Real Estate and Murder (A Port Grace Cozy Mystery Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

boxer shorts holding a broom. The silk pajama bottoms were dancing on top of the wardrobe, Mittens curled up inside them, purring and rolling about, her tail flicking back and forth from out of one of the leg holes. As Georgia watched, her father attempted to scare Mittens off with the broom, but Mittens only shot out a paw from the waistband and batted the broom. When Bill tried to smack her off the wardrobe with it, Mittens extracted both front paws and her head from the bottoms, hugged the broom to herself, and chewed on it.
    Georgia’s giggles made Bill turn on her, put his hand on his hip, and point at Mittens with the broom.
    “This cat is worse than a two-year-old,” he thundered. “It’s been up there for twenty minutes doing this. This isn’t the first thing it’s done either. Broke a vase out on the patio chasing a lizard, climbed up and sat on my head while I was trying to watch my shows, got in the laundry basket and threw clothes everywhere! You really need to train this thing, Georgia.”
    “Maybe if you called her ‘she’ instead of ‘it,’ she’d behave better,” said Georgia with a smirk. “She’s a cat, not a dog, Dad. She doesn’t sit or roll over. She’s too dignified for that. She’s an independent woman.”
    Bill grumbled something incoherent before jabbing the broom at his daughter.
    “Get the independent woman down from there before she rips my favorite pajamas to shreds.”
    “Put down the broom and I will.”
    Bill tossed the broom on the floor, and Georgia stood on tiptoe by the wardrobe.
    “Here, Mittens, baby. Come on, kitty,” she said, clucking her tongue.
    Stretching as far as she could, Georgia reached into the pajamas and tickled Mittens under the chin. The tabby poked her head out and meowed in greeting, playing with Georgia’s finger. Georgia clucked and crooned until Mittens extracted herself from the pajamas and walked to the edge of the wardrobe where Georgia could get a solid grip on her. She pulled her off the wardrobe and cradled her like a baby while Bill retrieved his bottoms.
    Georgia shook a finger at the tabby and said, “Mittens, you’re a guest in this house. You’ve got to be on your best behavior.”
    Mittens patted at Georgia’s scolding finger and purred. Georgia laughed and kissed her pink nose.
    “Are your pajamas salvageable, Daddy?” said Georgia in a tone that suggested an eye roll wasn’t far behind.
    Bill inspected the bottoms through narrowed eyes and grumbled something like, “Shouldn’t have to fight the cat just to get in my pj’s.”
    “So they’re perfectly okay?”
    “That’s not the point,” said Bill, pulling on the bottoms with as much dignity as he could muster.
    “I’m sorry, Daddy,” said Georgia, her tone understanding despite the grin on her face. “You don’t have to watch Mittens anymore. I just thought you might like the company.”
    “It wasn’t all bad,” said Bill with a shrug. “She did curl up on my belly and start purring after I got her to leave my head alone. I felt sort of like the Godfather.”
    Georgia threw her head back in a hearty laugh, and Bill beamed.
    “You laugh just like your mother,” he said.
    Georgia set Mittens down and smiled.
    “Working with Chief Harris to help find Bruce’s killer has got me thinking about her a lot,” she said.
    “How so?” said Bill, gesturing for her to precede him out of the bedroom.
    “She loved a good mystery,” said Georgia.
    “More than anyone else I’d ever met. Remember how she used to solve the neighborhood problems—finding missing gardening tools, figuring out who’d hit Mrs. Niemen’s mailbox?”
    Georgia smiled at the memories as she and her dad settled into the living room.
    “Of course I remember,” said Georgia, stroking Mittens in her lap. “Not every kid can say their mom was in the paper for catching a neighborhood burglar.”
    “Yeah, that was pretty amazing,” said Bill, looking off fondly into space. “Although it