Chapter 1 - The Opportunist
Opportunist: an individual who exploits circumstances to gain immediate advantage rather than being guided by consistent principles or plans.
They say he was born a sweet little thing.
But it was not long before he began beating the crap out of his siblings in order to have all of his mother's teats to himself.
Although he was rough on the poor woman, she loved him dearly because he was so adorable and was better looking than all the rest of her litter put together.
One day a little girl came knocking.
She pointed at a kitten who was curled up next to his mama.
When Tuna awoke, he found himself on top a fluffy bed with lots of pillows piled high and a fuzzy blanket underneath. There were many eyes staring at him. They belonged to a purple bear, a pink elephant, a white horse, three yellow chicks, a giraffe and a large red bull.
A door across the room opened and in walked a beautiful creature with long black hair. She had blue eyes that sparkled, and a big smile appeared when she picked him up and held him in her arms.
"Do you want a piece of pizza?" she whispered.
And then she proceeded to pull a slice of pepperoni from a mass of stringy cheese and held it up to Tuna's tiny pink nose.
They became the best of friends instantly and were inseparable, except for when she went away forever and Tuna found himself living in the basement of a house out in the country with a pretty fair-haired girl, a dark and handsome guy and their brand new baby.
Two old people and their loud-mouthed dog lived at the top of the steps.
"It is for your own safety," he was told. "That dog will have you for a snack."
But Tuna was already a cunning escape artist who did not care much for rules or closed doors.
A short time later a loaf of French bread went missing from the counter of the old couple, Millie and Sven. Rumor has it that Tuna carried it right past the loud-mouthed sleeping guard dog and dragged it downstairs to his family.
But alas, he could not fit it through the door at the bottom of the stairs and his new little family had moved away.
It was not long after that he won over the hearts of the two old fools who lived upstairs.
And they discovered that Hunter did not try to eat the cat and that he was able to tolerate Tuna as long as Tuna did not steal any of his well-deserved, undivided attention.
One day Millie carried a basket of laundry up the stairs and left the door ajar.
"Come on up kitty," she said. "I think you are safe."
He bounded up the steps two at a time, into the sunshine and was allowed to go wherever he pleased, almost.
"Do not let him outside," Millie said to her sweet Sven. "He is only a kitten."
That kitten shot through the kitchen door with ease every time it opened even an inch and all he had to do was hang from the screen to be let back in.
He found himself living the dream with the best of both worlds at his fingertips.
The cool looking dude in the tux could not have been any happier.
And that is when he discovered he had an appetite for blood.
For more stories in The Who's Who Murder Series, click above on Who's Who Case.