31906844db5c02010017a90f3f2ca805

“He loves his daughter, though,” said Dooley. “So maybe for her sake he wouldn’t have gone through with something like that.”

“Also a good point,” said Odelia, who was on fire now. And so was whatever she was cooking in the oven. Black smoke was wafting from the door and escaping into the room.

“Fire!” cried Brutus. “The oven is on fire!”

“Oh, no!” said Odelia, grabbing a towel. She yanked open the oven door, took out her dish and plunked it down on the ceramic cooktop then stared at it. It did not look edible.

At that exact moment, Chase walked in.“Hey, babe. Oh, hell,” he said, and hurried over to assist Odelia in handling this minor kitchen disaster.

“Hey!” suddenly shouted Harriet, and we all looked up, even Chase. “Will you listen to me?! How long?! Are these cats?! Going to stay here?! A week?! A month?! Or forever?!”

Chapter 15

That night, cat choir was a sad affair. Harriet, after flipping her lid, hadn’t wanted to come, and neither had Brutus, since he needed to stay home to appease his girlfriend. So it was just me and Dooley, and frankly we weren’t in the mood for a whole lot of singing and gossiping either. Not while there were three little ones at home wrecking the house and eating all of our food. Plus, we needed to figure out who would want to hurt Jeb Pott, and I didn’t think I was going to glean a lot of new information about Jeb or his ex-wife by shooting the breeze with Hampton Cove’s cat population.

Of course I was wrong.

The first clue I got that maybe we were onto something was when Clarice showed up for cat choir. Clarice is a feral cat who roams the streets of Hampton Cove for food and often stays out in the forest that edges our small town. She may be feral but she’s also our friend, which sometimes surprises me, as she’s one of those cats who eat rats whole without even bothering to chew. She simply gobbles them down, if you know what I mean. One moment they are there, and when you blink they’re gone. Down the hatch. It’s the weirdest thing.

“Boys,” she growled when she caught sight of us. “Have I got news for you.”

Clarice never had news for us. Not unless she got something in return. Like food.

“Hey, Clarice,” Dooley said. “We have kittens at home now. Three of them.”

Clarice shot Dooley a look that could kill, then continued,“Word on the street is that your grandmother has been popping pills like there’s no tomorrow.”

I laughed.“That’s ridiculous. Gran would never pop pills.”

Clarice wasn’t laughing, though. She didn’t even crack a smile. “Listen, you idiot. I’m only telling you this because your family has been good to me. Your human gave me a home, and even though I don’t care about a home, or the trappings of domestication, I still think the gesture was pretty cool. Soshut up and listen.”

I shut up and listened, and so did Dooley.

“There’s this guy. He’s selling all kinds of nasty stuff to your granny. And if she takes that stuff she’s going to fire up like a rocket and then she’s going to crash and burn, if you know what I mean.” She cocked a meaningful whisker at me and I nodded quickly.

“Oh, sure,” I said. “Go up and go down and crash and then burn. I get it. Totally.”

“Who’s going up, Max?” asked Dooley.

“Gran is going up because of something she bought off some guy.”

“Listen, you idiots,” Clarice snarled. “Your Granny has to be stopped. That stuff isn’t candy. And if she keeps taking it she’s going to die, understand?”

I laughed a light laugh.“Oh, Clarice. You don’t know Gran like we do. That woman is indestructible.”

“Yes,” laughed Dooley, as lightly as I did. “She can’t be destroyed, even if you tried.”

“Listen!” Clarice growled. “You morons aren’t getting what I’m saying. Granny is in danger. And now I’ve said too much already.”

“Too much?” I had the feeling she hadn’t said a thing. “That’s all right,” I said. “We won’t tell a soul.” Mainly because I had no idea what she’d just said.

“Except Granny, of course,” said Dooley. “We’ll tell her about the rocket, won’t we, Max?”

“Oh, yes. We’ll tell her all about the rocket. And the up and the down and—”

“Don’t tell your granny!” Clarice hissed. “Tell Odelia. She’ll know what I’m talking about. Ecstasy!” she added emphatically, pointing towards the sky, then the ground.

We followed her movements keenly, staring first up and then down. I still had no idea what she was trying to say, but I was smiling and nodding as if I got the message.

“Copy that, Clarice,” I said, tapping my nose and giving her a meaningful wink.

“Oh, why do I even bother?” Clarice grumbled, then stalked off again, leaving behind two very bewildered cats.

“Did you understand a word she was saying?” asked Dooley.

“Nope. Something about going up and going down and crashing and burning.”

“I hate it when she speaks in riddles, don’t you?”

“Hate it,” I agreed.