7b2696c981e3d60fa8abbc841c83ccf4

“And a great idea it was,” Harriet agreed. “Only problem is, now he’s infesting our home with his presence.”

We all looked at the elephant in the backyard: Rudolph Vickery, as he shoved burger after burger into his mouth, and when he wasn’t scarfing down food, was regaling the rest of the company with stories about his checkered past and his colorful life, or strumming an imaginary guitar and annoying the neighbors with his frankly terrible singing.

Okay, so maybe getting Gran to invite Rudolph to stay with us wasn’t my best idea ever. Then again, even with a brain as big as mine, sometimes you just strike out.

“Roots, bloody roots,” Rudolph grunted now, playing a mean air guitar and banging his head so wildly he almost headbutted Scarlett.

“You need to get rid of him, Max,” said Harriet. “You know that, right?”

I sighed deeply.“Yeah, I know. And I will, I promise.”

And I proceeded to project optimism yet concern, cheerfulness yet agitation, confidence yet perturbation.

In other words?

I was stumped.

42. PURRFECT LIFE

Chapter 1

We were all gathered in the living room of the cozy little home we share with Odelia and her husband Chase, enjoying the evening watching television as we often do. Only this evening was special, since it was the first time Chase was to appear on TV.

For this auspicious occasion the whole clan had gathered: Odelia and Chase, of course, but also Odelia’s mom and dad, and her grandmother. Even Uncle Alec was there, with his girlfriend Charlene, and Gran’s friend Scarlett. In other words: we were entertaining a full house, and were lucky to have found ourselves a place right in front of the television, awaiting the big debut. With us I am of course referring to myself, but also to Dooley, my best friend and a Ragamuffin of the noblest kind, Harriet, a white Persian who belongs to Odelia’s mom Marge, and Brutus, that black butch cat who belongs to Chase. Though let’s not split hairs: in the Poole household, nobody actually belongs to anybody. In fact it wouldn’t be unfair to say that we all belong to each other, since we all like to do what we can to further the investigations that have put Odelia on the crime-fighting map in Hampton Cove, the small town on the East Coast we like to call home.

Another reason for the family to celebrate was that they’d finally managed to get rid of their house guest. Following one of my less inspired interventions, a man named Rudolph Vickery had been staying with us. He was Wilbur Vickery’s brother, one of our local shopkeepers, and an aspiring musician, having chosen the heavy metal genre as a potential career path. Unfortunately he didn’t possess a great deal of talent. Still, since he had now decided that to further his musical career he had to be in LA, we had wished him good luck—and in fact I think these good wishes came from the bottom of everyone’s heart, since no one wanted to ever see the man’s face again.

“Popcorn, anyone?” asked Uncle Alec, returning from the kitchen with two big bowls of steaming hot popcorn. “They’re hot and fresh from the oven.”

“You’re making it sound as if we’re going to watch an entire movie with Chase in the lead,” Gran grumbled. “It’s only a short interview, Alec. Blink and you’ll miss it.”

“It’s Chase’s big television premiere, Ma,” said Uncle Alec as he let himself fall down onto the couch next to Charlene and handed her the second bowl.

“Did they make you wear makeup, honey?” asked Marge with a touch of concern in her voice. “I’ve heard that sometimes they put on so much makeup you end up looking completely different. It’s to make sure you don’t look shiny,” she added as an explanation.

“No makeup,” said Chase curtly as he dipped into the bowl of popcorn and sampled one or two kernels before settling back and fiddling with the remote.

“You see, when you’re on TV, all your little skin blemishes are enhanced,” Marge explained to the others, who weren’t really listening. Charlene was checking her smartphone, no doubt making some last-minute important decisions, like whether to plant fuchsias or roses in the municipal flowerbeds—Charlene is the mayor of our town, you see, and always busy-busy-busy. And Scarlett, too, was smiling and tapping on her smartphone, presumably chatting with one of her many male admirers.

“Will you cut that out,” Gran grumbled, taking her friend’s phone away.

“Hey, I wasn’t finished,” Scarlett protested.

“You’re finished now,” said Gran. “It’s Chase’s big debut. And it doesn’t happen every day that a member of this family is live on television.”

“He won’t be live, Ma,” said Tex. He turned to his son-in-law. “When did you tape this, Chase?”

“This afternoon,” said Chase. “Just after we found Josslyn Aldridge’s body.”