Murder in Cherry Hills (A Cozy Cat Caper Mystery Book 1) by Paige Sleuth Read Free Book Online Page A

although her flat tone suggested she would have preferred if Kat had stayed home and minded her own business.
    Kat looked at the papers on the coffee table. “What are you looking for?”
    “Mom’s life insurance paperwork.”
    Kat rocked backward. It seemed rather callous for Mrs. Tinsdale’s daughter to already be searching for a financial windfall when her mother had turned up murdered not two days ago.
    Betty seemed to understand how her words had come across. She bit her lip as a flush crept up her neck. “I know that sounds harsh, but I really do need the money, and me getting it sooner rather than later isn’t going to bring Mom back.”
    Kat eyed the papers spread across the table. “Are those all her personal documents?”
    “There’s more in the bedroom closet,” Betty said. “I only grabbed these to start. I brought them out here because I couldn’t stand the idea of being so close to where she . . . where she . . .”
    Tears sprang to Betty’s eyes as she choked on her words. Under normal circumstances, such a raw display of emotion would have softened Kat’s heart. However, after learning of Betty’s motive for rummaging through her dead mother’s files in the middle of the night, she had her suspicions that Betty Hamilton might only be acting grief-stricken so Kat wouldn’t suspect her of something more sinister than just greed.
    “It still doesn’t feel real to me,” Betty said, her voice hollow. “Mom’s passing, that is.” She looked at Kat for a long moment before turning away and grabbing a handful of papers off the coffee table.
    Kat watched her, torn between volunteering to help and retreating back to her own apartment. She had to wonder if the promise of collecting Mrs. Tinsdale’s life insurance money might have driven Betty to kill her own mother.
    Betty derailed Kat’s train of thought when she let go of the pages she’d picked up and covered her face with her hands.
    “Ugh, this is all too much!” she wailed. She jerked her arms toward the documents. “Look at this mess! How am I supposed to find anything important here?”
    Kat moved closer and lifted up one of the papers. It was an invoice from Cherry Hills Veterinary. She scanned over the itemized charges, noting the discount at the bottom labeled ‘Furry Friends Foster Families.’ “These are for 4F.”
    Betty peered up at her. “4F?”
    “Furry Friends Foster Families,” Kat said. “Mrs. Tinsdale volunteered on the board there.”
    “Oh, right. Mom talked about that little group, but I never really paid much attention.”
    Kat couldn’t help but think that if Betty had paid more attention to her mother’s stories she might not be in her current situation of trying to figure out Mrs. Tinsdale’s filing system from scratch.
    But Kat wasn’t here to berate a grieving daughter. “If you’d like, I can sort through these with you to separate out everything related to 4F. I kind of know the president, so I can turn all this stuff over to her.”
    Betty’s face brightened. “You would do that?”
    “Sure.” Kat still had her concerns about spending time alone with a potential murderer, but she rationalized that Betty had no motive to hurt her , even if she had killed her own mother. Besides, Betty did seem genuinely distraught, although Kat couldn’t discern whether that was because she was having so much trouble locating the insurance paperwork or because of her recent loss.
    Their attention was diverted when Matty came streaking down Mrs. Tinsdale’s hallway, her paws scissoring in front of her as she raced toward the kitchen.
    “Matty!” Kat yelped, her stomach leaping into her throat. She must have forgotten to close her apartment door when she’d left, and the cat must have followed her over here.
    Once she recovered from the shock of the interruption, Kat took a closer look at the animal. Matty was playing with something shiny, batting it across the floor as though it were a mouse.
    Kat walked