I dug into my shrimp cocktail with great aplomb. I skipped the sauce, but the sweet, juicy clumps of meat had to be the very best thing I’d ever tasted—in either my cat or human form.
We were back at Kaye’s place in Georgia, and Amy had just arrived for a surprise visit.
I’d wanted to stay for her trial, but Mason had demanded we head back here to start the prep work for our next case.
Amy was all too happy to give Kaye a scene-by-scene replay, as I listened on with interest and continued to fill my belly.
First she described how she’d given a tearful recounting of her experiences and the enormous sense of guilt that gnawed at her even still. Then, her lawyer—someone Kaye had arranged for her—had brought in everyone from Amy’s sorority to testify.
All in all, it turned out there was no long-term damage done. Yes, the house had burned, but the injuries sustained proved to be minor. And nobody wound up dead like Roberts had claimed. That was the biggie.
“Community service,” Kaye said once Amy relayed her sentence. “You got off easy.” She reached over and pulled my shrimp from her own cocktail glass. “Exactly as we’d hoped.”
“Yeah, MCS finally did something right for a change,” I muttered to myself.
Amy’s eyes shot to mine. “He just sp-spoke,” she stuttered, moving back in her chair.
Whoops. We’d agreed that Amy should think I was a cat for a while longer, until she was settled into her new life, and we could break it to her gently. But it looked like Kaye had forgotten to fix my collar so that only she could hear me.
“Surprise!” I said, standing on my back legs and raising my paws.
She leaned forward and studied me with wide eyes. “What are you?”
“I’m a magic user,” I explained with what I hoped was a debonair smile. “And I’m in trouble for using my powers of glamor to rob business owners.”
Amy furrowed her brow. “That’s terrible,” she said in a chastising tone. “Why would you do that?”
“Hey, you don’t get to judge me.” Okay, so I felt a bit defensive. “I never hurt anyone, and all those people had insurance.”
But Amy remained steadfast in her assessment as she shook her head. “It’s still not cool to knowingly cause troubles for others.”
Bah. I went back to my shrimp. True, she was gorgeous, but also way too self-righteous for me.
“You better get used to each other quickly, because you’re going to be spending a lot of time together in the very near future,” Kaye added with a wink.
“So, you’re helping us with the magic exposer, I take it?” I asked, puzzled at how this could have happened.
Amy clapped her hands together in delight, endearing me to her all over again. “Yes, Kaye pulled some strings so that my community service could be served with you guys.”
Kaye dished me out a big scoop of rice, which I loved, even though cats weren’t supposed to. “Since she’s technically in trouble for magical exposure, we’re going to use that to try to get her closer to this guy.”
I nodded and chewed. “Good idea,” I mumbled around my shrimp and rice. “When will we get more details? I’m getting tired of this whole hurry up and wait game the MCS has going.”
Mason had been eager to stick us on the case, but he didn’t have much to get us started. Kaye and I were both stuck at home until we got more information.
And now Amy, too, I guessed.
Yeah, I could forgive her for the one-time sleight. I was happy to have her onboard.
“Oh, Moss,” Kaye shouted just as we were finishing our meal. “I got you a gift, I almost forgot.” She rushed into the laundry room and came out with a beautifully wrapped box, which she placed in the middle of the table.
“Um,” I said, glancing from the gift to her and back again. “I can’t unwrap that.”
“No problem.” Kaye grinned at me so big I began to get suspicious. Then she lifted the top right off the present and waited for me to check it out.
I walked across the table and peered inside. “It’s empty,” I pointed out.
“Yes,” Kaye squealed. “Now you can be King of the Box all over again.”
I gasped with indignation, then hissed, “Hey, I told you that in confidence.”
“Oh, just get in already,” Amy said. “I saw how much you liked that box in the woods. You’re stuck in your cat body, you might as well enjoy it.”
Well, when she put it that way… I grabbed the last shrimp from my glass and launched myself into the box, which turned out to be much bigger than the last. I enjoyed my feast with great satisfaction.
I was back, baby. King of the Box, long may he reign!
Kaye and Amy practically fell apart in a fit of giggles.
“Okay, fine, laugh all you want,” I said, and they continued to do just that. “It’s not like you two have any kingdoms to call your own.”
They left me to it, and headed to the kitchen to wash the dishes. Ha. I didn’t have to do any chores. One of the increasing number of perks in being a cat.
Once that was done, Kaye moved my box to the living room, and the two ladies settled themselves on the couch while I continued to hold court in my cardboard kingdom.
It turned out Amy loved bad reality TV every bit as much as we did. Despite my one hang up, Amy and I really were a match made in Heaven—or Scotland, as it turned out. Much to everyone’s surprise, we’d learned that Roberts’ hidey-hole had been nestled deep in the Highland mountains. They looked so much like the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee that she’d never really been able to tell any different.
Kaye’s computer beeped in the corner of the room half-way into a commercial break.
“Oh, hurry. I don’t want to miss the big reveal,” Amy called after her.
Kaye rushed over to her desk and straight into her email program. “Guys, this is it,” she called, sounding almost reverent. “We have a location and a pattern. It’s time for the witch hunt to commence.”
Amy clicked off the TV without even the slightest hesitation. Her game face was on. This may have been a punishment for her—hey, it was for me, too—but I could already tell she loved it.
And I had to admit this whole good guy act was growing on me, too. Maybe it wasn’t the worst thing in the world that I’d been caught, after all.
Are you ready to go on another magical manhunt with Moss, Kaye, and Amy?
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