Giggling like a schoolgirl and slightly out of breath, Rosa collapsed on the leather sofa and peered back down the hallway. Diego had slowed down and lowered to a crouch with his belly an inch from the carpet, his tail thick and fluffy as if he had suffered from an electric shock. His eyes were intently focused on the toy mouse as he slowly crept down the hall towards the stuffed creature. Rosa pulled the string slightly to make the mouse wiggle. Diego froze for a moment, and then crept forward again. Rosa put a hand to her mouth to stifle another giggle.
Suddenly the kitten jumped high in the air and landed on the mouse. He grabbed it with his forepaws and lay on his side as he bit and kicked it with his back claws.
“Diego!” Rosa lost hold of the string but watched him proudly. “Aren’t you the little hunter?” Diego stopped chewing on the mouse, looked up at Rosa, and coughed. He rose shakily to his feet and after a few more deep coughs, vomited up a hairball onto the expensive Oriental rug.
“Oh no!” Rosa jumped to her feet. “Not on the carpet.” She scooped up Diego and stared down at the small gray wad on the rug. Ugh, she thought. I’d better clean this up before—
“Rosa!”
Rosa cringed at the sound of her aunt’s voice.
“What on earth has that animal done to my Chobi Oriental?” Aunt Louisa, with her hands braced on pointy hips, glared with narrowed eyes. “That rug was imported from India!”
“I’m so sorry, Aunt Louisa, I’ll have it cleaned for you right away.”
Before her aunt could continue with her scolding—or worse, ban Diego from the house—Bledsoe, thankfully, appeared in the doorway. “Excuse me, ma’am, but a Detective Belmonte is on the telephone for Miss Reed.”
Rosa knew her aunt was loathe to put on any display of familial disunity in front of the staff and used that to her advantage to scurry out of the room with Diego under one arm and the toy mouse in the other hand.
She whispered to her cat as she walked down the hall, “Vomiting on a lady’s carpet is not a way to her heart, Diego.”
The kitten, utterly unfazed by the event, purred softly in her arms.
“Hello, Detective Belmonte,” Rosa said as she pressed the receiver to her ear. Her pulse picked up at the mere idea that she would hear Miguel’s voice across the line.
“Hiya, Rosa. I just want to thank you again, officially, on behalf of the Santa Bonita Police Department for your assistance on this case. I quite honestly don’t think we could’ve done it without you.”
Rosa blushed at the praise. “I’m certain that’s not true,” she returned politely, “but thank you for saying so.”
“I’m out a bass player, so I guess finding another one is next on my agenda. What about yours?”
That was a loaded question, and Rosa was surprised that Miguel even asked it. He must be as curious about her and she was about him.
“I’m not sure,” Rosa answered truthfully. “I need a bit more time to work that out.”
“Well, all the best to you. Maybe I’ll see you around.”
Now that this case was solved, Rosa saw no reason for their paths to cross again.
“Yes, maybe.”
Gloria was lounging by the pool when Rosa held up a magazine with a lovely photograph of Audrey Hepburn on the cover.
“Isn’t she just so glamorous?” Gloria lowered her sunglasses and stared over the rims at Rosa. “She reminds me of you, actually. You both have striking eyebrows.”
Rosa blinked, not sure what to make of what was surely meant as a compliment. “Thank you?”
“Why couldn’t I look like her? She’s deliciously sophisticated.”
“You have a very appealing look, Gloria,” Rosa said. “But it’s the inside that counts in the end.”
“Oh, boo. That’s what attractive people say about the plain.”
Rosa blew a loud raspberry at her cousin before settling into the lounge beside her. Diego curled into a ball on her lap and purred.
Gloria stared forlornly. “Grandma Sally says it’s a waste of good effort for me to go to acting school.”
Rosa gave her cousin a stern look. “Gloria, if you want to go to acting school and become an actress, then that’s what you should do. No one can stop you, except yourself.”
Gloria pushed her sunglasses along the ridge of her nose. “You don’t know what it’s like to live with two powerful Hartigan women.”
Rosa laughed. “Actually, I do.”
“Oh, right. High school. I forgot. But your prison sentence was only a few years. Mine’s been my whole life.”
“I repeat, Gloria. If you want to do something, do it.”
“You’re right, Rosa, thank you.” Gloria’s pale, slender legs lifted off the side of the lounger. “I’m going to make a call to the college right now and register.”
Rosa smirked as she stroked the top of Diego’s head. Aunt Louisa and Grandma Sally wouldn’t appreciate her interfering in Gloria’s life, but what did it matter now? Rosa would probably go home in a couple of weeks anyway.
The thought left her feeling bittersweet. She missed her family, but somehow, returning to London made her feel like she was going backward.
And then there was Miguel.
“No, Diego, there’s no Miguel. He belongs to Charlotte. Or was it Clarice?”
Rosa lifted Diego and pressed her face into his furry body. She knew Miguel’s girlfriend’s name was Charlene. Charlene Winters. And one day, Rosa would turn on the telly and see Miss Winters’ beautiful face on the screen.
Because Miguel’s girlfriend would be beautiful.
“That’s enough of that, Diego,” she said hoarsely. “I’ve got my own problems to figure out, but not right now, right? I’m on holiday.”
Rosa must have dozed off in the shade of the patio umbrella because no sooner had Gloria left, than she’d returned, dressed in striped capri pants and a blue fine-knit top.
“I’ve done it, Rosa!” Gloria’s cheeks were rosy with excitement. “But it doesn’t start until September, so boo. But still, lots of fun left of summer. You know the fair came to town
