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Finally Odelia reached the commotion. On the ground, her face frozen in a mask of shock, a young woman lay motionless, her eyes staring unseeingly up at the people all crowding around her. It wasn’t hard to figure out she was, indeed, dead, what with the big knife sticking out of her chest. Odelia recognized her as Dany Cooper. Her understudy.

Chapter 4

“So… I don’t get it,” said Dooley once I’d explained to him and Harriet why Odelia had been kissing this man.

Harriet rolled her eyes, but I cut in before she could launch a scathing comment.“What don’t you get, Dooley?”

“So it’s all right for humans to cheat on their significant others when the person they’re cheating with is an actor? Is that how it works?”

“Oh, Dooley,” said Harriet, unable to contain herself. “They weren’t really kissing. They were acting!”

“It looked like they were kissing to me,” said Dooley.

It looked like that to me, too.“They were only pretending to be kissing,” I said. “None of it is real. Like inGame of Thrones? When they cut off people’s heads, the way they do on that show, the actors still get to walk away when the scene is over. Heads attached.”

“Yes, but Odelia has to lock lips with this guy, right?”

“Right,” I admitted.

“I mean, it’s not CGI like inGame of Thrones. It’s her actual lips on this guy’s actual lips. And they’re actually kissing. Swapping bodily fluids and rubbing tongues and all that.”

“You don’t have to be so graphic about it,” I grumbled.

“No, but I’m right, right?”

“I guess so.”

“So what’s the difference between a movie kiss and a real kiss?”

Tough question.“Well, for one thing, a real kiss has emotion. Humans kiss each other because they love each other—like Odelia and Chase. This guy, that’s not real.”

“It looked real to me.”

“Yes, well, it’s not,” said Harriet snappishly. “So just drop it, will you?” She shook her head. “I can’t believe I’ve wasted my time on this nonsense. And I still haven’t been able to find Brutus, the reason I came to the park in the first place.”

We all looked around, as if fully expecting Brutus to suddenly pop up from behind a bush or a tree.

“I don’t know,” said Harriet. “I haven’t seen him all day. It’s not like him to go off without a word.”

“Why don’t we ask that nice dog over there to sniff him out?” Dooley suggested.

“That nice dog just threatened me,” I said. “So he’s not a nice dog at all.”

“But he is a dog, and dogs are known for their ability to find missing persons—and cats.”

We all turned to Scoochie. Dooley wasn’t the smartest cat in the world, but even not-so-smart cats get these sudden flashes of insight. Maybe now was Dooley’s turn for a flash.

“Are you nuts?” Harriet asked suddenly. “Why ask a dog to do a cat’s job? Our sense of smell is superior to that of a dog—didn’t you know that?”

“Um…” said Dooley, blinking.

“We have 200 million receptors in our noses, far more than any dog.” She tapped Dooley’s nose. “So repeat after me. We don’t need dogs. To suggest we do is ridiculous.”

“We don’t need dogs,” Dooley muttered meekly.

“We don’t need dogs,” I echoed.

“But if that’s true, why haven’t you been able to track down Brutus?” asked Dooley now, risking hide and hair to point out the fatal flaw in Harriet’s reasoning.

She narrowed her eyes at him, opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again.

“Dooley has a point,” I said, backing up my buddy.

“Hrmph,” was Harriet’s only response.

Just at that moment, there was a loud commotion nearby. Humans were converging on the scene, and even Odelia hurried to where a small group of other humans stood.

“Uh-oh,” I said. “Looks like something’s going down down there.”

“I don’t care,” said Harriet. When we turned to her, she explained, “I cared when I thought Odelia was cheating on Chase, because…” She bit her lower lip. “I’m starting to think Brutus is cheating on me.” She studied her paws. “There, I said it. Now make fun of me all you want.”

“We’re not going to make fun of you, Harriet,” I said.

“Yeah, we’re your friends,” Dooley chimed in. “We’d never make fun of you.”

Except when she was being unreasonable, which was a lot. Or when she was doing her diva thing again, which was also a lot. But apart from that? Never.

“Hey, you guys,” a voice sounded behind us. It was Tigger, a member of cat choir who lives near the park. “You gotta see this. Brutus is making out with some hot chick.” Then he caught sight of Harriet and gulped then quickly snuck away, clearly fearing her wrath.

“Brutus is making out?” Harriet said between gritted teeth. “Where? Come back here, you little weasel!”