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“So you think he made it all up to get into an argument with Harriet?”

“Wouldn’t surprise me.”

“Couples are weird,” said Dooley as we settled in on the park bench.

“And Harriet and Brutus are even weirder.”

We watched as the sun cleared the roofs of the houses surrounding the park and warmed our chilly bones. It wasn’t the same thing as waking up with my nose dug into Odelia’s armpit or neck, pawing her soft and silky hair, but it was better than freezing my tush off in a drafty tree and having to listen to Brutus and Harriet.

“Do you really think they’ll come look for us, Max?” Dooley said finally.

“I’m sure of it. They love us, and would never desert us. I mean, isn’t that what Odelia keeps telling us?”

“I know she says it, but actions speak louder than words,” said Dooley, dispensing a rare nugget of wisdom for once.

So we decided to settle in and wait for our humans to come look for us. I had to say this whole teaching-them-a-lesson thing was proving a lot harder than I’d imagined. It also meant giving up all of our creature comforts, but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make. We could rough it out for a couple of hours—or as long as it took for our humans to become aware of the fact that we’d disappeared.

A school kid was tacking up flyers on trees and lampposts, approaching us as he did. Both Dooley and I looked up expectantly.

“This is it, Max,” said Dooley excitedly. “They’re already putting up flyers telling people to look for us.”

The liberally pimpled kid with the carrot hair drew closer and we watched as he tacked a flyer on the lamppost next to our park bench. To my disappointment it didn’t depict a nice rendering of my blorange features or Dooley’s ragamuffin likeness, or even Harriet’s Persian beauty or Brutus’s black butchness but an urgent plea to buy one Axe Dark Temptation body spray for men and get a second one for free.

So we sank back down on the bench and decided to wait it out.

It wouldn’t be long now.

They’d come looking any minute.

Any minute now…

Chapter 16

Gran had been sleeping peacefully when she was awakened by a strange sound. It took her a while to realize the sound was her phone ringing. She frowned, put on her glasses and stared at the ringing annoyance. Finally, she reached out a hand and grabbed the damn thing. If this was a telemarketer trying to interest her in some insurance scheme or one of them damn robocalls, she was going to give them hell—and in case of the robocall she would file another complaint with the FTC—her one hundredth already.

But then she saw it was her granddaughter and her demeanor softened.

“Hey, honey, what are you up to?”

“There’s been a death here, Gran. Just wanted to let you know before you saw it on the news. It’s got nothing to do with me or Chase—we’re both fine.”

“A death? What death—who died?”

“One of the actresses committed suicide. She got into a fight with another actress, went to her room and drank a Coke laced with cyanide.”

“Strange way to settle an argument,” said Gran. “So who is she?”

“Kimberlee Cruz. She was the youngest—about to hit the big time.”

“Are you sure it’s suicide? Did Emerald Rhone dump the cyanide in her drink so she could wipe out the competition? Hollywood is a tough town.”

“Pretty sure. She was alone in her room with the door locked from the inside.”

“That doesn’t mean a thing,” said Gran. “Lemme get dressed. I’ll meet you there. It’s obvious you’re in way over your head and you need my help.”

“No, Gran, you don’t have to come. In fact please stay home.”

“Sounds like you’re begging me to come—don’t despair. I’m on my way.”

“I can handle this. Besides, Chase is here, Uncle Alec is here—it’s fine.”

“Are you telling your ailing old grandmother that she can’t share her final moments with her favorite granddaughter? Is that what you’re telling me?”

Odelia groaned, and Gran smiled. Emotional blackmail never failed. When you’re an old lady you have to play the cards you’re dealt. She then noticed something odd. No cats.

“Have you see Max and Dooley?” she asked.

“Why should I have seen Max and Dooley? They’re with you.”

“No, they’re not. Unless they’re downstairs, eating their fill.”

They were usually at the foot of the bed, or at least Dooley was, and now that Odelia was gone for the weekend, Max, too, had been extremely affectionate. She’d noticed his affection seemed to follow a hierarchy. Odelia was at the top, and in case she was absent, he shifted his devotion to the number two on his list, which was Gran, then Marge, then Tex, then Chase.

It had been like that since they had him, and the fact that he wasn’t there, and nor was Dooley, gave Gran a twinge of worry. Just a twinge, though, for food also featured pretty high on Max’s list of priorities. Higher than cuddles.

“They’ll probably be downstairs,” she repeated. “I’ll bring them along. Now that we’ve got a case to crack we’ll need all the help we can get.”

“Gran, no!”