From Riches to Rags by Mairsile Leabhair Page A

wrong?” I asked my kitten. “She’s trouble and has been from day one. Sure, she apologized to me, and sure, she gave me a lift home, but now she wants something for her good deeds… doesn’t she?”
    Blackie meowed at me, and I smiled. “You don’t understand, Blackie. She wants to know what happened to me, and it’s just too painful to tell, especially to her. She would only laugh at my ignorance.”
    I set the kitten down on the floor and got up to put fresh water in her dish with fresh water. It was a mindless activity so that I could distract myself. It didn’t work.
    I was angry and I wasn’t sure why. It was probably because she had everything, and I had nothing. Blackie growled and at first I thought it was at me, and I apologized.
    “You’re absolutely right, Blackie, she doesn’t have you.”
    But I wasn’t really angry at Melinda, I was angry at myself. It was entirely my fault for getting in this predicament in the first place. And then it hit me. I slammed the door on any thought of friendship with Melinda, because she is who I was and I don’t want to go backwards again. I want to go forward. The only way we can be friends is if she sobers up and plays nice. She was sober tonight…
    Blackie continued to growl and that’s when I noticed a tiny mouse poking its head out of a new hole in the baseboard. Damn it!   I took some of the newspapers I used for Blackie’s litter box and stuff it into the hole. That won’t keep the rodent out for long, but I’ll ask the landlord later about plugging it up permanently.
    “Who’s a good mouser? You deserve a treat for your bravery.” Blackie purred and flicked her tail as if she knew her actions had saved my life. I gave her a piece of tuna and she gobbled it down whole.
    I flopped back down on the bed again, while Blackie inspected the hole in the wall. Then I got up and paced, and then I laid down and stared at the ceiling, and then...
     
    *
     
    Sleepless Nights — Meg Bumgartner and Frankie Bonner
     
    I had just finished jotting down my notes on the night’s transactions between Chris and Blackstone, and was taking one last look out the window at Chris’s apartment before I laid down for some shuteye, when I heard someone jiggle my door knob. I reached for my gun on the nightstand just as my wife walked in. It was six o’clock in the morning.
    Frankie took one look at me and asked, “Oh honey, rough night?” She walked over to me and kissed me softly on the lips. I enjoyed the fire she left behind, before I answered her.
    “You could say that. It was an all-nighter again. What are you doing here so early in the morning, not that I’m complaining, mind you.”
    “Our bed was cold.”
    “Oh, beautiful, I’m so sorry about that. I promise, as soon as this case is over with, I’ll make it up to you. We’ll finally be able to go on that honeymoon.”
    “I’ll hold you to that, sweetheart. So what is it about this case that has you so fanatical?”
    “You know, I’ve actually given that a lot of thought over the past few months, and I think it’s my irrational fear of ending up like she did.”
    “But she has a lifeline, right?”
    “Yeah, her parents plan to bring her home on Christmas Day, which is coming up soon, thank goodness. But she doesn’t know that. She doesn’t know that they still worry for her, cry for her, believe in her. All she knows is that she’s been abandon, she’s dirt poor, and that kitten of hers is all the comfort she has from the loneliness.”
    “Honey, listen to me.”
    I turned my head from the window back to my wife, and smiled, waiting for her to continue.
    “You are nothing like her, and will never be, and do you know why that is?”
    I shook my head.
    “Because I’m your lifeline, and you’re mine.”
    “Aw beautiful, you are so good for my heart.” I pulled her in close and gave her a fiery hot kiss, to try and make up for not waking up beside her this morning.
    “Oh my. Okay, don’t