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patrician features quite lovely and perfect, her pale blue linen dress elegantly styled, stood in stocking feet on the coffee bar. She held up a poster. A rectangular-muzzled, green-eyed, chocolate-colored cat appeared as brooding as a gothic hero. The legend read: Always say yes to adventure.
    A lantern-jawed woman in the front row thundered, “Two hundred dollars.”
    A plump matron with untidy brown curls jumped to her feet. “Three hundred.”
    “Three hundred dollars.” Laurel repeated the sum twice. “Do I hear three-fifty?”
    After a beat, she clapped her hands together. “Sold for three hundred dollars. That completes my offering of Paws That Refresh: Cat Truth . I thank you for your wonderful support today for our animal rescue center. The sum raised by the auction—”
    Annie took a step into the coffee area.
    Laurel continued smoothly, “—will help provide shelter and treatment for abandoned and abused dogs and cats. We would also like to thank Death on Demand for offering to host the auction. And here is the wonderful proprietor of Death on Demand, eager to welcome you lovely ladies from the Captivating Crimes Book Club. Perhaps Annie would like to share a tribute to Mississippi Delta author Carolyn Haines, who writes wonderful books and helps rescue abused and abandoned horses, dogs, and cats, and to Mary Kennedy of Dead Air and Reel Murder fame, who rescues cats and supports all efforts to protect animals.”
    Annie remembered one of the posters now residing in her and Max’s living room, a silky-furred, mitted, and bicolored Ragdoll stretched out on a red silk cushion, looking as comfy as Eva Longoria in a Hanes ad: Go with the flow.
    Annie’s smile was genuine. “Thank you, Laurel, for your support for animals and for sharing news of Carolyn Haines’s Sarah Booth Delaney series and Mary Kennedy’s talk-radio series. Animal lovers”—she swept her arm in an all-inclusive gesture—“will enjoy visiting Carolyn Haines’s online animal rescue page, www.goodfortunefarmrefuge.org.”
    Immediately, several ladies lifted their iPhones and fingers flew as they typed in the link.
    Annie beamed at Laurel. The best outcome, in addition to sales, was that the dreaded posters were no longer on her worktable, though Annie well knew there were more where these came from. However, there was no point in borrowing trouble. Moreover, a worthy cause had profited.
    Annie mingled and was charming. But if Pat Merridew dared enter Death on Demand, it would be the shortest stay in history.
    A s soon as Henny reached her car at the Sea Side Inn parking lot, she flipped open her cell.
    “Death on Demand, the finest—”
    Henny interrupted. “Hey, Ingrid, did Pat show up?”
    “No. Laurel helped out. We made it through.” Ingrid described the auction.
    Henny grinned. “If you can’t beat ’em, maybe you need to join ’em.”
    “I don’t think that’s what Annie wants to hear. Oh, got to go. Some tourists . . .”
    Henny sat behind her wheel, tapped Pat’s number. No answer. She had called twice before going to the luncheon. Pat wasn’t at the store. She wasn’t home. Where was she? Maybe she had a call from a friend who needed to go to a doctor’s appointment in Savannah. Maybe she forgot to call the bookshop. Maybe a lot of things.
    Henny tried to maintain a positive outlook, but she felt both irritated and disappointed. She had helped Pat find a job and now Pat had let Annie down. Henny pressed her lips together. Her words might be sharp when she found Pat. With a decided nod, she turned on the motor and headed for Pat’s house instead of home.
    Henny drove with her windows down, enjoying the pleasant June heat. In July the island would swelter and cooling the car with air-conditioning would be automatic. She turned on a dusty narrow road north of downtown. Palmettos, live oaks, red cedars, and yellow pines crowded the road. The burgeoning woods were interrupted by occasional houses. She enjoyed