The Pet-Sitting Peril Read Online Free PDF

practically flew past him and out the front door before the man could close it.
    Nick swallowed in despair. What did he do now?

Chapter Three
    The man was middle-aged and wearing a business suit open to show his paunch with a gold chain across it. Nick thought if he had a belly that stuck out that way, he wouldn’t call attention to it with a fancy gold chain. The man looked at him with surprised pale eyes. “What the devil was that?” he asked.
    â€œMrs. Sylvan’s cat. Eloise.” Nick ran down the steps and peered out the door. “Did you see which way she went?”
    â€œI didn’t even see enough to know it was a cat. Who’re you?”
    It sounded rude because of the brusque tone. Nick told him, however, very politely. “I’m walking the dog for Mr. Haggard, and taking care of Mrs. Sylvan’s and Mrs. Monihan’s pets for a few weeks. Excuse me, I have to try to find Eloise.”
    The man didn’t introduce himself, but he had a key, so Nick assumed he had a right to be there. Nick went out and down the steps, trying not to panic. What if Eloise got run over, or treed by a dog, or just ran away and never came back?
    He stood on the front sidewalk, looking in every direction. That big white ball of fur ought to stand out against green lawns and rhododendron bushes, but he didn’t see her.
    The U-Haul truck was still being unloaded next door. Melody emerged from it with a stack of velvet pillows, and Nick strode toward her, having a perfectly good excuse to talk to her now.
    â€œHave you seen a cat? A big white Persian?”
    The girl paused, hugging the cushions to her chest. “Came out of that house a few minutes ago? I thought someone was chasing her, she ran so fast.”
    â€œI was, or trying to. Which way did she go?”
    Melody gestured between the houses. “Back toward the alley.” Was there interest in her face? “I’m Melody Jamison. Do you live next door?”
    He explained about his jobs, and then about Eloise. “I have to catch her before Mrs. Sylvan comes home, or I’ll probably be fired.”
    â€œWait a minute, and I’ll help you,” she offered, and ran off to put the pillows on the porch. She led the way through the space between the two houses, apologizing for the mess. “We have to take the truck back first thing in the morning, so we’re trying to get everything out tonight. There isn’t time to unpack and put everything in place, though, so a lot of it’s going into the garage. There! Isn’t that her, up there?”
    They’d reached the alley, and Melody pointed upward toward the back of 1230. The house was only one story high at the very rear of the building, where an old garage too small to house anything but the smallest of cars jutted to the very edge of the lot. Mr. Griesner had his apartment back here, with a door opening into the yard, and there was an outdoor stairway that climbed the side of the building, crossed the roof of the garage, and then climbed even more steeply to another door that must open into Mrs. Monihan’skitchen. At the very top, on the railing, Eloise sat washing her face.
    â€œConfounded cat. I’ve got to catch her,” Nick said. “I’m not sure how, though. She didn’t like me before I gave her the medicine, and now she hates me.” He didn’t add that the feeling was mutual.
    â€œMaybe I can do it. I’m usually good with cats,” Melody said. Up close he saw that her eyes were hazel, and she had a few freckles like his own. “Let me try, okay?”
    â€œBe careful. She scratches,” Nick warned.
    Melody began, very slowly, to climb the stairs up the side of the house. There was no way Nick could block off every avenue of escape, since if Eloise leaped onto the garage roof she could jump off that in any direction in perfect safety. Nick couldn’t cover all the possibilities.
    When Melody