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“No, I don’t. I do have an alarm system, but obviously these people have a way of dealing with that, for I never got a peep from the thing—it’s an app on my phone.”

“Were you home when it happened?”

“No, thank God I wasn’t! I was having my nails done.”

Odelia turned to her husband.“Maybe that’s part of their MO. They follow their victims around, to make sure they’re not home.”

“It’s rare for burglars to break in during the daytime,” Chase explained to the stricken soap star.

“Well, they did. I arrived home to find the place turned upside down. Good thing poor Coco wasn’t home when it happened—I always take her along with me wherever I go.”

“And you don’t have any staff?” asked Gran, who’d been so star-struck she’d hardly spoken, which wasn’t her habit.

“I gave my staff the day off when I left for the salon.”

“So how did they know about that, I wonder,” said Odelia.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll find out,” said the star. She turned to Mayor Butterwick. “Can you give me your solemn word that you’ll find these crooks, Madam Mayor? Cause frankly I’m losing patience, and so is the rest of the community. Six breakins!”

“We’ll catch them,” said Charlene. “I have complete confidence in our Chief of Police.”

“Well, I hope you’re right,” said the woman dubiously.

A small white Bichon Frise had come tripping up and nodded to us in greeting. I had a feeling this might be Coco.“So you were out, too?” I asked.

“Yeah, I wasn’t here when it happened,” Coco confirmed. She was a soft-spoken mutt, and appeared nervous to be in the presence of so many people, which was a little odd for the dog of a television celebrity. She gave me a pleading look. “I hope you find these people. They took my favorite collar. The diamond-studded one I got for my birthday.”

“Do you like to wear a collar?” asked Dooley interestedly.

“Oh, absolutely,” said Coco. “You don’t?”

“No, not really,” said Dooley. “We wore collars recently for some experiment Odelia was conducting and I didn’t like it. You didn’t like it either, did you, Max?”

“Not really,” I admitted. “Collars itch.”

“You have to get the ones with the velvet on the inside,” said Coco, who proved herself something of a collar aficionado. “Those are very pleasant to wear. In fact I love wearing my collars so much I feel completely naked without them, to be honest.”

“Don’t worry, Coco,” I said. “Uncle Alec is very good at what he does, and so are Chase and Odelia. They’ll catch these people, and then you’ll get your collars back.”

“Is it possible I’ve seen you onGeneral Hospital?” asked Dooley now.

“Yes, you might have,” said Coco diffidently.

“I thought I had! Gran and I are big, big fans. We watch every episode, and Mrs. Emerald Brown is our favorite character on the show.”

“She’s my favorite character, too,” said Coco, not surprisingly. “And she managed to get me included in some of the episodes. At first the screenwriter turned me into a vicious attack dog who goes nuts and attacks her human, but Katrina put her foot down and said over my dead body. And so they turned me into this really sweet and lovely dog who follows her human around everywhere she goes. I’m going to have a very important part in one of the future episodes. I actually save my human’s life, when her office is set on fire by her daughter’s mentally deranged husband who goes on a killing spree, but fortunately for her I smell the smoke and I wake her up and save her life that way.” She smiled. “That was a lot of fun to film, though I was really scared for a moment. They use actual fire, you know, though we were never in any real danger, thank God.”

“Thank God,” I echoed, wondering what life would be like for a famous dog like Coco, being on television and getting to save her human’s life. Plenty of fun, I imagined.

But just then, Uncle Alec’s phone chimed and when he picked it up and his face suddenly clouded, I knew our interview with Coco was at an end. And true enough, the moment he disconnected and said, “There’s been a fire at Franklin High School,” and both Odelia and Chase snapped to attention, I turned to Coco and said, “That’s our cue.”

Coco chuckled lightly, and said,“That’s what my director says every time I have to do a scene. ‘This is your cue, Coco. And… action!’ So funny.”

Dooley, hanging on Coco’s every word, looked a little sad to be leaving so soon.

“Would you like to have my autograph?” asked Coco.

Dooley nodded six times in quick succession, and Coco tripped off in the direction of the next room, and when she returned was carrying a piece of paper between her teeth. She then dropped it on the floor in front of us and true enough, it was a paw print.

“Oh, thank you so much!” said Dooley. “I’ll ask my human to frame it for me!”

“Well, Dooley and Max,” said Coco, already looking a lot less diffident, “I guess I’ll see you around. And if you want an invitation to visit me on set, just say the word and I’ll try to arrange it with Katrina. Maybe you can even play a small part in a future episode.”