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“All right,” said Chase finally. “You can go. But I’ll be watching you, Mrs. Cooper. And if I find that you do know these people, I will find you.”

“Oh, please do, Detective,” said Solange, her voice almost a purr. “In fact I hope you do drop by sometime. I’m sure there are things you wish for that I could easily make come true.” And with these words, which practically amounted to a gauntlet being thrown down, wrapped in flirtatiousness, she walked out.

The moment she had, Chase glanced up at Norm.“Did you get all that, buddy?”

“Oh, yes, Chase, thank you,” said Norm, pleasantly surprised at this acknowledgment.

The cop shook his head.“I can’t believe I’m talking to a fly. I must be losing it.”

Chapter 37

The four of us had decided to stick close to Marge. Obviously the poor woman wasn’t well, and it behooved us, as the family pets, to keep an eye on her.

She was seated on the couch, watching the Kardashians, and laughing loudly in all the wrong places, while her husband kept darting anxious glances in his wife’s direction.

Vesta was also there, though she seemed less worried about the whole thing. But then Gran is a tough old bird, and probably has been through a lot worse than her daughter forgetting a few minor details about her life, such as the entire existence of Odelia’s boyfriend.

And it was as we were watching the shenanigans of Calabasas’s first family that Norm came buzzing in, and we all turned to him, eager for some news from the front lines.

“She didn’t do it,” he said immediately. “No motive.”

“Oh,” I said, deflating a little.

“Yeah, Chase grilled her pretty hard, but she didn’t crack. Did you know, by the way, that Solange isn’t her real name? She’s really called Caprice Cooper, and she’s a lot plainer-looking without all that makeup and those funky witch’s robes.”

“Great,” said Brutus. “So now we have a crime but no suspect. What are we going to do?”

“I have no idea,” I said.

“Honey?” said Marge all of a sudden.

“Yes, sweetheart?” said her husband.

“Did we always have this many cats?”

“Oh, for crying out loud!” said Gran. “Don’t tell me now you can’t remember our cats!”

“Oh, I remember we had one—but four? That seems like an awful lot of cats, don’t you think?”

“Which one do you remember?” asked Tex.

“Well, that pretty white one, of course. Her name is Princess, right?” She waved at Harriet. “Hi, Princess. You’re a real cutie pie, aren’t you? Sweet, sweet Princess.”

Dooley turned to me with a look of alarm.“Max, Marge has forgotten us—she’s totally forgotten we even exist!”

“Yeah, it certainly looks that way,” I agreed, studying the forgetful woman closely. She was looking far too chipper, I thought. As if she was high on some unknown substance.

“Marge, that pretty white cat’s name isn’t Princess, it’s Harriet,” said Tex slowly.

“Are you sure?” said Marge. “I could have sworn her name was Princess. She certainly looks like a Princess to me.”

“No, definitely Harriet,” said Tex.

“Though I like the name Princess, too,” said Harriet now, preening a little.

Marge stared at Harriet.“So sweet.” She patted ‘Princess’ on the head, then returned her attention to the reality show blaring away on TV.

Gran gave her daughter a look of alarm.“Marge? Don’t tell me you can’t understand what Harriet just said.”

Marge looked up with a sweet smile.“Mh?”

“Harriet, say something,” Gran instructed.

“What do you want me to say?” asked Harriet.

“Ask Marge to name the capital of China.”

“I don’t even know what the capital of China is.”

“Just do it, will you?”

Harriet sighed.“Marge, what is the capital of China?”

But from Marge there was no response. Gran groaned.“I knew this would happen.”

“Honey, did you hear what Harriet just said?” said Tex.

Marge laughed.“But, sweetie, how can I understand Princess? You know cats can’t talk. And now please let me watch the show. I like it. It’s very entertaining.”

Now we all shared a look of alarm.“She was able to understand us before,” I told Gran. “I mean, when we found her wandering in the fields she talked to us just fine.”

“It’s her mustache,” said Gran. “Scarlett warned me that if you let those hairs grow unrestrained they will affect your brain.”

And then she abruptly rose from the couch and stalked out of the room. Moments later we heard her stomp up the stairs.

“Gran is clearly upset,” said Dooley. “She’s probably gone off to cry in her room.”

“Yeah, can you blame her?” asked Brutus. “Marge doesn’t remember us—and she can’t talk to us anymore either. This is a nightmare.”

“Can a ministroke do so much damage?” asked Dooley.

“Yeah, looks like,” I said.

“So maybe she should have another ministroke?” Brutus suggested. “That way she’ll snap out of it. We could knock her on the head, for instance. I’ll bet that would do it.”

“I don’t think it’s that simple,” I said. “Brain trauma and memory loss are very tricky things. Tex said so himself.”

We all stared at Tex, who sat staring dumbly at his wife, who sat staring gleefully at Khlo? Kardashian complaining about her complexion.