Read Cat With a Clue for Free Online

a clothing manufacturer, she’d woken up one morning and been too exhausted to drag herself out of bed. She needed a rest, her doctor had told her, so here she was, not resting all that much, but having a wonderful time.
    Her intended match, Morris, was a little different. At fifty-three, Morris was a middle-aged man who’d for years slid from one job to another without a specific career goal in mind. He made a lot of friends but not much money, at least until one of his buddies introduced him to a guy who know a guy who produced voice-over advertising. Morris’s voice was now ubiquitous on radioand television, and he’d made enough money in five years to take a nice, long break.
    The two of them had been the summer’s first arrivals at the boardinghouse and, from the second day, had been inseparable. They were spending a lot of time on the multitude of beaches on the many area lakes and had started a blog about their observations.
    â€œLiz and Morris.” My aunt sounded puzzled. “Liz and . . . oh yes.” She smiled. “They’ve gone to a beach.”
    I did an internal eye roll. “The matches are going well this summer?”
    â€œMmm.” She thought a moment. “Well enough, I suppose.”
    I peered at her. If I didn’t know better, I would have said she didn’t care about the matchmaking results. Which was odd, because making sure her pairs paired up properly had been the focus of her summers for umpteen years. “Are you feeling okay?” I asked.
    â€œWhat?” She blinked again. “I’m fine. What makes you think there’s something wrong?”
    I held up my index finger. “For one thing—”
    She laughed and got to her feet. “Out, favorite niece.” Since I was her only niece, this meant nothing, but hearing her say so still made me feel warm and fuzzy. “Or stay for dinner,” she said, “but you’ll have to eat all your vegetables.”
    â€œGot to go,” I said, jumping up. “Eddie is waiting, and you know how he can get. I’ll see you later.”
    I was halfway to the door when Aunt Frances said, “Minnie, I’m sorry about the woman who was killed, but . . .” Her voice caught on itself. “But I’m really glad it wasn’t you.”
    Turning back, I gave her a quick, hard hug. “Me, too,” I whispered.
    *   *   *
    â€œWhat do you think?” I held out a forkful of shrimp pad Thai.
    Eddie, sitting across from me, with his chin almost resting on the houseboat’s compact dining table, sniffed at the food, then blew out a quick breath and disappeared. A second later, I heard his feet
thump-thump
to the floor.
    â€œYeah,” I agreed. “A little too spicy.” But since this was the only food I had available, other than cold cereal, I forked it in, anyway, alternating bites of pad Thai with swallows of milk. “The take-out place has a new cook,” I said. “I’ll have to be careful next time I order.”
    My cat was supremely uninterested in my culinary concerns. He was far more interested in planning his jump to the boat’s dashboard, where he would have an excellent view of the seagulls wheeling about over the lake’s waving waters.
    Janay Lake, twenty miles long, was connected to the mass of Lake Michigan by a narrow channel that was just out of sight. Chilson had come into being because back in the mid-to-late 1800s, it had been a transportation hub for logging, favored both for its natural harbor and for the railroad that skimmed around the north shore.
    â€œDid you know that Alfred Chilson was the first postmaster?” I asked Eddie. “That’s where the town got its name.”
    Eddie didn’t seem to care about this, either. His body made a long arc in the air and he hit the deck.
    â€œNeed something to do?” I asked, getting up from the dining booth. After