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

A lone figure walked up to the coffin, which had been placed on a small dais, surrounded by little white flowers. The figure, who turned out to be Nickie, now stood gazing down at the dead pop singer’s body.

“Odd, isn’t it, Max?” said Dooley.

“What is, Dooley?” I said, starting to feel a pressing concern in the region of my bladder, too.

“She doesn’t look dead. She looks as if she’s about to wake up any moment now and burst into song and dance.”

He was right. The mortician had done a great job and Chickie looked fresh as a daisy. As if she wasn’t dead but merely taking a light nap, soon to rise, happy and refreshed.

“I’m so sorry,” suddenly spoke Nickie, after darting a quick glance around her. “But you left me no choice, Chickie! All those years treating me like I was your servant and not your little sister. Anyone could see it wouldn’t end well. And now they’ve gone and arrested that stupid Jamie. Serves her well. I never liked her anyway, and neither did you, did you, Chickie? Anyway, I’m sure you’ll learn to forgive me, and I have to admit I’ve felt nothing but relief since you’ve been gone. I thought I’d feel intense grief but so far, nothing. Only relief. Relief finally to be free again. Free to be my own person, and not just Chickie’s sister. Your personal slave. And I promise you we’ll take care of your legacy, big sister. We’ll make sure you’re not forgotten, and money from all that music you made keeps rolling in. I’ll spend it all in your honor. Now rest peacefully, my sweet.” She reached out a hand and touched her sister’s face, then hurriedly tripped off again.

Both Dooley and I just sat there, stunned.

“Do you realize what just happened, Dooley?” I said finally.

“I think Uncle Alec arrested the wrong person, Max,” he said.

“I think so, too.”

And then I realized something else. “Dooley, I totally forgot, but those missing crescent-moon earrings Odelia mentioned? I think I’ve seen them in Nickie’s dressing room. She must have taken them from her sister and kept them for herself.”

“We have to tell Odelia.”

“Yes, we do.”

“She won’t be happy.”

“Why not? We just caught Chickie’s killer.”

“Yeah, but after we caught the wrong killer first.”

I patted his shoulder consolingly. “It can happen to anyone, Dooley. Uncle Alec arrested the wrong killer first, when he decided that stalker guy did it.”

But Dooley looked genuinely upset. “I really thought I’d caught the right one, Max.”

“I know, Dooley. But at least now you caught the right one.”

“There is that,” he admitted.

Moments later, Odelia returned, looking for us.

“Hey, you guys,” she said. “Time to go home.”

She must have sensed something was wrong, for she suddenly turned serious.

“What’s the matter?”

And when we told her about Nickie’s little goodbye speech to her sister, her face turned even more grave than before.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” she said.

Chapter 35

Nickie Hay was humming one of her sister’s hits as she sat in front of her vanity and admired her new hairstyle. Her hairstylist had fashioned it for the wake and she loved it. It had cost a pretty penny but that was fine. She was rolling in money now, with no one to tell her not to spend it. Tomorrow at the funeral she was going to give a tearful farewell to her big sister, and then it was off to California where a new life awaited.

She opened the dresser drawer and picked out her gram’s earrings, then after a moment’s hesitation put them in. Admiring her look in the mirror, she smiled.

“They look much better on me than on you, big sis,” she murmured.

Suddenly she thought she heard a noise behind her. She looked up and was startled to find that Mom had entered the room, and brought that annoying reporter with her.

Quickly she removed the earrings and returned them to the drawer.

“It’s no use, Nickie,” said her mother. “I know you took your sister’s earrings. There’s no point denying.”

“Hi, Odelia,” she said, ignoring her mother’s comment. “To what do we owe the pleasure? Again?” she added with a touch of pique. When were the police finally going to leave them in peace?

“I know what you did, Nickie,” said Odelia. “I know you killed your sister. Because you felt oppressed by her, and because without her you would finally be able to shine.”

Nickie stared at the woman. How did she… “You’re kidding, right? Only this morning you told us you caught the killer. That Jamie was the one that did it.”

“Oh, stop with the charade,” said Mom. “The police had the funeral home bugged. They were hoping the real killer would expose themselves, and you did.”

Nickie’s heart skipped a beat and she suddenly felt hot and cold at the same time. She couldn’t breathe. “The police did what?” she asked in a strangled voice. Her hand had stolen out and was casually opening one of the dresser drawers.

“We heard what you said, Nickie. Your confession. Word for word. So you see? There’s no point denying.”

“Did you come alone?” Nickie asked, trying to see beyond Odelia and her mom.

“The police are right outside,” said Mom. “They wanted to give us a moment before they arrested you. Why, Nickie? Why did you do it?”

Nickie had her hand already fastened around the pearl-inlaid grip of a small handgun. The one she’d bought as part of a matching set. She and Chickie had gotten them after they’d suffered another stalker scare. But she quickly realized she couldn’t get out of this one. If what Odelia said was true, and the police were waiting outside…

She decided the jig was up and fixed her mother with a pleading look. “Don’t you see, Mom? I had to get rid of her.”

Mom heaved a stifled sob, as if only now realizing it was really true. That she really had killed her one and only sibling.

“I don’t understand. How could you?”

“Easy. In fact I’ve been wanting to do it for a long time,” she said softly. “You couldn’t see it, because she was always your favorite, but she had a controlling and monstrous side. She treated me as her personal slave from the moment she had her first hit. Told me what to do, what to wear, what to say. Never once did she stop to think I was a person, with my own dreams and desires. She always came first. I just couldn’t take it anymore.”

“So why didn’t you leave? Why didn’t you tell her you didn’t want to be her personal assistant anymore and left?”

Nickie laughed. “Did you ever try to say no to Chickie, Mom? You know what she was like. I told her once I was thinking about using my MBA. Maybe start my own company. She got so upset. Accused me of trying to sabotage her career. Said this was a family business and I better get in line or else. Problem was, because I’d been living in her shadow for so long I wasn’t even sure what exactly I wanted to do with my life. What person I was without her. She suffocated me, Mom,” she said, a quiver in her voice.

“But… you killed your sister, honey. You… murdered her.”

“I know. It was the only way to get rid of her. The only way to be free. And you know what? It feels good. For the first time in a long while I’m starting to feel like myself again.”

“You do realize you’re going to jail, don’t you, Nickie?” asked Odelia.

“Even in jail I’ll be better off than being Chickie’s slave,” she said, and meant it.

There was a squeaky sound, and Odelia said, “Did you get all that, Chase?”

“Loud and clear,” a staticky voice sounded through the room. “We’re coming in.”

Nickie relaxed her hand and dropped the gun back in its hiding place, then closed the drawer. She wasn’t going to get out of there, gun blazing. That was so not her style.