A Classic Case (Busybodies Collection, #6)

by Alicia Thompson

“Routines make the world go round, my dear. Grocery shopping Fridays right when Publix opens. White toast with crunchy peanut butter for breakfast each morning. And my date with She Who Laughs Last every Wednesday. If it’s Wednesday at two o’clock and I’m not here, check the obituary section because I’m dead.”

“Mr. Hoffman,” Grant said, “once saw me taking out the trash and said it inspired him to make me a pallbearer at his funeral. He told me to make sure they played ‘At Last’ by Etta James because that’s what everyone in town would be thinking when he finally keeled over. He wanted Get Off My Lawn engraved on his headstone to scare kids away from standing on his grave. He’s an eighty-six-year-old man. He jokes like that.”

“Sweet baby,” she murmured. “Where’s your cat dad, huh? Cat grandpa? Is that ageist?” She glanced up at Grant, who was watching her pet the cat with hooded eyes. “I think you just call them cat owners.” “No,” she crooned, more to the cat than to him. “Not owners. Cats belong to nobody, and nobody belongs to them.”

“I respect your honesty,” he said. “It’s not many people whose first instinct wouldn’t be to lie or cover things up.