Kelly, Sofie - Sleight of Paw

“Thank you,” she said. “When I found out Ruby had been arrested, my mind went blank. What are they thinking? Ruby would never hurt Agatha. Never.”

Owen came over and leaned his head against my leg. I stroked his fur. “It’s a mistake,” I said. “Everett’s lawyer will straighten the whole thing out.”

“You’re right,” Maggie said. “This is just some mix-up. Maybe because she was the one who found Agatha. You found Gregor Easton’s body and the police looked at you.”

Marcus had actually suggested I’d been having an affair with the much older and hugely egocentric composer. But he’d learned he’d rushed to judgment, and he’d learn the same thing about Ruby. I felt myself start to relax.

“Got any plans for this afternoon?” Maggie asked. “If we’ve done all we can for Ruby, I need to get my mind off things.” She was starting to sound more like herself again.

“Nothing special.”

“I want to work for a couple more hours, but after that do you want to go skating?”

“Mags, I can’t skate,” I said.

“How can you be such a good hockey player and not be able to skate?”

“Street hockey.”

There was silence for a moment, then she said, “Okay, this is the perfect time to try skating.”

“Of course. Only half the town will be down there; nothing embarrassing about that.”

“Lots of people to help you,” Maggie said.

I lifted Owen into my lap. He nuzzled the phone receiver. “Owen says hello,” I said.

“Hey, Fuzz Face. How are you?” Maggie crooned.

Owen flopped across my lap and started to purr. “You’re such a suck-up,” I whispered to him. “He heard you,” I told Maggie.

“Give him a scratch for me,” she said. “So, are you coming skating?”

“I can’t. I don’t have skates.”

“I can borrow a pair for you. What size shoe do you wear?”

I could stay home and worry about Ruby for the rest of the day, or go watch Maggie skate and maybe try it myself. “Okay, you win.”

I told her my shoe size. She reminded me to bring an extra pair of socks. We settled on the time and I hung up.

I gave Owen a scratch behind the ears. “That’s from Maggie,” I told him. The purring went up a notch.

I went into the kitchen to make more coffee, leaning against the counter while it brewed. I kept coming back to what Marcus had been thinking.

He wouldn’t just arrest Ruby on a whim. He had reasons, evidence. He was clearly interpreting the evidence incorrectly, but he had it. Was it because she’d found Agatha’s body?

I’d been there in the alley, too, and unlike the last time we tangled, I didn’t seem to be a suspect. Was it the money? It looked like that rumor was true.

When the coffee was ready I poured a cup and pulled out one of the kitchen chairs. Owen was roaming around and Hercules wandered in from the porch.

“When I finish my coffee let’s go outside,” I said to them. They exchanged glances but ignored me. “You both could use some exercise and so could I. Maggie’s taking me skating this afternoon.”

Hercules ducked his head and put a paw over his face. Owen yowled as though someone had stepped on his tail.

“Very funny,” I said dryly.

With their little melodramatic display over both cats headed for the living room. I jumped up and stood in the doorway. “I was serious. We’re going outside. And don’t even think about doing an end run around me.”

Both sets of whiskers were twitching.

“It’s not that cold,” I said darkly. “Move your tails.” I went for my coffee without looking at them, and when I was ready, they were sitting sullenly by the outside door.

I widened the path around the side of the house, burning off a little of the anxiety about Ruby being arrested. Owen prowled the yard while Hercules sat on the bottom step, looking annoyed. We spent a half hour outside. When we went back in the cats disappeared and didn’t come out until lunch, when they tried to mooch some of my sandwich.

The sun was still out as I got dressed to meet Maggie. Hercules paced restlessly around the kitchen as I pulled my wool socks up over my snazzy green long underwear and stepped into my snow pants.

“It’s skating, Hercules, not BASE jumping. I’ll be fine,” I said. He didn’t look convinced.

There was a reason I had never skated, I discovered. It was a lot like patting your head and rubbing your stomach—while standing with one foot on a banana peel. At least that’s how it felt to me.

There were quite a few people on the ice when I got down to the marina, mostly little kids and a few adults. Maggie was sitting on a wooden bench with her own skates already laced. I dropped beside her. “Hi,” she said.

I looked out over the ice surface. “I didn’t think there’d be so many people.”

“That’s okay. No one expects you to audition for Stars on Ice your first time out.” She pulled a pair of skates out of the bag at her feet. “They should fit,” she said.

I undid my boots and pulled on the extra socks I’d tucked into my pocket. Maggie laced the skates for me, wrapping the ties around my ankle at the top and double knotting the bow.

We stepped onto the ice and my legs slid out to the side until I was more than halfway down into a pretty decent split. My arms flailed until I could latch on to Maggie and I did, wrapping both my arms around her waist in an awkward bear hug. I managed to pull myself up, but my ankles wouldn’t stop wobbling. The only way to stay upright was to keep a death grip on Maggie and press my knees tightly together. My feet kept trying to slide off in opposite directions. Every bit of coordination I thought I had was gone.

“Take a second to find your balance,” she said.

“It’s going to take more than a second,” I said. I tried to straighten out more, clutching at Maggie’s jacket like it was a lifeline, because it was. I got both feet together and pointed in the same direction.

“Link your arm through mine,” Maggie instructed.

I pried my fingers from the front of her coat, put my arm through hers, and smiled triumphantly.

And then immediately fell on my snow pants.

Maggie, who had somehow known I was going to fall, had let go of me a split second before I went down.

“Ow!” I said, glaring at her.

She pulled me up and had the good sense not to smile. I found my balance again, and this time I didn’t end up on my padding. “Okay, we’re going to try a little skating,” she said.

“I don’t think so,” I said. “I think I’ll stay right here and enjoy the scenery.”

“You can do this.” She tugged on my arm, and for a moment I was gliding across the ice.

Although my brain said forward , my feet decided to move sideways and independently of each other. I windmilled my arms to try to stay upright. But I didn’t.

That was how it was for two turns around the outdoor rink: Maggie alternating between giving me confusing instructions and pulling me back to my feet.

“I have to sit down,” I said finally. I was sweating like a bear in a sauna. and I was pretty sure my feet had tied themselves into knots inside my skates. Maggie was more or less dragging me around while I clung to her, bent at a ninety-degree angle at the waist. It was the only way I could keep my feet from sliding off on a tangent. I pretty much looked like Wile E. Coyote on skates.

Maggie steered me over to the bench and I dropped inelegantly onto it. “Go skate,” I said, waving her away. “Go.”

She went, which meant I could sit and sulk silently for a while.

Mary glided over, stopping with a flourish and a little spray of ice chips. I should’ve guessed she could skate. She held out a thermos. “Hot chocolate?”