Клэр Донелли - Catch As Cat Can

Will sank into the visitor’s chair across the desk from Sunny, smiling when Shadow stretched up to put both paws on his knee. “So you know who I am now, huh, little buddy? What have you been up to that someone wants to string you up?”

He dropped his grin when he saw the look on Sunny’s face. “Guess that wasn’t as funny as I thought it was.”

“I think hearing it out loud finally made the idea sink in,” she admitted, reaching into her desk drawer and bringing out the bagged noose. “Here’s the evidence.”

Inquisitive as ever, Shadow watched as Sunny passed the bag to Will. But he didn’t have any dramatic reaction to it. “He just about pitched a fit when we found it outside,” she said. “Maybe Shadow smelled his attacker on the string.”

Will examined the loop. “No chance of getting fingerprints from this,” he said. “And I don’t think we can take Shadow around to give the sniff test to everyone in town. What can you tell me about the perpetrator?”

Well, now he sounds as if he’s taking this seriously, Sunny thought. Too bad there’s nothing much I can tell him.

“I was working on the MAX website. Ollie the Barnacle doesn’t pay me to stare out the window. Zach Judson was coming out of his store and noticed that Shadow was in trouble.”

“They were in front of Judson’s Market?”

“No,” Sunny replied. “The problem was next door, at the fish market.”

That brought another off reaction from Will. He hadn’t been delighted to find an attractive older guy setting up shop next door to Sunny’s office. Not that Neil had done anything for Will to complain about. He’d been polite and pleasant, not flirtatious at all. But Sunny hadn’t mentioned that to Will. She figured possible competition would keep him on his toes. Instead, it seemed to make Will frown and think.

“You don’t suppose that Zach and Neil are still mixing it up, do you?” she asked. “I mean, Zach did complain to Ollie when Neil opened his store, saying it was competition.”

“The only fish Zach sells comes in cans,” Will said. “I thought they’d buried the hatchet—except for the parking space thing.”

Sunny laughed. Like a lot of New England towns, Kittery Harbor had a sort of unwritten law when it came to snowstorms. He who clears snow for a parking space has exclusive use of said space for twenty-four hours. If the shoveler moves his car, he can stake a claim to the space with a marker.

The beginning of winter had been pretty mild, but when the first big storm came, Zach had cleared a space in front of his store for himself. Neil, who didn’t come from this part of the woods, pulled into Zach’s spot after removing the milk crate Zach had left as a marker.

Zach got his revenge though, thanks to a buddy working in municipal street clearing. Several front-loaders full of snow had created a small mountain where Neil’s car had usurped the space. When things had been explained to him, Neil turned out to be a pretty good sport, hiring a bunch of local kids to clear the whole block.

“I don’t think Neil will go the extra mile if we have another big storm,” Sunny said.

“What do you mean?” Will sat up straight in his chair.

“I think the store is in trouble,” Sunny told him. “You know that spot has been a revolving door. I’ve noticed that Neil doesn’t offer the variety of fish he used to have. And I notice because I shop there occasionally to pick up something for Dad’s supper. Unlike some people, we can’t live on burgers all the time.”

“Can’t help it that I’m not wild about fish,” Will said. “And I didn’t have a burger last night. I had a steak.” He smiled at his joke, but Sunny wasn’t buying it. Again, she’d caught something off in his response, something that made her reporter’s antenna tingle. Okay, maybe she was an ex-reporter, but she still got the tingle.

“Well, this isn’t helping us get a better picture of whoever came after our furry friend here,” Will said, changing the subject again. “I’ll check with Zach and see if I can find out anything else and ask the other store owners if they saw something out of the usual.” He shrugged. “But if you want to keep the little guy safe, you should probably keep him at home.”

“Yeah—like I can tell him that.” Sunny rolled her eyes. “You know he does what he wants. And these days he wants a taste of fresh flounder more than crunchy tuna treats.” She watched as Shadow sat on his haunches, his head swiveling back and forth between them. “Maybe this was enough of a scare that he’ll avoid trouble for a while.”

As she spoke, Shadow uncurled his tail from around his paws and strolled over to Will, extending his neck in a silent demand for a head scratch.

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Will said.

From the glance Shadow shot from over his shoulder, he was thinking the same thing.

*

Shadow leaned againstthe two-leg’s fingers scratching his head. Sunny’s He wasn’t as good at it as Sunny, but Shadow was willing to try different things. Besides, how was the He to learn if he didn’t practice? Shadow kept his head in place until he’d had enough. Then he drew back, stretched, and sat again, watching the humans talk.

From the tone, he figured they were winding down, and he was right. Sunny’s He rose to his feet and rested a hand on the big piece of furniture Sunny sat behind, bringing his face to her cheek.

Shadow had seen many humans do that during his travels, but he still wasn’t sure what was going on. Was the He sniffing her or licking her? Anyway, it was quickly done, and the human male walked to the door and outside. The blast of chilly air reminded Shadow of what had happened out there.

Too bad Sunny’s He wasn’t around when that Smoky One tried to get me, he thought. Shadow had seen the He hit a bad two-legs who’d tried to hurt Sunny, and even knock him down. That would have been good, even better than the Big One shouting and scaring the Smoky One away.

Shadow couldn’t help unsheathing his claws at the thought. He wanted the Smoky One to suffer for grabbing him and scaring him like that. A snorting hiss escaped from his throat at the thought of being held helpless. He’d keep a wary eye—and nose—out for that one with the stink of smoke all around him. Shadow jerked as he detected movement above and behind him, but it was only Sunny reaching down to pet him. He’d have to remember, though, that was how the Smoky One had gotten him, being sneaky.

That definitely was not a good thing.

*

Shadow sat infront of Sunny’s desk, staring out the door after Will, his tail twitching. That should have been the tip-off. When Sunny went to pet him, Shadow spooked, flying up and off as if he were on springs—high tension springs.

Guess I should be glad he didn’t scratch me, Sunny thought ruefully. This little episode must have shaken him up more than he wants to let on.

A second later, Shadow was back, rubbing against her shins with a contrite purr. Sunny dropped to one knee, opening her arms. Shadow leaped aboard, his purr getting louder as he snuggled close.

“I know, I know,” she told him. “At least it can’t get any worse.”

The phone rang.

“Sunny?” Whenever Sunny heard that tone in her father’s voice, she braced for bad news. It was the same voice she’d heard when he’d told her about his heart attack—although it had been a lot weaker then.

She repressed a sigh. “What’s up, Dad?”

“Do you think you can get off work a little early today?” Mike Coolidge asked. “Helena has a bit of a situation, and I’m hoping you can help.”