Dolled Up to Die by Lorena McCourtney Read Free Book Online

Octavia, had diligently researched the internet for helpful ideas.
    “Cate will pick out all the furniture herself,” Mitch said.
    “You mean furniture is part of the deal too?” Robyn asked.
    “You can’t expect a cat like Octavia to live in an unfurnished house.” Mitch managed to sound shocked at the prospect.
    “What happens if the cat dies or something?” Robyn asked. “Do you have to give the house back?”
    “No. But I’d do everything I could to give her a long and happy life even if a house weren’t involved,” Cate said firmly. “Octavia is a unique cat, with a personality all her own.”
    “Well, it’s one unusual deal,” Robyn declared.
    Cate had to agree. Octavia’s owner, long before she was murdered, had specified in her will that whoever got the cat also got her house, and she had left the decision about the cat’s ownership to her lawyer/executor. Cate hadn’t actually saved Octavia’s life, but she had kept her from being dumpedat the animal shelter, and so Lawyer Ledbetter had decided Cate should be the cat’s new owner. Then, after the house burned down, he had also decided a new house should be built to fulfill the provisions of the will. A house suitable for a deaf cat with a trust fund. And furnished, of course, because the original house Octavia should have inherited had been furnished.
    Robyn suddenly lost interest in Kitty Kastles and whipped out a notebook. “I almost forgot. I have to change the shade of blue for the ribbons on the wrist corsages for the older women.” She slashed through something written in the notebook. “I’ve been planning on cerulean, but now I realize that just won’t work.”
    “Yes, cerulean would be a disaster,” Cate murmured, and then she gave herself a mental whack for the snide comment. She tossed out a word she’d heard somewhere. “What about periwinkle?”
    “Periwinkle?” Robyn looked up from the notebook, eyes squinted in thought, and Cate thought, Oh no, I’ve just made the faux pas of the wedding world . But then Robyn smiled and slammed a palm down on the notebook. “Yes! That’s it. Periwinkle! What a marvelous idea, Cate. Thank you!”
    She appraised Cate with what appeared to be new respect, as if the periwinkle suggestion had elevated Cate from frump to fashionista. Although what Cate was thinking was that she’d better use her investigative skills and find out what color periwinkle actually was.

 5 
    Uncle Joe and Rebecca were already home when Cate got back to the house. She asked about their dinner at Mr. K’s, and they were enthusiastic about the prime rib, and the amaretto cheesecake for dessert.
    “I was hoping Mr. K would come around and offer us a free dessert,” Rebecca said. “I’ve heard he does that occasionally. But we never even saw him.”
    “That’s because he’s . . . dead,” Cate said.
    That received a double response. A shocked “Dead!” from both of them. Then, from Rebecca, “Was it on the news?”
    Cate told them about Jo-Jo’s call, the decimated dolls, and Eddie the Ex dead on the floor with the gun beside him, an apparent suicide.
    “Did it look to you as if he’d killed himself?” Joe asked.
    “I guess, although shooting the dolls first seems peculiar. And Jo-Jo’s house seems like an odd place to kill himself.”
    “You said there wasn’t another vehicle there at the house, so that makes you wonder how he got there, doesn’t it?”
    “I’m curious,” Cate admitted.
    “Curiosity can be a valuable asset for an investigator,” Joe said. In a sterner tone, he added, “It can also get youin trouble. Big trouble. As we’ve discussed before, Belmont Investigations doesn’t do murders.”
    Cate determinedly stuffed her curiosity in a mental corner and repeated the line to herself. Belmont Investigations doesn’t do murders.
    “I was there for several hours, but I’d rather not bill Jo-Jo for the time, if that’s okay with you. All I really did was take her to a