“Look at you,” Candace said. “Your hand is shaking.”

“This is a big responsibility,” I said.

“You’re doing fine with these itty-bitty ones,” she said. “Better than I could do.”

Tonight, here in the Mercy Animal Sanctuary’s office, I definitely felt the full weight of the responsibility that shelter owner Shawn Cuddahee had bestowed on me. These four brown kittens entrusted to my care were preemies with a less-than-peppy mom. That meant tube feeding them every two hours, as well as caring for the weakened mama cat.

Though Shawn, who was spending all the daylight hours taking care of his shelter and these kittens, had taught me exactly what to do, I still feared I might make a mistake. That’s why I’d asked Candace to spend the night shift with me-for moral support. She’d heard all the same instructions from Shawn and had taken notes, so she could help me make sure I did everything right. But as for hands-on assistance? Deputy Candace Carson of the Mercy, South Carolina, PD performed better with an attitude and a gun than with a litter of kittens.

She said, “One more hour and we have to do another feeding. You did so good last time, Jillian.”

“You’re sure you don’t want to give it a try?” I said.

“They all had nice fat bellies and fell right to sleep after you did the midnight feeding. Why mess with success?” Her right eye twitched, and her voice was strained by what had to be her unease. The thought that she might have to do a feeding obviously made her more nervous than when she’d stormed into my house last fall and taken a murderer into custody.

That week in October, when my Abyssinian was catnapped and I came face-to-face with a murderer, had changed me forever-and in ways I never would’ve imagined. I’d moved to Mercy with my husband, John, who’d been fourteen years older than I was, when he wanted to retire. But he died of a heart attack not long after we arrived. Now I made my living sewing little quilts for cats, a mostly online business and a very quiet job. I’d thought my life was over when my husband died. But then I’d gotten involved in a mystery and a murder, and by the end of it I’d realized I had made new friends and was beginning a different life for myself.