40b1ce81e27faee7f7dcd22da99b93e1

“Great. Then let’s get busy,” she said with a grateful smile. “You get as many of your friends down here as possible, and start combing this area directly in front of us, and Chase and I will coordinate the operation from…” She searched around, until her eyes landed on a derelict sort of cowshed. She made a face. “From right there,” she concluded.

“Grand HQ?” Chase grinned.

“That’s right. Grand HQ between the cowpats.”

“Let’s get this search party going,” said Chase, clapping his hands for some reason. Possibly to give himself some much-needed encouragement, for this rescue effort was going to be unusual—unorthodox, even.

Then again, what choice did we have?

And so we got busy rustling up cats!

CHAPTER 25

[Êàðòèíêà: img_2]

Getting a group of cats together is easier said than done. And getting them organized is even harder. Cats are notoriously individualistic creatures, who hate to be told what to do. And then there were the dogs, who would have to form an integral part of the team effort, if Odelia’s wishes were to come true. But dogs, unlike cats, don’t roam around happy and free. Most dogs are confined to their homes or kennels, or attached to their humans with something called a leash, which is to keep that human from getting lost.

But we had our orders, and carry them out, we would!

So we headed into town, where Chase would study reports of traffic accidents, and Odelia would get in touch with Edward Dexter, to give him the latest report.

Dooley and I, meanwhile, decided to go to church. No, not to pray for the wellbeing of these two young people, but to go and talk to Shanille. If there’s anyone in town who has managed better than most to rally a big group of cats to form a more or less harmonious unity, it’s her. I mean, if you can make dozens of cats sing in harmony, you can make them do anything!

Or at least that was the reasoning I was going with.

Okay, so I was a little desperate. Can you tell?

“You want me to do what?!” Shanille cried when we finally found her in the church garden, where she was eying a couple of birds with a distinctly malicious gleam in her eyes—not very Christian of her!

“We’re looking for this couple that went missing, and since the entire operation needs to be conducted on the down-low, Odelia had the brilliant idea to involve the cats of Hampton Cove, and make them search those woods.”

“And since you’re the leader of Hampton Cove’s cats,” Dooley continued my narrative, “we thought you would be the best cat to lead us.”

“You must be joking,” said Shanille, though I could see she was already softening. That stuff about being a leader to cats must have made her think.

“There’s only one cat in this town who can pull this off, Shanille,” I said.

“And that’s you,” Dooley said.

“And think about Addie Dexter.”

“And her poor dad.”

“He’s not exactly poor, is he, this billionaire of yours,” Shanille sputtered. “I mean, with all the billions at his disposal, can’t he employ an army to search for his daughter? Why do we have to do all the work? And besides, do you know how difficult it is to go through those woods? It could take days, or even weeks before we manage to cover that much ground.”

“Odelia reckons we need to limit our search to the area between the road and the lake.”

“But that’s huge!”

“I know, which is why we need all the help we can get.”

“All of cat choir would be a good start,” said Dooley, nodding.

“Mh,” said Shanille as she mulled this over.

Those birds were tweeting again, and I could tell it annoyed her to no end.

“You think this Addie Dexter is in those woods?”

“There’s a big chance that she is.”

“And how long has she been out there?”

“She went missing two weeks ago.”

“Mh,” she repeated, and did some more mulling. Finally, she said, “Okay, I’ll do it. But you do realize that this girl and her boyfriend might be dead by now?”

“Of course,” I said.

“We’re trying to stay positive,” said Dooley. “And so we like to think she’s fine.”

“Sounds like magical thinking to me,” Shanille grumbled, causing Dooley to give me a questioning look, which I returned with a look that said, ‘I’ll explain it later.’ First we had to get Shanille going, and going well!

The choir leader didn’t disappoint, though. It had taken some effort to convince her, but once she had made her decision, she acted with… well, with decision. She started gathering her troops, and sending us to gather some more. And soon we were going house to house to get as many cats together as we could. Meetingplace: the park.

Dogs were a different matter. Shanille might be a leader of cats, but she staunchly refused to also be a leader of dogs. Still, I had a remedy for that. Our secret weapon, so to speak. You see, the dogs of Hampton Cove have formed their own choir. It’s not as big or as professional as cat choir, obviously, but it’s expanding with leaps and bounds, so to speak. And as it happens, Fifi and Rufus are both card-carrying members of this dog choir, as they have named it.