A Mew to a Kill by Leighann Dobbs

and the other cats went back to their naps. Pandora recognized her cue to leave. She turned and trotted toward the door, flicking her tail up in the air, the kink pointed out like a middle finger and aimed directly at Otis on the way out.

    ***

    Pandora was waiting for me at the edge of the path when I left Elspeth’s. We walked back together, my mind whirling with possibilities. Could Paisley’s mysterious brother be the killer? Why did he live in a homeless shelter? Were he and Paisley on speaking terms? And what about Neil Lane? Was he mad enough to kill?
    I put my hands in my pockets and my fingertips brushed against the charm. I debated whether or not to tell Gus and Striker about it. Probably best to keep it to myself for now. I didn’t want to send them in Maisie’s direction. It was ridiculous to think the old woman had killed Paisley.
    Back home, I got busy in the kitchen, feeding Pandora and making a snack out of apples, peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. My leg started to throb, letting me know that I had probably overdone it.  
    I took my snack into the living room to relax. Flopping down on the couch, I rested my leg up on the coffee table to ease the pain. Reaching down, I massaged the knot of muscle in my calf and found myself wishing Striker didn’t have to work late. He gave great massages.
    “ Meow. ” Pandora jumped up on the couch beside me, eyeing my snack.
    I put a little fluff on my finger and held it out to her. She sniffed it for what seemed like five minutes before turning her nose up and giving me a funny look. She turned to leave, then did a double-take, jerking her head in the direction of the middle of the coffee table.
    I followed her gaze and noticed the glass orb on the coffee table, a gift from Elspeth, was reflecting light from the kitchen. It must have caught the light just right and was glowing an iridescent yellow. Pandora seemed mesmerized by it. She leaped up onto the table, meowing loudly and staring into its depths.
    “You won’t find anything good in there,” I said to her.
    “ Merow! ” She sounded like she disagreed.
    I ignored her and went back to my line of thinking. My suspect list was growing and I needed to question Neil and Paisley’s brother. What motives would her brother have had, though? I could see Neil’s motives now that Elspeth had mentioned it. He had twenty grand to lose. I knew he was reputed to be reclusive and unsociable, but was he a killer?
    And what about the brother? Why did he live in a homeless shelter? Were he and Paisley in contact with each other, or had they had a falling out?
    I thought back to the events of the day. I hadn’t gotten any clues by watching them investigate the crime scene out my window. Gus and Striker had been less than helpful, but Jimmy had mentioned something about a final picture that Paisley took. Had she gotten off a shot of her killer?
    What I really wanted was to prove that George did it. I had a pretty strong feeling about him which reminded me that we needed to get into Paisley’s house. We might be able to find those pictures which would incriminate George and there might be other evidence in there as well. We needed to talk to Opal—she might know something useful. Maybe she even had a spare key to Paisley’s place, just like I had to Pepper's. Hopefully, she would be willing to cooperate with us once we told her we were trying to help find her friend’s killer.
    I limped back into the kitchen to get my phone and was happy to discover a text from Pepper.
    Got a lead on Opal u free tmrw night at 8?
    I happily thumbed my reply. Yep .
    Tomorrow night couldn’t come soon enough.

Chapter Nine

    The next day, I went in early hoping to question Paisley’s ghost about her brother. I was rearranging the books in the fashion section, waiting for her to pop in when Bing, Josiah, Hattie and Cordelia came in.  
    “Hi, Willa.” Hattie peeked down the aisle and waved at me. I noticed she was wearing a light