Blackmail and Kitty Tails (A Purr-fect Relic Cozy Mystery Book 5) by DeAnna Drake

Author:DeAnna Drake [Drake, DeAnna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, romance
ISBN: 9781966593454
Publisher: Tule Publishing
Published: 2025-05-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Dead End

“You smell like fish.”

Aneksi jumped to the desktop, where I was using the computer to look up the phone number for the prison where Deborah’s husband was serving his time.

“Did you bring some for me?” She narrowed those small blue eyes on me, daring me to hold out on her.

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t bring any for you. I don’t think you would have liked it, anyway.” That probably wasn’t true. She might have loved the kipper, but I didn’t know how she’d fare with those tiny bones, and all that salt couldn’t be good for her.

Her response was to sit beside the computer monitor and look at me, then at the afternoon tea to-go box, then back at me. Her meaning couldn’t be clearer.

“You had breakfast. Are you hungry already?”

“Yes,” she said flatly.

I wouldn’t be able to get anything done with her staring at me, so I grabbed the box and searched inside for something to satisfy her. The blueberry skewered to a mini berry tart looked promising. I also pulled the sliced turkey from one of the tea sandwiches and presented both to her on a napkin Vee had included in the box.

“What is it?” She sniffed the berry, then the turkey.

When I told her, she licked the turkey, then gulped it down. The blueberry was gone almost as fast. She glanced up. “More, please.”

“More?”

“I am still hungry.”

I poked through the box for anything else that might be cat friendly. Were cucumber slices okay? I did a quick computer search and decided they were. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were going through a growth spurt.” I laid three green slices on the napkin in front of her. “But that’s not how it works for you, is it?”

Her size hadn’t changed since I’d found her months ago. While I didn’t have a lot of experience with cats, I knew an ordinary kitten would have grown by now.

Her tiny eyebrows furrowed. “How what works?”

“Your size. You don’t seem to grow like other cats. I mean, you can turn into a tiger in a second, but then you go back to being a kitten again.”

She sat and curled her tail around her paws. “I can change, if I wish, but I prefer this size. It suits me.”

As I’d suspected, it was a choice. Just like her prim British accent. I scratched the top of her head, which made her eyes close. “Do you mind if I get back to work now?”

“I do not mind.” She yawned and strutted toward the door. Given that it was her usual time to curl up in the shop’s display window, it made sense.

After I tossed the napkin she’d used as a plate and pulled out the scone, clotted cream, and strawberry jam for myself, I returned to my internet search.

Unlike Charles, I didn’t think Deborah’s husband could have been the one to kill her. But that opinion was based on him being locked up, which was an assumption I shouldn’t take for granted.

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