“But he never had a chance. He wanted Johnny all for himself, you see. Had visions of the two of them growing old together. But Johnny didn’t do old. He wanted to stay young forever, and sharing his bed with those young studs every night made him feel young. That and the happy juice, of course.”
“Young… studs,” I said uncertainly. How we’d gone from dogs to horses I didn’t know, but I was determined not to show my confusion.
“And of course Johnny was a star. You can’t tie down a star.”
Or a stud, apparently, though it’s been known to happen.
“Johnny was larger than life, and nobody was going to have him all to themselves, not even me,” he said with a sad look in his eyes as he silently surveyed the long row of bowls.
I got his drift, of course. Poor cat. He’d come all the way from England to America, only to have to share his human and his home with at least a dozen strays, a couple of hounds and a few studs, too. An entire menagerie, in fact.
“What’s going to happen now?” I asked, gesturing at the bowls.
“Life goes on, partner. Someone will take care of us. Probably Jasper.”
That figured. The dog-turned-human would take care of his cat friends. And probably kick out the hounds and studs. Almost like a Disney movie.
“You think Jasper will inherit?”
“I hope so,” said George, now trying to lick his butt but finally giving up. His large belly was in the way, and he was not as limber as he used to be.
“Well, at least you’ll always have Jasper,” I said.
“Yeah, Jasper is a sweetheart,” said George. “We’re in good hands.”
At this, he gave up on the struggle to lick his butt, plunked down on the floor and promptly dozed off. It happens, especially to cats of a certain age.
Dooley and I exchanged a glance, and before I could help it, I was staring wistfully at George’s jumbo-sized bowl. What I would give for a helping of that delicious pâté. Just the smell was enough to make my mouth water.
“Take a nibble, Max,” Dooley said. “There’s plenty more where that came from. Didn’t you hear the cat? They’re in good hands with this Jasper.”
“I am kinda peckish,” I admitted. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and after all this tripping around and interviewing cats, I could do with a bit of food.
“Well, then?” he asked. “What are you waiting for? Dig in!”
I’m not proud of what happened next. I caved. I checked left and right, like a regular bandit, and finally dug in. I was smart about it, though. Instead of cleaning out a single bowl, like Dooley had done, I simply sampled some food from all the bowls, twelve in a row, so no one would even notice. And when I’d finally reached the last one, I’d eaten my fill and was in cat heaven.
“Oh, God. This stuff is simply divine,” I gushed.
“Isn’t it?” asked Dooley with a grin.
“Best food I’ve ever tasted. Pity Odelia is not an aging pop star.”
“If she was, we’d have to share with a dozen other cats,” said Dooley.
He had a point. Now already we were having trouble with Brutus, the new cat in town. I couldn’t imagine having to share my food and home with a dozen more like him. Or a bunch of dogs and horses, for that matter.
No, perhaps things were the way they should be. But next time when Odelia went grocery shopping, I think I’ll still ask her to buy a bit of pâté.
Chapter 5
We rode back to Hampton Cove in silence, Dooley and I fully content after our culinary feast. We’d told the whole story about the cats and the dogs and the horses and the happy juice to Odelia, and it was obvious we’d given her plenty of food for thought, for she was also conspicuously silent.
On our way into town, she dropped us off at the police station. Even though her uncle doesn’t mind her lending a hand with the investigation, he draws the line at allowing her to sit in on interviews with suspects. But since nobody notices a couple of cats skulking about, we were her eyes and ears.
The moment we arrived, we quickly made our way to the back of the police station, where we knew Chief Alec’s office was, and hopped up onto the windowsill to await further developments. The chief had just arrived back when we got there, and Chase Kingsley was in his office to discuss the case.
“Don’t you think the Chief suspects we’re spying on him?” asked Dooley.
“I’m sure he does. But as long as Odelia is careful how she words her articles, he’s fine with it. It’s Chase we have to watch out for, though. He doesn’t know about Odelia’s special gift, and should never find out.”
“He won’t find out from me,” said Dooley. “Let’s just hope he doesn’t find out from Harriet.” He gave me a knowing look.
Harriet might spill the beans to Brutus, who might try and get word out to Chase. Luckily for us he didn’t share our gift of being able to talk to his human. And for Odelia’s sake, it was important he never would.
Just when we arrived, Chase and the Chief packed up their files and filed out of the office, probably to continue their business in some other part of the station house. No matter. Every room had a window, and windows had sills, so… We quickly trudged over to interrogation room number one, for I had a hunch they were going to interview their first suspect. And… bingo. As we made ourselves comfortable, the Chief and Chase took a seat in front of an olive-skinned man with slicked-back black hair and dark eyes. He looked a little disheveled, and suddenly I recognized him as the man who’d been slumped over the wheel of his car. This was none other than Jasper Pruce.
“It’s the boyfriend,” Dooley whispered excitedly, having come to the same conclusion.
“Looks like he’s been arrested,” I whispered back, gesturing at his handcuffs.
“Oh, no!” cried Dooley. “That means George has no one to take care of him!”
“I’m sure Johnny had plenty of servants,” I assured him. “Someone will keep that pâté coming.”
Inside the room, JPG’s boyfriend didn’t look too happy. Upon closer inspection I could see that his eyes were bloodshot, his face haggard and his general appearance bedraggled. He looked like a guy who’d slept in his clothes after a vicious fight, and had just discovered his boyfriend dead.
“There’s only one thing I want to know from you,” Chase said, opening proceedings. “And that’s why you did it.”
“Did what?” asked Jasper wearily.
“Don’t play dumb with me,” Chase growled. “We found your fingerprints on the vial containing the venom.”
This made Jasper sit up and take notice, and us, too. Venom?
“What venom?” Jasper asked. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play games, Jasper,” said the Chief. “You know as well as we do you poisoned one of Johnny’s GHB vials. We don’t know what venom you used, exactly, but that’s only a matter of time. Just tell us why you did it.”
“Oh, God,” said Jasper, burying his face in his hands. “Oh, no.”
“Oh, yes,” said Chase. “And since we only found two fingerprints on the viaclass="underline" yours and Johnny’s, it’s obvious you planted the venom. Why did you do it, Jasper? Huh? Was it the money? Or were you simply so fed up with the endless nightly parade of young studs that you couldn’t stand it anymore?”
Good thing that Odelia had patiently explained that Jasper was, in fact, human, and that the hounds and studs George had mentioned were also humans. I had to admit it was all very confusing, and I had to strain my brain to keep up. I focused on the conversation inside, and the effort must have shown on my face, for suddenly a voice sounded from the other window.
“What’s wrong, Max? Chase’s questions too tough for you to figure out?”
Both Dooley and I looked over, alarmed, and when we saw that Brutus sat perched on the next window, together with Harriet, we almost fell from our own windowsill in shock and surprise.