The Extortion Cat-astrophe: A Beatrice Young Cozy Cat Mystery (Beatrice Young Cozy Cat Mysteries Book 2) Read Free

Sweaty, paranoid, panicked. I’ve never seen him like that. Usually he’s the sweetest, most laid-back man I know. Do you know what’s going on?”
    He shook his head. “No idea. He hasn’t said anything to me.”
    “I’m a little worried about him,” she said, taking a sip of her latte. “He suggested that someone has been taking advantage of him financially. Nate’s such a nice guy. Maybe too nice. Even if something was wrong I don’t see him complaining about it.”
    Matthew took a bite of a cake batter truffle and moaned theatrically. “Ohhhh. This should be illegal.”
    “Focus!”
    “Sorry. Listen, I saw Nate just last weekend for a drink at Johnny’s Place. We talked about our kids, watched a football game on TV. He looked fine to me. But if you say something’s out of the ordinary Bee, I believe you. Heavens knows you have a nose for these things.”
    “That and they tend to fall into my lap.” Beatrice took a bite from Matthew’s truffle. “Hell and hay fever, this is good!” She groaned. “I am such a goner for the Fall Fair. Please, shoot me with a pastry gun now.”

4
    “Nathan, we’re coming over,” Matthew said into his cell as they got into the car. “Why? Because you freaked Bee out today. And frankly I’m worried now too. Let’s not make this difficult. You provide the Peak Frean cookies, Bee will bring the cat hair. Oh right, you don’t like cats. Okay, okay, fine. I get it. We’ll see you in ten.”
    Beatrice was trying to stuff Lucky in his cat carrier but he was maintaining a death grip on the wire door and wouldn’t let go. Hamish watched the proceedings from the back seat with what can only be described as the most condescending look a cat could muster. Lucky finally relented with an agonizing yelp and Beatrice slammed the door shut and locked it.
    “I swear, if I ever get another cat—which I’m not , by the way—but if I do, he or she has to be car ready,” Beatrice complained as she got in the front with Matthew.
    A smile curved over his lips as he turned on the car and drove slowly out of the parking space. “Bee, I’m surprised you don’t have ten cats by now.”
    She frowned at him. “I’m not going to dignify that with a response. What did Nate say?”
    “He wants us to park in the alley behind his house and come in the back door.”
    Beatrice rolled her eyes and actively ignored Matthew for the rest of the trip. She didn’t like when he, or anyone else, insinuated that she was a crazy cat lady. That was just an easy way to dismiss her. She knew that Matthew took her seriously but sometimes, well, he bugged her. Then again, she bugged him too— that she knew for certain. It was miracle that after a divorce and many years of friendship they were still close.
    Matthew parked his truck in a little alley behind a row of prim and proper brick Victorian houses. It was a nice street and Nate had a detached three-floor house all to himself with a leafy back yard. Obviously, selling insurance was profitable.
    Nate met them at the back door, looking as sweaty and miserable as he did earlier. “Come in quickly,” he hissed. He eyed the cats sitting pertly on the doorstep with something approaching terror. “Uh, them too?”
    “I can’t leave them in the truck,” Beatrice said. “Listen, we’ll just put them in the kitchen and shut the door. As long as you don’t have any unsealed food or cabinets with loose doors we’ll be fine.”
    And so Lucky and Hamish were left to prowl happily around the kitchen while Nathan took his friends down to the basement rec room. It was a real bachelor’s pad complete with flat screen TV, overstuffed brown corduroy couches, shag carpet, and what looked to be a model of a battlefield set up in one corner.
    On the heavy coffee table was a box of unopened Peak Frean cookies. Beatrice reflexively grabbed it and tore the cellophane open. She was stuffed but she could never resist the biscuits with the red jam in the center.