Cats on the Prowl (A Cat Detective cozy mystery series Book 1) by Nancy C. Davis

own. The killer needed something to ignite it.”

    Nat spun around. “But who would have
access to that?”

    Chester poked the debris with his nose.
“These blasting caps are military grade. They contain traces of ignition fuels
found only in the military. Whoever used them had a military background.”

    “That should help us narrow down the
list of suspects,” Willow remarked. “Which of them had a military background,
Nat?”

    Chester turned to Nat. “Yes, Nat.
Please tell us which of the suspects had a military background.”

    Nat kept walking. “Let’s go, Willow.
We're done here for tonight.”

    Chester chuckled, and he and the other
cats followed Nat to the edge of the crime scene. They walked under the yellow
police cordon tape warning everybody to stay out. The cats stopped, and Willow
looked back. “We didn’t find the clues to solve the case.”

    “The important thing is to collect all
the pieces of the puzzle,” Nat told her. “Only after you have them all do you
start fitting them together to make a complete picture of what happened.”

    Willow turned to Bella. “What will you
two do for the rest of the night?”

    “I’m meeting friends near the movie
theater,” Bella replied. “I’m not sure, but I think Chester is meeting the
other toms for choir practice on the roof of the apartment building at the end
of the alley. They have twenty toms who get together to test their voices
against each other.”

    Willow giggled. “I’ll bet the people in
the apartment building love that.”

    “They do,” Bella told her. “They always
come to their windows to listen, and they even shout encouragement. Some even
throw presents.”

    “I wish we didn’t have to go so soon,” Willow
exclaimed. “We only just met, and I have so many things I want to ask you
about.”

    Bella laughed. “I bet you never thought
you’d want to spend any time with an alley cat.”

    Willow blushed. “You’re right. You’ve
completely changed my opinion. I’m sorry for judging you the way I did.”

    “Never mind,” Bella replied. “We can be
friends now. And don’t worry about leaving. If you want to talk again, you know
where to find me.”

    Willow waved her tail in the air.
“Thanks. It sure helps to know I have someone out in the field I can count on.”

    Nat called to her over his shoulder.
“Come on, let’s get going.”

Chapter 8
    Willow followed Nat, and Chester and Bella
disappeared into their alley. Willow cast one last look at them before they
vanished into the shadows. “They really are an amazing pair.”

    “No police cat could solve a case
without them,” Nat agreed. “There’s an old saying. ‘It’s not what you know,
it’s who you know.' They’ve helped me a dozen times or more. They can tell you
things you would never be able to figure out on your own.”

    “You mean like finding that cologne?” Willow
asked.

    Nat made a face. “I don’t think that
cologne contributed much to the case, but Chester did, and I defer to his
expertise. We can add it to our store of information about the suspects, but it
does seem to point very strongly to Jason and Annika. Those two have the
highest likelihood, in my opinion, of being the killers.”

    “Maybe they did it together,” Willow
suggested.

    Nat cast her a sidelong glance. “I
wouldn’t be surprised. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Josephine and Jason did
it together. When people cheat on their spouses, they don’t have very far to go
before they decide to rid themselves of their old partners altogether. The
temptation to murder can become overwhelming.”

    He turned a corner and climbed a set of
concrete stairs to the roof of the Motel building. “Look at that,” Willow
remarked. “I didn’t know we’d been out so long, but the sky is getting light.
We better get back to the station to meet up with Carl and Naya. We don’t want
to miss out on Marlena’s interview.”

    “We aren’t going back to the