731c3e32dd6349cda7e9d6caf76b901f

I shrugged and let myself into the room to check on Charlene.

She woke up when I joined her on the bed.“Where’s your mate?” she asked, searching the small room for Charles.

“He’ll be back soon. How are you feeling?”

“Still sad about Mommy, but I’m not so sleepy anymore.” She licked her paw and ran it over her head.

“That’s good!” I enthused as the kitten settled herself on my lap.

“Yeah,” she said with a heavy sigh, falling over onto her side dramatically in true cat fashion. “But now I’m bored. Would you tell me more of the story of Octavius?”

I chuckled at how wide her bright eyes were when she made this request.“You like that story, huh?”

“Yes, very much.” She bobbed her head, already picking up our human gestures after such a short acquaintanceship.

Then I had an idea that I was sure would be a hit.“Want to see a picture of him?”

“Yes!” she squeaked in pleasure, jumping back to her feet and glancing around the room in confusion. “Where is it?”

“On my phone, one sec.” I pulled out my cell phone and flicked through the camera roll, settling on a photo I’d snapped of Octo-Cat and Grizabella on my wedding day, which had somehow turned into their wedding day, too. He looked very handsome in a pink bowtie while she stood at his side witha bow of her own and a fancy lacy veil.

“Wow, I’ve never seen a cat like that before.” Her eyes were trained on the Himalayan, a former show cat and true beauty.

“That’s Grizabella. She’s his mate,” I explained, then pointed to the other side of the photo. “And that’s Octavius.”

Charlene looked at Octo-Cat briefly before her eyes darted straight back to Grizz.“Does she live with you too?” the kitten wanted to know.

“No,” I answered with a sad smile. Of course my cat fell in love with someone on the other side of the country, because life could never be easy. “She lives very far away.”

“I bet he misses her when she’s not around. Just like I miss my mommy.”

“I think you’re right about that. Want to see more photos?” I offered, since like every cat owner in the history of existence my camera roll was filled with candid snaps of my furry roommate.

“I want to see all the photos!” she cried, drawing a happy chuckle from me in response.

Charlene was absolutely enamored with my spoiled tabby, asking many questions as we browsed. Finally she squinted her eyes tight and reported that the light was hurting them again.“But we can look at more later, right?”

“We can even call him if you want to meet him. When your eyes are feeling better.”

“I would love that very much, but right now I’m feeling sleepy again.” She wasted no time curling back into a tight little ball.

“Good night, Charlene,” I said, placing a light kiss between her ears.

13

Charles remained in the bathroom for a worryingly long time. At one point, I even got up to check if he’d somehow gotten locked in again, but he assured me—through a tightly shut door—that he was fine and would be out soon.

I tried not to worry, but this was odd behavior for my new husband. Another hour passed before he finally returned to our room, looking absolutely worse for wear.

“I think someone poisoned me,” he whispered cautiously.

“Poisoned!” I couldn’t help but shout.

“Shhh,” he warned, putting a finger to his lips to emphasize the point. “We don’t know who’s listening. And poison might be too strong a word, but I do suspect there were laxatives mixed in with the potatoes. You’re fine, right?”

“Fit as a fiddle.” I spun around with my arms in the air to give him a look at me from all angles, then dropped my arms and frowned. “But do you really think someone slipped you something? That’s awful.”

He held his stomach and dropped onto the foot of the bed so as not to disturb Charlene who was sleeping near the headboard.“Yeah,” he groaned. “Someone’s definitely out to get me.”

I lay across the middle of the bed between the two of them, turning onto my side to face Charles. A theory was forming in my head.

“Maybe not you specifically,” I said, giving that a second to sink in. “If they slipped something into the potatoes, they could have meant to get the both of us. Same with the stairs. They had no way of knowing you’d be first down in the morning. And the room, that could have just as easilybeen me—or both of us—inside.”

Charles thought about this for a moment.“So someone’s out to get us. They just keep gettingme specifically. But why would anyone even want to? We just arrived last night, and nobody knows us here.”

“Your guess is as good as mine, and I have no guesses at all. We do, however, have a fairly limited pool of suspects.”

“Madame Blue, Billy, the rainbow-haired girl—”

“Blaire,” I provided.

“Right, Blaire, and that older couple who nabbed our room right out from under us.” His expression turned sour. “My money’s on them.”