d5e426eccb138e04dab909926b2752c6

“It’s fine. She had to find out sooner or later, and maybe better sooner than later.”

“I hope you told her to keep this between ourselves?”

“Of course. Charlene isn’t going to talk—you don’t have to worry about that.”

Marge glanced up at her big brother.“Something else bothering you? I mean, apart from the burglary, the attempted catslaughter and the fact that your girlfriend just discovered that your sister, niece and mother can talk to cats?”

“There’s talk of a new shopping mall,” he said. “She’s looking at the application.”

“But we already have a mall.”

The next town over, Hampton Keys, had a great mall, which was only a twenty-minute drive away. It had been servicing the neighboring towns of Hampton Cove and Happy Bays for years, with no one asking for a second shopping center to be built.

“Yeah, I know.”

“A mall is going to destroy Main Street.”

“I know.”

“It’s going to attract a massive amount of traffic, all rolling through town.”

“I know, I know.”

“And tourists.”

“Marge—”

“Tourists that are going to run roughshod over our peaceful little town.”

“Look, I know all that, all right? But it’s not my decision to make. Charlene is mayor, and it’s her responsibility to weigh the pros and cons and make a measured decision.”

“You can always give her a nudge in this or that direction, though, right?” asked Marge, giving her brother a nudge with her elbow.

“Oh, I’ll nudge her plenty. Question is, is she going to listen?”

And that’s what worried him: if she chose to go full steam ahead with this new mall development, and he was dead set against it, it might create a rift between them that could be hard to bridge. Plus, he didn’t want to see their lovely little town fall into the hands of the kinds of developers who onlyhad quick—and big—profits on their minds.

“I’m sure it’ll all work out for the best,” said Marge now, always the picture of optimism. “So what are we going to do about the cats? They need protecting, Alec. In case this person comes back.”

“I’m not sure,” he said, rubbing his face thoughtfully. “It’s not as if I can ask a couple of uniforms to sit outside and guard the house twenty-four-seven.”

“Why not?”

“Honey, if I tell my people to guard four cats they’re going to think I’m crazy.”

“Mh,” said Marge. “Yeah, I can see how that would cause you all kinds of trouble.” Then her face lit up. “I’ve got it. Why don’t you ask Chase?”

“Chase?” he said with a twinge of alarm.

“Sure! He knows how much Max, Dooley, Harriet and Brutus mean to this family, right? And he’s a cop. And he lives right next door. It’s the perfect solution!”

“I don’t know if…”

“Chase!” Marge bellowed. “Come here a second, will you?”

Chase dutifully came striding over.“What’s up?” he asked.

“Tell him, Alec,” said Marge, hooking her arm through her brother’s.

“Tell me what?” asked Chase.

Alec cleared his throat.“The thing is, Chase, that this madman—well, it’s not entirely inconceivable that he could come back.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And we don’t want that, do we?”

“Oh, no, of course not.”

“So we need someone to be stationed at the house… to watch… the cats.”

“Great idea.”

“So we were thinking about you, Chase,” said Marge, patting the cop on the broad chest. “You wouldn’t mind, would you?”

“Me?” asked Chase, darting an anxious look at his superior officer.

But Alec held up his hands.“Look, someone’s gotta do it, buddy. And it might as well be you.”

“But, Chief!”

“You don’t want your girlfriend’s cats to be harmed, do you?”

“No, but…”

“Well, then.”

“But, Chief—what are the colleagues going to say?”

Chase’s colleagues would have a field day laughing their asses off, thought Alec, but instead he said, “We’ll simply tell them you’re staking out the house in case this arsonist comes back. No mention of the cats will be made.”

“But they’ll know, Chief. I don’t know how, but they’ll know that you’ve turned me into a glorified catsitter!”

He was definitely right about that.“Nah, I’m sure they won’t.”

“Yeah, they will!” said Chase. “I’ll be the joke of the force!”

“No, you won’t.”

“I think it’s mighty nice of you to volunteer for this task, Chase,” said Marge. “And I’m sure Odelia will be overjoyed, too, knowing you’re here to watch out for our babies.”

With these words, Marge walked off to check out that dresser the burglar-slash-arsonist-slash-cat killer had been so interested in.

“Chief?” said Chase, his voice a little tremulous. “Please?”

“It’s out of my hands, buddy,” said Alec. “And for it’s worth, I think you’ll do great.”

And then he walked off, too, leaving his deputy to stare after him looking crushed.

A man had to be made of stone not to feel sorry for the poor schmuck, but then sometimes you had to take one for the team, even though this particular team would probably start creating memes and post them on Facebook before the day was through.

Chapter 5

I found Dooley in the kitchen, staring at my water bowl for some reason.

“Everything okay, Dooley?” I asked.