t forget. The open bag of treats is near the credenza.”

The video continued. Will got up and walked to the dining room. “Hey, he’s on the move.” He pulled a can of soda from the bag along with a jar of nuts, then went back to the couch and leaned back to watch the football game. “Well, so much for that.” Nothing changed until the game reached halftime and Will got up from the couch.

Skylar pointed at the screen. “Slow down. Something’s happening.”

Instead, Will went to the bathroom.

Rory rolled her eyes. “Well, that was exciting.” She saw the cat jump from the couch and head to the credenza. “Hey, my cat just realized there are some treats on the floor over there.”

“Let’s see if he lures Will in that direction.”

Will emerged from the bathroom, noticed the cat had left the couch and spotted him next to the credenza. He moved over to the cat and saw the bag of treats on the floor, then shook out a few for Hemingway and brought the bag back to the kitchen.

Rory shook her head. “Skylar, he was six inches from stealing an idea and he didn’t do it.”

“Keep rolling.”

Rory adjusted the speed again as Will went back to the living room, grabbed a cat toy, sat on the floor and called the cat. Hemingway ran to him and started to play as Will watched the football game. Both eventually went back to the couch with the cat going to sleep. The game ended, Will got up and put on his jacket.

“I guess that’s it,” said Rory. “Well, good to know he can be trusted.”

“I suppose.”

“You really wanted him to steal our idea, didn’t you?”

“No, but I wanted you to see his true colors when no one was watching. Which we did.”

They saw Will grab the bag from the dining room chair, then stop. “Hold on a minute. What’s he doing?”

“Hey, maybe he remembered what we left behind.”

Suddenly Will grabbed the chair and moved it back and forth. He crouched down and looked underneath.

Rory laughed. “Yes, Will, that old dining room chair wobbles.”

Will turned the chair on its side, reached into his pocket and pulled out a Swiss army knife. He unfolded it and then started doing something to the underside of the chair. He stood the chair up, moved it side to side and saw it was now steady.

“Damn, he fixed my chair. I guess it just had a screw loose.”

“Like you do when it comes to your interest in Will Prescott.”

“Cute.” She saw him put the knife back in his pocket, move to the couch, pet Hemingway, and leave. Rory stopped the video. “Well, at least we know he didn’t steal our idea.”

Skylar nodded. “Now we can relax a bit. Hey, you should have him cat sit more often, he could fix everything in your house.”