Read Online The Black Cats by Monica Shaughnessy - Free Book Online Page B

If I could not take the whole clue, I
would take a piece of it. Minding the precious black marks, I gnawed the page
near the binding. Despite my swift action, Silas and Samuel entered and caught
me with a mouthful of paper. I had been reduced to a common woodchuck.
    “Don’t
look now, brother,” Silas said to Samuel, “but Cattarina is back, and she is
eating from the Book of Cats.”
    “How
very curious,” Samuel said. “Our Robert usually reads from the Book of Cats. Doesn’t Mrs. Poe feed her?”
    Silas
twitched his whiskers. “One look at her stomach, and you’ll know the answer.”
    I spat
a mouthful of paper. “I do not have time for this!”
    The
Coon Cats stared at me.
    “At
this very instant, Snip’s killer runs free,” I said. “And Mr. Eakins’s Book of
Cats may hold the scoundrel’s identity. I must, simply must be allowed to take this page.”
    “Snip’s
killer?” Samuel cocked his head. “You mean he is dead?”
    Silas
grew quiet.
    “That
was the hanged cat I spoke of this morning,” I said. “You did not hear the
gossip?”
    “I told
you,” Samuel said. “We stay inside much of the day. Locked doors. Locked
windows. Mr. Eakins doesn’t let us wander like other cats. He talks about danger and disease and all sorts of bad things, most of which we don’t
understand. But we know he means to keep us safe.”
    “I
thought you spoke in jest.” I had heard of indoor plants, indoor rugs, and
indoor wicker. But indoor cats ? How
barbaric. The beautiful Coons were no more than furniture. I prayed this
new-fashioned practice would end with Mr. Eakins.
    “Dear brother,
our Robert was right!” Silas wailed. “It is dangerous out there!” Samuel tried to comfort him with a sideways rub. Silas
pushed him away. “I wish we had never found that hole in the roof. ‘Sneak outside
at night,’ you said. ‘He’ll never catch us,’ you said. We could’ve been killed,
just like Snip!” He left the room, dragging his tail behind him.
    “Forgive
my brother,” Samuel said. “He has a nervous condition.”
    “I
agree with Silas,” I said. “The world is a dangerous place. But Snip’s human
killed him, not illness or accident. Say, do you happen to know the new owner’s
name? This will save me much work as I am on his trail.”
    “I’m
afraid not. We meet some of the humans Robert works with, but not all.” He
glanced at the book. “Taking this page will help you find Snip’s owner?”
    “Yes.”
I considered explaining the black marks and what they might mean but decided against
it. In the end, the simplest answer won out. Samuel helped me tear Snip’s page
from the book and walked me to the door. Whether or not the paper contained Mr.
Fitzgerald’s information remained to be seen.
    “Good
luck with your hunt, Cattarina,” he said. “If there’s anything else we can do,
let us know. We are able to come and go by a hole in the roof. Silas will take
some coaxing, but we’ll be there if you need us.” He watched Mr. Eakins huff
and puff toward us down the street, his cage empty. “Snip was a good friend. I
hope you find his murderer.”
    I bade
him farewell and left with Snip’s information, escaping past Mr. Eakins by the
garden gate. The old man gasped at the torn page in my mouth, but George and
Margaret had winded him, and he could not give chase. He scratched his ribs and
yelled, “You are much too curious for your own good, Cattarina! Some secrets should
stay buried!” This sounded like a warning.
    Near
the corner of North Seventh, I detected the stench of rotting flesh. I followed
it all the way to Poe House and around to our kitchen garden where someone had committed
the unconscionable.

 

A
Sinister Scent
    EDDY KNELT NEAR THE morning
glory vines, a heap of fresh earth by his side. I left the torn page by the
back door and crept through the vegetable patch with more than a little trepidation.
I hoped the man hadn’t done what I suspected he had. I ducked under