by Molly Fitz
“Thank you, thank you,” Octo-Cat said, waving his paw at his subjects.
Grizabella cooed and cuddled closer to his side.
Dad asked what we all needed to know. “So do you have something of Jamison’s or not?”
Chapter Seventeen
Sariah took off the hooded sweatshirt she wore, revealing a beautiful fitted blouse beneath. “This is his,” she said, tossing the sweatshirt to me, then reaching her arms up to hug herself and replace the lost warmth.
“Thanks. I’ll get him started on the scent outside. Everyone else stay here. He doesn’t work as well with a crowd.”
“Why not?” Grizabella asked, intertwining her tail with Octo-Cat’s in what had to be the feline version of footsie. “I love an adoring audience.”
He lifted his head and sniffed the air for no obvious reason. “She says things like that sometimes so the other humans don’t figure out she can talk to us.”
“Octavius!” I called, moving toward the door and making a clicking noise. “Here kitty!”
He groaned as he trotted after me. “Enough with the kitty already. You know I don’t like that.”
Grizabella followed us outside into the dark tunnel. Luckily, the now illuminated train cars cast enough light to save me from having to use my remaining battery on the flashlight function.
I set Jamison’s sweatshirt on the ground. “Can you get anything from this?” I asked my cat.
He took a big whiff of the fabric, then sneezed. “Whoo, boy. It’s got that lady’s stench all over it. There is a thing as too much perfume, honey.”
“A lady can never make too many efforts with her presentation,” Grizabella purred. Leave it to a D-list Instagram celebrity to side with vanity.
I bit my lip and said a silent prayer for patience. The thing about working with cats was that it would always be on their timetable.
“Can you smell him, too? Or is she too overpowering?” If this didn’t work, I had no idea what else we could do, especially since Sariah seemed to believe that her brother would have no trouble evading the authorities.
“Yeah, I got him, too.” Octo-Cat yawned and stretched each of his four legs, one by one—showing off for his lady friend, no doubt. “Let’s do this!”
She appeared to swoon at his heroic catliness. Whoo, boy, indeed.
“Wait.” I crouched down, so that I was closer to his height. “I don’t have a way to track you. We didn’t bring your pet GPS and my phone is going to die any minute. It’s dangerous, and you’re going it alone. Can you promise me—?”
“He’s not going alone.” Grizabella stood, fierce determination swirling in her blue eyes. “I’m going, too.”
“My love, I couldn’t possibly ask this of you. As Angela said, it’s dangerous. I’ve already injured one toe bean in pursuit of this investigation. I could never risk your lovely toe beans like that.” Octo-Cat nuzzled Grizabella, but she stepped away before he could make contact.
“Rhonda was my human. I owe this to her.” The Himalayan took a deep breath and then took off in an impossibly fast run. The only time I’d ever seen Octo-Cat move anywhere near that fast was on the rare occasion when he had the zoomies—and we weren’t allowed to talk about that.
“What a woman!” he said, taking one glance back at me before sprinting after her.
“But I don’t know how I’ll find you!” I called into the lonely tunnel, but it was too late. Both cats had already disappeared from view.
Please, please, be safe.
I turned back toward the train and found Dad waiting in the doorway.
“I wanted to give you some privacy in case you needed it,” he said, stepping down to join me on the gravel. “Is everything okay?”
I looked back down the tunnel longingly. “Yeah. I just worry about the dangerous things he gets himself into sometimes.”
Dad laughed. “Believe me, I know how that goes. Both you and your mom are going to put me in an early grave.”
I shivered, not wanting to think about my dad or anyone else dying. I’d already seen more than enough to last a lifetime. Some occupational hazards were harder to accept than others.
“We’ll do anything to take care of our kids. That’s what being a parent is about.” Dad’s voice was soft, kind. “And before you say anything, yes. A pet parent is still a parent.”
Octo-Cat would hate hearing himself referred to as my child, but sometimes it really felt as if he were. I knew Mom and Nan would move mountains to protect me, too. I’d always been loved, protected, valued…
And suddenly I knew that Dad’s words referred to so much more than their surface meaning. “Nan and my real grandparents,” I stated simply.
Dad nodded. “Just because you’re not blood, that doesn’t mean she isn’t your real family,” he said, echoing my thoughts from earlier. “She gave up so much to keep your mom safe, even though she didn’t know why at the time.”
“We still don’t know why.” I wanted to know so badly for myself, for my mom, but more than anything, for Nan who had lived her whole life having no idea why this strange, scary, and even wonderful thing had happened to her.
Dad chuckled again. “Between you and your mom? You’ll figure it out in no time. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, it’s to always bet on my girls.”
I wrapped my arms tight around him. Even though we’d never been very close, I’d never had to doubt his love for me.
“This whole trip has been a lot,” I told him once we released our embrace. “I just don’t know if I have the energy for two weeks meeting the family now.”
“Then we’ll go home. Just as soon as we can get off this danged train, anyway.” He glanced around, then chuckled again. The tension lessened with each sound of my dad’s laugh. It was one of my safe places. “Well, you know what I mean. As soon as we’re out of this tunnel and allowed to officially disembark.”
“Won’t they be mad, though? The family in Georgia?” As much as this entire situation wrung my heart out like a soapy dishrag, I was still excited to meet them, to see our family grow despite the unusual circumstances. Could I really risk ruining that?
Dad shook his head and smiled reassuringly. “We’ve waited this long to meet them. Heck, we didn’t even know they existed until a few weeks ago. It can wait—they can wait—until you’re rested and ready.”
“That’s good. Because I really need to get home and be with Nan,” I said, desperate to be reunited with my favorite person. Nan had raised me. She’d become my very best friend, and I just didn’t feel normal without knowing she was nearby.
“I know you do,” Dad said, and we hugged again. “I know you do.”
Chapter Eighteen
Just over half an hour later, the police arrived and swept through the train. They kicked us out of Rhonda’s room to secure the scene. While two officers investigated the body, another officer took Mom, Dad, me, Sariah, Dan, and Melvin to the viewing car to keep an eye on us while a detective questioned us one by one outside.
“I hadn’t met Rhonda before the train, no,” I assured the detective, but I could sense the suspicion lingering in her eyes.
She looked down and referenced her notebook. I had to wonder how well she could actually see in the dim light of the tunnel.
“Then why did you spend nearly two hours with her in the dining car?” she asked.
And I answered with a shrug. “Just being friendly.”
“Angela! Angela!” Octo-Cat bellowed in the distance.
“Did you hear that?” the detective asked me, tilting her head to listen.
“Angela! Angela!” he cried again. To the detective, his words probably sounded like a horrible caterwauling.
“Yes, I think it’s my cat,” I said, equally excited and afraid of what news he would bring.
“Strange noise for a cat to make,” the detective observed.
“Angela! Angela!” my cat cried again, growing closer and closer to where we stood. A few moments later
his fuzzy body hurtled into mine, and he screamed again. “Angela! Angela!”
“Stand back, that animal could be dangerous!”
“He’s just my cat. See.” I scooped Octo-Cat up and cuddled him to my chest to show her he meant no harm.
He panted heavily, which he never did. The poor guy must have been running for a very long time—or be very, very stressed. I was hoping for the former.
“Can we get him some water?” I asked her as his panting continued unchecked.
“No… time,” he wheezed, then hacked, then tried to speak again. “Griz… abella. We… have to… go to her!”
The detective studied me carefully. “Ma’am, is everything okay?”
Ma’am? I was younger than she was. Okay, not important right now. I needed to figure out my next step, and I needed to do it in a way that didn’t raise suspicion.
Earlier that night I’d told Dan, Sariah, and Melvin that I was a celebrity pet trainer as an excuse for setting Octo-Cat on the trail. And now it was time to take on another false persona with the detective. I just hoped she would buy it.
I swallowed hard and then raised my eyes to meet her questioning gaze head on. “I know this may seem a bit unorthodox, but I’m a psychic, you see, and I believe the victim’s ghost is telling me where to find her killer.”
She placed a hand on her hip. “Her ghost?”
“Yes.” Sorry, Rhonda, but this is the best way to catch him. “Rhonda says he’s moved quite a way from the train. We’ll need a vehicle to get to him.”
“Yes, good!” Octo-Cat cheered. His words seemed to be coming more easily now. “I can take you… to her. To them.”
The detective tipped her chin and quirked an eyebrow. “So you need a police escort?” she asked slowly, either to mock me or to make sure she understood.
“I know it’s crazy, but—”
“Let’s go,” the detective said, surprising me with her sudden agreeableness. “Our department has been known to work with psychics from time to time, and right now you’re the best lead we’ve got. The cruiser’s about half a mile that way.” She pointed down the tunnel, then turned back to me. “Try anything funny, though, and I won’t hesitate to make an arrest.”
When I nodded my consent, she took off in the direction she’d pointed earlier. It was the opposite way from the path Octo-Cat had taken to return to us.
I followed, keeping Octo-Cat in my arms because I could tell he needed the rest. While I grew more tired, he regained some of his strength.
“We found him,” he explained as my feet scrambled for purchase on the uneven terrain. “And Grizabella was marvelous. She scratched him up real good. He threw her, and I think she may have gotten hurt. But she wouldn’t leave his side. She sent me back to get help while she continued to track the bad guy.”
Well how about that? Grizabella had proven to be the hero, after all.
I just hoped she was okay from the injury she sustained during her fight with Jamison. I hated not being able to comfort Octo-Cat while we were in the presence of the detective, but I had to believe he understood that I would do everything I could for both Grizabella and Rhonda.
At last we reached the end of the tunnel and broke out into the open sky. The sun had just begun to rise, infusing the clouds with celestial fire—beautiful and eerie at the same time. The cruiser sat facing the tunnel, and the detective and I both bolted for it.
I climbed in the back, just in case I was still a suspect. We’d already lost so much time, and I couldn’t cost us anymore until I knew that Grizabella was safe, and Jamison had been apprehended.
“You can sit up front, you know,” the detective said, studying me in the rear-view mirror. A smile crept across her face as she spoke. So maybe I wasn’t a suspect, after all.
“I can’t smell anything from in here,” Octo-Cat informed me from the footwell. Either the detective hadn’t noticed I’d brought him along or didn’t really mind.
“I’m fine back here,” I assured her, buckling in for what was sure to be a wild ride. “But could you please roll down the windows? My, uh, powers work better when I’m one with nature.”
She nodded and lowered both of the front windows.
“Ahh, that’s better. They’re this way.” Octo-Cat moved his body to the car’s left.
“Let’s start by going left,” I told the detective.
The engine roared to life, and we were off.
“How fast should I be going?” she asked, and I had no idea what to tell her.
Octo-Cat moved to the right of the footwell. “This way, but not too much this way.”
“Make a right, but not a full right,” I instructed, ignoring her earlier question, focusing on what I did know instead of what I didn’t.
She guided the cruiser in the direction I’d indicated.
“Too far. Too far!” Octo-Cat cried and moved back toward the left.
“Um, less right than that,” I said. “Bring it back to the center a little.”
Man, it was hard to give driving directions when there were no roads and I had no idea where we were actually going. Still, I trusted my cat, and I knew he’d get us there one way or another.
“Perfect,” he said after the detective had finished her course correction. He hopped onto the bench seat beside me and then climbed onto my lap. “Now straight on to my Grizabella.”
Chapter Nineteen
We drove for a good twenty minutes before I finally spotted movement on the horizon.
Octo-Cat noticed her at the exact same time as me. He screeched and dug his claws into my lap. “She’s there! My beautiful Grizabella! We’ve found her!”
Sure enough, the Himalayan trotted across the landscape ahead. Her beautiful fur appeared almost ghastly in the soft morning light and her once perfect gait now fell unevenly, but she was alive and still moving forward. I had to admire her determination to see this through.
Even though she’d seemed more than a bit spoiled when I first met her, she was a good cat. A really good cat.
“Suspect sighted.” The detective jolted her cruiser forward even faster than before, then veered to a stop.
“Tell Rhonda’s ghost she did a good job,” she told me before racing outside to chase the man hobbling down the hill.
Octo-Cat sprinted through the open door after her, but rather than following the detective, he turned back the way we’d come. “My darling! My darling!” he cried.
As much as I wanted to help, I stayed put in the back of that cop car and sent a quick text to my parents in a group chat: We found Jamison. Detective is apprehending him right now. All is good.
And with that, my battery finally gave out, rendering my phone useless.
Less than five minutes later, the detective returned, dragging a handcuffed man along with her. “Get to the front, psychic,” she barked at me.
As soon as I got out, she shoved Jamison in. For a moment, my eyes met his and I was surprised to see that they weren’t cold or calculating. Instead, they appeared soft, kind, not so unlike my father’s. A smattering of freckles on his cheeks and nose gave him a boyish appearance. Bloody scratches covered his arms, and his shirt had even been slashed through, thanks, no doubt, to Grizabella’s attack.
This guy didn’t look like a killer at all, and yet I had no doubt he’d done the deed.
“Meet me outside the tunnel,” the detective murmured into her radio as she brought the police cruiser back to life.
“Wait!” I shouted, panic rising in my chest. “My cat!”
“I’m bringing the witness back, then taking the suspect in,” the detective continued on, ignoring me completely.
The cruiser hadn’t picked up much speed yet, so I swung open the door, unbuckled my seatbelt, and prepared to jump. Seeing what I was up to, she hit the brakes hard, jerking me clear out of the car.
I fell to the cold ground, landing on my back in such a way that all the air whooshed out of my lungs. Ouch.
Despite the nagging pain
, there was no time to waste. I was okay, and I had to make sure the cats were, too. I sat up in a hurry, wincing from the pain of making such a sudden movement.
“Oh, Angela,” Octo-Cat said with a light-hearted chuckle as he and Grizabella approached from nearby. Despite her limp and obvious fatigue, they fell into perfect step beside each other. “I may be a stunt cat, but you are definitely not a stunt human.”
I couldn’t tell whether he was just giving me a hard time or if he actually believed the lie I’d said about him earlier. Knowing him, I’m sure he believed every word of it.
“You were very brave,” the Himalayan told me with an approving nod.
“But not as brave as you, darling,” Octo-Cat cooed in that special lovestruck voice he reserved expressly for his new girlfriend. “You were marvelous. Miraculous, even.”
She giggled, and I pushed myself back to my feet with more difficulty than I would have liked. Ouchie ouch ouch. “C’mon, guys. Let’s get back to our ride.”
I let myself back in through the passenger side and both cats leaped up to join me.
The detective did not look happy. “That stays between us,” she said in a low growl. “I’m already going to get a hard time for consulting a psychic on this case. The last thing I need is for the guys at the station to hear about you hurling yourself from the car before we even hit ten miles per hour.”
“But you said—”
“I know what I said. Turns out you’re not the only one who can bend the truth a little to get the job done.” She glanced at Octo-Cat, then back toward me and winked.
My jaw hit my chest. Not really, but whoa.
What? How could she possibly…?
No, it didn’t matter. Even though I had no idea how she’d figured it out, I knew my secret would be safe with the detective.
By the time we made it back to the tunnel—and thus the train—the sun hung high in the sky and the day was alive with energy. The detective’s partner waited with Mom and Dad outside the tunnel.
When they saw me get out of the cop car, they ran forward. Mom hugged me from the left, and Dad hugged me from the right.