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But of course! Why hadn’t he seen it sooner?! Francine’s two brothers had killed Jaqlyn to protect their sister from the man’s shenanigans! Eureka! He’d solved the case!

Chapter 33

Harriet was a cat with a mission. She had the feeling she’d made a complete fool of herself with the Soul Science thing, both in the eyes of her housemates and her friends, and she now felt the strong urge to redeem herself by solving this particular crime.

“We have to find who did it, Brutus,” she said therefore. “It’s very important to me.”

“And we will, twinkle toes,” her partner in life and sleuthing said.

They’d been roaming Jaqlyn and Francine Jones’s backyard for a while now, but so far no clues had fallen into their laps, so to speak.

“I can’t go back to Odelia empty-handed, sugar bear,” she said, continuing to develop her theme. “So promise me we won’t go home until we’ve caught the killer, sweetums.”

“We won’t go home until we catch the killer, baby cakes,” said Brutus, though not wholeheartedly, she felt.

It wasn’t merely her reputation that was at stake here, but also the future of Tex, that wonderful human who’d selflessly taken care of them for all those years. After all, if it hadn’t been for Tex, none of them would have a home to begin with. It was Tex, with his quiet support and kindhearted generosity, who had made it possible for Odelia and Marge and Vesta to adopt no less than four cats in the first place, and offer them the kind of life to which they’d now become accustomed.

And as Harriet let her eyes dart across the faces of the dozens of people still roaming about, and still filling their bellies with the dead man’s food and drink, she suddenly caught sight of a familiar face and grumbled, “Stop me before I do something to that cat, Brutus. Stop me now,” she repeated when Brutus made no attempts to stop her now.

Shanille had caught sight of her, too, and gave her the kind of supercilious look she’d perfected since rising through the ranks of Master Sharif’s feline following.

“Harriet,” Shanille said coldly as they passed each other by.

“Shanille,” said Harriet, adopting an equally icy tone.

“Nice to see you.”

“Likewise.”

After a final frosty glance, they both sailed on.

“Stop you from doing what, cuddle cakes?” asked Brutus, late to the party as usual.

“Oh, Brutus,” Harriet sighed, and headed straight for the food table. She was in urgent need of a pick-me-up, and besides, a sleuth was like a shark: they never stopped moving.

And it was as she neared the refreshments table that she saw that the waiters, still out in full force in spite of the recent tragedy, had placed the remnants of what had once been a fish dish on the ground behind the table. She smiled, momentarily forgetting all about clues and killers, and took a tentative nibble. Approving of the offered treat, she settled down to do some real damage, quickly joined by Brutus, happy for this respite.

Next to them, two humans had taken up position, and were talking quietly amongst themselves. They were an older man with a gray buzz cut and a red and veiny bulbous nose, and a young woman with a blond bob, cornflower blue eyes and a pretty face.

“We should never have come here, Daddy,” said the young woman. “We should have simply said no.”

“It’s all right, Jenny,” said her father. “Nobody knows, and that’s how it’s gonna stay. You didn’t tell the police, did you?”

“Not a word,” Jenny assured him.

Harriet, even though distracted by the fish, which was, indeed, excellent, still had the presence of mind to turn her ears like antennae and drink in every word of the conversation.

“You should never have approached him, Daddy. And now look what happened.”

“So I lost my temper—can you blame me? He practically killed you, honey. If we hadn’t taken you to the hospital you would have died, and all because of the man’s incompetence.”

“You still didn’t have to attack him,” said Jenny. “If the police find out you’ll be in big trouble, Daddy.”

“The police aren’t going to find out. I made sure there were no witnesses, and Jaqlyn sure as heck isn’t going to tell anyone now. He’s dead.”

“Oh, Daddy,” said the girl. “I hope you’re right. I can’t lose you now.”

“And you won’t. I promise.”

They walked off, and Harriet gave her boyfriend an excited prod.“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” asked Brutus, munching on a piece of fish, his eyes closed with relish.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t hear Jenny and her dad!”

“Jenny who?”

“Oh, Brutus—I just solved Jaqlyn’s murder and you didn’t even pay attention!”

“I’m paying attention now, my sweet love sponge,” he said, opening his eyes and glancing around. “So who is this Jenny person?”

Under normal circumstances Harriet would have been displeased that her boyfriend paid so little attention to her, or in this case to whatever she paid attention to, but these weren’t normal circumstances so she decided to let it go.

“Didn’t you hear what I just said? I solved Jaqlyn’s murder! Me!”

“Congratulations, buttercup!” said Brutus, then dug in for more fish.