A Curse, a Coven and a Canine: A Paranormal Animal Cozy Mystery (Spellbound Hound Magic and Mystery Book 2) by Jeannie Wycherley

Author:Jeannie Wycherley [Wycherley, Jeannie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bark at the Moon Books
Published: 2020-01-25T16:00:00+00:00

Twenty-five minutes later Clarissa, hotter and sweatier than ever, returned with a bag of shopping. She’d hiked up the steep hill back into town and located a mini supermarket. Inside she’d purchased a number of sandwiches, a carton of milk, a few bottles of water and three tins of tuna.

She puffed along the path towards Scavenger Cottage. “I come bearing gifts,” she said when she spotted Toby. He lay half-in and half-out of the shadow of the house. The cat maintained her previous defensive position, blocking entrance through the door.

“At last.” Toby scrambled to his feet. “We were about to die of starvation.”

“Hush you.” Clarissa’s eyebrows drew together as she regarded the cat. Toby certainly wasn’t in any danger of going hungry. The cat was a different story. She emptied the bag and showed them the sandwiches. Peeling back the cellophane wrapper from one, she broke a chunk off for Toby and handed it to him. He devoured it instantly.

Clarissa broke off a smaller piece for the cat and held it out.

The cat remained where she was. She didn’t move so much as a whisker. That had to take some willpower.

Clarissa gently threw the chunk of sandwich towards the cat. It landed between the cat’s front paws. She glanced down at it, then sniffed it. Tentatively, she stuck out her tongue and licked at one edge. She seemed to like the tuna, and the spread inside, but not the bread.

Clarissa held up a can of tuna. “I don’t have a tin opener, but I bet you have one in the kitchen? If you let us in I can fill your bowl for you.”

The cat turned her green eyes on Toby once more. “Is this some kind of trick?”

“Not at all,” Toby reassured her, wagging his tail. “Clarissa is a good hooman. She likes to feed everyone.”

The cat glared up at Clarissa for a long moment, studying her face, considering her intentions. Toby imagined that, given the haughty set of her head, she would continue to rebuff them, but suddenly, without warning, her defences seemed to crumble. In their place he saw only a tired, old cat, down on her luck and desperate for food.

She pushed herself upright, her back legs stiff with age, and ambled away from the door, giving Toby and Clarissa access.

They followed her into the kitchen, slowly and respectfully, mindful of what it had taken for her to back down and allow them access.

Clarissa turned about, taking in her surroundings. This would once have been the hub of the house. A large kitchen table, solid and worn with age, still graced the centre of the room. Hand-carved wooden cabinets had been fitted around the walls, but now the doors were hanging off or completely missing and the contents had been ransacked. Drawers had been pulled open and their contents discarded all over the floor. Clarissa couldn’t walk far without kicking something.

“What happened here?” asked Clarissa. “It looks like the house was hit by an earthquake.”

The cat jumped up to the kitchen table and settled herself down in what must have been her customary spot.

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