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

magazines—that kind of thing.”
    â€œNo fiction?”
    Lindsey looked at me with an expression I couldn’t interpret. “My father always said that fiction was the refuge of the unhappy. That readers of fiction were looking for an escape.”
    â€œBut . . . but . . .” Then I stopped, because I did not want to get into an argument with my boyfriend’s mother the first time I met her.
    I turned my attention back to my hamburger, mainly because if I was eating, I couldn’t be expected to talk. The resulting silence was awkward. With a capital
A
.
    â€œRan out on you, did he?” Sabrina, my favorite waitress at the Round Table, stopped by to top off our water glasses. “You ladies need anything else?”
    â€œJust the check, please,” Lindsey said. “And I’ll take that right now.”
    â€œGotcha.”
    Sabrina pulled the correct slip from her apron pocket without looking. As soon as she slid it onto the table, Lindsey picked it up and slid out of the booth. “Thank you. I’ll pay up front. Minnie, it was a pleasure meeting you.” She smiled politely and was gone.
    â€œWow,” Sabrina said, watching her go. “That was Ash’s mom, right? She’s gorgeous.”
    I pushed my plate away. Ash’s mother was everything I was not and never would be. Tall. Straight-haired. Articulate. Financially successful. Stunningly beautiful. Not to mention articulate.
    Sighing, I started to slide out of the booth. I almost asked Sabrina how her husband, Bill, was doing. They’d met here at the Round Table and had been married less than a year. Then I decided to ask the next time I was in. Right now, all I wanted was to go home and snuggle up to my cat.
    *   *   *
    â€œHow could I have been such an idiot?” I asked.
    â€œMrr,” Eddie replied.
    â€œWell, yeah,” I said, pulling the lap blanket up over my legs. We were sitting outside on the houseboat’s front deck. The sun was slipping down into the horizon and the temperature was dropping. “Everyone’s an idiot some of the time. Except you, of course.”
    â€œMrr.”
    â€œYou’re welcome.” I patted his head. “But I’m relatively self-confident. I haven’t had major self-esteem issues since I talked Mom into letting me get contact lenses.”
    â€œMrr.”
    â€œRight. So, why tonight? Why couldn’t I get out more than three words in a row?” I thought back to the nonconversation, then corrected myself. “More than one word in a row.”
    Eddie stood, stretched, and then walked up my body and flopped onto my chest. “Mrr.” A front paw reached out to rest on my chin.
    â€œWhen you do that, it makes it hard to talk,” I told him.
    â€œMrr.”
    I laughed softly. “That’s the point, is what you’re saying? That I should just enjoy the sunset and your company and not worry so much about one dinner?”
    â€œMrr!”
    So I stopped talking and concentrated on enjoying a cat’s affection and the gloriousness of a summer sunset. And, long before the sky went completely dark, I’d put the Doomsday Dinner to the back of my mind.
    Well, almost.
    *   *   *
    The next morning, life at the library was more or less back to normal. Work was piling up on my desk, Josh and Holly were trying to pin me down on when I’d turn in my application for library director, and the carpet guys I’d contacted had come and gone, leaving behind nothing but a faint new-carpet smell and a swath of carpet that held no bad memories.
    Yes, there was still a killer on the loose and, yes, I was still disturbed by the fact that I had no idea how he—or she—had infiltrated my library, but I was determined not to lose my focus on the multitude of tasks that needed to be done. Because in spite of last night’s miserable dinner, and no matter