“As you have already decided that I am guilty of these murders, what would be the point of speaking in my own defense?”
“Look, Rebecca,” I said. “You had motive and opportunity. As your father’s heir, you stand to gain the most from his death. The gaps in your sister’s records suggest you were in the process of planting false info about her, which you hired Whiskers to forge. Then you killed the hare to cover your tracks, and Manny because he got wise to what was going down. It would have been a perfect crime if Sam hadn’t found some records you missed. The chimp is the missing link.”
She shook her head. “I am sorry that Sam is dead. I … I know he was your best friend.”
“Well, I guess the truth can come out now. Sam’s still hanging in there, although he’s in a coma. We don’t know if he’ll wake up.”
“Hey Smellephant,” the Ferret asked, “I don’t mean to interrupt, but do you mind if I go? I don’t need to be here for the dramatic parts.”
I nodded. What was coming next probably wouldn’t be pretty.
“Miss Winthrop,” the chief said to Rebecca, “I’m afraid I’ve got to formally charge you with these murders.”
“Yes,” she said, “but which Miss Winthrop do you mean?” Suddenly I realized her accent was gone. In fact her whole way of carrying herself had transformed. Right before our eyes, Rebecca had turned into Lulu.
“So,” I said, “you’ve been the same gal all along.”
“Apparently,” Lulu explained, “I am a classic case of a split personality. That’s what the doctors say anyway. Rebecca doesn’t know. This personality comes out in times of stress.”
“Yeah,” the chief said, “I can see how being arrested for homicide can be stressful.”
I had to admit I was glad to see Lulu. I’d kind of missed her.
But the chief looked troubled. “Hu showed me the lab report.”
“Who showed you the lab report?”
“Yeah, exactly. And the prints didn’t match. So how does one dame,” the chief said, looking hard at Lulu, “have two different sets of finger prints?”