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“I have no idea why he invited us,” said Charlene, “but I have to confess I’m curious.”

“Welcome, welcome, one and all,” said Omar, as he gestured for everyone to take their seats. “We’re only waiting for the Parkers and Mr. Sowman and we’re complete.”

“So what’s the idea?” asked Alec, who’d never been a big fan of the church leader.

“After the tragic events of this afternoon, I think we should all take a moment to reflect on the fleeting nature of life,” said Omar, wreathing his face in mournful frowns. “Plus, I’d like to find out who killed my friend Jaqlyn, and I can think of no better way than bringing everyone together and seeing if we can’t figure this out together.”

Outside of the circle of humans, a second circle had been organized, only this one not consisting of chairs but cushions placed on the floor. And here Master Sharif was officiating, and welcoming us to this peculiar and unusual gathering. Immediately I saw that Shanille was also there, in fact seated to Sharif’s immediate left, as if already having risen through the ranks to the highest position available.

“I’m out of here,” Harriet announced, and started walking away.

“Harriet, please take a seat!” Sharif caroled, his voice echoing through the room.

Harriet halted in her tracks.“And why would I do that?” she asked, half-turning.

“Shanille has a confession to make, haven’t you, Shanille?” said Sharif.

Shanille didn’t speak. She merely looked uneasy. “No, I haven’t,” she finally said.

“Shanille wants you to know she regrets the harsh words directed at you,” said Sharif.

“No, I don’t,” Shanille muttered.

“Yes, she does. And she wants you to know how important it is for her to make amends. Please shake paws with Harriet, Shanille. Be the bigger cat.”

Shanille looked as if she’d much rather do anything than shake paws with Harriet, but her master’s voice decided her. So it was with visible reluctance that she got up and walked over to Harriet. She held up her paw. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled, almost inaudibly.

“What was that?” asked Sharif. “I didn’t catch it.”

“I said I’m sorry,” said Shanille, louder this time.

Harriet eyed her with marked disdain, gave the other cat’s paw a slight slap, then both cats turned their backs and stalked off in opposite directions and took their seats.

“How touching,” said Dooley. “Friends once more.”

“I doubt it,” said Brutus, and hurried to take a seat next to his mate, while Dooley and I made ourselves comfortable, and so did Kingman, our special guest this evening.

The final guests arrived in the form of Jenny Parker and her dad Nick, and Jaqlyn’s neighbor Barney, and the door of the room was closed, the two guards taking position in front of it, and then the lights were turned down a notch, creating a special atmosphere.

“My friends, most welcome to my home,” said Omar, spreading his arms. “First off, I have a confession to make.”

“This should be good,” Kingman said.

“When I returned to Hampton Cove, where I grew up, I was just an ordinary guy with a big dream. I’d made my fortune on Wall Street for the past sixteen years, and had firsthand experienced the emptiness of a life devoted to the amassing of material wealth. Oh, I had all the accouterments of success: the Lambo, the Manhattan condo, the glamorous model girlfriend, but even though my nights were spent with the in-crowd frequenting fancy restaurants and cool clubs, I felt empty inside. Unhappy. It took almost getting killed in a car crash to realize my life wasn’t going in the right direction.”

“I think I’ve seen this movie, Max,” said Dooley. “Wasn’t Nicolas Cage in it?”

“He was,” I confirmed, remembering the movieThe Family Man with fondness. Though in that particular movie it took meeting an angel for Nic to change his ways.

“So while convalescing I picked up a Bible the hospital pastor had been so thoughtful to gift me, and started thumbing through the thing. It wasn’t the kind of reading I was used to. Not exactly Grisham or Patterson. Still, I became intrigued, and over the course of the next couple of weeks I decided to turn my life around. Focus on feeding my soul, instead of my avarice. Spreading happiness instead of ROI. And Soul Science was born.”

“A cult,” Father Reilly grumbled.

“A way to share my newfound wisdom,” Omar countered. “I never wanted to launch a new religion, or a cult, or whatever. I simply wanted to bring people together and show them there’s more to life than simply collecting a bunch of material possessions.”

“You collected followers instead,” said the priest. “Isn’t that the same thing?”

“I admit I got carried away a little in my zeal to spread the word,” said Omar. “And for that I apologize. I don’t want to be a guru, or a new pope or modern prophet. All I want is to come together with a group of likeminded people and talk about our experience.”

“Well, you sure helped me,” said Jason. “No offense, Father Reilly, but he did.”