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She hurriedly joined them, as did Scarlett, though at a slower pace, due to those damn high heels she always insisted on wearing.

“What’s wrong?” she asked once she’d crouched down, her knees creaking as she did.

“It’s Odelia,” said Max. “She’s been hypnotized.”

“And Chase, too!” said Dooley.

“And so has Uncle Alec!” Max added.

“And he’s lost his hair and his mustache and his sideburns!”

“And can you even understand what we’re saying or have they gotten to you too?!”

She stared down at her cats.“I can understand you loud and clear,” she said. “And what’s all this stuff about hypnotizing?”

“Who’s been hypnotized?” asked Scarlett.

“Will you please be quiet? I’m trying to talk to my cats.”

“In any other universe that sentence would earn you a one-way trip to the nuthouse,” Scarlett announced.

“Madame Solange has a sister,” said Max. “And that sister has been going around hypnotizing people, and making them forget who they are. She hypnotized Odelia just now, and Chase, too, and probably also Marge and Uncle Alec.”

“And now Uncle Alec thinks he’s a man named Wolf and he’s married to Solange!” Dooley finished.

“What are they saying?” asked Scarlett.

“Can you just be quiet for two seconds?”

“We also overheard two men talking,” Max continued, darting anxious glances around, “and the family of Solange has signed a contract with Hotflix for one hundred and fifty million dollars for an exclusive reality show. Which is going to show how she makes people’s every wish come true. Likea modern-day Santa Claus, only the female version. And so Solange and her family have been going around making sure those wishes all come true—only they haven’t. Not really. They’ve been faking the whole thing. But the network doesn’t care. As long as the ratings go through the roof, they just don’t care.”

“Oh, my God,” said Vesta, getting up and rubbing her painful knees. She turned to her friend. “Bad business, honey. Very bad.”

But Scarlett was looking the other way, her arms crossed in front of her chest and pointedly ignoring her.

“Now what?” asked Vesta.

“Do I have permission to speak, General? Are you absolutely sure, Your Highness?”

“Yeah, you have permission to speak.”

“Well, now I don’t wanna—so there.”

“Solange’s sister has been going around hypnotizing people to forget they exist.”

“Who exists?”

“They! Solange and her family! And they’ve been making people’s wishes come true for this big reality show they’re doing—a contract worth nine figures if you please!”

“Nine figures!”

Vesta nodded.“So how do we handle this is what I want to know. This Solange is clearly a very dangerous woman, and her sister even more so.”

Scarlett then slowly turned to her, a smile forming on her lips, and Vesta could just see the thought forming in her friend’s head, and the same smile soon spread across her own features.

“The watch is on this, buddy,” said Scarlett, holding out her hand.

“Yeah, we got this,” Vesta confirmed, and tickled Scarlett’s fingers with her own. She then looked down at Max and Dooley, and the fly that kept buzzing around their heads. “I’ve got a very important assignment for you guys. Are you game?”

“Just don’t forget about us, Gran,” said Dooley. “Please don’t forget who we are!”

“Oh, I can promise you that I won’t, Dooley,” she said.

“That’s what Odelia said,” said the small gray cat sadly. “And look what happened to her.”

[Êàðòèíêà: img_3]

Solange had just promised a middle-aged woman that any day now she’d come into the possession of a very large sum of money when suddenly the curtain of her domain was thrown wide and a very irate-looking Ida Baumgartner came charging in, a smallish man in tow.

“You promised me my husband would return to me!” Ida bellowed. “And look what I found on my doorstep this morning. This weird-looking creature!”

“My name is Burt Baumgartner,” the small guy intoned. “And I have returned from the dead to love my wife for all eternity!”

“This is not my husband!” said Ida. “This is Barney Grogan—the butcher!”

“I love you, Ida,” said the little guy, and puckered up his lips for a kiss, earning himself a ringing smack around the head from Ida.

“He doesn’t even look like my husband!” Ida cried.

“I’m very sorry,” said Solange, throwing an apologetic glance at her other client, who stood watching the scene with interest. “For customer complaints I’ll have to refer you to my sister. She’s over in the next trailer. She’ll happily assist you in this matter.”

“I will always love you, Ida, dear,” said the smallish man, adjusting his glasses.

“Oh, go away, Barney,” said Ida, and both of them walked out.

Solange rolled her eyes. Clearly her sister was starting to miss the ball lately. First this whole business with Wolf’s family, and now this? If she kept this up even Hotflix would start doubting the fat check they’d written them.

The client left her trailer, after Solange once more promised her that the money would arrive any day now, and she quickly glanced into the waiting area, and saw she had no more customers. Great. She needed a break.