Free Shifter by Jennifer Reynolds Page B

doctor, then follow Dr. Smith down a long narrow hallway to her office at the very back of the building.
    The redhead’s face lights up with satisfaction when she sees me. The look quickly turns to annoyance when she realizes I don’t have the cat with me.
    “Ms. Sinclair, I take it you have met Miss Hathaway,” Dr. Smith says to me, pointing to the redhead.
    “We’ve met,” I say curtly.
    “Ms. Hathaway here says that she lost a cat a few months back.”
    “Did she?” I say a hint of resignation in my voice.
    “Yes. She thinks that whoever took him dropped him off here.”
    “I’m sorry,” I say to Miss Hathaway with sincere sympathy. I don’t want her to have Dimitri, but if he really is her cat then there is nothing I can do.
    “There is just one problem,” Dr. Smith says.
    “Oh,” I say, turning to face the doctor.
    “We haven’t had a cat come in here that looks like the one she has described. Nor does it look like the ones she saw in your house. How many cats do you have Miss Sinclair?”
    “Just the two she saw.”
    “That is what I thought. Our records didn’t indicate that you had any other animals. Miss Hathaway,” Dr. Smith says, turning to the other woman, “when I spoke with Miss Sinclair, I asked her to bring in the cat she adopted from us not truly knowing how many cats she had or which cats you have seen. You said your cat would have been in a dark green, plastic carrier, and that he was a solid, dark amber of no particular breed.”
    The redhead nodded slowly, looking worriedly between us. Something was going on here, and she knew it wasn’t anything good for her.
    “See that’s the problem. We did find a cat in a green carrier but what was inside wasn’t a dark amber cat.”
    I visibly relax at all of this. There was no way that my Dimitri is her cat. If I hadn’t been so relieved by this I would have noticed that Dr. Smith was screwing with this woman. Intentionally irritating her.
    “If you like, I can take you to where our cats are and let you have a look at them all. The one Miss Sinclair adopted is also there.”
    “Please,” Miss Hathaway spits.
    I follow the two women back down the hall to the cage area. I smile when I see that Dimitri isn’t in one of the cages, but is hanging lazily out on one of the center tables, trying to ignore Dr. McCray who is trying to tease him with a stuffed mouse. If he had been any other cat they might have left him in his carrier, but he has proved numerous times to be a calm and agreeable animal.
    I see Mave eye him annoyingly as if she knows he is her cat but she can’t prove it. But how she could think he is hers, considering he looks nothing like what she described, I don’t know.
    “These are all of the cats we have up for adoption. I don’t have any pictures of the cats that came in sick and have since passed away or that were healthy and adopted in the last few months. There was one or two that might have been him. However, their coloring wasn’t completely dark brown. One had white paws. The other was several different shades of brown ranging from light amber to near black.”
    “They wouldn’t have been my cat and neither are any of these,” she said bitterly, flinging her hand in the direction of the cages.
    “I can confirm this is the cat Miss Sinclair adopted,” Dr. Smith said, pointing to Dimitri. “Because of his breed, I photographed him. I can show you all of that if you would like.”
    “That’s not necessary,” the woman said, her voice edged with venom.
    I stand back, watching the interaction with amusement and with admiration for Dr. Smith.
    “Jody, would you take Miss Sinclair into my office. There are some papers that I need her to sign. Some stuff we forgot the last time she was here. I’ll bring him out in a moment.” She reaches down and starts petting Dimitri. I spin around to the door. I hadn’t known Jody had followed us into the showroom.
    Jody smiles and says, “Yes, ma’am.”
    I turn to