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“It did sound like that to me, Max,” said Brutus, giving me an impish grin. “And I’m pretty sure it sounded like that to Gran, too. Isn’t that right, Gran?!” he practically yelled into my collar.

“She’s not deaf, Brutus,” I said. “These bugs are highly sensitive gadgets and they pick up the minutest sound.”

“I hope she’s recording this. I want it on the record that Max said we’re smarter than him,” said Harriet.

“Oh, God,” I groaned.

“So when is she going to come and get us, Max?” asked Dooley.

“Soon, Dooley,” I said. “Very soon now.”

Harriet checked the big clock over the kitchen counter.“So she’s only a couple of minutes away, right? And if she’s hearing this now, she should be here in… ten?”

“Oh, that’s great,” said Dooley. “I didn’t want to say this before? But I kinda miss home, you know. And I miss my own humans.”

“Yeah, me, too, Dooley,” I admitted. Charlene was nice and all, and she served us up some delicious food, on gorgeous plates, but life is about more than just food and a soft couch, or even a cozy guest bedroom. It’s also about the humans you decide to share your life with, and Charlene was agreat human, but she wasn’t our human.

“Are you guys still up?” the Mayor said, popping her head from the bedroom to see what we were up to. “Don’t you like the space I prepared for you?”

So we followed her into the spare bedroom and when we saw the nice bed she’d made for us, I felt bad that soon Gran would ring the front door and announce that she was taking us home again.

“Okay, so maybe we can stay a little while longer,” I now announced to my collar. “Charlene looks like she could use the company. So please come and get us in the morning, Gran. But wait until we’ve had breakfast. This turkey really is something else.”

And besides, we’d told Gran all about the great clues Harriet and Brutus had found, so it didn’t really matter now if she came to find us or not.

And then Charlene looked so sad that instead of spending the night in the guest bedroom, we followed her into her own bedroom instead, and before long we were fast asleep on the Mayoral bed, the first time I’d ever slept in the presence of a VIP, I have to say.

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Odelia frowned and shook her head.“I don’t get it. They never take off like this. Never.”

“I know, babe. Have you tried your Gran’s phone?”

“Yeah, she’s not picking up.”

They were in the bedroom, but Odelia couldn’t sleep, as she hadn’t seen her cats all day. She’d even gone over to her mom and dad’s, and had found her parental unit looking decidedly happy for some reason, but of their four felines there was not a single trace.

“Maybe they’ve gone to the park?” Chase suggested. “They go there every night.”

“Yeah, but not without saying goodbye, and not before they’ve eaten their fill.”

Max and Dooley hadn’t touched their bowls, and neither had Harriet or Brutus.

No, something was wrong, she could feel it in her bones. Something was very wrong.

She turned on the television, to take her mind off her cats for a moment, and her uncle’s abduction, and great was her surprise when suddenly her mom and dad’s faces appeared right there on the screen!

“What the….” she said as she sat up with a jerk and turned up the volume. And both she and Chase watched with rising indignation as her mom and dad were interviewed by a reporter from WLBC-9, about some money they’d apparently won in the lottery!

“So that’s why Mom and Dad were acting so weird! They saw Madame Solange and now they’ve gone and won the lottery!”

“But why didn’t they tell us?”

“I don’t know!” She swung her feet from the bed. “But I’m going to find out!”

“But, honey, they’re probably asleep.”

“I don’t care! They lied to me!”

“They didn’t exactly lie to you. They just didn’t tell you what they were up to.”

“Withholding information is the same thing as lying!”

“Come on, babe. Can’t this wait until tomorrow?”

“No, it can’t!” she said, and was thundering down the stairs before he could stop her.

Moments later she was charging into her parents’ house, stomping up the stairs, and bursting into their bedroom, where they, too, were watching the same broadcast!

Judging from the sheepish looks they gave her, they knew very well they did something they shouldn’t have.

“Honey, we can explain,” said her mother.

“You hate those fortune tellers, and so you should!” Dad added.

“So when Madame Solange said we’d win the lottery, we decided not to tell you because—”

“—you would have been upset—”

“—and we didn’t want to jinx things.”

“And now we won!” said Dad. “So yay!”

“I don’t believe you played the lottery,” said Odelia, “while Uncle Alec is languishing in some hellhole somewhere, hoping we’re working around the clock to save his life!”

“But, honey, what can we do?” asked her mom.

“Yeah, we’re not cops!” said her dad.

“No, but you’re family,” she countered. Both her mom and dad hung their heads, and suddenly she felt sorry for them, and embarrassed by her outburst. “Look, I’m sorry, all right,” she said, taking a seat at the foot of the bed. “How much did you win?”