31906844db5c02010017a90f3f2ca805

“Actually it’s Harriet who found it,” said Max. “She’s a genius.”

This surprised Odelia. Usually Max was the sharpest of her small menagerie of cats, with Harriet too self-involved to make big contributions and Brutus too much trying to please Harriet to pay attention to much else. As far as Dooley was concerned, he was a sweetheart, but not the smartest cat.

“Look,” said Harriet, flipping through the pictures on her tablet. “See these Coke cans?”

She saw the Coke cans.“Uh-huh.”

“Now look closer.” Harriet zoomed in on one of the cans. It looked like a regular can of Coke to her, only with the name Emerald added. “See?” said Harriet triumphantly.

“You have to show her the other pictures first,” said Gran.

“What have you been up to, by the way?” Odelia asked her grandmother.

“I had a massage!” said Gran, chipper. “And a facial. Abbey suggested it to me. Apparently Emerald has her own private beauty salon, and since these people have nothing to do right now, because of all of the hullaballoo, I figured this was my chance. I’m going back there in ten for a mani-pedi.”

Odelia cocked an eyebrow at her gran.“Good for you.”

“Right?” She beamed genially at Odelia.

“Look, Odelia, look,” said Harriet, trying to draw her attention.

“I’m looking, honey,” she said. It was a picture of yet another can of Coke. “So what am I looking at, exactly?”

“This is the Coke Kimberlee drank from. The one with the poison?”

“Okay.”

“Now look closer.” Harriet zoomed in again, this time on the logo and more specifically the name Emerald.

“See?” she said triumphantly. “My clue!”

“Um… actually…”

“The picture!”

She frowned and then finally saw it. This can had a tiny picture of Emerald interposed on top of the E of Emerald.

“Don’t the other cans have this?” she asked.

“No, they don’t. So you see, this can is different from the others.”

“I still don’t see…”

“Remember how Brutus and I went exploring in Emerald’s apartment? And how we saw a huge stack of Coke cans? Her own private stash? Well, they all had these tiny pictures of Emerald on them, while the stack of cans in the dining room don’t.”

“So… the can Kimberlee drank from came from Emerald’s private stash,” she said slowly.

“It did! Don’t you think that’s an important clue?”

“This could literally mean anything,” she said, not wanting to disappoint Harriet but not wanting her to get carried away either. “This could simply mean that Kimberlee was in Emerald’s apartment and took one of the cans.”

“But don’t you see—this is Emerald’s private stash. Obviously she wants to keep these to herself.”

“What I think happened,” said Gran, “is that Emerald paid a visit to Kimberlee, coming in through the door, gifting her this special can, watched Kimberlee drink the cyanide-laced Coke and then got out through the secret passageway. Why else would Kimberlee have a can of Emerald’s private stash in her room?”

Odelia shrugged.“Like I said, she could have been in Emerald’s room, or Emerald could have given it to her as a special gift. She appointed Kimberlee her successor—said she wanted to see her succeed and be the heir to her throne.”

“Who else would know about these secret passageways but Emerald?” said Max.

“Just about anyone. Just because Emerald didn’t tell us about those passageways doesn’t mean she didn’t tell the others.”

“Kimberlee’s doggie Stevie said Kimberlee and her mystery visitor—probably a woman—discussed a director role for Kimberlee for her next project,” said Gran. “Emerald has been quoted as saying she’s thinking about retiring from acting and turning to directing. She has also been quoted as saying she’s looking for suitable actors.” She held up her phone. “It’s on the Internet!”

Odelia took Gran’s phone. She’d found an article where Emerald did indeed talk about retiring from acting and becoming a director.

“Look, taken by themselves, the Coke clue isn’t conclusive, nor is the passageways thing, or the directing thing,” said Gran. “But together? I think you need to take a long, hard look at Emerald. I think she’s our killer.”

Odelia nodded slowly. Gran was right, and so were the cats. Taken together, Emerald was starting to look more and more like the person they’d been looking for.

“Those voices we heard last night?” said Max. “That must have been Emerald and Pete. And if Shauna came to deliver the note, and slip it under the door, Emerald could have seen her, and known the jig was up.”

“This is all very circumstantial,” said Odelia, gesturing to the tablet and the phone. “So how do we prove it?”

Gran smiled.“That’s up to you, honey. I’m sure you’ll figure it out. You are, after all, a great detective, if I say so myself.” She picked up her phone. “And now if you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment with a mani-pedi person.” As she got up, she added, “First rule of show business: if you want to get the part, you have to look the part.” And with these words, she was off.

“I think Gran would make a great diva,” said Dooley.

“Yeah, she definitely has the personality for it,” Max agreed.