A Bad Day for Mercy (30 page)
Stella smiled to herself. When the cat showed up one day forty-some years ago—not quite grown, half starved, its ears torn in a fight, infested with worms and hissing at everything that moved—Pat Collier had wanted to take it to the pound. Stella couldn’t get close to it, not even by offering it bits of her hamburger.
Only Gracie—six years old and shy as a lamb—could not be convinced to give up on the cat. She named him Sprinkles and spent an entire summer following him around the backyard, talking and singing to him, leaving out food every morning and night. By that winter, Sprinkles had grown sleek and fat and ate out of Gracie’s hand and slept on her bed, where he more or less lived for the next twelve years.
“He was a good cat” was all Stella said.
“Mmm. I don’t even remember when he showed up. After a while, it was like he was always there.”
Before long, Stella felt herself drifting off to sleep, the breeze tickling her hair and the sun warming her legs. Summer at the lake might not be paradise, but it was close enough.
Also by Sophie Littlefield
A Bad Day for Scandal
A Bad Day for Pretty
A Bad Day for Sorry
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A THOMAS DUNNE BOOK FOR MINOTAUR BOOKS.
An imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group.
A BAD DAY FOR MERCY
. Copyright © 2012 by Sophie Littlefield. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Cover design by Olga Grlic
Cover photographs: Wall by Shutterstock; girl by Shirley Green
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Littlefield, Sophie.
A bad day for mercy : a crime novel / Sophie Littlefield.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-312-64838-1 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-01495-5 (e-book)
1. Hardesty, Stella (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Murder—Investigation—Fiction. 3. Middle-aged women—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3612.I882B27 2012
813'.6—dc23 2011053221
e-ISBN 9781250014955
First Edition: June 2012