Sleight of Paw by Sofie Kelly Read Free Book Online Page B

stroke,” Maggie said. She lifted the lid of her little teapot and looked around for Claire.
    “She hated that place,” Ruby said. “Maybe she left too soon.”
    Maggie finally managed to catch Claire’s eye. She held up the teapot and the waitress nodded and reached for a carafe of water.
    After she’d dropped another tea bag into Maggie’s pot and poured the hot water, I touched her arm. “Claire, could I have two large coffees to go, please?” I said.
    “Sure. The usual?”
    I shook my head. “No. Double cream, double sugar in one, and could you just add a creamer and a couple of packets of sugar on the side for the other?”
    “Not a problem,” she said. “I’ll get them for you when you’re ready to leave so they’ll be hot.”
    “Thanks,” I said.
    Maggie leaned back in her chair. “Ruby,” she asked. “How did you get to be one of Agatha’s . . .” She hesitated.
    “Projects?” Ruby asked.
    “Well, I was going to say ‘kids,’ ” Maggie said. “But, yeah, I guess projects.”
    “Roma said Agatha was the reason she became a vet,” I said.
    “She’s the reason I’m an artist,” Ruby said. “She busted me for tagging—spray-painting graffiti on the side of the school.” She put down her fork. “I couldn’t run as fast as my so-called friends, and it turned out Agatha was pretty fast for what I considered an old lady.”
    “She nabbed you.” Maggie said.
    Ruby picked up a slice of grapefruit with her fingers and ate it. “By the scruff of my neck, literally. When I wouldn’t rat out the others, she said I could scrub the entire wall myself.” Her smile got a little bigger. “When I tried to argue the artistic value of tagging, she made me write a three-page essay explaining my reasoning. She used that and a painting I’d done to get me a place in a six-week summer art camp.”
    “It sounds like she had a way of figuring out what people cared about,” I said.
    “Yeah, she did,” Ruby said. “She had a way of looking right inside you, into places you didn’t show any other person. On the other hand, she could be stubborn. She made me scrub that wall until there wasn’t a dab of paint left.”
    She ran a hand through her pink, spiked hair, and glanced at her watch. Then she turned to Maggie. “I have to open the store.” The artist’s cooperative both Maggie and Ruby were part of ran a store and gallery in the same building where Maggie taught tai chi.
    “Why don’t you let me do that for you today?” Maggie said, setting down her cup.
    Ruby studied her hands for a minute. “Thanks, but I’d rather do it. I’d rather be busy than keep thinking about what happened.”
    Maggie nodded. “Okay, but why don’t I walk with you? I’m going that way anyway.”
    I stood up. “I’m going to get my coffee,” I said. I gestured at the table. “And I’ve got this.”
    “You sure?” Maggie said, reaching for her coat.
    “Uh-huh. I’ll be right back.” The café was beginning to fill up. As I stood at the counter, waiting for Claire, I overheard conversations around me. The news about Agatha was already spreading.
    I paid for breakfast and collected my two cups of coffee. Claire had put a couple of sugar packets, a creamer, and a stir stick into a little waxed-paper bag and rolled down the top. She handed me everything. There was a P on one of the lids.
    “That one is just coffee,” she said. “P for ‘plain.’ ”
    I thanked her and walked back to the table. Maggie held the cups while I shrugged into my coat and pulled on my hat and mittens. After I slid the strap of my briefcase over my head, she gave me both coffees. Their warmth seeped into my fingers.
    As we stepped outside a man cut across the street, dodging cars. “Ruby,” he called. She turned in his direction and her face lit up. When he reached us, he put an arm around Ruby and gave her a quick hug. This has to be the new boyfriend, I thought, which Ruby confirmed when she turned back to