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“The police are right outside,” said Mom. “They wanted to give us a moment before they arrested you. Why, Nickie? Why did you do it?”

Nickie had her hand already fastened around the pearl-inlaid grip of a small handgun. The one she’d bought as part of a matching set. She and Chickie had gotten them after they’d suffered another stalker scare. But she quickly realized she couldn’t get out of this one. If what Odelia said was true, and the police were waiting outside…

She decided the jig was up and fixed her mother with a pleading look.“Don’t you see, Mom? I had to get rid of her.”

Mom heaved a stifled sob, as if only now realizing it was really true. That she really had killed her one and only sibling.

“I don’t understand. How could you?”

“Easy. In fact I’ve been wanting to do it for a long time,” she said softly. “You couldn’t see it, because she was always your favorite, but she had a controlling and monstrous side. She treated me as her personal slave from the moment she had her first hit. Told me what to do, what to wear, what to say. Never once did she stop to think I was a person, with my own dreams and desires. She always came first. I just couldn’t take it anymore.”

“So why didn’t you leave? Why didn’t you tell her you didn’t want to be her personal assistant anymore and left?”

Nickie laughed.“Did you ever try to say no to Chickie, Mom? You know what she was like. I told her once I was thinking about using my MBA. Maybe start my own company. She got so upset. Accused me of trying to sabotage her career. Said this was a family business and I better get in line or else. Problem was, because I’d been living in her shadow for so long I wasn’t even sure what exactly I wanted to do with my life. What person I was without her. She suffocated me, Mom,” she said, a quiver in her voice.

“But… you killed your sister, honey. You…murdered her.”

“I know. It was the only way to get rid of her. The only way to be free. And you know what? It feels good. For the first time in a long while I’m starting to feel like myself again.”

“You do realize you’re going to jail, don’t you, Nickie?” asked Odelia.

“Even in jail I’ll be better off than being Chickie’s slave,” she said, and meant it.

There was a squeaky sound, and Odelia said,“Did you get all that, Chase?”

“Loud and clear,” a staticky voice sounded through the room. “We’re coming in.”

Nickie relaxed her hand and dropped the gun back in its hiding place, then closed the drawer. She wasn’t going to get out of there, gun blazing. That was so not her style.

“Why did you steal your sister’s earrings?” asked Mom. “That, I don’t understand.”

Her expression hardened.“They were never Chickie’s, Mom. Gram gave them to both of us, so we could share them. But of course Chickie took them for herself, even though she knew how much they meant to me. So I took them back. She wore them long enough. Now it’s my turn.”

“They won’t let you wear them in prison, honey,” said Mom, looking heartbroken.

“I’ll wear them when I get out.”

“Oh, honey,” said Mom and shook her head, then burst into tears.

“Cheer up, Mom,” she said. “You lost one daughter, but you gained another.” She smiled. “And I’m finally happy. Isn’t that what you always wanted?”

Epilogue

The Poole family was gathered in Marge and Tex’s backyard, the humans enjoying Tex’s talents at the grill, and the cats going over the events of the past week. Things had suddenly turned extremely eventful. With the death of Chickie Hay and the arrest of her sister, the world media had suddenly descended upon Hampton Cove en masse.

Nickie had asked to be allowed to attend her sister’s funeral, and Uncle Alec had finally agreed, which had created quite a ruckus. The Mayor hadn’t been happy. He also hadn’t been happy with the ruse about the funeral home being bugged, which it hadn’t. It was still better than the truth: that two cats had overheard Nickie’s confession. And the ruse had worked: Nickie had made a full confession, this time in court in front of the judge.

Jamie had been released from prison, with apologies from Uncle Alec on behalf of the entire police department, and she and Charlie had immediately left town, along with Laron and Shannon Weskit. They probably didn’t want to risk being arrested again. They’d threatened to sue the police department but I don’t think they’d go through with it. Uncle Alec’s suspicions had been well founded, and the man wasn’t infallible. Dooley had felt bad about the whole thing for a while, but I’d told him we all make mistakes, and in the end we did solve the murder. When at first you don’t succeed and all that, right?

“They turned me down!” said Gran. “Can you believe it? I invited Laron and his wife over for dinner and they turned me down flat! Didn’t even apologize or nothing. Skipped town like a couple of crooks.”

“Celebrities don’t like to spend time in jail,” said Uncle Alec. “It makes them look bad in the eyes of their fanbase.”