Chapter 44
“Dooley, where are you going?”
The sun had just come peeking over the horizon, and Dooley was already jumping off the bed, ready for a new day.
“I need to help the ants, Max,” he said. “I promised. And also,” he added with a smile, “if I help them, they have promised me my?—”
“Your OBE. I know. You told me about that.”
“I can’t wait to get one,” my friend said. “I think it will look really nice next to the medal that Uncle Alec gave us, and also the medal that Charlene gave us.”
Over the course of the last couple of years, we had received quite a lot of medals.
Not that we kept them hanging around our necks, since that would be a little cumbersome.
Odelia kept them in a special box at the bottom of the closet, as far as I could tell.
And that’s where Dooley’s OBE would also go—if he got one.
I’d never heard of ants doling out OBEs, but then, of course, I’m not all that familiar with the world of ants and ant queens.
“Do you want to help me, Max?” asked Dooley. “Then you will also get an OBE, and we can get it together, standing side by side while we curtsy for the queen and try to come up with something intelligent to say.”
“I’d love to help you, Dooley,” I said. “But we do have a murder to solve, remember?”
“Maybe we could help the queen first? I’m sure it won’t take long.”
And so it was decided. We would do our bit for the well-being of queen and country, and then we would assist Chase in trying to nab that dastardly killer.
“I’m sure that the Germinator will help us find that killer,” said Dooley. “He can probably see everything when he flies over Hampton Cove, and so he will be able to see where the killer is and what he is up to.”
“The Germinator is just a guy, Dooley,” I reminded him.
“Oh, right. I keep forgetting.”
Even though Tex seemed to believe that he was an actual superhero, that didn’t mean that we had to fall into the same trap.
“Look, all we have to do is figure out who wanted that poor man dead,” I said. “And that will make Pippy very happy. You want to see Pippy happy, don’t you, buddy?”
“Oh, absolutely,” he assured me. “I love that little dog. She is so nice and kind and soft-spoken and all. And I also hope that she will get over her grief and that she will find a new human who loves her just as much as her old human did.”
We had arrived on the lawn, and I looked around for a sign of the queen Dooley had mentioned. “I don’t see her, buddy. Are you sure your friend said she would come out today?”
“I think so,” said Dooley, also studying the blades of grass closely for a sign of the royal arrival.
“Why is she stepping out anyway?” I asked. “I thought that ant queens never set foot outside of their nest?”
“Samson mentioned something about her needing some fresh air,” he said.
As we took a seat on the terrace, I allowed my mind to drift back to the case at paw and wondered if Chase had uncovered any clues that he had yet to share with us.
It wouldn’t surprise me, as the detective liked to play his cards close to his vest at times.
And now that Odelia wasn’t part of the investigation, he might not divulge anything to her either.
He’d divulge it to Marva, though.
Which got me wondering how to tackle that particular problem.
It wasn’t enough to tell Chase that his partner was a closet fan of Turbo Heartthrob.
That wouldn’t make him think twice about possibly harboring feelings for the attractive blonde that were deeper than mere friendship.
It might even engender an even stronger attraction if he liked the band himself, as he had shown signs of doing.
It might be one of those things that drew them very close together indeed.
Chase always professed that he loved country music, but what if he had changed allegiances to a different music genre entirely? People do have different tastes in different phases of their lives. They might start out loving pop music, and over time shift more in the direction of classical music.
As I heaved a deep sigh, suddenly Dooley got up. “There she is! The queen! Max, look!”
I looked and had a hard time seeing anything that even remotely resembled a queen. All I saw was ants. Lots of them. In fact, they were all over our backyard, and frankly, I didn’t like it. Imagine being covered in ants. Not a pleasant prospect!
And so I decided to remain on the terrace, where I could keep an eye on these creatures.
“Howdy, Dooley,” an ant spoke. It was perched atop a blade of grass and seemed eager to make our acquaintance.
“Howdy, Samson,” said Dooley.
Of course. This was the ant Dooley had met. The one who had made those promises.
“Is everything ready for the ceremony?” asked Dooley. “Where do you need us?”
“Us?” asked the ant.
“Oh, this is my best friend Max,” said Dooley. “He is extremely eager to help your queen also. And if you want, you can recommend him for the same honor.”
“Sure,” said the ant as he studied me intensely. “Max, huh? Aren’t you that detective cat? The one who solves all of those cases?”
“Yeah, that’s Max,” said Dooley proudly. “He has a very big brain, and all you need to do is stuff it full of facts, and he makes the connection. It’s amazing. Just like a jukebox.”
I gave him a look of slight reproach. “Did you just compare my brain to a jukebox, Dooley?”
“Well, it is a little like a jukebox, isn’t it? You press a button, and the answer to some mystery pops out.”
“He does have a big brain,” said Samson.
“A very big brain.” He paused, then seemed to make up his mind.
“All right, we can use someone with a brain like that. Tell me this, Max. If a queen has been sick for days and weeks, and there doesn’t seem to be anything that alleviates her distress, what should we do? ”
“Oh, no!” said Dooley. “Is your queen sick, Samson?”
“Yeah, she is. That’s why we figured she might have to emerge from the nest for a few hours. You know, get some fresh air. Some sunshine? Not sure if it will work, but at this point, we’re desperate.”
“Maybe we should ask Tex,” said Dooley. “He is a doctor, after all.”
“Tex isn’t an ant doctor, Dooley,” I said. “He is strictly and only a human doctor.”
“Isn’t that the same thing? Humans and ants are very similar, aren’t they? They all have heads and bodies and limbs and all of that stuff.”
“I’m sure there are differences,” I said.
“Okay, so maybe we ask Vena,” he suggested. “She is our vet,” he told Samson, “and there is nothing about pets that she doesn’t know, even if we don’t like her all that much because of her habit of giving us shots.”
“This Vena,” said Samson thoughtfully. “Has she ever treated an ant before?”
“I doubt it,” I told the ant. I didn’t see a reason to beat around the bush. No vet that I knew of had ever been trained to treat bugs.
“Okay, but maybe she knows someone who knows about ants,” said Dooley. He was not giving up on this. Possibly because he wanted that OBE, but mostly because that is the way he is: he wants to help people. And bugs.
“Yeah, maybe she does,” I agreed. “Maybe she does know an ant specialist.”
“An antologist,” said Dooley.
At that moment, Gran walked over, and since she almost stepped on the ants, we had to tell her to stay on the paved stones.
“It’s the ants,” said Dooley. “They’re worried about their queen.” Then he got an idea. “Can you call Vena, Gran? And ask her about ants? The ant queen is sick, and we need to get her better again.”
“Oh, sure,” said Gran as she took out her phone. “What do you want me to tell her?”
“Well, just that,” I said. “That an ant queen is sick, and we need someone to take a look at her and get her better.”
Gran grinned. “Nobody else would do a thing like this, but I’m sure Vena won’t hold it against me.” She placed the phone to her ear, and moments later was in conversation with Vena Aleman, our resident torturer.
“Do you think she will do it, Max?” asked Dooley nervously.
“Let’s wait and see, Dooley. Vena loves to help pets. But she might balk at helping ants.”
“The queen is coming out!” one of the other ants yelled, and as I squinted to see, I saw that a bunch of ants had just emerged from the ground and were indeed moving toward the terrace, where presumably they would settle the queen so she could enjoy some of that fresh air that is supposed to be bracing, and also sunshine, which has healing properties.
Gran had ended the call and said, “Vena says she knows an ant specialist. She will give him a call and ask him his professional opinion.”
“Didn’t she tell you that you’re nuts, Gran?” I asked.
She grinned. “She didn’t need to tell me. She already thinks that I am. But that doesn’t mean she won’t try to help. That’s the kind of person she is.” She gestured to the sliding glass door. “Odelia up yet?”
“They weren’t up when we left the bedroom just now,” I said.
But then we heard the sound of a toilet being flushed, and Gran smiled. “What a lovely sound. I’ll be inside if you need me, all right?”
“What are you going to tell Odelia?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Just that she needs to keep a close eye on Chase, that’s all. And not allow him to ride in cars with pretty partners.”
She stepped inside, and I had to admit that her words had given me even more cause for concern than I already had.
She was right. Put a man next to a pretty girl for hours on end, and have them face dangerous situations together, and you’re asking for trouble.
Why couldn’t Uncle Alec have partnered Chase with an ugly old guy instead? Then we wouldn’t be in this situation.
At that moment, the procession of ants came to a full stop, and the ant who had addressed us spoke again. “Okay, now if you could make sure that nothing disturbs the queen, that would be great.”
“You mean we are her bodyguards?” asked Dooley, who seemed inordinately excited at the prospect of being a bodyguard for a queen.
“Yep, that’s correct. You make sure that no bugs, no pets, no humans, and definitely no birds go anywhere near the queen, and you will have both earned your OBEs.”
“Oh, goody!” said Dooley. “We’re royal guards!”
“That,” I said with a sigh, “we are.”