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Odelia was still engaged in a discussion with Edward Dexter, jotting down a few more details about his daughter and her boyfriend, but Dooley and I were one step ahead: we were already thinking how we could be instrumental in finding this lost daughter.

“I guess a person could disappear anywhere,” I said. “Especially if that person didn’t want to be found.” We exchanged a meaningful look.

“You think Addie Dexter and her dad fell out and now she doesn’t want him to find her?”

“It’s certainly a possibility,” I said. “Maybe their relationship wasn’t as harmonious as Mr. Dexter is leading us to believe, and Addie felt the only way to sever the relationship with her parent was to disappear. You have to understand that a man like Dexter has a lot of resources at his disposal to track down his daughter, so she would have to come up with a plan if she didn’t want to be found.”

“But they seem to get along so well, father and daughter. And he’s even training her to be his successor.”

“Well, maybe that’s the whole point, Dooley. Maybe Addie doesn’t want to be his successor, but he’s forcing her to follow in his footsteps.”

“Maybe she wants to be a juggler instead,” said Dooley.

I eyed him with a touch of skepticism.“Why a juggler?”

“Why not? Maybe she joined a traveling circus and is now living the dream as an anonymous juggler named Jackie. Jackie the Juggler.”

“And what about her boyfriend? Is he a juggler, too?”

“No, he’s probably a clown.” He sighed and gave me a fervent sort of look. “I’ll bet they’re very happy together, Max. Living in their circus caravan, surrounded by a warm and loving community of other circus artists, just like them.”

“Mh,” I said, though I had to admit it was certainly something we needed to look into. It wouldn’t be that hard to find out if a circus had traveled through town. Perhaps they were still in town, and Addie was performing her juggling tricks in plain sight for the whole world to see. Though she would have to disguise herself, of course.

“If she has joined the circus, I think we should respect her choice and not tell her dad,” said Dooley, getting ahead of himself a little. “I think we owe it to this young couple’s future happiness. And Mr. Dexter will simply have to find himself a different person to succeed him at the head of his multi-billion-dollar corporation.”

“Yes, well, there’s also the other possibility,” I pointed out.

“What possibility?”

“That foul play is involved.”

He gaped at me.“You mean…”

“That Addie Dexter has come to harm, and is now wounded or… dead.”

He clasped a paw to his furry face, a look of distinct shock in his eyes.“Oh, no!”

“Oh, yes. When a person is missing for so long, and no ransom demand has been made, it’s possible that something happened to her and she’s dead. Could be that Addie and Ted were in the wrong place at the wrong time, bumped into some bad people, and were murdered, the murderers having disposedof the bodies.”

“Oh, Max, we have to find her body! We owe it to her grieving father to bury his daughter!”

And gone was the notion that Mr. Dexter was in fact the bad guy, driving his one and only daughter to face an uncertain future as a traveling juggler. At any rate, it was a mystery we certainly could be instrumental in solving. Cats are part of a large community, and so if Addie Dexter had passed through town, chances were that one of our kind had seen her, and so it behooved us to find out what had happened to the missing girl.

“One last thing, Odelia,” said Mr. Dexter. The meeting was coming to a close, and the billionaire and Odelia had risen to their feet and Dooley and I to our paws. “This is very important. Could you conduct your investigation in absolute discretion, please?”

“Of course.”

“For now, don’t write about Addie’s disappearance in your paper. You’ll notice that I haven’t launched a public appeal. I haven’t gone on television or to the papers, and for good reason. Once people find out about what happened, this town will be overrun with fortune seekers. The fact that Addie is my daughter will bring out the worst in people. And trust me, I’ve seen it happen before, and it’s the last thing I want.”

“You mean people will try to cash in on a possible reward?”

“Oh, absolutely. It’s going to be a gold rush, and before you know it, hundreds or perhaps thousands will flock to Hampton Cove, destroying potential clues and hampering your investigation.”

“I’ll be discreet,” Odelia promised. “I will only confide in people I absolutely trust, and won’t tell anyone anything they don’t need to know.”

“Thank you so much,” said Mr. Dexter, and I could tell that he was touched, as he held onto Odelia’s hands and shook them warmly.

“Oh, look, Max. It’s Gran,” said Dooley.

And indeed: through the window that offered an excellent view of the outside dining area, Gran was staring intently in our direction, her face practically plastered to the glass, and looking none too pleased for some reason.