Read Online No Cooperation from the Cat by Marian Babson - Free Book Online Page B

herself a cup of coffee and sat down opposite me, waiting for the food to appear magically. The woman has spent too much time in fancy restaurants.
    “Did you have a productive afternoon yesterday?” I finished my own semi-toast before getting up to make more.
    “Oh, good enough.” Evangeline yawned hugely. “How about you?”
    “Oh, just ginger-peachy,” I said bitterly. “Jocasta never surfaced again—”
    “Did you expect her to?”
    “And Martha … Martha…” I shook my head and pushed back my chair. The grill was easier to cope with.
    “Would you pour me more coffee while you’re up?” No “please,” of course, but she actually smiled.
    There was something wrong here. She was too casual, too polite, too … complacent. I looked at her suspiciously.
    “You needn’t narrow your eyes at me, just because you had a boring afternoon and I didn’t.”
    “Oh, it wasn’t boring,” I assured her. “Fraught, walking-on-eggs fraught, tiring—in fact, exhausting—but definitely not boring.” I took a beat, then asked, “And what did you do?”
    “Oh, nothing much.” She was elaborately casual. “Browsed in a library for a while, them met Cecile for a matinee at some ramshackle experimental theatre, then we had a leisurely dinner at the Harpo. I didn’t get back all that late, but you were all asleep.”
    There was something wrong with that story but, before I could put my finger on it, the door rang.
    “Martha forgot her key?” There was an odd note in Evangeline’s voice.
    “Possibly.” But why should that make Evangeline look so uneasy? “Unlikely, though. I’m not expecting her this early.”
    The doorbell rang again. Cho-Cho looked in the direction of the sound and her ears twitched irritably. She turned and stalked back into my bedroom.
    Now I was feeling uneasy, too, as I went down the hall to answer the bell. So much so that I actually bothered to stand on tiptoe to look through the peephole. I was swept by an irritation to match Cho-Cho’s as I saw who was waiting outside. And pressing the damned doorbell again.
    “Good morning, Teddy.” I tried not to snarl as I opened the door.
    “Good morning, Trixie.” Encountering my frown, he flinched nervously. “I hope I’m not too early.”
    “Too early for what?” I briefly considered slamming the door in his face, then remembered that I shouldn’t antagonise him. It would be terrible if he changed his mind about letting me keep Cho-Cho-San. “We’re just having breakfast.”
    “Ah, splendid, splendid!” Stepping forward, he seemed to barely refrain from salivating. “I was rather afraid you might be going out.”
    Why hadn’t I thought of that excuse? I gave him a weak smile and turned. He followed me back to the kitchen. Evangeline looked up as we entered.
    “Oh,” she said flatly. “It’s you. Again.”
    “I’m afraid Cho-Cho is asleep.” I don’t know why I bothered trying. Did I really think that item of information would make him turn around and leave?
    “That’s all right. I’ll just wait. She never sleeps too long during the day. Just little catnaps, you know. Ha-ha.”
    “Ha!” Evangeline’s answering smile could have curdled milk. I began to revise my earlier too-hopeful opinion. Today was not going to be better, after all.
    “Something smells good.” Teddy sniffed the air wistfully.
    “I’m afraid we’ve just finished the loaf,” Evangeline said.
    No, the day wasn’t going to get any better.
    “Oh, well…” He looked so crestfallen I felt sorry for him.
    “Actually—” I pretended to rummage in the bread box. “There’s an end crust left.” It was the best I could offer without showing up Evangeline as an outright liar. “If you wouldn’t mind that?”
    “Oh, no, no.” He brightened. “That would be fine.” I lathered on extra butter and plenty of sesame seeds and shoved it under the grill. Evangeline looked daggers at me. Teddy was oblivious.
    “You rang our inside bell,”