“That’s true,” Harriet admitted.
“He just needs a little more training. I’ll bet that if he does another dozen of these interviews he’ll be a real pro.”
“Let’s hope not,” I said, “because a dozen interviews also means a dozen crimes for which they need to ask the public for its assistance.”
And then the show was over. Almost before it had begun. Gran was right. Blink and you missed it.
“That’s it?” asked Scarlett. “Isn’t there any more?”
“Nope, that’s it,” said Chase, heaving a sigh of relief. In spite of his stoic appearance clearly the burly cop had been nervous about his first television appearance.
“Are you sure?” said Marge. “Maybe there will be more after the commercial break?”
“They said they’ll repeat the appeal in their late-night newsflash, and again tomorrow morning.”
“Well, let’s hope we get some good tips from that,” said Uncle Alec.
“And let’s hope this colleague has been watching,” said Odelia, “and will come forward.”
“It’s going to be a terrible shock for the man,” said Marge, “when he finds out that his colleague was murdered so soon after they met.”
“Didn’t Josslyn say anything about this colleague?” asked Tex.
“Only that she hadn’t seen him in years, and was looking forward to catching up.”
Gran now took control of the remote, and switched channels until she found one where they were playing Titanic, one of her favorite movies. The howls of protest rising up from her fellow family members quickly made her change her mind about settling in.
“Oh, all right,” she grumbled, relinquishing the remote to lady of the manor Odelia. “It’s not as if I don’t know how it ends.”
Odelia returned to the local TV station, maybe in hopes of catching some more snippets from her hubby’s big interview, and for the rest of the evening, the conversation shot back and forth about a whole range of topics, hopscotching from one subject to another, as is usually the case when the members of Odelia’s family get together of an evening.
“One thing’s for sure,” said Harriet as she placed her head on her front paws.
“What’s that?” asked Brutus.
“Chase will catch this person. He’s very good at catching the bad guys.”
“It’s not so much about catching the guy,” Gran now interjected, inserting herself into our conversation and abandoning the human conversation for a moment. “It’s about prevention, isn’t it? I mean, if only the neighborhood watch had been out in full force last night, this crime could easily have been prevented.”
The others had picked up on Gran’s line of thought, and Scarlett said, “You’re absolutely right, Vesta. It’s simply not enough that you and me patrol our streets every night. There should be more people joining us. If only the watch consisted of a dozen or two dozen citizens, this kind of crime would be completely eradicated, and this poor woman’s life would have been saved.”
“You know, I usually don’t agree with you,” said Tex, “but for once I actually do.”
“Oh, don’t you start,” Uncle Alec grumbled. “Keeping the streets safe and preventing crime is a job for the police, not for regular people or, God forbid, a couple of pensioners.”
“So why don’t you patrol those streets?” asked Gran. “Why weren’t your officers patrolling that boardwalk last night? And saving Josslyn Aldridge’s life?”
“We simply don’t have the manpower to put a cop on every single street corner every single minute of every single day,” said Uncle Alec.
Gran now turned her ire on Charlene, who, as mayor of our fair town, controls the police budget.“You have to invest more in our police force, Charlene,” said the old lady. “You have to recruit and train more cops. It is what we pay taxes for, after all.”
“That’s fine by me,” said Charlene. “If you’re prepared to pay more tax, then we’ll put more cops on the streets. But as long as that’s not the case, I’m afraid my hands are tied.”
“I have an idea,” said Harriet, who’d been listening to the conversation closely. The attention of Gran, Marge and Odelia turned to her—not coincidentally they were also the only three people who speak our language.
“What’s your idea, Harriet?” asked Odelia with an indulgent smile.
“So putting cops on the streets is expensive, right?”
“Oh, it is,” said Odelia. “They all need to receive a decent salary.”
“And asking people to give up their leisure time to patrol the streets is a hard ask.”
“Of course,” said Marge. “People work all day, they have families to take care of, and what little time they have left they like to spend relaxing with their loved ones.”
“There is a solution,” said Harriet, and when three pairs of human eyes and three pairs of feline eyes all turned to her, she said, a sort of triumphant note in her voice: “Cats!”
“Cats?” asked Marge with a frown. “What do you mean, Harriet, sweetie?”
“So there’s always plenty of cats on the streets at night, or at any other time, right?”
“Right,” said Gran dubiously.
“Cats roam the streets at all hours of the day or night, and cover all of Hampton Cove. In fact that’s the reason we always manage to give Odelia the kinds of tips and exclusive stories that she fills her newspaper with. So why don’t we ask all the cats of Hampton Cove to form one big neighborhood watch?”
Odelia laughed.“But honey, we can’t possibly expect the cats of Hampton Cove to put themselves in harm’s way, just to protect the community?”
“And why not?” Harriet insisted. “Nearly all of the cats belong to somebody. And I’m sure they’d be more than happy to make sure those somebodies can feel safe in the knowledge that no one will snatch their purses and knock them dead.”
Odelia, Marge and Gran now shared a look, and I could tell that Harriet’s impassioned pitch had struck a chord.
“You know, Harriet?” said Odelia finally. “On second thought your idea is not so bad.”
“No, and that’s because it’s great,” said Harriet, tilting her chin a little. “And so if you make me the leader of the Neighborhood Cat Watch, I’ll make sure that Hampton Cove will be the safest town on the East Coast. In fact it just might become the safest town in the whole country, and a beacon in the annals of crime fighting. And when other towns start following in our pawsteps, we’ll start a revolution in crime prevention—a revolution of which we can be the proud leaders.”
Gran was nodding, and so were Odelia and Marge.
“What are you guys talking about?” asked Chase, one of those rare humans who doesn’t speak our language.
“Oh, nothing,” Gran hastened to say.
“Why did Gran just say your idea is nothing?” asked Dooley, intrigued.
“I think she first wants to see if it’s feasible,” said Harriet, studying the old lady closely. “And then if it works, she can take all the credit.”
“And if it fails?” asked Brutus.
“Well, since nobody knows about it except us, if it fails no one will know.”
“Gran should have gone into politics,” said Dooley.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “She certainly has the cunning for it.”
Gran now gave Harriet a wink.“Let’s talk more soon,” she whispered.
Chapter 2
The following morning, the four of us were enjoying a well-deserved nap in Odelia’s office, while our human slaved away at her computer, typing up an article on the murdered woman, when all of a sudden Dan strode in, and took a seat at his star reporter’s desk.
Odelia looked up with a frown.“Do you think I should talk to the friend? Get some background on Josslyn Aldridge?”
“Before you do that, I just got off the phone and I think I have an even juicier story for you, my dear.”
“Oh?” said Odelia, and withdrew her hands from the keyboard. “What story?”