The Whole Cat and Caboodle: Second Chance Cat Mystery by Ryan Sofie

Author:Ryan, Sofie [Ryan, Sofie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Both of my hands landed on Nick’s broad chest. “Are you okay?” he asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.

“I’m fine,” I said. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” I realized I still had my hands on his chest. I dropped them and took a step backward, almost tripping over a crack in the sidewalk. I reached out, just out of reflex, grabbing his arm.

“I’ve got you,” Nick said, tightening his grip on my shoulder.

I caught my balance, giving him a sheepish smile. I let go of his arm, but I couldn’t help noticing the bulge of muscle under the sleeve of his jacket.

“Thinking deep thoughts?” Nick asked, dropping his hand from my shoulder.

“Only if you consider daydreaming about a bowl of Sam’s chili to be thinking deep thoughts,” I said, brushing a stray strand of hair off my cheek.

He frowned. “So, you haven’t had supper yet?”

I shook my head. “I went for a run. You know, something that you couldn’t do because you were so busy.”

“Oh yes, I was busy,” he said solemnly. “Very, very busy.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. He reminded me of a teenage Nick.

“I haven’t eaten, either,” he said with an easy smile. “Have supper with me. We said we were going to have dinner and catch up. I’m assuming you weren’t going to just eat and run.” He waggled his eyebrows at me when he said run.

“You are so, so not funny,” I said shaking my head. “So, I’m going to take pity on you and have supper with you.”

We fell into step and walked maybe ten feet before I stopped. Nick got a couple of steps ahead of me before he noticed I wasn’t beside him.

He turned to look at me. “Sarah, is something wrong?”

“I couldn’t talk them out of it.”

It took a second for what I meant to register. He looked skyward for a second, shaking his head. Then he looked at me. “What happened to your powers of persuasion?”

“Rose’s logic,” I said.

“Which is?”

I stuffed my hands in my pockets and shifted from one foot to the other. “That their combined life experience makes them better at investigating Arthur Fenety’s murder than anyone else.”

Nick put both hands behind his head, lacing his fingers together. “They’ve lost their minds,” he said. “All three of them—my mother, Rose and even Liz. They have some kind of age-related cognitive impairment.”

“No, they don’t,” I said. “They’re trying to help a friend. They haven’t gone senile.”

“My mother and her friends seem to think they’re some kind of geriatric version of Nancy Drew.” He exhaled loudly. “How exactly is their life experience going to help them investigate a murder? That’s a job for the police.”

I didn’t like the way he was selling his mother and Rose and Liz short. “Of course,” I said. “Because the police have done such a good job so far.” I tried to keep my voice even and nonjudgmental, but a little snark still snuck in.

His mouth moved as though he were trying out the feel of what he wanted to say before he said it.

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