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The waiter, who stood watching the scene from behind the safety of his station near the entrance, grinned at the sight of the altercation and gave Scarlett two thumbs up, clearly relieved he’d done the right thing by calling Vesta and spoiling Tex’s hot date.

Chapter 19

“Do you really think this is a good idea?” asked Brutus as he and Harriet sat watching the entrance to Town Hall from a safe distance.

“I’m not sure,” Harriet had to admit. She intensely disliked being trampled by a lot of humans, with their big feet and careless attitude. It was one of the reasons she’d planned to skip Odelia’s wedding, and now to put herself willingly in a similar position? “We could go in through the back,” she suggested. “And if it’s too crowded we immediately get out again.”

“Odelia won’t even be aware that we’re there,” said Brutus. “She’ll probably be too busy interviewing people and taking pictures. You know what she’s like when she’s on the job.”

“I know,” Harriet said, nodding. When Odelia was working she got into this ultra-focused mindset and seemed to forget that her cats were around—unless she needed them on that particular assignment, of course.

“Can you remind me why you wanted to come to this thing again?” asked Brutus, who clearly needed the extra motivation to go through with this.

“Because by mingling with the crowd we might get some of that extra information that Odelia might miss and then by relaying it to her we’ll get into her good graces.”

“Right,” said Brutus dubiously.

“Okay, if we’re going to do this, we better get going,” said Harriet reluctantly. “Oh, Brutus, if only we hadn’t eaten all of that food, then we wouldn’t have to conciliate Odelia, and we wouldn’t have to put ourselves in harm’s way like this.”

“I know,” said Brutus. “I know.”

And then they were on the move, rounding Town Hall and moving purposefully along the back in the direction of the service entrance where kitchen supplies were usually delivered when important get-togethers were organized, like today.

A waiter was smoking outside, and people were moving to and from parked vans, carrying what looked like large trays of finger food inside, and crates filled with bottles of wine and carton boxes of orange juice for the reception. Brutus and Harriet quickly snuck in and then they were in the kitchen, which was a regular beehive of activity.

“I don’t like this,” said Brutus as he sidestepped a waiter who seemed to want to step on his tail, and another who almost knocked him sideways.

“Let’s just keep going. We just need to find a safe place along the wall.”

“You lead the way,” said Brutus. “You’ve been here before.”

And so she had. On more than one occasion, actually, though never when so many people were out and about at the same time.

She led the way through the kitchen doors, then out into a wide corridor, where a nice burgundy runner had been placed on the hardwood floor, and past a large glass display case containing a few choice medals and mementos reminding the citizenry that before Charlene Butterwick had become mayor other people had filled the same position, and with distinction, too. Their portraits all decorated the walls, and a nice rogue’s gallery it was, too. Soon the hubbub of sound became louder, and as they streaked into the main reception hall, they could see it was already filling up nicely.

Immediately Harriet ducked underneath a chair and Brutus followed suit, and they hunkered down, keeping their digits crossed that no one would kick them out.

“Now let’s see if we can’t collect some neat little tidbits of information for our human,” said Harriet, well pleased that they’d gotten so far and without incident.

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“Are you going to tell Marge?” asked Tex as they walked out of the restaurant.

“What is there to tell?” said Vesta.

Tex almost felt teary-eyed at this.“Thanks,” he said. “I don’t know what happened just now, but… thanks.”

“What happened is that you were led by a part of your anatomy most men allow to dominate their good sense,” said Scarlett. “And I should know, as I’ve played on that particular part myself plenty of times in the past.” She clapped Tex on the back. “You’re a good man, Tex, and sometimes people try to take advantage of good men like you.”

“I really thought it was a good idea,” he said sheepishly.

And as they walked on, Scarlett thought that if she’d received a dollar every time someone had said that to her, she would have a nicely filled savings account by now.

“Are you going back to the office?” asked Tex.

“No, I thought I’d see what the big fuss is about in Town Hall,” said Vesta.

“I guess I’ll tag along,” said Tex. “I’m curious to know what that Lord fella looks like.”

“Me, too,” said Scarlett with a smile.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” said Vesta.

“What did I say?”

“It’s not what you’re saying. It’s what you’re thinking.”

“How could you possibly know what I’m thinking. Are you psychic now?”

“You’re thinking that maybe Lord Hilbourne is as susceptible to your feminine wiles as Tex here is.”