Ник Сайнт - Purrfect Cut

Alec was seated at the table, along with Marge, Tex, Odelia, Chase and Gran, while the cat population was relegated to the kids’ table, or in our case, the porch, where we occupied the swing. One extra plate had been set out—or rather a bowl—for Pussy, who was our guest of honor. And at the table for the grownups a human guest was seated: it was none other than Gabriel Crier, who’d been invited by Uncle Alec and Chase, to make up for the gross miscarriage of justice which had almost taken place under their auspices.

“Amazing flavor,” said Pussy as she dug her teeth into a nugget of meat.

“Tastes a damn sight better than Tex’s ash flavor,” Brutus chimed in.

“It’s the gesture that counts,” said Dooley.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Tex has his heart in the right place, even though he’s not exactly the world’s best grill master.”

Odelia came over to check on us, and when she saw we were all tucking in with relish, crouched down next to me, and whispered, “Can you ever forgive me, buddy?”

“Oh, but I forgave you a long time ago, Odelia,” I said, and I meant it. Moments after those reporters had come springing from the bushes, the sound of a police siren had told us they hadn’t merely filmed Leonora’s confession but had also done the right thing by calling in the cavalry.

Soon cops were crawling all over the petting zoo, accompanied by Odelia and Chase and Gran, who’d scooped us up into their arms and had hugged us and kissed us and held us as if they’d missed us for days and days. And when Dooley and I had told them our adventures, Odelia had actually cried. Her distress was short-lived, though, when Pussy joined us, and had related the tale of our heroic escape attempt and how Dooley had been the hero of the hour. And when I related how Dooley had actually saved Mrs. Flake’s life by calling for help, Odelia had hugged him so close his ribs had actually creaked.

“I’m sorry I neglected you guys,” she said now, for the hundredth time. “It was never my intention. It’s just that between work and Chase and things I kinda got distracted.”

“You have to keep your eye on the ball,” said Pussy. “That’s what Leo taught me. Never take your eye off the ball or the whole thing might fall apart.”

“Words to live by,” Dooley said, putting a piece of sausage into his mouth.

“He also told me never to eat sausage because you never know what they put into those things and the skin is made from the bowels of a dead pig.”

Dooley spat out the piece of sausage.

Pussy laughed. “Just kidding!” she said, then grew serious. “Or am I?”

“Fun times,” said Brutus with a grin.

“I’m going to make up for my sins by taking you all out next weekend,” said Odelia now.

“Out? Where?” I asked.

“To Banner’s Farm,” she said with a smile.

We all yipped. Gabe had put Chateau Leonidas up for sale. He didn’t want to keep on living there since it reminded him too much of the happy times with his partner. The animals who’d inhabited the small zoo had been transferred to Banner’s Farm, where visitors could interact with them, and where kids could attend workshops and even help feed the animals.

“Am I also invited?” asked Pussy timidly.

“Of course,” said Odelia. “It wouldn’t be the same without you, Pussy.”

Gabe was now officially Pussy’s guardian, and together they actually ran the company, with a little help from Odelia, who was able via Skype to relay Pussy’s input to Gabe.

Chris had been relegated to jail, with Tank now spending his days in the care of Chris’s mom, who was a strict disciplinarian, and wasn’t taking any nonsense from the nasty little brute. Leonora was also in jail awaiting trial. Her confession had been headline news, and even though she kept screaming fake news, and claiming the whole thing had been created with Photoshop, there wasn’t a person who believed her. Especially since Helga had decided to come clean and confess what she’d done. It ended a particularly sordid history in the annals of Hampton Cove, one we were all glad to leave behind us.

Odelia straightened and joined the humans at their table.

“I still think we should set up a detective agency,” Gran was saying.

“You mean you and me?” said Odelia.

“Of course you and me, and Max, Dooley, Harriet and Brutus. Whatever that guy Chris Cross was doing we can do, too. Only much, much better.”

“It’s an idea,” said Chase carefully.

“I like it,” said Tex. “The Pet Detective Agency. PDA.”

They all laughed at that, except Tex, who didn’t get the joke.

“It’s going to attract a lot of attention,” said Marge. “And potentially a lot of negative publicity.”

“Yeah, I don’t think it’s a good idea, Gran,” said Odelia. “We’ll get a ton of crackpots who are drawn in by the publicity. I think we should continue the way we have, out of the limelight, and keeping things as discreet as we can.”

“I guess so,” said Gran grudgingly.

“You don’t want to subject your cats to that kind of scrutiny,” Uncle Alec said. “It will bring in kidnappers and all kinds of weirdos and nutcases who might try to grab the cats and hang them on their walls as trophies.”

I shivered at the word picture Uncle Alec had painted. Not a pretty one.

“What are trophies, Max?” asked Dooley.

“The heads of animals that hunters like to collect so they can show off to their friends how good they are at murdering animals.”

Now Dooley shivered, too. “How terrible!”

How terrible, indeed.

“You know, I can’t thank you guys enough,” said Gabe. “If not for you, I’d still be in prison and the company would have probably been run into the ground by Leonora.”

“Yeah, she was misguided when she thought she would do a better job than you and Leo,” said Odelia.

“Sadly she was misinformed,” said Gabe. “Apparently some of the shareholders had been feeding her the wrong kind of information for years, and she truly believed that Leo and I were destroying the company, and the only way to save it was to get rid of Leo and myself.”

“Sad story,” said Marge as she ladled a large helping of potato salad onto the former hair stylist’s plate.

“Yeah, if only I’d known what she was up to,” said Gabe. “I might have been able to stop her.”

“You can’t think that way, Gabe,” said Marge.

“Marge is right,” said Tex. “Thinking like that will drive you nuts.”

Alec clapped the other man on the back, almost making him choke on a piece of potato salad. “I knew you didn’t do it, buddy. Call it a cop’s hunch.”

“You seemed pretty convinced, Alec,” said Chase.

“Oh, in my heart of hearts I knew all along Gabe wasn’t our guy.”

“Good to know!” said Gabe laconically, eliciting a grin from Chase and a frown from Alec.

“So this is the second time our lack of swimming skills has hampered us,” I said.

“Wasn’t Odelia going to teach us how to swim?” asked Brutus.

“She was, but I’m not exactly looking forward to it,” said Harriet. “Imagine this fur, wet. It’s going to be a tragedy.”

“It’s not a joke,” said Pussy when Dooley laughed. “If I get wet my fur soaks up water like a sponge and I turn into a balloon. Drags me right down.”

“Only short-haired cats should swim,” said Brutus. “Like you and me, Dooley.”

“I’m not sure,” said Dooley, not all that keen on becoming a swimmer.

“By the way,” I said, “when are we going to be able to congratulate you two?”

Harriet frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“The kittens,” said Dooley, catching my drift. “You were going to adopt.”