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

“Oh, sure,” said Odelia, giving him two thumbs up. “Just curious to see what kind of work goes into producing a show like this.”

“Plenty of sweat and tears, trust me,” said the guy, then let the earphones drop back onto his head and focused on what was happening down below on stage.

Odelia closed the door, and proceeded to the next booth. This one was empty, and only consisted of a couple of seats and monitors. Presumably so a producer or network executive could watch the show without being disturbed. There were two more booths, one of which held the guy in charge of the lighting, and one where three people sat staring at several screens showing different angles of stage and audience, and picking a different camera angle every couple of seconds. They didn’t even look up from their job.

“No snipers,” said Odelia finally. “Phew.”

“Phew,” Dooley echoed. “What a relief!”

“A lot of fuss for nothing,” Brutus grumbled.

“At least we got to see what the show looks like from way up here,” said Odelia.

And just as we were about to return down below, suddenly there was a loud scream. And as we looked down, I saw how a large section of the lighting gear detached itself from the frame holding it up and crashed onto the stage below, narrowly missing Opal!

“The killer is down there!” said Harriet.

Opal, who looked shook up, was escorted off the stage by two security people, but then seemed to reconsider and returned. “It’s all right!” she emphatically spoke into the camera. “Just a little accident. I’m fine. Can you clean this up?” she asked, talking to a crew member who’d rushed onstage to deal with the mess. “We’ll be good to go again in ten minutes,” she said, quickly regaining her cool. “We’re going to switch to commercials and then we’re back. So don’t you go anywhere.” And this time she did walk off stage.

Odelia was already running down the corridor and then pounding down the stairs, followed by the rest of us. And as she burst through the door downstairs into the main area behind the stage, she wasted no time finding Opal.

“Ah, there you are,” said Opal. “Let’s…” She glanced around. “Let’s go into my office.”

She headed into the office, and Odelia allowed the four of us to sneak inside before closing the door.

“Do you see what’s going on here?!” asked Opal, losing her composure. “That thing almost dropped on my head!”

The door opened and Gran entered. “What happened?” she asked.

“Opal almost got hit with a section of lighting rigged up over the stage,” said Odelia.

“You mean like an accident?”

“That was no accident!” said Opal, pounding her desk with her fist. “Did you see anyone up there?”

“No, I didn’t,” Odelia had to admit.

“And where were you?” asked Opal, directing an accusatory glance at Gran.

“Little girls’ room,” said Gran, though I had a sneaking suspicion she’d gone in search of her boy toy instead, for I caught a glimpse of Hank just before we entered Opal’s office.

“You should be out there trying to catch this guy,” said Opal, pacing the room and looking very upset now. She placed a hand on her chest and sat down. “God, I suddenly don’t feel so good. I-I can’t breathe!”

“Here, let me get you some water,” said Odelia, and filled a paper cup at the water cooler located in the corner of the office.

“Oh, maybe I should just put the show on hiatus until this whole thing is resolved,” said Opal as she took a grateful sip. “How can I possibly go on like this?!”

“It could just be an accident,” said Odelia.

“That was no accident. They deliberately intended for that thing to crush me. A couple of inches to the right and that would have been my head. I missed my mark, you see. I always hit my mark but this time I missed it. If I’d hit it I’d be dead right now.” She checked a big clock on the wall. “I need to get back out there. Commercial break will be over soon.” She held Odelia’s gaze with a pleading look. “Please find out who’s behind this? Please, please, please?” And then she was gone, leaving Odelia and Gran reeling.

“Let’s try and find out what happened,” said Odelia.

And then they were gone, too.

“So now what?” said Harriet.

“Now we help Odelia and Gran figure out what happened,” I said.

“I know what happened,” spoke a voice from the door. It was Prunella.

“You do?” I said. “That’s great. Please tell us.”

“A banana,” said Prunella.

I frowned. “A banana?”

“I know bananas are not ordinarily associated with cats but for some reason I suddenly have this incredible craving for a banana. Don’t you?”

“Um… not exactly,” I said. “Though I can see where you’re coming from,” I hastened to add when her face clouded.

“I like bananas,” said Harriet, trying to humor Opal’s cat.

“Where can I find one?” asked Prunella.

“We’ll ask Odelia to get one for you,” I promised. “But she’s a little busy right now—trying to find out who just tried to kill your human.”

The small ginger cat stared at me. “Someone tried to kill my human?”

“Yeah, they tried to drop a big light on top of her head,” said Brutus.

“It’s a miracle they didn’t hit her,” Harriet added.

Prunella frowned. “Um… I hope you won’t think me rude, but who are you?”

“Here we go again,” said Brutus.

“My name is Max,” I said. “Remember? We met in your kitchen last night?”

“Of course,” said Prunella vaguely, though it was obvious she didn’t know us from Adam. “Well, if there’s nothing else I think I’ll take that nap now.” And off she went, presumably in search of a place to take her nap. And possibly a banana, too.

“I don’t like this cloning thing, Max,” said Dooley as we walked out of Opal’s office.

“No, I don’t think I like it very much either,” I said.

“She’s nuts,” was Brutus’s harsh diagnosis. “This cloning screwed up her brain.”

“You guys!” Harriet suddenly exclaimed. We all looked up in alarm. “I just thought of something!”

“What, what?” I asked.

“What if… we are clones, too?”

Chapter 14

“Kurtz is coming over tonight,” Opal announced on the drive back to the house. The talk show hostess had managed to finish her show for the day, but it had obviously taken a lot out of her as she now looked pretty exhausted. Odelia could only imagine how it would feel to be under attack, not knowing where the next hit would be coming from.

They’d had the heavy stage light checked for signs of sabotage but there had been no obvious indications it had been tampered with. Yes, it had somehow disentangled itself from the heavy steel bar holding it up but it was hard to say how this had happened. An oversight on the part of the people rigging it up? Or a faulty bolt that had come loose? Hard to know for sure.

The occupants of the limo were all uncharacteristically quiet as the fancy car ate up the miles, the driver expertly navigating LA’s famously congested highways as he took them back to the house, located in the city’s hills.

It was Opal’s safe haven. The home she returned to every night to recharge her batteries. Where she could be truly herself, unencumbered by the weight of fame and the expectations of a global audience and legions of adoring fans.

“I don’t know how long I can keep on doing this,” she said now, as she leaned back against the headrest, her eyes closed and a deep thought groove dividing her brows.

“You mean…” Odelia began.

“I don’t know if I can keep doing the show with this kind of thing hanging over me all the time.” She opened her eyes and fixed Odelia with surprisingly mellow brown eyes. “You have to find out who’s doing this to me, Odelia. And fast. If by the end of next week this hasn’t been resolved I’m going to tell my bosses at the network I’m done.”