Molly Fitz: The Cat Caper (Pet Whisperer P.I. Book 5)

Chapter Three

Charles invited me to come over for a quick dinner and epic brainstorming session at six thirty that evening. When I showed up at six thirty-three, however, the house stood dark and empty. Assuming he’d gotten delayed at work, I decided to let myself in using the key he kept stashed in the garden around back. At least it was a better hiding place than Nan’s preferred placement under the front door mat. It’s a wonder she never got burgled even once in all her seventy-ish years of life.

“Hello!” I called as I pushed my way inside, just in case Charles was in the shower or something and hadn’t heard me knock.

Nothing.

I shrugged, then made my way to the kitchen. The least I could do is set the table, since I assumed he’d be bringing takeout home with him. Neither of us were great cooks, but thankfully I had my newly awakened culinary genius Nan to make sure I always had something yummy on my plate. It was both a blessing and a curse, considering I’d grown at least one pants size in the months since she’d discovered this new passion of hers.

I marched through the house, turning on some lights as I went, knowing Charles preferred to keep the curtains drawn for some odd reason. It still felt incredibly odd, though—seeing the house that I’d grown up in now set with all of Charles’s sparse, manly decorations. Nan had decided to sell her former home and move in with me when I came in possession of the big manor house we both resided in now, which meant putting this one on the market.

It all worked out kind of perfect in the end, considering Charles needed something a bit more permanent than the Cliffside Apartments, where he used to live. Cliffside was also host to a vast percentage of Glendale’s criminals—or, at least the ones that got caught. Based on my own unique experience as of late, the more money a person had, the more likely they were to kill somebody to protect it.

Some people were just never happy, and I vowed never to let myself become one of them.

Feeling a bit more at home now, I grabbed a pair of plates from the cupboard by the stove, then turned to head back out to the dining room and almost jumped right out of my skin at the horrifying sight before me.

“Oh my gosh,” I cried, fumbling the plates in my shock, but thankfully not dropping them. “You scared me!”

Yes, it seemed I was no longer alone. Charles still hadn’t put in an appearance, but his two Sphynx cats had appeared in the doorway and stood contemplating me with twin sets of glowing eyes. How had I forgotten about them?

“Hello, Jacques and Jillianne,” I said with a friendly smile. Hopefully, they couldn’t see that I was internally screaming at that moment. J and J, as Charles had taken to calling them whenever discussing the cats as a pair, had no hair but lots of wrinkles on their exposed skin. If you try to picture what a brain might look like if it grew four legs, a tail, and a pair of glowing eyes, then you’d have a pretty good idea why I was so startled at the initial sighting of these two.

The larger of the animals—Jillianne—stepped toward me. “A prince, a princess, and a paralegal walk into a kitchen. Which didn’t belong?” she said, allowing me to hear one of the famous Sphynx cat riddles firsthand for the very first time. After all, it was only very recently I’d gained the ability to talk to anyone of fur or feather other than Octo-Cat.

Jillianne flicked her tail and narrowed her eyes when I didn’t immediately answer. “Oh,” I sputtered, suddenly feeling as if I were a contestant in the final round of Jeopardy—and that I’d just bid all my money without having the slightest idea what the answer might be. “Is the answer the paralegal? Um, because I’m here by Charles’s invitation, I swear!”

I raised my hand and crossed my heart, hoping it would reassure the suspicious felines. It did not. Little Jacques arched his back and let out a dry, hacking hiss.

I took two giant steps back and put out my hands before me. “Don’t you remember me? I took care of you, when…” Probably best not to bring up their recent trauma involving the untimely murder of their first owner. “I helped solve the case and get justice for the Senator. Remember?”

“Angie?” Charles’s voice sounded from the other room followed by fast approaching footfalls. “Are you talking to J and J?” he asked when he’d made it to the kitchen. “I thought you couldn’t do that.”

Oh, crud.

I crossed my arms and scowled at him. “How is it that you are always the one to randomly discover all my secrets? Seriously, how?”

“Lucky timing?” he offered, lifting Jillianne into his arms and giving her a kiss on her forehead. And let me tell you, that cat went from threatening my life to contentedly purring within a matter of seconds.

I let out a giant, happy sigh. Well, at least I was safe now. I was also never going to let myself into Charles’s house with the spare key ever again.

“So…” Charles said, drawing the single syllable into several long beats. His green eyes bore into me, and I found myself trapped in his gaze. “You can talk to all animals now? Because this development would have come in handy when we were working the Calhoun case.”

“Shut up,” I grumbled, trying and failing to look away. Even when he was irritated with me, Charles’s expression still held so much kindness. “You still won. And yes. I can talk to other animals now. I have no idea what changed or why, and I’d prefer to keep it hush-hush for now, please.”

“Do you hear that?” he asked the black hairless cat in his arms using an adorable baby voice. “She thinks we’re going to share her secret. Yes, she does.”

It was strange how hot I found it watching Charles baby and dote on his creepy cat. Obviously, my crush was never going away, no matter how many times I accidentally walked in on him kissing his horrible girlfriend, Breanne. Regardless of his bad taste in… well, many things but especially girlfriends… Charles was the best guy I knew. Bar none.

He proved that further by coming in close and rubbing a calming hand on my shoulder. “We’re going to find Octo-Cat, and we’re going to dismiss this arbitration. Everything is going to be just fine.”

The friction from his touch gave me a little thrill that I quickly worked to stuff down. He was my friend, my boss, the most inappropriate choice possible. Not for me, at least not right now.

I let out a weary sigh. It had been such a long day already.

Charles set Jillianne back onto the floor and searched my face for a moment. “You do believe me. Don’t you?”

“Yes,” I said without hesitation. Even though I didn’t know what the future might one day hold for the two of us, I knew Charles would take care of everything going wrong in the present. I also knew that one way or another we would all be okay. Unfortunately, I didn’t know what it might cost us in the meantime.

“What’s the real pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?” the smaller spotted cat Jacques asked me from his spot on the kitchen floor. Apparently, he wasn’t as good at riddles as his companion, which is why he typically let her speak for the both of them.

Still, I couldn’t help but wonder what the answer to this one might be. Was it important? Would it somehow help me find my missing cat?

“Do you know what the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow really is?” I asked Charles as I rolled one of my hangnails beneath my thumb—a disgusting nervous habit I’d given up on trying to overcome.

He blinked at me a few times, then burst out laughing. “I don’t know. A bowl of cereal. Weird question.”

I looked back toward Jacques, but he’d retreated back into the bowels of the house. Was he just messing with me, or had he tried to share something important?