Cat in an Indigo Mood

Chapter 59

And Louise, She Has Secrets to Conceal...

Midnight Louise is one of the most disgruntled operatives I have ever worked with.

Of course, I have never worked with many operatives, for the simple reason that l work best alone. But sometimes even a lone wolf needs a female of the species. Among wolf-dogs, such are called bitches. Draw your own conclusions.

I find Miss Louise back under the usual oleander bush, in the unusual-for-her Mandarin Position of Patience Eternal: lying down with her forelimbs tucked before her. An ant is wending its way up the the side of her nose.

"You would think I was guarding Buckingham Palace," she hisses, looking somewhat cross-eyed at the ant. "Come on, you six-legged tourist! Just try to make me smile."

"Cats do not smile," I reply.

"Particularly when they pull nanny duly." she sniffs.

"Is the, uh, little nipper doing well?"

"As well as can be expected. Why?"

"I may need a witness."

"Do not we all!"

"No. Off the premises."

"I do not know if your witness can travel."

"How can you find out?"

"Move the poor bugger, and if it lives . . .

"I could use a more optimistic projection than that."

"Then rent a movie! Preferably not Titanic. "

"You are certainly tart today."

"I have been squatting here on and off for days, when not called away for your dog-herding detail, engaged in the feeding and care of an invalid, on no more say-so than you can come up with. The ground is hard, the food is literally lousy, and the ambiance would give an insomniac narcolepsy. What do you expect?"

"How about you move your assets----and your, uh, charge---to this address?"

Miss Midnight Louise eyes the coordinates I scratch into the dusty ground before her. "That is one long hitchhike, Daddio."

"I think you can do it."

"With dead weight?"

"With whatever."

"Humph. And what is the payoff?"

"The payoff is a confession of murder."

"Murder is a contradiction in terms among our species."

"We are lucky. Humans are a lot less lucky."

"I know. They are not feline."

I nod. There is no arguing with a dame, especially when she is -sitting on your best witness.