The Cat, the Wife and the Weapon: A Cats in Trouble Mystery Read Online Free PDF

for a while. They seem to care a lot for each other.” Ed owned Ed’s Swap Shop and was one of the most generous, kindest men I’d ever met. Strange guy, yes, but he had a big heart and was no more strange than Karen.
    “I guess I’m not including Ed since he’s part of the here and now,” Tom said. “He’s the reason I ended up in Mercy. Following Mom again. She met Ed when he came to an antique auction in North Carolina, and they had an instant connection. She moved here, bought a house and when I decided I was done with police work, done with Hilary, I came here, too.”
    “I have to say, you are a good son, looking out for your mom for so many years,” I said.
    “My mom didn’t always make good choices, but she and I were always close,” he said. “She’s settled in for the long haul with Ed and I am so glad she found another decent man. Guess I’m talking about her past because I don’t want to talk about Hilary. I better share what happened in the past few days, though. Maybe then I’ll have the wits to solve a few pressing problems.”
    “Start with when you met Hilary or I might get confused. You said this was in North Carolina?” I prompted.
    “Yes. In court. I was testifying on a case,” he said with disgust. “That should have been a red flag. She was a witness against her former boss. His business was more than a little illegal since money was being laundered every other hour. I told myself she’d been a pawn, had no idea what her boss was doing until he started asking her to shred anything shredable. Thinking she was innocent was my first mistake. She had these eyes, this way about her. I was toast the minute I saw her.”
    “How long before you two married?” I asked. Something in my voice must have bothered Syrah because he reached a paw out and rested it on my shoulder. Syrah was right. Hearing about Tom’s marriage bothered me. No, the fact that he hadn’t told me before today is what bothered me.
    “Three months after we met, we tied the knot. Three short months. Same pattern my mother followed. But the love affair wasn’t simply with her. She had a twelve-year-old kid. I cared about Finn—short for Finnian—and missed another red flag. If his mother was as fantastic as I thought she was, why was Finn the most melancholy kid on the planet?”
    Not only an ex-wife, but a boy he loved. Wow . “Bet you made Finn less sad. You do that for me all the time.”
    For the first time since we sat on the sofa, I felt Tom relax. He even smiled. Chablis wasn’t fooled by the smile because she crawled off my lap, over a disgruntled Merlot and onto Tom’s. She sensed he needed comfort. He stroked her champagne-colored fur with his free hand. “Finn and I bonded. Did all the father-son stuff. Baseball, Nintendo, hiking, camping. Looking back, meeting Finn was the best thing that came out of marrying Hilary.”
    Though he needed to know about the other problems, like the half brother who had taken up residence at his place and his sick cat, my news could wait. Tom had lots more to say about the past. “How long were you and Hilary married?” I asked.
    “A year,” he said. “Her true colors came out—and hers were mostly black. What did Shakespeare say? Something about smiling and smiling and being a villain? That’s Hilary.”
    “Those irreconcilable differences caused the divorce?” I asked, worried I was wandering too far into painful territory.
    “That and the fact she cheated on me with my partner, Nolan Roth.” He closed his eyes, jaw tight. “I almost stayed for Finn’s sake, because I understood why he was so miserable. She felt nothing for him. But I knew the marriage couldn’t work. When we divorced, leaving him with her was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I feel guilty about it to this day. But I had no choice. I hadn’t adopted him—though I should have—and had no parental rights. Now he’s disappeared and Hilary and Nolan think I encouraged him to run