Meow or Never (Vanessa Abbot Cat Protection League Cat Cozy Mystery Series Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

so.”

    Vanessa nodded. “I see.”

    “Are you ready to go inside?” Julie
asked.

    Julie unlocked the gate and they walked
toward the house. Vanessa stopped in front of the porch and set the crate on
the ground. She flicked the latch, and the door fell open.

    Julie gasped. “You’re sure it won’t run
away?”

    Vanessa smiled up at her. “You just
watch.” She took a step away from the crate.

    Nothing happened for a long minute. The
two women stared down at the crate. Every so slowly, a speckled cat stuck his
nose through the door and sniffed the air. Then he sneezed and his head
emerged.  He took the first tentative
step onto the grass.

    Julie watched in rapt attention. The
cat stepped lightly onto the lawn. “How will you know if it’s all right?”

    Vanessa didn’t answer. The cat crept
forward with every whisker alert. He twitched his nose one-way and then
another. Then he trotted forward and hopped up on the porch. He sat down in the
sunshine and started cleaning his coat.

    Vanessa smiled at Julie. “We can go in
now.”

    Julie’s eyes flew open. “Just like
that?”

    Vanessa nodded. “Henry knows his
business. You can trust him.”

    “How do you know your other cats will
like it just as much?” Julie asked.

    “Henry knows,” Vanessa replied. “If he
likes it, the others will like it, too. He wouldn’t say it’s okay if it
wasn’t.”

    “When did he say it was okay?” Julie
asked.

    Vanessa dropped her eyes. “Just now.
Now can we go inside? I want to have a look around.”

    Julie showed her the house. Then they
took a walk around the grounds. After an hour or so of giving the place a
thorough inspection, Vanessa put Henry in the crate and took him back to
Julie’s car.

    “What did you think?” Julie asked. “Do
you think you might go for it?”

    “It’s very nice,” Vanessa asked. “I
think my cats and I would be very happy here.”

    “Then would you like to make an offer?”
she asked.

    Vanessa blushed and turned toward the
car. “I’ll have to discuss that with the bank. But I will tell you that I would
love to buy it.”

    Julie smiled, and Vanessa picked up
Henry’s crate to put it in the car. At that moment, the cat let out a yowl that
set Vanessa’s hair on end. He screeched and scratched and fought to get out of
the crate.

    “What is wrong with you, Henry?”
Vanessa asked. “What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”

    “He didn’t act that way on the trip out
here,” Julie pointed out. “Something set him off.”

    “He never acts like this—ever,” Vanessa
replied. “That’s why I brought him. He’s the most even-tempered cat in the
world.”

    “Well, he’s not being very
even-tempered now, is he?” Julie remarked. “Do you want to take him out and see
if he settles down?”

    Vanessa shook her head and slid the
crate into her seat. “Let’s just go. Maybe he’ll settle down when we get on the
road.”

    Julie nodded and got into the driver’s
seat. Vanessa took one last look around, and at that moment the sun reflected
off something over in the dilapidated barn across the road. At first, she
discounted it as a reflection on the broken glass in the old windowpanes. But
then she looked again and realized the bright light blinked back and forth. The
reflective surface was moving.

    Vanessa peered closer at the building
and saw the moving reflection in one of the broken windows. A shape rose up
over the windowsill, and a human head appeared behind the shining light.
Vanessa could just make out the sandy brown hair swept sideways, the mustache
above the upper lip, and the square cut of the jaw.

    Vanessa caught her breath, and her
heart nearly burst out of her chest. She blinked, but she couldn’t deny the
evidence of her own senses. The person over in the barn window, watching her
through binoculars, was none other than Walter Connelly!

    As she watched, Walter bent down and
picked up something from the floor at his feet. He