In August Red Dawn, the eighth book in the Cat Collier Mystery Short Story series, girl sleuth-turned-private investigator Mary Catherine Collier Paxton, known as Cat, reflects on her life as the roles of wife and mother are added to her life.
A new case involving a bowling trophy have her examining old family feelings and experiencing some terrifying new ones.
As her family responsibilities grow, satisfaction with the constant travel and big city excitement dwindles. Cat hungers for her old small town Ohio life once more.
Can she go back?
Can she get her husband Spencer to leave New York City for Heaton Valley, Ohio?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094GKQT8G
Here is the first chapter:
Chapter One
Catch Up
My name is Cat Collier. Well, Mary Catherine Collier Paxton, to be more precise. I run a research service called Red Cat Investigation in Heaton Valley, Ohio and Cay Cosa Investigation Service in an Italian section in New York City. Most of my work is online research. But sometimes I have to do some actual physical investigating involving stake outs, tailing, eavesdropping, and disguises. Since I had my daughter Poppy, I mostly work at the New York City office, which is in the Paxton Building. I married my sweet, handsome landlord, Spencer Paxton.
Mostly I do research for private citizens. Now you might not believe this, but privacy is a thing of the past. Death certificates, birth certificates, and real estate appraisals are all public record. Credit scores, bank account balances, and employment records are a little harder, but not much. Social media is a treasure trove of free and easily accessible information about relationships, new babies, new jobs, and current location. Friends of mutual friends can yield a ton of sought-after data. With an Internet connection, a little luck, and minimal hacking skills, I can find out almost anything without leaving the comfort and safety of my beautiful leather padded swivel chair in my office.
When I was younger, every day, every hour was jam packed with new adventures. High energy all day with only fries and a martini as sustenance. Following gangs of teen-age pizza shop robbers. Tailing dog thieves in the dark. Riding the airport carousel is search of mysterious scientific prototypes with unknown properties. Meeting criminal bosses at midnight at desolate propane storage facilities. Undercover work at a sleazy bar in a tight sweater and stilettos. Trapsing around an abandoned train station with a pungent hobo. Crawling out of a storage barrel in the back of a moving truck only to discover I was among a load of abducted, frightened, under-age Chinese girls in their underwear. Finding missing dogs and relatives. Fun and excitement were always right around the corner.
Now my days fly by so fast. Days, no. Weeks, month. Years. I can’t believe my beautiful little Miss Poppy is three years old already. If someone had told me I’d be content as a married woman with a child, doing online research, and laughing at cute kid antics and reading Dr. Seuss books out loud in the evenings, I’d have thought they were nuts.
But here I sit, happy with myself and my life with all the things I said I never wanted.
“Is our little firecracker asleep?” asked Spencer as I plopped down on the couch next to him in the living room.
“Finally,” I sighed.
“I hope you didn’t do all the voices and faces and make it a Broadway production. You make my turn the following night so much harder when I just want to cuddle and read to her.” He pulled me into a hug. I settled into his arms.
“Oh, believe me, I need all those bell and whistle theatrics to get her to listen to me. She much prefers Daddy’s cuddle reads.”
“She’s a ball of energy and giggles, isn’t she?”
“Yes. She lights up the room.”
“No,” said Spencer, “more like a whole New York City block.”
“Spencer, sweetie… I have something to tell you.”
“Okay. What? You look serious. Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Do you feel sick? Something hurt? Did someone hurt your feelings? I’ll kill them.” He growled.
“No sweetie, ” I giggled.
“Is it work related then?”
“No.”
“Family problems back in Heaton Valley? Your horrendous mother?”
“No, honey. I’m pregnant.”
“Wow, that’s great news,” he said with a nod and a slow smile.
He pulled away and looked me in the face for a few seconds. Then he pulled me into a big hug and covered my face with kisses.
“And this one’s really mine. That’s wonderful. Not that I don’t love Poppy as if she were my own child, you know I do. But it might be nice to have a blond haired little Paxton baby running around here. Maybe a boy?”
“Fifty/fifty chance, I hear.”
“When?”
“When he, or she, gets here. I’m thinking sometime in late February or early March. I’ll know more after my doctor’s appointment. I’ll make an appointment with my primary doctor, Dr. Chloe Westbrook when I go back to Heaton Valley on Tuesday. I want her opinion on the choice of an obstetrician.
“Fine.”
“Spence, I’d like to have this baby in Heaton Valley. We can bring Nelson and Sophia with us if you want. There’s all kinds of room at Palazzo Castellano. Would you mind packing up and staying at the penthouse for a few months?”
“A few months?” He gulped hard. “Ah, well, I don’t know. I do like the penthouse there. It’s bright and sunny. Palazzo Castellano is a small community on its own. It’s great for a week or two. But months? I don’t know. You do remember you married a hermit, don’t you?”
“Yes. And I love my sweet, handsome hermit. But you’ve been getting out more, with less panic attacks. Once we get to the penthouse, you won’t have to leave.”
“That’s true. Until we go to the hospital.”
“Right. You don’t know if you want to come with me or not?”
“Of course, I want to come. I don’t know if I can. I don’t know if I’m brave enough. I definitely want to be there for you and for the birth of our new baby. I want to be there with Poppy when she gets a new sibling so she won’t feel threatened or feel like she’s been replaced with a newer model. But when would you like to go?”
“Sometime in late January. I’d like to fix up one of the bedroom as a nursery.”
“Can’t you do all that online? Won’t Nola help you? We can hire a decorator to do it for you.”
“Well, yeah, I suppose we could. But I don’t want to be traveling back and forth during that last month, honey. I won’t fit in an airplane seat anymore.”
“I’ll buy you two seats.” He laughed uncomfortably. “Let me see. Let me think. I’ll talk to Nelson. See how he reacts. He’s never been out of the New York City area. He may choose to stay here and hold down the day-to-day Paxton business operations.”
“That’s fine if he wants to, but Matteo would be willing to handle Paxton business as well as Cay Cosa Investigations, if Nelson wants to come. What about Sophia?”
“I know she’d never leave her family during the holiday season, but maybe January might be okay. Do you know she’s never been out of Cardinal Park?”
“Yes, I know. She told me. But she’s devoted to Poppy. She’s been her nanny since birth. Poppy adores her.”
“Maybe you could go on ahead and do some decorating and buy some nursery furniture. The rest of us could come closer to your due date. Let me think about it. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you, sweetheart.”
Spencer nodded and patted my arm. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on in his head. He was usually so easy to read. But not today.
Back in Heaton Valley the following Tuesday, I told Nola about my nursery plans and asked for her help.
“Of course I’ll help you. I love to decorate. I’m good with color.”
“Yes, I know. I ordered some nursery furniture online this morning. White. Sleek, modern lines. Do you want to go up to the penthouse and look around with me? Maybe make some decorating notes?”
“I’ll bring my notebook.”
Nola and I walked through my penthouse apartment at the Palazzo Castellano with notebook and paint swatches in our hands.
“Oh, this room would be a cute nursery,” mused Nola.
“That’s what I was thinking. It’s quiet, away from the busy part of the apartment. It’s warm and dark, conducive to sleep, yet steps away from the master bedroom.”
“Are you going with the conventional neutral nursery colors? Do you know what you’ve having? I can tell you if you want. It’s a boy.”
“Nola! What if I wanted to be surprised?”
“I know you’re not big on surprises. You already thought it was a boy anyway, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, I think so, I’ve been referring to the baby as ‘he.’ I honestly don’t have a preference, all I want is a healthy baby…and maybe a quick delivery. But Spencer wants a boy. I’ll find out for sure next month. But this aqua is pretty for either. What do you think?”
“Yes, I like it,” said Nola. “I’ll call Blake. He’ll order the paint and I’ll tell him to work around your schedule. Gray carpet staying?”
“Yes. It’s easier to sneak away from baby with carpeting on the floor. I learned that from Poppy and the hardwood floors in the Paxton penthouse. And this gray will go well with the white nursery furniture I ordered this morning.”
“You like sailboats? I see sailboats in here. Big puffy white clouds.”
“Yes,” I answered. “Sailboats would be great. And clouds.”
“And whales,” added Nola.
“Okay. I really appreciate you doing all this.”
“No problem,” waved Nola.
I walked back into the living room and gathered a few items to take with me to New York.
“When are you going back to New York?” asked Nola.
“Tomorrow morning. But first I need a good night’s sleep alone in the middle of that big bed in there,” I said pointing to the master bedroom.
“Cat, you hardly spend any time here in Heaton Valley anymore,” lamented Nola.
“Oh, I know,” I said as I collapsed onto the sofa. “Come. Sit,” I patted the couch.
Nola sat down next to me.
“This back and forth traveling is taking its toll on me. I’m not here. I’m not there. I feel I am always stuck somewhere in between.”
“Where would you rather be?”
“Here. Right here. This beautiful, sunny penthouse. This breathtaking view. My office. You. My family. Detrick. This wonderful small-town community.”
“Well, then, what’s stopping you?”
“Spencer. My wonderful husband. He’s still emotionally chained inside the Paxton Building. I mentioned to him I wanted to have the baby here, that I want to come down early to fix up the nursery and get ready for the baby.”
“He said no?”
“No, but I could tell he wasn’t too enthusiastic about the idea. He tensed up and got extremely quiet. When I’m here, every other part of my life is better – except I miss him. The longer I stay here, the more I come alive with community affairs and new project ideas, the more I feel my relationship with Spencer is slipping away from me.”
“From what I hear, that happens in long relationships. They lose their fizz. Not that I know from experience, you understand. Go. Go back to New York and grab that sweet little blond hubby of yours and hug him tight. Solidify your marriage. You know that’s what you really want to do.”
“Yes, that’s right. That’s what I need to do. For me, for Poppy, and for our new baby. I’ll be back in Heaton Valley on Wednesday morning,” I said to Nola.
“I have a special little party in Euclid Tuesday night with some friends I met at acupressure class. I might be a little teeny tiny bit late on Wednesday morning.”
“No problem, Nola. Have a good time and don’t worry about it. I doubt we’ll have any clients waiting for us at the door to get in.”
“Oh, you never know,” Nola giggled.
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