Cat Fear No Evil
Chapter One
During the first week of October, when an icy wind
blew off the Pacific, rattling the windows of Molena
Point's shops, and the shops, half buried beneath blowing
oaks, were bright with expensive gifts and fall colors,
residents were startled by three unusual burglaries.
Townsfolk stopping in the bakery, enticed by saffronscented
delicacies, sipped their coffee while talking of
the thefts. Wrapped in coats and scarves, striding
briskly on their errands, they had left their houses carefully
locked behind them.
Burglaries are not surprising during the pre-
Christmas season when a few no-goods want to shop
free of entailing expense. But these crimes did not involve
luxury items from local boutiques. No handwrought
cloisonné chokers or luxurious leather jackets,
no sleek silver place settings or designer handbags. The
value of the three items stolen was far greater.
A five-hundred-thousand-dollar painting by Richard
Diebenkorn disappeared from Marlin Dorriss's oceanfront
home without a trace of illegal entry. A diamond choker worth over a million vanished from Betty and
Kip Slater's small, handsome cottage in the center of
the village. And the largest and hardest to conceal, a
vintage Packard roadster in prim ... read full excerpt from: Cat Fear No Evil ebook
