“Let’s go to the main cave,” I suggested.

  I remembered how sunlight had peeked into that main cave, which meant that it was probably accessible from above.

  And so the long hike up the mountain began.

  “Are you sure we’re going in the right direction?” asked Marge after we had walked for a while.

  “I think so,” I said.

  “We’re going in the right direction,” Clarice confirmed. And if she said so, it must be true.

  We had walked for another half hour or so when we finally arrived on top of the mountain.

  “It must be here somewhere,” I said as I looked around. “This cave is very big, and comprises a big chunk of the mountain.”

  “It’s all hollowed out,” Brutus confirmed.

  “Let’s spread out,” Odelia suggested. “That way we can cover more ground.”

  And so we did. Odelia and Chase went in one direction, Marge and Tex in another, and the rest of us followed our instincts—or, as in Clarice’s case, our noses.

  “There’s a hole here!” Kingman suddenly announced. “A big hole!”

  “Don’t fall in!” I told our friend.

  “Oh, don’t worry, I won’t,” said Kingman. “I’m not crazy!” He gave me a big smile.

  He had just spoken the words when all of a sudden that big smile was wiped from his face—and I watched him disappear from view.

  “Oh nooooo!” I heard, like an echo that grew more and more distant with every passing second.

  Looked like our friend had found the big cave!

  CHAPTER 57

  We all gathered around the hole that Kingman had found—and crashed through—and saw that it offered us a nice view of the pirate ship below.

  “This is it, all right,” said Chase grimly.

  “Where is Kingman?” asked Shanille. “Is he all right? Can anybody see him?”

  “I don’t see him,” I said.

  “Oh, he’s fine,” said Clarice. “He’s got all of those layers of insulation. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if he simply bounced all the way back up.”

  Her words struck me as a tad harsh, but I did hope she was right, and that his size and subcutaneous fat had protected our friend from the worst of the fall.

  Then, all of a sudden, a voice echoed from below. “I’m all right!” it said, and when we looked closer, we saw that it belonged to Kingman, and that he was waving at us from what looked like a puddle—though in all likelihood it was much deeper than a puddle.

  “He’s saved!” cried Shanille. “Oh, my prayers have been answered—Kingman is safe!”

  “Okay, so how do we get down there?” asked Chase.

  “We could jump,” Brutus suggested. “If it worked for Kingman, it’ll work for us, right?”

  Judging from the looks of horror on the faces of all those present—at least the ones that could understand what he was saying—I could tell his idea hadn’t been received with enthusiasm.

  “I brought ropes,” Tex announced. “I found them in my garden shed, so we might as well use them, right?” He had opened his backpack and was starting to pull out a longish piece of rope. It was a bright orange and looked like the kind of rope that mountain climbers use.

  “I didn’t know you were into rock climbing, Tex,” said Chase.

  “I’m not,” said his father-in-law. “Vesta bought these. I think she said she was going to use them to tie up criminals on her watch patrols.”

  “She could have tied up a lot of criminals,” said Chase appreciatively. He then started to tie one end of the rope to a nearby convenient tree—after making sure it wouldn’t topple over—and then threw the other end down the cave to see if it would reach all the way.

  Satisfied that it did, he volunteered to be the first one to venture into the hole.

  “I’ll go first, and then the rest of you follow,” he suggested.

  Marge’s face spoke volumes. “I’m not going down there,” she said. “I’ll probably fall and break every bone in my body.”

  “I’m not sure I can manage either,” said Odelia. “I’ve done some rope climbing back in high school, but that was a long time ago.”

  “It’s not hard,” said Chase. “You just have to make sure you put your feet just so.” And then he demonstrated the exact foot stance for descending down a rope.

  It all looked pretty complicated to me, and I didn’t think I’d be able to apply his technique.

  “Come on,” said Clarice. “Let’s find another way down. This rope business isn’t doing it for me.”

  And she was off. After a moment’s hesitation, we decided to follow her. She was, after all, used to this kind of thing. Or at any rate, more than we were. I hate to admit it, but after having lived quite a sedentary life, we had all turned into couch potatoes to some extent.

  As we hurried along, Clarice darted from rock to rock as if she had something of a mountain goat in her DNA. I wasn’t quite as skilled as she was, and so it didn’t take long for me to lag behind. Maybe I should have used Kingman’s method and simply plummeted down that hole.

  Panting like crazy, I tried to keep up with the others, but found it hard going. And that’s when it happened: I suddenly tripped, fell, and as I experienced a sudden whoosh against my sensitive fur, I knew my wish had been granted—I was going down, and fast!

  Moments later, I crash-landed on top of what felt like a pretty hard surface, but what on closer inspection turned out to be a moss-covered piece of wood from the pirate ship.

  “Ouch,” I muttered as I checked whether all of my bones were still intact, and all of my limbs still attached.

  As I looked up, I saw that the entire ceiling of the cave was like a cheese grater: there were holes everywhere. No wonder both myself and Kingman had managed to fall through one of the cracks. Over the years the cave must have started to collapse more and more.

  “Max!” Kingman yelled from just behind me. “You made it!”

  “Barely,” I said, as I got up with some effort.

  “I’m fine,” he said. “How about you?”

  “I think I’m fine,” I said carefully. “Though to be absolutely sure, I’d probably need the expert opinion of a radiologist.”

  But since we didn’t have a radiologist as part of our present company, I started searching around to see where Chase was.

  I saw him dangling from the rope, about halfway down by now.

  “Help is coming,” said Kingman with satisfaction. “Now all we need to do is get from this cave to the next, and the next—until we have managed to locate our humans.” He shook his head. “Wilbur will be so worried. He hates it when I suddenly take off unannounced.”

  “They’ll all be worried,” I said. “I’m worried. What if they were jumbled around inside this giant washing machine, just like us? Only they bumped their heads against a sharp rock, or, worse, drowned? This cave system is a death trap, Kingman. Extremely treacherous.”

  “It’s all part of the defense that Captain Quidd must have set up to protect his treasure,” said the voluminous cat.

  “I don’t think so. I think Quidd’s ship accidentally ended up in here after a storm, and never made it out. And that may also be the reason no one has ever found the ship or the treasure. Because of the treacherousness of the caves. Once you enter, it’s hard to leave.”

  As we looked up, I saw that Odelia had decided to follow her husband and was also making her way down. Now all we needed were our friends—and Marge and Tex—and the company would be complete again.

  “Max!” a familiar voice suddenly rang out. “How did you get here so fast?”

  It was Dooley, and as he popped up from behind a nearby rock, I breathed a sigh of intense relief. He was followed by the others. Looked like they had made it in one piece.

  “I fell,” I said. “On top of this thick piece of moss here, which broke my fall.”

  “Impatient as always,” said Brutus with a grin.

  “We need to show Marge and Tex the way,” said Harriet. “They’ll never use that rope.”

  “I’ll go back,” said Brutus. “And show them. We don’t want to leave anyone behind.”

  And so he returned to the entrance through which he had come, and hurried off to inform Marge and Tex of a safer way down.

  Chase had reached the ground, and looked around in wonder as he took in his surroundings—and especially the wreck of the ship.

  “What do you know?” he said, looking quite impressed. “It’s an actual pirate ship.”

  Odelia dropped down next to him. “We need to wait for Mom and Dad,” she said. “They’re probably going to need help.”

  “Brutus has gone back up to show them the way,” I said.

  “Okay, so what now?” asked Chase.

  “Now we need to get into the next cave,” I said. “Where Gran and the others may or may not be.”

  The question was: how to get there?

  And how to survive the trip?

  CHAPTER 58

  Three Hours Earlier

  Vesta had no idea what was going on, but what she did know was that she didn’t like any of it. First her cats were getting sucked up into big holes in the ground, and now the entire cave she was in was filling up with water at an alarmingly rapid pace.

  “This sucks,” she told her friend Scarlett. “I mean, we could be sitting in a coffee shop right now, sipping from our favorite beverage, and instead we’re on some creepy island where people are getting shot, and weird caves with weird holes are flooding while you watch.”

  “We probably should get out of here,” said Scarlett. “If the water keeps rising at this rate, we’ll be in real trouble, Vesta.”

  “And don’t I know it!” she cried, throwing up her hands. She had been handling criminals all her adult life, and she had to say—they were a darn sight easier to deal with than this rising-water phenomenon!

  “My dad is floating away,” said Smilla, gesturing to where her murdered father had been.

  They all looked over, and Vesta had to admit the influencer was right: the body of Frick Pinkerton was floating on the rising tide.

  “As long as he doesn’t come anywhere near me, I’m fine with him turning into a floater,” said Wilbur, which Vesta thought was a little cold, especially since the man’s daughter was right there.

  “Okay, can everybody swim?” asked Mick. “Yes? Then I suggest we start swimming.”

  “That’s not the point, Mick,” said Vesta. “The point is: where are we going to swim to?”

  It was a question that hadn’t occurred to the genius detective, for he frowned, and she could see his little gray cells working—and working hard.

  “Um… how about back to where we came from?” he finally suggested.

  “But that cave will also be flooded!” she cried. “No, we need to go higher. Get out of these caves altogether.”

  They all looked up at the ceiling of the cave they were currently in, and that’s when she got a bright idea.

  “Okay, so this cave system is all connected, right? Which means you should easily be able to go from one cave to the next.” Which was what she hoped had happened to the cats. And she fervently prayed that they were fine. “So how about we jump into one of those holes over there, and get sucked along, just like the cats were? Chances are that we’ll end up in the next cave—or maybe even get spat out above ground! You know, like a geyser?”

  “That’s a lot of ifs and maybes, Vesta,” said Wilbur. “Our lives are on the line here. And you want us to gamble on being able to get out of here through some kind of hydraulic system of interconnected caves?”

  “Yes!” she said. “It all makes sense.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” said Ida. “It makes no sense at all—at least not to me.”

  “It does make a little sense,” said Smilla. “Though I have to admit I wouldn’t like to bet my life on it. What if we simply get sucked into a giant cave that’s even deeper than this one—and is completely filled with water? We’d drown!”

  “I don’t want to drown,” said Scarlett. “It’s, like, my worst nightmare. To be underwater and not able to breathe.” She pressed a hand to her chest, even as she started to breathe a little rapidly. “I’m starting to panic just thinking about it.”

  “Then don’t think about it,” Vesta advised. “Just do it and see what happens.”

  “I can’t do it,” said Scarlett, shaking her head furiously. “I’m sorry, but I simply can’t.”

  “I can’t do it either,” said Ida. “And I’m not going to. Your advice is always bad, Vesta, and you know it.”

  “What are you talking about? My advice is always spot-on!”

  “Like that time you told me that in order to get rid of a rash on my thigh I needed to rub it with Vicks? It only got about a hundred times worse! And later on, Tex told me that was probably the worst advice you could have given me!”

  “Okay, so that was an honest mistake,” she said. “At least I tried.”

  “This isn’t The Voice, Vesta,” said Smilla. “You don’t get points for trying and failing. In this situation, if you try and fail, that means you die.”

  Smilla had a point, Vesta saw—but what was the alternative? To let themselves float up until they ran out of space? And then what?

  “I suggest we let ourselves float up,” said Mick. “Until we run out of space, and then we swim through one of those holes in the ceiling.”

  “There are no holes in the ceiling,” Vesta pointed out.

  “There have to be,” said Mick. “We can’t see them now, but there must be holes up there. And we’ll be able to swim through them as soon as the water has risen high enough.”

  Frankly speaking, Vesta had had enough of this whole discussion. She wasn’t her brother’s keeper, after all, and if the others thought her suggestions were lousy, so be it.

  “I’m going to give this a shot,” she said. “Follow me if you want, or not. I don’t care. But I’m getting out of here before this cave is completely flooded and we run out of oxygen.”

  And with these words, she moved to the nearest suckhole with purposeful steps. Worst-case scenario: she got sucked into a cave that was full of water and had to swim to survive. So what? She was an excellent swimmer. She’d make it.

  As she walked over, she heard the pitter-patter of steps behind her. She immediately recognized them as belonging to Scarlett.

  “Changed your mind?” she asked without turning.

  “I just realized that you’re my best friend,” said Scarlett as she caught up with her. “And if you drown, then who am I going to go on patrol with, or have coffee with? And we all know how hard it is to make new friends after a certain age.” She took a deep breath. “So explain to me again how this works?”

  “I have absolutely no idea,” Vesta confessed. “I never did pay a lot of attention in school. As far as I can tell, we simply jump into the hole and it either sucks us in or spits us out. Either way, we’re getting out of here, honey.”

  A resolute look had come over her friend’s face. “Okay, let’s do this. Before I lose my nerve.”

  They both waded to the edge of the nearest suckhole, where the cats had disappeared, and as they took a deep breath, they both jumped.

  CHAPTER 59

  As we got ready to explore the caves more closely, there was a loud holler. When we looked over, Marge and Tex came walking up, led by Brutus, who was looking proud as a peacock.

  “I did it,” he announced as he drew closer. “I got them here.”

  “Well done, sweet cakes,” said Harriet affectionately. She turned to Odelia and Chase. “So what now?”

  “Now we look for Gran and her friends,” said Odelia. “And hope that we find them before it’s too late.”

  “I really wish we could take a look inside that pirate ship,” said Chase, darting a curious look in the direction of the fascinating structure.

  “The ship can wait,” said Odelia. “But Gran and Scarlett can’t. So let’s go, all right?”

  “Fine,” said Chase reluctantly, and we all moved off in the direction of the sinkhole that, as far as we knew, was the only access to this particular cave.

  “The water level must be low right now,” said Chase as we all stood gathered around the hole. “I think I can see the bottom.”

  “So this is the hole you arrived through?” asked Odelia.

  I nodded. “Yep. This is how we got here. We got sucked up in one cave and spat out in the next.”

  “This is extremely dangerous,” said Marge. “For all we know, we might never make it out alive.”

  “I agree,” said Chase. “Which means we have to find some other way of accessing these caves. Unless…” He darted a look at the rope that still hung suspended from the top of the cave.

  “No,” said Tex, shaking his head. “No way. I am not going to descend into this hole, Chase. I’m not.”

  “Not even to save your beloved mother-in-law?” Odelia teased.

  Her dad made a face. “I care about Vesta a great deal, but I don’t see the point of putting all of our lives at risk. And besides, I’m sure the professionals will have found a way to reach her by now. For all we know, they’re sipping a hot beverage wrapped in one of those space blankets as we speak, praising their good fortune.”

  Tex was right. While we were traipsing all over this cave, Gran could very well have already been saved.

  As we all thoughtfully looked down the hole, suddenly I noticed something. “Hey,” I said, pointing to a piece of tracksuit. “Isn’t that part of Gran’s tracksuit?”

  Marge immediately crouched down and tried to reach it. She managed, and studied the piece of fabric for a moment. “It seems to have been ripped off her tracksuit vest,” she said. She held it up and Odelia took it.

  “This is definitely Gran’s,” she said. “Which means she must have traveled the same way Max and the others did.” She looked around. “But then where is she? And where are the others?”

  And since we now had incontrovertible proof that Gran had been there, we started looking all over for a sign of her and her friends. When we didn’t find anything, Marge started to despair.