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Odelia, who’d had the same idea, now also came out of the house to join him, clutching a book in one hand, a drink in the other, and an anticipatory smile on her face.

“Poole, your pool is busted,” said Chase, eliciting a laugh from his future wife.

“Very funny, Kingsley,” she said, but when she walked up quickly noticed he wasn’t joking. “What happened?” she asked as she stepped into the soggy grass, her bare feet making squishing sounds.

“Must have sprung a leak,” Chase grunted, and lifted the plastic pool to check for puncture holes. And sure enough he soon found them, right in the middle, and not just one but several.

“Weird,” said Odelia. “How could this have happened? Maybe there’s glass on the lawn?”

But Chase smiled.“I think I know what happened,” he said, and directed an accusing look at two very guilty-looking cats who were sitting nearby, watching the drama unfold.

Max meowed something that Chase didn’t understand, but judging from the look on Odelia’s face it explained the whole thing. She turned to Chase with a sobered expression. “Dooley had the bright idea to make holes in the bottom so the water would leak out and they could escape.”

“Well, it worked,” said Chase as he replaced the pool on the soaked lawn. “Don’t worry, you guys,” he said, a little louder. “I’ll fix it tomorrow.”

“Can you fix it?” asked Odelia.

“Sure. Just like a bike tire. No sweat. It’ll be as good as new.” Which did leave them without a means of cooling off on what felt like the hottest night in recent history.

“Maybe we can sleep out here,” Odelia said, glancing up. “Under the stars?”

“Or we can finally have AC installed,” Chase countered.

“That, too,” said Odelia with a grateful smile.

Max and Dooley were nodding their agreement, which struck Chase’s funny bone and he laughed.

“What is it?” asked Odelia, laughing along.

“Your cats. It’s so funny how they understand everything and act just like we do.”

“That’s because in a lot of ways they are exactly like us. Isn’t that right, guys?”

Max and Dooley both emitted loud meows of agreement, and Chase shook his head. If people had told him that at one point he’d be dating a woman who could talk to her cats, he’d have declared them funny in the head. And look at him now. When he wasn’t fishing them out of inflatable pools, he was practically communicating with them himself.

Just then, there was some commotion next door, and suddenly Gran, Marge and Tex emerged through the dividing hedge.

“We found something,” said Marge, sounding a little breathless.

“It’s a ring,” added Tex.

“Not just any old ring,” said Vesta with a big grin.

“It’s Vicky Gardner’s ring!” Marge cried, and triumphantly held it up, like that scene from the Lion King when the daddy lion holds up his newborn cub. The ring glittered attractively, and both Chase and Odelia went to take a closer look at the fabled object.

“Where did you find it?” asked Odelia.

“Inside the goatherd figurine,” said Marge.

Chase frowned.“What do you mean,inside the figurine?”

“Harriet accidentally knocked it off the table and it crashed to the floor,” Vesta explained with a shrug.

“Oh, Mom, your beautiful figurine!” Odelia cried.

“Pretty sure it was a knockoff,” grunted Gran. “It wasn’t porcelain at all, but cheap plaster.”

“And if Harriet hadn’t knocked it over we wouldn’t have found Vicky’s ring,” said Marge.

Odelia took the ring from her mother’s hand and studied it carefully. “How do you know this is the famous Gardner ring?” she asked.

Tex held up his smartphone.“Googled it,” he said with a note of triumph in his voice, and showed the result of his fervent googling to the others.

“Amazing,” said Odelia, then seemed to realize something.” But if this really is Vicky’s ring, that means…”

Marge was nodding frantically.“I know!”

“And if that’s true, then…”

More frantic nodding.“I know, right?!”

Chase, who was otherwise loath to showcase his ignorance, felt that he should say something before he was completely lost. So he cleared his throat and said,“Who is this Vicky Gardner and why is this ring so important?”

Marge, beaming, said,“Vicky Gardner was the wife of Quintin Gardner, who’s one of the richest men in Hampton Cove. Vicky disappeared twenty years ago, soon after their wedding, and it was always rumored that Quintin killed her and disposed of the body where no one would ever find her.”

“When she disappeared she was wearing this ring,” Odelia continued.

“This ring?” asked Chase, much intrigued now.

“This very ring,” said Odelia, gesturing with the little trinket for good measure.

“So what do you think happened?” asked Chase with a frown.

“Nobody knows,” said Odelia. “But now that we found her ring, maybe we can use it to find Vicky, right?”

“Ooh, Odelia,” said Marge, clasping her hands together with marked glee. “What a lovely mystery for you to sink your teeth into!”