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“Oh,” he said, and a warm glow suddenly expanded right across his chest. “That’s a big relief, Gran. That means I can probably start drinking water again.”

“What do you mean, you silly cat?” she cried. “You haven’t stopped drinking because of this thing, have you?” He gave her a sheepish look, and she laughed again. “Here, take this,” she said, and handed him her glass of water. “And I want to see you drink, you hear?”

So he drank, and then drank some more, and when the glass was half empty, Gran urged him to drink even more, and so he did.

It tasted good. And he was almost sure there was no pee involved this time. At least that’s what he hoped.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_3]

I was just about to head on out to cat choir when Odelia stopped me in my tracks.“Oh, no, you don’t,” she said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Where are you going?”

“Cat choir.”

“There’s a dangerous cat killer out there, Max, so I want you to stay inside tonight—and every other night until this guy is caught.”

“But it’s cat choir. I have to go.”

“No, you don’t.”

And then I gave her the kind of look only cats can muster. It requires a lot of practice, but I think I must have nailed it, for she said,“Oh, don’t give me that puss-in-boots look, you.”

“But it’s cat choir,” I said imploringly. “I want to go see my friends.”

“All right,” she said finally. “But on one condition and one condition only.”

“Anything,” I said.

Oh, boy. I probably shouldn’t have said that.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_3]

“Is he really going to follow us around everywhere we go from now on?” asked Harriet annoyedly.

“Yeah, that’s the condition,” I said.

We all glanced back at Chase, who was following us from a safe distance. He looked as annoyed as Harriet, or maybe even more so.

Odelia had told us not to engage with Chase, as he was going to try and catch this cat killer in the act, and so we had to lure the killer out so Chase could catch him unawares.

“I’m not sure Shanille will like this,” said Brutus. “She usually doesn’t allow humans.”

He was right. Cats usually don’t allow humans at their secret gatherings, and so Chase was in for a surprise: he would be the first human ever to attend cat choir. Not that the cop was looking forward to it, judging from the sour expression on his face.

“Why is he keeping his head down like that?” asked Dooley.

“Because he doesn’t want to be seen by the cat killer,” said Brutus.

“Or his colleagues,” I ventured. Odelia had told me Chase felt very nervous about being spotted by his colleagues whilst on cat guard duty. He apparently found it beneath himself, a homicide cop, to have to guard his girlfriend’s four cats. And he was afraid that if his colleagues caught him at it, they would start rolling around on the floor laughing.

He probably had a point.

“I think it’s going to be fun,” said Brutus. “Chase could even join in with the singing.”

“If you think this is going to be fun you’ve got another thing coming, Brutus,” said Harriet, who clearly hadn’t forgiven her mate. “Or you, Max. Or even you, Dooley.”

“What did I do?” asked Dooley, surprised.

“You lied to me—Brutus asked you to lie and so you did. And now I’m never going to be able to trust you again. Ever.”

“But why?” asked Dooley.

“Because you lied!”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did. You said it was you who peed in my bowl and it wasn’t.”

“But I was only trying to help Brutus.”

“Oh, Dooley,” said Harriet with a sigh. “Okay, so maybe I can forgive you. After all, you are a very naive cat, and I can see you meant no harm. But you, Max, I will never forgive.”

“I was only trying to stop you guys from breaking up,” I argued. “I hate it when you fight, and so I figured I might as well give it a shot.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have. In fact I want you to promise me you’ll never interfere in my love life again. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Harriet,” I said dutifully.

“Fine. Okay, so I can forgive you, too, Max, for you were only trying to help. But you, Brutus, I will never, ever be able to forgive you—ever! Is that understood?”

“But it was an accident,” argued the butch black cat.

“Six times is no accident, Brutus. In fact I’m starting to think you did it on purpose.”

“Why would I pee in your bowl on purpose?”

“I don’t know—because you’re weird like that?”

“I’m not weird like that!”

“Well, obviously you are, or else you wouldn’t have peed in my bowl—six times!”

I decided to leave Harriet and Brutus at it. Frankly I wasn’t all that keen on being in the middle of this lovers’ tiff anymore, and I already regretted having interfered.

And as Harriet and Brutus went this way, I decided to take the long way to the park, Dooley in my wake.

But that obviously didn’t sit well with Chase, who immediately came jogging up behind us and bodily picked us both up, then set us down again next to Harriet and Brutus, who hadn’t stopped arguing and hadn’t even noticed we’d briefly left.

“You guys have to stay together,” growled Chase. “Odelia’s orders.”