Faux Paw: A Magical Cats Mystery by Sofie Kelly Read Free Book Online Page A

tail, but he lifted his head when I said, “sardine crackers.”
    Owen opened both eyes and gave an enthusiastic meow.
    They followed me downstairs, where I put a bowl of soup in the microwave for myself and set a tiny stack of my homemade crackers in each of their dishes. Hercules immediately ate the top cracker off his pile without knocking it over. Owen, as he always did, picked up one little square, set it on the floor, and sniffed it cautiously before he took a bite.
    Roma and I had speculated about why he always did that. She thought that he’d probably eaten something he shouldn’t have and gotten sick from it in the time before I found him and Hercules as kittens out at Wisteria Hill. She was probably right, but sometimes I thought it was just Owen’s skeptical personality that made him check his food like some paranoid despot.
    My cell phone buzzed in my jacket pocket and the coat shook on its hook. Two furry faces immediately looked at me.
    “I’m not answering that,” I said, getting my soup from the microwave. “I’m having my supper. It’s either Margo or Gavin, and whatever they need can wait.”
    A pair of green eyes and a pair of golden ones continued to regard me unblinkingly.
    I didn’t retrieve my phone until my bowl was empty. There were two missed calls from Margo and three texts from Gavin. I called Margo first, but all I got was her voice mail. I sent a quick text to Gavin and waited a couple of minutes to see if there would be a response.
    Nothing.
    “See?” I said to the boys. “Gavin and Margo both tend to act like everything is life or death, but it never is.”
    In retrospect I probably shouldn’t have said that.

4
    B y the time the library building closed at one on Thursday for the final preparations before the exhibit opening, I’d had probably two dozen texts from Gavin. Margo, on the other hand, was surprisingly laid-back about everything.
    The artwork arrived a little ahead of schedule, just before we closed, but for once Margo took the disruption in stride. She even called me into the workroom so I could see the Weston drawing I’d heard so much about. It wasn’t any bigger than a piece of plain paper. The sketch was beautifully detailed and I understood much better now why Margo worried about something happening to it.
    I’d expected that they’d want me to stay around as they set up, but I was hustled out of my office and the building. Diana Holmes was just coming across the parking lot as I came down the steps. She wore red leather pants and a cropped black jacket, her wavy dark hair in a short shag that I knew from my own experience with short hair took a lot of styling to look so casually tousled.
    “Hello, Kathleen. Is Margo here?” she asked.
    “She’s inside,” I said. “She and Gavin are just taking care of a few last-minute details.”
    “Perfect,” she said. “That means they’ll have time to bring me up-to-date on the changes to the security system.”
    I didn’t think that was what it meant at all, but Diana had already started up the main stairs. I stood in the middle of the parking lot and sent a text to Maggie to see if she wanted to have lunch at her studio.
    Please and thank you,
she texted back.
    The sky was cloudy but neither the morning’s weather forecast nor my left wrist was predicting rain, so I decided to leave my truck in the library lot and walk. Susan was sitting at the counter with a bowl of soup, heat spiraling up and steaming up her glasses, when I walked in to Eric’s.
    I bumped her with my shoulder. “Hey, what is that?” I asked. “It smells wonderful.” My stomach gurgled as if to emphasize my enthusiasm.
    Susan took off her glasses and cleaned them on the edge of her sweater. “Italian sausage soup with oregano cheese croutons.” She put her glasses back on and smiled at me. “Want to join me? I have an in with the owner.”
    “Thanks, but I’m taking lunch to Maggie,” I said.
    Claire was working, as she did