“Oh, dear,” said Odelia.

  Grace had also joined us and was studying Harriet’s puke with a fascinated eye. “It’s practically raw,” she announced. Then: “Can I take a picture? I want to post it on TikTok.”

  “You have a TikTok?” asked Gran.

  “Of course. Doesn’t everyone?”

  “But… aren’t you too young?”

  “You’re never too young to start a TikTok,” said Grace, and took out her phone. Before we could stop her, she was shooting a video of Harriet, the upchucked meat, and then went in for a close-up of the yucky stuff. “This is great,” she said. “My friends will be grossed out!”

  “Grace, put that phone away,” said Odelia.

  “But Mom!” she said. “This is going to go viral for sure!”

  “I don’t care,” said Odelia. “Put it away.”

  Grace did as she was told, though it was clear she didn’t agree. ‘Going viral’ is the cool thing. Grace is always making videos on her phone and sharing them with her friends. I guess in this day and age of the ubiquitous smartphone, privacy is a thing of the past.

  “What did you feed Harriet?” asked Marge, who was also studying the puke.

  “Meat,” said Odelia. “I was going to cook it for you guys, but then Harriet took a sniff and said it had gone off. She said it was good enough for her, though, so she ate it all.” She gestured to the gorgeous white Persian, who looked a little under the weather. Or a lot.

  “Ouch!” said Harriet, confirming this.

  “We have to take her to Vena,” said Marge.

  “No!” Harriet cried immediately. “I’m fine—ow, ow, ow!”

  “Vena,” Marge said decidedly.

  “We’ll go with you,” said Brutus. “We’re not going to let you face Vena alone, snuggle pooh.”

  “But I don’t want to go,” said Harriet. But then another stomach cramp had her roll up into a ball. “Okay, so maybe I’ll go this one time. Just this once, you hear me!”

  “Let’s go,” said Odelia. “Who’s coming with me?”

  “We’re all coming with you,” said Brutus, and fixed me with an implacable eye.

  And so it looked like we would all pay a visit to our least favorite person in the entire world!

  CHAPTER 3

  It had been a while since we had visited Vena, but the meeting was as unpleasant as always. For some reason, paying a visit to the vet brings back all those bad feelings from previous times, and so after a while, they start to accumulate. I’m sure that in five years or so, those accumulated bad feelings will create a Vena allergy, which will cause me to break out into a rash the moment we’re within ten miles of the vet’s house!

  As it was, we didn’t need to worry, since this time we weren’t the patients. Harriet was.

  “It’s my tummy,” she insisted. “My tummy aches so much!”

  “She ate raw meat,” Odelia told the vet, who shook her head reproachfully at this announcement.

  “Never give your cat raw meat, Odelia. How many times!”

  Some vets are concerned about the impression they make on their patients’ owners, afraid they won’t return next time or will leave a bad review online. But not Vena. She’s one of those vets who says it like it is.

  “I know, I know,” said Odelia. “But she seemed to like it.”

  “Of course she liked it!” said Vena, who has one of those voices that carry and could probably be heard all the way to the other side of Hampton Cove. “Cats love raw meat! But that doesn’t mean it’s good for them. Raw meat contains parasites, Odelia.”

  “I know.”

  “It contains harmful bacteria like E. coli, listeria, salmonella, and other pathogens!”

  “I know.”

  “If you know, then why did you give it to her?!”

  “She was looking at me in that way of hers that she has!” said Odelia.

  Vena softened. “I know the look. And I know it’s hard to say no when they look at you like that. But you can’t let that sway you, honey. You need to take a firm line. No raw meat!”

  “I know,” Odelia said. She looked even more devastated than Harriet, even though it had been Harriet who had insisted on eating that spoiled meat. But I guess ultimately Odelia is the person responsible. If something happens to Harriet, she’s the one who ends up having to take her to the vet.

  “Okay, as far as I can tell, she doesn’t seem to be too badly affected,” said Vena.

  “She isn’t?”

  The vet shook her head. “It’s a good thing she vomited. Looks like most of the meat hadn’t been digested yet. I’ll give her something for the nausea, and you better keep an eye on her for the next couple of days. If she vomits again, or shows signs of listlessness, loss of appetite, lethargy, or any other unusual behavior, come and see me immediately. All right?”

  “Yes, Vena,” said Odelia meekly. “And I’ll make sure never to give her raw meat again.”

  “How are the others?” asked the vet, and for some reason her gaze traveled to me—and stayed there.

  “I didn’t eat any of that meat!” I cried. The last thing I needed was to end up on that table, prodded and poked by Vena’s surprisingly strong hands.

  “They didn’t touch the meat,” said Odelia. “Harriet ate it all by herself.”

  “Odd,” said Vena. “Most cats like to share their meals. Are you sure you don’t want me to take a look at them?”

  “No, they’re fine,” said Odelia. She could probably see the looks of panic on all of our faces.

  “Okay, give her this,” said Vena as she handed Odelia a blister pack, “and if she shows any signs of illness, come and see me.”

  She gave Odelia a pat on the back, and that was that. Our ordeal was over. I couldn’t quite believe it. Usually, when we visit Vena, it all ends in tears. Now the only one weeping was Harriet, but I daresay those were mostly tears of relief—that the bacteria and parasites and who knows what else hadn’t done their deleterious work in her gut.

  “I’m fine, you guys!” she cried as she was helped down from the examination table by Odelia.

  “I’m so glad I didn’t eat that meat,” said Dooley. “I don’t want to get all of those diseases Vena told us about. They sound really nasty.”

  “They are nasty,” I said. “That stuff can make you really sick.”

  As we walked out of the examination room and passed through the waiting room, we were surprised to find that Mick Harper was sitting there. He wasn’t alone—he was accompanied by a very attractive woman, and also two large dogs. If I wasn’t mistaken, these were Blizzard and Storm, the hockey star’s huskies.

  “Hey, you guys,” I said by way of greeting. Since any friend of Odelia is a friend of ours—and, by extension, any friend of a friend of Odelia is also a friend—I already considered these huskies to be our friends, even though I hadn’t met them yet. “My name is Max, and these are Dooley, Harriet, and Brutus. We’re Odelia’s cats.”

  The two huskies stared at me in a sort of supercilious way, then one of them—it could have been Blizzard or Storm—drew the sides of his lips up into what I supposed constituted a smile of some sort.

  “Look, Blizzard,” he said in a low voice. “Cats.”

  “I see them,” said Blizzard, lifting the corners of his mouth into a smile. “They don’t look so clever.”

  “No, they don’t look clever at all,” Storm confirmed. “Especially that orange fatso. He looks positively stupid.”

  “Very stupid,” said Blizzard with a sneer.

  “Hey!” said Brutus, stepping to the fore. “I’ll have you know that Max is the cleverest cat in town, all right? Plus, he’s the best detective I know.”

  Blizzard turned a pair of ice-blue eyes on our friend. “Who are you again?”

  “Brutus,” said Brutus, lifting his chin. “And I’m proud to call myself Max’s friend.”

  “Good for you,” said Blizzard. “You look about as dumb as he does. But then, what else can you expect from a cat? You’re just about the dumbest species on the planet.”

  “That’s not very nice of you,” said Harriet. “And if I weren’t feeling under the weather right now, I’d say a whole lot more. But lucky for you, I’m ill, so I’ll suffice with this: be nice to people if you want them to be nice to you.”

  The two dogs guffawed at this.

  “‘Be nice to people!’” said Storm. “What a joke!”

  “Not only are cats the dumbest creatures on the face of the earth,” said Blizzard, “but they’re also the funniest!”

  “Well, I’m glad you think I’m funny,” said Harriet, trying to see the positive side of this encounter—which, I must admit, hadn’t gone as I’d anticipated. “I’ll have you know that my name will soon be in the Guinness Book of Records as the cat who can balance a ball on her nose the longest!”

  I could have told her to shut up right then, but Harriet being Harriet, she couldn’t.

  “Not only that, but I’m also the cat with the strongest neck muscles—which, as everyone will tell you, is very important when you want to balance a ball on the tip of your nose.”

  At this point, the two huskies were practically rolling on the floor, laughing.

  Harriet cracked a smile. “Maybe I should enroll in a comedy club, you guys. Looks like I’m a lot funnier than I thought.”

  “Yeah, you do that, toots,” said Blizzard, once he had sufficiently recovered from his laughing fit. “You’re going to be a big hit!”

  “I have a feeling these huskies don’t like us very much, Max,” said Dooley once we finally moved along. Odelia had been chatting with Mick and the woman he was with, exchanging pleasantries, while all this was going on. Now she was ready to go home.

  “No, I got the same impression,” I confessed. “Not only don’t they like us very much, but they think we’re stupid.”

  “At least they laughed at my jokes,” said Harriet.

  “Well, that’s just it,” I said. “You didn’t crack any jokes, Harriet. Which means they weren’t laughing with you—they were laughing at you.”

  Harriet was taken aback. “They were laughing at me?”

  “That’s the impression I got.”

  “Same here,” said Brutus. “And not only were they laughing at us, they also called us stupid and dumb.” He shook his head. “These are not nice dogs, you guys. Not nice at all.”

  “Maybe we should tell Mick,” Dooley suggested.

  “Tell him what?” I asked.

  “That his dogs need to go to manners school to learn some manners. They could do that along with the police training they need.”

  “Does that even exist?” asked Brutus. “A manners school for dogs?”

  “Of course it does,” I said. “There are plenty of trainers and dog schools that teach that kind of thing. The problem is that Mick probably doesn’t want to send his dogs to a school like that. He seems to feel his dogs are perfect the way they are.”

  “What was all that about?” asked Odelia once we were back in the car.

  “Oh, nothing,” I said.

  “Yeah, just some friendly banter,” Brutus added.

  “They laughed at my jokes,” said Harriet.

  Odelia smiled. “Good. It’s so nice that you guys get along with Mick’s dogs. I’m sure we’ll see plenty of them, and it’s good to be friends.”

  And with those horror-inducing words, she started up the car and took off.

  “Friends?” Brutus whispered. “With those horrible mutts? Never!”

  And I wholeheartedly agreed.

  “Who was that woman with Mick, Odelia?” asked Harriet.

  “That was his new girlfriend,” said Odelia. “Her name is Smilla Pinkerton and she’s an influencer.”

  “What does she influence?” asked Dooley.

  “Well, her followers, I guess,” said Odelia.

  “How does she influence her followers?”

  Odelia laughed. “What’s with all the tough questions, Dooley?”

  Apparently Dooley hadn’t been aware that he was asking tough questions, for he gave Odelia a rueful look. “I’m sorry, Odelia.”

  “It’s fine, Dooley. She did mention that she specializes in promoting pet products, so I guess I’d better take a look.”

  Dooley turned to me and whispered, “How can Mick’s girlfriend promote pet products when she’s not a pet, Max? Don’t you have to be a pet to know what’s good for pets?”

  It was an excellent observation, and one I didn’t have an answer to.

  As Odelia had already indicated, these were tough questions!

  CHAPTER 4

  Once we had left Vena’s and were on our way home, I started to relax a little. Our friend was fine, and even though she still looked a little peaky, I knew there was nothing seriously wrong with her—and that’s what mattered most.

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you,” said Harriet. “Kurt and Gilda have invited all of you guys to join them for yoga practice tomorrow morning.”

  “Yoga practice?” asked Odelia.

  “Yeah, on the lawn. Fifi says they’ve been feeling so much better since they started doing this, so Kurt and Gilda want to share it with as many people as possible.”

  “That’s so nice of them,” said Odelia. “What time, do you know?”

  “Early,” said Harriet. “Maybe, like, six?”

  “That is early,” said Odelia. “But that’s all right. I’ll make sure I’m there, and so will Chase. Mom too—though I’m not sure if Dad will be interested.”

  As she focused her attention back on the wheel and the surrounding traffic, I whispered, “Why did you tell her that Kurt and Gilda invited them? They did no such thing.”

  “If I told her Fifi invited them, do you think she’d go? Of course not.” She gave me a light pat on the nose. “Sometimes you have to fool the humans, Max. For their own good.”

  “I guess,” I said. Though I didn’t know if Gilda and Kurt would be overjoyed when their neighbors suddenly showed up to join them for yoga. Then again, physical activity does bring people closer together, so there’s that to consider.

  “And then while they’re doing their yoga routines,” said Harriet, “we can all practice some of that ball-balancing stuff.”

  “Do you feel well enough for ball balancing?” asked Brutus solicitously.

  “Of course! Vena gave me a clean bill of health, and now that all that horrible meat is out of my system, I’ve never felt better! In fact, I’m starving.”

  “Oh, no,” said Odelia from the front of the car. “You’re not going to eat anything at the moment, honey. First, you need to let that stomach of yours recover.”

  “But Odelia!” said Harriet plaintively. “I’m hungry!”

  “No means no, Harriet,” said Odelia, determined to stand her ground this time. She had allowed Harriet to persuade her with the meat business, and she wasn’t going to make that same mistake again. “Drink water,” she advised.

  “Water!” Harriet cried. “But water is so boring!”

  “Water is essential. So drink plenty of it, and hopefully by tomorrow you’ll feel well enough to start eating again. But small portions. Don’t gorge, or we’ll be right back with Vena.”

  “Odelia is right,” said Dooley. “The stomach needs to recover. Otherwise, you might get even sicker. And water is very good for you, Harriet.”

  “I hate water,” Harriet grumbled. “And I can’t possibly do any of my record-breaking ball balancing on an empty stomach, now can I? No, there has to be a way to eat a little something.” She turned a pleading face to us. “Can I have some of your food tonight?”

  “You’d better not, pumpkin,” said Brutus.

  “And to make sure Harriet doesn’t eat from your bowls,” said Odelia—who had ears like a bat!—”I will empty all of your bowls.”

  “But… does that mean we can’t eat?” asked Dooley.

  “Yes, Dooley,” said Odelia. “That means none of you will eat anything. It’s called solidarity, and it’s good for you.”

  “But… I’m not sick,” said Dooley, who clearly didn’t understand the concept Odelia was trying to introduce. “I feel fine.”

  “Still,” said Odelia, “a fast will do you all a lot of good. And since I know you won’t be able to resist the temptation of paying a visit to some of your friends, I will lock the pet flap.”

  “But Odelia!” Harriet cried. “That’s not fair!”

  “I don’t want you guys getting sick on me,” said Odelia. And judging from the firm set of her face, her mind was made up and she wasn’t going to change it.

  Which meant not only were we going on a fast, but we had just been placed under house arrest!

  “And all because you had to eat that meat,” I couldn’t help but say.

  “It smelled delicious,” said Harriet ruefully. “And it tasted delicious. How was I to know that my tummy wouldn’t think it was delicious?”

  “Okay, you guys,” said Brutus. “This is fine. No cat has ever died from fasting one night. Tomorrow morning we’ll be able to eat again, and our food will taste all the better for it.”

  “I like that,” said Dooley. “Think positive, Brutus.”

  “Exactly,” said Brutus. “Always see the bright side.”

  “I don’t see any bright side here,” said Harriet, who was sulking, I saw. “All I see is that we’re going to be prisoners in our own home. And we won’t even get fed!”

  “Drink water,” said Odelia. “Plenty of it.”

  As she drove, suddenly her phone chimed. When she pressed a little button on the steering wheel, the voice of her uncle sounded through the car.

  “Odelia! Where are you?”

  “On my way home from Vena’s,” she said.

  “Everything all right with the cats?”

  “Yeah, they’re fine. Harriet ate something that didn’t agree with her, but she’s fine now. What’s up, Uncle Alec?”

  “There’s been a murder,” said her uncle. “In fact, there have been two murders. A couple, with a third person seriously injured. Can you go over there now? I already sent Chase. Oh, and I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve asked Mick to tag along on this one. There’s still a lot he needs to learn, and this way he can learn from the best.”