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“So on the whole cats do have a better sense of smell than dogs,” Dooley concluded.

Harriet perked up at this.“Now you’re talking.”

“Though the best noses belong to rats. They beat cats and dogs paws down.”

“There are the dogs now,” I said. “Let’s see what they found.”

Fifi and Rufus came trudging up, followed by a small contingent of about fifteen canines.

“Nothing,” Fifi said the moment she arrived in our midst. I dutifully translated her message for Odelia, whose face sagged.

“Not a single clue?” I asked.

“Nope. If this Addie person was ever in these woods, I didn’t pick up anything.”

Edward Dexter had, on Odelia’s instigation, handed her a T-shirt that belonged to his daughter, and Odelia had held it out for the dogs to sniff, preparatory to their excursion.

“I didn’t get nothing either,” said Rufus. “And now we missed a whole day of training for our show.” He didn’t look happy, and neither did Fifi, though the latter wasn’t overly concerned about the show, it seemed. And as she drew me aside, she explained why this was.

“I’ve decided not to take part in the show,” she said.

“But why?” I said. “I thought you were so excited?”

“I was, until I saw one of those shows on TV. It’s just a bunch of show dogs, isn’t it?”

“Well, yes,” I said. “That’s the whole point.”

“I don’t want to be a show dog. Being primped and prepped, and having to jump through hoops like a moron? No, thank you very much. It’s just so degrading, Max. As if all we’re good for is to look pretty in front of a crowd. Now if they’d ask me about the books I like to read, or the songsI like to sing, or even my political views or my personal philosophy. But no, it’s all about good looks. Yuck.”

She returned to the rest of the pack, who were delivering their progress report to Harriet, who dutifully translated everything to Odelia. It soon became clear that there actually wasn’t all that much to report. And so the briefing was over very quickly, and then it was time to head on out and return home.

As Dooley and I rode in the car with Odelia and Chase, and so did Harriet and Brutus, along with Fifi and Rufus, we talked about the bum we’d caught in the woods, and how we’d almost ended up in his pot. And as Dooley related the story in vivid detail, I couldn’t shake the feeling this meeting meant something.

But what? And why?

CHAPTER 32

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“I’m worried, Scarlett,” said Vesta as they traveled back in her car—or rather her daughter’s car, which she had more or less confiscated. “And I’m troubled.”

“Me, too,” Scarlett said as she checked her feet. She turned to Tex, who was riding in the back. “Can you give me something for these, Tex, sweetie? I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to walk again.”

“I’ll take a look at them later, if you want,” said Tex, who seemed a million miles away.

“My mind is not at ease,” Vesta continued what practically amounted to a monologue, since Scarlett was only concerned with her painful feet, and Tex might just as well have been on a different planet for all the attention he paid her. “Odelia acted as if she didn’t know what I was talking about, but I’m not fooled. No, sir, I am not.”

“Did you just call me sir?” asked Scarlett as she massaged her feet.

And then it hit her.“You know what we should do? Go straight to the source! Yes, sir!”

“Again with the sir,” said Scarlett. “And what source are you talking about?”

“The source of trouble, of course. Clearly Odelia has been seduced by this billionaire, and so he can just as easily disseduce her, or is it unseduce?”

“Neither, I would say,” said Scarlett.

“What do you think, Tex?” asked Vesta.

Tex once again emerged as if from a dream.“Mh?” he said.

“I said we should go straight to the source of the problem. Root it out.”

“Excellent idea,” said Tex. “Chop off their heads, you think? Smush them?”

“I wish,” said Vesta. “But Alec wouldn’t take kindly to his mother chopping off the head of a billionaire. No, we just have to find something we can hold over the guy.”

“Blackmail, you mean?” asked Scarlett, who’d fished a toffee from the glove compartment and was sucking on it with visible delight.

“I wouldn’t call it blackmail, exactly. So what do we have on the guy?”

“Nothing,” said Scarlett. “As far as I can tell, Edward Dexter is squeaky clean.”

“Wasn’t there a scandal of some kind? Something about insider trading?”

“I wouldn’t go there, if I were you, Vesta,” said Scarlett. I don’t even understand what that is all about, much less use it to make the guy break up with Odelia.”

Tex once more emerged as if from a trance, shaking his head like a dog.“Wait, what? Who’s breaking up with Odelia?”

“Oh, do pay attention, Tex,” said Vesta. “We’re trying to find something we can use to make Dexter break up with Odelia. Only we don’t know him well enough.”

“No, I guess we don’t,” said Tex, and once more returned to la-la land.