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“Excellent idea, Dooley!” said Harriet, and turned back to Rufus, who still stood eyeing us with a kindly expression on his furry face. “For now, try to familiarize yourself with the concept of the litter box, Rufus.”

“Like an Olympian,” said Dooley.

“Tell him, Dooley,” said Harriet encouragingly. “Tell Rufus how it is.”

“Well,” said Dooley, “Olympians visualize their victories. So you have to visualize stepping into the litter box, being inside the litter box, doing your business in the litter box… basicallybeing the litter box.”

“Being the litter box,” said Rufus, nodding. “Gotcha.”

Harriet beamed and patted Dooley on the head, not unlike a circus director whose monkey has just performed a complicated trick.

Chapter 6

As Chase made his way to the copy machine, he noticed to his surprise how Dolores was seated behind one of the desks in the main office, going through a stack of files. He approached the desk sergeant.“Dolores? What are you doing? Shouldn’t you be behind your desk?”

“The Mayor told me to go and sit here,” she said in her typical smoker’s rasp. Her mascara was prominently applied, as usual, making her more than a little scary-looking.

“The Mayor? What do you mean?”

“He came by earlier and told me to sit here. When I asked him what I was supposed to do, he said to figure something out to keep me busy until he could arrange for my early retirement, so I just thought I’d do some filing. There’s always filing to be done.”

“But… if you’re here, who’s sitting at your desk?”

“Fiona,” she said acerbically.

Chase’s face darkened. “The Mayor’s niece?”

Dolores nodded.“She took my place. The Mayor said the precinct needed some livening up. Said he had received lots of complaints about me. About how my grumpy old mug scares people away.”

“He said that, did he?”

“Yes, he did. And then he told Fiona to take a seat and look pretty and he left.”

“Don’t go anywhere,” said Chase.

“Oh, I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’ll fix this.”

“Good luck with that,” she growled without much enthusiasm.

Chase stalked down the corridor and burst into the Chief’s office. “Did you know the Mayor just told Dolores to take a seat in the main office and put his niece in her place?”

“Yeah, he told me,” said the Chief, not looking happy.

“But he can’t do that!”

“He can. He’s the mayor.”

“And you’re chief of police. Just tell him he can’t just kick out Dolores!”

“He can and he did. And he also told me that if I make a fuss, he’s sure he’ll be able to find himself a new chief of police, too.”

Chase had planted his hands on the Chief’s desk and stared at the man. “He said that?”

“He did, and what’s worse—he means it. Ever since we played hooky at that conference he’s got it in for us, Chase. It wouldn’t surprise me if he decided to kick me to the curb. And as for you, it’s a miracle he hasn’t put you in charge of policing traffic on Bay Avenue yet.”

“He wouldn’t do that.”

“Oh, he would. He hates my guts, and now he hates your guts, too. It’s all falling apart, Chase. Thirty years on the job, and it’s all going to pieces. Soon I’ll be forced out, and you’ll be telling road ragers to please calm down.”

There was a knock on the door, and Officer Sarah Flunk stuck her head in.“Chief, Victor Ball says he wants a word.”

“Victor is still here? I thought you sent him on his merry way?”

“I did,” said Chase.

“Um… he says he’s afraid to go home,” said Sarah. “In case he runs into the big monster again. What is he talking about, Chief?”

“Never mind what he’s talking about,” said the Chief with a touch of pique. “Just send him home and tell him not to bother us again with his nonsense.”

“Will do, Chief,” said the officer, and retracted her head and closed the door.

“We can’t just let the Mayor take over,” said Chase. “Dolores has done that job for ages—probably since Hampton Cove was incorporated—and a damn fine job she’s done, too.”

“And so she has, but what do you want me to do? My hands are tied here, Chase.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t have flunked out of that conference,” Chase said now, plunking himself down on a seat.

They’d both recently gone to LA for a police conference, but the subject matter hadn’t appealed neither to Chase or Chief Alec, so they’d decided to play truant. Their absence had been duly noted, and the Mayor had been notified, and he hadn’t liked it. Possibly because the town had paid for the hotel and expenses.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure this conference business is just an excuse,” said the Chief. “He’s been wanting to put his niece in Dolores’s spot for weeks. Next stop: this desk,” he said, patting his own desk.

It was no secret the Mayor had big plans for his favorite niece. Preferably he’d like to see her run the police station as its first woman chief. And this was only the first step.

The door flew open again, and Victor Ball walked in, his mustache bristling.“You can’t send me home, Chief! That monster will be waiting for me, I just know it will!”

“If it was, don’t you think your wife would have called by now?” said the Chief.