No Cooperation from the Cat Read Online Free Page A

become one of her favourite people.
    “And hello to you, too.” He scooped her into his arms and they had themselves a nuzzling session.
    All right, Nigel might be a pain in the neck at times, but his heart and instincts were in the right places.
    I noticed that, even as he fussed over Cho-Cho, his eyes brightened hopefully when Jocasta returned to the cooker and tossed a few more rashers under the grill. His nostrils flared and he swallowed convulsively. I wondered when he had had his last meal.
    “Sit down, Nigel.” I couldn’t help myself. “You’re just in time to join us for brunch.”
    “Oh, no, no. Really? You’re sure it’s no trouble?” Even as he demurred politely, he swung out a chair and stumbled into it eagerly. Cho-Cho touched her nose to his, then swept her cheek across his, both assuring him that he was welcome and marking him with her little scent glands as one of her belongings.
    “It’s nothing special, I’m afraid.” Jocasta did her own demurring. “Just the usual full English.”
    I noticed that she had produced, from seemingly nowhere, halves of tomatoes and mushrooms, which she popped under the grill, then trimmed the crusts off slices of white bread to fry with more eggs.
    “We’ll be doing something more interesting later,” she apologised. “We haven’t decided what we’re testing today.”
    “Oh, this is fine, great, wonderful!” Nigel was salivating, he swallowed again. “Couldn’t ask for better!”
    Cho-Cho met my eyes with an intense, meaningful look, then began dotting kisses all over Nigel’s face. I got the feeling that she understood his situation better than we did. Nigel needed all the love and support we could give him. Was he in some sort of trouble? Again?
    “Actually—” He pulled himself away from Cho-Cho’s ministrations and beamed at Evangeline. “I dropped by to tell you that I think there may be some very good news on the way.”
    “You’ve managed to unload those ghastly ostriches!” Evangeline’s face lit up. “I knew you would … eventually.”
    “Er, no.” Nigel winced. “Not yet. I’m still working on that. It’s looking hopeful, but…”
    But he couldn’t find another sucker. Not like Evangeline. Perhaps everybody else had a better idea of what they would be getting into.
    “Oh.” Evangeline’s face fell. “I’m not ‘investing’ any more money,” she warned.
    “No, no, nothing like that. Ah, thank you—” Jocasta had placed a laden plate in front of him. He plunged towards it so eagerly that Cho-Cho was briefly squeezed between his chest and the table. She mewed a ladylike protest and squirmed free, dropping to the floor.
    “Sorry, love,” Nigel said perfunctorily as he snatched up his knife and fork and concentrated on the food.
    “Tea—or coffee?” Martha was drawn into the circle of his need. Mouth full, he waved a hand, which we all interpreted as anything will do . When had the poor boy last had a decent meal? Perhaps not since he had been one of our guests when we were staying in Brighton.
    I cast an anxious glance towards Evangeline and saw by her frown that she was taking the measure of the situation, too. We had all done our time in the hinterlands of near-starvation.
    Jocasta was looking gratified as she watched Nigel devouring the food she had cooked. Then the telephone rang abruptly and she gave a small shriek of terror and dropped the fork she was holding.
    Unfortunately, there had been a small sausage impaled on the tines and Cho-Cho dived for it. Anything that hit the floor around here was hers and—oh, joy!—the cooks were butter-fingered and careless.
    “You don’t need that!” I scooped her up and she struggled, protesting loudly.
    “You aren’t hungry,” I assured her. “It’s sheer hunting instinct, that’s all.”
    The phone went on ringing. Jocasta stared at it, uttering incoherent little sounds of distress.
    “Oh, for heaven’s sake!” Evangeline was nearest the phone and she