Cats on the Prowl (A Cat Detective cozy mystery series Book 1) by Nancy C. Davis

“I don’t know. I was hoping you and Bella could help
us.”

    “I’m not a police cat,” Chester
growled.

    “What can we do to help?” Bella asked.

    At that moment, a shout went up inside
the cafe. The back door flew open, and voices echoed down the alley. “Get that
cat out of here!”

    Chester and Willow turned around to see
Nat streaking through the cafe. He dodged between customers’ legs and toppled
chairs in his wake. Women screamed and startled patrons dropped they coffee
cups. Broken crockery and steaming coffee covered the floor.

    Carl and Naya looked up from their
conversation with the clerk at the cash register. Carl stared at the unfolding
pandemonium, but Naya gasped out loud. “That’s Nat! What's he doing here?”

    Nat never stopped running. Willow’s
heart soared at the sight of him. She would have called out encouragement to
him, but she didn't want to distract him. He raced through the cafe with
employees and the manager in hot pursuit.

    Nat made a bee line for the back door
and doubled his speed. He put the puddles of coffee and whipped cream behind
him and dashed headlong through the door. The manager waved his arms one last
time and shouted after him. The next minute, the door slammed shut and Nat
vanished into thin air.

    Carl bent over his wallet, but Naya
stared at the closed door with a curious look on her face. Carl paid the tab,
but when he looked up, he found Naya moving toward the back door in a stupefied
trance.

    “What are you doing?” Carl asked.

    Naya didn’t turn around. “That was
Nat.”

    “So what?” Carl asked. “He probably
gets up to all kinds of mischief when he leaves the station. He’ll find his way
back later.”

    Naya didn’t turn around. The manager
gave her a strange look of his own, but he wasn’t going to stand in the way of
a police investigation.

    Naya pushed the door open, and her eyes
popped. “Oh, hello, Jason. What are you doing here?”

    Jason glanced around and attempted a feeble
smile. “Hello, Detective. I dropped my keys here yesterday when I was here with
Josephine. I came back to find them.”

    Carl stuck his head through the door.
“What’s going on?”

    Willow watched the unfolding scene. Nat
did his job to bring Carl and Naya out into the alley. Now she had to find a
way to show them the cylinder in Jason’s pocket.

    Willow glanced up at Bella. She didn’t
have a moment to lose. She coiled every fiber in her body and launched herself
up toward the ledge where the tiny cat sat. Time stood still, and no one on the
ground even saw her jump.

    She left the ground and sailed through
the air in one perfect arc. She never understood before or since how she did
it, but she touched down on the ledge next to Bella. She didn’t bother to stay away
from the flower pots, and there wasn't enough room on the ledge for them and
her.

    She found her footing on the window
ledge and slithered behind the flower pots. She pushed them off the ledge, and
they crashed to the ground in a spray of clay and dirt. Carl and Naya drew back
to escape the rain of debris, but Jason saw his chance to make a clean
get-away. He whirled away and set off for a run for his car.

    He had a bad habit, though, of not
noticing alley cats in inconvenient places. Chester only had to take one step
to position his body in Jason’s way, and the young man tripped over him and
fell flat on his face at Carl and Naya's feet.

    The detectives stared down at him.
“Where are you going, Jason?” Naya asked.

    Jason groaned and rolled over onto his
back. Chester made a pretense of running away in fright.

    Naya’s eyes widened. “What’s that in
your pocket, Jason?”

    He didn’t answer, and he didn’t bother
to try to get away. He closed his eyes while Naya pulled the cylinder out of
his pocket. She dumped the contents into her palm.

    “Blasting caps,” Carl exclaimed.
“What’s he doing with those?”

    “Don’t you remember?” Naya asked. “The
crime