by Paige Sleuth
The brunette nodded at the Persian mix in Kat’s lap. “That’s Mr. Magoo you’re holding. You know who that is, don’t you?”
“He’s a cartoon character, right?”
“Yup. Has a face just like his namesake there.”
Kat scrutinized the contented feline hunkered in her lap. She wasn’t familiar enough with the real Mr. Magoo to know how accurate the comparison was, but she would take the woman’s word for it.
The brunette sat down next to Kat. “I’m April.”
“Kat Harper.”
“So Kat, what do you do for work?”
“I’m a programmer analyst at DataRightly. We provide software solutions for . . .” Kat trailed off when she noticed April’s eyes glazing over. Clearing her throat, she said, “What about you? What do you do for a living?”
“My current gig is garden center associate, but I’m getting bored with it. It’s time to look for something new.”
Kat nodded, April’s reasons for inquiring about her line of work becoming clearer. Apparently she had been hoping Kat’s profession might spark some job ideas for herself.
April scanned the room. “Who’re you with?”
“Andrew Milhone.”
April’s eyebrows shot up her forehead. Kat fingered a lock of her brown hair, feeling unexpectedly self-conscious. Did she not seem like a good match for Andrew? She knew she shouldn’t care what anyone else thought of her romantic relationships, but she couldn’t help herself. These were Andrew’s friends. She wanted to make a good impression.
“Andrew’s the police detective, right?” When Kat nodded, April asked, “How long have you two been together?”
“A year now.”
“Wow.” April bent forward, making not too subtle a show of checking out Kat’s ring finger. “But I guess things aren’t too serious with you two, huh?”
Kat bristled. “We’re quite serious, actually.”
April shrugged. She didn’t look convinced.
Kat was tempted to storm off and find someone else to make small talk with, but she hated to disturb Mr. Magoo. With his body so limp his torso resembled silly putty and his two front paws lazily kneading Kat’s leg, he looked to be in kitty heaven.
“I’m with Simon, who’s around here somewhere.” April gave the room a cursory visual sweep before refacing Kat. “We’ve been with each other for eighty-four days now.”
“Eighty-four days?”
April nodded. “We’ve been living together thirty-four of those days, and I expect him to propose before the end of the summer. He’s been dropping hints about rings anyway. It’s a good thing too, because I’m not about to waste my time with another go-nowhere relationship. I’m too old for that.”
Kat couldn’t recall a single conversation in the past year where she and Andrew had discussed moving in together, let alone getting married. That fact had never bothered her before, but now she couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps she should be bothered.
Had her experience growing up in foster care condemned her to a slower relationship timeline than most women? She didn’t trust easily, and, while she loved Andrew, she also enjoyed having her own space. They had never discussed it, but she had always assumed Andrew was happy with the pace of their relationship too. Then again, he had also spent much of his childhood within the foster care system. Perhaps they were both doomed to remain in relationship limbo, too scared to pursue something more.
Before Kat could dwell on the topic, a dark-haired, dark-eyed man ambled up to them. “Hey, April.” He nodded at Kat. “Heya. You must be Andrew’s girl.”
“Yes. Kat.”
“Jean-Luc Mercier,” the man said.
“How is the insurance sales business?” April asked Jean-Luc.
“Great.” He grinned. “For the first time ever I’m on track to outsell Dante. Quarterly bonus, here I come.”
April flipped her hair behind her shoulder. “I ought to try a career in sales. Is Jelkie Insurance hiring?”
“Not right now, but I’ll let you know if I hear of any open positions.”
“Thanks.” April flapped her hand at the glass of green liquid in Jean-Luc’s hand. “What in the world is that? It looks like slime.”
“Kale smoothie. You want this one? I haven’t touched it yet.”
“Yuck. I’ll wait for the food, thank you very much.”
Jean-Luc used his thumb to rub at a dark smudge staining the outside of the glass. When he didn’t do much more than smear it around, he gave up. “Suit yourself,” he said to April. “Dante said everything should be ready in about fifteen minutes.”
“Fifteen minutes?” April slumped against the back of the sofa. “Ugh. I’m starved.”
Jean-Luc’s lip twitched as if he were stifling a laugh. “I’m sure you’ll live.”
Mr. Magoo crawled from Kat’s lap to April’s as though to comfort April over her plight. Kat doubted any other living creature in the house could commiserate more with the struggle of not having enough sustenance in his belly. In her experience, most felines were convinced they were one meal away from starvation, regardless of how much food they had in their bowls or when they had last eaten.
A man who looked somewhat similar to Jean-Luc strutted up to them. “Hey, cousin,” he said, clapping Jean-Luc on the back. He leered at April. “Are you going to introduce me to your gorgeous friend?”
Jean-Luc groaned. “This is my cousin, Bernard. Bernard, this is April, Simon’s girlfriend.”
Bernard ignored Jean-Luc’s heavy emphasis on the word girlfriend. He gazed at April with adoration shining in his brown eyes. “You, my dear, are absolute perfection. You are like a peach ripe from the sun, an angel sent from the heavens above, the very definition of exquisite beauty. Why, I bet if I opened up the dictionary right now, I would see your picture next to the word luscious.”
April pressed her back into the sofa, her lips drawing into a thin line. Mr. Magoo kept his face trained in Bernard’s direction, his scrunched-up countenance making it appear as though he found the newcomer truly loathsome.
“You’ll have to excuse Bernard,” Jean-Luc said. “He’s visiting this week from Boise, and apparently he thinks his tourist status gives him license to act like a jerk.”
“The ladies in Idaho, they are not nearly as lovely as the ones here in Washington State,” Bernard said with a wink at April.
Jean-Luc eyed Bernard down the bridge of his nose. “Give it a rest, will you? All of the women present this evening are taken.”
Bernard waggled one forefinger back and forth. “I do not see a ring on her finger.”
Kat slipped her hands underneath her thighs before Bernard had a chance to notice her own bare ring finger. Not that he was paying her any attention. He seemed to be transfixed by April.
Jean-Luc gave April an apologetic smile. “I’m afraid except for some walking tours, this is my cousin’s first time outside of my apartment since he arrived in Cherry Hills. He’s obviously rusty on how to interact with strangers.”
Bernard beamed at April. “You could be my practice case, yes?”
“I don’t think so,” April said, frost dripping from her tone. Her gaze alighted on something across the room, and she began frantically waving her arms. “Simon!”
“Simon!” Jean-Luc echoed. He narrowed his eyes at Bernard. “That would be April’s boyfriend.”
Bernard lifted one shoulder in a lackadaisical shrug. “Boyfriends, they come and go.”
“Here.” Jean-Luc shoved the glass of green liquid at his cousin. “Drink this and cool off.”
Bernard looked wary, but he did accept Jean-Luc’s offering. His eyes lit up with surprise as soon as he took a tentative sip. “It’s good.”
A hacking cough erupted from Mr. Magoo. Kat didn’t know if the feline had a hairball stuck in his throat, or if he were imagining something as disgusting as a kale smoothie touching his own delicate lips.
Simon caught up to them. With brown hair long enough to cove
r his ears, an olive complexion that brought out his green eyes, and a cleft chin that gave him a somewhat rugged look, the thirty-something was quite attractive.
What wasn’t attractive was the short-sleeved shirt he had on. With a mishmash of yellows, reds, blues, greens, and purples all arranged in an intricate swirling pattern, it was the busiest, most obnoxious item of clothing Kat had ever laid eyes on. It made her dizzy just looking at it.
“Look what I got you, babe.” He handed April a frosty pink drink.
“It looks fab,” April said.
“It’s a strawberry shake. Phoebe tried to get me to throw in some kale, but luckily Dante was there to talk some sense into her. Poor guy had to scrub out the blender just to get rid of the kale residue from the last drink. Why Phoebe likes the stuff so much, I have no clue.”
Mr. Magoo seemed to have recovered from his hacking fit. Now he was inching his nose toward April’s smoothie, his little pink tongue poking between his teeth. When April moved the beverage out of his reach, he took a swipe at it, missing by about a foot. He made sure everyone was aware of his frustration with a long, drawn-out meow of discontent.
April stroked Mr. Magoo’s head. “There now, kitty. You wouldn’t like this. Maybe I can sneak you some hamburger under the table later.”
Mr. Magoo settled more comfortably in April’s lap, clearly mollified by the prospect of being smuggled human food this evening.
Andrew strolled through the sliding glass door. “Dinner’s about ready,” he announced, lifting a beer bottle up in toast.
“Finally!” April said. “I was about to drop dead from hunger.”
Kat wrapped her arms around her torso. She knew April hadn’t meant anything morbid by her statement, but that didn’t prevent a cold shiver from traveling down her spine and the vague feeling of impending doom that had lodged in her chest.
* * *
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Books in the Cozy Cat Caper Mystery series:
Book 1: Murder in Cherry Hills
Book 2: Framed in Cherry Hills
Book 3: Poisoned in Cherry Hills
Book 4: Vanished in Cherry Hills
Book 5: Shot in Cherry Hills
Book 6: Strangled in Cherry Hills
Book 7: Halloween in Cherry Hills
Book 8: Stabbed in Cherry Hills
Book 9: Thanksgiving in Cherry Hills
Book 10: Frozen in Cherry Hills
Book 11: Hit & Run in Cherry Hills
Book 12: Christmas in Cherry Hills
Book 13: Choked in Cherry Hills
Book 14: Dropped Dead in Cherry Hills
Book 15: Valentine’s in Cherry Hills
Book 16: Drowned in Cherry Hills
Book 17: Orphaned in Cherry Hills
Book 18: Fatal Fête in Cherry Hills
Book 19: Arson in Cherry Hills
Book 20: Overdosed in Cherry Hills
Book 21: Trapped in Cherry Hills
Book 22: Missing in Cherry Hills
Book 23: Crash in Cherry Hills
Book 24: Independence Day in Cherry Hills
Book 25: Checked Out in Cherry Hills
Book 26: Blackmail in Cherry Hills
Book 27: Last Supper in Cherry Hills
Books in the Psychic Poker Pro Mystery series:
Book 1: Murder in the Cards
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paige Sleuth is a pseudonym for mystery author Marla Bradeen. She plots murder during the day and fights for mattress space with her two rescue cats at night. When not attending to her cats’ demands, she writes. She loves to hear from readers, and welcomes emails at [email protected].