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All in all, the tribute went well, and I was truly moved, and even had to wipe away a tear, as did most of the other cats. A few of them were even wailing and crying their eyes out, and even George, probably the oldest cat in our small feline gathering, was sniffling softly into his whiskers.

When the concert was over, Johnny’s cats thanked us, and then led us all inside to sample some of Johnny’s special p?t?. It was a testament to the special moment that they all shared their bowls with us, and I was happy to see they were filled to the brim, which told me that even in Johnny’s and Jasper’s absence, their feline friends were well looked after. Possibly by the woman in curlers who’d just thrown her shoe at us.

After everyone had eaten their fill, we walked out again, and we all sat around carefully licking our paws and cleaning our faces. Dooley and I took this opportunity to chat with Princess. The Siamese was more subdued than before, which wasn’t hard to understand.

“That was very sweet of you,” she said with a little sniffle.

“Just showing our appreciation for what Johnny meant to the world,” I said.

“I’m sure he would have loved it. Too bad he isn’t here to enjoy it.” She glanced up at the sky. “Or maybe he is.”

Dooley and I also looked up at the twinkling stars.“Yeah,” I said with a smile. “I’m sure he’s up there looking down at us right now.”

Just at that moment, a star sparkled, and Princess gasped, clutching at her heart.“I’m sure that was Johnny, letting us know how much he cares.”

We stared up for a while longer, but I decided to strike the business note again. We weren’t just here for the tribute and the p?t?, after all, but also to solve a murder. “Our human is having a chat with Johnny’s wife tomorrow.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” she said vaguely, not showing the least bit of interest.

“Did you know he was still married?” I tried again.

She nodded.“Mh-mh. Though the last couple of years she rarely came out here. She wasn’t very fond of Jasper, as you can imagine.”

“She wasn’t, huh?” I asked, with a meaningful glance at Dooley, who was staring at Princess now, who was still staring up at the stars.

“He was writing again, you know,” she said dreamily.

“Writing? You mean songs?”

“No, the great American novel,” she said. “Of course songs, silly. I told you last time that he had hundreds of songs tucked away, but lately he’d been having trouble focusing and he’d stopped recording altogether for the past year or so. Until he decided to get into the groove again. He wanted to keep it a secret from Jasper, though. A special surprise for their anniversary. They would have been together fifteen years next month, and he wanted to surprise him by presenting him with an entire album of brand new songs.”

“I thought he’d stopped recording altogether. That he had trouble with his voice. At least that’s what Jasper told the police.”

“Well, he had, but he was working with a voice coach, and things were progressing nicely. His voice had a different timbre,” she said softly. “More mature, but still very much Johnny. And his songs were different, too. More reflective, and completely acoustic. Just Johnny and his guitar.” She sighed wistfully. “I thought they were some of his very best work. Pity the world will never get to hear them.”

“Why not?” I asked. “If Jasper finds those recordings he might release them as a treat to Johnny’s fans.”

“I doubt it,” she said sadly. “With Jasper in prison, the care of Johnny’s estate will probably fall on his wife now, and since Jasper is the only one with access to Johnny’s computers, she won’t even know about the music.”

“Unless we tell Jasper and he tells the wife,” I said.

She eyed me strangely.“How can you tell Jasper? You don’t speak human.”

“No, I don’t, but my human speaks cat, so there’s that.”

She smiled, obviously not believing a word I’d just said.

“It’s true,” Dooley chimed in. “We can talk to our human.”

“Sure,” she said. “Whatever you say, guys.”

“Princess?” George asked from the house. “Are you coming?”

“Yes, George,” she said, then turned to us. “Time for my beauty sleep. Thanks for the tribute concert. It was wonderful.”

“Thanks for the p?t?,” said Dooley with a dumb grin on his face.

She smiled.“You’re welcome.”

We watched as she sashayed in the direction of the house.

“Wow,” said Dooley finally. “What a cat.”

“Yeah,” I managed, though a little huskily. “What a cat.”

Chapter 16

Odelia had a hard time finding sleep. Long after she should have drifted off into a refreshing slumber, she was still tossing and turning. She couldn’t stop thinking about the murder case, and how her uncle was sure he got the right man in jail. Even though he’d agreed to interview the widow, he considered it a mere courtesy call. She was convinced that Jasper was innocent, and not just because her father thought so, too. There was something fundamentally wrong about this whole case.