Pumpkin Spice Scare: A Small Town Cupcake Cozy Mystery (Cupcake Crimes Series Book 4) by Molly Maple

Author:Molly Maple [Maple, Molly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mary E. Twomey, LLC
Published: 2021-05-01T22:00:00+00:00

14

Yardwork and Cat Hunt

Though we have Logan with us, the worry that we are breaking and entering haunts me more than it should. I’m not even inside of Judy’s house. Logan has his uniform and badge, which is all the permission we need. He lets himself inside to search for the cat while Marianne and I scour the property around her home.

“Here, Whiskers!” Marianne coos in a high-pitched voice. “Here, baby!” She thinks of everything, including bringing along a tin of wet cat food to coerce Whiskers out of her hiding place. “Here, kitty-kitty!”

I never had a pet growing up, which is just as well. I’m better with pets like fish, who require little more than being fed once a day, along with the occasional change of water. Though, if I was being honest, cuddling up to a cat in the evening is a nice visual.

“Whiskers!” I call gently, trying to keep my voice as singsong as Marianne’s. She is a natural with anything that requires gentility or kindness.

There are two tall trees on Judy’s property. The one in the front yard has a trunk so thick, I can’t wrap my arms around it. It stretches skyward, its leaves a pretty golden red.

Though it’s hardly Judy’s fault that the yard hasn’t been raked, it is clear to me that the state of disrepair her yard fell into happened long before her passing. Thick branches have taken up residence on the lawn, which is now littered with fallen leaves. The grass is overgrown, which is to be expected, but there are divots in the grass which make me think Judy had a mole or groundhog that decided to take over her landscaping duties.

The ranch-style home is small but cute. It is in need of a little care, especially when I see that the red of the brick is marred on the side of the house by a green fungus that’s grown up the side.

Poor thing, I think to myself. She must have been completely overwhelmed. A house is a lot of work, especially when you are tight on cash and can’t afford to update every now and then. I never checked on her. We rarely had more than a “Can you believe Bill today? My goodness, what a grump,” sort of an exchange. I didn’t sit down with her, though I had the chance. I was so busy trying to find a way to get out of that place that I forgot to look at the people around me.

I move to the one-car garage and take out a rake.

“What are you doing, Charlotte?” Marianne asks with the tin of cat food still in her hand.

“I didn’t know her,” I admit as if confessing to a horrid crime. “Look at this place. Judy needed help, and I had no idea.” I take the rake to the corner of the yard and start sweeping the leaves into a pile. “Had I taken ten minutes to get to know her, maybe she wouldn’t be…” My voice catches, but I refuse to feel sad for more than a second.

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