Read Online Cat With a Clue by Laurie Cass - Free Book Online Page A

had gone clean out of my head. “I . . . I . . .”
    Lindsey’s smile went from friendly to fixed.
    I stared at the food on my plate. A burger and fries, all of which was rapidly growing cold and unappealing, but since I was losing my appetite even more rapidly, that didn’t matter.
    She hated me. My new boyfriend’s mom hated me, and I hadn’t uttered more than half a dozen words. A new record!
    â€œHow’s business?” Ash asked. “Busy?”
    Lindsey paused, her forkful of grilled chicken salad halfway to her mouth. “Do you realize that I’ve had this firm for nearly twenty years? And they said it wouldn’t last.”
    Ash laughed. “Well, maybe that’s what Dad said right after the divorce. I always knew you’d be a success.”
    She smiled at him fondly. “I just hired another employee. Who knew financial consulting would be so lucrative?”
    My misery deepened. Not only was she beautiful, but she was smart and successful and could do math. There was no way she was ever going to approve of a mousy little librarian dating her son. Especially one who couldn’t put two and two together and get a reality into which I would never, ever belong.
    I picked up a French fry and thought about eating it, but its coating of salt crystals glinted in the light. While it was my opinion that fries had to have a certain amount of salt to make them edible, there was also a point at which too much salt made them inedible, and these fries had reached that point halfway through my use of the saltshaker. Poor fries, doomed to end their life in a garbage bag, never to be—
    â€œMinnie?” Ash nudged me with his elbow. “Did you hear my mom’s question?”
    â€œOh.” I blinked at him, then at the stunning woman sitting across from me. “Sorry. I . . . I . . .”
    Thankfully, she cut into my repetitious soliloquy. “I hear you had a traumatic experience the other morning at the library.”
    Not nearly as traumatic as it had been for Andrea Vennard, but the thought was a kind one. I nodded. And since I didn’t want to relive the experience any more times than my stupid brain was already forcing me to do, I returned to contemplating my dinner.
    There was a pause. A long one.
    â€œWell,” Lindsey said, and though I’d known her for less than an hour, even I could hear the brittleness in her voice. “Have the two of you seen any movies lately?”
    I glanced at Ash, who was in the middle of taking a large bite from his hamburger. He wasn’t going to be any help. I looked at Lindsey and shook my head. “I—”
    Ash’s cell phone burst into life. He shifted his burger to one hand and pulled out his cell with the other. With a huge effort that happily didn’t end with the necessity for someone to jump up and perform the Heimlich maneuver, he swallowed, then said, “Sorry—I have to take this,” and thumbed the phone to life. “Wolverson.” As he listened, he flicked glances at his mother, at me, at his food. “Okay. I’ll be right there.”
    In one smooth movement, he slid the phone back into his pocket and stood. “Sorry, Mom. Sorry, Minnie. That was Detective Inwood. He needs me to—”
    But his mom was already waving him away. “Duty calls. I understand,” she said as he leaned down to give her a kiss on the cheek.
    He looked my way, gave me a large wink that his mother couldn’t see, and left me alone with her.
    This time the pause was even longer.
    â€œAre you a reader?” I asked.
    â€œOf what?”
    â€œBooks. Magazines. Newspapers.” Anything, really,because if we could find some common ground, surely I would figure out something to say to this woman.
    â€œMost of my reading is business oriented,” she said. “Books on economics and financial forecasting. Trade