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“Yeah, Ma, you better go to bed,” another voice piped up, also from inside the wall. It was Uncle Alec. Like Gran and Odelia and the rest of us, he was waiting for the killer to finally make a move and show her face.

“Why? Don’t you think I can do this?” asked Gran.

“You just said you want to go to bed, so go to bed already!”

“Well, I changed my mind. I’m staying put.”

“Stay put, go to bed, I don’t care—but can you please be quiet?!” Uncle Alec bellowed. “You’re scaring off the killer!”

“Well, she’s not going to show her face if you all keep bickering,” said Gran.

“Can you all just please shut the hell up?!” Chase said. He was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, conveniently cloaked in darkness.

“You shut up,” said Gran. “You’re not even supposed to be here.”

“That was for the sake of the killer, Ma,” said Uncle Alec. “Chase is part of the plan.”

“And what a plan it is,” she muttered. “Okay, fine, I’ll shut up,” she added when her son cleared his throat menacingly.

“Wow,” said Brutus, finally returning from his bathroom break. “Don’t go near the litter box if you don’t want to suffocate.”

“Brutus, eww!” Harriet cried.

“Yeah, Brutus,” I said. “Too much information.”

“Cats,” said Dooley. “Twice the fun. Twice the smell.”

We all laughed at that, until Gran bellowed,“Quiet!”

All was quiet, then, and soon I could hear the slow, even breathing of Odelia, as she drifted off to sleep. From inside the wall, I could hear Uncle Alec’s soft snores, and Gran’s louder snores, and from Chase’s position I could tell he’d had a visit from the sandman, too.

“Sounds like they’ve all gone to sleep,” said Harriet.

“Pussies,” said Brutus. “Humans are pussies.”

“So where is this killer?” asked Dooley.

“No idea,” I said. “Maybe she won’t even come.”

“Bummer,” muttered Brutus, rubbing his twelve-pack.

Nothing stirred, and soon even Brutus and Harriet had dozed off, and finally Dooley. According to my inner clock it was way past midnight, and I had a feeling this killer wasn’t going to show up. So I closed my eyes and got ready for a healing nap myself, when suddenly a soft noise alerted me that something was up.

My eyes picked up movement in a corner of the room: the secret door had swung open and a person, clad in black from top to toe, had crept into the room. I gulped slightly as I watched the figure creep up to the bed. For a moment they simply stood there, watching on, and taking in the scene, then, when they were satisfied the coast was clear, they picked up a pillow from the bed and moved in on Odelia.

It was only when the pillow was pushed down on Odelia’s face that I finally managed to overcome my temporary paralysis and jerk into action: I produced the loudest protracted yowl I was capable of, and then I was hurling myself at Odelia’s attacker, claws outstretched, zooming through the air like a regular feline Bruce Lee…

Chapter 38

Odelia’s eyes shot open the moment the pillow touched her face. She jerked upright, and for a moment was dazed and confused. In spite of her best intentions she’d fallen asleep, and it took her mind a few seconds to get with the program.

There was a dark-clad figure screaming on the bed, and she could hear sounds of hissing and tearing of cloth. She quickly switched on the light and found herself the witness of an unusual scene: Max was fighting a nighttime marauder, who was making valiant attempts to ward off this feline attack!

The noise of the fight must have alerted the others, for suddenly the room was ablaze with light and movement, as Chase descended upon the bed, and from all sides, it seemed, the walls opened and Gran and Uncle Alec came running up. The cats, too, were wide awake, and were helping Max defeat this attacker by digging their claws into him or her.

But Chase was already subduing the person, and when Odelia said,“It’s okay, Max—Max, you can let go now,” he retracted his claws and retreated.

Chase, meanwhile, had stripped off the attacker’s balaclava, revealing the face of… Abbey Moret!

“Abbey?” Odelia said. “What the hell…”

“Let go of me, you big brute!” Abbey said, then found herself looking into the faces of Uncle Alec and Gran, who were equally stunned.

“She was trying to kill you, Odelia,” said Max. “She was trying to put a pillow over your face and choke you.”

“So it was you,” said Odelia, still shocked. “You killed Kimberlee.”

Abbey blew a strand of blond hair from her brow, then examined a nasty cut on her arm, where Max must have dug his teeth in.

“Those cats of yours are wild!” she complained. “You should keep them on a leash, like a normal person.”

“My cats just saved my life,” said Odelia, her heart still beating a mile a minute, adrenaline coursing through her veins.

“You had no clue, did you?” said Abbey bitterly. “When you went around during dinner, proclaiming you knew who killed Kimberlee and were going to reveal it to the cops in the morning. You were simply bluffing.”

“I was,” Odelia conceded. “But it worked, didn’t it? You’re here.”