The Company of Cats by Marian Babson

Author:Marian Babson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2019-10-07T16:00:00+00:00

11

Annabel awoke in the morning to discover two pairs of small eyes blinking at her fondly, two soft furry bodies pressed against her own, one on either side.

“Good morning, little chums,” she said, then felt slightly foolish, but only for a moment.

Sally stretched out her neck to plant a delicate kiss on Annabel’s cheek. Salvatore extended a protective possessive foreleg to lie across her ribcage. The sound of gentle purring intensified. Good morning? It was a splendid morning.

Annabel felt ridiculously happy; in another minute, she would begin purring herself. Wouldn’t it be nice to spend the morning lying here contentedly, playing with the cats and not worrying about anything else in the world?

The world! Suddenly, it all rushed back to her. Her little chums had been illicitly acquired, her employer had most probably been murdered, her principal outlet for gossip tips was pushing for more information than she was willing, or able, to supply, and her financial situation—

Annabel sat up abruptly, tumbling the cats away from her and threw back the covers. The purrs changed to a duet of protest.

“Sorry about that,” Annabel apologized, feet sliding into her slippers. “Who’s for breakfast?”

The word was recognized and instant forgiveness ensued, with furry bodies twining around her ankles as she drew back the curtains and sunshine flooded into the bedroom. An omen for a good day, she hoped.

She led the parade into the kitchen, where generous dollops of last night’s leftovers sent the cats into a state of bliss.

She smiled down at them. There was a pet shop nearby, she must make a small detour on her way to or from Regent’s Park and pick up a little treat for them. Perhaps a catnip mouse …

The telephone interrupted her pleasant train of thought.

“What are you doing there?” The voice ringing down the line was loud, indignant, haranguing—unmistakably the Broomstick’s: “You ought to be here! Controlling your workers! They’re tearing the place apart. They’ve only been here ten minutes and they’ve already broken a window. You should be sued!”

“Workers—?” But the Broomstick had slammed down the telephone. Belatedly, Annabel remembered that Kelda had said something about new helpers starting work today. She stabbed out Kelda’s telephone number, but there was no answer.

A deep foreboding settled over her. She returned to the kitchen only long enough to refill her flask with the martini mixture from the pitcher in the fridge. If the day continued the way it was going, they would be needed. So much for hopeful omens.

Kelda and the Broomstick were both waiting to intercept Annabel as she stepped out of the lift. Mark must have notified them of her arrival downstairs.

“I insist that you get rid of these people immediately!” Dora Stringer confronted her head-on. Behind Dora’s back, Kelda was making frantic signals that Annabel could not interpret.

From farther down the hallway, a great pounding and banging was going on. Far too much noise when the main job to be done was to hang some wallpaper.

“I locked them in the antechamber,” Dora Stringer pronounced righteously.

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