Ник Сайнт: Purrfectly Hidden. Purrfect Kill. Purrfect Boy Toy

Odelia glanced over, and saw that Opal had already left the room. And maybe it was for the best. To be betrayed by your PA is one thing, but by your best friend of thirty years is quite another.

“What a story,” said Gran as they walked out of the police station.

“Yeah, what a story.”

“Your editor will be happy. You’ll be able to write him up a big juicy scoop.”

They’d met up with Opal on the police station steps. “No scoop,” said Opal as she pulled her coat tighter around herself. “I know you’re a reporter, Odelia, and a damn good one, but I want you to promise me you’ll write nothing about this. Not a word.”

“But…”

“Not a word,” said Opal emphatically. “I don’t want my life dragged through the mud.”

“I think Marilyn will be more than happy to give interviews from prison,” said Gran.

“That’s her business. I’ll flatly refuse to comment. In fact I never want to talk about this again.” And with these words, she walked off in the direction of her waiting limo.

They watched her get in, and Odelia fully expected the limo to drive off. But then the window rolled down and Opal hollered, “Well? Are you coming or not?”

“Phew,” said Gran. “For a moment there I thought we were going to have to walk.”

And then they got into the limo with Opal and drove off.

Chapter 35

We were all back in Hampton Cove and happy to be there. Tex was clearly happy, too, for he was flipping burgers as if there was no tomorrow. Half of them were landing in the neighbor’s backyard but he didn’t seem to mind, and neither did the neighbor’s new dog, snapping them out of the air and happily gobbling them down.

“Why is Tex feeding the neighbor’s new dog?” asked Dooley.

“I think he’s feeling magnanimous,” I said.

“I think he has no idea what he’s doing,” said Harriet with a shake of the head.

She was right. Even though Marge had bought her husband a nice new top-of-the-line grill, Tex was still as hopeless as ever when it came to the art of grilling. His burger patties were either raw or burnt to a crisp. Either way, I liked them. Cats are not as picky as humans. Then again, the Pooles clearly weren’t picky, either, as they ate up everything Tex managed to land on their plates. They were probably glad the dog didn’t get it all.

“I still can’t believe Marilyn would do such a thing,” said Marge, slapping nice big helpings of potato salad on plates and distributing them amongst her family.

“Yeah, that came as a big shock to Opal,” said Odelia.

“Imagine having your best friend plot to kill you,” said Uncle Alec. “Terrible. More, Marge,” he said. “Keep it coming.”

Marge darted a hesitant glance in the direction of her husband, but since he was too busy flipping a burger patty, tongue sticking out of his mouth in utter concentration, she did as her brother asked.

It had come to Alec’s attention that Tex hadn’t been completely honest with him when he fed him the whole ‘quadruple bypass surgery’ line. His little speech had given the police chief the heebie-jeebies, and the moment he got back to Hampton Cove he’d gone straight to the hospital to talk to a cardiologist and schedule the procedure. Turned out his coronary arteries were just A-okay. Tex had wanted to give Alec a big scare and make him adopt a healthier lifestyle. But of course he’d achieved exactly the opposite.

“So how’s the Fitbit?” asked Chase as he clapped his superior officer on the broad back.

“Damn thing broke,” Alec grunted.

“How can a Fitbit break?”

“No idea. It was fine one minute and then I got out of the tub and it stopped working.”

“Did you check if yours was waterproof?” asked Odelia.

“I guess we’ll never know,” said Alec with a fine smile.

“You destroyed that thing on purpose!” said Chase.

“No, I didn’t. It broke all by itself.”

“You don’t want to be happy and healthy,” said Chase. “That’s your problem.”

“My problem is that I want to be happy, but all the stuff you keep telling me about being healthy makes me unhappy, so…” He lifted his shoulders in a shrug.

“Do you think Uncle Alec has lost weight?” asked Dooley now.

“I think he gained weight,” I said. His trip to LA hadn’t done a lot for his diet.

“So what’s going to happen to Marilyn and Kurtz now?” asked Brutus.

“Oh, they’ll both spend a nice long stretch in jail,” I said.

“And good riddance, too,” said Harriet.

The whole affair had created a big buzz in the media. Both Opal and Marilyn were very famous people, and the story had resonated with readers and viewers across the world. Opal hadn’t returned to her show, opting to step out of the limelight after thirty years of prime-time television, much to Gran’s disappointment. She was starting her own network, though, so maybe that was some consolation for her millions of fans.

“I can’t believe Dooley solved his first case, though,” said Brutus.

“I did, didn’t I?” said Dooley, who still seemed surprised.

“Yes, you did,” I said, proud of my friend.

“Toodle pip,” he said. “It’s a nice clue.”

“It’s an excellent clue,” I said.

“It’s a super clue,” said Harriet. “But even though you’re now the big hero, Dooley, you’re still going to give me your solo spot, right? You promised?”

“Oh, of course,” said Dooley. “You can have my spot, Harriet.”

“And mine,” I said.

“And you can have mine, too,” said Brutus.

Harriet smiled. In fact she looked so happy that I decided right then and there she could sing all of my solos. I mean, I like to sing, but I don’t like to sing in front of my feline peers. Harriet likes to shine, and she was shining now, which warmed my heart.

And isn’t that what friendship is all about? Giving up a minor pleasure just to see that smile on a friend’s face? Or enjoying the fact that your best friend solved a case for once?

I think that’s what Marilyn forgot: that friendship isn’t about taking. It’s about giving. And the more you give, the more you get in return. Isn’t that just the strangest thing?

Odelia arrived with more burger patties, straight from her dad’s grill.

“These are a little charred on the edges,” she said apologetically.

“That’s all right,” I said. “We don’t mind.”

“Um… I only have three,” she said, frowning. “Odd. I thought I had four.”

“You can give mine to Max,” said Dooley.

“Yeah, give mine to Max, too,” said Harriet.

“And mine,” Brutus grumbled, a little more reluctantly.

See what I mean? The more you give, the more you receive. Though in this case I decided to give my portion to the dog next door. Too scorched for my taste.

I know I said cats will eat anything, but there are limits.

And besides. What else are dogs for, right?

THE END

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Excerpt from Purrfectly Dogged (The Mysteries of Max 19)

Chapter One

Victor Ball was wending his way home on his bicycle after an evening spent at his favorite bar. His bike was swaying across the narrow dirt road, as its owner had had a teensy-weensy too much to drink.

Victor, a middle-aged man with a formidable handlebar mustache and a sizable paunch, was singing loudly and out of key. He was in excellent mood, which was not unusual after imbibing his body weight in alcohol, and if he had trouble navigating the road that led to his modest home, where his wife had presumably given up waiting for him and had retired to bed, he didn’t show it.