Ник Сайнт - Purrfect Peril

“She says she doesn’t remember. Which doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”

Alec gave him his best scowl. “Wipe that grin off your face, Chase. I’m begging you.”

Try as he might, though, Chase could not comply. The situation was simply too outrageous. “Could be that your mother is one of those women who don’t even notice they’re pregnant, then pop out a newborn without paying attention and go on about their business without a second glance.” At least that was the story Grandma had told them.

“I find that very hard to believe. And I find it equally hard to believe Scarlett Canyon would have the exact same story to tell. About the baby just suddenly… being there, I mean.” He waved his hands about a bit. “I mean—how can a baby just… pop?! That’s impossible!”

“And yet it happened, if your mother is to be believed.”

The Chief groaned some more. The big man was clearly in the throes of some extreme emotion. It’s not every day that a man discovers he has a secret brother who’s the son of the Most Fascinating Man in the World. “You wanna know what I think?”

“I definitely do, Alec. I definitely do.” Alec gave him an extremely dirty look and Chase laughed, clapping the older man on the back. “I’m sorry. It’s just funny is all.”

“Maybe for you it is. For me this is like a nightmare and I just can’t seem to wake up.”

“Tell me, big guy. What is it you think?”

Alec took a deep breath. “I think that Mom decided she wants some of those Goldsmith millions for herself, and by pretending to be Burt’s son’s long-lost mother, she just might get her hands on a big chunk of it.”

“You dare accuse your own mother of being a gold digger?”

“As a matter of fact I do. I think Mom is sick and tired of having to ask her son-in-law for handouts and now that she saw her chance clear to topping up her bank account with a nice fresh pile of cash she’s not going to let that golden opportunity slip through her fingers.”

Alec had a point. Grandma Muffin liked to spend money like water. If she wasn’t buying online beauty treatments she was being duped by scammer apps on the App Store and maxing out the credit cards Tex Poole kept giving her. The lady liked to live big, and since Tex had taken away those very credit cards, she wasn’t happy.

“I think this whole thing will shake out just fine,” Chase said, leaning back and watching the goings-on in the lobby of this fine hotel. His grandfather had stayed here, though not in Burt’s room, and as his thoughts turned to the old man, a sense of well-being spread through him. He might be a simple cop in a small town, but he had big plans. And those big plans involved starting a family with a particular feisty blond-haired reporter. If only this particular reporter felt the same way about him as he felt about her.

Alec must have sensed this shift in his mental processes, for he eyed him intently.

After a moment, Chase laughed and said, “What?”

“You haven’t been home a lot lately, have you?”

“No, sir, I haven’t.”

He’d been bunking with Alec since arriving in town, something for which he was still mighty grateful. In the process, he and the chief of police had struck up a fine friendship, and he had a feeling the older man was about to abuse that friendship by giving him a piece of advice. He didn’t mind. He could use all the advice Odelia’s uncle cared to dispense.

“Been sleeping over at my niece’s place?”

“Yes, sir, as a matter of fact I have.”

“You like that girl, don’t you, son?”

He smiled widely. “You got my number, Alec. I do like your niece. In fact I don’t think it’s too much to say that I love her.”

“Oh, bringing out the L word, huh?”

“Yes, sir. Only the L word will do for what I feel for Odelia Poole.”

“Well, let me give you a piece of advice, son.”

Here it came.

“The way to Odelia’s heart is those damn cats of hers.”

He looked up. Huh? “Say what?”

Alec poked a finger in Chase’s chest for emphasis. “Shower those cats with love and affection and she’ll look upon you differently. That’s my piece of advice for you.”

For a moment he thought the other man had lost it. “Odelia’s cats.”

“Max, Dooley and Harriet. Focus on those three. I don’t know about Brutus. He’s something of an interloper.”

“Like me.”

Alec didn’t laugh. “Maybe you are, maybe you ain’t. Too soon to tell.”

He gulped a little. “But she likes me, right?”

The chief wiggled his head. “Eh. I guess she does. The thing you need to know about Odelia is that she’s been through a lot, son. She’s been with plenty of fellas in her time and none of them turned out the way she hoped. She’s taking a mighty big leap letting you sleep over. As far as I know that’s a first for her.” And there was that finger again, poking his chest. Alec was leaning in now, too, his face inches from Chase’s. “So don’t you go and break that girl’s heart now, you hear?”

“You know I won’t.”

“Cause if you break my favorite niece’s heart, I’ll break your neck, understand?”

“I thought Odelia was your only niece?” he quipped.

But Alec didn’t crack a smile. The man was serious. “Promise me.”

“I promise, I promise. I will not break your favorite niece’s heart.”

“Fine.” He relaxed a little. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I don’t think it’s too much to say that you’re by far my favorite of Odelia’s many boyfriends so far.”

“That’s… great to hear. I guess.”

Alec slung a hand around his shoulder and gave him a fatherly squeeze. “Keep this up and you might even marry into the family.” Just then, Grandma Muffin came stalking through the lobby, shouting a few carefully chosen obscenities at Scarlett Canyon, who was teetering on high heels in front of her and shouting right back. “Not sure that’s such a good idea, though, considering this family of mine is batshit crazy,” Chief Alec added with a sigh.

Chapter 10

Vena’s was bustling like never before. In fact I don’t think I’d ever seen so many cats squeezed into the tiny waiting room before. All of them were glancing around morosely, and all of them were in a plaintive mood, the topic of fleas dominating every conversation. Even Shanille was there, the leader of cat choir and Father Reilly’s cat. Father Reilly himself was looking glum, possibly not used to taking time out of his busy schedule to take his cat to the vet.

Since it was standing-room only, Odelia leaned against the wall, the four of us nicely bundled at her feet.

“Your cats are so well-behaved!” a woman remarked, referring to the way we were the only cats not cooped up in those plastic cage contraptions. “How do you manage?”

Odelia shrugged. “I tan their hides if they step out of line. Nice crack of the whip.”

The woman pressed her lips together and shook her head. No sense of humor.

Odelia didn’t need to ‘tan our hides’ to make us behave. We were so terrified to visit Vena’s that we didn’t stir an inch from the spot where Odelia had plunked us down. And so were the other cats. You may think that cats love going to the vet. Think again. We hate the vet. We hate to be prodded and pricked and having our gums checked and our tummies measured. It’s degrading. It’s humiliating. It’s very anti-cat. Sure, it’s supposed to be good for us. I don’t care. I still hate it. Now, though, with the notion that Vena would rid us of our flea infection, I was prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Not the other cats, though. They were all plaintively meowing up a storm.

Dooley, meanwhile, seemed to have other interests. He’d been brooding a lot on the drive over, and now it became clear about what. “So you said that the fact that Chase has moved in has something to do with babies, right?” he asked Harriet.