Hairless Harassment

Chapter Eighteen

My mind reeled while my body slammed against the car door and my seatbelt dug into my chest. Did my mom really think that my boss had tried to kill me? That couldn’t be possible. Octo-Cat had tripped me. I’d never even seen Thompson that day.

“Mom,” I said, hyperventilating. “I’m not sure what you saw, but Thompson was never at my house.”

“Yes, he was,” she shouted, taking another sharp turn.

We were going toward the law firm, I realized then. The cop car stayed right on our tail. I turned back and saw Officer Raines’s determined face as she pursued us. She and Mom had already gotten off on the wrong foot, and this impromptu high-speed chase pretty much ensured they’d never be on friendly terms, no matter what happened next.

“I don’t know how he got in,” Mom continued. “But he climbed out through the window.”

“When?” I pleaded, still not understanding. How could any of this be real?

“About two minutes before I made it to your door,” she said, slowing slightly as we passed by the law firm. Thompson’s car was not there.

That timing Mom reported lined up pretty well with my fall, but…

“There weren’t any cars. I didn’t see or hear anyone leave before us,” I insisted. Even if Thompson had somehow managed to get in and out of my house without being detected, he hadn’t gone anywhere in that little red sports car of his. The irony didn’t escape me that the pursuant and the pursuer had the exact same type of vehicle. What a chase this would have been, had Thompson actually been a part of it.

“Of course,” Mom yelled, twisting the car in an action movie-like U-turn. “He’s still on foot! We have to get back! Your nan!”

Fear gripped every fiber of my being as I thought of my poor, vulnerable grandmother all alone with a killer. She was tough, but that was all attitude. If he came at her physically, she wouldn’t stand a chance.

The sirens whooped behind us. “Pull your vehicle to the side of the road,” Officer Raines commanded over the loud speaker.

“C’mon, Mom,” I said, still clutching tight to the dashboard. “Get us back to Nan!”

I had no idea where my mom had acquired her wicked stunt driving skills, but she got us back to the manor house in record time, which was saying a lot considering how quickly we’d initially peeled away.

As soon as the scar skidded to a stop, I jumped out and raced toward the house, stumbling on the porch stairs as I went. “Nan!” I cried. “Please be okay!”

Nan appeared in the open doorway wearing her polka-dotted apron and drying her hands on a dish towel. “Of course I’m all right, dear. Just finishing up dinner. Did you and your mother have fun on that high-speed chase of yours?”

I hugged her tight but was quickly pulled back by one very angry Officer Raines. Somehow, she already had Mom cuffed and face down in the dirt. “Stop!” I screamed. “We aren’t the bad guys!”

Officer Raines slapped a pair of cuffs on me anyway and began to cite my Miranda Rights.

Mom struggled on the ground. “He’s still here somewhere. He tried to kill my daughter!”

The lady cop did not seem amused. “Likely story,” she mumbled.

But Nan poked her hard on the shoulder, causing us all to gasp. “You listen here, missy! If my daughter says there’s a killer on the loose, then you better believe there’s a killer loose. So what if she went a little over the speed limit? Is that as bad as having a murderer on the loose?”

Officer Raines laughed sarcastically. “A little! Try one hundred and twelve at least.”

“I had to get your attention somehow,” Mom groaned, trying desperately to flip herself over.

“Well, you got it,” the officer said, grinding her hand into my shoulder as she forced me down the porch steps. “My attention and a one-way trip straight to county jail.”

No, no, no. This was all wrong. I hadn’t had time to finish putting together the clues to figure out why Thompson would want to murder Harlow and then me. But I trusted my mom. If she said she saw him, then he was probably still here somewhere.

“Thompson!” I shouted, trying and failing to get away from my captor. “We know you’re out there.”

“Stop deflecting,” the officer spat. Why wouldn’t she just listen to us? If she hauled Mom and me away, then Nan would be in definite danger and Thompson would most likely never be brought to justice.

Officer Raines pushed me toward her cruiser with Nan hitting her every step of the way. “You let my granddaughter go!”

This was all going very wrong very fast. There was only one person left to turn to now. Well, not person exactly…

“Octo-Cat!” I screamed, craning my neck over my shoulder to glance back toward the house. “Help us!”

Right on cue, my dear, sweet tabby came running through his special electronic door flap and looked up at me with shaking eyes. “Angela, I’d never, ever hurt you.”

“I know,” I said tenderly, which was difficult considering I was still in police custody. “Help us. Help us catch Thompson. He’s the killer, not the cats.”

Officer Raines regarded me with a piteous look. “You might be able to get off on an insanity plea,” she said, and clearly this dissatisfied her greatly.

Octo-Cat ran into the yard and started shouting at the top of his lungs. We all watched as he cried, “Jacques! Jillianne! Now is the time! Let us bring your human’s killer to justice! Do as cats do! Do it now!”

I don’t know whether he actually knew where they’d been hiding, but a moment later a terrible growl sounded on the roof, followed by a hiss, and...

Thompson staggered into view, away from the spot he’d been hiding in behind the turret. My turret!

“There he is!” I shouted to Officer Raines, twisting violently to force her to look.

“Sir,” the cop shouted, spotting him at once. “Why are you trespassing here?”

“Oh, um,” My boss sputtered, running hands over his suit jacket. His face had fresh blood dripping down the side, and I instantly recognized the work of one ticked-off kitty—maybe two.

Thompson reached beneath his jacket, then pulled out a gleaming pistol. For the third time within a span of fifteen minutes, I was at risk of dying. What a day this was.

“Sir! Drop the weapon!” Officer Raines yelled, pushing me to the ground presumably for my safety.

Octo-Cat sprinted over to me and began to lick the dirt away from my cheek with his sandpaper tongue. “I’m so sorry, Angela. To think, I was used like that. I would never hurt you. You’re my human, and I love you.”

“I know,” I said, wishing I wasn’t cuffed so that I could stroke his soft, fluffy head. “I love you, too.”

A terrible scream ripped us apart. I looked just in time to see Thompson hit the ground. His leg twisted at an unseemly angle following his two-story fall, and he cried out in tremendous pain.

Rolling onto my side, I looked up and saw the previously missing Jacques and Jillianne sitting at the edge of the roof licking their hairless paws happily. And suddenly it all clicked into place. I still didn’t know why he’d done it, but Thompson had used the Sphynxes to trip the senator the same way he’d used Octo-Cat to trip me, the intelligent jerk. No wonder the poor, distraught cats had confessed to the crime.

Octo-Cat glanced toward Jacques and Jillianne on the roof and cried in delight. “They did as cats do!” he enthused, rushing toward Thompson’s prostrate form.

What happened next wasn’t pretty. He walked right onto Thompson’s back and popped a squat. A wet spot quickly darkened the light suit jacket, and the unmistakable smell of ammonia mixed with the fresh evening air..

“That’s for trying to kill my human!” he yelled, proceeding to scratch Thompson with his hind legs in a fury.

Nan laughed and clapped her hands together. Honestly, I’d have done the same if I wasn’t cuffed at that particular moment. “Wonderful,” she squealed.

“Officer Raines,” I mumbled, my face squashed to the ground. “That man broke into my house and tried to kill me. We’re pretty sure he’s also the one who killed Senator Harlow and tried to make it look like an accident.”

Thompson just moaned in agony.

“You’re lucky a fall like that didn’t snap your neck,” the policewoman said, taking the cuffs off me and my mom, then going over to snap a pair on Thompson. “Or maybe not, seeing as you’re going to have a lot of explaining to do once we get you to the station.”

She forced him onto his feet, and he cried out in pain again.

“Serves you right!” Nan shouted as Officer Raines stuffed him in the back of her cruiser and fled into the night.

So, now that we knew whodunnit, it was time to figure out why…