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“Yeah, I’ll bet he did,” she said with a smile. She loved her girls so much. She’d do anything for them—and she had. In fact she’d worked the impossible. Not exactly legal, or acceptable, but sometimes a mother had to do what a mother had to do.

She walked over to the door, and was surprised when she put her eye to the peephole. For a moment, she hesitated, but then slid the bolt back and opened the door.

“I thought we’d arranged everything,” she said as she looked into her visitor’s face.

“Not quite,” was the prompt reply.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_3]

“We have to hurry, Odelia!” I said.

“But how can you be so sure?” Odelia asked.

“Trust me—I am one hundred percent sure. If you don’t get there fast you’ll have another dead body on your hands.”

“Oh, dear,” said Odelia, as she directed Chase to hurry along. He’d turned on the flashy blue light and was sounding his siren, too, in an attempt to stop the drama from unfolding before we got there.

“Is it the stork, Max?” asked Dooley. “Did something happen with the stork?”

“The stork is fine, Dooley,” I said. “Don’t worry about the stork.”

“So who’s in danger then?”

“We’re here,” said Chase, and made the car unceremoniously jump the curb.

We followed Odelia out of the car, and she said,“Maybe you guys better hang back. Things might get a little dangerous from here on out.”

“Okay, fine,” I said, and watched Odelia and Chase hurry up to the door of the apartment building. It wasn’t much of a dwelling, more like one of those slightly run-down places that probably shouldn’t be allowed to still accept tenants.

The moment Chase and Odelia disappeared inside, I told Dooley,“Let’s go.”

“But I thought we were supposed to hang back?”

“When have you ever known us to allow our human to enter the lion’s den without us being there to keep an eye on her, Dooley?”

“Um… never?”

“Exactly. So let’s not let her down now. Whether she likes it or not, we’re her guardian angels.”

“I thought we were feline angels?”

“That, too.”

So we hurried inside, and started up the stairs.

“Where are we going?”

“I think I remember Odelia telling Chase it was the third floor.”

We pretty much zoomed up those stairs. Don’t let my slightly chunky appearance fool you. I can be pretty fast when I need to be. In fact we arrived there even before Chase and Odelia did. Probably the elevator was as ancient and run down as the entire building. As luck would have it, the door to the apartment was ajar, so we rushed rightin. In the living room two little girls were playing, and from the adjoining room I heard choking sounds, so we moved right on through, and found Marvin Harrison, his hands around Francine Ritter’s throat, busily choking the life out of her.

So Dooley and I did what we do best in such circumstances: I launched myself at the man’s neck, while Dooley dug his claws into his left hand, and his teeth into his right.

Marvin screamed like a banshee, and immediately let go of his victim. For the next few moments he whirled around like a drunken sailor, one cat attached to his neck, and the other attached to his hands. When finally we were forced to let go, Chase was there, gun in hand, and quickly made the man lie flat on his belly, hands out, to make the arrest.

Francine, meanwhile, was being comforted by Odelia. The poor woman’s throat was red and swollen, but it looked like she’d be all right.

And Dooley and myself? Thanks for asking! I’m happy to announce that we were just fine. I’d been swung into a corner of the room, making a hard landing, but had escaped with my life, and Dooley had landed on the bed and was now calmly licking his claws, removing all evidence of the foul killer we’d just taken down in a concerted effort.

“He tried to kill me,” said Francine hoarsely. “The bastard tried to kill me!”

“I know,” said Odelia. “Try not to talk, honey.”

“Marvin Harrison,” said Chase as he placed handcuffs on the guy’s hands, “I’m arresting you for the attempted murder of—”

“That’s not Marvin,” I told Odelia. “That’s Franklin. And Chase should probably arrest him for the murder of his brother Marvin, too, and the murder of those other two men.”

Odelia gaped at Marvin/Franklin.“Franklin?” she asked.

The guy turned to her, and flashed a nasty grin.“So you finally figured it out, huh?”

Odelia turned to me, then to Francine.“But…”

“Yeah, that’s Franklin, all right,” said Francine. “I recognized him immediately. He might have fooled all the others, but he didn’t fool his own wife—I know my husband.”

“Oh, shut up—you ruined everything!” Franklin yelled as Chase escorted him out of the room, then past his kids, and out of the apartment.

“I don’t understand,” said Odelia. “I thought that was Marvin.”

“He must have taken his place,” said Francine, gingerly touching her throat. “Don’t ask me why, though knowing Franklin it must have something to do with money.”

“We better get you to a doctor to have that looked at,” said Odelia.