Cat In An Ultramarine Scheme

Cat in an

Ultramarine

Scheme

By Carole Nelson Douglas from Tom Doherty Associates

MYSTERY

MIDNIGHT LOUIE MYSTERIES

Catnap

Pussyfoot

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 Sapphire Slipper

Cat in a Topaz Tango

Cat in an Ultramarine Scheme

Midnight Louie’s Pet Detectives

(anthology)

IRENE ADLER ADVENTURES

Good Night, Mr. Holmes

The Adventuress* (Good Morning, Irene)

A Soul of Steel* (Irene at Large)

Another Scandal in Bohemia* (Irene’s Last Waltz)

Chapel Noir

Castle Rouge

Femme Fatale

Spider Dance

Marilyn: Shades of Blonde (anthology)

HISTORICAL ROMANCE

Amberleigh†

Lady Rogue†

Fair Wind, Fiery Star

SCIENCE FICTION

Probe†

Counterprobe†

FANTASY

TALISWOMAN

Cup of Clay

Seed Upon the Wind

SWORD AND CIRCLET

Six of Swords

Exiles of the Rynth

Keepers of Edanvant

Heir of Rengarth

Seven of Swords

* These are the reissued editions.

† Also mystery

Cat in an Ultramarine Scheme

A MIDNIGHT LOUIE MYSTERY

Carole Nelson Douglas

A Tom Doherty Associates Book

New York

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

CAT IN AN ULTRAMARINE SCHEME

Copyright © 2010 by Carole Nelson Douglas

All rights reserved.

A Forge Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

www.tor-forge.com

Forge® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

ISBN 978-0-7653-1863-3

First Edition: August 2010

Printed in the United States of America

0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Janet Berliner,

a magical writer, editor, and friend,

and, most of all, survivor

Contents

Previously in Midnight Louie’s Lives and Times …

Chapter 1: Magic Carpet

Chapter 2: How Green Was My Valley

Chapter 3: Broke New World

Chapter 4: Where Louie Used To …

Chapter 5: Simply … Artisto

Chapter 6: Temptations of Temple Bar

Chapter 7: Lights, Action

Chapter 8: Lake Mean

Chapter 9: Ganged Up

Chapter 10: Spooky Suite

Chapter 11: Merciless Tenders

Chapter 12: Meow Mix

Chapter 13: Dem Old Bones

Chapter 14: Media Draw

Chapter 15: The Guggenheim of Gangsters

Chapter 16: A Rat in Time Saves Nine Lives

Chapter 17: Love Connection

Chapter 18: Whose Vault Is It?

Chapter 19: Road to Ruin

Chapter 20: Hoopla and Homicide

Chapter 21: When a Body Meets a Body

Chapter 22: Guess Who’s Come to Dinner?

Chapter 23: Bahr Bones

Chapter 24: Synth You’ve Been Gone

Chapter 25: A Ghost of a Clue

Chapter 26: Motorpsycho Nightmare

Chapter 27: Silent Partner

Chapter 28: An Inspector Calls

Chapter 29: Ringing Issues

Chapter 30: Breakfast of Champions

Chapter 31: The Vegas Cat Pack!

Chapter 32: Bottoming Out

Chapter 33: Synthesized

Chapter 34: Dalai Lama Eyes

Chapter 35: Room Disservice

Chapter 36: Ladies’ Neon Night Out

Chapter 37: Playing It Koi

Chapter 38: Drinkin’ Bitter Beer

Chapter 39: Guy Wire

Chapter 40: Guns and Gravy

Chapter 41: Getting Their Irish Up

Chapter 42: Armed and Dead

Chapter 43: Murder in 3-D

Chapter 44: On Thin Ice

Chapter 45: Da Denouement, Dudes

Chapter 46: Closing Call

Chapter 47: Moving Issues

Tailpiece: Midnight Louie Decries Sex and Gore

Tailpiece: Carole Nelson Douglas Meditates on Mobs

Cat in an

Ultramarine

Scheme

Midnight Louie’s Lives and Times …

Ah, me. Here I live and work in the world’s biggest and glitziest adult playground, and somebody has gone and turned off the water, lights, and heat.

Well, not literally.

Still, much jazz and razzamatazz has left this jumpin’ joint in the Mojave Desert since the economic angst shut down Las Vegas’s mad, mad, mad building boom. I am not speaking of any of my old joints shutting down, mind you.

Only a couple of years ago the Strip used to be a high-wire act in “construction plaid.” What do I mean by “plaid,” besides that dead men do not wear it?