Rags Shutters a Crime: A Klepto Cat Mystery by Patricia Fry

Author:Patricia Fry [Fry, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Matilija Press
Published: 2023-04-24T22:00:00+00:00

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“Hi there,” Iris greeted the following day as Savannah rode up to the inn on Gypsy. Iris petted Rags, then looked at Peaches. “I see you decided to ride over and you have her all saddled for me.”

“Of course,” Savannah said. “Are you ready?” Just then she caught a glimpse of a young woman skittering into the inn through the kitchen door. “Who’s that,” she asked, “a new employee? Have you added to your staff, or did you replace someone? I thought you ran a pretty tight ship here when it comes to staffing.”

“What do you mean?” Iris asked.

“I guess I worded that wrong,” Savannah said, chuckling. She handed Peaches’s lead rope to Iris. “I mean you’ve maintained a consistent staff with little or no turnover.”

“Right,” Iris said, mounting the mare. She asked, “Which way do you think we should go?”

“Where are you seeing the cats?” Savannah asked. “You said out near your building site?” she looked off into the distance and blurted, “Oh, Iris, your home is really coming along. It’s beautiful.” She led the way toward the construction site. “You said you see cats out here?”

Iris pointed. “I’d guess they’re coming from that direction, but I can’t be sure. That seems to be where I most often see cats.”

“Well, let’s start there,” Savannah suggested.

The women had ridden past the building site and into the shade of a large canopy of trees when Savannah asked again, “So do you have a new employee?” She winced. “She seems skittish.”

Iris nodded and spoke quietly, “Yes, she’s new. I wasn’t sure she would work out here, but the girl didn’t seem to have any place to go, so I hired her to keep her busy and maybe raise her confidence. She was pretty downtrodden when she arrived.” She looked back at the young woman, who had stepped out into the garden to spread vegetable and fruit peelings over the compost pile, and said, “She showed up here one night soaking wet, frightened, and kind of beat up, actually. Craig wasn’t here or he probably wouldn’t have allowed it, but I honored her wishes and took her in without asking any questions.”

“Iris!” Savannah said sternly, glancing back at the young woman. “Who is she? What’s her story?”

“Well, I decided I should know something about her, so I sat her down one evening and asked. Her name’s Priscilla Baldwin. She’s twenty-two. She got in a tussle with her stepfather and ran away with nowhere to go so, against my better judgment, I agreed to help her, and so far it’s working out just fine. She’s safe here with us, and she’s a good worker. It’s interesting, though, she came here with the curliest long blond hair—she had quite a mass of curls. The next day she cut it short and dyed it almost black, as you saw.”

“Where’d she get the hair color?” Savannah asked. “Did she bring it with her?”

“No,” Iris said. “She had nothing with her when she came. I gave Francine some money to get her a couple of outfits and whatever else she needed.

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