Chapter 50
Night had fallen, and for once I was hoping that we would be able to get to cat choir. I was starting to miss our usual practice. And since they say that when you don’t practice, you lose your skills, I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to sing as well as I always had.
Not that I have ever been a great singer. Quite the contrary. Shanille, cat choir’s director, has frequently begged me to take it down a notch, or to mime and not make any sound at all, since it distracts the cats standing to my left and right and makes them sing off-key, too.
“I really need to get to cat choir tonight, you guys,” said Harriet, who was suffering from withdrawal symptoms by now.
“If I don’t sing my solo, Shanille will be really upset.
And so will the rest of cat choir. Not to mention the neighbors, of course, who have been looking forward to their concert. ”
I wasn’t so sure about the neighbors, since they mostly express their appreciation by throwing their shoes at us.
It is a strange way to show how much they love our singing, but then I guess humans express their appreciation in different ways.
Some do it by clapping their hands together until they make a sound, and others do it by throwing shoes. To each their own.
I had told Gran who I thought the killer was, and she was much pleased.
Chase was a little less pleased when Odelia told him about my suspicions, but that couldn’t be helped.
It is never pleasant for the detective in charge of an investigation to be out-detectived by his wife’s cat.
I understand that, but I can’t let it stop me from doing what it is that I do.
I mean, what is more important? Catching a killer or stroking Chase’s ego?
The one who was most pleased was Uncle Alec, since this meant that soon Philomena would be off his back, and that was a prospect he seemed to look forward to very much.
“Philomena will go home after this, won’t she?” asked Dooley.
“I imagine she will,” I said. “Nothing is keeping her here.”
“And she won’t take Pippy with her?”
“No, Pippy will go to Mercedes.”
“And Pippy is okay with that?”
I shrugged. We hadn’t seen Pippy since Mercedes had taken her with her that morning.
“I guess so,” I said. “If she wasn’t happy with it, she would have said something.”
“Not necessarily,” said Brutus. “She might not want to impose on Odelia and Chase. She has been enjoying our hospitality since her human was killed, and she might feel that enough is enough.”
“Poor Pippy,” said Harriet. “I can’t imagine what it must be like to have to go and live with a person who hates you.”
“I don’t think Philomena necessarily hates dogs,” I said. “But she doesn’t seem to be a big fan either.”
We had been waiting patiently for Gran to let us know if she was going out on patrol tonight or not.
And to that end, we had taken up our positions on the low wall in front of the house.
Gone were the days that Gran had trundled up in her BearCat, though, and since she didn’t seem to like the idea of going back to her trusty old red Peugeot, I had a feeling that she would opt to stay home tonight.
Mark my surprise when that same little red Peugeot now came coughing up and pulled to a stop right in front of us.
Gran and Scarlett got out with some effort, and Gran shook her head as she surveyed the car. “This is a disgrace,” she announced. “This is not the way I saw this going at all.”
“It’s a car, Vesta,” said Scarlett. “And any car is better than no car.”
“I guess,” said Vesta. “Oh, I wish I had my beloved BearCat back. Why did that awful man have to go and drown it in a pool? It had so many hours of driving and patrolling left in its tank. So many hours of providing joy to the two of us, and safety and protection to the good people of this town.”
“So you are going to patrol tonight?” I asked, a slight sense of disappointment settling over me.
“Yeah, that’s right,” said Gran. “Even though the circumstances are not ideal.”
“Maybe we will find another BearCat,” said Scarlett. “We need to check eBay. Or the local papers. I’m sure that one will pop up at a reasonable price.”
“A reasonable price would be zero,” said Gran. “Because that is the budget we have to work with right now.”
“Mercedes not coming along tonight?” asked Brutus.
“No, Mercedes has decided to sit this one out,” said Gran. “Well, her and Pippy.”
“Does Pippy like being with Mercedes, Gran?” asked Dooley.
“How should I know? I don’t speak dog, buddy. Maybe you should ask her yourself.”
We jumped down from the wall and headed for the car. I have to say that we were less than excited. The prospect of spending half the night in Gran’s car didn’t really appeal to us all that much. But then duty called, and we are nothing if not dutiful cats, determined to do what needs to be done.
“Okay, let’s head out,” said Gran as she got behind the wheel again. She had to squeeze in, since this car was a lot smaller than the BearCat.
“Maybe it’s for the best that we don’t have the BearCat anymore,” said Harriet. “It’s so easy to damage stuff with that car. At least if you hit something with the Peugeot, there won’t be any harm done.”
“Yeah, I guess there’s that,” said Gran, though judging from her face, this was but a small consolation.
“Where are we going, Gran?” asked Dooley. “Are we going to spy on people again?”
“Yes, Dooley,” she said as she put the car in gear. “We are going to spy on people. And we are going to make sure that this time we don’t get chased, blown up, or burnt to a crisp.”
She refused to tell us where we were going, though, and as the car coughed its way to the end of Harrington Street, I resigned myself to a long and boring night.