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“Don’t forget about the witness, babe. The one who saw her stagger out of that room, blood all over herself.”

“Yeah, but that can easily be explained. Anyone who came upon a murder victim would react that way, especially if they know the person: they’d look for a pulse, and then they’d stumble out of the room, looking for help.” She patted her husband’s arm. “Okay, so basically Agatha’s life now depends on you, Chase.”

“Me!”

“Sure! Your networking skills will secure us access to the forensic evidence in Giblet’s case. And that way we’ll know how to proceed.”

“No pressure,” Chase grunted. He glanced around. “Where are your cats?”

“Oh, out and about,” she said airily. “Probably on the roof with Marion.”

“Oh, that’s right. Have you discovered who she is, this Marion?”

“Barney’s cat. Dooley fancies her.”

Chase barked a laugh of surprise.“Dooley fancies Barney’s cat. Now there’s something you don’t hear every day.”

“No, but it’s true. Max told me so himself.”

“Now why do I have the feeling that poor kid is in for a world of hurt?”

CHAPTER 24

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And so there we were: organizing a stakeout on the roof of the Fritz-Parlton in Paris. Not something I’d imagined myself doing a week ago! I was looking in the general direction of the chimney stack, Marion was idly gazing at the millions of lights illuminating the city below and Dooley… was staring at Marion.

“Maybe you shouldn’t stare, Dooley,” I reminded him. “It’s rude, you know.”

“Oh, golly!” he cried. “I was doing it again, wasn’t I? I can’t help it, Max. For some reason my eyes keep turning back to Marion. It’s almost as if they’ve got a mind of their own and I can’t control what they do!”

“That’s nonsense, Dooley,” I said. “They’re your eyes. You just have to point them in a different direction, that’s all.”

“I’ll try,” he promised, and for a few minutes everything went all right.

“Dooley?” suddenly Marion piped up.

“Yes, Marion?” Dooley said croakily.

“You’re staring again!”

“Gosh! I’m so sorry!”

She grinned.“That’s all right. You’re not the first cat who’s fascinated with me.”

“I’m not?” asked Dooley, sounding hurt.

“B?bel had the same thing when we first met.”

“B?bel? Who’s B?bel.”

“My boyfriend.”

“Your… boyfriend?!”

“Yeah. He’s out of town now.”

“Out of town where?” I asked, interested in this insight into the life of a Parisian cat.

“His human has a house in the South of France and likes to go there from time to time.”

“So he’s been gone long?”

“Yeah, and I do miss him when he’s gone.”

“Have you ever considered joining him?”

“Impossible, alas,” said Marion. “You see, his human is my human’s former significant other. And even though they still work together, they don’t live together, and she would never allow Barney to join her now.”

“Who is your boyfriend’s human?”

“She runs the housekeeping department.”

“So she and Barney work together even though they used to be a couple? That must be hard.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine. They’re good friends now, and they form a great team. Audrey is very practical while Barney is more of a people person. In fact if Audrey was here, this whole business with the cat burglar and the murder probably wouldn’t have happened. She’d have been on that scoundrel in a heartbeat. You see, she considers this hotel her baby, just like Barney does, and anyone who hurts the hotel, can expect her to come down on them like a ton of bricks.”

For a few moments, all was quiet again, while we took up our vigilance. Then Dooley asked softly,“Did you know that Marion had a boyfriend, Max?”

“No, Dooley, I didn’t know.”

“I wonder what he’s like,” he said sadly. “Probably big and butch like Brutus.”

“We’ll probably meet him soon so we’ll find out.”

“I don’t think I want to meet him, Max.”

“And why is that?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t feel like it.”

“I’ll bet he’s nice.”

“I don’t think so. I think he’s a brute.”

“If he was a brute Marion wouldn’t want to be with him.”

He thought about this for a moment, darted an anxious glance in Marion’s direction, then nodded. “You’re probably right. He’s probably very nice to deserve a girl like her.”

“Oh, Dooley,” I said, and felt compelled to pat him on the head. I would have given him a hug, but I had to adhere to the rules of the stakeout, which basically boil down to: don’t allow your vigilance to waver even a single moment, because these cat burglars are quick!

For a few moments, silence reigned on that roof, while we all looked in different directions, covering every possible angle.

Then Dooley piped up again,“Max?”

“Mh?”

“I think that maybe we could all be friends.”

“Who?” I asked, a little distractedly, because I thought I’d seen something. Only it turned out to be a bat fluttering out of that chimney stack.

“Why, Marion’s boyfriend, of course. I think we could all be great friends, and maybe even travel together to the South of France and have a great time down there.”

“I doubt it, Dooley,” I said, hating to burst my friend’s bubble. “Marion said that Barney never travels to the South of France with his ex-partner.”