Murder and a Song (A Pattie Lansbury Cat Cozy Mystery Series Book 2) by Nancy C. Davis

Elliott’s lap.

    “Well,
he seems placid enough.”

    “I
think he’s entirely too placid for a
farm cat.   I’m not certain that he
isn’t unwell, but I couldn’t find any injuries.”

    “Let’s
have a look here…” said Elliott.

    He
touched each of O’Malley’s paws, then worked each joint in his legs, squeezed
and bent his tail at different intervals, then peered into his hairy ears and
examined his mouth.

    “Apart
from his dopey eyes, he doesn’t seem to have any injuries and doesn’t seem
sick.   Let me have a feel here…”

    The
Doc-cum-vet gave O’Malley a few strokes to remind him that he was safe, then
reached down with both hands to palpate his stomach.   O’Malley winced and his tail flicked around Elliott’s knee.

    “Hmmm
… I wonder if…”

    Elliott
continued to palpate the cat’s fluffy stomach, then O’Malley gave a wheezy
cough and jumped down to the floor.

    Elliott
accepted a small cloth from Pattie to clean his hands on. “I think that’s the
problem.   He probably ate something
that’s disagreeing with him.   Have
you got any plants he can chew on?”

    “Only
basil,” said Pattie. “Short of letting him outside, but I really don’t want
that…”

    “Well,
if it’s really giving him trouble he’ll bring it up sooner or later.   If you said that those men were keeping
him shut in a van, maybe they fed him something stupid that he can’t digest
easily.   Hamburger or pizza, or
something they picked up at the campsite.   You know what some morons can be like when they aren’t used to pets.”

    They
both watched the cat, who sat on the carpet with his eyes almost closed, his
tail twitching gently in agitation.   Pattie felt sorry for O’Malley, and all that he’d been through.

    “You
know, Patricia,” said Elliott, munching on a biscuit between sips of his hot
tea, “you’d be the perfect person to open up her own veterinary practice here
in Little Hamilton.   It’s not like
we haven’t needed one for years, and I can’t go on moonlighting like this – not
least because I haven’t the training.”

    Pattie
laughed. “Well, neither have I!”

    “No,
but you’ve much more experience than I have, and no-one could say that you
didn’t really care for the animals.   There’d be none of these complaints about a vet that’s ripping them off
through their insurance.   I think
you’d be perfect!”

    Pattie
and Elliott grinned at one another until it became awkward.   Pattie had begun to think that the
young man she’d been dancing with in her dream had been Elliott.   It seemed pretty obvious, but she
didn’t want it to be true.   She
felt that she was too old for romance.   She was too old for a lot of things.   But how long was she supposed to go on merely satisfied,
when her life could potentially be so much more…?

    “I’m
just going to make a phone call,” Pattie murmured.

    Elliott
looked up. “Patricia?   Did I say
something wrong?”

Chapter 23

    Pattie was already in the hallway,
dialling D.C. Downey’s extension at the station.   He picked up after a few rings and said his name in a weary
voice.

      “Detective Constable?” said Pattie.
“It’s Patricia Lansbury.   I was
just calling to see how things are going.”

    “Hello,
Mrs Lansbury.   Well, Constable
Palmer and a small team were watching the suspects’ tent in case they showed up,
which they did.   The team chased
them on foot but lost them.   Constable Palmer thinks they have some hideout near the woods.   Short of raiding all the tents near the
treeline I’m not sure what else we can do.”

    “You
could have the festival shut down,” Pattie told him. “They’ve already murdered
two people.”

    “We
don’t know that, Mrs Lansbury.   We
only have a lot of speculation.   I’m already pushing the boat out just having those few officers pulled
off the festival duty.   The Chief’s
not going to agree to any more use of tight resources,