Murder in Cherry Hills (A Cozy Cat Caper Mystery Book 1) Read Free Page B

used to save up all our change so we could sneak over to Jessie’s and order the biggest milkshakes they offered?”
    Kat laughed. “And Mr. and Mrs. Polanski were so nice they always gave them to us on the house.”
    Andrew grinned. “There are a lot of nice people in this town.”
    Kat stared at him, letting the old memories wash over her. He was right, there were a lot of nice people in Cherry Hills. She had forgotten that. She had spent so much of her childhood resenting the place where she was bounced from home to home like a ping-pong ball that she’d overlooked a lot of the town’s positives. Returning to her hometown as an adult, she could better appreciate the old-fashioned hospitality that ran rampant throughout the area.
    Andrew pushed his hair off his forehead. “Unfortunately, now we know there’s at least one person in town who isn’t so neighborly.”
    Kat’s spirits deflated as she remembered the real reason why Andrew was here. “I just can’t figure out who would have wanted to kill Mrs. Tinsdale,” she mused aloud. “Why harm such a pleasant old woman?”
    “That’s the million-dollar question.” Andrew tapped his pen against the notebook. “Did Mrs. Tinsdale talk to you about any recent arguments she’d had? Maybe she said something about a spat with one of the other 4F volunteers?”
    Kat splayed her fingers. “She never mentioned anything like that. But we didn’t talk all that often either.”
    Andrew pursed his lips, appearing deep in thought.
    Kat crossed her legs, feeling inadequate over her inability to offer him more insight into her elderly neighbor’s life. She leaned her head against the sofa and tried to remember what else she knew about Mrs. Tinsdale’s activities. But other than 4F and her weekly trips to the grocery store, Mrs. Tinsdale didn’t strike Kat as all that social. She glanced at Matty. That probably explained why she had adopted a cat.
    Kat sat up straight, her heart lurching when she caught sight of the wall clock. “Oh, fiddlesticks! I’m late for work.”
    Andrew looked over at her. “Fiddlesticks?”
    Kat smacked her palm against her forehead. “It was something Mrs. Tinsdale used to say. I guess I picked it up from her.”
    One corner of Andrew’s mouth twitched. “Mrs. Tinsdale was eighty-four years old.”
    Kat jumped off the sofa to mask her embarrassment over the exclamation. “I really do have to get ready, so, if you don’t mind, you can see yourself out.”
    “Can I get your number first?” he asked. “You know, in case I have more questions.”
    “Sure.” Kat rattled off her cell phone number.
    “Thanks.” Andrew flipped his notebook shut and tucked it and his pen back into his shirt pocket. “You have my card. Call me if you think of anything else that might help our case.”
    “I will.”
    Andrew stared at her for what felt like a fraction too long. “I’ll see you around then.” He grinned, those dimples of his cutting into his cheeks. “Welcome back to Cherry Hills.”
    “It’s good to be back,” she said.
    And, for the first time since she’d set foot in town again, she realized it was.

CHAPTER FOUR
    Jessie’s Diner was a Cherry Hills fixture. Ever since Kat was a child, she remembered gazing wistfully through the glass windows from the outside of the building, wishing she belonged to one of the nuclear families dining inside.
    Jessie Polanski had been fairly young herself when Kat was growing up. Jessie’s parents had named their restaurant after their one and only daughter back when they’d first opened, a tribute that made Kat’s heart ache with envy whenever she stopped to consider it. Now that Jessie was forty and managing the place, the diner had only become more popular. Jessie was an energetic woman who didn’t mind working as hard as her employees. She still maintained her parents’ legacy of treating each of her customers as if the business would collapse without their patronage.
    “Sorry I’m