Cold Brew Catastrophe by Christine Zane Thomas

Author:Christine Zane Thomas [Thomas, Christine Zane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-06-05T16:00:00+00:00

11

By Tuesday, I was over it. I was over both mysteries—the one I wanted to solve and the one I didn’t.

But most of all, I was over owning a cat. I stood rooted to spot on the landing above the stairs after Rogue had slipped between my legs again. She skipped down the stairs, her tail high. This time there was no dachshund to chase after her. I’d left Gambit snoozing in bed.

I locked up. There wasn’t enough time to deal with her, not if I wanted to get to CrossFit on time. I had no intention of doing burpees, the buy-in for showing up late.

An hour later, I beat Felicia—not in the workout but in the trek across town. Rob’s Heavy Lifting Movers and Storage, where our CrossFit box took up a corral, sat on the northern outskirt of town, close to Strong Motors. Kapow Koffee was nearly four miles away on Main Street.

I used the two minutes and thirty seconds before Felicia’s arrival to ready her drink. The cup sat steaming on the counter. The cool A/C countered the muggy morning, fogging the windows of the store.

Felicia’s shadow skirted past the beam of her headlights before they turned off a moment later.

“The cat,” she pointed above my head, “again?”

“Yeah, I guess it’s kind of a thing now,” I said.

“You know, eventually I’m going to have to call the health inspector.”

“Perhaps I could buy you off with this mocha.” I winked.

“Don’t talk to me about buying people off,” Felicia countered. “Can you believe my father?”

I grimaced. “How are things going there?”

“He’s lucky that I don’t have anything to charge him with—yet. And I have no clue what that tape entailed. We’re finally getting a few details together about that body you found.”

“I only found the skull,” I reminded her.

“You know what I mean.”

“And I’m staying well away from it,” I promised her.

“I know, Kirby. I’m actually impressed.” She took a sip of the coffee and smiled. Her face cocked to the side. She stared at me playfully, her eyes narrowed in speculation. “You don’t even want to know who he was?”

“I don’t. I mean, I didn’t even want to know it was a he,” I said.

“Fine with me. It’s just you’re usually a bit more, uh, curious.”

“Two times,” I argued. “Since when does doing anything twice make it old hat? Why does everyone seem to think I’m the Jessica Fletcher type?”

Felicia snorted. “I was thinking more along the lines of Rick Castle. I mean, I guess they’re both writers. But now that I think about it, Castle consulted with the police. And you, well, you’ve been doing things on your own. I guess that means you are more of the Jessica Fletcher type.”

“You could put me on retainer,” I said. “It comes with free coffee.”

“I’ll have to check with the chief.”

It was nice to see Felicia like this—to see her smile. And she was joking with me like we were in high school again. But in the back of my mind, there was a small reminder telling me Avett wouldn’t approve.

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