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13. GRIZZLY GRIEVANCE

Chapter One

I’m Angie Russo, and lately my life has been one train wreck after another. And, yeah, I do mean that literally. First my cat and I found ourselves aboard a derailed train about six months back, and then just a couple weeks ago, my nan crashed her sports car on the highway with us in it.

I’ve started to fear various modes of transportation just as much as I’ve feared electric coffee makers for a while now. In my life, both have only led to trouble.

And that’s how it all started, too.

I got zapped by an old coffee maker and woke up with the strange new ability to talk to animals. And those talking animals have led to most of my problems, like the aforementioned vehicle wrecks. I’ve also dealt with more than anyone’s fair share of murders, thefts, kidnappings, and other nefarious crimes. Then again, I guess that’s what I get for setting up shop as a private investigator.

Still…

I could really do with just a week or two where nothing life-altering comes around and rocks my world.

I can’t even remember the last time I enjoyed a good old-fashioned Netflix binge or spent the full day in bed reading. Also, I almost never get paid for my investigative work, which begs the question: Why do I keep signing myself up for more and more?

My partner at Pet Whisperer P.I. has zero issues saying no. Of course, he’s not the one doing any of the talking. He wouldn’t miss napping in a sunbeam or giving himself a slow, leisurely tongue bath for anything… Oh, did I mention my partner is a cat?

He’s a standard tabby with an oversized attitude, but don’t tell him I said that. His full name is Octavius Maxwell Ricardo Edmund Frederick Fulton Russo, Esq, P.I. (a name he freely and regularly adds to). I prefer to call him Octo-Cat. He’s not a fan, but at least he’s stopped arguing with me about it.

The trust fund his previous owner left him pays all our bills, and those rare moments when he offers me genuine displays of love and affection are the brightest spots in my day.

We also live in our—or rather his—giant manor house alongside my nan and her rescue Chihuahua, Paisley. Pringle the nosy reality TV addict lives in a treehouse in our backyard; he’s a raccoon. And then we have Charles, my big-time lawyer boyfriend, to round out our motley crew.

Our latest adventure took Nan, Octo-Cat, Paisley, and me on a cross-country trip to visit my cat’s girlfriend, a former show Himalayan named Grizabella. On the way, I learned that Nan has been blabbing what is meant to be a secret ability to random friends of hers on the Internet.

While that was going on, a militarized flock of seagulls bribed me into helping with their turf dispute, a case that mainly fell to Charles and Pringle since the rest of us were out of town.

And even though we held up our end of the bargain, the seagulls needed more time to deliver on theirs. I trust them, though. Any day now, they’ll lead me to my long-lost grandmother and I’ll finally learn the truth about my lineage.

Until then, I’ve been doing my best to focus on other things. It hasn’t been going well…

Mainly because my cat makes non-stop demands, and I’m just too tired to argue with him anymore. That’s why I’m driving more than thirty minutes out to Misty Harbor to purchase a lobster roll from his preferred venue, the Little Dog Diner. And when I get home, he probably won’t even say thank you for sending me to another far-flung end of Blueberry Bay to fulfill his latest request.

Yeah…

Have I mentioned just how badly I need a break from my life?

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When I returned that afternoon with a bag of lobster rolls in hand, I found a pair of seagulls roosting on my porch.

“Bravo?” I asked as I parked my car and ambled over to greet them. “And is that Abigull? No way.”

The smaller of the two birds puffed out her feathers and let out a tinkling giggle. When I last saw her a few weeks back, she’d been little more than a hatchling. Now she was almost as large as her adoptive father—and a very happy-looking bird at that.

“We’ve finished our search for your grandmother,” Bravo informed me without further pretense. He’d promised to put me in touch with my long-lost biological grandmother in return for Charles, Pringle, and me assisting in a land dispute with another flock. And I knew he was trying his best todeliver on his end of the deal, but the more that time passed, the less I believed any of us would be able to find her.

I never should have doubted them, I realized now as an enormous smile stretched across my face.“That’s wonderful. Can you take me to her now?” I moved back toward my car, but the seagulls didn’t follow.

“She’s not here anymore,” Abigull said with a sad shake of her head.

Bravo picked up where his ward left off.“She was here in the Bay for a long time, but now we can’t locate her.”

“Did she…?” I swallowed hard, unable to believe the horrible timing. “Did she die?”

“Oh gosh no!” The little bird chirped and shifted her weight from foot to foot. “Nothing like that.”