7. Mina

"How goes the wedding preparations?" I asked as I greeted the guys at the door to the flat with my arms full of takeaway containers. My mood had been flip-flopping wildly since I got back from Chirag's – between Jen's email and Maisie's case and that awful confrontation with Wayne, I was a bit of a mess. But hearing my guys clomping up the stairs to our flat cheered me up. "Have Cynthia and Iwan got every event professional in the Loamshire County hunkered down in their war room?"

"Er, yes, everything's fine." Heathcliff breezed past me. He collected four kittens off his chair before collapsing into it. The kittens commenced climbing over him as if he were their own personal jungle gym, which I suppose he was. "The wedding is going perfectly. Absolutely no saboteurs trying to ruin it."

"What?"

I heard a cork slide from the neck of a whisky bottle Heathcliff pulled from some dark recess of his coat. "Nothing. Don't worry about it. The chair covers arrived. They look nice."

As Morrie sauntered into the room, Quoth perched on his shoulder, he brushed his lips over my ear. "Nothing Surly O'Hara over there won't fix, Mina."

"That's good to hear," I grinned. "Because let's just say that the book launch isn't going quite how I planned, and I had a run-in with our friend Wayne today. I need something in my life to go without a hitch."

"What about Wayne?" Heathcliff jerked forward, nearly tossing Peanut across the room. Luckily, Morrie picked the kitten out of the air before she became another victim of Heathcliff's rage. "What did that bastard do now?"

"Nothing really. He cornered me at the takeaways and yelled about how I'm basically the Brutus of the book world because I wouldn't set up a free launch for his poetry collection. He made a threat about making sure the launch was a flop, but he was blowing off steam. It's nothing to worry about." I swallowed. "I hope."

"I'll be the judge of that." Heathcliff cracked his knuckles menacingly.

"Honestly, he probably doesn't even have to do anything to sabotage my launch. I seem to be doing a fine job of that on my own." I drop Oscar's harness one-handed onto the hook. He was officially off-duty. He tapped my knee, excited for his dinner. Chirag had made him a special ‘dog curry' of rice, carrots, and potatoes.

"Morrie told us about the letter." Quoth unlooped the bags from my arm and led me to my seat opposite Heathcliff by the fire. "I know how hard you've worked, but you can't let one setback stop you from telling your story?—"

Morrie rummaged around in the kitchen, and I jumped as a cork popped against the ceiling.

"It's fine," I muttered, slumping down in the seat. "It doesn't matter. I don't even care about Jen or what she thinks."

"Mina—"

"You finished editing your book yet?" Heathcliff asked as he grabbed his vindaloo. "Not that it needed any further work. It was perfect."

"You're just saying that because you're the one who edited it."

"And I did a damn fine job. Typos are afraid of me."

"I believe that." I changed the subject so I didn't have to answer any more probing questions about the book. "Do you guys know a girl named Maisie Collins?"

"Doesn't she write for the Argleton Gazette?" Morrie said from the kitchen. "She covers the town council meetings and writes thrilling exposés about the pig that got loose in the farmer's market."

"Maisie came to visit me today. Someone took her pet duck, James Pond."

At the mention of ‘duck,' Grimalkin's head popped up between my legs, ears standing tall with interest. I patted her head. "No, Grandma, this isn't a duck for you to eat. But I think there might be a bit of haddock in that bag for you."

"James Pond is a brilliant name." Morrie handed me a glass of wine. "I like this woman already. I assume you took the case."

"Of course she didn't." Heathcliff eased himself into the chair opposite me. He put his feet up on the footrest between us, his toe stroking the edge of my foot. "Mina's got enough to do between re-editing her perfectly edited book and getting ready for the wedding."

"Actually…" I grinned.

"Mina."

"I can't help who I am! Besides, if you saw Maisie crying over James, you wouldn't have been able to say no, either."

"Want to bet?" Heathcliff muttered.

"Could I help, gorgeous?" Morrie angled the lamp behind my chair so that it lit up the space in front of me, and he placed a plate of half mango chicken and half lamb balti on my lap. Heathcliff's favorite kitten, Maximilian, tried to steal a piece of lamb from the side of the plate, but I plopped him down on the floor.

"Morrie doesn't have time to help. He has his own wedding-related job to do, doesn't he?" Heathcliff tossed a piece of meat to Max.

"Hey, that was mine!" Morrie cried.

"Well, I can hardly give him vindaloo, can I? It would hurt his little stomach."

"What wedding-related job?" I asked.

"It's not important," Quoth said hurriedly. "Except that Morrie needs to do it quickly and neatly and non-violently."

"I am an expert multi-tasker," Morrie purred. "Why, just the other night I had my tongue buried inside Mina while I stroked Heathcliff's?—"

"Pass the garlic naan!" Heathcliff boomed.

"If you want to help, I'd love that. I need you to check around about Maisie's neighbor, Stanley Clarke. He's been complaining to the council about James Pond, so he seems a likely suspect in this duck-napping. Quoth, I thought maybe you talk to some of the other local birds, see if anyone has seen any fowl play." I patted Oscar, who lay across my feet and used his nose to nudge away kittens who tried to come for his dinner. "Oscar and I are going over to Maisie's house in the morning to take a look at the crime scene."

Heathcliff perked up. "If you find this duck, does it mean Morrie will cook us his delicious duck à l'orange for dinner?"

"No. James is a purebred duck who is Maisie's best friend. We are not eating him."

"Fine." Heathcliff tossed another piece of Morrie's chicken to Maximilian. "Then pass the rice. And remember, this duck may have your attention now, but in four days, we are marrying you, and neither man nor feathered beast will tear us asunder."