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On our way into town, she dropped us off at the police station. Even though her uncle doesn’t mind her lending a hand with the investigation, he draws the line at allowing her to sit in on interviews with suspects. But since nobody notices a couple of cats skulking about, we were her eyes and ears.

The moment we arrived, we quickly made our way to the back of the police station, where we knew Chief Alec’s office was, and hopped up onto the windowsill to await further developments. The chief had just arrived back when we got there, and Chase Kingsley was in his office to discuss the case.

“Don’t you think the Chief suspects we’re spying on him?” asked Dooley.

“I’m sure he does. But as long as Odelia is careful how she words her articles, he’s fine with it. It’s Chase we have to watch out for, though. He doesn’t know about Odelia’s special gift, and should never find out.”

“He won’t find out from me,” said Dooley. “Let’s just hope he doesn’t find out from Harriet.” He gave me a knowing look.

Harriet might spill the beans to Brutus, who might try and get word out to Chase. Luckily for us he didn’t share our gift of being able to talk to his human. And for Odelia’s sake, it was important he never would.

Just when we arrived, Chase and the Chief packed up their files and filed out of the office, probably to continue their business in some other part of the station house. No matter. Every room had a window, and windows had sills, so… We quickly trudged over to interrogation room number one, for I had a hunch they were going to interview their first suspect. And… bingo. As we made ourselves comfortable, the Chief and Chase took a seat in front of an olive-skinned man with slicked-back black hair and dark eyes. He looked a little disheveled, and suddenly I recognized him as the man who’d been slumped over the wheel of his car. This was none other than Jasper Pruce.

“It’s the boyfriend,” Dooley whispered excitedly, having come to the same conclusion.

“Looks like he’s been arrested,” I whispered back, gesturing at his handcuffs.

“Oh, no!” cried Dooley. “That means George has no one to take care of him!”

“I’m sure Johnny had plenty of servants,” I assured him. “Someone will keep that p?t? coming.”

Inside the room, JPG’s boyfriend didn’t look too happy. Upon closer inspection I could see that his eyes were bloodshot, his face haggard and his general appearance bedraggled. He looked like a guy who’d slept in his clothes after a vicious fight, and had just discovered his boyfriend dead.

“There’s only one thing I want to know from you,” Chase said, opening proceedings. “And that’s why you did it.”

“Did what?” asked Jasper wearily.

“Don’t play dumb with me,” Chase growled. “We found your fingerprints on the vial containing the venom.”

This made Jasper sit up and take notice, and us, too. Venom?

“What venom?” Jasper asked. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play games, Jasper,” said the Chief. “You know as well as we do you poisoned one of Johnny’s GHB vials. We don’t know what venom you used, exactly, but that’s only a matter of time. Just tell us why you did it.”

“Oh, God,” said Jasper, burying his face in his hands. “Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes,” said Chase. “And since we only found two fingerprints on the vial: yours and Johnny’s, it’s obvious you planted the venom. Why did you do it, Jasper? Huh? Was it the money? Or were you simply so fed up with the endless nightly parade of young studs that you couldn’t stand it anymore?”

Good thing that Odelia had patiently explained that Jasper was, in fact, human, and that the hounds and studs George had mentioned were also humans. I had to admit it was all very confusing, and I had to strain my brain to keep up. I focused on the conversation inside, and the effort must have shown on my face, for suddenly a voice sounded from the other window.

“What’s wrong, Max? Chase’s questions too tough for you to figure out?”

Both Dooley and I looked over, alarmed, and when we saw that Brutus sat perched on the next window, together with Harriet, we almost fell from our own windowsill in shock and surprise.

“Brutus!” I cried.

“Harriet!” Dooley exclaimed.

“What are you doing here?” we both asked in unison.

The buff black cat shrugged.“Same thing you dumbbells are doing. Conducting an investigation into the murder of the warbler.” He grinned. “And this time I’m going to beat you. I’m going to catch the killer and tell Chase.”

“You keep forgetting you can’t talk to your human,” I reminded him.

His smirk disappeared.“Don’t you worry about that. I’ll find a way.”

“You can’t do this,” said Dooley. “You can’t take over this investigation.”

“Watch me. I’m a cop cat, remember? You’re just a bunch of amateurs.”

My eyes swiveled to Harriet, who hadn’t spoken. “How could you?”

“Yeah, how could you, Harriet?” Dooley asked, sounding even more upset than I was. He’d always had a thing for the snowy white Persian.