Chapter 23
The next morning, the human contingent was seated around the breakfast table, looking remarkably bleary-eyed. I guess when humans don’t get their eight hours of sleep, it really affects them badly.
“Today I have my first test,” said Odelia, as she sipped coffee by the gallon. “I hope I’ll get it right.”
“You’ll nail it, babe,” said Chase assuredly. “As you will nail this entire police academy training.”
“Are you really going to be a detective, Mom?” asked Grace. “Like, with a police badge and a gun and everything?”
“Well, that is the idea,” said Odelia. “Though first I need to finish this training. And as things are going, I’m not sure I’ll get through it. I mean, it has been a while since I was in school, and I’m surprised there’s so much theory I need to cram into my head.”
“Maybe I should do the police academy training,” said Grace. “I’m still fresh, and my brain is still in the swing of things, while you have been out of it for a long time.”
“Thanks, honey. That is really comforting to hear,” said Odelia with a grin. She took another sip from her coffee, and then her gaze traveled to the door, which in daylight looked even worse than last night.
There were marks of the white dust that the CSI people like to use to dust everything for fingerprints. So far, we hadn’t heard anything, but then it was early days, of course.
“We’ll catch whoever did this,” Chase assured the other members of his family. “And we’ll get a new door in,” he added. “Maybe I’ll put it in myself. With a little help from your dad and your uncle.”
I remembered that Chase, Tex, and Uncle Alec had created the pet flap after the original one had proven too small for me, and I hoped that they would do an equally good job with the second iteration of that beloved gizmo.
“When you’re a detective, Mom,” said Grace, getting back to the topic that interested her the most, it seemed, “are you and Dad going to be detecting together?”
Odelia smiled. “I hope so. That’s the whole point, isn’t it, babe, that we’re officially partners?”
“That is the whole idea,” Chase agreed. “Your mom was a civilian consultant, and that’s a great thing, and she managed to solve a great many cases with me, but being a detective is even better, as she will be able to interrogate suspects and arrest people and all of that.”
Grace rested her chin on her hands. A wistful look had come over her face. “I wish I was a detective. Then I could arrest people, too. Like, there are so many people I’d love to arrest.”
“Who would you like to arrest, honey?” asked Odelia, amused.
Grace became animated. “I can make you a list, if you like. There’s the principal, of course, who is a real fuddy-duddy.
And then there are these teachers. Not all of them, but a lot.
And, of course, plenty of students, especially those of the higher grades, who can be really annoying.
And their parents, when they come to school to complain.
” She waved a hand in the air. “I could go on.” Then a keen look came over her.
“You could arrest them for me, Mom. As soon as you finish your training, you could arrest all of them. I could point them out to you, and you could put handcuffs on them and drag them off to jail.”
“On what charges?” asked Odelia, playing along.
“Oh, I don’t know,” said the little girl airily. “Being obnoxious? Or plain dumb?”
“If we had to go around arresting people for being obnoxious or dumb, there wouldn’t be enough space in prison,” said Chase. “They’d have to build extra prisons.”
“I wouldn’t mind,” said Grace seriously.
Looked like soon there would be three detectives in the family. Though maybe Grace would have to wait a couple of years before she could go to the police academy.
“Is it hard to study at the police academy?” she asked. “Are there a lot of bullies?”
“No bullies,” said Odelia. “But yeah, it’s not as easy as I thought it was going to be. But I’ll be fine,” she said when Grace gave her a nervous look. “I’m sure I’ll ace my test, like your father said, and before long, I will be a bona fide detective in the Hampton Cove Police Department.”
“I just wish they had a police academy for kids,” said Grace wistfully. “I’d sign up in a heartbeat.”
After our humans had left, we went next door to see what was taking Gran so long. As I remembered, she had promised that our first mission would be to the police academy, to make sure Odelia didn’t fall in love with any of her co-cadets—if cadet is the word I want.
We found the old lady staring intently at a tomato plant. “I don’t like the look of this,” she confessed.
“What don’t you like, Gran?” asked Dooley.
“This,” she said, and pointed to a series of ants running up and down the plant.
“Ooh, I totally forgot!” said Dooley as he actually slapped his head. “The ant queen! My OBE!”
“What are you talking about, Dooley?” asked Gran.
“I promised to help the ants. Their queen is planning a day out. A visit to the troops. And I said I was going to help. And the ant I talked to said I would get an OBE for my services rendered to the monarchy.”
“Right,” said Gran as she gave me a wink. “Services rendered to an ant queen. Well, you can tell these ants that they can’t go traipsing all over my tomato plants.”
“I’ll tell them right now,” Dooley promised, and got busy addressing the troop marching up and down the plant.
“I thought we were going on our mission,” I said.
“We are,” Gran assured us. “I’m just waiting for Mercedes to arrive.”
“Mercedes will join us?”
Gran nodded. “She sent me a message. Said she doesn’t have any faith in the police and wants the Neighborhood Watch to find her son’s killer. Of course, I’m not going to tell Chase or my son, but I told Mercedes that we are definitely willing to take a stab at solving this murder case for her.”
“So we are expecting the Germinator and Mercedes?”
“That’s right. Why, don’t you like having fresh troops in the Watch?”
“It makes things more complicated,” I said. “I mean, we’ll be five cats and no fewer than four humans. Plus, we’ll be driving a BearCat. When we arrive at the police academy, it’s going to be very difficult to be inconspicuous, don’t you think?”
“I guess,” she said. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.” But then she shrugged. “Too late now. The Germinator is on his way over, and so is Mercedes. Then we’ll pick up Scarlett and Clarice, and we’re off to the races.”
“Oh, before I forget,” I said. “We also have to break up another couple.”
She rolled her eyes. “What’s with all these couples? Who?”
“Chase and Marva. She’s the officer Chase has been teamed up with for the time being.”
“I think I’ve seen her,” said Gran, nodding thoughtfully.
“A very pretty girl, that Marva. Young, too. And eager. Very eager.” She pointed a finger in my direction.
“You’re right to be worried, Max. A girl like that and a handsome man like Chase cooped up in a car all day?
Fighting together against the scum of the earth?
That kind of thing creates a bond. And before you know it, they have fallen in love, and his wedding vows are out of the window. ”
Looked like we had a busy day ahead of us. Between the solving of a murder and the breaking up of no fewer than three potential couples, we had our work cut out for us.