“And so the flies saved you?” she asked finally.

“The flies did what?” asked Chase as he opened the fridge looking for something to eat.

“The flies saved the cats from being locked up by Garland McNerlin,” said Odelia. “He thought they were making too much noise after guests had complained.”

“Is that a fact?” said the cop, not seeming all that interested in our ordeal. Then again, he probably had more important things to deal with than a couple of cats being locked up. An actual murder and also a drive-by shooting.

“Did you find out who tried to shoot that poor man?” asked Harriet, who must have been reminded of the same thing.

“Not yet,” said Odelia as she put Dooley back down. “So far, we don’t have a single lead.”

“We do have some CCTV footage,” said Chase. “And a video a bystander shot on his phone. But that hasn’t given us much to go on.”

“Fake license plates,” said Odelia clarified. “And a stolen vehicle.”

“So we still have no idea who was gunning for the guy.”

“He sure was lucky, though,” said Brutus. “Imagine being shot at and surviving the ordeal.”

“Thirty bullets fired,” said Odelia, “and not a single hit. He’s thanking his lucky stars.”

“I sure do,” said a man as he walked into our living room.

We all stared at him, and I asked the obvious question first: “Who is this guy?”

“Oh, that’s right,” said Odelia. “I almost forgot. This is Rogelio Hartshorn. He will stay with us for the time being. Or at least until we’ve managed to identify the people behind the attack.”

“And I wanted to thank you again,” said the man, who was tall, dark, and handsome, I have to say. He was also dressed to impress, in a fancy, and no doubt expensive, suit. “This can’t be easy for you. And if you prefer I stay at the hotel…”

“Nonsense,” said Chase. “You wouldn’t be safe at the hotel—or anywhere else for that matter. No, you’re staying with us and that’s all there is to it.”

“I’ll show you to your room,” said Odelia, and led the man up the stairs. I saw he was carrying a single suitcase, so at least that told us that he wouldn’t be staying long.

Dooley asked the next obvious question: “Does he have pets?”

“I don’t see any pets,” said Brutus. “I mean, if he did have any, he would have brought them, right?”

We all turned to Chase. But of course the cop couldn’t enlighten us. He’s one of those rare humans who can’t talk to cats. He was grinning, though, so I had the impression he knew exactly what we were thinking. He can’t talk to us, but he can read us very well after having spent so much time with us, and has an unfailing intuition about what keeps us up at night.

“Okay, so you don’t have to worry about a thing,” he assured us. “Rogelio is only going to be here for a short time. Like I said, until we manage to find out who’s gunning for him.”

“So… we’re a safe house now?” asked Brutus. “Is that it?”

“And we’re his bodyguards,” said Harriet sadly. “Which means we’ll have to protect him with our lives, you guys. Like the Secret Service. Catch a bullet for him if we have to.”

We all gulped in dismay. “But I don’t want to protect a total stranger with my life,” said Dooley. “I haven’t even been trained as a bodyguard so I wouldn’t know what to do.”

“Dooley is right,” said Brutus. “We didn’t receive any training. So maybe Chase should send us to a training course so we know what to do if those maniacs return and start shooting up the place?”

“Nobody will shoot up the place,” I said. “They don’t know that Rogelio is here, so they won’t come looking for him.”

“These people have ways,” said Brutus. “They always find their man. And when they do…” He gulped, and made a slicing motion across his throat.

Dooley’s lip quivered. “But I don’t want my throat cut, Brutus!”

“Nobody wants their throat cut. But that’s not going to stop these people from trying.”

“Nobody’s throat is going to be cut,” I said. “Chase knows what he’s doing, and so does Odelia. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have agreed to Rogelio staying with us.” After all, they not only had themselves to think of but also the four of us—and Grace, of course.

Just then, Marge came walking in through the sliding glass door, carrying the little girl on her arm. When she saw how perturbed we all looked, she gave us a look of concern. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s a man staying here who’s wanted by some very bad people,” said Dooley tearfully. “And when they find out that he’s here, they’re going to shoot him, like they did earlier, and we have to catch a lot of bullets for him and then they’re going to slice all of our throats!”

Marge turned to Chase, who was checking something on his phone. “Is this true?” she asked.

The cop turned to her. “Hm?”

“The cats are saying that a man is staying here who was shot at, and the men who did it will come looking for him.”

“They won’t,” said Chase. “Since they have no way of knowing he’s staying with us. So we’re all perfectly safe. As long as nobody blabs about Rogelio.”

“Is that his name?” asked Marge.

Chase nodded. “Rogelio Hartshorn. He’s upstairs with Odelia. She’s showing him his room.” He took Grace from Marge’s arms. “And how was your day, princess?” he asked as he lifted the girl up into the air. She squealed with delight.

“I had a great day!” she said. “I got to hold a frog. He was cold and slimy, and I loved it!”

“You got to hold a real frog in your hands?” asked Brutus.

“I did! He was hopping around in the backyard of the daycare center, and Chantal said only one of us could hold him, and only for a few moments, so we wouldn’t scare him. And she picked me, and I got to hold him!” She held out her hands, which looked a little grimy. “See? I haven’t washed my hands yet!”

She then rubbed her hands in her daddy’s hair, and we all winced. Chase didn’t mind, though. Also, he didn’t know that now he would be smelling of frog until he took a shower.

Odelia returned with Rogelio in tow and introduced the man to her mom. She also impressed upon the librarian that she couldn’t breathe a word to anyone about the presence of the lawyer in our home.

“I’m so sorry to hear they shot at you,” said Marge. “Any idea who is responsible?”

“No idea,” said the man. “Though I have a lot of important clients, so any one of them could be behind it, though I fail to see the reason why.” He directed a look at Chase, who must have suggested this theory.

“Like I said, inheritances are tricky business,” said the cop. “When there’s a lot of money involved, or even a little bit of money, people do strange things. And since you seem to be in the middle of things, I suggest the reason for the attack can be found in an inheritance matter.”

“I’ll go through my files again,” said the man. “But I really can’t think of anyone who would want to do this to me.”

“You’re a notary?” asked Marge.

“An estate lawyer. I handle the legal matters when people want to handle their estates and their legacies. But like I said, I can’t think of anyone who would want to kill me over it.”

“So no contentious cases?” asked Odelia.