Софи Райан - The Whole Cat Аnd Caboodle

“Mac’s a pretty nice man,” Liz said. “In case you hadn’t noticed.”

Before I could answer her I caught sight of Avery coming from the direction of Sam’s office. My gym bag was over her shoulder and at least it didn’t seem to be moving. I decided the rest of us should get moving. I didn’t want to push our luck.

I took one last drink of my coffee. “You ready to go?” I asked Liz.

She nodded.

I leaned over and touched Mac on the shoulder. He turned. “Ready to leave?” I asked.

“I am,” he said.

I looked at Rose and Charlotte. “Ready to head home?”

Charlotte glanced at her watch. “I’m ready,” she said. Was she wondering why Nick hadn’t called either one of us? I was.

Rose had started putting on her coat. I heard her make a comment to Liz about Liz’s faux-snakeskin shoes. They weren’t at all practical, waterproof or sensible. Then again, none of Liz’s shoes were. They were gorgeous, though.

Mac was pulling on his jacket. “Thank you for supper,” I said.

There was just a bit of a smile playing on his lips. “How did you know?”

“I have my sources,” I said with an offhand shrug.

“Could we keep it between us?” he asked, checking his pockets for his keys.

“Why don’t you want the others to know you paid for dinner?”

He ducked his head and smiled. “I just don’t want to make a big deal out of it.”

“All right,” I said, pulling on my own jacket. I understood not wanting to make a big deal about some things.

We collected Avery and Elvis and stood outside on the sidewalk to make plans for the morning. “I’m picking up Rose and Charlotte. I can pick you up, too,” I told Liz.

“That’ll be fine,” she said. She held out her car keys to Avery, who had Rose’s towel-wrapped statue under one arm. “You can drive, but no shortcuts this time.”

“My way is faster,” Avery said, taking the keys. “You just don’t want to admit that.” She stood up a little straighter. “Young people have good ideas, too, you know.”

Liz rolled her eyes. “Here we go,” she muttered. She leaned over, nudged my shoulder with hers and said, “I’ll see you in the morning.” Then she started down the sidewalk with Avery. “I didn’t say your ideas were bad,” I heard her say. “I said your shortcuts are bad.”

Mac touched my arm. “It’s a nice night, Sarah,” he said. “I’m going to walk.”

“Okay,” I said. “Thanks for coming and . . . everything.”

“You’re welcome,” he said with a smile. It struck me that Mac should smile more often. “Don’t worry about the shop in the morning. Take as long as you need.”

I tucked my hair back behind one ear. “Thanks,” I said. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

He shrugged. “Well, luckily, you don’t have to find out.” He said good night to Charlotte and Rose and cut across the street. I was guessing he’d take a walk along the harbor front before he went home.

“Sarah, I’m not going home. I’m going to Charlotte’s,” Rose said as I pulled the SUV away from the curb. She was in the back, with Elvis on the seat beside her. Charlotte was in the front passenger’s seat.

“You are?” Charlotte said, half turning around to look at her friend.

“I am,” Rose said firmly. “I know you’re worried about Maddie. So am I. We may as well worry together. Unless you’d rather come stay at Shady Pines with me?”

I glanced at Rose in the rearview mirror. I knew that look on her face. Once she made up her mind about something it was a waste of time trying to sway her.

“I don’t suppose I could just say ‘I’m fine, go home,’” Charlotte said.

“You can say it all you want,” Rose retorted. “I’m still spending the night, unless you think Shady Pines would be more fun.”

“You have to stop calling Legacy Place Shady Pines. They’re going to sue you for slander.”

“Ha!” Rose snorted. “It’s not slander if it’s true.”

“Merow!” Elvis chimed in.

“See?” she said. “Elvis knows I’m right.”

“Elvis is a cat, Rose,” I said, taking my eyes off the road for a split second to look in the rearview mirror again.

“Doesn’t mean he’s not smart,” she countered. “Cats pick up on things we miss. They have very keen powers of observation. He knows there’s something fishy going on at that place.”

Elvis meowed again, probably because he’d heard the word fishy .

“‘Legacy Place, when you’re here you’re home,’ my aunt Fanny,” Rose grumbled.

“You can drop us both at my house,” Charlotte said quietly, the corners of her mouth twitching.

“How early do you think we should be at the courthouse in the morning?” I asked as I waited to turn left at a stop sign.

“I’d like to be there early enough that we can be close to the front, so Maddie can see us,” Charlotte said. “If that works for you.”

“Okay. What if I picked you up at nine thirty? Is that early enough?”

“You’re changing the subject,” Rose said from the backseat.

“Well, I certainly am trying,” I said. I wiggled my fingers at her in the rearview mirror.

She gave me her best angelic little-old-lady smile. “I can take a hint,” she said.

I dropped off Rose and Charlotte, and drove home with Elvis. He stayed in the back, perched in the middle of the seat like he was royalty.

“What is this? The feline version of Driving Miss Daisy ?” I asked as I turned onto our street.

He bobbed his head and gave a sharp meow. Okay, so he liked the idea. Why didn’t that surprise me?

I kicked off my shoes and dropped onto the sofa when I got inside my apartment. It had been a long day and I was tired.

Elvis jumped up and stretched out on my chest. I eased my cell phone out of my pocket. Still no call from Nick. I hoped he’d at least called Charlotte by now.

I stroked Elvis’s fur with one hand. “I still think there’s something Maddie’s not telling us, but she didn’t kill Arthur Fenety. Not on purpose. And if she’d killed him by accident, she wouldn’t lie about it.”

He murped his agreement. Or maybe he just liked having his fur stroked.

I folded my other arm under my head. “So, who did kill him?”

Elvis blinked his green eyes at me. Clearly he had no idea.

Neither did I.

Chapter 10

I picked up Liz just before nine thirty in the morning. She was wearing a black suit, the jacket banded around the neck and down the front in white. Her hair and her makeup—and her nails—were perfect. She looked confident and affluent, like someone who was accustomed to having things go her way, which, now that I thought of it, she was.

“You look so elegant,” I said.

“Thank you,” she said as she fastened her seat belt, carefully smoothing the fabric of her suit jacket so it wouldn’t wrinkle. “Avery said I looked intimidating.”

“That might not be such a bad thing today.” I glanced sideways in time to see her smile at me.

“You look very pretty,” she said. “I like that shade of red on you. It goes with your skin tone.”

I was wearing a silver-gray dress with a cranberry red blazer and my favorite spike-heeled black boots. I hadn’t exactly been sure how to dress to go to court.

“Thank you,” I said. “And thank you for offering to take care of Maddie’s bail.”

“I told you last night—we’re family. Not by blood.” She tapped her chest with her fingers. “But in here. And we take care of each other.”

Rose and Charlotte were waiting out by the curb in front of Charlotte’s house.

“Sarah, did you talk to Isabel last night?” Charlotte asked as she fastened her seat belt.