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“Your dad is in jail,” said Odelia, “your mom and Fabio are in the hospital, and I’m here to search your dad’s room if I may.”

Alicia blinked as she processed this information, then her face lit up.“You found my mom?”

“Yes, I did. Or actually my cats did,” said Odelia. “They sniffed her out.”

“And my dad is in jail?” she asked, a little more subdued.

“I’m afraid he is. He’s the one who had your mother and Fabio locked up.”

“But… why?”

“It’s a long story, but what it all boils down to is that your father stood to gain a great deal of money by manipulating some zoning regulations. Your mother found out and had to be silenced, at least until he could carry out his plans.”

Odelia stepped inside, and told us to wait on the doorstep, which we dutifully did.

Ten minutes later, she came walking out again, holding up a large suit.

And when she unfolded the suit, we saw that it was… a werewolf suit!

Chapter 41

We were in Marge and Tex’s backyard, and Tex was manning his Webber Master-Touch super-grill again. There was nothing particularly super about his burgers, though, for even with Chase’s assistance they weren’t much to write home about. Tex is not a grillmeister, even though he desperately wants to be. The rest of the family copes while he practices his art. Marge, meanwhile, makes sure her family members are all well-provided for with actual edible food, and so everybody is happy. Tex, because he gets to show off his non-existent skills, and the rest of the family because they get to enjoy Marge’s excellentcooking. She, contrary to her husband, is a master at her craft.

“That’s love,” said Dooley with a sigh.

“What is, Dooley?” I asked.

“Marge allowing her husband to believe he’s a grill king.”

“I guess it is,” I said, as we watched Tex aim another patty into the neighbor’s backyard. He’d been improving, though. He used to aim them straight into Rufus’s maw, but now he also sailed a couple into Kurt’s backyard, where Fifi gladly gobbled them up.

“So the werewolf doesn’t exist?” asked Dooley. He still hadn’t gotten over the fact that this much-vaunted beast was a figment of Jock’s creativity and some careful planning.

“No, it doesn’t,” I said. “Jock and the Mayor and their friend who runs the county had decided they wanted to turn those old woods and those couple of shaggy farms into an industrial zone, which they could sell for a huge profit. Jock wanted to expand his farm, and that’s probably how theball got rolling. Once Mayor Dunham was elected mayor, and Jerome Winkle County Executive, they could organize this land grab through official channels. Only problem was that a couple of those farmers refused to sell, so that’s where the werewolf came in. They figured that if people were scared enough, they might be encouraged to sell out. Plus, if those werewolf sightings intensified, the value of people’s land would drop, making it cheaper to buy up.”

“But it looked so real,” said Dooley.

“Yeah, it did. Jock had the money to buy himself a top-of-the-line suit and mask.”

“I knew it wasn’t real,” said Brutus. “I knew there was something off when I first laid eyes on that thing.”

“No, you didn’t,” said Harriet. “You believed it was a werewolf just like the rest of us.”

“And just like Victor Ball and his neighbors,” I said.

“What a scheme,” said Dooley. “And to think I thought the Mayor was a good mayor.”

“Well, he wasn’t.”

“At least now Chief Alec will get to keep his job,” said Brutus.

“And Abe Cornwall,” Harriet added.

The Mayor and the County Executive had wanted to get rid of the Chief and the coroner when they discovered both of them had signed a petition protesting against the destruction of those woods. Rumors had started to fly about the rezoning and a petition was launched. It was enough to put Alec and Abe on the Mayor and the Executive’s blacklist.

“So have you convinced Kurt to buy his dog a litter box?” asked Marge now.

“He’s stubborn,” said Odelia. “He says it’s not natural, and he flatly refuses to get one. I told him I’d buy one for Fifi, but he says he’s not a charity case and besides, it’s the principle of the thing, not the money.”

“You got that right,” said Kurt, suddenly popping his shiny bald head over the hedge—apparently he’d snuck into Odelia’s backyard simply to eavesdrop on us! “Dogs aren’t meant to go on litter boxes. They’re meant to be free to do their thing.”

“But you have to admit, Kurt, that it is a little unhygienic,” said Marge.

“I clean up after her,” said Kurt stubbornly. “And that pavement sees a lot more unhygienic things than my dog’s poo-poo.”

“Still, she keeps using Harriet’s litter box,” said Marge. “And that has got to stop.”

“Maybe you should teach your cats to go out in the wild, like my Fifi,” said Kurt. “That way you wouldn’t need a litter box, or all that expensive litter. Have you considered that you need to get rid of that litter after it’s been used? You pay for the litter, and then you pay to get rid of it!”

He had a point, and Marge now acknowledged that he did.