Himalayan Hazard

Chapter Ten

After Dan and Melvin exited, I closed the door behind them and twisted the lock to ensure those of us who remained had some privacy.

“Mom, Dad, could you continue to search the room? I’m going to catch up with the cats,” I said once I could no longer hear the departing men’s footfalls in the corridor.

“Oh, sure, honey,” Mom answered for them both. “We’ll stay out of your way, Miss Pet Whisperer P.I.” She was the one who had come up with that name for Octo-Cat’s and my operation and was immensely proud of it—even though I secretly hated it. Talk about parading my secret for all to see! I pretended it was just a gimmick, but I had to wonder if the unusual name was the reason our firm hadn’t received a single paying case to date.

“Let’s go to the bed so we aren’t in the way,” I told the cats, but it was my dad who moved in the direction I had dictated.

I laughed awkwardly. He hadn’t gotten used to this yet. Well, he was about to become very familiar with how things went when I was working a case with animal assistance.

“Oh, you meant…” He flashed his light toward Grizabella, and the startled feline hissed.

“Well, you have fun with that, then,” he finished, backing slowly away.

“Why did you hiss at him?” I asked the Himalayan, not bothering to hide my irritation as I narrowed my eyes at her.

“He shone that bright light right in my eyes. It hurt!”

Ouch. Okay.

“Sorry, he didn’t mean to.” Again I wondered if I should pet her as a way of offering comfort, and again I decided against it. I had a sneaking suspicion that Grizabella didn’t much like me, and I’d hate to actually be proven right while our investigation was still ongoing.

We settled on the bed. Given the way the comforter lay completely smooth, I guessed she hadn’t tried going to sleep before meeting with her murderer. The cats each lay on a pillow, leaving me to sit farther down the mattress.

“Okay, what did you learn while you were out there?” I had no light with me but could make out their vague shapes in the spill-off from Mom and Dad’s.

“Nothing,” Grizabella answered for the both of them. She sounded almost bored.

“But you followed Dad the whole way, right?”

“We did,” Octo-Cat assured me. “But we found nothing that drew our attention.”

Well, I hadn’t expected this. I was sure my kitty reconnaissance would turn off at least something helpful. “What about anyone who looked, sounded, or smelled familiar, Grizz?”

A threatening growl rose in the dark. “Don’t call me Grizz. My name is Grizabella, and no, I didn’t notice anything. Just as I told you before. This is hard for me, so please pay attention the first time around.”

Yeesh, she sure made it hard to want to help her.

I took a deep breath and reminded myself that she was grieving and probably even more startled by Rhonda’s murder than either me or Octo-Cat. We’d investigated deaths before, but Grizabella had never had to deal with anything like this.

Why would she? Why would anyone?

“I’m sorry,” I said, hoping she’d believe the sincerity in my words. I truly did feel sorry for everything she’d gone through already, everything she’d still need to go through before this case was settled. “I just have a hard time believing this was a simple robbery. Someone wanted Rhonda dead, and I want to know why.”

“Look at this!” Mom called from the bathroom, appearing in the doorway. From behind her, Dad shone his light on the object in her hands. An ornately carved wooden jewelry box.

“I don’t think it was a robbery,” she mumbled, proving that we were on the exact same page. “Otherwise, why would they leave this behind? There’s got to be thousands in diamonds and other precious stones in here.”

Each necklace, bracelet, and pair or earrings she held up was more dazzling than the last. Many of the pieces boasted gigantic sapphires. And again I wondered if she chose the blue to match her cat’s eyes.

“It’s all silver,” I pointed out. “But the necklace she wore when I met her in the dining car was gold and pearl.”

Mom searched the ornate box, shaking her head. “Well, there’s nothing like that in here.”

Grizabella spoke from across the bed. “The necklace she wore today was her most prized possession. An important family heirloom handed down from her grandmother to her.”

“So whoever took the necklace wanted the heirloom, but not the other, arguably even more valuable, pieces,” I summed up for the humans who couldn’t speak cat, rubbing my chin as I tried to make sense of all this.

“Or the killer struck for a completely different reason, saw an opportunity, and stole the necklace she was wearing but didn’t think to search the room for other valuables,” Mom ventured.

Dad nuzzled her from behind and kissed her neck. “I love seeing you in action. You’re so smart.”

“Not the time, guys,” I spat, quickly looking away. Despite being an adult, I still hated seeing my mom and dad’s flagrant and very public displays of affection.

“There is literally a dead body right there,” I motioned toward Rhonda, hoping my parents turned their light to me in enough time to read the disapproving expression on my face.

“Sorry. We’ll just keep searching,” Dad said as Mom turned to take the jewelry box back into the bathroom.

“Grizabella,” Octo-Cat said gently. “What can you tell us about your life with Rhonda? What kinds of things did you do? What kinds of places did you go?”

Good questions, especially since asking Grizabella who would have wanted her owner dead would likely cause the Himalayan to either close right up or get overly emotional again.

The cat answered with a smile in her voice. “Rhonda was a very kind mistress. We traveled constantly, usually by train. Sometimes on a first-class jet. Mostly we went to cat shows, but sometimes we went places simply to take pictures of me amidst new scenery. I think Rhonda had a hard time staying put in one place because it reminded her of how lonely she’d let herself become.”

Oh, this was good stuff. If Grizabella was willing to expand upon it, I was sure we’d learn something important.

“What do you mean?” I asked softly.

“I’ve been with Rhonda since I was a very small kitten. She’s all I’ve ever known for my five human years in this world. Still, in all that time, she’s never had visitors, never gone on dates, never done much of any of the things the humans do in television shows and movies.”

“I love watching TV, too,” Octo-Cat butted in. “Do you like Law & Order? It’s my favorite.”

“Heavens, no,” the other cat answered in disgust. “I much prefer love stories to those with blood and gore.”

Octo-Cat stumbled over his response. “Oh, yeah. Right. Have you seen When Harry Met Sally? I really like the part when she—”

“Octavius,” I interrupted, assuming he preferred his fancy name in the presence of our refined acquaintance. “This really isn’t the time for that. We need to hear more about Rhonda. That’s what’s important now.”

“Thank you,” Grizabella said, surprising me with her politeness and the fact she’d acknowledged I’d done something right.

“Normally I love speaking about such frivolities, but normally my human is safe and sound beside me. Oh, my poor mistress…” Her words fell away, but then she shrieked the same terrible cry that first brought us to this car.

“And oh no! What will become of me, now that she’s gone?”

I wished I had an answer for her, but unfortunately I knew even less than Grizabella did—especially if Rhonda had been as big a loner as she claimed.