BlueBuried Muffins (Black Cat Cafe Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

climbing on cat trees. A gray haired woman put her papers down and turned her attention from her desk piled high with folders and smiled at Leona. “How nice to see you. You brought more help.”
    “Karen, this is my niece, Annie. She adopted a stray kitty we found at the café but I think she’ll like to meet the dogs too. She’s always been a dog person.” Leona winked at Annie.
    Karen nodded toward the swinging doors leading to the back room. “You know your way around. Baxter is already howling out back. He recognizes your voice.”
    Leona gestured for Annie to follow her through the door to the back where the kennels were located. Pandemonium broke out with the dogs jumping on the front of their cages to see who came in to visit. Leona stopped in front of a cage with a big golden dog. His feet reached chest high on the cage and his head tilted backwards as a happy howl came from his mouth. He took a few breaks to add in a couple of woofs.
    “This is Baxter. I’ve been walking him every chance I get. I guess you could say we are kind of bonded to each other.” Leona lifted the leash from a hook and carefully opened the door to hook it on Baxter’s collar. “Do you want to walk someone too?”
    “Of course. I’d like to walk them all. Heck, I’d take them all home if I could, you know that. Any suggestions?” Annie’s eyes took in the long row of kennels filled with dogs, not having a clue how to choose just one.
    “This is Roxy, a real sweetheart. I think she’s a lab-pit mix, and . . .” Leona grinned at Annie “. . . she loves cats.”
    They went out the back door to a large fenced in field with Baxter and Roxy. “First, we’ll walk around the perimeter before we let them off to have some freedom.”
    As they walked side by side with the dogs dancing on the leashes or stopping to sniff the bushes and pee, Leona asked Annie, “Why did you come back to Catfish Cove?”
    Annie shrugged. “The guy at the café? He was why I left.”
    “What? That was Max?”
    “Yeah. We were together for most of the last year. He was a decent guy but there always seemed to be something in the background that I couldn’t put my finger on. The day I left, I heard a disturbing message on his answering machine and it wasn’t the first one, but I promised myself it would be the last one. I had to get away but I think he followed me.”
    “What was the message?”
    Annie hesitated before stopping and looking directly at Leona. “Your time is up.”
    “That’s it? Your time is up?”
    “That was it. I grabbed my backpack and left.”
    “Did you kill him, Red?”

Chapter 5
     
    “No! I didn’t know he was here until I found his body at the café.” Annie was a little hurt that Leona would even ask her that question.
    “Why did he follow you?”
    Annie stopped walking and chewed on her lip. “I don’t know. I think he wanted to tell me something.”
    “That you’re in danger?”
    “I don’t know. Detective Jaffrey asked me if Max was involved in something illegal. Everyone liked Max, at least the people he introduced me to, and I never even considered that possibility until Jaffrey asked me.”
    Leona bent down and unclipped the two dogs who were thrilled to chase each other around the field. Baxter was about twice the size of Roxy, but Roxy was much more agile and ran circles around the big goofy golden retriever mix.
    “What do you think about Baxter?” Leona asked with a smile on her face as she watched the dogs.
    “Same strawberry blond hair color as you. You’d make a good couple. Are you thinking of adopting him?”
    Her smile grew bigger. “How’d you guess?”
    “Your smile says it all. What are you waiting for?”
    “I have to wait a few more days to make sure his owner doesn’t show up. If no one claims him, he’s mine.” She whistled and Baxter charged to her, barely stopping in time before knocking her over. Leona crouched down and Baxter licked her face from chin to forehead.