57aacbcd9598439b495cce0c68035a7c

“I think it might take my cats a little while,” I said. “They look pretty shocked.”

The visit over, we all returned to the car and Chase drove us home. And we’d just turned the corner to our street when Max said, “Whenever you and Chase want to have a baby, it’s fine with me and Dooley.”

I laughed.“Maybe you’re ready, but I’m not, Max.”

“What was that?” asked Chase.

“I think Max and Dooley have baby fever.”

He smiled.“I have baby fever.”

“Me too,” Uncle Alec chimed in.

The snow was coming down hard now, and all around us the world had turned white. Twinkling lights indicated Christmas was almost upon us, and I suddenly felt happy. I hugged Max and Dooley, who’d jumped up onto my lap.

“If you have a baby, are you still going to keep us?” asked Dooley.

I rubbed him behind his ear.“Of course I’m going to keep you. You’re my babies, too.”

“Odelia is talking to her cats again,” said Chase, shaking his head.

“You’re just going to have to get used to it, Chase,” said Uncle Alec.

“Oh, but I am,” he said. “In fact soon enough I may start talking to cats myself!”

“I hope not,” I said softly. “Cause then you’ll discover all my secrets.”

“Don’t worry, Odelia,” Max said. “Dooley and me will guard your secrets with our lives. Isn’t that right, Dooley?”

“Damn skippy,” said Dooley. “We will take your secrets to the grave!”

“Please don’t mention the word grave,” Max said with a shiver. “It gives me the creeps.”

“We will take your secrets to cat heaven!”

“Cat heaven?” asked Chase with a frown. “Did someone just mention cat heaven?”

Max, Dooley and I shared a look of alarm. Uh-oh… Had Chase just overheard a cat convo? Now that would be a first.

Chapter 12

The next day was the day before Christmas, and I decided to go into the office to give Dan the bad news in person. I’d waited until the last minute, hoping the Mayor would change his mind and answer one of the many messages I left on his phone, but no such luck. Dan wasn’t happy. He said it was a disgrace that the only newspaper in town did not have the scoop on the new Santa. More than that, though, I thinkhe was offended that he’d been replaced, probably for the first time in his life.

When I left the office, I ran into Chase.“I’ve been looking for you,” he said, and his face was flushed. “I’ve got a lead on my grandpa. Guess where he is?”

“The hospital?”

“Right here in Hampton Cove! Someone saw him get on the Jitney two days ago, headed for The Hamptons. I talked to the dispatcher and they have him on the nine o’clock bus to Hampton Cove. The bus picked him up at 59th, between Lexington and Third. So I got in touch with the driver and he says he remembers him. Says he got off at the Hampton Cove stop and was met by some guy.”

“What guy?”

Chase shook his head.“No description. All he remembers is he was wearing a Knicks cap.”

“That narrows it down. So what do we do now?”

“No idea.” He looked unhappy. “Why would my grandfather come to Hampton Cove and not get in touch with me? It doesn’t make sense. The only thing I can think of is that he wanted to surprise me. Spend Christmas with me. But then he met Knicks Cap Guy and vanished into thin air.”

“First the well-dressed man and now this guy. Your grandfather keeps running into suspicious men.”

“And ends up disappearing.”

“But someone must have seen him.”

“I talked to some people but no one remembers. Which isn’t surprising. The stop is on Main Street. It’s a pretty busy place.”

“None of the shopkeepers remember anything? Wilbur Vickery?”

“Nope.”

“Looks like we both struck out. I still have no idea who the new Santa is and you lost your grandfather.” In the grand scheme of things, it was more important to find Chase’s granddad, though. Santa would be revealed tonight. His grandfather just might have run into the wrong people and be inbig trouble.

“I can’t believe this,” he said, shaking his head. “He came here to see me and now he’s gone.”

“We’ll find him,” I promised. “Somehow we’ll find your grandfather, Chase.”

He gave me a hopeful look.“You think so?”

“I know so,” I said with more conviction than I was feeling.

“If anyone can find him, it’s you. I’ve never met a better detective than you, Odelia.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said with a grim smile. I wasn’t sure it was warranted, though. In fact I had only one more card to play. The feline card.

[Ęŕđňčíęŕ: img_2]

I was working on my article about Santa, what little I had gathered, when there was a soft scratching sound at the glass sliding door. I looked up, and when the scratchy sound was joined by a soft mewling, I smiled. My feline squad had returned from their mission. I just hoped they’d been able to accomplish more than me and Chase had.