The Cat Sitter's Whiskers by Blaize Clement

Author:Blaize Clement
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466852020
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

19

The parking lot at the Sea Breeze is shaped like a racetrack, with a big oval of lush green grass in the middle, and sometimes I wonder if Tom didn’t move here for that reason alone. It’s the perfect place for Billy Elliot.

In his heyday, Billy was a champion racer, and he had a longer career than most. A lot of greyhounds his age, especially the ones with an illustrious record, have to contend with all kinds of health problems stemming from the abuse their bodies took from racing, but so far Billy is in pretty good shape. Tom gives him daily supplements to help keep his joints limber, and he needs a mild pain reliever now and then, but otherwise he’s fit as a fiddle, which is more than I can say for myself.

The order of events is basically the same every day. After Billy does his business and marks a couple of bushes for future reference, we start out at a relatively slow pace around the lot. Then, once we’re both warmed up, we increase the speed a bit. Billy’s usually the one to make that call, and I know he waits a little longer than he’d prefer for my sake.

I do my best to keep up with him, but I never last much longer than twenty minutes. If he looks like he’s still got a little gas in his tank, I’ll let him off the leash and he’ll shift into greyhound gear and race around the lot a few more laps at breakneck speed. That gives me the opportunity to stand doubled over with my hands on my hips and wheeze like a donkey.

While I did that, I thought about the picture Tom had printed out for me. It was folded up and tucked away in my back pocket, and I’d already told myself what I needed to do next: it was time to call Mr. and Mrs. Keller. All I needed was one look at those little statues on Tom’s computer screen to know what had happened to me in the Kellers’ house wasn’t a dream, nor was it the product of my overactive imagination or low blood sugar. Paco was right. Somebody had attacked me.

I still didn’t know where that statue had come from or how it wound up in the hands of my attacker, but I had a feeling Mrs. Keller might be able to shed some light on the subject.

I’d wait until I was back in her house, and since Italy is six hours ahead, it would be around midday there and a perfect time to call. I wasn’t looking forward to worrying her about it, and I really didn’t feel like getting caught up in whatever web of deceit she’d woven to appease her husband, but I knew I didn’t have a choice.

After that I’d call Detective McKenzie. I wanted to tell her the whole story—everything I’d figured out about that morning, including Paco’s theory that my bump wasn’t consistent with a fall, and I also wanted to show her the picture Tom had printed for me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.