Vanished in Cherry Hills (Cozy Cat Caper Mystery Book 4) by Paige Sleuth Read Free Book Online

recent illness he was on the tail end of shaking. He had opted to keep the black cat on an IV overnight in order to get some fluids into his little body.
    Kat’s eyes strayed past Matty and landed on the file folder Mrs. Polanski had given her. Although she couldn’t fathom how a bunch of old newspaper articles would help her find her mother, going through them would at least make her feel as if she were doing something productive.
    Careful not to disturb Matty, Kat bent forward and pinched the folder between two fingers, pulling it toward her. She set it on her lap and flipped the cover open.
    Her eyes alighted on the top article, a restaurant critic’s write-up of Country Eats. She didn’t expect to find anything useful, but she read through it anyway, looking for any references to her mother or PNW Financial. She even scrutinized the pictures of the various entrées, just in case a mysterious woman could be spotted in the background. There was nothing.
    She set the article on the floor. Tom watched her from across the room, his ears pricking. Soon afterward he ambled over, stepped gingerly onto the newsprint, and settled down as if he’d found a comfortable new bed.
    Kat reached over and petted him. “If you see anything I missed, let me know.”
    Tom purred his agreement, although Kat gave up hope that he would be of any assistance when his eyes slipped shut.
    She looked at the next clipping. This one was the obituaries page from the June 12, 1985 edition of the Seattle Times . Someone—Mrs. Polanski, she presumed—had circled the death notice of a pretty, twenty-seven-year-old woman named Kelly Watson. Kelly had died in a car accident, leaving behind her parents but no husband or children. None of the names mentioned were familiar to Kat, but maybe Kelly or one of her parents had been friends with Mrs. Polanski.
    To be thorough, Kat read through the rest of the obituaries. Nothing stood out. Neither did she find anything of interest on the flip side of the page.
    She leaned her head against the back of the couch, discouragement bubbling up inside her. Why Mrs. Polanski had thought a few random articles would advance her mission left her baffled.
    Still, Kat didn’t have any better leads.
    The next clipping was a Cherry Hills Courant reporter’s take on the PNW Financial robbery. Kat studied this one more closely, reading everything twice to make sure she didn’t miss anything. But the article only went over a few cursory details. It made no mention of Maybelle being a suspect, and it didn’t provide any information that Kat hadn’t already learned from Chief Kenny.
    Kat placed the article on the floor next to Tom, revealing an invoice from a Wenatchee hospital addressed to a Nick Trotter. The words ‘second notice’ were printed in red on top of the page. Kat figured the bill belonged to Helen’s late husband and had gotten mixed up in Mrs. Polanski’s things. She set it on the coffee table. She could return it to Helen when she brought Shadow back.
    There were a couple more articles on the bank robbery interspersed with others concerning everything from the best places to live to apartments for rent. When Kat was three-quarters of the way through the folder she had long since given up poring over every word. Instead, she skimmed over each page and moved on if nothing struck her as relevant.
    She was about to give up hope when she spotted the words ‘Maybelle Harper’ embedded in one of the write-ups about the bank robbery. Her heart leapt into her throat, and she snatched up the page and read it as fast as she could. Although the reporter didn’t outright accuse her mother of being guilty, the suggestion was pretty obvious from the way he described how she was ‘wanted for questioning by local law enforcement agencies.’
    Unfortunately, the article didn’t tell her anything new.
    Kat sighed. As though sensing her frustration, Matty stood up, set one of her paws on Kat’s leg, and meowed.
    Kat