Leger's Foe (The Leger Hotel Mysteries Series Book 4)

‘Yes.  I am jealous that you look so ridiculous and I do not,’ Leger agreed.  ‘I’m going to find Carole.  She apparently brought me some catnip from Glasgow.  It’s so long since I had any and I need something to distract me while I’m thinking over the details of this drowning case.’

‘I did wonder if you would try to solve that!  Any leads yet?’ Bob asked.

‘None.  I’m still in the early stages of collating as much information as I can.’

Leger sauntered into the kitchen of the home he shared with Annabella, Hugh, Bob and Lily the calico.  Annabella and Hugh had never been blessed with children but Leger knew that they viewed their niece, Carole, as the daughter they never had and when she had announced she was coming to visit them on the island, they were delighted.

Leger had expected Carole’s whole family to be here but it seemed it was just her and her two children, Brianna and the baby, Louis.  Her husband, Gordon, was very rarely around and Leger only remembered meeting him a handful of times.  The usual excuse was work commitments.  This time, he had some family emergency to which he had to attend and so Carole had arrived with just the children in her car and spent the last three days by the loch, feeding the swans with Brianna.

‘Hello, Carole,’ Leger said, slinking into the kitchen, where Carole stood nursing a mug of tea and staring out of the window.  He noticed her eyes were red and it looked like she had been crying.

Annabella was out in the hall, speaking to someone on the phone about a booking for the hotel.  Carole failed to acknowledge Leger’s presence so he curled his body around her ankles and whipped his tail against her knees.

‘Oh.  Leger, you probably want some catnip,’ Carole muttered, sitting her mug on the worktop, clearly subdued and morose.

She reached up to the cupboard above her head and pulled a small bunch of catnip down.  Leger’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth from excitement, ready to inhale the sweet scent and become lost in the heady sensations that would follow until he heard yowling above him.  He looked up and saw Lily, perched on top of the cupboards.

‘Lily!  Are you alright?’ Leger called out to her.

‘Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I’m good.  This catnip’s amazing,’ she breezed, barely paying attention.  ‘Leger, who’s that giant mouse behind you?’

He turned around and saw Bob, still adorned in the felt rabbit ears Brianna had made.

‘I’m not a mouse, I’m a bunny rabbit,’ Bob whined.

‘He looks like a tasty specimen,’ Lily giggled, not processing what Bob had said.  ‘I’ve never seen such a big mouse.’

Carole placed the catnip in front of Leger and went back to her tea, completely switched off from what was happening around her.

Without further warning, Lily leapt onto Bob’s head and sank her teeth into him.

‘Die, mouse!’ she screeched.

‘Lily, get off me!’ Bob grunted.  ‘Leger, help me.’

Leger looked at the bunch of catnip in front of him and then to the spectacle unfolding before his eyes.

‘I don’t think I’ll bother with this.  It’s clearly a bad batch,’ Leger grizzled, turning his nose up.

He wondered if he looked so ridiculous when he indulged in catnip and if he did, why didn’t anyone tell him?  Perhaps he would wait until later, when nobody was around to make a fool of himself.

He tiptoed back to the living room, bypassing Brianna who was now cutting out a set of rabbit feet, presumably to place on Bob’s legs as they were too big to fit either him or Lily.  Leger leapt onto the windowsill and listened as Annabella terminated her phone call and had to repeat Carole’s name twice to get her attention.  He couldn’t stop thinking about Carole’s glum mood.  It was unlike the bubbly young woman to be so pensive and introspective and he wondered if perhaps there was a problem with her husband, Gordon.  After all, he had yet again not made the effort to spend time with the people who were important to his wife.  Perhaps there was more to this than met the eye.

Leger’s train of thought was interrupted when he noticed a commotion outside.  It was taking place at the tree between their house and the hotel.  The tree was often frequented by the local cats, although was less crowded the last few weeks since two of the cats had decided to stay in the village with their human and not venture this far out.

In attendance that day were Piper, a beautiful white molly with sapphire blue eyes, Domino and Oreo, the black and white brothers whose markings reflected their name choices and Massingham, a relatively new cat to the island, who was grey and always wore his collar loose, with his identity tag hanging low.  Although he lived with the other two cats who no longer visited, he chose to continue mixing with the clowder, Piper especially.  Leger had taken an instant dislike to Massingham, despite knowing it was illogical and irrational.  He just couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a bad vibe when Massingham was around.