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“Shoot,” said Vesta, hoping they wouldn’t kick up a fuss about the pool. She knew that cats don’t like water, and her cats were no exception. All they’d have to do was to steer clear of the pool area. Or better yet: maybe they could steer clear of the spa entirely. No customer visiting a spa likes to be confronted with a bunch of cats roaming around. It just gives a bad impression. Unprofessional.

“It’s come to our attention,” said Max, looking very serious as he spoke, “that you’ve stopped working as a police consultant. It’s also come to our attention that you no longer work for theGazette. Which means you no longer need us to do your legwork and act as your eyes and ears. In other words,” the voluminous cat concluded, “Our job description seems to have gone through a fundamental change.”

“Well put,” said Vesta. But then Max always did have a way with words.

“But if we’re not spies anymore,” said Max, “then what are we?”

“What Max means to say,” said Harriet, “is this: what do we do?”

“Excellent question,” said Vesta. She turned to her granddaughter, curious how she would respond. In fact all eyes now turned to Odelia: four pairs of cat eyes and Vesta’s.

Odelia smiled.“Look, you guys. It’s true that I’m not a police consultant right now, since I’m on leave, which means you can all take a well-deserved break.”

Dooley’s mouth opened and closed a few times, and it was clear that Odelia’s response wasn’t what the cats had expected.

“A break?” said Harriet finally.

“Yeah, a vacation,” Odelia clarified.

“Like a holiday,” Vesta further explained.

“A holiday,” Max murmured, as if the concept was alien to him.

“Odelia is absolutely right,” said Vesta. “This is a time to rejoice. With baby Grace having joined our family, and me becoming the new General Manager of the Poole Spa& Pool a new era has begun. And so you can all take a nice long vacation.” She threw up her arms. “Let’s have some fun, for crying out loud!”

A loud wail rose up from baby Grace’s crib. Looked like she was all for fun!

CHAPTER 7

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“Max?”

“Mh?”

“I’m bored.”

“Me, too, Dooley,” I said with a sigh.

“I’m also bored,” said Brutus with an even deeper sigh.

“I don’t get this,” said Harriet. “It’s just one little baby. And suddenly everything is completely different? How is that even possible?”

Just for a change of scenery, we’d all relocated to the front yard, where we now lay, doing some pet watching and generally having a lazy old time. But even though Gran had insisted we have some fun and enjoy an extended vacation, it wasn’t long before all four of us were bored out of our tiny skulls.

“I read somewhere that having a baby changes people’s perceptions,” said Brutus, causing us all to look in his direction with wonder written all over our features.

“You read that?” I asked, much surprised that Brutus would out himself as areader,of all things.

“Yeah, online,” he said, ignoring our visible astonishment. “When humans have a baby suddenly the way they look at the world and their own life goes through a fundamental change. Instead of everything revolving around them and their ambitions and likes and dislikes, the kid now comes first. And so it’s not surprising that Odelia decides to chuck everything and put Grace’s wellbeing in first place.” He gave a weary shake of the head. “Which means we’re all screwed, you guys. No more mysteries, no more exciting car chases, no moredanger.”

“To be fair, we were never in any car chases,” I said. “Or in any real danger.”

“Oh, there’s been plenty of danger,” said Harriet. “Remember that time we were locked inside the walls of that creepy old mansion? That was very dangerous. And I can’t count on the digits of one paw the many times Odelia had to be saved from the clutches of some creepy killer.”

Brutus glanced in my direction.“You saved her a couple of times, if memory serves.”

“As a matter of fact, I did,” I said, my claws tingling at the memory.

“That’s all in the past from now on, you guys,” said Dooley sadly.

“Yeah, no more brushes with death,” I said wistfully.

“No more ‘Elementary, my dear Dooley,’” said Dooley.

“Ah, well,” I said. “Maybe it’s all for the best.”

“Yeah, we had a good run, didn’t we?” said Brutus.

“We had an excellent run,” Harriet chimed in. “And maybe now I’ll finally be able to focus on my singing career. All this catching killers is all fine and dandy, but there’s more to life than murder and mayhem.” She gave her right paw a tentative lick, then brushed it across her noble visage. “There’s music and lights and dancing and… show biz!”

“Lady Gaga made another movie,” Brutus pointed out. “And if she can do it, so can you, sweetie pie.”

“Of course I could,” said Harriet, perking up. “First I’ll build a phenomenal singing career, create a string of hits, get a Hollywood agent, and then it’s movie stardom for me!”