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Inside, her best feline friend Chester lay curled up on the sofa, napping peacefully.

Octo-Cat took one look at him and turned his nose up.“Ugh, what a house pet.”

Since we were in mixed company, I couldn’t exactly point out that he was a house pet, too. Instead I kept quiet as Charles deftly maneuvered the conversation, seeking out a way to buy me some alone time with the cats.

After about five minutes of fawning over her luxury camper, Charles said,“I bet this baby has a massive cargo hold.”

Sharon was quick to take the bait.“Oh, yes. It really does! C’mon. Let me show you.”

My boyfriend turned to me with raised eyebrows.

I laughed and waved both him and Sharon off.“Go, go. You know that stuff isn’t very interesting to me, anyway. Nope. Octo-Cat and I will just hang out in here and get to know Chester a bit better.”

As soon as the door shut behind them, I nudged the white cat awake.“Chester, Chester. Sorry to bother you, but we need to talk.”

His blue eyes blinked open slowly.“I must still be dreaming,” he muttered to himself. “Otherwise I could have sworn there’s a human here talking to me. Strange.” He chuckled and then curled back up into a sleeping position.

“You better believe this is real and not a dream,” Octo-Cat shouted, jumping up and getting right in the other cat’s face. “This is my human, Angela, and she’s special. Shecan talk to us.”

Chester lifted his head slightly but appeared unimpressed.

Seeing as I didn’t know how long Charles would be able to keep Sharon occupied outside, I cut right to the chase. “Chester, there’s been a murder, and I was wondering if you know anything about it.”

“No, I don’t watch those channels,” he said, craning his neck to look past me and stare at the TV on the far wall, which was still tuned in to the nature channel. “Sharon says they’re a bad influence.”

“She’s not talking about TV. This is real life,” Octo-Cat spat. Never mind that he also loved filling his days with TV and film. That is, when he wasn’t napping, eating, or demanding ridiculous things of me.

“Who’s been murdered, then? Not Sharon.” Chester yawned and licked at his paw.

I sighed.“Sharon is fine. She was just here a second ago, remember? Anyway, the person who was murdered is named Junetta. She’s the manager at this campground.”

Chester watched a bird feed its young on the TV.“Which campground?” he asked absent-mindedly.

“This one,” Octo-Cat hissed. “Yeesh, it’s like you don’t listen at all.”

“I am listening,” the white cat drawled. “But where are we? That’s what I don’t understand. Sharon and I travel back and forth so much, it’s hard for me to keep track of where we are at any given time.”

“Katahdin,” I supplied.

“No, I don’t know anyone by that name. I’m not allowed to leave the RV,” Chester explained, although clearly misunderstanding. “So the only people I meet are the ones who come inside. Like you.”

I decided to try a different tactic.“Sharon made a pie earlier today. Did you see her put anything into it?”

He shrugged.“The usual. Butter, eggs, flour, berries. Why are you so interested in the pie? It’s not very good. Most humans don’t even like it all that much.”

“Did you—?” I began, but then the door swung open and Sharon’s boisterous voice filled the space.

“If you decide to buy one of these beauties, give them my name. It just may get you a special deal.”

“I’ll do that,” Charles promised, accepting a business card and gingerly placing it inside his wallet.

“Everything okay in here?” Charles asked when he spotted me on the couch with the two cats.

“Everything’s just peachy keen,” I said with a syrupy smile, even though it was the exact opposite of how I felt. We still didn’t know whether Sharon was to blame, and even if I talked to Chester all night, I doubted I’d make any progress with him.

Well, Chester would be in for a rude awakening once his reality show began filming. Something told me the producers wouldn’t be content to film a lazy cat napping all day.

And here I’d always thought Octo-Cat was spoiled!

Chapter Seventeen

“Well, that got us exactly nowhere,” I confided in Charles as we strolled back to our camper.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me into his side.“The police are here. Sooner or later, they’ll figure this out. Why don’t we just try to enjoy a relaxing night in?”

I chuffed at this notion.“Relaxing went out the window several hours ago. Besides, if the police are still here, then they may come back to ask us more questions.”

“Let’s try not to worry about that until it happens,” Charles said softly. “Hey, we’re all dressed up with only one place to go. Let’s have some dinner and just enjoy each other’s company. We can still enjoy what’s left of this vacation. It’s not too late.”

I blinked up at the darkening sky. It had already been such a long and exhausting day.“Can we finish watching the movie from last night?” I asked, thinking back to the happy little cartoon characters.

Charles sucked air in through his teeth.“Oooh. Again? We already finished that.”