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Mom’s expression hardened. “I’m sure your grandmother dating the wrong man and Brutus going missing has nothing to do with Randy, honey. You can’t blame the poor man for everything. Let’s not forget he’s a victim in this—an innocent victim of his success.”

Clearly Mom was completely under the fitness guru’s spell, Odelia thought as she set foot for her own little home.

Chapter 32

Lil Ran wasn’t feeling happy—not with himself but also not with these new humans he and his own human were staying with. Instead of helping Randy save his life all they seemed to care about was that weird old grandmother’s dating life, or Marge Poole’s dating life, or even Randy’s dating life.

They should be out there looking for the killer, but instead they were looking for one of the cats who’d gone missing.

Now Lil Ran wasn’t going to say anything bad about those cats. They were nice enough, but all they did was spend time singing in some choir in the park, and even though he’d enjoyed singing with Fifi and Rufus, compared with Randy’s life being in danger these idle pursuits simply weren’t important right now.

And now the cats had been gone all day, and they hadn’t even asked him to tag along, even though by rights he should have been asked, since he was a dog, and not just any dog but Randy’s dog, and that reporter woman, Odelia Poole, had interviewed a bunch of Randy’s people, and had discovered exactly nothing if he’d heard her right.

So with barely more than two days before Randy was about to die a painful and miserable death, she had nothing—and was no closer to saving his precious human’s life!

All day Lil Ran had spent in that backyard going a little loopy, so he decided the time had come for action. If these humans and their cats weren’t going to save Randy, he would. And to that end, he decided to rope in the assistance of his new friends Fifi and Rufus.

Fifi, when he approached her with the idea, didn’t seem overly excited.

“But I’m not a detective, Lil Ran,” she said from her side of the fence.

“Neither am I, Fifi, but I have to do something, and I can’t do it alone. So won’t you please help me?”

“I don’t know, Lil Ran…”

“Imagine if this was your human. Would you want Kurt to die from some strange and mysterious poison administered while he slept?”

“Is that a trick question?” asked the little doggie.

“You’d do whatever you could to save his life, wouldn’t you?”

“Um, I guess I would,” said Fifi, though she didn’t seem entirely convinced.

“Look, all I’m saying is we go out there and hunt for clues. How hard can it be?”

“Very hard,” said Fifi. “Maybe we better wait for Max. He’s a very good detective. He’ll know what to do.”

“Max is just a cat, Fifi. How can a cat be a good detective?”

“Oh, but he is. He’s solved a lot of cases for his human. He has a knack for it.”

Lil Ran didn’t mind the large orange cat. He even thought he was pretty nice. But a detective? No way. Cats weren’t cut out to be detectives. They lacked the instinct. Dogs, on the other hand, were born detectives. “Okay, so what’s holding you back?” he asked.

“If Kurt finds out I’m gone, he’ll worry,” said Fifi. “He even worries when I take off to play with the other dogs at the dog park.”

“He won’t even know you’re gone,” said the large Irish Setter. “We’ll leave once it’s dark, and Kurt will be fast asleep by then.”

Fifi thought about this for a moment, then nodded.“Okay. I’ll do it. But on one condition.”

“Anything,” said Lil Ran, who didn’t know the lay of the land as well as Fifi.

“Like I said, we wait for Max to return, and we ask his advice first.”

Lil Ran rolled his eyes.“All right, fine. So we’ll ask the big orange cat.”

“Blorange,” said Fifi.

“What?”

“Blorange. Max is very specific about that.”

“Are you sure blorange is even a real color?”

“Absolutely. Now let’s ask Rufus,” said Fifi, and tripped through the hole in the fence and led the way through Odelia’s backyard, into Marge and Tex’s backyard, and up to where Rufus lived. The big sheepdog barked happily when he saw them coming.

“Hey, buddies. So are we on for dog choir tonight?”

“Lil Ran has an even better idea,” said Fifi. “We’re going sleuthing.”

“Sleuthing?” asked Rufus. “What do you mean?”

“We’re going to save my human’s life,” said Lil Ran proudly. He might have fumbled the ball when he’d allowed those dastardly poisoners to enter the house undetected and injected his human with a life-ending toxin, but he was going to make up for that now.

“What do you say, Rufus?” said Fifi. “Do you want to solve a crime tonight? Walk in the footsteps of the great detectives?”

“But I’m not a detective, you guys,” said the big fluffy dog. “I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

“Exactly what I said!” said Fifi. “Which is why we’ll consult with Max first, and he’ll tell us what to do.”

“Oh,” said Rufus, nodding. “Yeah, I think that might be a good idea. If Max says it’s fine, of course I’ll come with you.”