She walked to the bedroom/office at the unit’s other end, detouring through the kitchen to snag a glass of Ruby Red grapefruit juice. Visions of chopping a thug in the bridge of his nose with the hardened edge of one hand, then jamming the heel of the other hand under his nostrils so the presumably broken bridge bone would drive, splintering, into his brain, burned as gory-red in her head as the grapefruit juice in her hand.
Matt wasn’t teaching her that maneuver, but she’d heard of it. Maybe going through the motions now, learning the moves that she hadn’t known when the two men had attacked her, would restore something they had taken. Maybe. At her desk, a pale-pink Post-it note with the group-therapy phone number stuck out from the top of her computer screen like an anemic tongue.
She ripped it off, then lifted the phone receiver and dialed. Maybe just going through the motions of anything—even survival—wasn’t enough.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
www.carolenelsondouglas.com
Carole Nelson Douglas is the award-winning author of 60 novels in the mystery/thriller, science fiction/fantasy and romance/women’s fiction genres. She currently writes the long-running Midnight Louie, feline PI, cozy-noir mystery series (Cat in an Alphabet Soup, Cat in an Aqua Storm, Pussyfoot, Cat on a Blue Monday etc.) and the Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator, noir urban fantasy series (Dancing with Werewolves) set in imaginative variations of Las Vegas: contemporary and paranormally post-apocalyptic.
Carole was the first author to make a Sherlockian female character, Irene Adler, a series protagonist, with the New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Good Night, Mr. Holmes. She has won Lifetime Achievement Awards from RT Book Reviews for Mystery, Suspense and Versatility, and was named a Pioneer of Publishing. Her Midnight Louie novels and stories also won several Cat Writers’ Association first-place Muse Medallions, including for “Butterfly Kiss” and “The Riches That There Lie.” Carole has e-published the first four Irene Adler novels and some shorter fiction. (www.wishlist.com)
A daily newspaper reporter, feature writer and editor in St. Paul, she moved to Fort Worth to write fiction fulltime and was recently inducted into the Texas Literary Hall of Fame.
ALSO BY CAROLE NELSON DOUGLAS
“Her fine Sherlockian novels and her Midnight Louie books have turned her into a genuine mystery star. Pick one up and you'll see why.”—Ed Gorman, founder of Mystery Scene magazine
The DELILAH STREET, Paranormal Investigator, series in print and eBook
Dancing with Werewolves... Brimstone Kiss... Vampire Sunrise... Silver Zombie... Virtual Virgin
The New York Times Notable IRENE ADLER Series in print and eBook
Good Night, Mr. Holmes... The Adventuress... A Soul of Steel... Another Scandal in Bohemia... Chapel Noir and Castle Rouge (Jack the Ripper duology)... Femme Fatale... Spider Dance
Novellas in eBook
Alice Holds the Cards
Fruit of the Tomb (ML)
Monster Mash (DS)
Once Upon a Midnight Noir
(in print also) ML & DS
The Private Wife of Sherlock Holmes (IA)
Christmas Stories
The Rakehell’s Christmas Angel
Scrogged: A Cyber Christmas Carol
A Wall Street Christmas Carol
The MIDNIGHT LOUIE Feline PI series*
Cat in an Alphabet Soup... Cat in an Aqua Storm... Cat on a Blue Monday... Cat in a Crimson Haze... Cat in a Diamond Dazzle... Cat with an Emerald Eye... Cat in a Flamingo Fedora... Cat in a Golden Garland... Cat on a Hyacinth Hunt... Cat in an Indigo Mood... Cat in a Jeweled Jumpsuit... Cat in a Kiwi Con... Cat in a Leopard Spot... Cat in a Midnight Choir... Cat in a Neon Nightmare... Cat in an Orange Twist... Cat in a Hot Pink Pursuit... Cat in a Quicksilver Caper... Cat in a Red Hot Rage... Cat in a Topaz Tango... Cat in a Sapphire Slipper... Cat in an Ultramarine Scheme... Cat in a Vegas Gold Vendetta... Cat in a White Tie and Tails... Cat in an Alien X-Ray... (Forthcoming: Cat in a Yellow Spotlight... Cat in a Zebra Zoot Suit...Cat in an Alphabet Endgame)
* in eBook, F to K forthcoming in eBook
COPYRIGHT
Cat in an Aqua Storm
First Kindle edition Copyright November 2013 Carole Nelson Douglas
Previously published and copyrighted as Pussyfoot 1993
Proofreader: Pat Martin
Cat in window image Copyright Midnight Louie III and Carole Nelson Douglas
Cover image Copyright iStock.com
Cover and interior book design Copyright Carole Nelson Douglas
Author photo Copyright Sam Douglas
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The copying, reproduction, and distribution of this eBook via any means without permission of the author is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and refuse to participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s intellectual rights are appreciated.
A Wishlist Book
http://www.wishlistpublishing.com
Table of Contents
Unnamed
Unnamed
Unnamed
Copyright
Cat in a Blue Monday preview
About the Author
CHAPTERS
The Life That Late He Led
Electraglide in Black
A Crummy Encounter
Dial “M” for Matt
Crawford Sees Red
Sick to Death
No Love Lost
The Cookie Crumbles
Dance of Death
Perfect Recall
Vamp of Savannah
The Naked and the Dead
WOE vs. WHOOPE
The Naked Nose
Kitty City Nitty-Gritty
Little Girl Lost
Crime and Punishment
Official Abuse
A Roommate to Die For
A Kinky Cat-tail
The Sweet Smell of Success
A Walk on the Wild Side
Golden Girls and Boys...
Nursery Crimes
Poster Boy
The Kitty City Connection
: ...All Must Come to Dust
Louie in a Jam
Louie Takes a Powder
Born to Be Child
A Stitch in Time...
...Saves Nine
Louie Bows Out
Electra City
Little Cat Feet