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“Oh, this and that,” I said, not wanting to wash our dirty linen in public. If I told Buster about what we’d encountered that morning, within hours the story would do the rounds of Hampton Cove’s cat community, and we would never hear the end of it for weeks or even months to come. That is perhaps one disadvantage about living in a small town: everybody is always in everybody else’s business.

Charlene Butterwick was in a particularly good mood. She was smiling and giggling at Fido’s jokes, and finally he asked, “Hot date tonight, Madam Mayor?”

“Oh, no,” she said. “Just dinner with an important businessman.”

“Important for you? Or to the community?” asked Fido slyly.

“Oh, Fido!” she said, making a throwaway gesture. “As if I’d tell you!”

“You don’t have to tell me,” said Fido as he deftly handled his comb and scissors and snipped here, snipped there and worked his magic like a true Harry Potter of hair. “I can see it in your face. You’re radiant, Charlene! Yes, you are.”

“Oh, you silly man,” she said, but looked well pleased with the compliment.

“And something tells me this important businessman is not our beloved Chief of Police,” said Fido, gently probing. When Charlene glanced up, her eyes smiling, he added, “My lips are sealed, Charlene, you know that. This chair is like a confessional: nothing leaves this room. Discretion is my middle name.”

“Oh, all right. Alec and I had a fight last night.”

“What about?”

“About this dinner! He thinks he should join us. Act as my chaperone.”

“No way!”

“His words, not mine.”

“But why?!”

“He seems to think I can’t be trusted to be alone with this man, who is very charming and very rich and very powerful.”

“Tell me, who is it?”

Charlene glanced left and right and lowered her voice.“Charlie Manger.”

“Oh, my. Heis handsome, isn’t he? And very, very rich. What a catch, darling!”

“Oh, it’s nothing like that,” said Charlene with a grin. “But I have to admit I’m looking forward to having dinner with Charlie. It’ll be quite the experience, I’m sure.”

“Which is exactly why I’m going to give you the best styling you’ve ever had, darling. It’s going to make you look ten years younger, at the very least!”

“Oh, Fido. I knew I had to come and see you. You’re like a magician.”

“So is he interested in you? Or better yet: are you interested in him?”

Charlene pressed her lips together.“A lady never tells, Fido. You know that.”

“Oh, but she does to me, darling! She does to me!”

They both laughed uproariously at that, as if it was the best joke in the world, which maybe it was. Still, I didn’t think it was very funny.

Buster rolled his eyes.“He always does this.”

“Does what?” I asked.

“Flirts with his clients? And the weird thing is: he’s not even into women!”

“Not into women?” asked Dooley. “What is he into then? Parrots?”

“No, silly. Men, of course.”

Dooley stared at me, then at Buster, then at Fido.“I don’t get it,” he said finally. “Why would Fido be into men?”

“Because he is,” said Buster. “And now you have to tell me what’s eating you. You look like a dog stole your bone! If you were dogs yourselves, that is, and if you liked bones.” He thought for a moment. “Scratch that. Let’s just say you look like a cat stole your mouse. Though that doesn’t work either, since you don’t eat mice.”

“We’re looking for true love,” I said. “But so far we haven’t found it yet.”

“True love,” said Buster musingly. “Well, you’ve come to the right place. When you spend all of your days hanging around a hair salon like me, you discover all there is to know about love, and a lot you don’t want to know, if I’m honest.”

I could sense Dooley staring at me, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.“No, Dooley,” I said. “We’re not going to eavesdrop on Fido’s customers for the rest of the day.”

“But why not, Max? Buster says we’ll discover the secret of true love!”

“I doubt whether what we’ll find is the secret we want,” I told him.

“Yeah, Max is absolutely correct,” said Buster. “I have to say that after having spent my entire life in this establishment, I have absolutely no illusions left as far as love is concerned. Nasty business, if you ask me. And not a lot of fun.”

“How can you say that!” said Dooley. “True love is all there is. The most important thing in the world. Just look at Odelia and Chase.”

“Splitting up,” I murmured.

“Or… Brutus and Harriet.”

“Split up.”

“Uncle Alec and Charlene.”

“About to split up.”

“Tex and Marge?”

“In big trouble.”

He hung his head.“Maybe you’re right,” he said finally. “Maybe true love doesn’t exist. All the happy couples we know are splitting up, Buster!”

“Is that a fact?” said Buster, salivating at the fresh nugget of gossip Dooley had just dropped in his lap. “So Tex and Marge are splitting up, huh? And Brutus and Harriet? Even Odelia and Chase? Now there’s a couple I thought were going to stand the test of time. I guess you just never know, do you?”

“They’ve not split up yet,” I said.