I cleared my throat. “Morning, Grandpa.”
He glanced up, startled. “Morning, Doll. I didn’t see you there.”
“I know. You look preoccupied.” I studied him for a moment. He wore his private-eye clothes today, as I called them. Grandpa had two modes these days—fun cat cafe owner mode and serious PI mode. Today was serious. “What’s going on? Where’ve you been so early?”
“Hey, Maddie!”
I cringed as Adele’s two-pack-a-day voice cut off any hope of getting Grandpa to tell me anything. “Yeah, Adele,” I sighed.
“Where’s that hunky boyfriend of yours? Thought I heard his sexy voice. He got his razor with him?”
Grandpa suppressed a smile, winked at me, and took the opportunity to slip into the kitchen.
“He’s having breakfast, but he has to leave,” I said. “He’ll be back later, though. I’ll have him take a look.”
Adele sniffed. She liked things done on her own timetable. “When is Muffin going to the vet?” she asked. “He seems a little lethargic. And didn’t eat a lot of his breakfast. Although I know we’re stuck with that jerk vet now, so that trip’s gonna be a whole different ball game.” She wrinkled her nose.
“Dr. Drake? Yeah, he’s a piece of work. I made the appointment for tomorrow, but would you believe they made me pay two hundred and fifty dollars to hold the time slot?” I’d forgotten about that annoying incident in the midst of everything else. I’d never in my life heard of a vet doing that, and now we were stuck with this guy as the only vet on the island.
Dr. Kelly, the island’s former vet who had been a fixture in the community since I was a kid, had closed up shop at the end of the summer, announcing that it was time for him to retire and enjoy life. I hadn’t even gotten to tell him about the cafe before he left, two weeks before my grand opening. He’d been Katrina’s go-to for many years and had also been the vet for the former rescue chapter on the island. Katrina was really upset about it. He’d been a kind, older gentleman who had given the rescue people tons of discounts.
But he was getting older, and with the added competition from Dr. Alvin Drake and his fancy, high-tech practice, he must’ve figured it was time to hang up his shingle.
However, Drake hadn’t been getting good reviews from full-time islanders. Katrina said he was charging her full price, too, for any rescues she brought in. Which was a crappy thing to do to any rescue. And his full price was apparently a lot higher than Dr. Kelly’s. But maybe he figured since she worked for the town, it was okay.
Or maybe he was just a heartless jerk only in it for the money. I was starting to think it was the latter after my experience simply booking an appointment. I tried my best not to pass judgment on the man before I’d even met him, but any vet who didn’t go out of their way to help people doing rescue got my hackles up. I’d managed to avoid having to deal with Drake so far, but my luck had run out. And unless I wanted to trek over to the mainland every time one of the cats needed to see a vet, I’d better make the best of it.
“I’ll let you know how it goes,” I said. “Anyone else need anything while we’re making a list?”
“Nope. I’m trying to make sure Katrina is taking care of all that business before they get here, if they need something.” She nudged me with her elbow, grinning. “I figure she owes us.”
“Thanks,” I said, glancing at the kitchen door. I was itching to ask Grandpa more questions.
But Adele wasn’t done. She continued to watch me. “Any new applications? We haven’t had any new residents in a couple of weeks.”
A fact that Katrina kept mentioning when she called to check in every couple days. Despite the lack of people on the island, the cats somehow kept appearing. And given that it was winter, they needed shelter more than ever. She was pressing me to take on more than the ten we’d agreed on when we opened the doors. I’d known it would happen eventually—a hazard of cat rescue—but I was standing firm for the time being. I needed the housing remodel finished first. Katrina was desperate, though, and very convincing when she was desperate. So far I’d held my ground, but I was starting to waver. She knew how to lay on the guilt, telling me that she was out of room at the town facility and that any new cats would have to stay living outside in the cold if she couldn’t find a foster home. She knew eventually I would cave, even though we both knew that she’d just take home any cat in the aforementioned situation before letting them live outside in a Daybreak Island winter. Either that or Adele would, and then Adele would just bring the cat here without telling me and let me notice on my own.
Rescue people rolled a bit differently than everyone else.
“We had one application,” I said. “A guy who just moved out here to work at the elementary school. He applied for two, actually. Rooster and Timmy. I have to still do a vet check. Do you want to do it?”
“I’d love to,” she said. “We gotta get these guys moving!”
“The app is in the top desk drawer,” I said. I was finally getting my office once the construction was done. Gabe, our contractor and Adele’s nephew, was adding a little alcove room off what would be the main cafe room, right as you came in the side entrance. That would be our place to keep all our records, do adoption interviews and paperwork, and, I hoped, where I’d do my cafe business rather than bringing it up to my bedroom with me every night. Val had found an adorable desk at the island thrift shop and picked it up for me. I’d nestled it near the “reception” area—which was currently the front door—until the room was ready. At least it gave me some desk drawers. I wanted to paint it a mint green, but I was saving that project until later, when the dust stopped flying.
“I’m on it,” Adele promised, and headed back into the cat lair.
I went into the kitchen. Ethan wasn’t there. Grandpa was eating eggs, drinking coffee, and reading the paper. Rather, he was looking at the front page. About the body in the water.
Jason Holt’s body.
“The guy who was in here yesterday,” I said, pulling out the chair across from him and sitting. “The writer. He was pretty famous, you know.”
Grandpa didn’t look at me. “Yeah,” he said. “I heard. It’s a darn shame. Always is when someone loses his or her life, but especially when they’re so young and full of promise.”
“For sure. You hear anything else about what happened?”
Grandpa didn’t answer, just kept staring at the paper.
“I saw Leopard Man—Carl—leaving here in the middle of the night, Grandpa,” I said. “Why did you tell Detective Ellory he wasn’t here? Not that I’m a huge Ellory fan, by any means, but you’re usually not in the business of lying to your former colleagues.”
Now Grandpa looked up, and his eyes flashed. I recognized the look. It wasn’t normally one I was on the receiving end of.
“Madalyn. You’re out of order,” he said.
“I didn’t realize I was in court,” I said.
We stared at each other for a moment, and I wondered how this conversation had gone from benign to dangerous in less than ten seconds.
Then, as quickly as it had come, the spark went out. Grandpa leaned back in his chair, rocking it gently so the front legs left the ground. “You’re probably going to hear about it later anyway,” he said. “But until it’s public, I’d appreciate you keeping it under wraps.”
“Keeping what under wraps?” I asked.
Grandpa’s chair returned to the ground. He met my gaze with a level stare. “Holt was murdered.”