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“Pressing charges?” I asked. “Against who?”

“Whom,” Dooley murmured.

“Everybody!” said Harriet. “The police department, the neighbors who complained, the town council. She’s even suing theHampton Cove Gazette for writing an article about it.”

“Uh-oh,” I said. That’s what you get when you leave town for a couple of days: the whole thing suddenly goes to hell. “Chase and Odelia will calm her down when we get back,” I assured them.

“Tex has been wading into the controversy, and now Gran is suing him, too,” said Brutus.

“But why? What did he do?”

“He confiscated her tactical gear.”

I looked over when Dooley poked me in the ribs.

“Max, we have to go!” he loud-whispered.

“Go where?” asked Harriet. “What could be more important than talking to your best friends, Dooley?”

Dooley looked slightly bashful at this gentle rebuke.“We have a cat burglar to catch,” he explained, “and Marion is the only cat who can help us catch him.”

“Marion again,” said Harriet, visibly peeved. “What does she have that I don’t have?”

“She’s French,” said Brutus, earning himself a scathing glance from his girlfriend. “What? French girls have thatje ne sais quoi. Everybody knows this.”

“What’s thatje ne sais quoi?” asked Dooley, interested.

“I don’t know,” said Brutus with a grin.

CHAPTER 22

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Unfortunately for Dooley, once again Odelia had firmly closed the balcony windows, and so there was nothing else for us to do than eat some of the fine food that was on display, take a long nap on the bed, and generally enjoy the hospitality of the Fritz-Parlton. I could think of worse ways to spend my time.

It took a while but eventually Odelia and Chase made their way back home, only to immediately go out again so they could have dinner. Apparently they had a hot date with a houseboat on the Seine that had been converted into a restaurant.

So more snacking and napping ensued, but finally night had fallen, our humans had retired to bed, and life slowly returned to our weary limbs.

Out on the roof, we gazed across a lovely city, me with a sort of happy buzz going on—that food and those naps had done me a world of good—while Dooley kept darting anxious glances in all directions, keeping a lookout for Marion.

“What if she doesn’t show up, Max?” he asked. “What if she’s so upset with us she doesn’t want to speak to us again—or see us?”

“I doubt very much she would hold a grudge over a silly little misunderstanding like that,” I said.

“But what if she does? We’ll never see her again. And we’ll never be able to catch that cat burglar!”

“Relax, Dooley. The night is still young.”

“I don’t understand how you can be so relaxed, Max. This burglar could be murdering his next victim right now! Slashing her throat so he can steal her jewels!”

“Let’s just wait and see what happens,” I suggested.

I kinda liked Paris, I have to say. From a distance, of course. I’d never want to engage in the hustle and bustle of the big city. Too noisy for my taste, and too crowded. All those people and all that traffic. A cat can come to serious harm if he engages with all that teeming life.

But from up there, on that roof, it was nice. And just when I figured Marion was a no-show, suddenly she materialized out of thin air.

“Hiya, fellas,” she said, and made us both jump. I would have said Dooley jumped with joy, but judging from his cry of surprise it was more from being spooked. Marion does have a way of moving about with extreme stealth. Perhaps she’s a member of the French intelligence agency, the DGSE, as they call it here.

Marion seemed to enjoy the fact that she’d managed to catch us unawares, for she laughed a tinkling sort of laugh, which soon held Dooley spellbound, if the way his lower jaw was drooping and his eyes glazed over was any indication.

“Hey, Marion,” I said. “Just the person we were looking for.”

Dooley gulped once or twice.“Are you…” More gulps. “… still mad with us… Marion?”

“Mad? Are you crazy? Of course not.”

“Oh…”

“I saw you, you know. This morning? When you were in Barney’s office with your human? And then later in the lobby I saw how you carried on an entire conversation with her, and not a one-sided one either, like is usually the case with most humans.” She nodded in my direction. “You weren’t pulling my paw, Max. You actually can talk to your human. Which is a pretty neat thing, I have to admit.”

“Yeah, I don’t know why Odelia is an exception to the rule, I just know she is.” I studied the small black cat. “I thought I saw something in Barney’s office this morning. So that was you, hiding behind that vent and keeping an eye on things?”

She laughed.“You got me, Max. That’s one of my hiding places. This hotel is pretty old, you know, and there are a lot of secret little nooks like that where a cat can stay out of sight and still keep a lookout for what’s going on. There’s another spot behind reception. It’s my favorite place to watchthe lobby.”

“Is that your natural color?” asked Dooley, staring at Marion in a manner I’d deem inappropriate, to be honest.