Never Tease a Siamese: A Leigh Koslow Mystery by Edie Claire

groomed, dour man in his late forties, answered without a smile. "No, just a place to sit is fine, thank you. But I do need to talk to you privately for a moment." He turned to Leigh. "If you'll excuse us?"
    "Oh," she replied awkwardly. "Of course. We'll just go—" She looked over her shoulder, but Adith was nowhere in sight. "Get a drink," she finished sheepishly, stepping backwards.
    "More news about the crash?" Nikki was asking the lawyer as Leigh retreated. She couldn’t hear his answer, but she wanted to. She also wanted to know who Nikki had remembered had been in the house. But first she had to figure out where the heck Adith had gotten to.
    She walked back through the hallway to the kitchen, and was disturbed to find it empty. She was even more disturbed to find the family room and the library empty as well. Because, since Adith couldn't possibly have strolled through the parlor or dining room without running into Nikki and the lawyer, that pretty much ruled out the whole ground floor. She returned to the foyer and looked nervously up the stairs. Adith wouldn't just start prowling around the bedrooms, would she?
    Her rhetorical question was answered by a small triangular head, which poked its way through the stair railing and peered at her with twinkling blue eyes. Another suddenly appeared on top of the newel post at the landing, its angular jaw dropping with a resentful cry. Leigh's spirits plummeted. Not only was Adith upstairs, she was accidentally letting the cats out.
    The doorbell rang again, and Leigh headed up the steps in haste. She certainly hoped there was a back way to the kitchen—or she and her accomplice were busted for sure. Scooping up one cat under each arm, she headed off down the upstairs hallway. "Adith!" she whispered harshly, unable to hear even herself over the loud mews of the remaining prisoners. "Where are you?"
    She couldn’t help noting the original works of art she was passing by on either side of the corridor—all of which were dark, dreary renditions of hunting expeditions. The late Albert’s taste, she hoped. No self-respecting cat-lover would approve of cruelty to foxes. Unless….
    Stop that! She shook the hideous images from her head again and  paused at each closed door to listen, but heard only mewling and a few ineffectual scratches. She was about to begin opening doors randomly—and taking chances on additional escapees—when Adith popped out of a second stairwell in front of her.
    "Three floors!" the older woman announced proudly. "I found old Albert's office, too. Did you know he met President Eisenhower?"
    "We've got to get back to the kitchen. Now," Leigh ordered. She held up her arms to display her feline passengers, which were no longer enjoying the ride. "Where did these two come from? We've got to put them back."
    Adith looked at the Siamese with a wrinkled nose. "Evil-looking things, if you ask me. Too skinny. Now, my Pansy—"
    "Mrs. Rhodis," Leigh interrupted intently, "Which door did they come out of? Quick!"
    "Her bedroom," the older woman answered with a sly smile. "It's this way. Nice, but could use some curtains. Never been into mauve, myself."
    After a complicated maneuver involving six human limbs and a pocketbook, the cats were finally returned to their prison, and Leigh and Adith were able to slip safely back into the kitchen through the rear staircase. They had not been there twenty seconds when Nikki appeared.
    "Welcome back," she said coarsely, picking up the two liters. "Would you mind grabbing some glasses and bringing them into the dining room? Mr. Sheridan's getting ready to start."
     
     
     
    Chapter 5
     
    Leigh and Adith were obliged to sit on a stiff-backed settee at the back of the parlor, which was fine by both. Not only did it offer an excellent view of the beneficiaries, but its proximity to Mrs. Murchison's antique roll-top desk allowed Adith to examine the latter's cubby holes with impunity.
    "I cannot state emphatically enough,"