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Both heads came up again, and a gleam appeared in her parents’ eyes. “Fifty thousand smackeroos!” said her dad.

“And we’re going to spend it on a cruise!” her mom added.

“And your wedding, of course,” said her dad.

“Oh, Dad,” said Odelia with a sigh. She glanced over to the television. “So Madame Solange is the real deal, huh? Maybe she can tell us where Uncle Alec is?”

“Hey, that’s a great idea!” said Mom. “We’ll go tomorrow. I’m sure she’ll be able to tell us where Alec is in a heartbeat.” She thunked her head. “Why didn’t I think of this sooner?”

Just then, Chase entered the room, looking a little trepidatious.“Um, I just got a call from Dolores,” he said, holding up his phone. “Your grandmother and Scarlett have just been arrested for trespassing. They tried to break into Town Hall for some reason.”

Now three members of the Poole family thunked their heads.

“Oh, and also?” the cop continued, clearly nervous to be standing in the bedroom of his future in-laws. “They claim Charlene killed Alec, so that’s an interesting development.”

Chapter 19

Look, Charlene Butterwick is a perfectly nice person, don’t get me wrong, but spending the night at the foot of her bed wasn’t exactly the same thing as spending the night at the foot of my own human’s bed.

I’m not saying that in due course I wouldn’t have grown to love and appreciate Charlene, especially since she kept feeding us morsels of the tastiest food I’d eaten in quite a while, but as of this moment I was starting to feel that Gran hadn’t done us a great service by giving us away to her future daughter-in-law.

“I don’t know how much longer I can take this, Max,” said Harriet, clearly of the same opinion. “I mean, Charlene is a great person and all, and the food is just to die for, but honestly? I’d much rather be home right now and eating some of our regular kibble.”

“Me, too,” Brutus grunted. “And the first chance I get I’m staging an escape.”

“Oh, can I come, too, Brutus?” asked Dooley. “I miss my usual spot on the couch.”

“Sure. I think if we’re going to do this, we should all work together.”

“But what is Gran going to say?” I said, still feeling under the obligation to the woman who’d put us there. “She’s not going to like it when Dooley and I blow this assignment simply because we feel homesick.”

“I’m sure she’ll understand,” said Harriet. “After all, she couldn’t possibly have been serious when she handed over ownership to Charlene—or could she?”

We shared a speculative look, then cut a glance to Charlene, who was tossing and turning in her sleep and clearly not having a great night.

“Poor Charlene,” said Harriet. “She’s clearly suffering.”

“We really should be out there looking for Uncle Alec, not in here,” said Brutus.

“All right,” I said finally, having come to a decision. “Gran won’t like it, but that can’t be helped.” I spoke into my collar again. “Gran, if you’re still listening, we’re getting out of here. So no need to come and get us in the morning because we won’t be here. We want to keep looking for Uncle Alec, and we can’t do that being cooped up in here with Charlene.”

“But won’t Charlene be upset if she wakes up in the morning and finds us all gone?” asked Dooley, showing what a considerate cat he really is: even in this, not our finest hour, his thoughts went out to Charlene Butterwick, who wasn’t even our own human.

“I think she’ll understand,” I said.

And so it was decided: we were going to stage the great escape, and bust out of this benign prison cell. Like the proverbial bird in the gilded cage, it was time to find our freedom.

So we tripped down the stairs and into the spacious living room, then started searching for an avenue of escape. We soon discovered it wasn’t going to be as easy as we’d anticipated: as I’ve already indicated Charlene doesn’t believe in the concept of the pet flap, and all the doors and windows were tightly sealed.

“This place is locked up tighter than Fort Knox,” Brutus had to admit after a cursory inspection of the modes of access and egress. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to get out.”

Just then, a fly came buzzing past, and I recognized him as Norm, my airborne buddy.

“Hey, Norm,” I said. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Max!” said Norm, panting a little. “You’re a hard cat to find! I’ve been looking all over the place!”

“Yeah, we got transferred here this morning, and have been pretty much stuck.”

“Um, Mr. Norm?” said Dooley. “Can I ask you a question, please, sir? Is it true that you spread a lot of germs and bacteria and make a lot of people and pets very sick?”

“Now don’t start with that, young cat,” said Norm censoriously. “I can assure you that’s all fake news.”

“Oh,” said Dooley, nodding. “Okay.”

“Flies only spread happiness and good cheer. Now have I got news for you guys!”

“Pray tell,” I said. I frankly could use all the happiness and good cheer I could find.