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  Meow Means Murder – A Norwegian Forest Cat Café Cozy Mystery – Book 2

  By

  Jinty James

  Copyright © 2019 by Jinty James

  All rights reserved

  No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously.

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  DEDICATION

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  EPILOGUE

  AUTHOR NOTE and TITLES BY JINTY JAMES

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  Also By Jinty James

  DEDICATION

  For Annie, my beautiful Norwegian Forest Cat.

  CHAPTER 1

  “He’s here! He’s here!” Zoe raced to the counter, her face alight. Her brown eyes sparkled and her brunette pixie cut looked as if she’d run her fingers through it in excitement.

  “Who?” Lauren frowned as she foamed milk for a cappuccino, the hissing of the steam wand punctuating the conversation. In contrast to her cousin, Lauren was one inch shorter, and a little curvy, with hazel eyes. Freckles dusted her nose, and her light brown hair with hints of gold ended at just below her chin.

  “The food critic – Todd Fane!”

  “Brrt?” Annie, a fluffy Norwegian Forest Cat, trotted to the counter and looked up at Zoe, as if wondering at the commotion.

  “Remember the food critic we told you about, Annie?” Lauren leaned over the counter to speak to the cat.

  “He’s here!” Zoe hopped from one sneaker-clad foot to the other. “Ooh – he’s coming in the entrance now!”

  “Brrt!” Annie trotted to the Please Wait to be Seated sign. The early afternoon sun highlighted the silver in her gray fur.

  “Huh.” A man in his late thirties with thinning sandy hair and a paunch frowned at the fluffy silver-gray tabby standing in his way. “I guess the description on the website is correct, and not just a gimmick.”

  “It says the Norwegian Forest Café is a certified cat café,” his companion observed. He looked to be in his early twenties, and sported a modern, shaved sides and slicked back on top hairstyle.

  “Brrt,” Annie seemed to confirm. With a regal air, she swiveled, and led them to a table for two in the middle of the room, her plumy tail waving in the air.

  “Annie’s showing them to a table.” Zoe clutched her cousin’s arm.

  “Squeeze me any harder and I’ll ruin this cappuccino,” Lauren said wryly.

  “Sorry.” Zoe lowered her voice to a stage whisper. “I just can’t believe he’s here!”

  Todd Fane was a popular local food critic, although he usually covered Sacramento eateries. Since Gold Leaf Valley, their small town dating from the 1800s gold rush, was one hour away from the city, Zoe had buzzed as if she’d just downed a triple espresso ever since she’d read on his blog that he’d planned on covering the region.

  Lauren was excited as well about the critic, but since they hadn’t been sure which day he’d visit – or if he’d actually visit their café – she’d been trying to remain calm.

  “How do you know what he looks like?”

  “He has his photo with his byline,” Zoe explained.

  “I thought food critics liked to dine incognito,” Lauren remarked.

  “Maybe he enjoys being recognized. I just hope he gives us a glowing review,” Zoe continued. “Like he gave the Gold Leaf Valley Steakhouse last year.”

  “That would be great.” Lauren plated a raspberry swirl cupcake, keeping one eye on Annie and their two VIP customers.

  Annie hovered by the VIP table, as if wanting to make sure the food critic didn’t need anything. Laminated menus were already on the table, with a sign suggesting customers order at the counter.

  The critic and his companion perused the menus.

  “I’ll take this to table three.” Zoe picked up the tray. “You take their order.”

  “You don’t want to?” Lauren eyed her cousin. Zoe had been on tenterhooks for the last week.

  “I’m too nervous.” Zoe clutched the tray, her knuckles turning white. “What if I drop my notepad or pencil? I don’t want him to write about the clumsy waitress.”

  “Okay.” Lauren pulled out her notepad and pen from her apron pocket, which she wore over her usual work outfit of pale blue capris and apricot t-shirt.

  When they had an infirm customer, such as the elderly Mrs. Finch, or an imperious one who they knew wouldn’t order at the counter, they provided table service.

  “Good luck!” Zoe’s gaze darted to the VIP table. Annie sauntered back to her pink cat bed on the corner shelf and settled down for a little snooze.

  Lauren scanned the room as she approached Todd’s table. The other customers hadn’t seemed to notice the food critic in their midst. Half the tables were taken, and a low hum of conversation punctuated the space.

  “What can I get you?” Lauren smiled at the two men.

  Todd, the food critic, looked up from the menu.

  “Give me a large mocha and one of Ed’s pastries,” he commanded. “Whoever Ed is.” He smirked and looked at his companion, inviting him to laugh.

  Lauren inwardly bristled at the critic’s tone but kept her voice pleasant.

  “Ed is our very talented pastry chef. But I’m afraid the last pastry was sold half an hour ago.” Ed was finishing up in the kitchen. He’d already okayed it with Lauren to leave early that day because he had a dental appointment.

  “Oh-kay,” Todd spoke slowly. “What do you have left?”

  “Raspberry swirl cupcakes, vanilla cupcakes, and cinnamon crumble cupcakes.”

  “Give me a raspberry swirl,” he replied.

  “Sure.” Lauren scratched out the order on her notepad. “What would you like?” She turned to the younger guy.

  He gave her a smile. “I’ll have a regular latte and a vanilla cupcake. Thanks.” Intelligence shone behind his green eyes and his boyish features looked sympathetic.

  “Won’t be long.” Lauren summoned a quick smile and hurried to the counter.

  “Well?” Zoe asked impatiently as Lauren began to make a large mocha.

  “Here.” Lauren pulled the page off her notepad. “Can you plate the cupcakes?”

  “Sure!” Zoe grabbed two white plates and a pair of tongs. “So, what’s he like?”

  “Rude.” Lauren wrinkled her nose.

  “Really?” Zoe sounded disappointed.

  “The younger guy seems okay.”

  “I wonder who he is?” Zoe peeked over at their table. “Yeah, he is sort of cute, but too young for me.”

  “Really?” Now it was Lauren’s turn to use that word. “You’re only twenty-five.”

  “And he looks fresh out of college.” Zoe sighed. “I don’t want to date Methuselah but I also don’t want to be a cougar.”

  “Got it.”

  Zoe had experienced a dating disaster last month, when her internet date had turned out to be seven years younger than her. Since then, she’d channeled her energies into knitting and had formed a knitting club with three members – four if Annie was included.

  “I’d better take this over to them.” Lauren gestured to the tray holding two steaming coffees and the sweet treats Zoe had readied.

  “
I hope they like everything.”

  “I hope they liked Annie showing them to their table,” Lauren replied.

  “Who wouldn’t?” Zoe looked incredulous.

  The Norwegian Forest Cat leading customers to their tables was one of their drawcards, although Lauren always kept an eye on Annie to make sure her hostess duties didn’t tire her out.

  Lauren headed to the VIP table. “Here we are.” She carefully set down the tray and placed the men’s orders in front of them. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

  Todd grunted in acknowledgement, scrutinizing the cupcake from all angles.

  “Thanks.” The young guy looked appreciatively at his order.

  Lauren departed, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Todd had spooned some foam off his mocha and eyed it critically.

  “I hope we get a good review,” Zoe whispered when Lauren rejoined her at the counter. “Todd wrote in his column that the wagyu at the steakhouse here was out of this world!”

  “Have you ever tried wagyu?” Lauren asked curiously.

  “No.” Zoe shook her head. “It’s so expensive! One hundred and sixty dollars for one serving. But everyone raves about wagyu.”

  “Do they?” Lauren crinkled her brow. “Where?”

  “Online.” Zoe waved a hand in the air. “And reviews in the newspaper. You know.”

  Lauren didn’t.

  “It’s supposed to be super tender and delicious. I’d love to try it. Maybe we could go one evening.”

  “You were at the steakhouse last month,” Lauren said. “What did you have if it wasn’t wagyu?”

  “A New York Strip. I couldn’t decide between that and the Angus but I decided on the strip. It wasn’t bad.”

  “Let’s hope Todd doesn’t give us an, ‘It wasn’t bad’,” Lauren said wryly.

  “Look, he’s summoning you!” Zoe waved back at the critic.

  “I’d better go and see what he wants.” Lauren hurried over to the small table, telling herself to be pleasant. She usually kept her patience even with their most difficult customers, but for some reason, the critic’s behavior had set her teeth on edge.

  Both cupcakes had disappeared, the unbleached paper cases the only evidence. The coffee cups were empty. Hopefully they’d enjoyed it all.

  “When can I get one of Ed’s pastries?” Todd demanded.

  “A few people have told us about them,” his companion added.

  “Tomorrow morning,” Lauren replied. “We open at 9.30 a.m. There should be some ready around ten.”

  “We’ll definitely come back then,” Todd said. “We’re staying at that dump of a motel a few blocks from here.” He scraped back his wooden chair.

  Lauren raised her eyebrows at his criticism but didn’t say anything.

  “I don’t think it’s that bad,” his companion said.

  “Here you go.” Lauren pulled out the bill from her pocket. “We usually take payment at the counter but if you’re in a hurry you can leave the money on the table.”

  “Huh.” Todd looked surprised at being asked to pay. “Sure.” He pulled out a black leather wallet and thumbed through a stack of notes. “Keep the change.”

  “Thanks.” Lauren watched them depart. Then she picked up the money and counted it. Sixteen dollars. He’d left a fifty-cent tip.

  At least he hadn’t tried to argue that he shouldn’t pay because he was a food critic. Lauren wasn’t sure if he’d expected her to recognize him or not. Maybe she should have sent Zoe over to take their order. Her cousin’s excitement at having the man in their café might have put him in a better temper.

  “For the tip jar.” Lauren put the cash into the register and pressed fifty cents into her cousin’s hand. Zoe and Ed shared the tips. Since Lauren made a small profit on top of her wage, it was only fair that her co-workers received the tips as part of their earnings.

  Plink. The coin landed on top of others in the glass jar.

  “He’s coming back tomorrow,” Lauren told her cousin.

  “Awesome!” Zoe grinned.

  Annie briefly looked up from her cat bed, saw that there were no new customers to tend to, sighed, and settled back down on her plush cushion.

  The next thirty minutes saw Lauren and Zoe bussing tables and taking payment from customers.

  “Brrt!” Annie’s ears pricked and she jumped down from her bed, trotting toward the hostess sign.

  “Hi, Annie.” A girl with long blonde hair swept back with violet barrettes bent down to smile at the cat. “How are you today?”

  “Brrp,” Annie replied.

  Lauren took that to mean, “I’m good, Cindy. How are you?”

  “Hi, guys.” Cindy waved to Lauren and Zoe.

  “Hey.” Zoe smiled. “How’s Gary’s Burger Diner today? I’ll have to stop by for a burger there soon. Ooh, did Todd Fane visit you? He was here a short while ago.”

  “Ugh.” Cindy made a face.

  Annie glanced from Lauren and Zoe at the counter, then back to Cindy, and led the girl to the counter, not to a table.

  Lauren gestured toward a table for four in the corner. At three o’clock, there were only a few customers enjoying their orders.

  “Why don’t we all sit over there for a minute?” she suggested.

  “Brrt,” Annie agreed, heading toward the table.

  “Good idea.” Zoe hurried after the cat.

  “I stopped by to get a mocha and a cupcake, if you had any left.” Cindy eyed the last couple of treats in the glass counter. “But maybe telling you what happened just now would be better.”

  “Almost better,” Lauren said sympathetically. “I’ll get you that mocha and a raspberry swirl cupcake in a minute as well.”

  “That would be great.” Cindy’s face lit up. “I need cheering up.”

  “What’s happened?” Lauren asked as they joined Zoe and Annie at the table.

  “It was awful.” Cindy shuddered. “That food critic—”

  “Todd—” Zoe interrupted helpfully.

  “Yeah.” Cindy nodded. “Ugh. What a creep.”

  “What?” Zoe’s eyes widened.

  “He came in for a late lunch just now. I didn’t know who he was.” Cindy’s cheeks turned pink. “With waitressing and my college classes, I don’t have much time to follow Sacramento food blogs.”

  “You’re studying at the community college, aren’t you?” Lauren asked.

  “Yes. Anthropology,” Cindy replied.

  “So what happened today?” Zoe leaned forward.

  “He came in after two, and I took his order.”

  “That must have been after he left here,” Zoe remarked.

  “He was with a younger guy—”

  “Yes, that guy must have been with him here as well,” Zoe tapped her cheek. “I wonder who he is.”

  “You were saying,” Lauren prompted Cindy, frowning at her cousin.

  “I brought their food out, and he didn’t like anything.” Cindy shook her head. “You know how good our burgers are—”

  “They’re the best,” Zoe said loyally.

  “Brrt,” Annie added, having sampled Lauren’s take-out order more than once.

  “But he said the patty was practically burned, so I took his order back to the kitchen and they made him a new burger. I thought everything was okay after that, but—” she shuddered.

  “What happened?” Lauren asked softly.

  “His companion had gone to the restroom, and that’s when he – Todd – told me that if I wanted my boss to get a good review, I should come out to the parking lot with him!”

  “What?” Zoe breathed.

  “Wow,” Lauren murmured, unable to believe the gall of the man – or perhaps she could, after meeting him today.

  “I didn’t.” Cindy shook her head so fiercely, Lauren wondered if it would fall off. “I would never do something like that.”

  “Of course you wouldn’t,” Zoe confirmed.

  “Brrt!” Annie added.

 
“And he said if I wasn’t “nice” to him, he would write such a bad review, that we’d lose all our customers in a couple of months and I’d be out of a job, along with everyone else.”

  “No way!” Zoe’s mouth fell open.

  “What did you do?” Lauren asked.

  “Something I regret.” Cindy bit her lip. “I picked up his plate and tossed the remains in his lap.”

  “Yes!” Zoe cheered.

  “No,” Cindy contradicted. “He stormed out of the restaurant without paying. Then his companion came out of the bathroom and I had to tell him his friend had left. So he left too, and I’m stuck with the bill.”

  “Did you tell your boss Gary what happened?” Lauren asked.

  “Not yet.” Cindy twisted her hands. “That place is his baby. How can I tell him that if we get a bad review it’s my fault because I wouldn’t put out for the food critic?”

  “But how could you tell him that you did put out for the food critic for a good review?” Lauren countered gently.

  “It’s sexual harassment!” Zoe jumped up. “You should report him to the police.” Any appeal the food critic had held for Zoe appeared to have vanished.

  “Yes.” Lauren rose too, then sank down again as she noticed Cindy’s doubtful expression.

  “I don’t want to make a fuss about it,” Cindy murmured.

  “You’re not,” Lauren and Zoe said at the same time.

  “Brrt!” Annie agreed. She sat next to Cindy and bunted the girl’s hand.

  Cindy stroked the silver-gray tabby.

  “You should still tell Gary, even if you don’t go to the police,” Lauren gently told the girl. “Just in case this – this critic does write a bad review.”

  “A totally undeserved bad review.” Zoe’s tone was fierce.

  “You’re right.” Cindy nodded, still stroking Annie. “And I will. But I think I need a mocha and a cupcake first.”

  “Of course.” Lauren glanced toward the counter and the Please Wait to be Seated sign, but there weren’t any customers standing in line.

  “And if you do decide to report him to the police, Lauren knows a guy.” Zoe sent a mischievous glance in her cousin’s direction.

  “Zoe!” Lauren blushed at the thought of Mitch Denman. He was tall, dark, and attractive. And taciturn at times. She’d met him last month when he investigated the death of one of their regular customers. And had barely seen him since.