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By the time Odelia had hurriedly spat out her toothpaste and talked to the famous woman, her eyes were shining with anticipation, and even Chase sat up a little straighter.

It isn’t every day that celebrity royalty rings you up and tells you they need you and can you please drop everything and fly out to LA, all expenses paid, to take on a case.

Odelia had sputtered for a while, claiming she wasn’t qualified, that she was just a local reporter and not some famous detective, but Opal Harvey can be very convincing, and if that hadn’t sealed the deal, the paycheck she’d dangled in front of Odelia like a carrot to a donkey had certainly helped. The moment Opal got off the phone Odelia was jumping up and down, chanting, “We’re going to LA! We’re going to meet Opal Harvey!”

Chase had grinned like a little boy, as starstruck as Odelia. And I have to confess I wasn’t averse to meeting the famous woman myself, if only she hadn’t lived on the other coast, and meeting her involved stepping onto a plane. We’d flown to England not that long ago to meet real royalty, and even though the plane hadn’t crashed, that didn’t mean it couldn’t happen the nexttime. You have to respect the odds and I wasn’t taking any chances. We’d survived a plane ride once, I wasn’t willing to tempt fate by going again.

As luck would have it, though, Chase was flying to LA himself, and even though he was booked on a separate flight, and probably not first class, my mind was at ease: Chase would be there to assist Odelia, and from the looks of things, so would Grandma Muffin.

“And? What did she say?” asked Gran eagerly. As a big fan of daytime television—her love for soap operas is legendary—she was dying to meet the one and only Opal.

Odelia smiled.“Opal says it’s okay. You can come.”

“Yippie!” said Gran, and did a little jig in place. “I knew she’d agree!”

“Great,” I said. “That means we don’t have to go.”

“Oh, you’re going,” said Odelia.

“But, Odelia!”

“You’re going,” she said, “and you’re going,” she told Dooley, “and you’re going,” she said as Harriet walked in through the pet flap, “and you’re going,” she finished when Brutus entered on his mate’s heels.

“Going where?” asked Harriet.

“We’re going to LA, baby!” Gran cried.

Chapter 2

“Did you really have to take all of them?” Gran grumbled.

Odelia smiled.“It was your idea to bring all four of them along, remember?”

“I’m not talking about the cats. I’m talking about those losers over there,” said Gran, jerking her thumb in the direction of the rest of the company.

When Odelia talked to Opal on the phone, the talk show host had assured her she could bring whomever she wanted. She was sending her private jet to pick them up, and since it could hold at least a dozen, she could bring along any pets, grannies or other next of kin. As long as she made her way to LA pronto, since there was no time to waste.

Gran glared at Marge and Tex as they gave her a jolly little wave.

“I don’t get why they had to tag along,” she said, still grumbling. “What about Tex’s patients. What are they going to say?”

“The same could be said about you, Gran. You work at the doctor’s office, too.”

“They won’t miss me, but they sure as heck are going to miss Tex.”

Tex had called in his good friend Cary Horsfield, who worked as a doctor in Hampton Keys, and was his bandmate in The Singing Doctors, to take over for him while he engaged in this little trip out west.

“And what about Marge? She can’t just close up the library like that. People need their books. Reading is important.”

“The library isn’t closed, Gran. Marcie is taking over for a couple of days.”

Marcie Trapper was Marge’s neighbor, and didn’t mind helping out her friend.

“It’s not right,” Gran muttered. “Opal invitedus, not them.” She directed an icy glare at Chase and Uncle Alec, who’d unanimously decided to ditch their official cattle class ride and hitch a ride on Opal’s multi-million-dollar jet. It was a no-brainer, as they could travel in luxury, accompanied by their nearest and dearest—though Gran obviously didn’t feel the same way about her son and Odelia’s boyfriend joining them.

“How about you?” asked Odelia. “You brought a plus-one.”

Next to Gran, a handsome young man sat, staring out the window and sipping from a milk carton. He was dressed in skinny jeans and a tight T-shirt that accentuated his ripped physique. His blond hair was ruffled and blue eyes dreamy.

“You haven’t even introduced us yet,” Odelia added. She reached across her grandmother and thrust out her hand. “Hi, my name is Odelia. I’m Vesta’s granddaughter.”

“Oh, hi,” said the young man, then shook Odelia’s hand and gave her a confused smile. “Did you say you’re Vesta’s… granddaughter?”

“That’s right. And that’s my mom and dad over there. And that man over there is Vesta’s son Alec—my uncle. And the guy next to him is Chase Kingsley. My boyfriend.”

“Oh, um…” He directed a hesitant look at Gran. “I thought you said you had no family, Vesta? That you were too young and wild to settle down?”