I glanced around, trying to figure out whose closet this was. And that’s when I saw it. Right behind Dooley. Chills ran up my feline spine.
“D-D-Dooley. Don’t turn around, but the killer is right behind you!”
“What?!” Dooley cried, whirling around. He yelped in fear when he caught sight of the black-robed figure lurking behind him, a huge meat cleaver in his hands!
“It’s the killer!” I cried. “We found the killer!”
“I was right!” Dooley whimpered. “We’re going to die!”
We tumbled out of the closet, trying to get away as fast as we could. The killer jumped out right behind us, and the meat cleaver clattered to the floor.
I saw Odelia and screamed,“The killer! The killer is right behind us!”
I jumped into her arms, and so did Dooley, and that’s when I saw it wasn’t the killer who’d been inside that closet with us, but only his robe.
Odelia looked surprised, and so did Chase, who was also there. The one who was even more surprised, though, was Dion Dread. And as he stared at us, and at the black robe and the meat cleaver, he cried,“That’s not mine!”
Yeah, right. That’s what they all say.
Embarrassed, I jumped down from Odelia’s arms. Indiana Jones would never jump into anyone’s arms. Indiana Jones would face the danger head-on. And now that I’d discovered we’d been spooked by a robe, I was ready to do just that.
“Wait, what is Dion doing here?” asked Dooley. “Isn’t he supposed to be down in the spa getting a massage?”
“I guess his massage ended.”
“See, Max?” asked Dooley. “We should have just waited it out.”
“If we hadn’t climbed that pipe we wouldn’t have found the killer!”
“It isn’t a killer. It’s just an old robe and a cleaver.”
“Duh. That’s the murder weapon, Dooley, and the killer’s bloody robe.”
Dooley yelped, only now understanding we’d caught the killer, and he was here in the room with us. We both stared at Dion, the brutal murderer.
Just then, Brutus came barging through the door, a little winded, and cried,“Odelia! Dion Dread is planning his own reality show!” He caught sight of us, and his eyes went wide. “Oh, shoot.”
Chase took one look at the cleaver and the black robe, still crusted with blood, and his jaw clenched. He stepped up to Dion Dread, flicked a pair of handcuffs from his belt, and announced,“Dion Dread. You’re under arrest for the murder of Shana Kenspeckle.”
“But I didn’t do it! That stuff ain’t mine! Someone planted it there!”
“You have the right to remain silent,” Chase grunted, and marched Dion out of the room.
“Hey! I can’t go out there in just my towel!”
“Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law.”
Harriet now came traipsing into the room. “What’s with all the screaming?”
“We found the killer,” I announced proudly.
“You certainly did,” said Odelia, crouching down and giving me a rub.
Harriet frowned at her boyfriend.“Brutus? I’ve been looking all over for you. Where were you?”
He tried to look as innocently as he could.“Oh, just hanging out.”
“He locked us up in the basement!” Dooley cried accusingly.
“Yeah, and he tried to give our scoop to Odelia,” I added.
“Oh, Brutus,” Harriet said, shaking her head. “I told you, this is not the way to win friends and influence people. This is the way to make enemies.”
“They started first!” he said. “They’re trying to cut me out.”
“Nobody is trying to cut you out of anything, Brutus,” said Odelia. She gave Dooley and me a stern look. “Look, it’s really great that you guys managed to find the murder weapon and the murderer’s robe, but you have to learn to get along with Brutus. I think it’s high time you all became friends.”
We stared at Brutus, and he stared back at us, defiant.
“I want you to shake paws and apologize,” Odelia told me.
“Me? Apologize to him? What for?”
“Come on, Max. You know you haven’t been very nice to Brutus.”
“Me? Not nice to him? He’s not being nice to me!”
“Look, I don’t want to hear any more. You’ll apologize and be friends from now on. And you, Brutus, I want to hear an apology from you as well. Max has told me about your behavior, and it’s unacceptable. Is that clear?”
Now that was more like it. Brutus looked like he was about to refuse, but Harriet placed her paw on his back and he finally relented, hanging his head.“Oh, all right. I’m sorry, Max, for the way I’ve behaved. It was wrong of me.”
“And I’m sorry for the way I’ve behaved,” I said when Odelia cut her eyes to me and gave me a warning look. “I should have been much nicer to you.”
We reluctantly walked up to each other and slapped our paws together.
“Now tell him you’ll be friends, Max,” said Odelia.
“Friends?” I asked.
Brutus nodded.“Friends.”
Just then, Chase stuck his head through the door.“We have to lock up this room. This is now a crime scene.” He stared down at the gathering of cats, and shook his head. “Your cats caught the killer, Poole. Amazing.”
She smiled.“Yeah, that is pretty amazing. And your cat helped, too.”
Chase quirked an eyebrow at Brutus.“So he did. Good work, buddy.”
He walked out, Odelia in his wake, and Brutus, Dooley, Harriet and me right behind her. He then locked the door and pocketed the key.
“I’m so glad we’re all friends now,” Harriet said. “This is so nice.”
I caught Brutus’s eye, and the look he gave me was far from friendly. His next words confirmed this. “This isn’t over, Max. You’re going down.”
“Not if you’re going down first,” I replied, a little lamely.
“Friends, you guys!” Harriet said. “We’re all friends now!”
Brutus shrugged and displayed a nasty grin.“We’ll see about that.”
Chapter 14
“So? Cracked the case, huh, Chase?” asked Uncle Alec. He took another sizable helping of spaghetti, and ladled some more tomato sauce on top.
It was Thursday night at the Pooles, and as usual Alec had put his feet under the dinner table, along with his temporary roomie Chase. There was spaghetti bolognese on the menu, so Odelia got to relive the famous spaghetti scene fromLady and the Tramp after all, though she and Chase didn’t slurp from the same plate. But then she wasn’t a lady, and Chase wasn’t a tramp.
She twirled the pasta around the tines of her fork and thought about the case. She had her qualms about Dion as a killer. How convenient that the murder weapon would be lying around in his closet. Too convenient. Why hadn’t the uniformed officers found it when they searched his room?
“Yeah, that was quick work,” Chase said, pressing a napkin to his lips.
“Is it true that the cats actually solved the case?” asked Dad.
“It’s true. The cats are the real heroes here,” Chase confirmed.
Dad shook his head and chuckled.“Unbelievable. Those cats have saved the day so many times now they should be made honorary police officers.”
He gave Odelia a wink and she grinned. Her dad was Hampton Cove’s resident doctor. He had his doctor’s office right across the street from the Hampton Cove Gazette. He was a jovial fifty-something physician with a shock of white hair. He was also one of the only people who knew that his mother-in-law, his wife and his daughter could communicate with felines.
“Yeah, we should probably give them a medal,” Uncle Alec agreed. He sat back in his chair and patted his sizable paunch. He was a large man, and a well-respected chief of police. He’d finally returned from his fishing trip, only to discover he shouldn’t have bothered, as the killer was in jail. “The mayor was very happy,” he said. “He was practically on the phone with the FBI when you arrested Dion Dread. Good thing you nabbed him when you did.”
“It still remains to be seen if we’ve got the right guy,” said Chase. “But all the evidence so far points in his direction.”