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“No, nothing like that,” Wallace said. “He’d just gotten some kind of powdery cheese dust all over the sleeve. I had to lick it off. It took a while.”

“Erm. Good work,” Oscar said, trying to ignore the way his stomach turned over. He was not a fan of cheese dust. “Did you put the shirt back in Mrs. Power Walker’s apartment?” He wasn’t sure how clean it would look after having cheese dust licked off, but he wasn’t going to be critical. It wasn’t like Wallace had access to laundry facilities.

Wallace nodded.“I put it on the floor behind one of the chairs. It’ll look like it fell off.”

“Wow, that must’ve been a lot of licking,” Marco said, eyeing the orange patch on Wallace’s cheek. He loved powdery cheese dust. “Is that what you’ve been doing this whole time?”

“Not exactly.” Wallace stared at the floor. “I, um. Well, I also moved out.”

“Moved out?” Marco gasped. “From Mrs. Power Walker’s apartment? But you just moved in!”

“You love Mrs. Power Walker’s place!” Polo said.

“Think of the brownies!” Butterbean yelped.

Wallace shrugged.“I know, you’re right. But I don’t trust those rats not to come back. So I screwed the vent cover back on so they can’t get in.” Wallace looked pained. “It’s just temporary. But I don’t want to risk them sneaking in and messing things up for me.”

“That’s probably smart,” Walt said, patting Wallace awkwardly on the head with one paw. She wasn’t sure she trusted those loading dock rats either.

“You can stay with us, if you need to,” Polo offered.

“Thanks. I checked all the vent openings to the other apartments,” Wallace said. “Just to be sure. That’s why I took so long. The basement vent’s still open, but as far as I know, there’s only one other apartment that’s accessible by vent besides this one. And I don’t think any rat would be stupid enough to sneak into that one.”

“Oh really?” the white cat emerged from behind the sofa with a scrawny wriggling rat in her mouth. “Ptttppheewww!” She spit the rat out onto the floor. It looked around wildly for a minute before spotting Walt and bolting back behind the sofa without a word. They could hear its footsteps echoing as it made its escape down the vent.

“I found that guy peeking into my living room while I was doing my warm-up dance routine,” the white cat grumbled. “Groupies. My concentration was ruined.”

“Who was THAT?” Butterbean gasped. “Did we know that one?”

Wallace shook his head.“I think that was Pocky? She’s always been a snoop.”

“Well, that’s not good,” Oscar said.

“No, it’s not,” the white cat said. “But trust me, we’ve got bigger problems now. Or rather, I have bigger problems right now.” She sat down and took a deep breath. “Look, I hate to do this. But I need your help. I’m desperate.”

Oscar blinked. He’d never seen the white cat look that way. “Of course. What’s happened?” It had to be something bad if the white cat was asking for help. He braced himself. He didn’t think he could take more terrible news right now. He was feeling a little overwhelmed, to be honest.

“Okay, thank you.” The white cat looked relieved. “Wait here.” She ducked behind the sofa and came out again carrying the bag of caviar treats she’d tried to give to Chad earlier.

“Now watch carefully,” the white cat said.

Walt shot a skeptical look at Oscar, who shrugged.

“This is so exciting!” Butterbean whispered, watching the white cat intently. She had no idea what was going to happen.

The white cat slowly pawed a treat out of the bag, bent down, and popped it in her mouth. Then she started to chew.

Slowly her face contorted into a twisted grimace. Tears popped up in her eyes, and one eyelid started to twitch. Her nose started to dribble. She smacked her lips and then plastered a painful-looking smile on her face.“MMMMMMM,” she purred. Then she turned and hacked violently behind the couch.

The animals looked at her in stunned silence.

“Um, what?” Walt finally said as the white cat reemerged, her eyes still watering. “What were we supposed to be watching, exactly?”

“THAT WAS SO EXCITING!” Butterbean barked. “WHAT DID YOU EAT?”

The white cat sat down nervously and cleared her throat.“So. Give me your thoughts. Did I give the impression that the treats tasted…”

“Like vomit?” Polo said. “Yes, absolutely.”

“Terrible? Horrible? What’s the word I’m looking for?” Marco tapped on his chin thoughtfully. “Repulsive? That one. Repulsive.”

“Was it POISON?” Butterbean squealed. “Did I guess right?”

“GOOD! I was going for GOOD!” the white cat wailed. “It was supposed to look like a tasty treat.”

“Um.” Polo made ayikes face at Marco, who made one back.

“I’m guessing it was not convincing,” the white cat said softly.

“In a word, no,” Oscar said.

“Was that acting?” Walt said. “Because I don’t think any of us were getting a ‘good’ vibe there.”

The white cat slumped against the couch.“Oh misery! This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me! Even I, with my amazing talents, can’t manage to make those disgusting treats look yummy. What am I going to DO? HELP ME!”