Free How to Paint a Cat (Cats and Curios Mystery) by Rebecca M. Hale

prey. He hunched forward, every fiber in his being ready for the attack.
    Suddenly, he was off, scooting across the living room in a fuzzy white blur. Rugs slid out of place, lamps rocked in their fittings, and picture frames rattled against the walls.
    After a kamikaze tour of the second-floor living quarters, he aimed his trajectory toward the stairwell at the corner of the kitchen. His rear legs powering him forward in leaps and bounds, he flew down the steps like a short-legged, pot-bellied gazelle.
    Skidding through the turn at the bottom of the stairs, he continued his breakneck pace into the showroom. Claws scraping in spastic frenzy, he zoomed into and around obstacles, crashing into several table legs and the base of the recliner.
    Isabella froze in an arched-back hiss, every hair extended in alarm as Rupert blitzed past her. But there was no slowing his crazed, chaotic sprint—until he reached a meager beam of sunlight that had broken through the clouds, casting its faint warmth on the showroom floor.
    Screeching to a stop, his feet curled beneath him. He rolled sideways, perfectly positioning his body within the narrow beam, and fell instantly asleep.
    Fighting off a snore, one eye popped open to admire his reflection in the window. In his opinion, his fluffy round figure looked perfectly svelte.
    There
, Rupert thought proudly.
That should do it.
    Diet cat food.
He sniffed derisively as he drifted off into his favorite fried chicken dream.
    • • •
    UNAWARE OF THE feline exercise routine that had just taken place inside the Green Vase, the niece continued her morning jog. She rounded the corner of Jackson and Montgomery, picking up speed as she turned toward the Italian neighborhood of North Beach.
    It was a regular busy day on Columbus Avenue. A steady stream of Muni buses rumbled through traffic, their brakes squeaking at every intersection and passenger stop.
    The niece powered through the packed sidewalk, threading between a pair of well-dressed women in fitted jackets and knee-high boots. Her ponytail swinging, she dodged around an elderly Asian couple bundled up in heavy parka jackets.
    The winter’s wet air captured the scents of the coffee shops and bakeries that lined the street. The decadent aroma of chocolate-stuffed croissants just out of the oven mixed with the hissing steam of brewing espresso beans and cinnamon-sweet cider.
    As the niece passed one of the many pasta joints preparing for the day’s meal service, a pulse of roasted garlic flooded the sidewalk.
    Maybe I’ll stop for lunch on my way back
, she thought wistfully.
    She turned her head toward the storefront—and stopped short at the sight of her reflection in the window.
    This time, it wasn’t her nose that caught her attention.
    A feathery gray glow in the shape of a man appeared to be running along behind her.
    A nearby bus blasted its horn, and the niece jumped, instinctively turning her gaze toward the street. When she looked back at her reflection, the vaporous figure had vanished.
    Shaking her head, she resumed her jog.
    “Probably just the glare from the bus’s white siding,” she murmured, trying to reassure herself.
    And yet, as she jogged past the empty diner that had once housed Lick’s Homestyle Chicken, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being followed.

Chapter 15
    THE DOCENT

    THE DRIPPING MIST thickened to a light rain as the niece reached the end of the Columbus Avenue restaurants. She turned into Washington Square and circled the park’s lower perimeter, a spray of droplets quickly coating her eyeglasses.
    “I would have been better off leaving these at home,” she said, whipping the frames from her face and tucking them in her shirt pocket.
    Without the specs, her nose felt naked—the bump particularly so. Beyond that, her vision was severely compromised. The second issue was of little concern. She knew the scene by heart.
    A Catholic church framed the park’s upper half; its cream and gold