Ник Сайнт - Purrfect Crime

Then she disappeared from sight and the show was over.

Lost in thought, I moved back to where I’d left a Dooley eager to find food for me. What I found was a Dooley scared stiff.

“I saw a ghost!” he cried.

“Me too. Where’s my food?”

“I saw the ghost of Donna Bruce!”

“I know. So where’s my food?”

“She’s dead and she’s still walking around!”

“My food, Dooley!”

He stared at me, not comprehending. Then he got it. “Oh, there is no food. I think they moved the dogs. There’s no sign of Rex and Rollo. But I saw the ghost of Donna Bruce!”

Crap. I didn’t know much about ghosts, but what I did know was that they didn’t eat. So we’d come all this way for nothing? Crappity crap! But then it dawned on me. If I told Odelia we’d seen the ghost of Donna Bruce she might be so happy she gave me some Cat Snax!

And as Dooley and I began the long trek back to home and hearth, that thought was the only thing that kept me going. That and the notion that we’d finally bested Harriet at the sleuthing thing. Cause if that really was Donna’s ghost, she’d be able to tell us who killed her, wouldn’t she? Of course she would. Case closed! Cat Snax here I come!

Chapter 23

Odelia woke up from the scuffle of paws and the clicking of claws against the side of the bed. There were hushed voices and she knew what was going on. Max was trying to jump up on the bed, proving he wasn’t too fat, and Dooley was giving him a boost but failing to apply sufficient thrust to propel the overweight cat up and away.

She rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. It was still dark out and she so did not want to get up. After the bee incident there had been a lot of shouting and recriminations being hurled about, and it had taken forever to calm down all parties and clear the house and garden of the last straggling bees. Now all she wanted to do was sleep.

“Pssst! Odelia!”

“Just lemme sleeeeep,” she murmured.

“Push harder, Dooley!”

“I’m pushing as hard as I can, Max!”

“Odelia! We’ve got news for you!”

“Tell me in the morning.”

“This can’t wait! We saw a ghost!”

“Max, I’m getting squished here.”

“That’s not possible. You’re just not pushing hard enough.”

“You’re too heavy!”

“No, I’m not. You’re just being lazy is all.”

There was the sound of a heavy object dropping to the floor and Dooley squealing in pain. Odelia sat up with a jerk. “Will you two cut it out already? I’m trying to get some sleep here.”

“Max sat on me!”

“I did not! You dropped me!”

With a loud groan of exasperation she switched on the light and peered over the edge of the bed. Max was sitting on top of Dooley’s face and Dooley did not seem happy about it.

“Max. Get off Dooley. Dooley, you should know better than to try and lift Max.”

“I know,” Dooley said once Max had shifted his butt. “But he insists it’s what friends do.”

“If you were really my friend you’d simply do as I tell you and give me a boost,” Max grumbled.

“What’s all this about a ghost?” Odelia muttered, supporting her head on her hand, her eyes drooping closed again.

“We saw the ghost of Donna Bruce. She was haunting her own house. Can I get a snack now?” asked Max.

Odelia’s eyes flashed open. “What were you two doing at Donna’s house?”

“We were… investigating,” Max said.

“And also looking for food,” Dooley added, earning him a scowl from Max.

“And then you saw Donna’s ghost,” Odelia said skeptically.

“Yes, we did,” Dooley said. “I saw her first, as I was inside the house looking for Rex and Rollo’s bowls. Max was waiting outside cause he couldn’t fit through the window.”

“Too much information, Dooley,” Max hissed.

“No, that’s fine,” said Odelia. She knew Dooley would never lie to her, which meant they really had seen something. She very much doubted it would be a ghost, since ghosts didn’t exist, but there must have been someone lurking about. “What did she look like, this ghost?”

“She looked exactly like Donna,” said Dooley.

“Spitting image,” Max agreed.

“And what does Donna look like?”

Dooley thought for a moment. “Well, she’s a woman, for one thing.”

“Long hair. Long white dress,” Max added.

“She was sort of floating around. Barefoot.”

“And she was carrying some kind of smoky thing, doing some kind of ritual.”

“Oh, that’s right,” said Dooley enthusiastically. “There was an awful lot of smoke.”

Odelia frowned. What little she knew about ghosts was that they wore whatever they died in, and since Donna had died in the nude, with only a towel to protect her modesty, this ghostly apparition most probably was not Donna. Still, it was obvious Max and Dooley had seen someone poking around Donna’s house in the middle of the night, so…

She picked up her phone from the nightstand and dialed Chase’s number. After a few rings a groggy voice muttered, “’lo?”

“Hey, Chase. Odelia. We have to check out Donna’s place. Someone’s prowling around.”

There was a momentary silence, then, “You’re at Donna’s house?”

“No, I’m in bed right now.”

“So… how do you know there’s a prowler on the loose?”

“Women’s—”

“Intuition. I get the drill. Meet me at the house. I’ll be there in five.”

She bit her lip. She should probably have thought this through a little more. Now Chase would think she was psychic. Unless there was no one out there, in which case he’d think she was nuts.

“Can we come?” asked Max.

“No, you can’t,” she said. “You’re still grounded, mister.”

“But we found the ghost!”

“You shouldn’t have been out there!”

“But… we’re just trying to help. Find the killer and all that.”

She shot him a look of censure. He was right, of course. They had found a valuable clue. “All right. You can come. But on one condition.”

“Anything!”

“From now on you’re going to stick to your diet. No more sneaking off in search of food. Is that understood?”

Max wavered. This was obviously a hard decision to make. Finally his curiosity to find out more about this ghost won out and he nodded. “Oh, all right. I’ll stick to my diet from now on.”

“Good.” She got dressed in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, slipped her feet into a pair of sneakers and snatched her smartphone from the nightstand.

“Don’t forget to take your dildo,” said Dooley helpfully.

Her hand paused. “What did you just say?”

“Your dildo,” Dooley said. “To reach those hard-to-reach G-spots. Who knows where this ghost is hiding, right?”

She frowned down at Dooley and Max, both looking up at her with expressions of such innocence and guilelessness she couldn’t help but smile. “Of course I’ll take my dildo. I never leave home without it.” She snapped the plastic object from the drawer and put it in her pocket. And as she walked down the stairs she swore never to let those cats near the Internet again. Ever.

Chapter 24

She arrived at the house just as Chase rolled up in his pickup truck and parked right behind hers. He got out, his hair tousled and dressed in sturdy jeans, check flannel shirt and cowboy boots. “So what’s this about a prowler? And don’t give me that women’s intuition line again.”

“I got a call just now from one of Donna’s neighbors walking his dog. He said he saw someone move around inside the house.”

“Who called?”

“I’m sorry but I can’t tell you. A reporter has to protect her sources.”