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“I don’t know,” I admitted. “These tabloids are apparently read by millions of Britons, so they’re turning her into a target for all of those readers.”

“I doubt whether every single reader who picks up a so-called tabloid believes every word they write, though,” said Harriet, sensibly.

“Even if only a fraction of them do, Tessa has a serious problem.”

“I think she needs to move back to the States,” said Brutus. “It’s obvious they don’t appreciate her here, so why stick it out? That’s just crazy.”

“I agree,” said Harriet. “She should move back to the States and enjoy a wonderful life with her new husband and their newborn baby.”

“But she can’t,” I said. “Dante has a lot of royal duties here.”

“Like what?” asked Dooley.

“Like… I don’t know. Probably he has to cut a lot of ribbons and open a lot of county fairs and stuff like that.”

“I don’t think he’s going to miss cutting ribbons,” said Brutus. “And if he does, there’s plenty of ribbons for him to cut in the States.”

“Yes,” said Dooley. “There are lots of nice ribbons in Hampton Cove. He can come and live next door and cut ribbons to his heart’s content.”

“It’s not just the ribbons, you guys,” I said. “He probably has a lot of other duties, and besides, he’s going to miss his family, isn’t he?”

“He can Skype,” said Harriet.

“Yes, he can Skype,” agreed Dooley.

Speaking of Skype, just then we heard a familiar voice. It was Marge.

“Hey, honey,” said Marge. “How’s the jet lag?”

“Not too bad,” said Odelia. “What time is it over there anyway?”

“Around dinner time.”

“Yes, we were just going to start dinner,” said Tex. “What time do you have?”

“Middle of the night,” said Odelia. “We had a big scare just now, and we’re all a little shook up.”

“An intruder tried to snap pictures of Tessa and the baby,” Chase said.

“How horrible,” said Marge. “I hope the police arrested him?”

“No, they haven’t,” said Chase. “Apparently he had every right to shoot pictures, and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it.”

“You need to watch out, honey,” said Tex. “I just read a story about how the English hate us Yankees so much they’ll do anything to get rid of us.”

“I’m sure it’s not as bad as all that,” said Chase with a laugh.

“They don’t like Tessa, though,” said Marge.

“I think a lot of people love Tessa,” said Odelia. “Only the tabloids don’t. Unfortunately they have the biggest megaphone, which distorts the picture.”

Gran had snuck into the room and sat down next to Odelia and Chase.

“Hey, honey,” she said, adding after a long pause, “and Tex.”

“How do you like England so far, Ma?” asked Marge.

Gran pulled a face, which said it all.

“I think she’s suffering from jet lag,” said Odelia.

She was right. Gran had been unusually quiet and had stayed out of trouble all night. She looked tired, too. Not her vivacious and sprightly self.

“I’m pretty much beat,” she said now, confirming our suspicions.

“Better go to bed,” said Odelia.

“That’s the problem. I went to bed, and I can’t sleep.” She got up. “Maybe I need some warm milk.” And she tottered off, closing the door behind her.

“Sounds like you’ve got your work cut out for you,” said Tex. “Be careful, will you? Don’t get in the line of fire.”

“It’s not as bad as all that,” said Odelia. “It’s not as if snipers are shooting at us from all sides.”

“There was an incident with poisoned tea, though,” said Chase.

“Poisoned tea!” Marge cried. “Oh, honey…”

“It’s fine, Mom. We’ve got everything under control here. And as soon as we have a chance, we’ll talk to some more people and figure this thing out.”

“Too bad there are no more canine witnesses,” said Harriet. “Or we could have solved this case already.”

She was right. There was only Fluffy, and she’d already told us everything she knew.

“I have a feeling this is not going be the open-and-shut case Odelia thought it was going to be,” said Dooley, and never had truer words been spoken.

Odelia and Chase said their goodbyes to her folks and logged off, then went to bed.

Soon the house was quiet, except for four cats and presumably one dog.

And I know many of you are not familiar with the concept of a watchcat, but that’s how I now saw myself. After the stone incident, the tea incident, and now the reporter scare, I vowed to keep a watchful eye for potential nocturnal intruders, friendly or otherwise. And so the four of us tiptoed into the living area and took up position on the several windows that looked out into the night. I took this vigil seriously, and so did the others. I’d grown fond of Tessa, in spite of the fact that we’d only just met. A young mother with a newborn, being bullied the way she was, had touched my heart. I vowed not to let anything happen to her, even if I had to take a bite out of some human’s seat of the pants myself—no matter how horrible the taste.

Soon Fluffy joined us, and we were on full animal alert.

“Let’s see who dares to mess with us now,” growled Brutus from the second window.

“He’s going to have to get past me first,” said Harriet from the third window.

“And me,” said Dooley, from the fourth window.