A New Year's Cat-aclysm: Holiday Pet Sleuth Mysteries by M. Culler

Author:M. Culler [Culler, M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cozy mystery, holiday mystery, holiday romance, pet mystery, pet romance, small town mystery, office romance, cozy cats and dog romance, contemporary romance
Publisher: M. Culler
Published: 2022-12-14T16:00:00+00:00

HE PACED. SHE ROCKED. Sparkler shed all over her black dress. Outside, a loud volley of pops and bangs heralded the finale of the fireworks.

“Someone from the outside then!” Naveen rounded on her and slammed his hands on the desk.

“What?”

“Someone from the outside. Not local. Who could want you to fail? Or the shelter?”

“I just told you—” Davida hesitated. “Well... there is one person. But he’s not here. Preston Pembroke. The oldest son of the Pembroke family. He’s not local. He lives near Portland, I think. His sister Midge had this house, but she wasn’t competent to run it alone. I believe she always had some cognitive issues, but now they’ve been compounded by early onset dementia or something similar, and she really needed to be looked after. Preston pressured her to leave the place and sell it cheap, to me. He didn’t get any money off of it. The assisted living place takes a person’s assets to pay for their long-term care. It’s actually a good deal in Midge’s case. She’s much younger than most residents. I went to visit her a few times.”

Naveen stared at her, head cocked in confusion. “Does he want her to have the house back? Was he mad that she sold it?”

“He pressured her into selling it,” Davida reiterated, joining him in his pacing. “But he called me this week. He offered me fifty percent over my purchase price if I would sell it back to him. He wants to turn it into a factory. Oh, that’s how they made their money. Frozen foods.”

“Call the police! This man must be—”

Davida held up her hand. “Here. The man must be here to steal an envelope containing a ten-thousand-dollar check. He’s not. Preston Pembroke is super well-known in the area. He’s also not a hard person to miss. Discreet doesn’t describe him. If he were here, we’d know. As for calling the police, that won’t be necessary. The sheriff is already here. He’s the guy who looks like he wants to be Zorro.” Davida winced at the memory of the pot-bellied man in black, who had pointed out that the original Zorro had come out in 1920, so he was on-theme.

“So this Pembroke isn’t on the premises. What about some associate of his?”

“No one in town would help him, not any one I can think of. Certainly not anyone here tonight.”

“Okay. Well...” Naveen steepled his fingers under his chin, eyes heavenward. “There are people here you don’t know. I’m not simply speaking of the locals that you’ve not met, but there are strangers here. Strangers from out of town. Hm. If you had stolen a check, what would you want to do with it?”

“Cash it.”

“You are not helping your case.” Naveen shrugged impatiently and took off his jacket.

Davida watched him pace in his shirt sleeves and fitted vest, intelligent face a mask of concentration. “If I had stolen a check, I’d want it for the money. If I stole it to put a monkey wrench in things, to discredit the shelter and the person running it—I’d want it hidden.

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