Downton Tabby Read Free Page A

I realized the music had stopped.
    “Jake just rang me and I’ve got to pop by the house for a few minutes. Twenty to thirty minutes tops.”
    “Sure.” I took Toria from him. I had at least another thirty minutes of file updating work to do.
    “Be back in a jiffy,” Cash called over his shoulder.
    I’d put Toria on the chair beside me, but the alleged mean-girl tabby jumped up and parked herself on my desk. I gave her a cat toy to play with from the stash I kept in the office, but she was much more interested in sitting on my paperwork and nudging my hand as I tried to work on the computer.
    After a bit more work and a lot more cat dodging, I glanced at my watch. I wasn’t sure what time it had been when Cash left, but he’d certainly been gone much longer than the twenty to thirty minutes he’d indicated. I would need to get going soon.
    I checked my contacts list for a phone number and located Cash’s cell.
    The call went directly to voice mail.
    I’d planned to stop at home to let Dogbert out for a break. Then I had a house call at eleven o’clock with Betty Foxx, who worked for my cousin, Melinda, at her high-end pet shop, the Bow WowBoutique. I’d been surprised to hear from Betty because my cousin and I were currently on the outs. That’s Texan for we aren’t speaking to each other.
    Like most family disputes it had started over something small—in our case a family brooch. It wasn’t that the heirloom piece of jewelry was so valuable, though it was a twenty-two-carat gold basket filled with precious stones. Precious stones shaped like different types of fruit. The brooch was, shall we say, a unique piece of jewelry. The main thing, though, was that our Grandma Tillie had left the brooch to her favorite granddaughter. I knew she meant it to go to me. Mel was just as convinced it was intended for her.
    Like I said, you’d think we could work it out, but that ship had long since sailed. Words had been exchanged, not very nice ones, and here we were. The brooch was currently locked up tighter than tight in a safe at my house, but I was sure Mel was trying to figure out how to get it back.
    Anyway, needless to say, I had been shocked when Betty phoned and said Melinda had recommended she call me about a problem she was having with her dog. I’d known Betty Foxx from the self-defense class Diana and I had taken, but she’d never mentioned having a dog.
    I put the address Betty had given me into my cell phone so I had it for directions and then tried Cash’s cell number again. Nothing. Shoot. I needed to get a move on if I was going to make the appointment on time.
    I decided I could swing by the house where Cash and Jake lived and drop off Toria. Though brilliant, the two of them were sometimes a little flaky. Just last week the cleaning crew had called because Jake had left his keys in the outer door.
    I called Cash’s number again and this time left a message letting him know I would drop off Toria at their home. I checked the guys’ office for a cat carrier. The computer was still on and I thought about shutting it down, but I hesitated because maybe Cash had intended to leave it on. There was a multi-colored freehand drawing on the back of the screen. It looked like an alien. Sort of a combination of ET’s older brother and Munch’s eerie painting, “The Scream.” Verdi had often complained that she felt creeped out by it when they left their office door open because it was drawn in such a way that it looked like the alien’s eyes followed you. The two guys had been amused by her comments.
    Now where would they keep a cat carrier?
    Found it. The carrier was tucked behind the door. I coaxed Toria into it and then stepped into the reception area, pulled their office door shut, and then closed my own.
    Suzanne, the psychic who was one of our officemates, was just arriving. Our Suzanne doesn’t look like what you might think of as the stereotypical mind reader. No crystal ball, no long gypsy