He pointed to the solid black one currently batting at an orange striped cat. “The black one there and the gray and brown striped one in the window,” he said.
“The black one playing with Morris’ tail?” she asked.
“Morris?” I asked. “The orange one is called Morris?”
“Yes,” she replied. “Because he looks like the cat in the commercials.”
“I’ll take him as well,” I said, remembering my beloved’s words.
She stared at me. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I replied firmly.
“I’ll get two more carriers,” the man said.
I realized then that I had intended to get one pet and somehow just agreed to three. Mitchell was going to laugh at me, once he got over any anger. If he got mad, that is, seeing as I had gotten him his Morris.
CHAPTER24
MITCHELL
I wokeup to the sound of the front door opening. I sat up, rubbing my eyes in the dim light.
There stood Jolar looking like a kid with his hand stuck in the cookie jar.
“Oh! You were asleep on the couch. Did you need help making our bed?” he asked as if he wasn’t standing in the middle of our new living room holding two small animal carriers and a Cocker Spaniel on a leash.
“No, I just wanted to wait up for you. Um, something you want to tell me?” I asked, gesturing at the dog and two carriers.
He looked at me guiltily. “I hope you will forgive me, my mate. I know I said I would think about which pet we should get, but after we found the body-”
“You found a dead body?” I asked, shocked.
“Yes. It was why we went down, to look for a body with the FBI and some cadaver dogs.”
I racked my brain, trying to recall if he mentioned that’s what he was going to my home planet to do. I came up blank, but then a lot of stuff had happened between and I was still pretty sleepy, so he might have.
“You okay? That sounds like a horrible, stressful experience.”
He sighed, and I heard a plaintive meow.
“You going to get them out and take the leash off the dog?” I asked wryly.
He sheepishly put down the carriers and unsnapped the leash.
“After Dr. Quincy took the body to the morgue for forensics-”
“Wait,” I interrupted again. “Did you just say the coroner was named Quincy?”
He frowned. “Yes. For some reason, he thought we would make a joke about that.”
I laughed. “I bet he did. It was the name of a famous TV show, which was about a coroner named Dr. Quincy who solved murders.”
He blinked. “That explains much.”
The dog ran about the room in a quick circuit, sniffing before running over to me.
“Her name is Molly,” Jolar said. “Joan from the animal shelter said we could change all of their names but if we do, to make sure the chips are also updated.”
