“Can we get him some water?” I asked her as his panting continued unchecked.
“No… time,” he wheezed, then hacked, then tried to speak again. “Griz… abella. We… have to… go to her!”
The detective studied me carefully. “Ma’am, is everything okay?”
Ma’am? I was younger than she was. Okay, not important right now. I needed to figure out my next step, and I needed to do it in a way that didn’t raise suspicion.
Earlier that night I’d told Dan, Sariah, and Melvin that I was a celebrity pet trainer as an excuse for setting Octo-Cat on the trail. And now it was time to take on another false persona with the detective. I just hoped she would buy it.
I swallowed hard and then raised my eyes to meet her questioning gaze head on. “I know this may seem a bit unorthodox, but I’m a psychic, you see, and I believe the victim’s ghost is telling me where to find her killer.”
She placed a hand on her hip. “Her ghost?”
“Yes.” Sorry, Rhonda, but this is the best way to catch him. “Rhonda says he’s moved quite a way from the train. We’ll need a vehicle to get to him.”
“Yes, good!” Octo-Cat cheered. His words seemed to be coming more easily now. “I can take you… to her. To them.”
The detective tipped her chin and quirked an eyebrow. “So you need a police escort?” she asked slowly, either to mock me or to make sure she understood.
“I know it’s crazy, but—”
“Let’s go,” the detective said, surprising me with her sudden agreeableness. “Our department has been known to work with psychics from time to time, and right now you’re the best lead we’ve got. The cruiser’s about half a mile that way.” She pointed down the tunnel, then turned back to me. “Try anything funny, though, and I won’t hesitate to make an arrest.”
When I nodded my consent, she took off in the direction she’d pointed earlier. It was the opposite way from the path Octo-Cat had taken to return to us.
I followed, keeping Octo-Cat in my arms because I could tell he needed the rest. While I grew more tired, he regained some of his strength.
“We found him,” he explained as my feet scrambled for purchase on the uneven terrain. “And Grizabella was marvelous. She scratched him up real good. He threw her, and I think she may have gotten hurt. But she wouldn’t leave his side. She sent me back to get help while she continued to track the bad guy.”
Well how about that? Grizabella had proven to be the hero, after all.
I just hoped she was okay from the injury she sustained during her fight with Jamison. I hated not being able to comfort Octo-Cat while we were in the presence of the detective, but I had to believe he understood that I would do everything I could for both Grizabella and Rhonda.
At last we reached the end of the tunnel and broke out into the open sky. The sun had just begun to rise, infusing the clouds with celestial fire—beautiful and eerie at the same time. The cruiser sat facing the tunnel, and the detective and I both bolted for it.
I climbed in the back, just in case I was still a suspect. We’d already lost so much time, and I couldn’t cost us anymore until I knew that Grizabella was safe, and Jamison had been apprehended.
“You can sit up front, you know,” the detective said, studying me in the rear-view mirror. A smile crept across her face as she spoke. So maybe I wasn’t a suspect, after all.
“I can’t smell anything from in here,” Octo-Cat informed me from the footwell. Either the detective hadn’t noticed I’d brought him along or didn’t really mind.
“I’m fine back here,” I assured her, buckling in for what was sure to be a wild ride. “But could you please roll down the windows? My, uh, powers work better when I’m one with nature.”
She nodded and lowered both of the front windows.
“Ahh, that’s better. They’re this way.” Octo-Cat moved his body to the car’s left.
“Let’s start by going left,” I told the detective.
The engine roared to life, and we were off.
“How fast should I be going?” she asked, and I had no idea what to tell her.
Octo-Cat moved to the right of the footwell. “This way, but not too much this way.”
“Make a right, but not a full right,” I instructed, ignoring her earlier question, focusing on what I did know instead of what I didn’t.
She guided the cruiser in the direction I’d indicated.
“Too far. Too far!” Octo-Cat cried and moved back toward the left.
“Um, less right than that,” I said. “Bring it back to the center a little.”
Man, it was hard to give driving directions when there were no roads and I had no idea where we were actually going. Still, I trusted my cat, and I knew he’d get us there one way or another.
“Perfect,” he said after the detective had finished her course correction. He hopped onto the bench seat beside me and then climbed onto my lap. “Now straight on to my Grizabella.”
Chapter Nineteen
We drove for a good twenty minutes before I finally spotted movement on the horizon.
Octo-Cat noticed her at the exact same time as me. He screeched and dug his claws into my lap. “She’s there! My beautiful Grizabella! We’ve found her!”
Sure enough, the Himalayan trotted across the landscape ahead. Her beautiful fur appeared almost ghastly in the soft morning light and her once perfect gait now fell unevenly, but she was alive and still moving forward. I had to admire her determination to see this through.
Even though she’d seemed more than a bit spoiled when I first met her, she was a good cat. A really good cat.
“Suspect sighted.” The detective jolted her cruiser forward even faster than before, then veered to a stop.
“Tell Rhonda’s ghost she did a good job,” she told me before racing outside to chase the man hobbling down the hill.
Octo-Cat sprinted through the open door after her, but rather than following the detective, he turned back the way we’d come. “My darling! My darling!” he cried.
As much as I wanted to help, I stayed put in the back of that cop car and sent a quick text to my parents in a group chat: We found Jamison. Detective is apprehending him right now. All is good.
And with that, my battery finally gave out, rendering my phone useless.
Less than five minutes later, the detective returned, dragging a handcuffed man along with her. “Get to the front, psychic,” she barked at me.
As soon as I got out, she shoved Jamison in. For a moment, my eyes met his and I was surprised to see that they weren’t cold or calculating. Instead, they appeared soft, kind, not so unlike my father’s. A smattering of freckles on his cheeks and nose gave him a boyish appearance. Bloody scratches covered his arms, and his shirt had even been slashed through, thanks, no doubt, to Grizabella’s attack.
This guy didn’t look like a killer at all, and yet I had no doubt he’d done the deed.
“Meet me outside the tunnel,” the detective murmured into her radio as she brought the police cruiser back to life.
“Wait!” I shouted, panic rising in my chest. “My cat!”
“I’m bringing the witness back, then taking the suspect in,” the detective continued on, ignoring me completely.
The cruiser hadn’t picked up much speed yet, so I swung open the door, unbuckled my seatbelt, and prepared to jump. Seeing what I was up to, she hit the brakes hard, jerking me clear out of the car.
I fell to the cold ground, landing on my back in such a way that all the air whooshed out of my lungs. Ouch.
Despite the nagging pain, there was no time to waste. I was okay, and I had to make sure the cats were, too. I sat up in a hurry, wincing from the pain of making such a sudden movement.
“Oh, Angela,” Octo-Cat said with a light-hearted chuckle as he and Grizabella approached from nearby. Despite her limp and obvious fatigue, they fell into perfect step beside each other. “I may be a stunt cat, but you are definitely not a stunt human.”