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“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” said Uncle Alec. “As far as I can tell there’s no blood here, but there are signs of a struggle, so I’m going to let the forensics people do a full sweep. See what they come up with. And now I want to have a little chat with the husband and see what he has to say for himself.”

Marge and Odelia shared a look of pride.“Can we come, too?” asked Marge.

“I think it’s best if Chase and I take over from here,” said Alec. “The thing is…” He sighed. “The Mayor has been breathing down my neck. And if I don’t do things according to the rulebook, he might have the perfect reason to kick me off the force.”

“He wouldn’t do that, would he?” asked Marge, shocked.

“Oh, yes, he would.”

“The Mayor offered me Alec’s job this morning,” said Chase.

“Oh, my God, Alec—he can’t do that!”

“He can and he did. And you know what? Maybe it’s for the best. I’m sure Chase will make a fine chief.”

“But what are you going to do?”

Alec shrugged.“Take up fly fishing? I don’t know. I’ll figure it out.”

Odelia stared at her uncle. It was hard to imagine Hampton Cove without its iconic chief of police. And Chase as the new chief? She was pretty sure he didn’t want the job. At least that’s what he always told her.

“Look, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” said Alec. “Right now I’m still in charge, and our priority should be to find Grace and Fabio. So let’s get cracking, shall we?”

“Funny,” said Dooley. “I didn’t know Uncle Alec was a CCREC’er, too.”

Odelia and the others all left the cottage, and then she watched as Chase and Alec got into their squad car and drove off in the direction of the main house. Alec had asked Marge and Odelia to stand guard outside the cottage until county coroner Abe Cornwall arrived so they did.

“I can’t believe this,” said Marge. “Alec retiring. And Chase the new chief. Did you know about this, Odelia?”

“No, I didn’t,” she said. “Looks like this all played out this morning.”

“This new mayor Dirk Dunham is terrible,” said Marge. “A disgrace to our town.”

The previous mayor had been forced to resign over a food scandal, and the new mayor had managed to squeeze in the door with a narrow majority. He’d promised to clean house, and apparently he was keeping his promise, only not in a good way.

Odelia decided not to let these events prey on her mind, though, so she crouched down and said,“So tell me all about this new venture of yours, you guys. What’s the CCREC and why is Gran involved?”

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We told our story and we told it well—at least I like to think we did, for Odelia and Marge uttered several cries of ‘No way!’ and ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’ which I took to be a sign our story really gripped. Finally, when we were done, Marge and Odelia shared a look of determination.

“Your grandmother has done it again,” said Marge. “She’s going to antagonize this entire town, and turn them against your uncle.”

“Only thirty percent,” said Dooley, “according to Gran’s calculations. Sixty percent will be over the moon.”

“So the Mayor wants to fire Uncle Alec, and Gran wants to turn Uncle Alec into the new mayor. This is going to be a disaster,” said Odelia.

I’d offered my subsidies plan to help support the peaceful transition from a poo-on-the-sidewalk economy to a litter-box model, but Odelia had shot it down with much the same argument Dooley had employed. Those seventy percent non-dog owners would never be enticed to pay for the litter boxes of the thirty percent dog owners.

“Look, I think they’ll happily pay just to prevent stepping into dog doo,” I said now, offering up my final and best argument. “It’s a good plan.”

“It’s not going to fly, Max,” said Marge.

“It doesn’t have to fly,” I said. “It just has to pass the council and then we’ll all be able to walk the streets without being afraid to step into doo.”

Marge gave my neck a tickle, which I usually like, but now, in the heat of my argument, it felt patronizing and I told her so in no uncertain terms.

“It’s a noble plan,” she said, “but it’s not realistic. You can’t force people to adopt a policy, and you can’t force them to pay taxes for something they don’t see the point of.”

“What you can do is fine the people who don’t clean up after their dogs,” said Odelia.

“And employ those big dog poop vacuum cleaners,” said Marge.

“Dog poop vacuum cleaners?” asked Dooley. “What do they do, Marge?”

“I think that’s pretty obvious, Dooley,” I said. “They vacuum dog poop. I still think my dog litter tax plan—”

“Drop it, Max,” said Odelia. “It won’t fly.”

“It doesn’t have to fly!” I stubbornly repeated, but my humans had stopped listening. They had other fish to fry—or grandmothers.

“We have to stop your grandmother, honey,” said Marge. “Before she ruins Alec’s reputation and proves that horrible Mayor Dunham right.”

“Yeah, she doesn’t realize it, but she’s playing straight into his hand,” said Odelia.