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And so the Poole family was now complete, and as Charlene looked from the burned-out chest to the four cats seated in front of it, she said,“Oh, the poor darlings!”

“It’s fine,” said Max with a reassuring smile.

“Yeah, we survived,” said Harriet with a nod.

“We were saved by Odelia and Chase,” intimated Brutus.

“And I’ll never pee in Max’s bowl again,” promised Dooley.

Charlene stared at the cats and uttered a startled laugh.“I keep telling myself that this is impossible—that no cats can talk to their humans—but then I see these guys and…” She shook her head. “At least they’re safe. That’s the main thing.”

Chapter 4

It was really weird for Charlene to watch Odelia, her mom and her grandma talk to their cats. She watched on, wide-eyed and with not a small sense of wonder, and when her boyfriend sidled up to her and asked, a little worriedly,“Everything all right?” she nodded wordlessly, then went on studying the interactions between man and beast, or, as in this case, woman and beast, feeling as if she’d suddenly landed in a Disney movie.

“Has it always been like this?” she asked. “I mean, has your sister always been able to talk to her cats, or…”

“Or did my mother drop her on her head as a baby and suddenly she became Chatty Cat Cathy? No, she’s always been like this,” said Alec with a smile. “Unfortunately only the women in our family have the gift.”

“Oh. So you don’t…”

“No, I don’t talk to cats, or dogs, or any other pets.”

She flashed him a quick smile.“I’m sorry, Alec. This is all pretty new for me, so….”

He scratched his scalp.“Yeah, I can imagine. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you at first. I was afraid you’d freak out and—”

“Run for the hills?”

“Something like that.”

“Well, I’m still here, aren’t I? Though I have to admit it’s going to take some getting used to.” She studied the fat orange cat named Max for a moment. He was busy chatting with his human, and Charlene shook her head. “How does it work, exactly? I mean, to me it just sounds like he’smeowing, but to Odelia it all makes sense somehow?”

“Yeah, I don’t know how it works,” said Alec with a shrug. “I just know it does.”

“No, but I mean, something inside her brain must be able to compute the sounds her cats make, right? Have you ever had it looked at? By a doctor or a brain specialist or something?” Or a linguist, she wanted to add, then realized that no specialist would be able to figure this out even if they’d believe it in the first place. She hardly believed it herself, still harboring the faint suspicion the entire Poole family was simply performing some kind of elaborate joke at her expense. But since that was even more ridiculous than the simple truth, she placed a hand on Alec’s arm and said, “It’s just a little weird, is all.”

“I know it is, honey,” said her big teddy bear of a police chief. “But trust me, you’ll get used to it.”

“Yeah, I guess I will.”

She finally dragged her eyes away from the strange spectacle, and said,“So do you have any idea who did this?”

“Not yet,” said Alec, a resolute look stealing over his face, the policeman replacing the boyfriend for a moment. “I’ve got officers canvassing the neighborhood as we speak, so it won’t be long before we start getting some useful information. Whoever this guy is, he must have been seen bysomeone.”

“I hope so. This is going to make a lot of people very nervous. A breakin in broad daylight, and attempted arson on top of that. Maybe we should give a joint statement—before all kinds of wild stories start going around and people really start to panic.”

“Good idea,” he said. “Though I’d prefer to wait until we know some more.”

“Deal,” she said, patting him on the beefy arm. “I have to get back. I’ve got a land development application on my desk right now that needs looking at.”

“A land development application? For…”

She grimaced.“A new shopping mall.”

Alec’s face fell. “A shopping mall—but Charlene!”

“I know what you’re going to say, and I hear you, but we still have to do this by the book, and look at it from every angle. A new mall doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, you know.” When he raised an eyebrow, she added, “Just trust me, all right?”

“All right,” he said, but it was obvious he wasn’t exactly bowled over by the idea of adding a shopping mall to the town landscape.

She waved to the rest of Alec’s family, and then took her leave. She hadn’t told her boyfriend, but the people pitching the plan for the new mall were actually coming in for a personal chat, and she couldn’t afford to be late for the meeting.

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Alec watched his girlfriend carefully navigate the attic ladder, disappearing from view, and he must have been frowning, for when his sister wandered over, the first question she asked was,“And? Do you still have a girlfriend or did she dump you?”

He smiled.“She’s sticking around… for now. Though the whole cat-talking thing really freaked her out.”

“I’m sorry she had to find out like this,” said Marge.