Cat in the Dark Read Online Free PDF Page B

into the store. There had been no sign of forced entry. No item of merchandise seemed to be missing. Fifteen hundred dollars had been taken, three hundred from the cash register, the balance from the locked safe. The safe had been drilled, a very professional job. Joe didn’t know he was growling until Clyde turned from the stove.
    â€œWhat? What are you reading?” Clyde brought the skillet to the table, dished up the eggs, then picked Joe up as if he were a bag of flour so he could see the paper.
    Joe dangled impatiently as Clyde read.
    Clyde set Joe down again, making no comment, and turned away, his face closed and remote.
    They had been through this too many times. Clyde didn’t like him messing around with burglaries and murders and police business. And Joe was going to do as he pleased. There was no way Clyde could stop him short of locking him in a cage. And Clyde Damen,even at his worst, would never consider such a deed—never be fool enough to attempt it.
    Clyde sat down at the table and dumped pepper on his eggs. “So this is why you’ve been scowling and snarling all morning, this burglary.”
    â€œI haven’t been scowling and snarling.” Joe slurped up a sardine, dipping it in egg yolk. “Why would I bother with a simple break-and-enter? Max Harper can handle that stuff.”
    â€œOh? Those small crimes are beneath you? So, then, what’s with the worried scowl?”
    Joe looked at him blankly and nipped off a bite of Brie.
    Clyde reached across the table and nudged him. “What’s going on? What’s with you?”
    â€œNothing,” Joe said coldly. “Is there some law that I have to tell you all my business?”
    Clyde raised an eyebrow.
    â€œSo there’s a new cat in the village. It’s nothing to worry you, nothing for you to fret over.”
    Clyde was silent a moment, watching him. “I take it this is a tomcat. What did he do, come on to Dulcie?”
    Joe glared.
    Clyde grinned. “What else would make you so surly?” He mopped up egg with his toast. “I imagine you can handle the beast. I don’t suppose this cat has anything to do with last night’s burglary?”
    Joe widened his eyes and laughed. “In what way? What would a cat have to do with a burglary? It’s too early in the morning for dumb questions.”
    Clyde looked at him deeply, then rose and fetched the coffeepot, poured a fresh cup.
    â€œYou get the Sheetrock all torn out?”
    â€œWe did, and hauled it to the dump. No more Sheetrock dust, you and Dulcie can hunt mice to yourlittle hearts’ content without sneezing—until we start hanging new Sheetrock, of course.”
    The five-apartment unit that Clyde had bought was a venture Joe considered incredibly foolhardy. No way Clyde Damen was going to turn that neglected dump into a sound rental investment. The fact that Clyde was working on the project himself turned Joe weak with amusement.
    The only sensible thing Clyde had done on the venture was to hire his girlfriend, Charlie Getz, who operated Charlie’s Fix-It, Clean-It. Charlie’s business was relatively new. She had only a small crew—just two women—but she did good work. Her cleaning lady was sixty-year-old Mavity Flowers, who was a tiny, skinny creature but a surprisingly hard worker. The other employee, Pearl Ann Jamison, was a real find. Pearl Ann not only cleaned for Charlie, she was handy at light carpentry and could turn out professional Sheetrock work, from installation of the heavy wallboard to mudding and taping. The rest of the work on the building, the wiring and plumbing, Charlie and Clyde were farming out to subcontractors.
    Joe finished his breakfast, nosed his plate out of the way, and began to wash, thinking about the burglary. He supposed the antique shop had been the first, as he’d seen nothing in the papers about any other similar thefts. He didn’t let himself dwell on