Read The Extortion Cat-astrophe: A Beatrice Young Cozy Cat Mystery (Beatrice Young Cozy Cat Mysteries Book 2) for Free Online

idea who you’re dealing with.”
    “I am not the bad guy here!” she retorted. “I was simply trying to help a friend, Jake. Nate has been living in terror for a decade . I had to respect the fact that it would take a few days for him to relent to the idea of involving you. Of course it was on my mind.”
    “Not soon enough,” the sheriff shot back. “Beatrice, when are you going to learn that this isn’t a game, that people’s lives are at risk here?”
    “I’m pretty sure I understood the consequences when I was in that shoot-out with you the other day.”
    Sheriff Roy took a deep breath and leaned back in his seat. He was a short man but stocky, with a rather forbidding expression that made almost everyone tremble in their boots. “I’m going to get Nathan in here first thing tomorrow morning. I’m taking over the case. You’re involvement ends here. I have nothing more to say to you right now, Bee.”
    Normally, this would have been the time when Beatrice reminded him of how she used to babysit him and change his diapers. But he looked so angry that she decided it was best to let things lie.
    She rounded up the cats and headed back into the truck. She really needed that bubble bath. Maybe the cats sensed her exhaustion, because Lucky went into his carrier without a fight and Hamish meekly curled up in the back. It was a quick ride home but for Beatrice, who couldn’t stop running the conversation with the sheriff through her head, it seemed like a lifetime. Had she finally gone too far?

11
    The smell of cinnamon buns lifted Beatrice’s depressed spirits the next morning. It’s hard not to feel happy when you’re surrounded by butter, sugar, and flour—or at least that was her philosophy. The cats were still seemed tuckered out by the previous day’s dramas and were sleepily lazily on the floor in a patch of sun.
    As soon as Zoe came in and saw her boss moping at the window seat, moodily scrolling through Simply Accounting, she gave her a big hug and got right to baking cinnamon buns.
    Though Beatrice made a mean bun, Zoe had perfected the art. Hers were a little crispy on the outside and gooey in the center, spicy with cinnamon, laden with decadent cream cheese frosting, and sprinkled with crunchy candied pecans. The result was nothing less than divine.
    While the buns were baking, Zoe made a perfect latte with a heart in the foam and placed it in front of Beatrice, then sat down across from her.
    “Bad night, boss?” she asked while tossing her dark bangs out of her eyes.
    Beatrice cracked half a smile and then reached across and grasped the younger woman’s hand.
    “You’re the best, Zoe. Really. Thanks.” She took a sip of the latte. “Oh and this is the best . I love how strong you make them. Listen hun, I think I did something stupid.”
    Beatrice swept back her long gray hair into a clip and rested her cheeks in her fists. “Remember how you weren’t supposed to know why we were going to Waitsfield yesterday…”
    “So that you could stalk some guy that you think is extorting Nathan Moore,” Zoe replied promptly.
    Beatrice froze. “Uh, how do you know that?”
    “You and Matthew whisper really loudly.”
    “We really are the worst spies ever. Well, I guess the cat’s out of the bag. The thing is, Sheriff Roy found out that I knew about the extortion. What’s more, he realized I’d purposefully been keeping it from him. At Nate’s request of course.”
    Zoe let out a long, slow breath. “You’re creamed.”
    “I know. I know.” Beatrice rubbed her eyes. “I’ve never been so happy to lose myself in work. I know we’re not even supposed to open today but I figured, why not? You don’t have to be here though, Zoe. You should take the day off.”
    The younger woman pulled out her phone and showed her a long string of text messages under the header “Hunter.” Beatrice put on her reading glasses. All of them were from him and each invented a special reason why she