Deadly Diamond: A Murfy the Cat Mystery Read Free Page A

like, I can take what you don’t want to keep and sell them for you,” she suggested.
    “You mean on consignment?”
    “Yes, exactly.”
    The ever-present vulnerability on Althea’s face momentarily disappeared. “What would your percentage be?”
    Alyx stammered a reply, “We don’t … as a rule … take consignments… I’d have to talk it over with Maggie. I’m sure we can agree on a small percentage.”
    Sounding more like herself then, Althea said, “All right, dear, whatever you decide will be fine with me.”
    “I have some free-time tomorrow morning. Do you want me to come over and mark the pieces you least mind parting with?”
    “Yes, all right.” Althea’s gaze traveled over us, now resting side by side under the dining room table.
    “Will you bring Murfy?”
    “Sure, they seem to get along fine.”
    Simon and I looked at each other, pleased with their decision, looking forward to some playtime.
    “And there’d no charge for the decorating advice,” Alyx added.
    “Oh, no; I can’t let you do that. I don’t want you to think I’m taking advantage of our friendship.”
    “I don’t think that, Althea. Besides, the room has good bones,” and to assess it better, she stood and looked around. “All it needs is some re-arranging. The only other suggestion I have is to remove the heavy drapery and leave the plantation shutters in place.”
    That appeared to be acceptable to Althea, so they agreed on a time for Alyx to come over the next day.
    I was pensive on the ride back to the store. Simon was about my age, and ever so worldly. His previous human had been a diplomat and Simon had accompanied him all over the world,   whereas, born only two blocks from my current residence, I’d lived in Beachside my whole life.
    Simon said there was more to our kind than I knew of or had ever imagined. He said that we were not the same, but we were the same kind because we were both cats. What did he mean? I looked forward to our next meeting to learn the secrets to which he’d alluded.
    Alyx pulled up at the rear of the store, and I focused on my job. The probable diamond thief had looked unsure of himself, nervous and scared. I figured he’d hidden the diamond in one of those little drawers in the desk and planned to return during the store’s business hours to retrieve it rather than after hours––he didn’t strike me as the breaking and entering type. I was confident that my housemates and I could take care of him. The girls had had some experience with that sort of thing already.
    After a busy hour of alertness in the store, I took time out for a nap and was running a stationary marathon when I jerked awake, perplexed by my dream, which usually involved chasing someone or something. Periodically, I dream about fighting that scruffy cat that hangs out in the yard.
    Since time isn’t something cats are necessarily aware of or care about, I didn’t know how long I’d been sleeping. I did want to know if we were going home soon, so I set off to get a sense of what was going on. Bernice was on the sales floor, Alyx was in the workroom sitting behind the desk working on something, and Maggie was at the worktable comparing fabric samples. I effortlessly jumped up on the desk and rubbed my head under Alyx’s chin.
    “Where have you been?”
    I answered with a meow, pleased when she looked at her watch.
    “I guess you’ve had enough for the day, huh?”
    I’d always taken our communication for granted; now I wondered. Was this what Simon meant when he asked how my human knew what I wanted? How was it possible that we could communicate?
    Alyx put away the rest of the things she was working on. “Murfy, go get Misty and we’ll go home.”
    I trotted off to find Misty and heard Maggie say, “He’s something else, you know. I think he understood what you said.”
    “Sometimes it makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”

“To some blind souls all cats are much alike. To a cat lover every cat from the