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“But we’re practicing!” said Rufus when we joined him and Fifi in the backyard of Marcie and Ted.

And so they were: Rufus was standing on top of a plastic bucket, balancing on one leg, while Fifi was walking a plank, and trying not to totter into the abyss.

“A girl is missing,” I said.

“And the girl’s boyfriend,” Dooley added.

“And it’s important that we find her.”

“But if we don’t practice now, we’ll never stand a chance!” said Rufus.

“Rufus, what’s more important,” said Fifi, hopping down from her plank. “The life of a missing girl, or some stupid cup?”

Rufus thought entirely too long about this simple dilemma, but finally admitted,“I don’t even want a cup. I mean, where am I going to put it? I don’t have a mantelpiece. Though that year’s supply of kibble sounds pretty good.” He directed a pleading look at Fifi, but the latter was implacable.

“We’re looking for that girl,” she said.

“And her boyfriend,” Dooley reiterated.

“Fine,” said Rufus sadly, as he stepped down from his bucket. “If you say so.”

“We can practice tonight, Rufus,” said Fifi. “In fact if you want we can practice all night.”

“Oh, goodie,” said Rufus. “I think I’m almost there. Now if I could only remember the correct sequence of the routine—that’s the hard part.”

And so it was that a large group of cats, and a smaller but still impressive group of dogs, gathered in the park that day. Young mothers watched this army of pets approach and grabbed their kids and skedaddled, while others snapped pictures on their phones.

And then Shanille climbed to the top of the jungle gym and cleared her throat.

It was time for her to deliver a speech.

Fire up those troops.

Tell them what was what!

“Boys and girls!” our fearless leader intoned, gesturing for the crowd to be quiet, “today marks a momentous occasion. The moment we’ve all been waiting for: our humans have treated us with kindness, fairness, and an abundance of kibble. Now the time has come to return the favor.”

“I’m not sharing my kibble!” a cat shouted, much to the amusement of the others.

Shanille gestured for silence once more.“We’re not giving them our kibble,” she said, just to make matters perfectly clear from the start. “But we are giving them our time, the excellent sniffing powers of our noses, and our capacity to find what we’re looking for. And if you don’t know what I’m talking about: when have youdogs ever not found a buried bone?”

Loud cheers from the canine contingent greeted these words.

“And cats, when have you ever not found that last piece of kibble that managed to get wedged in behind the cupboard?”

More cheers, this time from the cats.

“And so today our humans have asked for our help, and by golly, we’re going to give it. A girl has gone missing.”

“And her boyfriend!” Dooley piped up.

“And so we’re going to search those woods. We’re going to look under every branch, behind every tree, and under every rock until we’ve found them. And when we do, we can rest easy in the knowledge that we made a difference, and possibly saved a life. Or two,” she added, with a nod in Dooley’s direction.

I’d never heard anyone compare a missing person with a piece of kibble stuck behind a cupboard, or a buried bone, but her words didn’t miss their effect. This group was fired up! And as they all cheered, she descended from her makeshift throne, looked on by stunned and mystified ladies and gentlemen, the regular visitors of the park, and we all moved out, singing a pleasant song as we did, with Harriet taking up the soprano part, as usual.

If Addie and Ted were in those woods, we’d find them—or die trying.

Okay, so maybe not. But we’d definitely give it our best shot!

CHAPTER 26

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“What is that daughter of yours up to, I wonder?” said Vesta.

Tex, who’d been organizing his files—he still kept paper files on all of his patients, even though he probably should have digitized everything by now—looked up. “What do you mean?”

“Harriet told me this morning that Odelia is going to spend all day out in the woods. Said it had something to do with Edward Dexter.”

“Oh, not again,” said Tex. “I thought you said it was all over. That it was just a fling? A momentary weakness?”

“That’s what I thought, especially when I saw Odelia and Chase so happy together last night. But now I’m not so sure.” She gestured vaguely in the direction of the window. “You know that your daughter is out there right now? In those woods with Edward Dexter? And we all know what happens to innocent young girls when left alone in the woods with some horny old dude.”

Tex swallowed. Simply picturing his one and only daughter traipsing in those woods with her billionaire lover brought back images of red riding hood paying a visit to the big bad wolf.“He wouldn’t…”

“Wouldn’t what?”

“Take advantage of the situation, now would he?”

“Oh, wouldn’t he? Show me a billionaire and I’ll show you a guy whose hormone levels are off the charts. How else do you think they collect all those billions?”

“Through hard work and diligence?”