Her uncle shook his head. “Nope. No idea. And he doesn’t seem to know himself.”
“The only thing I can see that is of some significance,” said Chase, “is that one of his clients was Prince Abdullah.”
“Do you think there’s a link between the two cases?”
“It’s possible,” said her uncle. “But if there is, we haven’t found it yet. Have we, Chase?”
“Nothing yet,” said Chase. “But it’s the only thing that makes sense. A murder and a shooting—two shootings… there simply has to be a connection that we’re not seeing yet.”
They glanced up at the prison block and saw that Rogelio stood looking down at them, following the conversation intently. “Maybe you should take me someplace a little safer?” he suggested. “I mean, I hate to be a nuisance, but I’m not liking this being-shot-at routine.”
“This is the safest place for you right now,” said the chief a little curtly. He seemed to personally blame the man for the state his police station was in, and maybe he was right.
Was Rogelio holding out on them? It didn’t seem to be the case, but then you never knew, of course. He was, after all, a lawyer, and as everyone knows, part of a lawyer’s job description is to lie convincingly and flawlessly. Or at least that was the impression she sometimes got.
“So what about my cats?” she asked.
Her grandmother and Scarlett had been talking amongst themselves and now joined the conversation. “I saw them run off after the van,” said Gran.
“And I saw them get into the van,” said Scarlett.
“And that’s the last we saw of them.”
“All of them? All of them got into that van?” asked Odelia, aghast.
Gran and Scarlett both nodded. “I’m afraid so.”
“They’re so brave,” said Scarlett. “So very brave.”
“Did you recognize the shooters?” asked Chase.
“No, I’m afraid we never got a good look at them,” said Gran. “But maybe the cats did. They were much closer. Scarlett and I spent most of the time hugging the dirt, didn’t we?”
“Let’s hope they’re fine,” said Odelia, though frankly she wasn’t very happy right now. Neither with her grandmother, who had brought the cats along on this crazy adventure, and had tried to gain access to the prisoners even though Uncle Alec had strictly forbidden her to. And also with Rogelio, for bringing this terrible violence into their lives.
She knew it was unreasonable of her to blame the man, but she couldn’t help it.
“We have to find them,” she told her husband. “If we find the cats, we find the shooters, and we can put this whole thing to bed. And hopefully discover the link between the shootings and the murder of Prince Abdullah.”
“On that note,” said Chase, “I’ve discovered something interesting. Remember Wilbur filed a report of someone stealing stuff from his store? I checked the CCTV footage today, and guess who the thief was?”
Since she had absolutely no idea, she shrugged.
“Prince Abdullah!”
“But… why would a prince steal things from a general store?” asked Uncle Alec. “That makes no sense whatsoever.”
“Maybe he didn’t know he had to pay for the items he took from the store?” Chase suggested. “If he’s a member of his country’s ruling class, maybe he’s not used to shopping for himself and so he simply takes things and expects someone else to foot the bill?”
“It’s possible,” said Odelia. She could imagine that being as rich as the prince was, he probably never did his own shopping or washing and cleaning or any of those daily chores. And so when he found himself in a strange town, he might have decided that Wilbur would simply send the bill to the palace, or wherever he was living in Abou-Yamen.
“Anyway, another problem solved,” said Uncle Alec as he dragged a weary hand through his meager mane. “So how are we going to find the cats? Any suggestions?” He gave Odelia a weak smile. “We’ve been here before, haven’t we?”
Her uncle was right. The cats had been kidnapped before, and they had found them that time, so there was no reason they wouldn’t find them now. Still, she wouldn’t feel easy in her mind until they had located them and they were home safe and sound.
“We could use the same method we used last time,” she suggested.
“Which is?”
“Ask our neighbors’ dogs to find them for us.”
Chase puffed up his cheeks and blew out a breath. “Do you really want to wake up the Trappers in the middle of the night?”
“Yeah, can’t we simply find a police dog who can offer us the same service?” asked her uncle.
“If you can find us a police dog in the middle of the night,” said Odelia, “we won’t have to bother the Trappers.” The good thing about the Trappers was that their sheepdog Rufus was familiar with the cats, and there was no doubt in her mind that he would be able to find them.
“Okay, you win,” said her uncle. “Let’s go and wake up the Trappers. But if they complain, you handle it, deal?”
“Deal,” she said, and turned to her grandmother. “Let’s go.”
Gran stared at her. “Me?” she said.
“Yes, you. You put us into this mess. You get us out of it.”
“But I didn’t shoot nobody!”
“No, but you insisted on bringing the cats along, and now they’ve gone missing. So I personally hold you responsible.”
