Read Online Pet Noir by Pati Nagle - Free Book Online Page B

“He’s around.”
    â€œAre you sure? I don’t want to lose track of him.”
    â€œYeah, he’s here. Where could he go?”
    â€œLeon?”
    Actually, I was sitting about a meter from the chief’s feet. I waited for him to notice this, taking interest in his agitation.
    Of course, it wasn’t me he was concerned about. He just wanted to protect his investment. I began to wonder just how much Gamma Security had sunk into my engineering. I wasn’t cheap, that was for sure.
    â€œLeon? Where are you?”
    The chief started pacing around the office, looking in the corners. I watched in growing amusement. Devin shot him an annoyed glance, then went back to cruising data.
    When the chief picked up a waste basket and started looking through it I decided things had gotten ridiculous enough. I stepped out from beneath the desk and sat down beside his feet. He didn’t notice, so I spoke up.
    â€œGot any cheese danish?”
    He jumped. “Leon! Oh, there you are. Good.”
    He put down the waste basket. I went over to it and stretched up to look into it, as if wondering what he’d found so interesting. I was just barely tall enough to get my head and paws over the edge.
    â€œNo, I don’t have any danish, but if you’re hungry we can go get a bite to eat in the rotunda. How does that sound?”
    It sounded better than I wanted to admit. I let go of the wastebasket and sat down again.
    â€œSure, if you want.”
    â€œOK. Devin, I’ll bring him back later in the morning.
    â€œFine.”
    Devin was still zoned on data. Didn’t seem too concerned about his new, expensively genengineered partner.
    The hell with him, then. Cherchez la food.
    The chief looked down at me. “Uh, shall I carry you or do you want to walk?”
    â€œI’ll walk, thanks,” I said, standing up and going to the door.
    â€œGood. Great. Stay close, though, OK? You don’t want to get lost.”
    Thinks you, I told myself. Getting lost might be one of my best prospects. After breakfast, though.
    We strolled out of headquarters together and into the rotunda. Well, the chief strolled—I had to jog to keep up with him. He cruised past Molly’s, which looked pretty dead at this hour, and then past Zip Fix. I was disappointed but I didn’t say anything, deciding to wait and see what he came up with.
    There was a gentlemen’s-club-looking place up ahead. I thought the chief was heading for that, but he stopped a door early, at a pink and frilly joint with a sign that said “Tammy’s Tea Shoppe” in curly letters.
    â€œYou’ve got to be kidding,” I muttered.
    â€œShh!”
    The chief frowned down at me, then without warning picked me up. I squawked. He held me close to his face and stroked my head while he whispered in my ear.
    â€œNo talking, Leon. If you blow your cover you won’t be any use to us. I’ll sell your contract to a rat-catching firm. It’ll take a lot longer to work it off that way.”
    I shut up. He said it in a pleasant voice, but I knew a genuine threat when I heard it.
    Not to mention I didn’t think I was cut out for rat-catching. I’d developed a distinct dislike for the beasts.
    Still holding me, he walked into the pink place. It didn’t have tables like a regular restaurant. Instead it had little groupings of three or four comfy chairs around a coffee table, or maybe a couple of chairs and a couch. Lots of crocheted crap and doilies and lacy stuff everywhere.
    The place was deserted except for two middle-aged ladies wearing actual dresses, sitting at one of the coffee tables with old-fashioned china teacups and saucers on their knees. On the table between them was a plate of little sandwiches and cookies and cakes.
    My stomach growled. Not my favorite, but it would do in a pinch, and maybe there would be tuna in one of those sandwiches.
    One of the ladies looked up. “Chief