eb93c43e214c621f9157c05b4b6a6878

“She’s your only niece, Alec.”

“Exactly.”

Chapter 19

“We forgot to mention Dotty’s dad as a potential suspect,” said Odelia once we were all back in the car.

“He’s not really a suspect, though, is he?” said Chase, starting up the vehicle with a roar. “At least I don’t think he is—do you?”

Odelia thought for a moment, then shook her head.“No, I don’t see him murdering his own daughter just because she’s in a line of work he didn’t like.”

“So what do you think, Max?” asked Dooley. “There are a lot of suspects, but who did it?”

“Honestly? I have absolutely no idea,” I said. To be fair, my mind had been more focused on this whole Windex business, and so far I’d only been along for the ride as far as the murder inquiry was concerned. Which wasn’t a good thing, I know, and I was letting my humans down big time. But when a cat is fighting for survival, frankly all other stuff kind of fades into the background.

And I know we should have talked things through with Odelia, but she looked so out of sorts that I didn’t want to bother her with our personal hang-ups. Besides, I had the impression that she was like a powder keg and that she could explode the moment you said the wrong thing. Even Chase was walking on eggshells right now, and he’s a burly fella, never afraid to go mano a mano with suspects a lot taller and bigger than him.

“I think Dewey Toneu did it,” said Dooley. “He allowed himself to be seduced by Dotty, maybe for old time’s sake, and didn’t want his fianc?e to find out, because it would ruin him. So he killed the two people who knew about his transgression and then got rid of the evidence by taking their phones and laptops and wiping his fingerprints.”

I gave my friend an approving look.“Very good, Dooley. Spoken like a true detective.”

He glowed with pride, and seemed to grow a few inches, too.“I’m learning from the best,” he said modestly. “And from the best I mean you, Max,” he hastened to add, in case it wasn’t clear.

“I’m not the best by any stretch of the imagination, my friend,” I said. “If I were, I’d have figured it out already. As it stands, all I can think about is Windex, and how precarious our position in Odelia’s home suddenly seems to have become.”

He nodded sagely.“It’s a troublesome state of affairs,” he declared. “Very worrying.”

I stared at him.“You’re pretty relaxed about it, though. Why is that?” Usually when something of this magnitude happens, Dooley is all atwitter, a knot of panicky nerves and a bundle of anxiety. Now he seemed pretty laid-back, which was out of character for him.

“Sometimes you simply have to accept the unacceptable, Max,” he said, sounding like a wise old man all of a sudden. “So I’m learning to accept my fate. Odelia is going to give birth to Satan’s baby, who will take over their lives, along with Windex, and we’re going to be adopted by Shelley or Marsella, though I’d much rather prefer Shelley, of course, since I don’t like Marsella’s future husband. Though if he’s the killer, he’ll probably be out of the picture soon, and then Marsella will be all alone and won’t mind taking in four cats.”

“I hate to break it to you, Dooley,” I said, “but it would be a rare thing for any person to adopt four cats at once. One, maybe two at the most.”

My words had an alarming effect on my friend. His jaw dropped and his face morphed into a mask of shock.“But Max, they can’t pull us apart! That’s non-negotiable!”

“I’m afraid that’s the way it is. Just like when siblings are adopted the adoptive parents usually take one and then a different set of adoptive parents take the brother or sister. It’s not pleasant but that’s the way it is.” I gave him a sad look. “At least Marsella and Shelley appear to be friends, so chances are that we’ll still be able to see each other from time to time.” But then I slapped my brow. “Duh. Of course we’ll still see each other. We’ll meet at cat choir, won’t we? You and me and Harriet and Brutus? Unless of course Shelley is one of those people wholives in an apartment and doesn’t allow her cats to go outside. In which case we might never see each other again for as long as we live.”

“Max, but that’s horrible! That’s terrible! That’s the end!”

I shrugged.“Just the way the cookie crumbles, I guess.”

“But we have to stop them! I can’t imagine being cooped up in an apartment and never seeing you again—or Brutus or Harriet or even Kingman or Buster or Shanille or, or, or…” He gave me a look of utter and total dismay. “This is just the worst—the absolute worst.”

“I know,” I said with a sigh, and lay down on the backseat, prey to a sudden dark gloom.

Dooley was quiet for a moment, then he seemed to steel himself.“I know what we should do.”

“What?”

“They can’t solve this murder without you, can they? I mean, for as long I can remember, you’ve solved all of their cases for them. In fact there’s not a single case they’ve solved on their own, without your help. So why would this time be different?”