How to Catch a Cat by Rebecca M. Hale

Author:Rebecca M. Hale [Hale, Rebecca M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Detective, Women Sleuth
ISBN: 9780425258880
Google: wKL1oAEACAAJ
Amazon: 0425258882
Barnesnoble: 0425258882
Goodreads: 21893739
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2015-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 34

WELCOME WARRIORS

WARY OF THE hawk she’d seen earlier, the niece secured Rupert and Isabella inside a wicker stroller that her uncle Oscar had crafted for cat transport. Typically, she used it to maneuver the cats when they were changing ships or taking a shopping day in port (in addition to the cat compartment, the contraption had plenty of cargo storage).

Rupert spent most of his carriage time curled up asleep in a pile of blankets, but Isabella insisted on being able to see out so she could issue navigational instructions. This was a problem with the carriage’s initial design. The cat compartment was vented for air flow, but had no clear viewing portal.

After the first usage—when the stroller’s interior cavity was almost destroyed by Isabella’s irate protest—Oscar made the cat-suggested modifications.

The stroller now featured a visor-like view hole that encircled the cat compartment’s top rim. The gap provided just enough space for Isabella to see out. Other than the spots blocked by intermittent connecting bands of wicker, she had an almost three-hundred-sixty-degree vantage of the stroller’s surroundings.

And so, when the niece pulled out the carriage from its kitchen storage closet and unlatched the lid, Isabella hopped readily inside.

The niece scooped up Rupert and dropped him in beside his sister. Tuckered out from the morning’s parrot chase, he quickly fell into a deep slumber, even as the niece bumped the wooden wheels up the stairs to the main deck.

Father Monty slapped his hands together, as if he welcomed their addition to his walk.

“I’m so glad you decided to join me.”

The niece smiled her response, but internally, she found the priest’s actions highly suspicious.

From the stroller, Isabella issued a forward command.

“Mrao!”

—

THE UNLIKELY EXPLORERS set out from the San Carlos with Father Monty in the lead. The priest paraded down the gangplank and onto the beach, chattering like a tour guide as the niece and the cat-laden carriage followed several wary steps behind.

Trying to recover his gravitas from the earlier mishaps during the burial ceremony, Monty strode confidently across the beach. His flat-soled shoes left narrow exclamation point–shaped imprints on the sand.

“I believe I hear the song of a whipper-willowed warbling wren,” he announced, cupping a hand to his ear.

It was but the first of many dubious birdcall identifications. The niece suspected he was just making up names, but she let him continue the charade.

She was far more concerned about the non-avian creatures that might be lurking nearby.

So far, theirs were the only markings on the beach. But as the niece maneuvered the stroller around a clump of seaweed, she glanced nervously at the scrubby bushes that crowded their inland flank. Out of sight of the boat and without any defensive weapons, they were ill prepared for an ambush.

The breeze changed direction, cutting across the beach from the island’s interior, pushing away the sounds of the lapping water.

In the subsequent lull, the niece thought she heard a twig snap in the trees to her right.

Her hand gripped the stroller’s wooden handle as she stopped and scanned the dense greenery.

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