Free The Cat of Christmas Past by Kathi Daley

downstairs. I let Max out through the side door, then restarted the fire in both the wood stove and the small fireplace in the living room. Then I started a pot of coffee and fed Ebenezer while it brewed.
    Although I was freezing, the sight that greeted me through the windows was magical. Large snowflakes drifted through the air before falling into the ocean, which was nicely calm this morning.
    Max barked to let me know he wanted back in. I dried his coat and fed him before pouring my first cup of coffee. I took it into the living room, where I curled up in front of the fire with one of the quilts Maggie had made for me.
    The tree Cody and I had decorated on Tuesday evening lent a holiday feel to the room. I used the remote to turn on the lights so I could enjoy them while I sipped my morning brew. I wasn’t certain what to get for Cody for Christmas. I wanted something a bit more meaningful and personal than a sweater or a wallet, but I wasn’t sure we were in the place in our relationship where sexy underwear or silk pajamas were appropriate either.
    Of course we’d been sharing an intimate relationship for over a month, and something black and silky would look oh so good on his hard, fit frame.
    I leaned my head back against the sofa to further engage in my daydream about Cody and the imaginary gift I was sure I’d never have the courage to get for him when I heard a crash. I opened my eyes and looked around the room. Ebenezer had knocked my backpack off the table and the contents had spilled out on the floor. One of the items that had been in the bag I carried with me everywhere was an envelope filled with some of the newspaper articles, the police report, and various photographs of Charles that had been in the box Balthazar Pottage had given me. Apparently Ebenezer wanted me to work on the case while I sipped my coffee rather than daydreaming about Cody in black silk boxers.
    I reluctantly got up, refilled my cup, and picked up the stuff on the floor. I brought the envelope over to the sofa and slipped out the contents. The first document was the initial report written by Tripp Brimmer. I hadn’t gotten around to speaking to Tripp yet; perhaps today.
    The report detailed pretty much everything I’d already learned, and it clarified that access to the second story, where the nursery was located, had been limited to the main staircase, which had been guarded the entire evening.
    I thought about that some more.
    First of all, the fact that there was a guard on duty was odd. I understood Pottage was concerned about the safety of his family, but there was a guard at the gate monitoring access to the estate and everyone in the house that day were family or friends. Did Pottage anticipate a particular threat to his baby? And if so, from whom? I wished I had the old man’s phone number so I could call him; there was no way I’d have time to visit with him before Monday.
    The other thing I couldn’t help but consider was whether the upstairs guard was in on the abduction. If the only access to and from the second story was past that man, and the baby was somehow removed from that floor, it made sense that he must have been working with the kidnapper. The first thing on my list today, after I checked in with Tara, was going to be to track down and interview Roger Riverton. Maybe he could shed some light on what had really happened that day.
    I got up once again to retrieve the small notepad I kept in my backpack. I wrote down: interview Tripp Brimmer and Roger Riverton as tasks one and two for the day, then added pick up milk and ask Danny about a Christmas gift for Aiden . Aiden was a tough one to buy for, but Danny usually had an idea or two.
    I clicked my pen open and closed as I considered the report in my hand. Charles had been kidnapped on December 24. Belle’s out-of-town guests had left the island on December 27 and she was killed in an auto accident on December 29, just five days after her baby was kidnapped.