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“Let’s get out of here,” Chase suggested.

“Where are the cats?” asked Mom.

“Our cats!” Odelia cried. She’d completely forgotten about them.

But it appeared as if the meeting upstairs had been concluded as well, for an entire feline contingent now came stepping down the stairs, meowing loudly amongst themselves.

And as her eyes met Max’s, he winked. He’d discovered something, she just knew it.

Chapter 15

We were driving home from the meeting, and to my surprise our humans weren’t exactly brimming with the kind of good-natured bonhomie one would expect after spending the evening with an expert on the soul and the true meaning of happiness.

In fact they looked far from happy. As I gathered stirring things had taken place while they’d been in conference with the self-declared soul scientist. Gran had had a clash with Scarlett Canyon, her longtime nemesis, Tex had almost come to blows with Jaqlyn Jones, and Odelia had missed her window for an exclusive sit-down with Master Omar.

Next to me, a sullen Tex sat staring out the window, while Marge kept patting his arm in a bid to cheer him up.

In the front seat, Odelia was pensively gazing through the windshield, presumably thinking up schemes to get that Omar exclusive, while Chase was busy navigating Hampton Cove’s streets, which were congested with other participants all attempting to get home.

Suddenly Odelia turned and asked,“I haven’t asked you guys how things were with Master Sharif.”

“A little boring,” I said.

“Boring!” Harriet burst out. “Boring!”

“He kept prattling on about how material possessions are nothing but dross, and how the most important thing is the soul,” I said. “So yes, I found the whole thing tedious. I happen to like my dross.”

“God, you are so superficial, Max,” said Harriet, shaking her head. “I can’t believe I once thought you had depth. You have no depth at all. You are shallow. Shallow!”

“At least I’m honest about what I like and don’t like,” I said. “Whereas ninety-nine percent of the cats who were there tonight don’t have a clue what a soul is.”

“That’s because they’re new to Soul Science. They’ll soon find out all about it.”

“So it was all about the soul, was it?” asked Odelia, sounding slightly disappointed.

“I did manage to slip upstairs and overhear a private conversation,” I said, and watched as her face lit up. Nothing to stir a reporter’s blood like eavesdropping on a private conversation. If I’d said I’d witnessed some sensational scene of a highly private nature through a keyhole, she’d have yipped with joy. Unfortunately keyholes are not positioned at a comfortable height for cats to peek through. A minor design flaw.

So I related in a few words the conversation I had eavesdropped on, and Odelia turned contemplative, her reporter’s mind whirring almost audibly. “Mh,” she said finally. “Looks like Jaqlyn Jones is causing trouble and strife even at Soul Science headquarters. Did you happen to catch the person’s name?”

“Jason,” I said. “Apparently he works in security.”

“I’ll have to ask Gran,” she said. “She might know who this Jason is.”

I could tell from the resolute set of her mouth that she planned to collar this Jason for an exclusive interview on the goings-on at Soul Science at his earliest convenience—or inconvenience. Nothing like a disgruntled employee or follower to dish the dirt on their guru. She would probably offer him a purse of gold in exchange for his life story.

“I think it was very rude of you to sneak out of Master Sharif’s lecture like that, Max,” said Harriet, who apparently hadn’t had her fill of bickering tonight.

“I told you already. I was bored. And I heard voices. What is a cat to do?”

Brutus and Dooley both nodded sagely. They understood. A cat’s got to do what a cat’s got to do, and when voices sound where no voices are supposed to be, one follows one’s instinct. And a good thing, too, as I had supplied my human with perhaps a vital clue to a story.

“Harriet?” asked Dooley after a moment.

“Mh?”

“What is a soul?”

Harriet directed a critical look at him.“If you have to ask, you’re not ready to be told, Dooley.”

“Ha!” I said.

Harriet looked up as if stung.“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You don’t know what a soul is! Otherwise you would have told Dooley, instead of dismissing him with that feeble excuse.”

“Of course I know what a soul is.”

“Then what is it? Explain it for us noobs.”

She pursed her lips, then said,“The soul is… Well, the soul is…” She swallowed uncomfortably, then finally cried, “Oh, I hate you, Max!” And lapsed into an offended silence.

“So what is the soul, Max?” asked Dooley.

“I have no idea, Dooley,” I said. “But when I find out, you’ll be the first to know.”

“I think the soul is the eternal part in ourselves,” said Marge now. “The part that’s connected with the universe.”

“You mean, like a miniature solar system in our belly?” asked Dooley.

Marge smiled indulgently.“Something like that, yes.”

Dooley stared down at his belly, clearly wondering where all those stars and planets were located, exactly.