On Christmas morning, as Misto basked contentedly beneath the Firetti Christmas tree, up in the hills at the Harper ranch an impromptu Christmas breakfast was under way. The invasions were ended—two of the invaders behind bars, one dead, and San Francisco PD was pursuing a solid lead on Kent Colletto. MPPD was back on regular hours, and every officer was in a mood to celebrate. As cars pulled into the ranch yard, and officers and their families and civilian friends carried covered dishes into the house, out in the fenced pasture Benny and his new pup ran, played ball, fell on the ground wrestling, took turns chasing each other. Lessons and training would come later; this was getting-acquainted time, bonding time.
From atop Ryan’s truck, Joe and Dulcie and Kit watched the two young ones, their smiles indulgent and a bit smug. Benny was safe, and they had helped to put away the no-goods. Peace reigned over the small village, their friends were gathered close around them, the air was scented with breakfast delicacies. Turkeys would soon be cooking for Christmas dinner, and all was well in their small portion of the world. Only Kit seemed restless.
She thought about Christmas parties all over the village, about happy, laughing families, about the lavishly decorated trees and beautiful music. Thought about her gift from Lucinda and Pedric that she had found under their tree this morning: a present that Kit would treasure always. She thought about the satisfying pastiche of holiday joys, and knew she should envision nothing more—and yet Kit dreamed of more. There was an empty space in her little cat soul; even with all the riches she had, still something was missing. Thinking about the new year to come, she was so filled with restless longing that she began to pace atop the truck between Dulcie and Joe, paced back and forth, looking out to the wild fields and the vast and rolling sea. She had no clue to what lay ahead, no clue to the magic that waited for her in the coming year; she could only dream her impatient dreams, could only hope and wonder what was there, waiting for her, within the bright new year.
ALSO BY SHIRLEY ROUSSEAU MURPHY
Cat Striking Back
Cat Playing Cupid
Cat Deck the Halls
Cat Pay the Devil
Cat Breaking Free
Cat Cross Their Graves
Cat Fear No Evil
Cat Seeing Double
Cat Laughing Last
Cat Spitting Mad
Cat to the Dogs
Cat in the Dark
Cat Raise the Dead
Cat Under Fire
Cat on the Edge The
The Catsworld Portal
Home is where his heart has always lingered, where he etched his first kitten paw prints,
Where he sucked in his first lick of milk, smelled his first briny scent of the sea,
Tasted, first, the fishy sand and the reek of seagull feathers. Where he mewed his first word and knew that he was different.
—Cat Anonymous
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
CAT COMING HOME. Copyright © 2010 by Shirley Rousseau Murphy.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © SEPTEMBER 2010 ISBN: 978-0-062-01838-0
FIRST EDITION
Cat illustration by Beppe Giacobbe
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Murphy, Shirley Rousseau.
Cat coming home : a Joe Grey mystery / Shirley
Rousseau Murphy.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-06-180693-3
1. Grey, Joe (Fictitious character)—Fiction.
2. California—Fiction. 3. Cats—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3563.U7619C314 2010
813’.54—dc22
2010015336
10 11 12 13 14 OV/RRD 10 98 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)
Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1 Auckland,
New Zealand
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com