Free Un-Fur-tunate Events (Vanessa Abbot Cat Cozy Mystery Series Book 4) by Nancy C. Davis

Chapter 1
    Vanessa Abbott gazed out at the vast
countryside through the kitchen window of her new house at the Harvest Home Cat
Sanctuary. Foxle strode across the windowsill. Vanessa dried her hands on the
wash towel and stroked Foxle’s back.

    “Yes Foxle, there isn’t the hustle and
bustle of downtown anymore,” Vanessa affirmed. “Once I finish unpacking, it
will feel like home again.”

    At that moment, Vanessa noticed unexpected
guests pull their minivan into the driveway. Vanessa finished drying the last dish
and put it away.

    “The first visitors are here. Come on,
everyone. Let’s go make them feel welcome.”

    Felicity took off running in the
opposite direction, but Amber, Flossy and Aurora followed behind Vanessa out to
the front porch. The minivan’s doors swung open, and people tumbled out. They
all slowly stretched their legs from the long ride. Vanessa approached the van.
A tall man walked towards her and extended his hand.

    “Good morning,” he greeted her. “I’m
Frank Morton, and this is my wife Andrea.”

    Vanessa shook his hand, and then the
hand of his equally tall wife. Frank took a look around. Cats lined the porch
behind Vanessa and eyed him and his group. Two other men stood behind Frank. One
tall and red-haired and the other short and muscular.   A curvy woman with brunette hair milled around
the van’s side door. “The woman standing behind us is our secretary, Sabrina
O’Malley. This here is our treasurer, Steven Weaver, and our executive officer,
Jerry Spacick.”

    Vanessa nodded to them. “Welcome to
Harvest Home. It’s a pleasure to meet you all. I assume you’re here for the ten
o’clock tour.”

    “We were not expecting a tour,” Frank
told her. “We had planned to just walk around the grounds and enjoy a nice
picnic. Lovely weather we’re having today, isn’t it?”

    Vanessa paused. “It certainly is a
lovely day for a picnic, but we do offer guided tours free of charge. I also
have free literature on the Cat Protection League's work and educational
material on animal welfare. Are you interested in that?”

    Frank exchanged glances with his
friends and shrugged. “I don’t think so. I think we’ll just entertain
ourselves, if you don’t mind.”

    Vanessa hesitated. “It’s fine with me,
but would it have been easier to find a park or a nature reserve closer to
town? You are my first visitors to the Cat Sanctuary. I didn’t expect people to
come all the way out here who weren’t interested in my work of giving the cats
a home.”

    Frank held up his hand. “We really
appreciate all that you do here. We have a few business matters to discuss. The
office has been hectic, so we were looking for a nice quiet place to spend the
day. I discovered your Cat Sanctuary online and thought it would be perfect.
We’ll just walk around these beautiful grounds—if you don’t mind, that is.”

    “I don’t mind,” Vanessa replied. “It
isn’t what I expected, but you’re more than welcome. Make yourselves at home.”

    AngelPie jumped up onto the hood of the
van and strutted over next to Frank. He scratched her behind the ears. “Thank
you. We will.”

    “You will let me know if there is
anything I can do to make your stay more enjoyable, won’t you?” Vanessa asked.

    “Of course,” he replied. “I guess I
didn’t expect this warm welcome. We have everything we need in a picnic hamper”

    Vanessa waved her hand toward the woods
at the edge of the property. “All right. You’re more than welcome.”

    Frank turned toward the van, where
Jerry Spacick unloaded the picnic hamper from the back door. The group strolled
away into the trees with many smiles, waves and well wishes.

    Vanessa waved back as the group made
their way across the open field. Then she glanced around and found Henry
sitting on the corner of the porch. His gaze followed hers to the people
disappearing into the woods. “What do you think that’s all about?”

    Henry closed his