“Oh, sorry,” I said, sheepishly.
“Well, it was nice of you to stop by, anyway,” she said then. “I guess.” She looked with uncertainty at Max, who glowered at Chester and said nothing.
After an awkward silence, Chester spoke. “We were sorry to hear about Louise. If there’s anything we can do …”
“Aw, shucks,” Max said, his face softening. “That’s really big of you.”
“I mean, if we can help you out in any way,” Chester added with emphasis. He looked meaningfully at Max. Max averted his eyes and pawed at the ground.
“Oh, I doubt there’s anything anyone can do,” he mumbled. “We’ll just hope she comes back soon, that’s all. Meanwhile, I’ll just have to bear my sorrow alone.”
Chester nodded sympathetically at Max. “Of course,” he said, “we understand.” And then, under his breath, he muttered, “Save it for the judge.”
“What about me?” Georgette asked. “I’ll bear it with you, Maxy.”
“Gee, thanks, Georgette.”
I noticed Chester’s face out of the corner of one eye. He was taking it all in.
“Well, I suppose you’re right,” he said. “There really isn’t anything we can do. Just wanted to let you know—” He paused dramatically and spoke with great intensity. “—that we’re here if you need us.”
“Right,” Max said, sticking out his jaw. I gathered that for a bulldog, a stiff lower jaw was the equivalent of a stiff upper lip for the rest of us.
The rain was letting up, a perfect excuse for us to take our leave. We raced back to Chester’s bungalow.
“Well, I couldn’t hear everything,” Chester said, as soon as we were inside, “but what I did hear was pretty incriminating.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means it’s not the kind of stuff you’d want your mother to know.”
“Oh.”
Chester bathed himself as he continued. “It seems,” he said between licks, “that our friends Max and Georgette are planning to escape.”
“Really?” I asked. I could feel my eyebrows take on a life of their own.
“Really,” Chester replied. “The first voice I heard was Georgette’s. She was saying something like ‘We have to stick together and everything will be all right.’ ”
“Wow!”
“That’s what I thought. Then Max said, ‘But what if we’re caught?’ and Georgette said, ‘That’s why we have to be very careful. We’ll go when it’s dark. First we have to find a way out …’ And that’s all I heard.”
“That’s too bad,” I said.
“Yes, it is,” Chester agreed. “Unfortunately, a certain party who shall remain nameless dropped me right at that moment.”
“Oh,” I said, swallowing. I decided not to respond further. “Well,” I went on, “obviously Max and Georgette are the guilty ones. They murdered Louise and now they’re planning their getaway. Gee, it’s hard to believe it’s really happening. It’s like something you’d read in a detective story.”
“Not so fast,” Chester cautioned. “It doesn’t look good for them. But I’m still not convinced they did it.”
“You’re not?” I asked in surprise.
“Not at all,” Chester replied. “They’re not the only ones with a motive. And there’s still a big piece of the puzzle that doesn’t fit. Until it does, I won’t know for sure who the murderer is.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Well, Harold, I don’t know about you, but I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night. Howard and Heather were howling so much, I don’t think I slept at all. If anyone had walked across the compound, much less dragged a body across it, I would have known. But I didn’t see or hear anything. All night long. Doesn’t that seem odd?”
I had to admit that it did. “What do you make of it?” I asked Chester.
“I don’t know what to make of it,” he confessed.
“Maybe whoever did it didn’t want to get wet, so they waited for the rain to let up,” I suggested.
“But that would mean early this morning, when it was light already. Nope. It would have been too risky.”
“Then it had to be last night.”
Chester was deep in thought. “Yes,” he murmured softly. “Yes, last night.” Suddenly, his eyes lit up. I was aware that at that moment the rain stopped. It was very still when Chester uttered his next words.
“That last piece of the puzzle, Harold?”
“Yes?”
“It just fell into place,” he said.
“Huh?”
“I just figured it out, Harold.” His voice became louder and more excited. “I don’t know why, and I don’t completely understand how, but I know who did it. Without a doubt, I know who did it.”
“You know who did what?” Taxi’s voice said sharply.
Surprised, I turned to see Taxi, Lyle, Georgette and Max gathered at the door of Chester’s bungalow. It was Max who spoke next.
“Taxi tells us you and Harold are saying he murdered Louise,” he said.
“Nonsense,” Chester replied immediately. Nothing seemed to faze him.
“He said he overheard you talking.”
“He may have overheard us talking, but he never heard us say he murdered Louise.”
“You believe that Louise was murdered?” Georgette asked, her eyes growing wide. “How can you say such a thing?”
“I say it because it’s true,” Chester replied matter-of-factly.
“Oh, come on, mate,” Max retorted. “You have an overstimulated imagination, if you ask me. Just like Lyle. I’ve always said that about cats.”
Lyle was outraged. “Don’t put me in the same camp as Chester,” he cried. “I may be crazy, but I’m not that crazy! I never accused anybody of murder. He’s a troublemaker. String him up! That’s what I say. Let’s string him up!” Hysterical, he dashed off, I presumed in search of rope.
Chester stared coolly at the three who remained. “Yes,” he said, “I know who murdered Louise. I need just a little more information, and when I have it, I’ll prove my case.”
Max began to laugh.
“Go ahead and laugh,” Chester snapped, cutting him off mid-chortle. “Yes, my friend, laugh today, for tomorrow you’ll know the truth. And then, perhaps, you’ll never laugh again.”
I noticed that Howard and Heather had come up behind Taxi and were listening to what Chester had to say. I felt myself trembling as I beheld the five pairs of eyes staring penetratingly at Chester. It was so quiet you could have heard a doggie-pop drop.
And then, all at once, Heather threw back her head and let out an ear-splitting howl.
“Aaaah-ooooooooooooooooooo!” she cried. Gasps of shock went out from us all. She looked about her, an expression of great surprise on her face.
“So sorry,” she said softly. “Just not myself. Oh, how embarrassing. I think I’d best—”
“—rest,” Howard continued. “Yes, dear, I do think that’s best.” And off they went, their heads bobbing all the way back to their bungalows. We watched them go.
Then, without a word, Max, Georgette and Taxi followed, leaving Chester and me alone with each other and our thoughts.
I looked at Chester. A cool smile sat on his lips.
“How can you smile like that?” I asked. “Don’t you realize what a dangerous thing you’ve done? Exposing yourself like that? Now the murderer knows you’ve found him out.”
“Oh, I don’t think I’ve done such a dangerous thing,” Chester answered smoothly. He was quiet then, and I remember looking at him, hoping that he was right and feeling somewhere deep in my bones that he wasn’t.
He was lost in thought for the rest of the day. In fact, the only time he spoke to me again was shortly before dinner.
“Just one word of warning,” he said. “Keep awake tonight. The murderer may strike again. Remember: do not sleep. If you do, you may never wake again.”
How it chills me to recall those words. Particularly when I think of them as Chester’s last.