Chapter 26 #2
“Right here, Max,” a voice suddenly sounded from my immediate left.
I started a little. “I hadn’t seen you,” I confessed.
“That’s the power of subterfuge, Max,” she said. “Looks like I would be a better recruit for the police academy than most of these guys.”
She pointed to one recruit who was actually shaking from top to toe as he fired at the target and missed every single time.
The instructor, who was watching with a pained expression on his face, finally tapped the guy on the shoulder and gestured for him to take off his earphones. “Let’s call it a day, Perkins,” he yelled, and pointed in the direction of the buildings we had just come from.
“But sir,” said the recruit, whose face was very red, I saw. “I know that if I practice just a few more rounds…”
“Off you go, Perkins,” said the instructor. “And that’s an order.”
“Yes, sir,” said Perkins, looking a little dejected.
It was likely that he wouldn’t get a good grade on his shooting report—if that’s how this police academy worked. I could be thinking of a regular school, where kids didn’t learn how to shoot.
“I don’t see Odelia,” said Clarice. “Looks like she isn’t part of this setup.”
“She’s over there,” I said, and pointed to the far end of the range, where Odelia stood, a pair of sunglasses on her face, and the same earmuffs.
“Who is that man?” asked Clarice. “The one who is whispering something in her ear?”
We watched on as the man did indeed whisper stuff into our human’s ear, and she laughed. Actually laughed, as if he had told her the funniest thing.
“I think that’s the guy,” said Clarice finally. “That’s the Lothario she’s been secretly seeing all this time.”
“We need to find out who he is,” I said, “and where he lives. So that Gran and Scarlett can pay him a visit.”
“And don’t forget Mercedes,” said Clarice. “I have a feeling Mercedes is a force to be reckoned with.”
The man had said what he wanted to say to Odelia, and as she was still smiling, it must have been really good.
“They haven’t kissed,” Dooley pointed out. “Shouldn’t we wait until they kiss before we intervene?”
“I guess,” I said, even though I hated being out there any longer than was strictly necessary.
The guy was coming in our direction, so we had a good chance of following him around and finding out his identity.
“Let’s go,” Clarice whispered as the guy moved right past us, and then kept on moving in the direction we had just come from. “I’m sure this is the guy. I can feel it in my gut!”
“He does look like a playboy,” said Dooley. “Exactly the kind of guy who would flirt with women.” He shook his head. “Oh, poor Chase. He’s being cheated on, and he doesn’t even know.”
“Chase is also cheating,” Clarice pointed out. “They’re both cheating on one another. A lot of cross-cheating going on, if you ask me. Okay, let’s follow him!”
We hurried along after the guy, who was setting a pretty stiff pace. He was whistling something and now actually started singing.
“A walk in the park,” he hummed. “Just another walk in the park with youuuuuu!”
“He’s not a great singer,” Clarice said as she winced. “So we already have that working against him.”
“Do you think women fall for men with great singing voices?” I asked.
“Of course they do. The old troubadours always had a girl in every town. And so does the modern rock star. If you can sing well, women start throwing themselves at your feet by the hundreds or even thousands, though clearly that’s not part of this man’s fatal appeal.”
The instructor had reached one of the buildings we had spotted earlier and entered through the front door.
Without losing any time, we jumped up onto the windowsill to look inside.
The guy was rooting around in the drawers of a desk, then took a seat on the office chair and booted up the computer.
Moments later, he was busy checking something on his computer.
And as he got up, we were afforded a clear view of the screen.
On it, a picture of Odelia had been positioned, and she was shooting at something in the distance.
“He’s taking pictures of Odelia,” said Clarice, stating the obvious. “Clearly deeply infatuated with her, if he’s going to use her as his screen saver.”
“Still no kissing,” Dooley pointed out.
“Just you wait,” said Clarice. “If we follow these two around a little longer, there will be plenty of kissing.”
It had never occurred to me before, but now I saw it clearly: our good friend Clarice had something of a cynical streak.
“Do you really think so?” I asked. “I mean, she could simply see him as a friend.”
“Yeah, he’s not very handsome,” said Dooley.
“He has that chiseled physique,” said Clarice, “that women go all gaga over. He may have a face like a halibut, but with a body like that, he doesn’t need to be a pretty boy.”
“He does have a face like a halibut,” said Dooley with a giggle.
“Watch out,” said Clarice, and ducked down, followed by both of us. Only I was a little later than the others, and for a moment, I found myself staring straight into the man’s face as he looked back at me from the other side of the window.
“Did he see you?” asked Dooley.
“I think so.”
“It’s fine,” said Clarice. “Like I told Pippy, humans never notice cats. We’re simply part of the background. Like the grass and the trees.”
Just then, a loud banging sound came, and we saw that the guy was banging on the window and then shouted, “Get lost, you filthy vermin! Go on—get!”
And since it looked as if we had outstayed our welcome, we decided to skedaddle.
“That man does not like cats, Max,” said Dooley as we hid behind some shrubbery, which afforded us a perfect look at the office where the man was working.
“And that is how we will take him down,” said Clarice. “Odelia would never want to be with a man who hates cats as much as this guy does.”
“You never know,” I said. “She might be turned against us by this man. And start to hate us, too.”
To be honest, I didn’t like this mission at all. I had liked it in theory, but now that I was actually living it, I was starting to see a side of our human I didn’t like, and that irked me.
“He’s coming out!” Clarice cried.
The guy looked left and right, then started walking along a dirt path that led straight into what looked like a small wooded area. And since we were still under strict instructions to discover that man’s identity, we let a little time pass and then went after him.