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“Well, I hate to disappoint you, Mr. Davenport, for you do sound very passionate about this, but I’m afraid Harriet and Brutus are not for sale.”

She thought she could hear twin sighs of relief from Max and Dooley, but it was drowned out by the sigh of disappointment from the man in front of her.

“Three hundred,” he said now, breathing a little stertorously and eyeing her intently through lowered lashes.

“Absolutely not.”

He grimaced.“Five hundred, if you throw in that fat orange one over there and that skinny fluffball.”

This time she distinctly heard Max gasp in shock, and say,“Hey, buddy, for your information I’m blorange, not orange!”

“And he’s not fat, he’s big-boned!” Dooley added for good measure.

“I’m afraid I can’t accept your offer, Mr. Davenport,” she said, giving the man a cold look. Insult my cats, and you insult me, she thought. “And now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”

“I see,” said the man, and slowly rose to his feet. Then he leaned over the desk and fixed her with a steely look. “One thousand dollars. Take it or leave it.”

“I’ll leave it, and so can you,” she said, meeting his look and adding some frostiness to her own implacable stare.

He abruptly straightened, shook his head in distaste, and left her office without another word.

“Despicable man,” she murmured.

“Thank you for not selling us to that man, Odelia,” said Dooley.

“Yeah, I don’t think I like him,” Max added.

“I’d never sell you guys,” she assured them.

And just as she was getting ready to return to her article about last night’s burglary, the door opened once more and Davenport strode in again, walked straight up to her and showed her his phone for some reason.

“I took these pictures last night,” he said. “I believe they’re of your father.”

She found herself looking at the now familiar pictures of her dad in his funny boxers.“Yes, so what?” she said, getting really sick and tired of this odious man.

“If you don’t sell me your cats, I’ll make sure these pictures are on every social media network, and your father will be the laughingstock of the town. I believe he’s a doctor, so I assume he wouldn’t want his reputation dragged through the mud?”

“My dad’s pictures are already out there, buster,” she said icily. “And now if you don’t get out of my office, I’ll have you thrown out, is that understood?”

He stood there, wavering for a moment, then stalked out and slammed the door.

“What a terrible man!” Dooley cried.

“I guess it comes with the job,” said Odelia. As a reporter she’d met some really unpleasant people, but this guy definitely took the cake.

“I’m glad you kicked him out,” said Max.

“Yeah, if you hadn’t thrown him out, I would have bitten him in the patootie!” said Dooley, and showed her his teeth to prove he wasn’t kidding.

In spite of the recent experience, she had to laugh.

“Thanks, Dooley. It’s good to know you’ve got my back.”

“Always!” said the fluffy gray cat fervently.

CHAPTER 16

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Each time Odelia got stuck writing an article, she knew she could simply ask her boss Dan for his input. The man was probably as old as Methuselah and because of his advanced age, and his extensive experience, he knew pretty much everything there was to know about everyone in town, and a lot of others as well.

And so it was that she found herself in the editor’s office, listening to his sage advice. Dan leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers, his long white beard waggling as he chuckled amusedly. “Algis Twine. How about that? Do you know I wrote an article about that guy years ago? You’ll find it in the archives under the C for Crook.”

“So he’s a crook, is he, Laia’s dad?”

“I’m joking, of course,” said Dan. “Algis isn’t really a crook, in the sense that he made his fortune legally. Even though he didn’t start out as a businessman, it’s true that he did a great job building his empire. But if it hadn’t been for his wife Matilda, he would probably be injail right now. Or living in utter squalor.”

“Tell me all, Dan,” said Odelia with a smile, for she sensed that her editor was chomping at the bit to tell her a story.

“Once upon a time, Algis Twine was a lowlife thug, member of an extremist group that loved nothing better than to make trouble. They used to organize meetings and demonstrations, simply as an excuse to get into a fight with the police and bust some heads and crack some skulls. His nickname back then was The Bludgeoner, which tells you all you need to know about him. He was in and out of prison pretty much all through his teens, and it was only when he finally met a young IT student that he managed to turn his life around for the better.”

“Let me guess. Matilda Twine was the IT student.”