Last supper in cherry hi.., p.1
Last Supper in Cherry Hills, page 1
part #27 of Cozy Cat Caper Mystery Series
Last Supper in Cherry Hills
A Cozy Cat Caper Mystery
Book 27
Paige Sleuth
Copyright © 2019 Marla Bradeen (writing as Paige Sleuth)
All rights reserved.
Published by Marla Bradeen.
This book or portions of it (excluding brief quotations) may not be reproduced without prior written permission from the publisher/author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), actual businesses, or actual events is purely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. If this ebook copy was not purchased by or for you, please purchase your own copy before reading. Thank you for respecting this author’s work.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
MURDER IN THE CARDS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHAPTER ONE
Katherine Harper looked at Andrew Milhone as he rang the doorbell outside of the unfamiliar, Ranch-style house.
“Who are these people we’re eating dinner with again?” she asked.
“Some guys I used to hang out with in my twenties and their significant others. I’ve known Dante Mason, our host, and his wife since they moved to Cherry Hills seven years ago. We’ve kind of grown apart, but Dante thought it was time to catch up with the old crew.” Andrew brushed his sandy blond hair out of his eyes and winked at her. “I secretly think he’s only hosting this gathering to show off his grilling skills. You should have heard him go on about the new charcoal grill he picked up last week.”
“Well, late August in Central Washington is the perfect time for a backyard barbecue.”
Andrew laced his fingers with hers. “And Friday evening is the perfect time to enjoy a dinner with friends while showing off your new girlfriend.”
“I’m not new. We’ve been together for a year.”
“You’re new to Dante and the rest of the guys.”
Before Kat could reply, the door swung open. A rangy, fortyish man dressed in blue jeans and a black, short-sleeved T-shirt stood there.
“Andrew!” The man clapped Andrew on the shoulder and began vigorously pumping his hand. “How long has it been?”
“Too long.” Andrew extricated himself from the handshake and set a palm on Kat’s arm. “Dante Mason, this is my girlfriend, Kat Harper.”
Dante spun toward her, a grin the size of Texas on his face. “So you’re the woman who domesticated Andrew.” He motioned them inside, not giving Kat a chance to reply. “Come in and mingle. I’d stop to shoot the breeze, but as host I’ve got a ton of things requiring my attention.”
Andrew stepped into the foyer. “Anything I can do to help?”
“Yeah. Head on out to the backyard and start shaping and seasoning the hamburger patties, will you? Everything you need is by the grill. I’ll be out in a few minutes. I’ve gotta go talk to Phoebe—” He looked at Kat. “—that’s my wife—about something.”
Andrew saluted. “Aye aye.” He turned toward Kat as Dante wandered off. “I guess I’m in charge of hamburgers. I’d invite you to join me, but out of respect to the other guests I ought not to subject them to your abysmal cooking skills.”
She slugged him in the shoulder. “Thanks a lot.”
He chuckled, then pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll catch up with you later, okay?”
“All right. Have fun.”
Kat watched until he disappeared through the sliding glass door leading to the backyard. Once he was gone she perched on the edge of the brown, L-shaped sectional sofa occupying the center of the living room. The sofa fit right in with the rest of the room’s tasteful, modern furniture. Between the oversized flat-screen television, the sleek glass coffee table resting atop an ornate Oriental rug, and a collection of abstract paintings and certificates hanging on the walls, the place looked so perfect it almost appeared to be staged.
She was about to take stock of the handful of people gathered when a mostly white cat with a darker tail and a mishmash of brown and tan facial markings ambled over. His flattened muzzle made Kat think he was some kind of Persian mix. A deep crease shaped like an upside-down U separated his nose and mouth from the rest of his face and left his eyes nearly squinched shut.
He seemed friendly enough. He hopped right into Kat’s lap and started rubbing his cheek against her knee.
“Hey there, handsome.” Kat scratched the feline behind the ears. “You’re a little love bug, aren’t you?”
“I see you’re making friends with Mr. Magoo.”
Kat looked up. A thin woman around her own age of thirty-three stood in front of her. The woman’s semi-long, highlighted brown hair hung straight down her back, and her freckled face looked freshly scrubbed with nary a hint of makeup. Dressed in a flowery top and faded blue jeans, she looked like the quintessential girl next door.
“Mr. Magoo?” Kat echoed.
The brunette nodded at the Persian mix in Kat’s lap. “That’s Mr. Magoo you’re holding. You know who that is, don’t you?”
“He’s a cartoon character, right?”
“Yup. Has a face just like his namesake there.”
Kat scrutinized the contented feline hunkered in her lap. She wasn’t familiar enough with the real Mr. Magoo to know how accurate the comparison was, but she would take the woman’s word for it.
The brunette sat down next to Kat. “I’m April.”
“Kat Harper.”
“So Kat, what do you do for work?”
“I’m a programmer analyst at DataRightly. We provide software solutions for . . .” Kat trailed off when she noticed April’s eyes glazing over. Clearing her throat, she said, “What about you? What do you do for a living?”
“My current gig is garden center associate, but I’m getting bored with it. It’s time to look for something new.”
Kat nodded, April’s reasons for inquiring about her line of work becoming clearer. Apparently she had been hoping Kat’s profession might spark some job ideas for herself.
April scanned the room. “Who’re you with?”
“Andrew Milhone.”
April’s eyebrows shot up her forehead. Kat fingered a lock of her brown hair, feeling unexpectedly self-conscious. Did she not seem like a good match for Andrew? She knew she shouldn’t care what anyone else thought of her romantic relationships, but she couldn’t help herself. These were Andrew’s friends. She wanted to make a good impression.
“Andrew’s the police detective, right?” When Kat nodded, April asked, “How long have you two been together?”
“A year now.”
“Wow.” April bent forward, making not too subtle a show of checking out Kat’s ring finger. “But I guess things aren’t too serious with you two, huh?”
Kat bristled. “We’re quite serious, actually.”
April shrugged. She didn’t look convinced.
Kat was tempted to storm off and find someone else to make small talk with, but she hated to disturb Mr. Magoo. With his body so limp his torso resembled silly putty and his two front paws lazily kneading Kat’s leg, he looked to be in kitty heaven.
“I’m with Simon, who’s around here somewhere.” April gave the room a cursory visual sweep before refacing Kat. “We’ve been with each other for eighty-four days now.”
“Eighty-four days?”
April nodded. “We’ve been living together thirty-four of those days, and I expect him to propose before the end of the summer. He’s been dropping hints about rings anyway. It’s a good thing too, because I’m not about to waste my time with another go-nowhere relationship. I’m too old for that.”
Kat couldn’t recall a single conversation in the past year where she and Andrew had discussed moving in together, let alone getting married. That fact had never bothered her before, but now she couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps she should be bothered.
Had her experience growing up in foster care condemned her to a slower relationship timeline than most women? She didn’t trust easily, and, while she loved Andrew, she also enjoyed having her own space. They had never discussed it, but she had always assumed Andrew was happy with the pace of their relationship too. Then again, he had also spent much of his childhood within the foster care system. Perhaps they were both doomed to remain in relationship limbo, too scared to pursue something more.
Before Kat could dwell on the topic, a dark-haired, dark-eyed man ambled up to them. “Hey, April.” He nodded at Kat. “Heya. You must be Andrew’s girl.”
“Yes. Kat.”
“Jean-Luc Mercier,” the man said.
“How is the insurance sales business?” April asked Jean-Luc.
“Great.” He grinned. “For the first time ever I’m on track to outsell Dante. Quarterly bonus, here I come.”
April flipped her hair behind her shoulder. “I ought to try a career in sales. Is Jelkie Insurance hiring?”
“Not right now, but I’ll let you know if I hear of any open positions.”
&
“Kale smoothie. You want this one? I haven’t touched it yet.”
“Yuck. I’ll wait for the food, thank you very much.”
Jean-Luc used his thumb to rub at a dark smudge staining the outside of the glass. When he didn’t do much more than smear it around, he gave up. “Suit yourself,” he said to April. “Dante said everything should be ready in about fifteen minutes.”
“Fifteen minutes?” April slumped against the back of the sofa. “Ugh. I’m starved.”
Jean-Luc’s lip twitched as if he were stifling a laugh. “I’m sure you’ll live.”
Mr. Magoo crawled from Kat’s lap to April’s as though to comfort April over her plight. Kat doubted any other living creature in the house could commiserate more with the struggle of not having enough sustenance in his belly. In her experience, most felines were convinced they were one meal away from starvation, regardless of how much food they had in their bowls or when they had last eaten.
A man who looked somewhat similar to Jean-Luc strutted up to them. “Hey, cousin,” he said, clapping Jean-Luc on the back. He leered at April. “Are you going to introduce me to your gorgeous friend?”
Jean-Luc groaned. “This is my cousin, Bernard. Bernard, this is April, Simon’s girlfriend.”
Bernard ignored Jean-Luc’s heavy emphasis on the word girlfriend. He gazed at April with adoration shining in his brown eyes. “You, my dear, are absolute perfection. You are like a peach ripe from the sun, an angel sent from the heavens above, the very definition of exquisite beauty. Why, I bet if I opened up the dictionary right now, I would see your picture next to the word luscious.”
April pressed her back into the sofa, her lips drawing into a thin line. Mr. Magoo kept his face trained in Bernard’s direction, his scrunched-up countenance making it appear as though he found the newcomer truly loathsome.
“You’ll have to excuse Bernard,” Jean-Luc said. “He’s visiting this week from Boise, and apparently he thinks his tourist status gives him license to act like a jerk.”
“The ladies in Idaho, they are not nearly as lovely as the ones here in Washington State,” Bernard said with a wink at April.
Jean-Luc eyed Bernard down the bridge of his nose. “Give it a rest, will you? All of the women present this evening are taken.”
Bernard waggled one forefinger back and forth. “I do not see a ring on her finger.”
Kat slipped her hands underneath her thighs before Bernard had a chance to notice her own bare ring finger. Not that he was paying her any attention. He seemed to be transfixed by April.
Jean-Luc gave April an apologetic smile. “I’m afraid except for some walking tours, this is my cousin’s first time outside of my apartment since he arrived in Cherry Hills. He’s obviously rusty on how to interact with strangers.”
Bernard beamed at April. “You could be my practice case, yes?”
“I don’t think so,” April said, frost dripping from her tone. Her gaze alighted on something across the room, and she began frantically waving her arms. “Simon!”
“Simon!” Jean-Luc echoed. He narrowed his eyes at Bernard. “That would be April’s boyfriend.”
Bernard lifted one shoulder in a lackadaisical shrug. “Boyfriends, they come and go.”
“Here.” Jean-Luc shoved the glass of green liquid at his cousin. “Drink this and cool off.”
Bernard looked wary, but he did accept Jean-Luc’s offering. His eyes lit up with surprise as soon as he took a tentative sip. “It’s good.”
A hacking cough erupted from Mr. Magoo. Kat didn’t know if the feline had a hairball stuck in his throat, or if he were imagining something as disgusting as a kale smoothie touching his own delicate lips.
Simon caught up to them. With brown hair long enough to cover his ears, an olive complexion that brought out his green eyes, and a cleft chin that gave him a somewhat rugged look, the thirty-something was quite attractive.
What wasn’t attractive was the short-sleeved shirt he had on. With a mishmash of yellows, reds, blues, greens, and purples all arranged in an intricate swirling pattern, it was the busiest, most obnoxious item of clothing Kat had ever laid eyes on. It made her dizzy just looking at it.
“Look what I got you, babe.” He handed April a frosty pink drink.
“It looks fab,” April said.
“It’s a strawberry shake. Phoebe tried to get me to throw in some kale, but luckily Dante was there to talk some sense into her. Poor guy had to scrub out the blender just to get rid of the kale residue from the last drink. Why Phoebe likes the stuff so much, I have no clue.”
Mr. Magoo seemed to have recovered from his hacking fit. Now he was inching his nose toward April’s smoothie, his little pink tongue poking between his teeth. When April moved the beverage out of his reach, he took a swipe at it, missing by about a foot. He made sure everyone was aware of his frustration with a long, drawn-out meow of discontent.
April stroked Mr. Magoo’s head. “There now, kitty. You wouldn’t like this. Maybe I can sneak you some hamburger under the table later.”
Mr. Magoo settled more comfortably in April’s lap, clearly mollified by the prospect of being smuggled human food this evening.
Andrew strolled through the sliding glass door. “Dinner’s about ready,” he announced, lifting a beer bottle up in toast.
“Finally!” April said. “I was about to drop dead from hunger.”
Kat wrapped her arms around her torso. She knew April hadn’t meant anything morbid by her statement, but that didn’t prevent a cold shiver from traveling down her spine and the vague feeling of impending doom that had lodged in her chest.
CHAPTER TWO
Soon after Andrew’s announcement, everyone began filing outside. Everyone, Kat noted, except for April.
“Come on, Mr. Magoo,” April said, giving the cat in her lap a poke.
Mr. Magoo didn’t appreciate the gesture. He swiveled his head toward the offending finger and let out an irritated grunt.
April either didn’t notice the way Mr. Magoo was smacking his lips or she chose to ignore the bite warning. She gave the stubborn feline another nudge.
“Let me up, okay?” she said. “I’m starving.”
Her plea failed to move the feline. With a sigh, April set her smoothie glass on the floor and wedged both hands underneath the cat like a forklift. But her effort to forcibly remove him only encouraged Mr. Magoo to go completely limp. His legs sagged around April’s hands like yeasty bread dough, making it nearly impossible to get a good grip on his body.
Kat suppressed a giggle. “You need help?”
“No.” April slumped against the back of the couch. “I’ll just wait him out.”
Kat nodded and started walking away, but not before she caught the glint of triumph reflected in the barely visible slivers of Mr. Magoo’s eyes.
Andrew caught up with her as she stepped through the sliding glass door and into the fresh, August air. This time of year the sun didn’t set until around eight o’clock, and Kat enjoyed the long days.
“How are you holding up?” Andrew asked.
“Okay. How was burger-making duty?”
“Fantastic. I seasoned those patties to perfection. They’re going to knock your socks off.”
“Oh, really. And how will I distinguish your masterpieces from those molded by somebody else’s competent hands?” she teased.
“Lucky for you, I made all the burgers. Dante said I was the only person here he trusted to help him grill tonight.”
“He doesn’t trust his wife?”
Andrew puffed out his chest. “Everybody knows grilling is a man’s job.”
Kat rolled her eyes. “Please. How difficult can it be to light up some charcoal and put a few slabs of mushed-up meat on a rack?”
“If you have enough testosterone coursing through your bloodstream, it’s not difficult at all.”
Kat couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ll take your word for it.”
“At any rate, sorry I left you alone back there.”
“It’s fine.” To prove her point, she took his hand in hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “I don’t expect you to entertain me all evening. I can make conversation by myself, you know.”
