“He practically chased us out of the park last night!” I cried.
“He did nothing of the kind. He simply pointed out that we’re not supposed to view the park as part of our personal territory.”
“He said I should stick to my backyard if I want to mark my territory!”
“Well, isn’t your backyard big enough for you? And if you’re so desperate for space you can pee in my yard, too, Max. All right?Mi jardin es su jardin.”
“I don’t even know what that means,” I grumbled. Or actually I did. It meant that from now on, this town wasn’t ours anymore. Brutus had taken over.
“Hey, you guys,” a voice spoke from the living room. “Where are you?”
I rolled my eyes again, and Harriet had to suppress a giggle.
“Over here, Dooley!” I called out, then heaved an exasperated groan.
The Ragamuffin came waddling up.“Oh, hey,” he said, his usual stupid grin plastered all over his stupid face.
Dooley is Odelia’s grandmother’s cat, and he’s not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. In fact he’s probably the dumbest cat for miles around, which hasn’t stopped him from securing himself a place in the Poole clan’s hearts and minds. He’s a big, beige, fluffy hairball, and seems to have gotten it into his head that I’m his best friend and wingman. Probably because he lives next door, and is in here all the time. In that sense Harriet, Dooley and I are one big, happy family. Or at least that’s how Dooley sees it.
“What were you talking about?” he asked now.
“The new cat in town,” I said before I could stop myself.
Dooley’s eyes widened. “There’s a new cat in town?”
“Brutus,” Harriet said. “Remember from last night? We met at the park?”
“He told you not to rub yourself against your favorite tree,” I added.
“Oh, that Brutus,” he said, his face clearing. “What about him?”
“Harriet seems to think he’s something special,” I said. “While I think he’s the second coming of Satan, Lucifer and the Prince of Darkness combined.”
Dooley shivered.“I thought he was way intense.”
I gestured at Dooley.“Thank you, Dooley. Brutusis intense.”
Harriet didn’t agree, of course. “Perhaps it’s because he has taken on so much responsibility. That kind of pressure can weigh on a cat.”
“What responsibility!” I cried. “He’s just a stupid cat!”
“He does have great fur, though,” said Dooley.
I turned to him.“What?!”
“That’s raw meat for you,” said Harriet, a little enviously.
“He gets raw meat?” asked Dooley, surprised.
“Only raw meat,” I agreed grudgingly.
“No wonder he’s so incredibly buff and fit!” said Dooley.
“He is buff and fit, isn’t he?” gushed Harriet. “He’s simply dreamy.”
“He’s a musclebound moron,” I grumbled. “That’s what he is.”
“Who is a musclebound moron?” asked Odelia, stepping into the kitchen. She’d showered and dressed and looked cute as a button in a flowery summer dress that revealed quite a bit of cleavage and a lot of leg. My jaw dropped. If this was the way she was going to meet Chase Kingsley I might as well welcome Brutus into our home now. The guy would fall for her like a ton of bricks. I just knew he would. No one could resist my human when she was all fresh-faced and cute as a button like this.
“Brutus,” I said, in a last-ditch effort to stop this terrible ordeal from taking place. “Like his master, he’s a musclebound idiot addicted to meat.”
“You can’t be addicted to meat,” Dooley laughed. “It’s an essential component of a well-balanced diet. And what’s essential can’t be addictive.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I grunted. “Thank you, Dr. Phil.”
Dooley blinked confusedly.“Who’s Dr. Phil?”
“You guys better behave,” said Odelia as she snatched her clutch from the counter and strode to the sliding door that led into the backyard. She closed it. “Oh, and could you find out whatever you can about Chase Kingsley?”
Now it was my turn to blink confusedly.“Anything?”
“Sure. The more I know about him, the better… for my article,” she concluded lamely.
I saw an opportunity here. An opportunity to dig up some dirt on this new supercop, so I nodded.“Sure. I’ll do my best.”
“Great. See you later, guys.”
“See you, hon,” said Harriet.
“See you, Odelia,” said Dooley.
I didn’t say anything. I was thinking hard how to stop my human from hooking up with Brutus’s human and making my worst nightmare come true.
We watched Odelia walk out the front door, then return five seconds later to grab her sunglasses from the hallway credenza, then return again to grab her smartphone, give us a goofy grin, a cheery wave, and pull the door shut.
“Oh, don’t look so glum,” said Harriet.
“You would look glum if you were about to be kicked out of your home.”
“Brutus won’t kick you out of your home.”
“He will, too. First he kicked me out of the park, now he’ll kick me out of my house. The cat’s a genuine natural born bully.”
“He’s not. He’s simply… a natural born leader.”
“And what does that make me? A natural born loser?”
Harriet merely grinned.
“Oh, I can see what’s going on here,” I said. “Odelia is hooking up with hot new cop, and you’re hooking up with hot new cat. Is that it?”
She shrugged and sashayed in the direction of the pet door.“Time for my beauty nap, boys. See you later.” And with a swish of her tail, she gracefully disappeared through the door and was gone, leaving me alone with Dooley.
“So who’s this Dr. Phil?” Dooley asked after a pregnant pause.
“Oh… just go away, Dooley.”
Chapter 3
I resisted the temptation to take a long nap on my favorite blanket, the one Odelia had put on the couch to protect it from my habit of digging my nails into any soft tissue I encountered. I needed to check out this cop character first. If this guy decided to put the moves on my human and foist Brutus on me, I needed to stop him dead in his tracks before that happened.
So I bade goodbye to Dooley and waddled out the pet door and into the backyard. After sniffing at a couple of trees, just to make sure no one had dared trespass on my domain, I set out along the road, slowly making my way into town. It didn’t take me long to reach the police station, which was just around the corner. I knew it as the place where cops liked to gather to snack on glazed donuts and coffee before starting their job of catching bad humans.
Not that there are a lot of bad humans in Hampton Cove. In fact it’s probably the most peaceful town on the North Shore. Apart from your occasional rowdy tourist collapsing on the beach or wrapping his car around a tree, it’s a pretty peaceful little town, and we like to keep it that way.
I hurried across the road, narrowly being missed by a speeding car, past the doctor’s office where Odelia’s dad Tex works, and the library, where her mom works as a librarian, and finally reached town square, with the giant clock the mayor had installed a couple of years ago and which has proved such a hit with locals and tourists alike, and then I was homing in on the policestation. A squat one-story building, it sported the letters ‘Hampton Cove Police Department’ above the entrance. Behind those double doors, Dolores sat, presiding over the vestibule and always ready to take note of any complaint the citizenry might have. Since technically I wasn’t part of thecitizenry, and couldn’t very well waltz in through the front door, I walked around back instead, and headed straight for the window of Chief Alec’s office, where I’d picked up many a private conversation over the years.
I hopped up onto the windowsill and once again praised Chief Alec’s good sense always to leave the window open a crack. Someone must have told him once that fresh air was good for him, and I could only agree wholeheartedly.
One peek inside the office of the good chief told me that I’d hit the jackpot. He was in there with a hunkish male I’d never seen before. His long limbs stretched out languidly, his athletic body casually draped across the chair, he was listening to Chief Alec intently. He was definitely a handsome guy. He had one of those square jaws and chiseled faces that were all the rage with the ancient Greeks. A lock of dark brown hair dangled down his brow, his hair a little too long for a cop, which gave him a rebellious look.