Laurie Cass - Bookmobile Cat 02 - Tailing a Tabby by Laurie Cass Page A

perched on the headrest of the passenger’s seat. “Not even Eddie?”
    “Especially Eddie.” I rolled my eyes. “Cats are horrible gossips, didn’t you know?”
    Laughing, she headed straight for the Special Orders shelf.
    “Um, Minnie?” Thessie stood at my elbow. “We have a little problem. You know how the guessing game was supposed to be for kids? Well…” She held out six slips of folded paper.
    At this particular moment, the youngest human on the bookmobile was Thessie. I glanced at our patrons, all of whom had their noses deep in books, just as it should be. “Didn’t you tell them it was for kids only?”
    “By the time I noticed, it was too late. They’d made their guesses.”
    Yet another thing no one had taught me while I was getting my library science degree. Clearly, there should have been at least one lecture on how to run contests.
    A white-haired gentleman approached. “Here you go, Minnie. May the best guess win, eh?” Smiling, he held out a slip of paper. “Winning a jar of candy from the Three Seasons would be a nice treat, but I can’t passup a chance to have the bookmobile come to my very own house. Brilliant marketing, by the way.”
    What choice did I have? I took his guess. “Thanks,” I said faintly. Thessie, a smirk on her face, started to say something. “Not a word, Thess,” I told her. “Not one word.”
    “Dystopia,” she said, grinning.
    I crossed my eyes at her and went to help a patron find the perfect beach read.
    •   •   •
    My early-morning activities eventually took their toll. At lunchtime, I made an unplanned stop at a convenience store and bought a large bottle of caffeinated soda. Near the end of the day, I wished I’d bought two.
    “See you on Tuesday,” I said when I dropped Thessie off at her car.
    “What’s that?” she asked. “I couldn’t hear you through that yawn.”
    I snapped my jaw shut and gave her a mock glare. “When did the youth of today get so smart-alecky?”
    She put on an air of deep thought. “I’d guess it was when the first teenagers were born.” She looked at me. “Um, are you okay? To drive, I mean? You look really tired.”
    I smiled. “Thanks, but I’ll be fine.”
    “Mrr!”
    Thessie laughed. “I guess Eddie will keep you awake.”
    She left and I looked at my feline companion. “Please don’t listen to her,” I told him. “The last thing I need is you howling all the way home.”
    “Mrr,” he said quietly.
    “Thank you.” I pointed the bookmobile in thedirection of Chilson. “She’s right, though. I am tired. But I’m not going to think about it. If I do, I’ll just get more tired and that’s no good, not on such a beautiful day.”
    And a beautiful day it was, one of those perfect summer days that northern Michigan seemed to specialize in. Temperatures in the high seventies, a light breeze, low humidity, and a few fluffy clouds dotting the sky. No wonder this area was such a tourist draw.
    “Speaking of drawing,” I said, “I wonder how Cade’s doing. Last night couldn’t have been good for him.”
    Actually there were a lot of things I was wondering. Having a murder in my happy little town was hard enough to wrap my head around, and I was bothered by the fact that I knew nothing about the victim.
    I didn’t know if Carissa Radle had been blond or brunette or redheaded. Didn’t know if she’d been short or tall or pretty or athletic or funny. Didn’t know who was left behind to mourn her. Didn’t know anything about this woman whose life had so unexpectedly intersected Cade’s and now, in a diagonal sideways sort of way, mine.
    Those thoughts kept me awake all the way to Chilson. They kept me mostly awake while I tucked the bookmobile in for the night, and they sort of kept me awake as I kept an eye out for Stephen while I moved Eddie into my car and then drove home.
    “Yo, Miniver!”
    I was halfway between the marina’s parking lot and my houseboat. I had Eddie in his carrier