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Paisley nodded and then stumbled slightly to the side, apparently needing to get used to being out of the costume just as she’d needed to get used to being in it. “Yeah, I smell it and it’s going this way.” She spun in a full circle and then ran down the alley and turned.

“Let’s go,” I said, shoving Octo-Cat into Charles’s arms because I knew he could run faster and easier with the extra burden than I could. I also didn’t want to take the chance my cat would disappear if left unsupervised.

Nothing mattered other than getting to my cousin.

Well, at least not to three of the four members of our little search committee.

We all jogged.

The Chihuahua kept moving fast but occasionally lapped us while yelling high-pitched words of encouragement.“Mommy, you can do it! You’re a good runner! Yes, you are! You’re a good girl! Come on, Mommy!”

While I found her cheerleading cute, it wasn’t entirely helpful. At last, when my legs had begun to feel a bit prickly from all the unplanned movement in my tight jeans, Paisley stopped, let out a low growl, and stood with her head angled slightly toward the ground.

Charles and I slowed.

“Well, that was terrible,” Octo-Cat complained. “Let’s not do that again. Shall we?”

I ignored him and followed Paisley’s line of sight with both my eyes and my feet.

“Do you see, Mommy?” the Chihuahua asked, impossibly keeping perfectly still despite the obvious desire to wag her tail hard. “This spot smells a lot like cousin Mags.”

Charles and I both bent down to examine the fallen items that were partially covered in snow.

“That’s because these are Mags’s things,” I revealed with a little gasp. I lifted her fuzzy white beret, discarded cell phone, and the shiny silver menorah she’d only just purchased that morning with shaky hands.

“Why did she leave them here?” Paisley asked with a little whine.

“I don’t think she wanted to.” I stowed all three items in my shoulder bag. “No. I don’t think she wanted to,” I repeated.

“So what do we do now?” Octo-Cat asked.

At the same time, Charles said,“Well, this is concrete evidence, and that’s always a great thing to have.”

“But what do we do now?” I parroted Octo-Cat’s question.

“Why, we call in the cavalry, of course,” came his response.

I loved Charles’s ability to stay calm and level-headed, no matter how hard the going got. Even my cat had become fully invested in pursuing our case, his complaints coming out fewer and farther between. We were now working as one, and that made us unstoppable.

Mags, hang on. We’re coming!

Chapter Fourteen

Charles called Nan while I called my mom.

She picked up on the first ring.“Hey, honey. Did you find Mags?”

“Not yet,” I answered sadly. “But we have a small lead. Can you and Dad meet us at the alley off Third Street? You know the one right next to the pancake place?”

“Yes, we’re coming!” she promised before hanging up.

Charles wrapped both arms around me and mumbled into my hair.“It’s going to be okay. We’ll find her. Your Nan is on the way right now, and she said something about bringing along a friend to help with the search.”

“That will be Mr. Milton,” I said, my voice coming out cold.

“Who’s that? I don’t think I’ve met him before.”

“Neither had I. Not until today. It just seems weird, him hanging around with all that’s going on.”

“Well, maybe he really likes your Nan and wants to help in order to make her happy,” Charles offered with shrug as he let me go.

I shook my head, unwilling to buy that, especially given his reaction earlier.“Yeah, or maybe he’s the murderer we’re all looking for.”

Charles tutted. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

“Yes. No… I don’t know. It just seems weird to me.”

“Well, if you’re not sure about him, then I’m not either. Maybe we can try asking him some questions when he arrives.”

“Maybe.”

“Are you talking about Nan’s new friend?” Octavius asked, curling his upper lip in disgust. At least we agreed on this one. “That guy doesn’t have the missing parts to kill somebody.”

“The missing parts?” I asked in confusion.

“Yeah, you know. The ones that boy kittens have before they go to the doctor and—”

“I got it!” I rushed to cut him off before he could add to that description.

“Still, he’s rather suspicious to me,” my tabby added. “Did you see a picture of him on Mr. Gable’s camera when you looked?”

“The camera! That’s right,” I said, slapping my forehead. We’d totally forgotten to look through the images. “I’ll just call Mr. Gable and see if he’s willing to let us borrow that real quick.”

Although the committee head was too busy to talk for long, he revealed that he’d handed the camera over to the police before begging off the call.

“See,” Charles said, keeping his arms tight around me while Octo-Cat sat in the snow silently. “Someone’s looking into it. We have lots of people helping find Mags.”

“To be fair, I don’t think Mr. Milton took Mags, but he could be the murderer. I don’t know. It’s just strange that a guy we’ve never met before has suddenly become so involved in our business.”