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“If all Rose wants is to know who’s sending her these pictures, and she doesn’t want to file a complaint or to press charges, I see no reason for Alec to get involved,” said Chase, referring to Alec Lip, Hampton Cove’s chief of police and also Odelia’s uncle.

“Mh,” said Odelia, considering this. “And you’re sure you’ll be able to find out?”

“Absolutely,” said Chase. “These guys are incredible. You hand them this phone and they’ll pinpoint the source of this creep’s nasty messages in a heartbeat.”

Odelia thought for a moment, then finally sighed.“It’s not as if I’ll ever be able to find out this guy’s identity. And the longer I stare at these pictures…” She shivered visibly. “I just wish I’d never laid eyes on them.”

Chase, in the heat of his argument, had placed the phone down on the counter, and I got my first good look at the object under discussion, namely Dick’s picture. I blinked as I stared at the thing. It was… a little disconcerting to be honest. And just then Dooley joined us on the only stool left, and immediately got an eyeful of Rose’s phone.

He frowned as he took in the picture in its full splendor.“Is that a sausage?” he asked.

Odelia, who suddenly noticed both her cats were intently staring down at the offensive image, quickly snatched the phone and turned it upside down.“Please tell me you didn’t see that,” she said with a groan.

“I saw a sausage,” Dooley announced.

Odelia smiled with relief.“And that’s exactly what it was, Dooley. A sausage.”

“So Dick sent your friend a picture of a sausage?” asked my friend.

Odelia swallowed.“Yep. That’s exactly what he did. Which is why we call him… Dick the Sausage.”

“So is this a game or something? For the newspaper?”

“Absolutely,” said Odelia, whose face was glowing crimson now as she tried her hardest to contain a peal of laughter bubbling to the surface. “Find the sausage. A new game Dan invented.”

“Oh,” said Dooley, and promptly lost all interest. After all, we all know humans are a strange breed, sending pictures of sausages to unsuspecting people. And as Chase pocketed the girl Rose’s phone, I decided to put the entire matter out of my mind.

It was much harder than I thought. The picture of this particular sausage was one of those things that once seen, it’s impossible to unsee, and I now truly wished I’d never hopped up onto that stool and stuck my nose in.

Chapter 3

I’d been dozing peacefully, not even a hint of sausages in my dreams I can proudly say, when suddenly Odelia’s phone started belting out its usual tone indicating someone wanted to have speech with her.

This is one of the disadvantages of being a reporter: anyone can call you up in the middle of the night with some important piece of information to impart. The same goes for Chase, of course. Since criminals rarely have the decency to commit their crimes during waking hours and instead like to do so under the cloak of darkness, it frequently happens that he’s called out of bed at some ungodly hour to investigate some crime.

“Is that Odelia’s phone?” asked Dooley who, like me, had been peacefully sleeping at the foot of our humans’ bed.

“I think so,” I said.

“Maybe she won the competition,” he said. And when I stared at him, he added, “The sausage competition? Maybe she won first prize.”

“Oh, right,” I said.

Odelia had already picked her phone from the nightstand where it had been blaring away and pressed it to her ear. With a muffled, sleepy voice she said,“Odelia Poole speaking.”

Chase was stirring, and Dooley and I were staring, and when suddenly Odelia sat bolt upright in bed, the cop flicked on the light and I could see that my human’s eyes were wide and her face wore an expression of profound shock. “I’ll be there right away,” she spoke into the phone, her voice suddenly a lot more crisp and snappy. “Have you called the police?” She glanced over to Chase, who was frowning and mouthing, ‘What’s going on?’ “Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell them to hurry. Yes, just sit tight, Rose, and whatever you do—don’t touch anything, you understand? Bye.” She disconnected and turned to Chase, dragging a careworn hand through her tousled mane of fair hair. “That was Rose Wimmer. Her dad died. She just found him sitting at his desk—dead. Looks like suicide.”

“Oh, my God,” said Chase.

And then suddenly both of them sprang into action. Like the well-oiled sleuthing team that they were, they swung their feet from underneath the covers, and moments later were getting dressed.

“Do you want us to tag along?” I asked.

“Sure,” said Odelia. “Let’s go.”

And then we were on our way, hurrying down the stairs, and out to Chase’s squad car. And before long we were racing along deserted streets, Chase keeping up a good pace.

“Do you think this has something to do with Dick’s sausage?” asked Dooley.

“I don’t think so, Dooley,” I said.

“Because it was the girl Rose’s phone that picture was on, right?”