Cat's Claw (A Pecan Springs Mystery)

ahead of the pitch.”
    I frowned. “Pitch? What pitch?”
    “In a manner of speaking.” She leaned forward, her eyes glinting. “Listen, China, I got this great idea last night while Ramona and I were eating supper.”
    Ramona is Ruby’s sister, younger by about three years. She’s not as tall as Ruby (who is six feet and impressive in sandals, six-plus and stunning in heels) and she doesn’t have Ruby’s outrageous sense of style. But she has the same frizzy red hair and freckles and shares Ruby’s weird interests: the tarot, the I Ching, and the Ouija board. Ramona was working in a Dallas advertising firm, but she received a large cash settlement when she and her doctor husband divorced. To get a new start, she quither job and moved to Pecan Springs, where she’s staying with Ruby while she figures out what she wants to do with the rest of her life. I’m sympathetic (I’ve been there and done that myself), but I am not Ramona’s greatest fan. In my opinion, she takes advantage of Ruby’s generosity. This time, she’s been at her sister’s house for three weeks and she hasn’t contributed a penny toward expenses—even though the settlement left her with plenty of pennies.
    Ruby was leaning forward with an eager look. “So here’s my idea, China. How about if we—”
    “Stop!” I logged off the computer. “Don’t you think we’ve had enough on our plates for the past couple of months? And our November calendar is already full. Let’s not add any new events.”
    “But, China, I wasn’t talking about adding events. I was talking about promoting—”
    “But nothing, Ruby,” I said firmly, and closed my laptop. “Let’s just
don’t
, okay?”
    Khat sat down, curling his charcoal tail around his charcoal paws, regarding us thoughtfully, his blue eyes flicking from one to the other. He likes to hear us argue. He thinks it’s a game, like tennis or badminton. He keeps score.
    Ruby wasn’t finished. “But really, China—this won’t take a lot of effort.” She fluffed her carroty red hair with her fingers. “And it’s got a huge payoff. Potentially, that is, with just a little extra work. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before now. And of course Ramona will be glad to contribute her—”
    “No!” I put the laptop on the shelf under the counter. “Enough already, Ruby! I am not taking on any new projects. Meanwhile, it’s five o’clock. I am shutting up shop and then I am going home.” I waved her away. “Good-bye, Ruby. Scat.”
    With an exaggerated sigh, Ruby unfolded her six-foot-plus self from the stool where she had been perched. She was wearing a gauzy raglan-sleeved top, brown and black with orange stripes, over an orange turtleneck and black leggings. She looked like a Monarch butterfly about to take flight—a disappointed Monarch. But she waggled her fingers to show that she didn’t harbor a grudge and disappeared through the connecting door that links our shops, Thyme and Seasons Herbs (mine) and the Crystal Cave (hers). Then she stuck her head back through and delivered a parting shot.
    “Someday, China Bayles, you’ll come to me on your hands and knees and say you’re sorry. You just wait and see—you’ll grovel.”
    Khat gave a commanding meow, directing me to grovel right now.
    “I’m already sorry,” I muttered sarcastically. Khat flicked his tail twice, reprimanding me. Then he jumped down from the counter and went to take sides with Ruby. As far as he was concerned, she’d won that round.
    It was Monday, and our shops were closed, which of course hadn’t meant that we’d taken the day off. Ruby had spent the day cleaning and dusting and restocking shelves, and I had come in to work in the garden and do some reordering and bookkeeping. Now, I finished up my chores and started putting things away. But by the time I was ready to leave, I was feeling thoroughly ashamed of myself. Ruby and I have been best friends for well over a decade and business partners for most of that time. In all those years, I have rarely known her to have a bad idea. Some of them may have been a little … well, flaky. But even those mostly turned out okay in the end.
    After all, our tearoom—Thyme for Tea—had proved to be an outstanding idea, hadn’t it? Ruby had thought it up.
    And our catering service, Party Thyme, which handles a lot of the weddings and parties and other big events in town? Ruby’s idea.
    And Ruby had been the one who suggested joining