Молли Фитц - Dog-Eared Delinquent

“What? No.” I searched around for the security cameras, which were of course trained right on us. “I already told you, my cat is really committed to Apple products. So, do you maybe have a leftover sticker or something we can use to cover up the real logo and replace it with Apple’s?”

His eyes widened with surprise. Yup, he’d definitely never been owned by a cat. “Um, maybe,” he mumbled as he glanced around for an escape route.

“Listen, I know I sound crazy. I promise I’m not.” I smiled, hoping he’d see just how harmless I really was. “Not that it even really matters,” I continued quickly. “Can you please just help me make this look like an Apple product?”

After a little more back and forth—and ultimately raising the bribe to forty dollars—the worker agreed to help. By the time I was done, I had a passable new accessory for Octo-Cat that I decided I’d tell him was the new Apple Pet. I stashed the instruction manual in my glove compartment and tossed the box in the trashcan outside. I’d just tell him it was the floor model, that we’d gotten the very last one.

He’d like that, the whole exclusivity of his new toy.

Sure enough, my cat was overjoyed when I presented him with his new collar charm that evening. “The Apple Pet. Wow,” he cooed. “It’s even more beautiful than I ever could have imagined.”

“And you’re one of the very first to get one,” I added, ignoring the fact that he’d probably be the only cat ever with this particular Frankenstein of a GPS tracker.

Nan helped us test it out by watching the tracker on her phone while I drove Octo-Cat around for a few minutes. When we returned she showed me the exact path we’d driven mapped out on her phone. It looked like everything was in place for his big solo mission.

“Be safe,” I said the next morning, unable to resist the urge to give him a big hug and a kiss between his ears.

“Angela, really,” he ground out while wriggling free of my arms. “The Apple Pet offers the latest state-of-the-art technology. Combine that with my superior intellect, agility, and stamina, and we’ll have this case solved by sundown.”

I almost felt bad lying to him but knew he’d do better thinking he had Apple on his side. The plan was for him to drive with me to work that morning and then hang around outside the office, hidden among some bushes. Later, he’d slip into Peter’s car when he came out at the end of his shift and secretly accompany him to wherever he decided to go that evening.

I personally hoped it would be the lair.

Nan and I both had the app on our phones so that we could follow Octo-Cat’s location, and I’d also told him that I would pick him up at midnight, no matter where he was or what was happening at the time. I refused to leave him unassisted for the entire night, especially since Peter appeared more than a little bit unstable judging by all the interactions I’d had with him so far.

“Are you sure?” I asked him one more time as we pulled into the tiny parking lot outside the firm.

The determination in Octo-Cat’s gaze didn’t waver. “Of course I’m sure. You need me.”

“Yes,” I repeated. “I need you. So, please be careful and make sure you come home safe.”

“Angela, I…” His voice cracked and he bowed his head, then he dragged his sandpaper tongue along my hand in a quick show of affection that practically melted my heart.

“Nothing of this later,” he whispered while waiting for me to open the door and set him loose.

I was too stunned to say anything more as I watched him trot away and take cover in the greenery around my office.

After a deep, calming breath, I headed into the office and fought back my urge to start checking the app right away. Nan had eyes on him, too. He would be okay.

Of course, Peter came into work late for the first time since I’d known him. Those forty-odd minutes of thinking our plan would have to wait another day just about killed me, too. When Peter finally did show up for work, he studiously ignored me, even going so far as to pop some earbuds in as an excuse not to talk to me.

Well, that suited me just fine.

I waited as patiently as I could for my half-shift to end, then raced home and sat with Nan as we both watched the unblinking dot that represented Octo-Cat’s location on our phones.

“Oh, it’s moving!” Nan shouted later that afternoon while we were both enjoying a cup of hot tea with homemade cookies to top off the light snack. Sure enough, the little dot had left the office and was now crawling down Main Street.

I glanced at the time displayed on the top of my phone screen. “But it’s too early,” I protested. “Peter is supposed to work until five.”

“Not today, it seems,” Nan said with a half-hearted shrug. Her eyes, however, shone with excitement as she watched the little dot continue its journey.

In fact, we both fell silent as we tracked the dot along the screen. It turned down a series of side roads before finally coming to a stop.

“Zoom in,” I told Nan. “What address is that?”

She clicked the dot, and the app gave us the exact street and house number.

“That must be where he lives,” I said, taking a quick picture of the screen in case we needed this information for later. “Good to know for future.”

“What if he just does a Netflix and chill?” Nan asked, worry lining her aged forehead.

“Who told you about Netflix and chill?” I asked in horror.

Nan waved a hand dismissively. “One of the guys at Bingo. He said it’s what all the kids are doing these days. I’m glad you’d rather read than rot your brain with all that TV.”

I nodded and hid a smile behind my hand. It was best that Nan stayed innocent as long as I could keep her that way.

Unfortunately, it looked like she was right—at least when it came to what she assumed she’d meant earlier. The dot remained idle for hours. Poor Octo-Cat must have been going out of his mind just sitting there and waiting for Peter to do something skeezy.

I yawned more than once, wondering if Nan and I would have to take shifts to watch the unmoving dot until it was finally time to go and retrieve Octo-Cat at midnight.

How unthrilling and—even worse—unhelpful.

I had all but declared today’s mission a bust, when suddenly the dot began to move again.

Chapter Thirteen

“They’re headed downtown!” I shouted, recognizing the path after the dot took a few sharp turns and swung back onto Main Street. I grabbed my phone and rushed toward the door, not even taking the time to slip my feet into my tennis shoes properly.

“I’m coming, too, dear,” Nan insisted in that sugar-sweet way of hers as she floated over.

“No way,” I insisted right back, albeit with far more hostility. “We need you at home base in case there’s any trouble. Keep watching that dot!” I called over my shoulder as I slammed the door shut behind me and made a beeline straight to my car.

If Peter and Octo-Cat were headed toward the lair, then I wanted to be there, too. I kept my phone hooked in its holster and watched the GPS app the entire time I drove. Luckily, Peter made a pit stop, which meant I miraculously managed to beat him downtown. I parked around the corner and then hid myself beside the dumpster in that same alley I now knew led to the magical lair.

I watched breathlessly as the blinking dot approached my location.

Closer, closer…

They should have been right upon me now, but I could see neither Peter nor Octo-Cat. Instead, a humongous pit bull burst into the alley and charged straight toward me. I was so shocked by his sudden arrival that it took me a second to realize his sharp and shiny teeth held something clenched between them.