Kitty Litter Killer Read Free Page B

and that he could never get enough. Her angry persona melted. Then I heard her giggle. My mother never giggles.
    While I wanted to stare at my mother’s unusual behavior with the same freakish fascination with which a person rubbernecks at the aftermath of a car wreck, I had to find out from April what was going on with Ma and Gail, so I tore my attention from the front of the shop and put it on April. Chris slapped his chair with open palms and rocked back and forth.
    “What’s with Gail and Ma?”
    “What?” She turned dreamy, unseeing eyes toward me.
    I snapped my fingers in front of her face. “Come on, April. Snap out of it.”
    She blinked. “Oh. Sorry.”
    I leaned toward her. “If you like him so much, why don’t you go say hello?”
    “Oh, I couldn’t do that. He’s just too. . .well. . .no way.” This did not sound like the April I knew, but whatever.
    “All right. Then tell me what’s going on with Gail and Ma.”
    April tensed and finally met my eyes directly. “They’re fighting. Over Linda.”
    “Linda?”
    “Yeah. Linda Faye King. Your mom hired her part- time to help early in the mornings because Gail has to temporarily come in two hours late. Linda is also helping to cater Abbie’s wedding reception. Gail is really mad.”
    “Why?”
    April shrugged. “I don’t know. Gail won’t say. Linda always seemed nice to me, although sometimes she seems to be living in another dimension.”
    “How did Ma end up hiring her?” I asked.
    “She was here at the right time when your mother was super busy. Gail hadn’t come in yet. She has to take her granddaughter to school right now. Well, Linda’s gotten into real estate and was coming in here every morning to get coffee. She overheard your mom talking about needing some temporary help in the morning. She needs some extra cash.”
    Chris spit out his pacifier and began to cry. I gave him the sugar cookie. I’m not above bribing my kids with sweets to get them to cooperate.
    April glanced over my shoulder, and her eyes widened.
    I turned around to see what she was looking at, and lo and behold, Clark was approaching our table.
    “Hey, April.”
    She gaped up at him and said nothing, so I kicked her under the table.
    “Uh. . .” She inhaled. “Hi.”
    He smiled. The man had it. But unlike Max, Clark seemed to know the effect he had on women and used it.
    “You doin’ okay, April?” Clark stretched, showing off his biceps.
    “Uh-huh,” she grunted.
    “Well, good.” His gaze lingered on her, and he rolled back and forth on his black walking shoes.
    He had a copy of Abbie’s book in his hand. Since April was stunned into silence, I thought I’d fill the gap to give her time to recover.
    “Are you going to read that?” I asked.
    His gaze slid to me, as if seeing me for the first time, and the fingers of his empty hand drummed a spastic rhythm on his thigh. He glanced down at the book and shook his head. “No. It’s for my mom. She’s a big mystery reader, and she’s been waiting for this one.”
    “Does she live around here?” I asked.
    “Yep. I just moved her into a house outside of town. She hasn’t been well, and I’m taking care of her.”
    “Wow.” April drew out the word, making it sound as though Clark had done something supermanly heroic. “That’s so nice of you.”
    I bit my lip to keep from laughing. The man was only doing what most people normally do.
    He preened a little bit and shrugged. “Gotta watch out for family, you know.”
    “Wow,” April repeated.
    I had a sudden thought that might help April out. “You know what? Abbie Grenville, the author of that book, is my best friend. I could get a bookplate for that book personally autographed for your mother. Then I could deliver it to your house.” With April in tow.
    “Now that would be really nice,” he said. “My mother’s name is Eunice Matthews.”
    April stared at him with rapt attention. I was tempted to look more closely to see if she was