Free Depawsit Slip (Vanessa Abbot Cat Protection League Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) by Nancy C. Davis Page A

Tom.”
    Penny’s mouth dropped open. “I just told you, Vanessa. I didn’t kill Alfred. And my brother Alan never got into trouble with Alfred Botchweather.”
    “But,” Vanessa exclaimed, “He explained to Ollie that he should do everything possible to avoid getting into debt with Alfred. He said Alfred would inflate the debt until he couldn’t pay it back. How could he know that if he hadn’t run in with Alfred himself?”
    “My brother Alan,” Penny told her, “never ran in with Alfred. He knew all about those crooked loan sharks from his unfortunate dealings with another unscrupulous back-room viper, and you don’t have to look very far to find him, either.”
    Vanessa’s eyes flew open. “Who was that?”
    Penny threw her jigsaw puzzle down on the counter and raised her hand in front of her like the Ghost of Christmas yet to come. She pointed her accusing finger across the room. “He’s standing right there. The nefarious criminal, the blood-thirsty, cut-throat heathen who ruined my brother’s life and destroyed my family is standing right over there. It’s that pillar of society, his lordship Doctor Walter Connelly.”
    Everyone whirled around to face Walter. “You!” Vanessa gasped.
    Pete Wheeler stuck his hand in his pocket. The bright metal of handcuffs gleamed in his hand. He made a grab for Walter’s arm, but the doctor moved first. With a frightful feral snarl, he launched himself across the room toward the door. He planted his hand flat against Detective Wheeler’s chest and shoved him out of the way. He barreled headfirst into Ollie and sent him flying.
    Ollie staggered backwards and pitched over on his back across the glassware table. Flossy sprang into the air amid an explosion of shattering glass. She leapt clear of the table and landed on top of a lamp behind the counter. Her weight set the lamp teetering. Flossy dug her claws into the lampshade and tried to steady it, but that only made it rock even more. It teetered first one way, then the other, before it crashed to the floor next to the remains of the glassware table.
    Ollie floundered among the broken glass, but Walter never stopped on his path toward the door. He got halfway there when a shadow caught Vanessa’s eye. She dragged her eyes away from the chaos in front of her and glanced toward AngelPie’s shelf.
    But the flash of lightning moving toward the scene of action wasn’t AngelPie at all. A speckled projectile slithered between the fake flowers and the casserole dishes and flew toward the door. The moment Walter put his hand on the doorknob, Henry sailed through the air and plastered himself across Walter’s face.
    Henry’s claws bit into Walter’s scalp and skin. The cat scratched, clawed and scrambled to stay fixed to Walter’s face, and he tore great angry red streaks in Walter’s neck, forehead and cheeks.
    Walter couldn’t see anything with the cat attached to his face. He fought to free himself from Henry’s attack, but Henry held on for dear life. Walter hooked his hands between Henry’s stomach and his face and tried to pry him off, but the harder he pried, the deeper Henry’s claws sank into his skin.
    Walter screamed bloody murder. “Get it off! Get this thing off me!”
    Vanessa stared at the mayhem unfolding in front of her, but she couldn’t move. She glanced over and spotted Detective Wheeler grinning like a clown. When he caught Vanessa’s eye, he snorted with laughter.
    Vanessa looked back at Walter flailing and staggering around with Henry glued to his face, and she had to smile, too. She never saw anything so funny in her life. Henry opened his mouth and tried to gain another inch of purchase by sinking his teeth into Walter’s eyebrow.
    Walter staggered right, and then left. Then he tripped over a beanbag in front of the children’s toys and lost his footing. His arms flew out from his sides in search of something to catch his balance, but he couldn’t find anything with his eyes