“It’s possible,” said Chase. “And as long as we don’t know who the client is, Rogelio won’t be safe.”
I glanced across the street and thought I saw a familiar face in the crowd. It was a man and he was studying us intently. Wearing sunglasses and a ball cap to cover the upper portion of his face. It was hard to be sure, but I could have sworn I had seen this man before.
“Dooley,” I said, drawing my friend’s attention to the man. “Isn’t that the hotel manager who locked us up in his office?”
“Yeah, that’s him,” said Dooley. “He’s watching us, Max.”
“He sure is.”
“Do you think he’s still sore that we asked Norm to help us escape from his office?”
“He doesn’t know that we did that,” I said. “Most people think that cats are dumb creatures. No, I’m sure it’s not us he’s watching but Chase and Odelia.”
“But why? Maybe he wants to rent them a room for the night?”
“I doubt it. Hotel managers have different ways of finding potential clients than stalking them across town. No, whatever interest he has in Odelia and Chase must be connected to…” I swallowed down a piece of sausage. And then suddenly a lightbulb seemed to go off in my head. I stared at my friend. “Dooley!” I said.
“Max?”
“I think I’ve got it! I really think I’ve got it!”
“Good job, Max,” said Dooley warmly. “What have you got?”
“The thing—the whole thing!”
He gave me a look of confusion. “What thing would that be, Max?”
I knew I wasn’t making a lot of sense, but then that’s par for the course when you suddenly get these brainwaves. At first, they’re jumbled and muddled. But with a little effort from that old noggin of mine, I knew I’d get there. And so I tapped Odelia on the knee and told her all about my lightbulb moment. She seemed strangely intrigued and whispered to her husband, “Don’t look now, but the manager of the Star Hotel is watching us from across the street.”
Chase knew better than to turn to stare at the guy, but he casually stretched out and glanced in the direction indicated before murmuring, “Now what does he want from us?”
And that’s when Odelia told him all about my big idea. Chase smiled. “I’ll call the embassy immediately and set up a meeting.” He patted my head. “If what you’re saying is true, Max, I will personally go out and buy the best treat that you’ve ever had. How does that sound?”
That sounded pretty great, especially after all the excitement of the past couple of days. That’s the advantage of having a cat detective in your employ: you don’t have to pay him an arm and a leg. All he needs is the occasional caress, pat on the head, and some decent grub.
CHAPTER 31
Harriet was feeling a lot better already. She had been plagued by that sudden feeling of nausea, but Vena had given her something for her stomach and the nausea had gradually abated. Now she was actually feeling hungry. Vena had kept her at the office to keep an eye on her, and Brutus, being the loyal boyfriend that he was, had stayed with her for the duration.
“Pookie?” she said from her vantage point on the couch that Vena had placed in her office.
“Yes, buttercup?” said Brutus, immediately raising his head in response.
“Could you fetch me something to eat? It’s just that I’m suddenly very hungry.”
The smile he displayed was something to behold. “Oh, but that’s great news! So the nausea?”
“Gone,” she said proudly. “I seem to have kicked the disease or bug or whatever it was, and I’m feeling right as rain again.”
“I guess it’s time to go home then,” said Brutus as he stretched and gracefully jumped down from the couch. “Vena is nice and all, but there’s no place like home.”
“I have to say the woman has grown on me,” said Harriet. “I always thought she was our worst enemy, always eager to torture us any way she could, but maybe that was a little harsh.”
“Yeah, maybe she’s not so bad,” Brutus agreed. “Though I still wouldn’t like to pay her a visit more than is strictly necessary.”
“No, I think it’s generally a good practice to see your vet as little as possible. Better for your health.”
She glanced around and saw that Vena had decorated her office and made it a very cozy little place. There were posters on the walls of cats of every possible persuasion, indicating that at heart Vena was a cat person, which probably wouldn’t sit well with the dog owners that paid her for her services. Though she also spotted a nice portrait of a horse, which told her that the vet also had a soft spot for that species.
On Vena’s desk, there was a large plastic Garfield, and on a bulletin board behind the desk, several kids’ drawings. “I didn’t know Vena had kids,” she said. “Did you know, precious?”
“No, I didn’t. But then we don’t know a lot about the woman, do we?”
“No, we don’t,” Harriet admitted. She suddenly realized that in all those years of picturing Vena as a monster, they had never stopped to think that she was also a human being and possibly had a husband and a family.
She now saw that the door of Vena’s office was ajar and joined her boyfriend on the floor. “Let’s go exploring,” she suggested. With the nausea subsiding, her sense of adventure had returned.
“Exploring where?” asked Brutus.
“I want to know what makes this woman tick,” she said.
“Her heart, I guess,” said Brutus, who always did have to take things literally, not a poetic bone in his body.
“No, I mean, what kind of person is she? Behind the mask, I mean.”
“I didn’t know Vena wore a mask,” said Brutus, causing Harriet to execute the perfect eye roll.
