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“Now I don’t even like her anymore,” said Dooley finally. “And I wish I hadn’t watched her lousy show.”

The show he was referring to wasBig Little Secrets, which had been a huge ratings hit and had apparently been watched by everyone and their cat. Now that the final episode had aired, the star cast of the show were meeting for the weekend at Emerald’s Hamptons home, on the outskirts of Hampton Cove. All five stars were going to be there: Kimberlee Cruz, Verna Rectrix, Abbey Moret, Alina Isman and of course Emerald herself. And Odelia and Chase.

Normally Dan Goory would have gone, as an old friend of Emerald’s, but since he had a prior engagement—he was doing a golf tournament in Scotland—he’d decided to send Odelia as his celebrity emissary instead.

Chase suddenly glanced over in our direction. I gulped a little. I know that Chase, Odelia’s cop boyfriend, doesn’t speak our language, but sometimes I wonder. The man is part of the family, after all, and you never know if Odelia’s gift of talking to her cats can be transferred by close association.

“So what do you guys think?” asked Chase now.

“Think about what?” I asked cautiously.

“Is she going to come out of this thing with her sanity intact or should we call off the whole thing?”

“Oh, Marge will fix her right up,” said Dooley. “She always does.”

Chase gave us a bemused look and chuckled lightly.“You guys are so funny. Do you know that before I met you I never even considered cats as intelligent creatures? I always thought that honor was reserved for dogs.”

Both me and Dooley bridled.“Dogs!” I said, stiffening. “Please don’t compare us with that foul and horrid breed, Chase. I mean, please!”

“Yeah, dogs are no match for cats,” Dooley added.

“No comparison,” I agreed. “Like, at all.”

Chase had narrowed his eyes at us.“Sometimes I wish I could understand what you’re saying. It almost strikes me as meaningful.” Then he shook his head. “What am I doing? Talking to a bunch of cats. I must be losing it.”

He was losing it, if he was comparing us to dogs. But I decided not to press the point. Chase was obviously under a great deal of stress. He was, after all, Odelia’s plus-one for this shindig, and probably just as nervous as she was.

Then again, he didn’t look nervous. In fact he looked as cool as a cucumber. A little bored, even. As if he wasn’t particularly looking forward to visiting acting royalty as much as Odelia was.

He finally heaved a deep sigh and checked his watch.“If she keeps this up we’re going to be late.”

Dooley eyed me meaningfully.

“No, Dooley,” I said. “We’re not going to ask Chase to take us along. For one thing, he doesn’t understand what we’re saying, and for another, he’s a self-declared dog person, and everyone knows dog persons aren’t exactly advocates for the rights of cats to join their humans wherever they go.”

“Please, Max,” he said. “The least we can do is try.”

I rolled my eyes.“Oh, all right.” So I tapped Chase lightly on the arm.

He looked up.“Mh?”

“Chase,” I said, enunciating clearly and deliberately.

“What is it, buddy?” he said, frowning.

This was good news. Maybe he could understand me after all?“Could you please tell Odelia she needs to bring us along on this weekend trip?”

“Yes, please, Chase,” said Dooley, giving the burly cop his best puss-in-boots look.

Chase eyed us both curiously for a moment, then laughed.“If I didn’t know any better I’d say you guys want to tag along this weekend, don’t you?”

“Oh, yes, please!” said Dooley eagerly.

He laughed again.“Fine,” he said finally. “I’ll take it up with Odelia.” He then got up and started pacing the living room floor. “What’s taking her so long? She could have packed for a year by now, let alone a weekend.”

Dooley and I shared a happy look. Chase was taking up our case.

Which meant we were going on a little trip after all!

Chapter 2

Odelia had navigated the streets leading out of town deeply lost in thought. It was only when she passed the sign welcoming people to Hampton Cove, the friendliest place in the Hamptons, that she finally realized Chase was talking. She’d been driving on auto-pilot for the past couple of minutes and now looked up. “I’m sorry, what were you saying?”

“I think your cats wanted to tag along,” he said, much to her surprise.

“My cats?” She cut him a quick sideways glance. “Did they… tell you that?”

It wasn’t possible. Only the women in her family had the gift of being able to talk to cats. Not even her uncle Alec could understand them.

“Yeah, they were putting on a real show while you were upstairs with your mother. Meowing or mewling or mewing or whatever the hell it is that they do.” He shook his head. “I gotta tell you, babe. Sometimes those cats of yours could almost pass for humans the way they go on. And the way they look at you! Staring with something akin to actual intelligence in those big eyes.”

“Well, cats are highly sensitive and intelligent creatures.”