Read Meow or Never (Vanessa Abbot Cat Protection League Cat Cozy Mystery Series Book 3) for Free Online Page B

she breathed, “I'm sorry. I never
should have doubted you. Aurora, I am so sorry for knocking you away like
that.” She picked up the kitten and gave her a cuddle. “Do you know where the
gas leak is?”

    Henry strode over to the wall heater
between her closet and the bathroom. He pretended to sniff at it, but then he
wrinkled up his nose and sneezed.

    Vanessa knelt down in front of the wall
heater and looked inside. There, right next to the pilot light controller she
spotted a perfectly round hole. Tiny copper shavings curled up from the sides
of it, and a faint hissing noise came from it. The smell of gas hit her in the
face.

    “And to think,” she murmured. “The
moment I turned on the thermostat, the pilot light would have come on and the
whole place would have blown up.”

    She stood up and looked around. The
smell of gas was becoming unbearable, but the cats—her cats—still crowded the
room. They wouldn't leave her alone, not even with all their lives in danger.
How could she ever have doubted them? No wonder they didn't want her to light
the fire.

    She picked up Foxle and glanced around
again. “I'll take Foxle. He's the one who needs me the most, since he's the
most terrified of leaving the apartment. 
Can you others follow me? Henry, you lead them. Show them where to go.”

    Henry trotted toward the door. AngelPie
and Flossy, who left the apartment every day to help Vanessa in the Opportunity
Shop, followed him, and the rest took the signal. Foxle shivered in her arms.
At that instant, Aurora clawed her way up Vanessa's pant leg and burrowed into
her arms next to Foxle. He calmed down at once, and Vanessa hugged them both
against her chest.

    “All right. Good,” Vanessa went on.
“Follow me, all of you. We've got to get out of here.”

    She hurried to the front door. She got
into her overcoat as best she could with one arm around Foxle and Aurora. Then
she stuck her keys in her pocket, and went out into the hall with a crowd of
cats at her heels.

    She raced down the stairs as fast as
she could until she got to the shop. She opened the door, flicked on the overhead
light, and stood back while the cats filed past her into the shop. They stopped
by the cat food cupboard and waited for her. None of them made a sound.

    Under Vanessa's chin, Foxle panted in
anxiety, but Aurora purred to kept him calm. “It's all right,” Vanessa told
him. “I've got you. You don't have to worry. We just have to get out of that
apartment. Now, is everyone here?”

    She did a quick head count and came up
with eleven cats. “Whom have we left behind?” Then she realized she forgot to
count Foxle and Aurora. “So everyone's here. I'll just call Detective Wheeler.
Then we'll get out of the building.”

    She went to the phone at the front
counter and picked up the receiver. All the cats followed her. They didn't want
to be alone. She dialed Pete's cell phone number, but at that moment, a
tremendous explosion rocked the building.

    The concussion knocked Vanessa to the
ground. She landed on top of Foxle, and he squealed in shock. The crockery and
glassware rattled on the tables and shelves. One of AngelPie's favorite radios
fell off the electronic shelves and crashed to the floor just inches away from
Vanessa.

    “I'm so sorry, darling,” she told
Foxle. “I didn't mean to hurt you. Is everyone else all right?”

    She glanced around. The other cats
cowered under the furniture and stared around the room with wild eyes. Vanessa
did the fastest survey she could of her cats and struggled to her feet. “Come
on, darlings. We have to get out of this building. There could be another blast
at any moment.”

    She started for the door when it flew
open with a crash. Detective Wheeler put his foot through the door and dashed
into the shop. He looked around and clapped his eyes on Vanessa.

    “Oh, thank God you're all right,” he
exclaimed. “I was parked outside when the explosion happened.”

    Vanessa threw her