PAWSitively Sinister (A Klepto Cat Mystery Book 11) by Patricia Fry Read Free Book Online Page A

surprise, right?”
    Mattie was silent, then she said, “Mims helped me, too, you know.”
    “How’s that?” Ruth asked.
    “Well… she was drinking a lot, you know. I mean a whole lot. That’s not good for anybody. Sure, it’s okay to drink, but the way Mims was drinking… that was not good. So I made a deal with her. I told her I would quit smoking weed if she would stop drinking so much.”
    “Seems like a good pact,” Savannah said. “How long ago did you make this… deal?”
    “The year it rained so much—remember that? We were getting kicked out of shelters because of Mims’ drinking. I told her she needed to quit or we might die from being in the weather. She got mad at me and told me I should stop… ” she glanced at the two women across from her. “… you know… getting high. And that’s when we got the idea.”
    “But that’s not when she started having nightmares, right?” Savannah asked.
    “Uh… no. It started on Monday—when she saw the picture in a paper we found.”
    “Picture?” Ruth asked.
    Mattie gestured. “Yeah, of this place. She read about the yard sale and got all freaked out. That’s when she told me she used to live here.” She smirked. “Of course, I didn’t believe her.” She leaned toward the women as if sharing a secret. “Sometimes she has trouble with truth. She can’t remember what’s real and what’s not—but not all the time. Still, I didn’t believe she’d lived here, but she kept swearing she did, so I finally believed her—sort of.” She thought. “Yeah, the screaming dreams started about that time. They are worse since she came out here yesterday.”
    “So Mattie,” Ruth said, “what is it you want me to do?”
    She fumbled with a button on her ragged sweater. “Well, Shirley said we should take her to someone who can get into her head.”
    “Who’s Shirley?” Ruth asked.
    “A friend,” she said matter-of-factly. “Mims doesn’t know why she screams. She needs someone who can tell her why—not a psychiatrist,” she said, shaking her head. “No psycho shrink.”
    “Then what do you have in mind?” Ruth asked.
    “Maybe a hypnosis guy. What do you think?” Mattie asked, staring hard at her sister.
    “Well, sometimes a hypnotist can help us unlock memories that are hidden in our brain,” Savannah said.
    “Yeah, yeah, that’s what we need. Do you know one?”
    Savannah glanced at Ruth, then said, “Let me do some checking and see what I can come up with, okay?”
    “Sure,” Mattie said, “you do that. Ru-Ru has my phone number. We can get rides with our friend Ralph.” Her expression brightened when she announced, “He drives a cab now. All we need is an address. Oh,” she said, squeezing her lips together, “do you know someone who can give Mims a… what do you call it… a money break?”
    “A scholarship?” Ruth asked.
    Mattie punched the air with one fist. “That’s it; scholarship.” She faced Savannah and Ruth. “She has some money, but still needs help.”
    “What happened to the money her family had?” Savannah asked, peering into the stroller to check on Lily. She handed her a toy, then looked at Mattie in anticipation of her response.
    The woman glanced around as if thinking, scratched her head, then said, “I don’t know. I don’t think she ever got any.” She leaned forward. “Maybe her father got it all.”
    Honk-honk .
    The three women looked in the direction of the sound and saw Mattie’s driver standing outside his cab smoking a cigarette. He gestured and shouted, “Come on, I gotta get back to work!”
    “I’m coming!” she shouted back at him. She quickly put her hand up to her mouth. “Oops, I hope I didn’t scare the baby,” she said, apologetically.
    Savannah smiled. “I think she’s okay.”
    “Oh good.” Mattie stood to leave, but stopped for a moment and peered at Lily as Savannah lifted her to her lap. “Hey, she’s pretty cute.”
    Ruth let out a sigh as she and