by Morgana Best
“My cat hates rope,” I said again.
“I told you to shut up,” Jake snapped. He went to the window and moved the curtain a little.
“Peter, Jake might need some rope,” I said. “Do you have any?”
Peter’s eyebrows shot up, and he nodded slightly.
My speaking clearly annoyed Jake, because he stormed back over to me, his knife in hand. Peter reached in his bag and pulled out a length of rope which he flung at Jake. Jake had good reflexes, because he spun around and caught it. “What the?” Those were the only words he got out.
The next thing I knew, he was on his back, screaming. “Quick, get the knife, Carl,” I said.
Carl shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere near that cat.”
I stepped over to Jake and kicked the knife away.
“Carl, call the police now,” I said.
“And an ambulance,” Peter said in a weak voice. I looked up to see he had his hands firmly clamped over his eyes. I couldn’t blame him. The piece of rope he had thrown at Jake was sizeable.
“Can you call your cat off?” Peter added, peeking between his fingers.
“I don’t know how to, but you’re the cat expert.”
Peter shut his eyes again.
Detective Clyde and Detective Rieker arrived at the same time as the ambulance. Jake was still screaming when they took him away.
“So, your cat has done it again, Miss Myers,” Clyde said. “He’ll probably get a medal for that.”
“Really?” I asked with delight.
“No.” Clyde looked at me as though I were mad.
Rieker and Carl were talking in a corner. Peter The Purr-suader was sitting on the sofa, his hands still firmly over his eyes. “Peter was the one who saved us all,” I said. “He was the one who threw the rope at Jake.”
Peter managed a weak smile, but Clyde did not seem impressed. “We have rounded up Minnie,” he said. “She wasn’t too happy when we told her that Jake had confessed to everything.”
“I bet she wasn’t,” I said. I looked past him to see a figure standing in the doorway. “Tom, what are you doing here?”
“I heard police and ambulance sirens, and I thought of you.”
I didn’t quite know how to take that, so I just smiled and nodded. “It was Jake,” I told him. “Jake and Minnie were in it together.”
Peter finally managed to speak. “Jake came here to kill us all,” he said.
Tom’s face went white. He crossed the room in five quick strides and took me into his arms.
Chapter 21
The following night, Carl and I threw a party for Mongrel. Tom and Peter The Purr-suader were there, as was Detective Rieker. We had invited Detective Clyde, but he had declined. He had, however, sent along a packet of treats for Mongrel. Maybe that guy wasn’t so bad, after all.
I had spent the day in bed, with a hot water bottle and plenty of liniment. I had received several voicemail messages from the horrible reporter, Graham Gibson, wanting to interview me over my celebrity cat, as he put it.
Mongrel was sitting on his own chair in the living room looking quite pleased with himself. Everyone was giving him a wide berth, especially when someone threw him a treat and he devoured it with his usual ferocity.
“You know, Narel, that was a close call,” Carl said.
“Another close call,” Rieker added. “I don’t know how you two manage to attract so much trouble.”
“We don’t attract it,” I protested. “It just kind of finds us.”
“I suppose that’s what Rieker means,” Carl said, and Rieker shot him a warm smile.
I was sitting on the sofa. Tom was sitting next to me with his arm around me protectively. I quite liked that. “I really don’t like you being involved in murders,” Tom said, giving my shoulders a little squeeze.
“Trust me, I don’t like it either,” I said.
“Oh well, it will probably never happen again,” Tom said, although Carl and I exchanged glances.
“Have you ever read that famous book on morphic resonance?” Carl asked Tom, ignoring my warning glares.
“I’ve never heard of it,” Peter said.
“It means if something happens once, it will draw the same kind of thing to it. That’s probably not a very good explanation, but that’s basically it in a nutshell. The theory goes that a pattern of events can facilitate occurrences of similar events.”
Peter frowned. “Does that mean you and Narel are likely to be involved in further murders?”
“Of course not!” I said, shooting Carl another warning glance. I decided to change the subject. “Peter, do you still want to work on Mongrel to help him with his aggression problems?”
A look of horror briefly flickered over Peter’s face. “No, I don’t think so.” That was all he said—he didn’t give any further reason. I suppose seeing what Mongrel did to Jake was reason enough.
“The doctors say Jake will be out of intensive care in a few days,” Rieker offered helpfully.
We all nodded. There was really nothing to say to that, although Mongrel purred.
“What’s that fearsome sound?” Rieker asked in alarm, looking around him.
“That’s just Mongrel purring,” I said.
Rieker frowned. “Are you sure? It sounds like thunder, or an earthquake.”
I shook my head. “He purrs like that when he’s very happy.”
“That means he feels secure,” Peter said. “You have done a good job with him, Narel.”
Rieker looked at him in disbelief. “Haven’t you seen what that cat does to people?”
Peter held up his bandaged hands by way of response. “Rescue cats often have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,” he told him. “Mongrel only reacts that way to rope. If there is no rope around, then he’s a very happy, nice cat.”
“I think that’s probably something of an exaggeration,” Rieker said with a laugh.
Mongrel’s purring grew louder, so much so, that it shook his chair. I was glad to see that he had come a long way. Now he was sitting in a room with several people and he wasn’t at all afraid.
I felt like purring, too. It was likely the feeling of euphoria that came after facing a traumatic event, and surviving. And I had my good friends around me, Carl, my best friend, and Tom, my crush. Even Mongrel, my rescue cat, had my back.
Life was pretty good.
Connect with Morgana
Connect with Morgana
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Next Book In This Series
Chocolate to Die For (Cocoa Narel Chocolate Shop Mysteries Book 4)
Narel calls a plumber to fix the outdoor toilet behind her chocolate shop. Her best friend, Carl, finds the plumber dead. At first the police think he died from a redback spider bite, but tests reveal otherwise.
As cracks begin to form in the case, the police uncover nasty emails between Carl and the victim. As Narel chews on the problem, she finds that the plumber’s customers had nothing sweet to say about him.
What happens when Narel uncovers Carl’s secret that he has been keeping tightly wrapped?
Can Narel solve the murder before the situation becomes too sticky?
Also by Morgana Best
Live and Let Diet (The Australian Amateur Sleuth Book 1)
Sybil Potts moves to Little Tatterford, a small town in the middle of nowhere in Australia, seeking to find peace and quiet after the upheaval of her divorce.
Although the town is sleepy and nothing has ever happened, her arrival coincides with a murder in the property adjacent to her cottage. Sybil soon finds she is at odds with the attractive Blake Wessley, the e
xasperated police officer who is trying to solve the murder.
After Sibyl narrowly misses becoming the next victim, she turns her attention to the suspects. Is it the English gentleman, Mr. Buttons, who serves everyone tea and cucumber sandwiches, or her landlord, Cressida Upthorpe, who is convinced that her fat cat, Lord Farringdon, speaks to her? Or is it someone else entirely?
Miss Spelled (The Kitchen Witch Book 1)
Amelia Spelled has had a bad week. Her boyfriend dumps her when she inadvertently gives him food poisoning; her workplace, a telecommunications centre, fires all their staff as they are outsourcing offshore, and she is evicted due to smoke damage resulting from her failed attempts at baking. Amelia thinks her luck has changed when she inherits her aunt’s store and beautiful Victorian house.
Yet has Amelia jumped out of the frying pan into the fire? The store is a cake store, and her aunt was a witch. To add to the mix, the house has secrets all of its own.
When a man is murdered in the cake store, will Amelia be able to cook up a way to solve the crime? Or will her spells prove as bad as her baking?
A Ghost of a Chance (Witch Woods Funeral Home Book 1)
Nobody knows that Laurel Bay can see and talk to ghosts. When she inherits a funeral home, she is forced to return from the city to the small town of Witch Woods to breathe life into the business. It is a grave responsibility, but Laurel is determined that this will be no dead-end job.
There she has to contend with her manipulative and overly religious mother, more than one ghost, and a secretive but handsome accountant.
When the murder of a local woman in the funeral home strangles the finances, can Laurel solve the murder?
Or will this be the death of her business?
Note: This book is humorously irreverent in places, so please read only if you won’t be offended.
Christmas Spirit (The Middle-aged Ghost Whisper Book 1)
Prudence Wallflower tours the country, making live appearances. She connects people with loved ones who have passed on. However, her reputation as a clairvoyant medium is failing, and even Prudence has begun to doubt herself. She has never seen a ghost, but receives impressions from the dead. This all changes when the ghost of a detective appears to her and demands her help to solve a murder. Prudence finds herself out of her depth, and to make matters worse, she is more attracted to this ghost than any man she has ever met.
SERIES BY MORGANA BEST
Vampires and Wine (A fun, quirky cozy mystery series - no fangs involved!)
1) Witches’ Brew - Now on Audio!
2) Witches’ Secrets - Now on Audio!
3) Witches’ Charms
4) Witches Spells
The Kitchen Witch
1) Miss Spelled - Now on Audio!
2) Dizzy Spells - Now on Audio!
3) Sit for a Spell - Now on Audio!
4) Spelling Mistake - Now on Audio!
5) Ex-Spelled - Now on Audio!
6) The Halloween Spell
7) Spellcheck
8) The Halloween Love Spell
9) Spell It Out
The Middle-aged Ghost Whisperer
1) Christmas Spirit - Now on Audio!
2) Ghost Hunter
3) There Must be a Happy Medium
Witch Woods Funeral Home
1) A Ghost of a Chance- Now on Audio!
2) Nothing to Ghost About - Now on Audio!
3) Make the Ghost of It
4) Ghost Stories
5) Ghost Blusters
And Morgana’s non-Witch Cosy mysteries:
Cocoa Narel Chocolate Shop Mysteries
1) Sweet Revenge
2) The Sugar Hit
3) Murder Sweetly Served
4) Chocolate to Die For
The Australian Amateur Sleuth
1) Live and Let Diet
2) Natural-Born Grillers
3) Dye Hard
4) The Prawn Identity
5) Any Given Sundae
6) The Last Mango in Paris
AUDIO. All Morgana’s books are currently being narrated for Audio.
Glossary
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
I have used Australian spelling in this series, so for example, Mum instead of the US spelling Mom, neighbour instead of the US spelling neighbor, realise instead of the US spelling realise. It is Ms, Mr and Mrs in Australia, not Ms., Mr. and Mrs.; cosy and not cozy; 1930s not 1930’s; offence not offense; centre not center; towards not toward; jewellery not jewelry; favour not favor; mould not mold; two storey house not two story house; practise (verb) not practice (verb); odour not odor; smelt not smelled; travelling not traveling; liquorice not licorice; lent not leaned; have concussion not have a concussion; anti clockwise not counterclockwise; go to hospital not go to the hospital; sceptic not skeptic; aluminium not aluminum; learnt not learned. These are just some of the differences.
Please note that these are not mistakes or typos, but correct Aussie spelling and terms.
AUSTRALIAN SLANG AND TERMS
Big Smoke - a city
Blighter - infuriating or good-for-nothing person
Blimey - an expression of surprise
Blue - an argument
Bluestone - copper sulphate (copper sulfate in US spelling)
Bluo - a blue laundry additive, an optical brightener
Bogan - someone considered to be rough, low-life, “trailer-trash”
Boot (car) - trunk (car)
Bonnet (car) - hood (car)
Bunging it on - faking something, pretending
Cark it - die
Come good - turn out okay
Copper, cop - police officer
Coot - silly or annoying person
Crikey! - an expression of surprise
Drongo - an idiot
Fair crack of the whip - a request to be fair, reasonable, just
Flat out like a lizard drinking water - very busy
Galah - an idiot
Garbage - trash
G’day - Hello
Give a lift (to someone) - give a ride (to someone)
Goosebumps - goose pimples
Laundry (referring to the room) - laundry room
Like a stunned mullet - very surprised
Mad as a cut snake - either insane or very angry
Miles - while Australians have kilometres these days, it is common to use expressions such as, “The road stretched for miles,” “It was miles away.”
Mow (grass / lawn) - cut (grass / lawn)
Swag - a (temporary) bedroll
Stone the crows! - an expression of surprise
Takeaway (food) - Take Out (food)
Torch - flashlight
Tuck in (to food) - to eat food hungrily
Ute /Utility - pickup truck
Vegemite - Australian food spread, thick, dark brown
Wardrobe - closet
Indigenous References
Bush tucker - food that occurs in the Australian bush
Koori - the original inhabitants/traditional custodians of the land of Australia in the part of NSW in which this book is set. Murri are the people just to the north. White European culture often uses the term, Aboriginal people.
About Morgana Best
Best selling Aussie author, Morgana Best, grew up leaving Tim Tams for the fairies at the bottom of her garden. Now she lives with a half-blind Chocolate Labrador who happily walks into doors, a rescue Dingo who steals zucchinis from the veggie patch, and a cat with no time for nonsense. A former college professor, Morgana enjoys big bowls of pasta, not working out, and visiting the local lighthouse, where she tries to spot the white humpback whale.
www.morganabest.com
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