Karen Anne Golden - The Cats That 05 - The Cats that Watched the Woods Read Online Free

unpleasant circumstances.”
    The chief tugged his beard as he remembered the Vivian Marston murder case. “Yeah, I thought your cat had rabies.”
    Katherine shrugged off the bad memory and continued to introduce the rest of the cats. Lilac and Abby sprang to the table, stretched up to full height, then effortlessly leaped on top of the china hutch.
    “Whoosh,” Margie said, looking overhead. “My cat, Spitty, is too fat to do that.”
    “Okay, that’s two out of our way,” Katherine said, looking up at Lilac and Abby. Iris slinked behind Chief London’s chair and looked suspiciously at his back pocket. Katherine gave her a look of, ‘Don’t even think about it.’ Iris sassed back a loud ‘yowl.’
    “Waugh,” Scout scolded Iris, who retreated to the dining room corner. Scout sprang up to one of the Eastlake side chairs pushed up against the wainscoting; Abra joined her.
    Katherine glanced at her watch. “Let’s begin with the obvious. I’ve inherited a fortune. I cannot fathom having all of this money. Plain and simple—I want to get rid of some of it.”
    The chief and Margie looked at Katherine with rapt attention.
    The chief joked, “I can think about what I’d do with millions of dollars. I’d blow this Popsicle stand in a second. Buy me a beach-front home in Malibu. Sit around in luxury with my wife, drinkin’ a Mai Tai.”
    “That sounds like a great dream,” Katherine said, pulling an envelope out of a manila folder. She slid the envelope over to the chief.
    “What’s this?” he asked curiously.
    “Open it,” Katherine said.
    “Okay,” he said, slitting the seal. He extracted a computer printout of a vacation resort hotel in Hawaii, along with two prepaid airline tickets. His jaw dropped open, “What the heck?”
    “Little birdie told me you and the wife needed a little vacation. Two weeks. You pick the dates.”
    “Oh, Katz, I can’t accept this,” the chief pleaded.
    “It’s not from me. Read the address on the back of the envelope.”
    “The Kendall cats.” The chief emitted a laugh, punctuated with short snorts. “Thank you.”
    Scout answered, “Ma-waugh.”
    Everyone at the table laughed.
    Katherine looked at Margie. “Two little birdies told me you’d be needing a vacation, too.”
    Margie’s eyes grew big. “Katz, what have you up and done?”
    “The Kendall cats consulted with Tommy and Shelly. Your kids voted for a trip down south.” Katherine slid an envelope to Margie.
    Margie slowly opened it. It was a rare treat when Cokey and she could find the time to go on vacation, but with the kids out of school, it would be the perfect time. “Bless your heart! Disney World. We’ll be stayin’ right there at the theme park. Oh, my goodness. Itineraries, boarding passes, and tickets to the parks,” she said excitedly. She jumped out of her seat and rushed over and hugged Katherine. “I love you, kiddo. Thanks so much.” Returning to her seat, she said to the felines, “Oh, I love you, too. Thank you, cats.”
    Katherine said happily, “Both of you are quite welcome, so now let’s begin the meeting. Because I don’t know many people in the town, I’d like the two of you to be my Erie pulse. I want to know where my money will do the most good in helping people who find themselves in distress. Who gets it, and how? I’ve lived in Erie long enough to know that people don’t always take kindly to charity, so we have to discover ways of finding those who truly deserve help, and weed out potential moochers.”
    The chief chuckled. “Moochers. I like that word.”
    “Katz, I have a few ideas of my own,” Margie said. “There’s some really poor people who live in Erie. Most of them can’t afford to heat their homes in the winter, so they resort to burning logs in their fireplaces—that is, if they are lucky to have a fireplace—or use kerosene heaters. I don’t know if you are aware about the dangers of kerosene, but it’s one of the most explosive fuels