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I climbed in the back, just in case I was still a suspect. We’d already lost so much time, and I couldn’t cost us anymore until I knew that Grizabella was safe, and Jamison had been apprehended.

“You can sit up front, you know,” the detective said, studying me in the rear-view mirror. A smile crept across her face as she spoke. So maybe I wasn’t a suspect, after all.

“I can’t smell anything from in here,” Octo-Cat informed me from the footwell. Either the detective hadn’t noticed I’d brought him along or didn’t really mind.

“I’m fine back here,” I assured her, buckling in for what was sure to be a wild ride. “But could you please roll down the windows? My, uh, powers work better when I’m one with nature.”

She nodded and lowered both of the front windows.

“Ahh, that’s better. They’re this way.” Octo-Cat moved his body to the car’s left.

“Let’s start by going left,” I told the detective.

The engine roared to life, and we were off.

“How fast should I be going?” she asked, and I had no idea what to tell her.

Octo-Cat moved to the right of the footwell.“This way, but not too much this way.”

“Make a right, but not a full right,” I instructed, ignoring her earlier question, focusing on what I did know instead of what I didn’t.

She guided the cruiser in the direction I’d indicated.

“Too far. Too far!” Octo-Cat cried and moved back toward the left.

“Um, less right than that,” I said. “Bring it back to the center a little.”

Man, it was hard to give driving directions when there were no roads and I had no idea where we were actually going. Still, I trusted my cat, and I knew he’d get us there one way or another.

“Perfect,” he said after the detective had finished her course correction. He hopped onto the bench seat beside me and then climbed onto my lap. “Now straight on to my Grizabella.”

Chapter Nineteen

We drove for a good twenty minutes before I finally spotted movement on the horizon.

Octo-Cat noticed her at the exact same time as me. He screeched and dug his claws into my lap.“She’s there! My beautiful Grizabella! We’ve found her!”

Sure enough, the Himalayan trotted across the landscape ahead. Her beautiful fur appeared almost ghastly in the soft morning light and her once perfect gait now fell unevenly, but she was alive and still moving forward. I had to admire her determination to see this through.

Even though she’d seemed more than a bit spoiled when I first met her, she was a good cat. A really good cat.

“Suspect sighted.” The detective jolted her cruiser forward even faster than before, then veered to a stop.

“Tell Rhonda’s ghost she did a good job,” she told me before racing outside to chase the man hobbling down the hill.

Octo-Cat sprinted through the open door after her, but rather than following the detective, he turned back the way we’d come. “My darling! My darling!” he cried.

As much as I wanted to help, I stayed put in the back of that cop car and sent a quick text to my parents in a group chat: We found Jamison. Detective is apprehending him right now. All is good.

And with that, my battery finally gave out, rendering my phone useless.

Less than five minutes later, the detective returned, dragging a handcuffed man along with her.“Get to the front, psychic,” she barked at me.

As soon as I got out, she shoved Jamison in. For a moment, my eyes met his and I was surprised to see that they weren’t cold or calculating. Instead, they appeared soft, kind, not so unlike my father’s. A smattering of freckles on his cheeks and nose gave him a boyish appearance. Bloody scratches covered his arms, and his shirt had even been slashed through, thanks, no doubt, to Grizabella’s attack.

This guy didn’t look like a killer at all, and yet I had no doubt he’d done the deed.

“Meet me outside the tunnel,” the detective murmured into her radio as she brought the police cruiser back to life.

“Wait!” I shouted, panic rising in my chest. “My cat!”

“I’m bringing the witness back, then taking the suspect in,” the detective continued on, ignoring me completely.

The cruiser hadn’t picked up much speed yet, so I swung open the door, unbuckled my seatbelt, and prepared to jump. Seeing what I was up to, she hit the brakes hard, jerking me clear out of the car.

I fell to the cold ground, landing on my back in such a way that all the air whooshed out of my lungs. Ouch.

Despite the nagging pain, there was no time to waste. I was okay, and I had to make sure the cats were, too. I sat up in a hurry, wincing from the pain of making such a sudden movement.

“Oh, Angela,” Octo-Cat said with a light-hearted chuckle as he and Grizabella approached from nearby. Despite her limp and obvious fatigue, they fell into perfect step beside each other. “I may be a stunt cat, but you are definitely not a stunt human.”

I couldn’t tell whether he was just giving me a hard time or if he actually believed the lie I’d said about him earlier. Knowing him, I’m sure he believed every word of it.

“You were very brave,” the Himalayan told me with an approving nod.