Read Online PAWSitively Sinister (A Klepto Cat Mystery Book 11) by Patricia Fry - Free Book Online

she’s my savior.”
    “Oh, Arthur,” Rochelle scolded, playfully. She smiled at Suzette and reached out, hugging her warmly. “So nice to meet you.” She turned to Arthur. “She’s beautiful.”
    “I know,” Arthur said, beaming.
    Rochelle stared into Arthur’s face. “And look at you. You look great.”
    “Oh, the surgery, yes, thank you. Now I have new scars that need healing, but better, huh?”
    Rochelle smiled. “Well, I didn’t have any complaints about your looks before—but, yes, you’re even more handsome.”
    Arthur grinned at her, then said, “Hey, I don’t know if you’re interested, but Michael wants to see my old quarters. Want to join us?”
    Peter and Rochelle exchanged looks and agreed they’d like to tag along.
    “Leave the baby with me,” Ruth suggested. “She can hang out here—it’s been a slow afternoon.”
    “Sure,” Michael said, handing Lily to her. “She’s napped and changed. She might want some of her snacks.” He turned, saying, “I’ll go get her stroller.”
    “Snacks are in a baggy in the stroller,” Savannah said. “So is her sippy cup.”
    “I’ll stay here and help Ruthie,” Suzette offered. She chuckled, “I’m supposed to be on duty today, anyway.”
    “Okay then, let’s go to the dungeon,” Arthur quipped. As the two couples followed him through the cavernous room, Koko appeared from inside a box half full of linens. “Oh, there you are,” Arthur said. “Come on, girl, wanna join the tour?” He stopped. “Wait. Where’s Rags?”
    Savannah gestured toward their suite. “In his pen.”
    “Awww, he’s probably ready for some company and exercise,” Arthur suggested.
    “Yeah, probably,” she said. “I’ll go get him.”
    Once Savannah had returned to the group with Rags on his leash, the entourage walked through another room and down a long hallway to the theater. Arthur then led them into a dressing room to the right of the stage. “This is the way my mother came into my quarters,” he said, opening a carefully hidden door inside a large closet. “She had one of her highly paid workmen put this in. I wasn’t allowed to use it because I might be seen, of course. Anyway, she kept it locked from the outside, so I devised the entrance into the turret. One day I stumbled upon the secret door in the pantry where Savannah and Detective Craig found me that night and I was finally able to go outside… but only at night, after dark, as you know.”
    “How inventive of you, Arthur,” Rochelle said.
    “Hey, where there’s a will, there’s a way,” he said, chuckling. “Anyway, Suzette and I are more civilized now. We use the original basement door, which Rupert helped us find concealed in one of the laundry rooms.”
    “Concealed?” Michael questioned.
    “Yeah, they’d nailed it shut and built a broom closet over it,” he explained. Rupert had remembered where the original door was and we use it now, mostly.”
    Rochelle asked, “You don’t mind staying down here, Arthur, after… ?”
    “No,” he said as he opened the door. He turned toward the others. “Watch your step, these stairs are kinda steep.”
    Once inside, he turned to Rochelle. “I feel a sort of power over this place now. I’m here because I want to be. It’s a choice.” He confessed, “I do sometimes wake up in the night feeling trapped. But soon realize I’m free and safe. I just laugh at my ridiculous fear and go back to sleep.”
    “You’re an amazing young man, Arthur, you know it?” Rochelle said, a wide smile on her pretty face.
    “Thanks, coach,” he said, winking, as he led the group into his expansive quarters.
    “So this is the basement?” Peter asked.
    “Yeah, as one reporter put it, ‘the belly of the mansion.’” He continued, “This is my living room.” He pointed. “My game and workout room are in there and the bedrooms are down that way. Come on, look around.”
    “No kitchen?” Savannah asked.
    “No, the food was brought