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So I padded into the living room again, and tried to attract Odelia’s attention. It took me a while to accomplish this feat, as she was just demonstrating a very complicated routine that involved jumping up and down while waving her arms just so. Finally she dragged her eyes away from the screen and saw I was also waving my paws, only without defying gravity theway she was.

Immediately she turned down the sound.“Yes, Max?” she said, panting heavily while planting her hands on her hips. “What do you want, buddy?”

“There’s a man at the door,” I said. “The same man that’s on TV, in fact.”

“Maybe he’s here to give you some extra instructions,” Dooley suggested.

“Yeah, that could be it,” I said, nodding.

“He probably thinks you did something wrong and he wants to correct you in person,” Dooley added as he placed his head on his front paws.

“What’s going on?” asked Chase, who’d also become aware of this sudden lull in the proceedings.

Just then, the man at the door made his presence known once more by pressing his finger on the bell and this time keeping it here, causing it to jangle freely—usually a sure-fire way of making sure whoever is inside comes to the door post-haste.

Odelia now grabbed a towel and as she dabbed at her face hurried into the small hallway and opened the door. She must have been as surprised as I was to see her television fitness instructor in the flesh, for she stammered,“Mr. H-H-Hancock!”

“Odelia Poole?” asked the man, looking distinctly ill at ease. “The detective?”

“That’s right—I mean, my name is Odelia Poole, but I’m not a detective. I’m a reporter, actually. With the Hampton Cove Gazette.”

“I’m in trouble, Miss Poole. Big trouble. And I’m hoping you can help me.”

“Yes–yes, of course,” said Odelia, still visibly dazed by this strange coincidence.

When mere mortals meet their heroes in the flesh, they usually respond by turning both tongue-tied and weak-kneed, and I could observe this phenomenon up close and personal in my own human, who looked star-struck by this funny-looking fitness man.

“Can I come in?” asked Mr. Hancock after a moment in which Odelia did nothing more than goggle like a lovesick teenager meeting Justin Bieber for the first time.

“Yes! Yes, please do!” said Odelia, snapping out of her momentary stupor.

“Who is it, babe?” asked Chase as he came to see what was going on. When he caught sight of Mr. Hancock his jaw actually dropped and he just stood there, gawking.

Mr. Hancock smiled nervously, and since his onlookers were now both struck dumb, he did the honors himself by walking into our modest little home, closing the door. Then he said,“I only have four more days to live, Miss Poole, and I’m hoping you’ll be able to find out who’s doing this to me… and maybe stop them from murdering me.”

Chapter 2

Harriet gazed before her into the middle distance, a worried look marring her usually smooth brow.

Next to her, Brutus glanced over, and when he caught the look of worry, reciprocated with a pang of concern himself.“The eyes?” he said.

Harriet nodded.“Yeah, I don’t know what’s happening, smoochie poo, but it looks like I don’t see as well as I used to.”

“Maybe we should tell someone?”

“No!” said Harriet immediately. “I don’t want anyone to know. Promise me you won’t tell a soul, Brutus. Not a single soul!”

“All right, all right,” he said.

Harriet opened and closed one eye, then the other, but the object she was staring at didn’t become any clearer. On the contrary, the rose bush on the other side of the backyard only seemed to become more blurred. Finally she shook her head in dismay. “I don’t know what’s happening, tootsie roll, but if this keeps up soon I won’t be able to see a thing.”

“I’m sure it’s just temporary,” said her partner, giving her a sweet little nudge.

Harriet’s eyesight had been diminishing for the past couple of weeks now, and even though it wasn’t something she liked to discuss with anyone—in fact only Brutus was aware of the baffling malady—it did give her great cause for concern.

Harriet prided herself in her twenty-twenty vision, like most cats do, and this sudden deterioration of what she’d always considered a natural ability was frankly worrying her to no slight degree.

“It could be our diet,” she said now. “Maybe I’ll ask Marge to put some more fresh meat in our diet. All that kibble and packaged food probably isn’t very healthy.”

“Yeah, good idea,” said Brutus with a nod. “Or maybe Marge could feed us some of those vegetables humans like so much? Broccoli and, um, tomatoes?”

“Carrots!” said Harriet suddenly. “I’ve always heard carrots are good for the eyes, as they contain beta-carotene, so maybe I should start eating more carrots from now on.”

“Uh-huh,” said Brutus, though he clearly wasn’t a big proponent of this theory.