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Although I didn’t follow politics closely, I’d read the odd news report on this topic. Still, I wanted to get Mark’s take on the situation to see what added insights he could provide.

He licked his lips and steepled his fingers before him.“The usual things mostly. The fact I’m a bachelor is a big one. How can a single man be committed to building a family community? they all ask.” He scoffed at this, pausing briefly before he continued.

“And as you know, the vote was quite close. I won by hardly more than a percentage point. My opponent’s supporters demanded a recount, but that was ultimately deemed a waste of taxpayers’ money, and so I was sworn in.”

I knew all this. The mayor had to be holding something back. Neither of these reasons were enough for someone to threaten harm to a lovable golden retriever, whether or not they disliked his owner. Golden retrievers were largely considered America’s top family dog, and I’m sure it won back some points for the mayor that he had one.

Still, something wasn’t quite adding up.

“Is that all?” I asked cautiously.

“That’s all,” Mark assured me with a quick nod.

Octo-Cat settled himself onto my feet, but not before giving my big toe a solid bite as punishment for my stunt earlier.“He’s lying,” the tabby informed me with a low growl.

I took a deep steadying breath, then focused my gaze back on the mayor.“Are you sure there’s nothing else? No other possible reason for the kidnapping?”

“None,” Mark insisted, smiling reassuringly in my direction.

“He’s still lying,” Octo-Cat revealed, but I could now see that for myself, too. “Definitely lying.”

“Oh…kay,” I said slowly, breaking the small word into two distinct sounds. “Then why don’t you tell me about the last few days. Did anything unusual happen? Did anyone seem extra interested in Marco at this time?”

As I listened to the mayor prattle on about his busy life, I couldn’t help wondering why he’d hire me and then withhold at least part of the truth.

A dishonest client, no doubt, would make solving the case much more difficult. Still, I couldn’t allow Marco to suffer for his owner’s crimes—whatever they were.

I guess we’d be finding out soon enough.

Chapter Six

After Mayor Dennison left, Nan, the animals, and I huddled together at the large dining room table to recap.

“So we have another kidnapping,” Nan said thoughtfully. “We’ve dealt with those before. Recently at that.”

She was right. I’d already been thinking about our past abduction cases myself. They had both proven to be the most nerve-wracking investigations I’d ever faced. Both had hit incredibly close to home, too.

First, Octo-Cat disappeared at the exact same time the other beneficiaries of Ethel Fulton’s will had called for an arbitration in an attempt to relieve him of his inheritance. The culprit in that case had been exceedingly angry when we’d found Octo-Cat and taken him back—she’d even wound up with a nasty cat-inflicted wound that would probably scar. We’d seen neither hide nor hair of the folks involved in that kidnapping in the time since.

Then the second one happened. On Christmas Eve, my cousin Mags had been taken right off the street at the annual Holiday Spectacular fair. She’d been kept blindfolded and was ultimately let go when the crooks—a man and a woman—got spooked and ran.

They’d meant to take me but had mistakenly abducted my eerily similar looking cousin instead. They called her “Russo”—my last name—and warned her to keep her nose out of places where it didn’t belong.

Well, Mags had returned to her home in Larkhaven, Georgia, no worse for the wear, and we hadn’t heard from her mysterious kidnappers since.

I doubted the ransomed retriever had anything to do with either of those cases, but reviewing our history at least gave us a place to start with this new investigation.

“Are you thinking about when Mags and Octo-Cat were taken?” Nan asked, steepling her fingers and tapping them against her chin.

I nodded, then sighed.“Both were so horrible.”

“Mark is probably going out of his mind with worry for his poor dog,” she said with a wrinkled frown.

“Actually, I’m not so sure.” I shot a glance toward Octo-Cat, who’d seated himself on the opposite side of the table and taken up a vigorous grooming session focused primarily on his forehead and ears.

He paused and nodded his approval.

“Per Octo-Cat, the mayor was lying to us. Or at least hiding something important,” I revealed as I played the conversation back through my head.

“About which part?” Nan wondered aloud.

I shook my head, yet again wishing I knew the answer.

She snorted.“Well, that’s helpful.”

“Still, at least we know to take what little he told us with a giant grain of salt.”

Nan considered this, then stood suddenly, flinging her chair backward with such force it startled me and both animals.

“Where are you going?” I asked as she scurried toward the coat closet off the foyer.

She didn’t look back as she explained, “If the mayor isn’t going to tell us the truth, then we’ll have to go find it for ourselves.”