“At ease, soldier,” I murmured, and removed myself from the scene before things got too awkward.
“Why would Fr?d?rique’s human behave suspiciously, Max?” asked Dooley.
“Just a hunch, Dooley. If that gas station was the last place where Addie was seen, the guy who owns it might have had something to do with her disappearance, wouldn’t you say?”
He gave me a look of admiration.“Good thinking, Max!”
“Just using the old noggin,” I said.
“The very big noggin,” he said.
CHAPTER 22
[Êàðòèíêà: img_2]
That night, I slept like a rose at the foot of Odelia and Chase’s bed. And even though Grace woke us all up from time to time, as she does, it was still a peaceful night in every respect. The moon filtered faintly in through the curtains, and if it was blue, I certainly didn’t notice. As far as I could tell, it looked just about the same as every other night. Then again, cats do have trouble seeing certain colors, and so maybe that might have had something to do with it.
When morning broke, and I got up, feeling refreshed and ready for a new day, I saw to my satisfaction that our humans were still fast asleep, and they were even cuddling, a clear testament to the complete nonsensicality of Gran’s claims that Odelia would have fallen into the arms of that billionaire.
But before I could close my eyes for one of those pleasant after-naps, a sudden cry of anguish rent the air, and had us all up and about in next to no time. For I think we’d all recognized that anguished cry as coming from next door, and belonging to none other than Odelia’s father Tex!
Chase was the first one to hammer down the stairs, with Odelia a close second, and Dooley and myself bringing up the rear.
“What do you think happened, Max?” asked Dooley, but then we had to step aside, for Odelia was stomping back up the stairs to pick Grace from her crib and bring her along.
“I have no idea, but whatever it is, it must be bad,” I said.
Judging from the sound of Tex’s voice, he must have either hit his toe, or poked himself in the eye, or fallen prey to some other terrible fate!
We all hurried into the next-door garden, and I must say that the scene that met our eyes was a harrowing one indeed!
Tex was there, on hands and knees, bent over the remnants of a small bush, and when I say remnants I do mean remnants: not a single leaf was left on that particular bush, and when I looked a little closer, I saw that there was not a single leaf left anywhere in that entire garden. And not a single flower either. It almost seemed as if some giant hand had come down overnight, and had rummaged around a little, destroying every living organism!
Well, not every organism, for the garden was completely infested with… snails.
I could see hundreds of them, perhaps even thousands, and they were still busy chewing on everything they could find, even blades of grass!
“My garden!” Tex howled. “They destroyed my garden!”
Marge had also descended from her room, clad in a nightgown, and stood eyeing the scene with a pensive expression on her face.
“So they came back,” said Chase, as he picked up a snail and studied it for a moment, then put it back, wiping his hand on his boxers.
Suddenly a window was thrown open upstairs, and Gran appeared.“What’s with the racket!” she demanded. “Do you know how hard it is to fall asleep at my age? Oh…” She’d also seen what had happened, and her face sort of sagged. “Oh, no,” she muttered. “Who did this!”
“Snails,” said Marge simply.
“Not those snails again!” said the old lady, shaking her fist. “I thought we got rid of those pests!”
“They came back,” said Tex, stating the obvious.
“Unless these are different snails,” said Dooley, and there was a certain logic in what he said.
Brutus and Harriet came trudging out of the house, jaws moving and the look of two contented cats who’d just eaten their fill on their faces.
“Oh, look,” said Brutus. “More snails.”
“I thought you got rid of them?” asked Harriet.
“We did get rid of them,” said Marge.
“I think it’s different ones,” Dooley intimated. “These are probably distant cousins twice removed, who decided to drop in for a visit.”
“And I think it’s the same ones,” I said, cause they were giving me the same cold-shoulder treatment as the ones last night had done.
Next door, two heads popped up over the hedge: they belonged to Ted and Marcie Trapper.
“Oh, my God,” said Ted. “What happened here, neighbor?”
“Snails,” said Tex curtly, his customary geniality a thing of the past. “They destroyed my garden.”
“Our garden,” Marge corrected him. “How about you, Ted? Did they also attack your plants?”
“No, over here everything is hunky-dory,” said Ted cheerfully. “And a good thing, too, otherwise I’d have to sue you, Tex.” He grinned. “Just kidding.”
“I don’t get it,” said Odelia. “Why do they keep coming back here? Why this particular garden?”
“Yeah, what’s so special about your garden?” asked Ted, scratching his scalp. “Are you spraying something, Tex? Or using some special fertilizer or something?”
Tex shook his head.“Just plenty of TLC,” he said brokenly. “And endless patience.”
“Pity Rupert isn’t here,” said Dooley. “He might know the answer.”
“Yeah, I don’t see him around,” I said. “And this lot isn’t talking, that’s for sure.”
“Like thieves in the night,” Harriet scoffed. “At least thieves have the decency to remove themselves from the scene of the crime.”
She was right. These snails were staying put, even though they’d already reduced the garden to a wasteland. So why weren’t they shifting?
“Could it be the blue moon?” asked Dooley.
“Could be,” I said. Though what the moon had to do with anything was beyond me.
There was a sort of commotion or scuffle when Tex had to be restrained by his wife and son-in-law.“So help me God I’m going to kill them all!” the usually mild-mannered doctor was screaming. “I’m going to dump a ton of pesticide on top of them!”
“No, Dad,” said Odelia. “Don’t do it.”
“Yeah, don’t do it, Tex,” said Ted. “That poison will seep into the ground and then my garden will also be affected.”
“Our garden,” said Marcie dryly, as she exchanged a look of understanding with Marge. Boys and their toys, that look seemed to say.
“Maybe this time we’ll consult a specialist,” said Marge, patting her disconsolate husband on the back. “And maybe he’ll be able to get rid of this pest.”
“See?” said Ted. “What did I tell you, Tex? We need to bring in a professional. It’s the only way to go.”
But Tex merely nodded, then slumped off in the direction of the house.
“Looks like those snails broke the camel’s back,” said Chase, shaking his head.
Dooley opened his mouth to speak, but I held up a paw. It wasn’t the right time to discuss the similarities between Tex and a camel.
CHAPTER 23
[Êàðòèíêà: img_2]
Mel Corset proved most helpful, which probably was a given, since he’d made it his life’s work to help others by filling up their gas tanks and providing those little extras like clean windshields and oil to lubricate their engines.
“Of course I have a security camera,” he said when Chase informed him that we were trying to locate a certain vehicle on a certain day at a certain time. “You can never be too careful these days. You’d be amazed how many people try to take off without paying. Now what day did you say you wanted me to look at?”
We proceeded to a back room located behind the counter, where a series of recorders stood humming away with industrious diligence. Behind Mr. Corset’s counter a bank of screens provided him with a good overview of the goings-on at his gas station, and the little shop attached to it, but back here all of those images were also recorded on a set of sturdy disks, and kept for posterity.