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

Phew. Saved by the bell.

Vesta made her way down again—this time taking the elevator—and hoped her cats had found something useful. When she joined the others she was gratified to see that her tray hadn’t been cleaned away. So she sat down, and dedicated herself to the consumption of the best breakfast she’d had in a long time, from time to time directing a question at her messmates, and Laron in particular, who she felt had the most to gain from Chickie’s death. But no matter what question she lobbed at the guy, he always had his answer ready.

But if he hadn’t killed Chickie Hay, then who had?

Chapter 29

Jamie closed the door and immediately walked over to the bedroom. How could she have been so stupid to leave that letter lying around? With the police searching high and low. Laron had told them the police wouldn’t touch them—that he’d used his influence with the Mayor to call off the dogs—but she knew that was only a momentary reprieve. Sooner or later they would be interrogated, and if they found that letter in her room…

She dove under the bed and her heart stopped when she discovered the letter gone.

Oh, no!

Had Charlie found it? But if he had, he would have told her about it. He’d found religion, and honesty was part of his new deal. At first his religious fervor had been fun and refreshing. Now it irked her that every time something was on his mind he’d start yapping about it. A good relationship could only survive if you kept a couple of secrets from your partner, but that wasn’t how Charlie thought about it at all. Or his pastor.

She searched her memory. Where could that letter be? She’d been reading it last night, but then Charlie had suddenly come into the room and she’d had to drop it to the floor, where it had remained. She’d intended to pick it up and hide it but hadn’t had the chance. And now with that nosy old lady going on and on about the investigation, clearly a spy for her chief of police son, she’d felt the sudden urge to go back for that letter and destroy it. No good could ever come of anyone reading its content. No good at all.

She looked around, then pensively walked into the living area of their suite. And then she saw that the connecting door was ajar. Could it be… She quickly opened it and glanced around Laron and Shannon’s room. And that’s when she saw it: a cat’s tail, disappearing into the bedroom. Could Cleo have stolen her letter? Were cats that smart?

She stepped into the bedroom and found five pairs of eyes staring back at her. She recognized that horrible hairless cat of Shannon’s… and the four cats from last night. Vesta’s cats. And one of those cats had her letter clasped between its teeth.

“Give me that, you stupid beast,” she said, and lunged for the dumb animal.

The cat was quicker, of course, and leaped out of the way.

And thus began a chase around the suite: Jamie bigger and more determined, but the cat more agile and a lot faster. Sooner or later she’d corner the stupid mongrel though.

“Give me my letter!” she screamed when she had the animal cornered under the bed. But the moment she reached out a hand to grab it, it scooted out the other side.

She practically howled with frustration. “Get back here, you horrible beast!”

And then she had it: the mongrel had run into the bathroom. “Ha!” she yelled. “Not very smart, cat!”

She grabbed a bathrobe from a hook and proceeded slowly into the bathroom.

The animal sat behind the toilet, eyeing her with fear in its eyes. “Good. You should be afraid!” she shouted. “Cause when I get you, I’m going to skin you alive!”

But just then, something jumped onto her back, and moments later she howled in pain as she felt claws digging in!

She reached back to get the thing off her but it hissed and dug its claws in deeper!

“Get off me!” she screeched. “Get off, get off, get off!”

She swung around and the cat went flying and hit the wall, then dropped into the bathtub with a clunking sound. It was big and fat and red—a monstrous beast.

The gray cat, meanwhile, had escaped from behind the toilet and now raced back into the other room. Jamie descended upon the cat that had clawed her, and picked it up by the scruff of the neck. God, it was heavy. It was also hissing and twisting, to no avail.

Oh, how she hated cats—and after today she’d hate the foul breed even more.

“I’ll teach you a lesson you won’t forget,” she said, and grabbed one of Shannon’s hairbrushes from the sink. “I’ll teach you to mutilate my back with those filthy claws.”

She’d moved back into the living space and raised the brush to give the cat a good thrashing. Just then, the door to the room burst open and Laron and Shannon stood before her, Vesta and Charlie right behind them.

“What the hell are you doing with that cat?!” Shannon cried, outrage written all over her features.

“Nothing, I swear!” she said as she dropped both cat and hairbrush. “That cat over there stole… stole something from me!”

To her horror she saw that the small gray cat had jumped into Vesta’s arms and that the old lady was carefully taking the letter from between the cat’s teeth and started reading it.

“That’s mine!” she yelled. “Give it back! It’s mine!”

But Vesta looked up at her, a hint of steel in her eyes. “I think it’s time I called my son,” she said. “Laron, Shannon, grab her and make sure she doesn’t escape. I think we just caught Chickie’s killer.”

Chapter 30

Odelia, who was at the office, was surprised to get the call. When she arrived at the hotel she was even more surprised to find her four cats, all looking fairly triumphant.

“How did you guys get here?” she asked, crouching down.

“We felt we hadn’t done enough,” said Max.

“Yeah, we let you down, Odelia,” Harriet added. “So we decided to search those rooms again.”

“And Dooley found something. Gran says it proves that Jamie is the killer.”

She straightened and watched as Jamie Borowiak was led out of the hotel by two of her uncle’s officers, cuffed and looking distinctly distraught.

“I didn’t do it,” the young woman said tearfully. “I had nothing to do with this.”

“Tell that to the judge,” one of the officers snapped.

Behind Jamie, Chase now also walked out, followed by Uncle Alec and Gran.

“What’s going on?” asked Odelia. “Why did you arrest Jamie?”

“Look at this,” said her uncle, and produced a letter wrapped in a plastic cover.

She quickly read through its contents. It was a letter written by Chickie Hay, only a week ago, addressed to Jamie. It basically accused Jamie of stealing her boyfriend Charlie Dieber away from her, and warned her that she would take sweet, sweet revenge.

“There’s nothing new in this letter,” she said. “We already knew they had a fight.”

But Gran tapped the document. “Jamie tried very hard to hide this letter. She chased Dooley all around the room and practically murdered Max when he tried to protect his friend. Why would she go to all that trouble if she wasn’t the killer?”

“Because she didn’t want people to know about the rift between her and Chickie?”

“Chickie was threatening Jamie with ‘sweet, sweet revenge,’” Gran said stubbornly. “So Jamie decided to shut her up once and for all. It’s all in the letter, Odelia.”

“But it’s not, is it?”

Gran brought her face close to Odelia’s, noses touching. “Read. Between. The. Lines.”

“I think it’s pretty conclusive,” said Uncle Alec. “And I’m sure we’ll get a confession.”

“Dooley found this letter?” asked Odelia, glancing down at Dooley, who looked proud as a peacock.