Read Meows, Magic & Murder for Free Online Page A

treats, and he promised to look after things for me while I was gone for a few hours. Nice man. You could do worse, you know.”
    “So you let a complete stranger man the shop? For all you know, he’s snooping around.”
    “I’m sure it will be just fine. He’s going to be running for sheriff soon, you know.”
    “Believe me, I know. I personally don’t think the man cares for me after Pansy scared his dog today.”
    “Oh, no? Are you sure? I was hoping you two could get better acquainted.”
    Sure, she did. Aunt Maxine didn’t much care for Petunia’s choice of men, and she wasn’t always wrong on that account, like in Jeremy’s case. She had warned her that Jeremy wasn’t the right type of man to be giving a love potion to, but Petunia didn’t listen and she was stuck with him now, unless she could figure out a way to turn him back into a human again.
    Once they were in the garage, Aunt Maxine got out and called, “Come along, Pansy, dear.”
    Hazel and Wanda were already inside when they joined them inside, and Aunt Maxine led them into the parlor that had a huge fireplace with frog figurines scattered along the mantle. The room was entirely filled with black leather furniture and antique oak woodwork, including a bookshelf filled with assorted witchcraft books that Petunia hoped were never opened. It was bad enough that one potion book had been opened, which was the root of Petunia’s troubles. She stepped back as her aunt’s cat Princess whizzed past.
    “What on earth is wrong with that cat today?”
    Aunt Maxine shrugged. “She’s a cat, need I say more?”
    “Good point.”
    “Open that bag and let me have a look. There has to be a reason we can’t see that cat of yours now,” Aunt Maxine said.
    Wanda adjusted her spectacles. While she was taller than any of them, Hazel was quite the opposite, being both short and wide.
    Petunia proceeded to remove the contents of her big bag that consisted of little more than her wallet and quite a few spools of yarn. “There’s no clue in here.”
    “What’s in that bottle at the bottom?” Hazel asked. “Is that what I think it is?”
    The bottle was pulled out and the top was missing. “Oh, great. It’s spilled all over the bottom of the bag,” Petunia said.
    “No, it didn’t. It spilled all over me,” Pansy said.
    “That’s strange. I can still hear Pansy, but I can’t see him.”
    A table rocked precariously for a few moments and picture frames hit the floor. “Tell your cat to stop jumping on the tables. I don’t want everything I own to smash into pieces.”
    “Well, it’s not my cat. That’s Jeremy, remember? I only turned him into a cat by accident.”
    “And that’s not all you’ve done,” Wanda added. “What was in this bottle?”
    “V-Vanishing cream,” Petunia choked out.
    “Well, that explains it, then. It’s made him invisible,” Aunt Maxine said. “And you’ll simply have to make him un-invisible.”
    “No, I can’t. I’ve sworn off potions, remember?”
    “We know,” Hazel and Wanda chimed in unison. “That’s why we’re here today.”
    Petunia’s eyes narrowed. “I hope this isn’t some kind of intervention.”
    “Sorry, dear, but you left me no choice, really,” Aunt Maxine said. “You’ve turned a man into a cat and you need to fix that.”
    “You tell her, Aunt Maxine,” Pansy said.
    “I hope you know that they can’t hear you, Pansy,” Petunia fired back. “I just don’t trust myself to make another potion. I’m just not good at it,” she told her aunt.
    “Looks like you made quite the vanishing cream,” Hazel said. “I’d love to use that on one of my ex-husbands.”
    “Which one is that?” Wanda asked. “You have quite a few.”
    “At least I don’t kill all of mine off like you, dear.”
    Hazel and Wanda spent the next few minutes trading barbs until Aunt Maxine said, “Enough, already. We’ll help Petunia out to un-vanish the cat for starters.” She moved to the