Purrfect Roast: A Dragon Cozy Mystery by Verena DeLuca (the giving tree read aloud TXT) 📗

We made our way back to the vendor hall to find it mostly deserted.

Thank the bean.

"Oh," Aubrey said as we entered the room. "It's crystals."

The room was set up like the rest, with a table spanning the back wall, and displays in the center to browse. They had a sample box set up on one display with a scoop and fake poop clumps to play with the product.

Gross.

This room had to be a blast when filled with cat owners. I rolled my eyes and picked up a card off the table.

"This litter tells you if your cat is sick," I read aloud.

"Fascinating," Aubrey said. "How does it do that?"

"Says the crystals can detect it in the urine."

"Sounds too good to be true," Skylar said.

"No kidding," I said.

"Well come on over here and let me show you ladies," a salesperson behind the table said to us.

I looked around the room in hopes he was talking to some other ladies making fun of the cat litter, but it was pointless, we were still the only people in the room. I gave Aubrey and Skylar a look and walked over to the back table. It could not hurt to hear the guy out, since it would have been a little weird to say no while holding cats.

He pulled a litter box out from under the table and set it down. This would not end well, but it was too late to turn back, so I let out a sigh and prepared for the inevitably awkward conversation. At least he was wearing a name tag. They should be mandatory in life. Would that be strange if everyone wore nametags? It would calm my anxiety down, anyway.

Deep breath, Hailey.

"You are so weird," Azure transmitted.

"Shh," I transmitted.

"Did you ladies try out the complimentary litter in your rooms this weekend?" Bryce asked.

I shook myself out of my thoughts as Skylar beat me to answering, "No, Shadow is toilet trained."

Duh.

That was totally a cat thing. I mentally gave her a high-five and answered the same.

"Oh," Bryce said. "So fascinating that so many cats this year are toilet trained. Must be the new thing to teach them."

We all gave an awkward giggle, and I focused on scratching Azure's ears to not have to make eye contact with Bryce.

He cleared his throat and tried a different pitch. "Well, a few of the toilet trained cats were able to go in the box here, so if you want to try, feel free to drop either of your babies in the box, and let's see if we can get them to go."

Aubrey giggled, and Skylar and I exchanged glances.

"Put me in that box and I will end you," Azure transmitted.

"You can't show us without the cat?" I asked.

"We don't keep urine on hand," Bryce said with a nervous laugh. "But I can show you on this card."

He pulled a chart on an easel behind him closer and went into the logistics of cat urine.

I leaned closer to Aubrey and said, "Fine, you win. Who do you think took the trophies?"

"Yes!" She yelped.

The outburst made Bryce stop and look back at her, but she waved him off. He looked between us, before going on with his speech.

"So," she started again in a quieter voice, "those ladies from San Marcos weren't at the awards, and didn't really have an alibi aside from they don't care for the show."

"Right," I whispered. "Could be them."

"And there are the ladies at the pool. Where were they from?"

"San Antonio," Skylar whispered, having leaned in closer to hear our conversation.

"Right," Aubrey said. "They were pretty laid back about it all. What was their alibi?"

"Oh rats," Skylar said. "It was me. I was their alibi. I saw them at breakfast."

We giggled, and Bryce changed charts to a new board that compared pricing.

"How much are you guys spending on lit—toilet, right, so let's pretend that you're buying . . ."

"Do you think we could just back out of the room without him noticing?" I asked.

"That would be so mean," Aubrey said.

"I'm totally down," Skylar whispered and started quietly heading for the exit.

I looked at Aubrey, then to Bryce who had his back to us as he pointed to various litters and prices on his chart, then turned and left. We were all tiptoeing out of the room, so I could not be sure that Aubrey followed, but I knew her well enough to know she would not stay in the room without us.

Once we cleared the door, we burst into giggles and walked over to the seating in the recessed area by the floor-to-ceiling windows.

"Y'all are mean," Aubrey said as we sat down at a table in the corner.

I rolled my eyes. "Bryce is mean, torturing people with his stats, just to get them to buy litter."

"Especially since your current cost is zero," Aubrey said. "I didn't know your cats were toilet trained."

Skylar gave me a grin and took a drink of her coffee. Yup, leave it to me to do the explaining. I see your game. I returned her grin with one of my own as I drank my own coffee and formulated a response.

"Yup," I said, not sure what else to say to her about the matter. When the truth was, Azure went outside to use the restroom. This weekend he had been using the toilet, so I guess it was not too far from the truth, but far enough that I did not want to discuss it. Skylar saved the conversation again, by bringing up the case.

"So, who else is on our list?"

I took another drink from my cup, letting Aubrey take lead. It was her case at this point.

"Well . . ." Aubrey said, deep in thought. "There are the ladies from the cat food room, that drove from south Texas. They did not seem to care about the awards or the missing trophies at all."

"Everyone seems guilty as tea," I said.

"Totally," Skylar said.

"Did you really see all of those ladies from San