Nobody Can Say It’s You: A Hadley Pell Cozy Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page B

toy.
    It was a short piece of cane pole with a string and a fuzzy wormlike critter on the end. All Hadley had to do was wiggle that pole and make the worm dance. Onus would come chasing it down from wherever he was in the house because the worm made a squeaky noise when it was jiggled.
    Like a panther, Onus rounded the sofa and pounced on the worm. Hadley played with him for about five minutes.
    “I’m beat,” she said. “I hope you’ve had enough of this. I sure have. Time for bed.”
    Onus sat down and watched her exit the den.
    “All right, I give in,” Hadley said, leaving her bedroom door opened. “But remember, that pillow’s mine. The bed’s yours, and you can even have the other pillow. But the pillow on the right side of the bed is all mine. Dibs. Dibs. Dibs. I got dibs on that one. You hear me?”
    It was early. The light had not filtered into her bedroom. She felt two paws kneading her cheek. She opened her eyes. Was it the middle of the night? It felt like it. The grit in her eyes told her she’d not been asleep a full eight hours.
    “What’s this, old bird,” Hadley said. “Are you my new alarm clock? What time is it? Five-thirty. Onus, it’s not even six o’clock, and here you are using me for your ‘are you up, old gal’ punching bag! Make that punching cheek. Okay, okay! You out of dry food? What is it? I’m trying to figure it out. Where’s the fire! I’m getting up, already!”
    That must have been it. The cat’s bowl looked as if it had been licked clean.
    “Dry food, canned food. You are high-maintenance, you know that?” Hadley said.
    Onus half-closed his eyes.
    “And impatient, too!” said Hadley.
    She filled his bowl of kibbles.
    “Guess while I’m at it, I might as well go the whole nine yards. Here, pretty kitty. Fresh water in a sparkling clean bowl.
    Onus purred. He hunched over his bowl and Hadley heard little crunching sounds.
    All was right with the world.

Chapter Nine
    T here was a knock on Hadley’s door. Who in the world would be out visiting at this early hour, she wondered. She peeked through the spy hole in the door and opened it.
    “Hadley Jane,” said Lou Edna, from the Beauty Boutique on Main Street, “I hope I didn’t give you a fright, bangin’ on your door like the cops breakin’ into the back room where Al Capone hid all his hooch. But just like Prohibition, I’m on a mission!
    “I know it’s just a hair past the crack ‘a dawn, but I had ta’ tell somebody. I was on my way into the shop and saw your light on.”
    “Onus decided we both should rise early this morning to greet the sun,” Hadley said. “You want some coffee? I’m on my second pot.”
    “Boy, he did get you up early,” said Lou Edna.
    “Well, not that early,” said Hadley. “I just love my brew. I haven’t decided if I’m addicted to the taste of good java or the caffeine.”
    “I know what you mean,” said Lou Edna. “I drink it strong and black all day at the shop. Without it, I think my face would hit the floor around three o’clock. But listen, girlfriend, I need to tell you what’s got me riled up! My nerve’s are strung tighter than a piano wire stretched across the Grand Canyon. I am just fit to be tied, Hadley! Fit to be tied!”
    “Sit down, then,” Hadley said. “And tell me about it.”
    “I was on my way home last night,” Lou Edna said. “It was pretty late.
    I had dressed up, you know, real nice. You know me. Best foot forward. Well, anyway, I had on my favorite pink rhinestone cowboy boots and a pink satin shirt and the purtiest pair ‘a rhinestone jeans you ever laid eyes on. I’m hear to tell you, girl, I was sparklin’ like the New Year’s Eve ball in Time’s Square.
    “Anyways, me and a friend had decided to go out for a beer at Southern Sadie’s. You know, girl’s night out. That kinda thing.
    “Anyway, Ora Lavelle, that’s who I was with, got called away. She came back to the table with this sheepish look on her face. Seems