The Cat Who Played Post Office by Lilian Jackson Braun Read Free Book Online Page A

style," she snapped.
     
     
"I don't want to upset you..." "I'm not upset!" "If you feel uncomfortable with contemporary, I know designers Down Below who will undertake the entire commission, including the mansion itself after the garage apartments are finished." "Show me the garage," she said with a scowl. "Where is it? How do we get out there?" He showed her to the rear of the house. As she passed the library she gave a grunt of begrudging approval. She sniffed at the yellow and green breakfast room and called it gaudy. Poking her head into the kitchen, she stared without comment at the top of the refrigerator, where the Siamese were striking sculptural poses on their blue cushion.
     
     
In the garage they climbed the stairs to the loft, and Qwilleran pointed out the drab apartment he wanted converted to a studio.
     
     
"Hasn't been touched for twenty years," she grumbled. "Plaster's all shot. Needs a lot of work." "If you think this one needs a lot of work," he said, "wait until you see the other suite." Amanda gave one look at the daisy extravaganza groaned. "Don't tell me! Let me guess! It was the Mull girl who did this. What a mess! She came to work here after I let her go." "Did she work for you?" "I paid her wages, dammit, but she didn't work! Her art teacher wanted me to take her on. Big mistake. Cute girl, but not a brain in her head. Her scruffy friends were always hanging around the studio, too. Then she got sticky fingers, so I gave her the sack. Those Mulls! Not a one of them ever amounted to anything.... Look at this abomination! It'll take three coats to cover it, maybe four." Koko's tune rang through Qwilleran's mind. Daisy, Daisy. "Hold everything," he said. "Forget this apartment for the time being and concentrate on my studio." "You'll have to come downtown to pick out colors and look at samples," she said irritably.
     
     
"Let's make it easy. Just rip out the rugs and furniture and cart the whole shebang to the dump. Then carpet the floor in dark brown, like my shoes." "Hmmm, you're a casual cuss," the designer said. "And paint the walls the color of my pants." "Mojave beige?" "Whatever you call it. And let's have some of those adjustable blinds with thin slats. After that we'll talk about furniture." After the designer had stomped down the stairs, mumbling to herself, Qwilleran had another look at the intricate daisy design and regretted the artist had left town. During his career as a crime reporter he had won the confidence of many characters outside the law - or on the borderline - and this girl, with her talent and her questionable reputation, interested him.
     
     
Daisy, Daisy. Fingering his moustache in perplexity, he wondered why and how Koko had touched those particular keys on the piano. True, the cat was fascinated by push buttons, switches, and typewriter keys, but this was the first piano Koko had ever seen, and he had played a recognizable tune.
     
     
Returning to the house, Qwilleran found something else to ponder, Koko" guarding the house from his post on the grand staircase, was sitting on the third stair, Out of a flight of twenty-one stairs, he always chose the third.
     
     
4
     
     
NO JETS LANDED at the Pickax airport. There was no VIP lounge in the terrninal - not even a cigarette machine for nervous passengers. Moose County travelers were grateful to have shelter and a few chairs.
     
     
While waiting for Mrs. Cobb's plane, Qwilleran recalled that much of his education about antiques had come from the Cobbs' establishment when he was covering the "junk beat" for the Daily Fluxion. What he remembered of the lady herself was a composite of bustling exuberance, plump knees, and two pairs of eyeglasses dangling from ribbons around her neck.
     
     
When she stepped off the plane in her travel-weary pink pantsuit, he found her thinner and somewhat subdued, and her glasses had new frames studded with rhinestones.
     
     
"Oh, Mr. Qwilleran, how good to see you!" she cried.