Donally, Claire - Cat Nap (A SUNNY & SHADOW MYSTERY)

More praise for

The Big Kitty

“In this debut, Sunny Coolidge, with the able assistance of a ‘big kitty’ named Shadow, proves she has the skills to make a successful amateur sleuth. Cozy mystery lovers will adore Shadow and pine for many more adventures for him and Sunny.”

—Miranda James, New York Times bestselling author of the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries

“Applause for paws—Sunny and Shadow take Best in Show!”

—Susan Wittig Albert, author of Widow’s Tears

“Deftly combines heartwarming humor and nail-biting suspense for a fun read that leaves you looking forward to Sunny and Shadow’s next adventure.”

—Ali Brandon, author of A Novel Way to Die, a Black Cat Bookshop Mystery

“A purrfect debut. Four paws up and a tip of the tail.”

—Carolyn Hart, author of Death Comes Silently

“A charming, witty, exciting new entry in the genre, featuring the best realized and most personable fictional character on four legs. You’ll love Shadow. And Sunny’s fun, too.”

—Parnell Hall, author of The KenKen Killings

“A fun amateur-sleuth tale . . . [A] whimsical spin to the lighthearted whodunit.”

— The Mystery Gazette

“With a deft hand at plotting, an appealing small-town setting, and a determined protagonist, Donally has created a series opener that aficionados of whodunits and felines will find rubs them exactly the right way.”

— The Richmond Times-Dispatch

“[Sunny and Shadow are] a cute twosome . . . I am looking forward to the next in the series!”

— Book Dilettante

“Interesting and engaging . . . [An] enjoyable novel.”

— Genre Go Round Reviews

Berkley Prime Crime titles by Claire Donally

THE BIG KITTY

CAT NAP

Cat Nap

Claire Donally

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

USA / Canada / UK / Ireland / Australia / New Zealand / India / South Africa / China

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

For more information about the Penguin Group, visit penguin.com.

CAT NAP

A Berkley Prime Crime Book / published by arrangement with Tekno Books

Copyright © 2013 by Tekno Books.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Berkley Prime Crime Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group.

BERKLEY ®PRIME CRIME and the PRIME CRIME logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,

a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

ISBN: 978-1-101-62230-8

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Berkley Prime Crime mass-market edition / May 2013

Cover illustration by Mary Ann Lasher.

Cover design by George Long.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

To Mom,

who always likes to be remembered.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Larry Segriff of Tekno Books and Shannon Jamieson Vazquez of Berkley Prime Crime, who have so ably shepherded this project along.

And many more thanks to Beth, the wife of the late Dr. Pergola (a very dear high-school friend), for sharing her knowledge of pets . . . and vets.

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

1

The winter morningair was clean and clear as glass—and sharp enough to cut like glass, too. But he didn’t mind the cold. After all, he was rested, invigorated . . . and he had a good coat.

He inhaled deeply, closing his eyes against the dawn sunlight. It had been so wonderful this morning, waking up and finding himself lying in bed with Sunny, enjoying the shared body warmth, the closeness, the intoxicating smell of her. And when she’d sighed sleepily and put her arms around him . . . oh, yes, that had been wonderful.

Now he felt badly about the way he’d treated her after they’d gotten up. He’d quietly followed her down the stairs while she blearily bumbled her way to the kitchen to start breakfast. She’d opened the back door and stood there for a moment, sucking in her breath and then retreating with a sneeze when the chilly weather outside invaded the room with a blast of air that seemed to penetrate to every corner.

He’d taken his opportunity while she was distracted, darting out before the door shut. Maybe he should have let her know he was going, but that just seemed like more trouble than he wanted to deal with. What was wrong with going outside for a few moments to enjoy the freshly fallen snow? All his life, he’d found it was better to beg forgiveness than to ask for permission.

He hadn’t planned on getting distracted, following a set of squirrel tracks across a neighbor’s lawn. When he realized how far he’d gone—and how much time he’d taken—he’d sprinted across several driveways to get back to Sunny’s house. But by the time he got there, her big car was gone. That was bad. He had a good thing going here, and now his own thoughtlessness was going to leave him out in the cold. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Worse still, his foot was beginning to throb with pain. He hadn’t paid attention while he was racing back to Sunny. Several times he’d skidded on ice or slush. That hadn’t been good. Maybe he’d injured himself on something unpleasant on one of those driveways he’d dashed across.

His pride hurt as much as his foot as he limped, step by unwilling step, around to the back door of the little white house. It wouldn’t be easy, talking his way back inside. But he’d have to do it. Maybe it was the pain, or moving slowly after his brisk run, but all of a sudden, it felt much colder out here. He took a deep breath and then let it out in the most plaintive tone he could manage: “ MMMMmmmrrrowwwww!!!!! ”

*

Sunny Coolidge leanedback from her computer keyboard with a grin of triumph, pulling loose the pencil she’d used to hold her wild curls in a topknot and out of her face. The hairstyle probably wasn’t pretty, but it had been effective—sort of like the job she’d spent the entire day tangling with. Except for the occasional e-mail or phone call, she had devoted all her time today to updating the Internet website for the Maine Adventure X-perience, MAX for short.

It never failed. Whenever she upgraded the system, the components never worked together properly. She had to strip things down to the barest basics and then build the system back up again, finding and resolving whatever conflicts had been introduced via new versions of software. Sometimes that process could take days. But after putting it off all week, today she’d managed to score a personal best in wrestling with recalcitrant computer code.