There were good reasons for getting a cat, but there were reasons not to as well. It might be noisy and wake her up nights. Have hairballs. Scatter litter and shed all over the house. It might jump up on the counter and get into things. Get out of the house and run out into the street.
It was probably a bad idea.
Reg looked into the next cage. The black and white cat raised his head, then climbed out of the nest of blankets in the corner, stretched, and walked up to the front of the enclosure.
“Hey, cat,” Reg murmured.
He sat up tall and gazed at her, serious and still. Reg poked her finger through the bars at him, hearing a voice in the back of her head warning her never to poke her finger into an animal’s cage. Even a hamster would bite you if you stuck your fingers through the bars. But just like she had ignored the foster mothers who had warned her not to do dangerous things, Reg ignored the voice in her head.
The cat’s nose twitched as he caught her scent. For a minute, he just sat there. Then he leaned forward and took a step closer, touching his nose to her finger, and then rubbing his cheek against it. She felt his teeth brush over her finger as he rubbed. She scratched under his chin.
“Hey, you like that? Does that feel good?”
He rubbed against her and started purring a deep, satisfied rumble.
One of the shelter workers walked up.
“Wow, you connected with the tux!”
Reg looked at her. The girl was a teenager, maybe sixteen or seventeen, blond, with round cheeks. “The tux?”
“See, he’s black with a white chest. Like he’s wearing a black tuxedo and white shirt. So we call him a tuxedo cat.”
“Oh, that’s cool.”
“And he has two different colors of eyes, too. I love that.”
Reg looked at him and realized he had one green eye and one blue. “I guess that means he’s special.”
“I think he is.” The girl poked her finger through the bars to try to scratch the tuxedo cat as well, but he only rubbed against Reg’s finger. “He’s been pretty depressed since he was brought in. His owner died and he hasn’t really clicked with anyone. We’ve tried to play with him and to get him interested in things, but he’s been so sad, pretty much all he’ll do is sleep. He barely even eats.”
In direct contradiction to her words, the cat stopped rubbing against Reg’s finger and went over to his food bowl. He sniffed at the food, then began to eat, crunching the kibble.
Reg laughed.
“Well, he wouldn’t!” the girl protested. “It must be you. Maybe you remind him of his owner.”
Reg watched the cat. “What do you know about her?”
“Her? He’s a he. A boy.”
“No, I mean his owner. What do you know about her?”
“Oh. Well, he’s also a he. A man. Don’t really know much about him, just that Tux must have really been attached to him.”
If she were going to get a cat, then it was obviously going to have to be that one. None of the other cats had shown Reg any interest at all, and she hadn’t been particularly attracted to them. She clicked her tongue, thinking about it, and the noise made the cat turn his head to look at her again. He left his food bowl and again walked to the front of the cage, purring.
“I guess… this is the one,” Reg said.
At least he was a short-hair, so he wouldn’t get too much fur scattered around the cottage. And he seemed very quiet and sedate, not like a kitten that was going to jump on her face in the middle of the night and keep her awake.
“Oh, good!” the girl exclaimed. “I’ll go get Marion, and she can help you with the adoption.”
“Okay. Sure.”
Reg waited there, scratching and quietly communing with her cat until the older supervisor approached to talk to her about the process.
If Reg had been expecting to just walk in and get a cat and walk out ten minutes later, she was sadly mistaken. Even the intake had taken longer than ten minutes. Apparently she needed counseling, needed to be walked through how to care for a cat, all of the things that could go wrong, budgeting for food and vets, what to do for behavioral issues, and on and on.
Reg had a headache by the time they were done and was ready to just pack it in and go home without a cat. But that would make the hours that she had been there wasted time, and she wasn’t going to waste her first full day in Florida. Half of her groceries were already sitting spoiling in the car, and she wasn’t going to walk out of there empty-handed.
Marion finally decided that Reg was ready to go and took the tuxedo cat out of his cage and settled him into a cardboard box, transferring the furry blanket he had been sleeping on into the box as well.
“That will help him transition, having something that already smells like home with him. Now you be sure to call if you have any questions about his care. Normally I would recommend that a first-time pet owner start out with a smaller animal, like a hamster, but… that tux needs a home badly, and he seems to like you.”
Reg watched Marion close the box securely, and then took it from her. She didn’t want to stand there discussing it any further. She wanted her cat home.
The Reg Rawlins, Psychic Investigator series is a spin-off from the Auntie Clem’s Bakery series that follows the exploits of Erin’s foster sister.
What the Cat Knew, Book #1 of the Reg Rawlins, Psychic Investigator series by P.D. Workman can be purchased at pdworkman.com
Also by P.D. Workman
MYSTERY/SUSPENSE:
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Auntie Clem’s Bakery
Gluten-Free Murder
Dairy-Free Death
Allergen-Free Assignation
Witch-Free Halloween (Halloween Short)
Dog-Free Dinner (Christmas Short)
Stirring Up Murder
Brewing Death
Coup de Glace
Sour Cherry Turnover
Apple-achian Treasure
Vegan Baked Alaska
Muffins Masks Murder
Tai Chi and Chai Tea
Santa Shortbread
Cold as Ice Cream
Changing Fortune Cookies
Hot on the Trail Mix
Recipes from Auntie Clem's Bakery
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Reg Rawlins, Psychic Detective
What the Cat Knew
A Psychic with Catitude
A Catastrophic Theft
Night of Nine Tails
Telepathy of Gardens
Delusions of the Past
Fairy Blade Unmade
Web of Nightmares
A Whisker's Breadth
Skunk Man Swamp (Coming Soon)
Magic Ain't A Game (Coming Soon)
Without Foresight (Coming Soon)
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Zachary Goldman Mysteries
She Wore Mourning
His Hands Were Quiet
She Was Dying Anyway
He Was Walking Alone
They Thought He was Safe
He Was Not There
Her Work Was Everything
She Told a Lie
He Never Forgot
She Was At Risk
* * *
Kenzie Kirsch Medical Thrillers
Unlawful Harvest
Doctored Death (Coming soon)
Dosed to Death (Coming soon)
Gentle Angel (Coming soon)
* * *
Parks Pat Mysteries
Out with the Sunset (Coming Soon)
Long Climb to the Top (Coming Soon)
Dark Water Under the Bridge (Coming Soon)
* * *
High-Tech Crime Solvers Series
Virtually Harmless
* * *
Cowritten with D. D. VanDyke
California Corwin P. I. Mystery Series
The Girl in the Morgue
* * *
Stand Alone Suspense Novels
Looking Over Your Shoulder
Lion Within
Pursued by the Past
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In the Tick of Time
Loose the Dogs
* * *
YOUNG ADULT FICTION:
* * *
Medical Kidnap Files:
Mito
EDS
Proxy
Toxo
Pain
* * *
Between the Cracks:
Ruby
June and Justin
Michelle
Chloe
Ronnie
June, Into the Light
* * *
Tamara’s Teardrops:
Tattooed Teardrops
Two Teardrops
Tortured Teardrops
Vanishing Teardrops
* * *
Breaking the Pattern:
Deviation
Diversion
By-Pass
* * *
Stand Alone YA novels
Stand Alone
Don’t Forget Steven
Those Who Believe
Cynthia has a Secret
Questing for a Dream
Once Brothers
Intersexion
Making Her Mark
Endless Change
Gem, Himself, Alone
* * *
AND MORE AT PDWORKMAN.COM
About the Author
Award-winning and USA Today bestselling author P.D. (Pamela) Workman writes riveting mystery/suspense and young adult books dealing with mental illness, addiction, abuse, and other real-life issues. For as long as she can remember, the blank page has held an incredible allure and from a very young age she was trying to write her own books.
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Workman wrote her first complete novel at the age of twelve and continued to write as a hobby for many years. She started publishing in 2013. She has won several literary awards from Library Services for Youth in Custody for her young adult fiction. She currently has over 60 published titles and can be found at pdworkman.com.
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Born and raised in Alberta, Workman has been married for over 25 years and has one son.
Please visit P.D. Workman at pdworkman.com to see what else she is working on, to join her mailing list, and to link to her social networks.
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