Only the Cat Knows by Marian Babson

look she exchanged with Nina said that there was a lot they could tell me about Yvonne — if I asked the right questions. But not here, not now.
    That was all right with me. There were plenty of other questions.
    ‘I saw Dr Anderson arriving this morning. I thought his visiting days were Tuesdays and Fridays. He seemed to be in quite a hurry. Nothing wrong, I hope?’
    ‘Not seriously,’ Kiki drawled. ‘One of the maids went off the deep end and needed a bit of seeing to. Nothing to do with any of us.’
    Just one of the hired hands. So that was all right then. I wondered where Nessa stood in their scheme of things: one of the entourage or another of the hired hands?
    ‘I’m glad it wasn’t the one who cleans my studio.’ Nina was completely self-absorbed. ‘I’ve just got that one trained to leave things alone. They may look messy to her, but they’re meant to be that way’
    ‘That’s what you always say,’ Kiki taunted. ‘The state of your studio betrays a mind that —’
    ‘I’ve got to get back to work now.’ Nina stood abruptly.
    ‘You always rim away just when the subject threatens to become interesting.’ Kiki tilted an eyebrow. ‘And the excuse is always your work. Doesn’t that suggest anything to you?’
    ‘And what work do
you
do?’ I cut in quickly It was as near to a cue as I was obviously going to get.
    ‘I’m working on a book. You don’t even remember that?’ Kiki was incredulous. ‘When we’ve talked about it so much? When you’ve agreed how important it will be?’
    I shrugged, revising my earlier opinion: they were
all
self-absorbed around here.
    ‘Kiki —’ Nina leaned over me, half-whispering, a glint of malice sparking in the depths of those dreamy eyes. ‘Kiki is writing Mr Oversall’s autobiography for him. She’s a ghost!’
    Another one?
There were a lot of them around.
    ‘How interesting.’ I kept my face and voice bland.
    ‘A ghost with a psychology degree,’ Nina emphasized.
    ‘Everett is very interested in psychology,’ Kiki said. ‘And it’s not quite an autobiography, it will be more about his business philosophy, the structure of power, the climb to the top, the people along the way. He intends it to be inspirational to the younger generation coming along and …’
    Mmm-hmm. There was a lot of that around, too. I tuned out on what was obviously a well-rehearsed justification of her position here.
    It was interesting to know that Everett Oversall intended to join the ranks of business tycoons who were writing How-To-Be-As-Successful-As-I instruction manuals. I wondered how many secrets he was willing to give away. Apart from his brief early flirtation with the gossip columns, he had never been very forthcoming about himself or his interests. Perhaps Candy Shaeffer had talked him into it as a good public relations move.
    ‘When is it coming out?’ I asked, when Kiki appeared to have run down. At least, she had stopped talking.
    ‘When I finish it.’ Her lips tightened.
    Nina snickered.
    ‘Having problems?’ I tried to sound sympathetic. ‘How long have you been working on it?’
    ‘After the first six months, she moved in here with us,’ Nina said helpfully.
    ‘Everett thought it would be more convenient for me to be close at hand,’ Kiki said. ‘He told me I’d also find the others of great help to me with background material and additional research. That wasn’t quite … accurate.’ I got the impression that she was grinding her teeth. ‘There are still so many questions and, no matter how I phrase them, I can’t get straight answers.’
    ‘Mmm …’ It occurred to me suddenly that not all the hostility I had felt directed at this corner of the room had been aimed at me. I rephrased a question myself: ‘How long have you been here?’
    ‘Two years — but I’ve been helping in other ways, as well. It’s just that it’s so difficult to pin anyone down, including Everett, he’s always so busy. But I must have him speak to