Hairless Harassment

Chapter Nineteen

Mom, Nan, and I gathered around the formal dining table, the same table that had been used to serve the poisonous meal that caused the late owner of this estate to lose her life. I tried not to think about that too much, though, as I dug into the delicious and hard-earned meal before me.

Despite our posh surroundings, we were eating tuna noodle casserole with a Vienna sausage and breadcrumb topping.

“I can’t believe Mr. Thompson killed his friend. I can’t believe he tried to kill me,” I said, shaking my head sadly.

Octo-Cat sat beside me slurping a fresh dish of cream. He lifted his head, burped, and smiled at me unapologetically. It was amazing how quickly things reverted to normal around here.

“Well, you said he wasn’t a very good boss,” Nan pointed out, stabbing a mini sausage and taking a bite out of it, extreme bliss apparent on her face.

“Not a good boss and murderer seem miles apart to me,” Mom pointed out. She’d found an old bottle of pinot noir in the cellar and was now taking generous sips from an overfull wine glass.

“You solved it,” I said, giving her my best, most daughterly smile. “You’re the one who figured everything out. How?”

She hesitated for a moment, took another drink, and then said, “Well, it wasn’t easy, but I knew when the death had been ruled an accident that it just couldn’t be the truth. Since you and Nan seemed to have formed your own investigative club, I decided to stake out the forest and watch. It’s what any good journalist in my position would do.”

“And then you saw Thompson creeping around,” I provided.

“Yes. It was especially suspicious when I saw him climbing out of a second-story window. Invited guests just don’t do that.” She took another slow sip and sighed. “I still don’t know why, though.”

“Harlow was planning to retire. She was grooming him for her spot,” I revealed. “Charles told me earlier today.”

“Hey, you never told me that!” Nan protested, setting her fork down and pressing a napkin to her lips.

“I didn’t tell either of you. I didn’t get the chance.”

“So, it seems,” Mom said, rubbing her finger around the top of her wine glass as she spoke. “That Charles tipped off Thompson, which is why he came sneaking around here.”

“Charles would never put me in danger,” I argued, dread pooling in my stomach once again.

“Not knowingly,” Nan agreed. “Do you think he was tricked?”

“It was my fault,” I mumbled, seeing now what had happened. “I asked Charles to talk to him about why he’d visited the crime scene on day one.”

“And that conversation was enough for him to know that you were on to him,” Nan said with a scowl. “I never did much care for that man.”

“You also never met him,” I pointed out, loving how ready and willing both my mom and my nan were to come to my defense.

“They were friends,” Mom said after a few silent moments passed. “He killed a friend. For what, power?”

“I honestly don’t know,” I said. “Maybe Officers Raines and Bouchard will be able to get it out of him, though.”

“I really hope we’ve seen the last murder in Glendale for many years to come,” Nan added with a sigh.

“I don’t,” Mom said, raising her glass. When Nan and I both turned to her aghast, she said, “What? It makes for good news.”

“I’m with her,” Octo-Cat said from his spot beside me. “I’ve never had this much fun in all my lives.”

We finished supper and mom went home. I realized too late that Cal hadn’t gotten the chance to deliver Nan’s bed, but she seemed nonplussed by this.

“I like sleeping in the window seat,” she said. “It’s like an adventure.”

I rolled my eyes but headed to bed all the same.

Octo-Cat followed a few paces behind me. “Angela?” he asked. “Are we okay?”

We both got into my bed, and I stroked his back. “Of course we’re okay. It wasn’t your fault.”

He hung his head and moved out of my reach. “I should have tried harder. I should have helped more with the Sphynxes.”

“Yes, you should have,” I agreed, unwilling to waver on this one specific truth. “But we can’t change the past. Only try to do better tomorrow.”

Octo-Cat purred and rolled onto his back. “You may pet my belly now,” he informed me.

I hesitated with my fingers hanging about an inch from his furry underside. “Do you promise not to bite me?”

“I promise not to bite you ever again,” he said. Well, that was an empty promise, if I’d ever heard one. No matter how euphoric and in love with me he felt now, tomorrow would come and I’d no doubt find myself on his bad side once more. I didn’t doubt his intentions, though.

For tonight, I decided to relax a little and let myself enjoy his unexpected kindness. I petted him for a while longer, until my phone buzzed beside us.

“Just a sec,” I said, shifting the call to speaker. “Hello?”

“It’s Charles,” my friend said, out of breath.

A huge smile stretched across my face. “I know.”

“I’ll leave you to your boyfriend,” Octo-Cat announced, trotting out of my room and off into some other part of the house. I was happy Charles couldn’t understand him, especially since he was still very much in a relationship with Breanne Calhoun and I still didn’t know what would come of my new crush on her twin brother, Cal.

“I heard what happened with Thompson,” he said. His voice cracked, and it sounded as if he might be crying. “The police came by to question me tonight. They thought since I was his partner, I might have been involved.”

“They know you weren’t, right?” I ground out, absolutely unwilling to let Charles take the fall for this. He was only involved in the first place because I asked for his help.

“It’s my fault he came after you.” His voice cracked again. “If anything had happened to you, Angie—”

“Stop. Nothing happened. I’m fine. What about you? Did the police clear you yet?”

“Not officially, but I’m sure it’s just a matter of time.”

“I’m still trying to figure out why Thompson would have killed his friend.” I began chewing on my thumbnails again. Luckily, Charles couldn’t see my disgusting habit and Mom wasn’t here to swat me over it.

“I don’t think he meant to,” Charles answered. “My guess is he just wanted to hurt her enough to get her to step down early so he could take her place.”

“But why?”

“Hopefully he’ll confess whatever his motives were, but I’m willing to guess he and Harlow disagreed when it came to the proposed pipeline. They both loved the environment, but Thompson may have been more willing to bend his ethics for the right price.”

“That’s awful,” I spat, then wiped my mouth with the back side of my arm.

“Yeah, it is,” Charles agreed. “But you promise you’re okay?”

“I promise,” I assured him. “Hey, I hear congrats are in order. You bought Nan’s house.”

He laughed. “Oh, that. Yeah, I have fond memories of our time working the Calhoun case there together.”

“Good night, Charles,” I said with a huge smile on my face. Maybe I still had a chance with Charles after all.

“You done?” Octo-Cat asked, standing just outside the open door.

“Yeah. Do I get more cuddles now?” I asked, patting the bed beside me.

He glowered at me. “Angela, not in front of company!” He stepped aside to reveal Jacques and Jillianne who also stood waiting in the hall. They couldn’t understand me like Octo-Cat could, but apparently that was beside the point.

“Sorry,” I mumbled and sat up in bed. “C’mon in.”

All three cats entered and found comfy spots on top of my comforter.

I waited for Octo-Cat to explain what was going on, and after a short awkward silence, he did. “I know you still have questions about what happened, so I went and found these two and brought them here for you.”

“But you hate the Sphynxes,” I whispered, covering my mouth just in case they could somehow read my lips.

Octo-Cat shrugged. “They’re annoying, but also kind of cool. Did you see the way they knocked that guy right off the roof? It was awesome.”

I laughed and reached forward to touch the small Sphynx, Jacques. His bare skin was surprisingly soft—not slippery and cold like I expected.

Jillianne came forward to request pets, too, but Octo-Cat hopped onto my lap and meowed a warning. “Paws off my human!” he shouted.

I just laughed again. I loved when Octo-Cat took pride in our relationship. Since he had no problem insulting me freely, I knew his compliments also came straight from the heart.

“Okay,” he said once they’d both retreated to the end of the bed. “What do you want to know?”

“You mentioned a red dot when you—I mean, when I fell. Did they see a red dot, too?”

The cats exchanged meows back and forth, and for once I just sat back and enjoyed the spectacle. A few minutes later, Octo-Cat had his report. “Yes, a shiny red dot. The laser pointer.”

“If you know it’s a laser pointer, then why do you chase it?” I asked him.

He turned toward the Sphynxes, but I interrupted. “No, I’m asking you that.”

“It’s not a decision we make to chase the shiny red dot,” he told me gravely. “Some things just are. Like how the sun rises, the rooster crows, the cat also chases the shiny red dot.”

“Who’s talking in riddles now?” I asked with a smirk. “That was incredibly poetic.”

He rolled his eyes. “Do you want me to help you or not?”

“Yes, please.” I gave him an apologetic pat on the head. “Would you please ask why they always sat in that cold corner?”

“Oh, I already know that, too,” Octo-Cat said. “They were punishing themselves.”

“Punishing themselves?” I asked, feeling so sorry for those poor hairless kitties.

He nodded. “Cats love warmth, and these guys need it even more than the rest of us. They felt so bad about killing their human, they decided to punish themselves for it.”

“Do they know it’s not their fault?”

He shook his head. “I’m not sure. I tried explaining it to them, but they’re still pretty upset.”

“Aww, poor things,” I cooed, shifting myself to the end of the bed so I could pet them again.

“Angela, we are not keeping them,” Octo-Cat warned.

“That’s okay,” I said with a smile, giving him another soothing pet. “I already have the perfect cat, and besides, I think I already know the perfect person to take them in.”