Read Online Cats on the Prowl (A Cat Detective cozy mystery series Book 1) by Nancy C. Davis - Free Book Online Page A

cameras would corroborate her story. I’m afraid
her alibi is a lot more water tight than Jason’s.”

    “So what are we going to do next?” Willow
asked. “How can we find out if Jason was in the alley with Josephine at the
time of Roy’s murder? Chester and Bella said he left at eight. Maybe he went
back to the bakery and lit the fire.”

    Nat stopped on the last fire escape
platform. “We’ll go interview Annika Neilsson right now.”

    “How will we interview her?” Willow
asked. “Are Carl and Naya going there after they finish with Marlena?”

    “No.” Nat looked down at the apartment
building parking lot. “Look. There they go. They’re heading back to the
station. It must be getting close to lunch time. Maybe they’ll interview Annika
this afternoon. They must have realized Marlena’s alibi was too good for her to
be the killer. I knew she didn’t kill Roy. She has no motive and a heck of a
lot to lose if she got caught.”

    “Oh, look at that, Nat!” Willow
exclaimed.

    The two cats sat still and watched
Marlena Rappaport come out of the building. She paused to look both ways, but
when she saw the parking lot empty, she hurried out and got into a lime green
Porsche coop. The engine roared, and she screeched out of the parking lot.

    “Where is she going?” Willow asked.

    “I don’t know,” Nat replied, “but we
can’t follow her. Let’s get over to Annika’s house and see what we can find
out.”

    He jumped to the ground, and Willow
dropped down next to him. The thrill of success rippled through her body when
she landed on all four feet with a satisfying spring. She trotted after Nat
with a hop and a skip.

    Nat glanced over at her. “You’re sure
enjoying yourself.”

    “You were right,” she replied. “Getting
out into the field and investigating cases is much more interesting than
sitting around the station all the time. And that nap this morning was just
what the doctor ordered.”

    “We aren’t finished yet,” he told her.
“We’ve got the rest of the day, and the rest of the case to solve.”

    They darted down the street. They
stopped in the shadows of buildings and garbage cans to look around, but no one
noticed them. Willow followed Nat’s lead, and after a while, they left the
congested city center for the outlying residential neighborhoods.

    “I recognize this place,” Willow
remarked. “I think I used to live here before I came to the police station.”

    “That’s not very likely,” Nat returned.
“There are dozens of these neighborhoods all over town, and they all look
exactly the same. You could have come from any of them.”

    Willow fell silent, but the farther
they traveled, the faster her heart beat. “I definitely think I recognize this
place. Look at that playground over there with all the kids in it. I’ve seen
that before.”

    “You’ve seen it on every street
corner,” Nat shot back. “Come on. Stop lagging. The case won’t solve itself.”

    Willow gazed at the children swinging
on the swings and spinning around on the monkey bars. Their delighted laughter
and shouting sent a chill up her spine. That sound called to her from out of
her past. Could she find the place she lived before Naya brought her to the
police station? Could she find her way back home to the people who cared for
her?

    Then she remembered her desire to
become a police cat like Nat. She couldn’t go home again if she wanted to be
one. She had to learn to read suspects, climb fire escapes and dig for clues in
crime scenes. Her past life was gone forever.

    But the voices of the children wouldn’t
let her go. She took a step toward the playground. She had to find out what
about them bewitched her heart and mind.

    She cast a glance at Nat, but he was
already halfway down the block. If he noticed her stray, he didn’t show it. Willow
didn’t let herself hesitate a second longer. She ran after Nat and raced him
around the corner where she couldn’t hear the