Молли Фитц - Kitty Confidential

Once again, it was easier to cave than it was to argue for hours or days on end. “Aargh, fine. I’ll send Nan by to pour you some more water. Happy?”

He yawned, which only annoyed me more. “Not exactly. It will take me days to recover from this horrible event. Could you make sure Nan knows she needs to throw out the contaminated cup?”

“You are a cat,” I said between clenched teeth. “You are supposed to be a fearsome hunter, not a spoiled baby. You know, other cats even—”

“Angie?” a deep, dreamy voice broke into the middle of our conversation.

Oh, no, no, no. Everyone was supposed to be gone!

I spun around in my chair to find none other than Charles Longfellow, III standing behind me and gawking over my shoulder at the image of Octo-Cat on my phone screen.

“Um, hi, Charles.” I tittered nervously as I pushed the button to end our call, but it was too late. He’d already heard and seen more than enough to figure out my secret. The best I could hope for now is that he would think one or both of us had gone crazy.

I took it as a good sign that he stood looking at me as if I’d sprouted a second head. Perhaps that would have been less strange than what he’d really walked in on.

“Is everything all right?” he asked, raising one thick eyebrow in my direction. The air suddenly felt impossibly thin like the office had been transported to the top of the nearest mountain.

I nodded, desperate for Charles to go away and stop questioning me. “Perfectly all right. Thanks,” I lied, wishing I’d inherited Nan’s legendary acting skills. As it was, I could tell my colleague wasn’t fooled by my feeble attempts to downplay the situation.

Sure enough, his voice dripped with sarcasm as he said, “Really? Because it seemed like your cat needed some help with his…” A delicious smile crept across his face, stretching from one high cheek bone to the next. “Evian? Is that right?”

My mouth fell open from shock, but no additional words came out to explain away the freak show my crush had just witnessed.

“Well?” he prompted, widening his eyes at me. “Were you or were you not just having a conversation with your cat?”

I tucked my hair behind my ears and swallowed hard before stumbling over my answer. “Um, I call him sometimes when I’m away. He has separation anxiety so…” I gave him my most ingratiating smile, but it didn’t seem to work. I was seriously outmatched here.

“But it sounded like maybe he was talking back to you,” Charles insisted. “Like you were having an actual conversation with each other.”

I blinked hard as I stammered, “What? No, don’t be silly. Of course I can’t talk to animals. I mean, who can?”

“You, apparently,” Charles said, narrowing his gaze at me. Clearly he wasn’t going to let me off the hook until I revealed the one thing I most wanted to hide.

I swallowed the giant lump that had become lodged in my throat, then broke out in hysterical laughter. “Gotcha! I can’t believe you fell for my little office prank.”

Charles shoved both hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels, but didn’t say anything.

Oh my gosh. Why wasn’t he saying anything?

My heart galloped like a wild stallion as my nervous laughter fell away.

Charles studied me for a long time, and stupidly I couldn’t bring myself to look away. “You’re coming with me,” he said.

“What?” I crossed my arms over my chest in defiance. “No. I have too much work to catch up on here.”

He placed his palms on my desk and leaned down so our faces were only a few inches apart. Given pretty much any other circumstance, I’d have enjoyed having his gorgeous face so near to mine.

As it was now, though? I was absolutely terrified.

“You’re coming with me,” he repeated with a devilish grin. “Unless you want me to tell everyone what I saw.”

I gulped. “Everyone?”

“Everyone,” he confirmed before returning to his full height and straightening his tie.

Completely bewildered and unable to see any practical alternative, I rose to join Charles.

“Excellent,” he said, leading me to the door and motioning for me to go through it.

I turned back to study him. “Where are we going?”

“My place,” he answered coolly as we strode through the parking lot toward his car. Charles had never invited me anywhere before, especially not his apartment. Unfortunately, something told me I wouldn’t like what was waiting for me there one bit.

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WHAT’S AFTER THAT?

I never signed up to be a private investigator with a snarky, talking cat for a partner, but there’s no backing down now. Especially considering a prominent politician was murdered pretty much right in my backyard.

The only witnesses were the senator’s two hairless cats, Jacques and Jillianne. Normally pets want to help us solve their owner’s murders, but this time it seems the two devious felines might actually be the ones who committed it…

Surprisingly enough, my own partner in crime, Octo-Cat, actually wants to help this time, but he can barely understand our two prime suspects because of their strange Cornish Rex accents. And I thought speaking tabby was hard!

So, there you have it. Even with two successful cases behind me, I really don’t know how I’m going to solve this one. Is it too late to go back and pick another career?

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ABOUT MOLLY FITZ

Molly Fitz is the quirky, cozy mystery pen name of USA Today bestselling author Melissa Storm. And while she can't technically talk to animals, she and her doggie best friend, Sky Princess, have deep and very animated conversations as they navigate their days. Add to that five more dogs, a snarky feline, comedian husband, and diva daughter, and you can pretty much imagine how life looks in the Casa de Fitz.

Molly lives in a house on a high hill in the Michigan woods and occasionally ventures out for good food, great coffee, or to meet new animal friends. Head to www.MollyMysteries.comfor more Molly, or www.MelStorm.comto learn about her alter ego, Melissa.

MORE FROM MOLLY

If you’re ready to dive right in to more Pet Whisperer P.I., then you can even order the next books right now by clicking below:

Terrier Transgressions

Hairless Harassment

Dog-Eared Delinquent

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