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“Come on,” said Odelia, and forcibly took her grandmother’s arm and steered her toward the corridor. “Thank you for your hospitality, Jason. I’m sorry about the pralines.”

They were already out on the street, on their way to the car, when Odelia suddenly remembered that her cats were still inside. But she needn’t have worried: as she turned back, the front door opened and Max and Dooley came scampering out the front door, as if ejected by force. They both seemed well-pleased and brimming with Jason’s food.

Odelia shook her head. How extremely embarrassing.

And she hadn’t even learned anything new.

Chapter 24

The day had finally arrived: Jaqlyn and Francine Jones’s garden party was upon us and the turnout was impressive. Of course Odelia was there, in her capacity both as a Hampton Covian but also as a reporter fulfilling her promise to cover both Jaqlyn Jones and Soul Science in a series of future articles. But the rest of the Poole clan had also decided to put in an appearance, which from Tex’s side was with some reluctance.

Even though Tex had accepted Jaqlyn’s offered olive branch, he probably would never be the other doctor’s biggest or most vocal fan.

The only one who’d decided to sit this one out was Gran, who was still recovering from the humiliation at Soul Science and didn’t feel like facing the same people so soon.

Dooley and I had accepted Odelia’s suggestion to sniff around and see what we could discover. I didn’t expect much, except maybe a few tasty morsels falling from a tray of one of the waiters hired by the Joneses to officiate the social event of the season.

This was Jaqlyn and Francine’s official introduction to the Hampton Cove social scene, a little belatedly, as half of Hampton Cove had already passed through his office by now, and so the backyard of Casa Jones was buzzing with activity. There was a clown, magician and bouncy castle for the kids, and plenty of food and drinks for the grownups.

For the pets, unfortunately, no provisions had been made, but I tried not to let that get me down.

“Do you think Master Omar will show up, and Master Sharif?” asked Dooley.

We were strategically positioned near the food table, inveterate optimists that we both are, and eyeing the humans closely. My money was on an elderly lady who seemed to have trouble guiding hors d’oeuvres into her mouth, and kept dropping them. The moment her husband gave up picking them up I was ready to pounce on those remnants.

“I don’t think so,” I said, never taking my eyes off the lady. “He’d face too much scrutiny coming to an event like this.”

“I bet he’ll show up,” said Dooley. “He’s still building his church, and needs all the followers he can get.”

“He has all the followers he can get,” I argued. “Didn’t you see the size of that meeting? The place was packed to capacity. Not an empty seat in the house.”

“He can always use more,” said Dooley, not unreasonably.

He was right, of course. No self-respecting leader of a church will thumb his nose at a few more followers, especially when he’s an up-and-coming guru like Omar Carter.

Brutus and Harriet now joined us, and I could detect several more cats roaming the grounds, clearly eager to get in on some of the action, too.

“So how was the meeting last night?” I asked.

Harriet looked as if she hadn’t slept much, so it was safe to assume she’d joined Sharif’s most recent meeting. Dooley and I had decided to skip this one, as we’d both had just about all the soul science we could stomach. Plus, with resistance building throughout the local cat community, as evidenced by Kingman’s opposition, we’d decided we were going to be Switzerland and remain strictly neutral. Though Dooley did mention he thought Master Sharif was a wonderful and most skillful sleep inducer.

Odelia, likewise, had decided not to attend her second meeting in two nights, being supportive of her grandmother, who was now completely over her newfound religion. And even Marge had said the previous meeting hadn’t given her what she’d expected and she wasn’t going back for a refill.

“It was… nice,” said Harriet, which surprised me, because before she’d only ever spoken about Sharif in superlatives.

“Nice?” I said. “Not earth-shattering or life-changing or revolutionary?”

“Oh, don’t you start, Max,” she said, a little grumpily. “Where’s the food? I didn’t have breakfast.” And off she went, in search of something edible.

Dooley and I both turned to Brutus, looking for an explanation of Harriet’s sudden lack of religious fervor and spiritual prowess.

He gave us a wide grin in return.“I think she’s over Soul Science, you guys,” he said, not trying to hide his elation. “Last night she had another run-in with Shanille, and this time Sharif took Shanille’s side. I think Harriet is ready to tear up her Soul Science membership card.”

“What did they argue about?” I asked, like any good sleuth digging for the telling clue.