Superior Storm (Lake Superior Mysteries) Read Online Free PDF Page B

it again, a soft rubbing, maybe someone’s pant-leg against a chair. Then there was a quiet thump, and then a louder sound of papers being pushed off my desk.
    I leaped through the door, poker raised, yelling, and then I stopped.
    Flattened in fear on my desk was a scrawny orange kitten, its fur puffed up to twice its size. I lowered the poker weakly. Then I collapsed in the chair, laughing.
    The kitten watched me with wide eyes, like I was a Martian just descended from my space-ship.
    “Well,” I said to it, “I’m glad I didn’t hit the panic button. You must have come in when the window was open before.”
    Slowly, the animal relaxed, its fur settling back down into place. Its orange coat was long and fluffy, like a Persian cat. The kitten looked small and helpless and very hungry. It continued to stare at me out of large round eyes.
    “I had a vet friend who told me once that orange cats are almost always male,” I said to it. “That true?”
    The kitten slowly sat up, and then yawned and started to clean itself.
    “Well, I’m going to take that a yes. You new in the neighborhood?” He had to be a stray. He looked ill-kept and hungry, and there were no houses for a mile around my place.
    The cat stopped licking himself and stared at me again.
    “What?” I said. “You got something to say, say it.”
    “Mew,” he said, and then started purring.
    “I guess I can see that,” I said. I leaned forward slowly. “You OK if I pick you up?” As I reached out my hand, the kitten arched his back and rubbed against my computer monitor. I stroked him and the purring got louder. I gently reached under him and picked him up, pulling him back to my chest. He immediately thrust his head decisively under my chin, the purring going like a chainsaw.
    After a minute I carried him out into the living room, where I replaced the poker and stepped into my kitchen. I put him on the floor and got him a little bowl of milk. He sniffed at it curiously, and then tasted it. After a second or two he began lapping furiously. When he was finished , he came to me where I sat on the couch. He climbed up my leg, and the n wormed his way up my chest to shove his face under my chin again. I petted him and blew fur away from my face. Eventually he fell asleep and I moved him up against some pillows on the couch.
    Before bed I checked the doors and windows. I leaned the poker next to my bed. Even so, I laid there for a long time staring into the dark. I heard a little sound and then the kitten padded softly into my room. “Mew?” he said, and the scrambled up my comforter. He wormed his way under the covers until he was tucked under my chin, purring loudly.
    “Goodnight,” I said, and slept peacefully the rest of the night.

CHAPTER 7
    It was fall, and the counseling appointments were starting to line up. Minnesotans didn't waste time with relational or psychological problems during the short, beautiful summers. They tried to eke every last second of enjoyment out of each precious degree above sixty . So every fall, after school started up, I had a rash of appointments. This year, the favored topic seemed to be marriage problems.
    On the Tuesday after the bank robbery, I had an appointment with someone new, a woman named Angela. She had called the church out of the blue, and Julie had set up the meeting. At eleven, she came into the church office.
    She was probably five foot seven, with a mass of frizzy, dark-blond hair. I thought it was a natural frizz. I couldn't imagine anyone paying to get that done to her hair. All the same, she had it pinned and barretted so that it cascaded attractively down one shoulder.
    I stood up and walked around my desk. “Come on in,” I said. “Do you want some coffee?” To my approval, she accepted. I decided to have a cup with her. Just to be sociable.
    I ushered her to the sitting area and went to get the elixir of the gods. When I came back , she was sitting on the love seat, both legs crossed under