I looked at him. “My help? Whatever for?”
His phone rang and he whipped the cell out of his pocket and snapped it on, turning away from me as he did so. “Jarvis. Yeah, yeah, I’m listening. What have you got for me?”
• • •
I was all the way down to the ground floor when I realized I’d left my notebook on the table. I glanced at the winding staircase and sighed. I wasn’t exactly thrilled about making another trek up three flights of stairs, but I was afraid if I waited until the next class to retrieve the book, there was a good chance it would most likely be relegated to the nearest garbage pail, since I kept forgetting to write my name on the cover.
I took the stairs up a lot slower than I had going down, so it was a good ten minutes before I reached the third floor, which now appeared deserted. As I approached the classroom I saw the light was still on, and as I drew nearer I heard the murmur of voices, pretty loud in tone. One sounded distinctly feminine.
I paused right outside the door. I could hear the words more clearly now. I peeped around the edge of the door. Jarvis was sitting in the leather chair, hands laced behind his neck. He was looking at a woman whose back was to me, so I couldn’t see her features at all. She had good legs, a trim-fitting red coat and nice suede boots to match. Her curly blonde hair was cut in a chin-length bob that bounced as she shook her head emphatically.
“You know you’re playing with fire,” she said. Her voice was high-pitched and slightly nasal. “Do you want to take that chance?”
Jarvis leaned over and mumbled something too low for me to catch any words. The blonde straightened up, then her hand shot out and her finger jabbed at Jarvis’s nose.
“Go ahead, put yourself in danger. Just leave me out of it, I’m warning you.” I frowned, and even though her words piqued my curiosity, my common sense told me that it probably wasn’t a good idea to interrupt just then. I moved away from the doorway and started back toward the stairs, mentally debating whether or not I should wait around for a bit or just leave, when I heard an angry female voice shout out, “Don’t bother me with this again, or I might do something we’ll both regret.” I saw an empty classroom and ducked into it seconds before the blonde barreled past. I got a good look at her face as she made a beeline for the stairway. If it weren’t for the grim expression, I’d almost have called her beautiful. As I watched her race down the stairs, I was gripped by a niggling feeling of familiarity.
I’d seen that girl somewhere before. But where?
Books by T. C. LoTempio
Nick and Nora Mysteries
Meow If It’s Murder
Claws for Alarm
Crime and Catnip
Hiss H for Homicide
Purr N Bark Pet Shop Mysteries
The Time for Murder is Meow
Cat Rescue Mysteries
Purr M for Murder
Death by a Whisker
About the Author
While Toni LoTempio does not commit—or solve—murders in real life, she has no trouble doing it on paper. Her lifelong love of mysteries began early on when she was introduced to her first Nancy Drew mystery at age ten—The Secret in the Old Attic. She and her cat pen the Nick and Nora mystery series, and they also write the Purr N Bark Pet Shop mysteries, which will be continued soon with book two, Killers of a Feather. Catch up with them at Rocco’s blog, catsbooksmorecats.blogspot.com, or her website, tclotempio.net.
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