Page 5

The Gallows Bay pet store, a place called Meow Do You Do (yes, I was annoyed not to have thought of a name that good for my cat café), was located in a strip mall, between a pirate-themed gift shop and a jewelry store that, judging from the window display, exclusively sold the kind of jewelry ostentatious grandmothers like.

There weren’t any customers in the pet store when we walked in, just a young woman with sandy blond hair hanging down on either side of a severe center part. She wore a maroon uniform polo with a nametag that read EMMA and three black and gold “Employee of the Month” pins lined up along the collar.

“Good afternoon,” she said, her voice bright and syrupy. “Welcome to Meow Do You Do. How can I help you with your pet care needs today?”

Horst sauntered up to the counter, leaning one hip against it and fixing Emma with his patented crooked grin. “Hi. I’m the Pied Piper, of Pied Piper Lotions & Potions, and this is Glory O’Bryan, the genius behind the new Purrates Café. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. There are cats there.”

Emma looked politely confused, and also like she was suddenly very worried that we were there to sell something to her and not the other way around. “Um...okay?”

“We were wondering if you happened to know this rat.” He turned to me, waiting for me to lift the lid of the box so Emma could take a look inside.

She leaned forward to peer into the box, still uncertain about this encounter. “It’s hard to say. Does that look like one of our rats? Yes. But it’s a fairly typical-looking fancy rat. I couldn’t say for sure that I know this particular rat.”

Horst propped one elbow on the counter. From that position, his shoulder was lower than Emma’s face, and he had to look up slightly at her. “But have you sold a rat that looked like this recently? Say, today?”

The young woman nibbled her bottom lip as she thought it over. “I think so, yes.”

“Great. Do you remember what the person who bought the rat looked like?”

She appeared to put a great deal of energy into thinking, her lips moving a little as though she were talking herself through a memory. Finally, she relaxed again. “Yeah. He was very average.”

“Average?” Horst said.

Emma nodded. “Very average.”

“I don’t suppose you could be more specific,” Horst said.

“I guess his hair was, like, brown? And he was, you know, average height?” She looked genuinely troubled that she couldn’t remember anything else. I had a feeling Emma hadn’t earned Employee of the Month three times just doing the bare minimum in terms of job duties.

“Helpful,” Horst muttered to me.

“Everything okay out here?” a female voice called from a doorway about twenty feet behind the register area. Glancing over, I saw a middle-aged woman, her dark hair pulled back into a sagging ponytail, her eyes kind but very tired.

Horst straightened up. “Good afternoon,” he said, sauntering her way, his considerable charm on full display. “We were hoping you might be able to tell us who purchased a rat from you recently.”

I couldn’t see what he was doing with his face, but I could see the impact it was having on the woman.

She was practically melting, her eyelashes fluttering hard, the corners of her lips quirking up, a blush staining her cheeks.

“Why don’t you come back to the office and we can look through the receipts from the past few days? ”

I stayed where I was by the register as the woman led Horst into the office. I had a feeling he would have better luck with her alone than he would with me hanging around. Besides, we had a second reason for hitting up the pet store.

Holding the box out toward Emma, I said, “I don’t suppose I could return this rat to you, could I?”

She hesitated. “We’re not supposed to, actually.

But...” She glanced over her shoulder toward the office, where Horst and the person I assumed to be the store manager were busy looking at a computer.

“I can make an exception, I guess, since I’m pretty sure that rat’s only been out of the store for a couple hours. ”

“Great. Thank you so much.” I placed the box on the counter between us while she started tapping away at the cash register.

“Your snake didn’t want to eat it or something?” Emma said.

“I’m sorry? Why would...Who would feed... What ?”

“It happens. A lot of snakes will eat live food, but some prefer frozen.” She shrugged. “At least that’s what people say.”

I grabbed the box from the counter, squeezing it slightly in my hands as I processed what she’d just said. “But this is a pet rat. Surely you don’t sell pet rats to people to feed to snakes.”

“I mean, we don’t care what people do with them as long as they pay for them.”

I turned the box around and raised the lid. Inside, the little apricot and white rat shifted so it could meet my gaze with its tiny little eyes. I didn’t know a thing about rats or their body language, but I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this creature was frightened.

And for good reason. If I returned it to the store, if I left it there, it might be tossed into an aquarium with a snake to eat at its leisure.

I made the decision without thinking it over.

“I guess I’ll keep it, then,” I said, closing the lid of the box. “I don’t suppose you have rat cages and supplies and stuff.”

“We do, yeah.” Emma started to point toward an aisle at the far end of the store, but then she stopped. “So, you know rats are, like, social animals, right? They don’t like to live alone.”

There was nothing about that moment that felt significant. Nothing that said, “Pay attention. This is very important.” The world didn’t stop spinning under my feet while I lurched my way toward an epically bad decision.

And so all I said was, “Oh, they don’t?”

She nodded. “So if you want to keep it, I would suggest getting another rat. And if that’s the rat we sold earlier, we still have her sister available.”

“I’m sorry. I know nothing about rats and their needs, and I’m pretty sure I’m in over my head. I should probably just leave this rat here with you so you can sell her and her sister together. I’m sure some nice non-snake owner who’s looking for pet rats will come in soon.”

Or that’s what I should have said. But it’s not what came out of my mouth.

What I actually said was, “I guess I’d like to see her sister then.”

Worst. Decision. Ever.