“This could very well be Willie’s partner,” said Chase, nodding.
“Better go and have a chat with Mr. Yuhas,” said Uncle Alec.
Chapter 11
As we passed back to the house, I saw how Harriet and Brutus were in congregation with Gran and Scarlett, no doubt discussing their new venture. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to listen in, for Odelia and Chase were anxious to visit the address Uncle Alec had provided, and have a word with Willie’s former—or current—criminal associate.
“What are Brutus and Harriet up to, Max?” asked Dooley as we were whisked away in Chase’s squad car.
“The Baker Street Cats, Dooley,” I said. “What else?”
“Why cats?” asked Dooley. “Why not Baker Street Pets?”
“I don’t know, Dooley. Maybe they feel that only cats make good detectives?”
“I think any pet can be a good detective,” said my friend. “Dogs are great at sniffing out clues, and birds have a great overview of what goes on beneath them, as they fly from tree to tree, or perch on rooftops, and imagine what a valuable source of information a gerbil could make? Or a hamster or even a goldfish? When they say that walls have ears, what people actually mean is that pets have ears—and pets are literally everywhere.”
“You’re absolutely right.”
“I’ll tell Brutus to include them in his new network.”
“His army, you mean.”
Odelia turned to us.“What’s all this about Brutus’s army?” she asked.
“Brutus wants to train an army of cats who’ll be deployed to look for criminals,” I explained.
“And Brutus will be the general of this army?”
“Something like that.”
“So if Brutus is the general, what does that make Harriet?”
“Um… the general’s wife?” Dooley suggested.
“No, Harriet will be in charge of training humans to talk to cats,” I said.
Odelia’s eyebrows shot up into her fringe. “Training humans to talk to cats!”
“Yeah, Gran believes that for the new neighborhood watch to succeed, all its members should be able to talk to cats, so cats can tell them all the little bits of gossip they spy out. All of this will be fed into one big database, and on top of this database an app will sit, constructed by Scarlett’s computer-savvy grandnephew Kevin, and once everything is up and running, they’ll sell it to Microsoft or Google for a hundred million dollars.”
Odelia stared at me as if I’d lost my mind. “Max, are you serious?”
“Absolutely,” I said. “A solid plan, no?” I added with a smile.
“A cockamamie plan,” she remarked, turning back to face the front.
“What are they talking about?” asked Chase.
“Gran has hatched out another get-rich-quick scheme. This time it involves an app, an army of cats, and language lessons to learn to understand cats.”
“But I thought your gift couldn’t be taught?”
“Tell that to my grandmother. Apparently she thinks differently.”
We’d arrived at the house of Willie’s former cellmate, and got out. The house was in a not-so-nice part of town, where all the houses looked like the one where Willie lived. Only this particular house looked even more rundown than the others. And when Chase rang the bell, there was no reply.
“His name is on the bell,” the cop grunted as he glanced through the window in an attempt to locate the tenant.
And since a good cop is never beaten, he rang the bell of Edwardo Yuhas’s next-door neighbor. An old man came shuffling to the fore, and gave Chase a kindly smile.
“Edwardo? Oh, he doesn’t live here anymore, detective.”
“When did he move out?”
“He didn’t move out. He was kicked out, for being late with the rent.”
“And when was this?”
“Oh, let me think. Must be six months now, maybe more.” He jerked his thumb to the house next door. “House needs work, don’t you think? Can’t you go and talk to the owner? Ask him to tear the whole place down and just build a new one?”
Chase smiled at the pensioner.“I’m afraid I can’t do that, sir.”
“Well, you should. It’s a damn shame the way they let this whole neighborhood go to the dogs. Soon the houses will start falling down all by themselves.”
And shaking his head he shuffled inside again, closing the door behind him.
Chase scratched his scalp.“Maybe we can talk to the owner?” he said. “Ask him if Edwardo left a forwarding address?”
We glanced around, and I said,“I think I can do you one better, Chase,” and approached a stray cat licking its behind nearby. “Hey there, buddy,” I said.
The cat looked up and gave me a suspicious look. “What do you want?” he asked.
“Cool your jets,” I said. “I just want some information about a guy who used to live here.”
“And why would I tell you anything?”
“Because you’re a cat, and I’m a cat, and us cats should stick together and help each other out, wouldn’t you agree?”
“No, I wouldn’t,” he said. I noticed how his tail looked a little ratty, and his ear looked as if someone had taken a big bite out of it at some point.
“Look, a man has been killed,” I said, “and we are trying to find out what happened.”
He shrugged, indicating he didn’t really care one way or another.
“Are you part of the Baker Street Cats?” asked Dooley, also wandering up.
“Baker Street what?” asked the cat with a frown.
“Brutus’s army,” Dooley clarified.
“I don’t know any Brutus, and I don’t know any army, so just get lost already, will you?”
“Do you know Clarice, by any chance?” I asked, deciding to try a different tack.
This time a gleam of interest appeared in his pale green eyes.“Sure I know Clarice. She’s a legend around these parts. Why, do you know her?”
“She’s a great friend of ours,” I said.
“Why didn’t you say so!” he cried, and suddenly his whole demeanor changed. “Any friend of Clarice is a friend of mine. It’s been a long time since she showed her face around here.”
“I have to admit I haven’t seen her in a while either,” I said.
“She used to hang out a lot in Dumpster City,” he said.
“Dumpster City?”
“Main Street is what the locals call it. Plenty of dumpsters out there. So what do you wanna know?”
“The guy who used to live here,” I said, pointing to Edwardo’s last-known address. “Any idea where we might find him?”
“Best bet would be the Generals Arms,” he said.
“Is that a bar?”
“Yeah, not a very nice one, mind you. But it’s where he spends most of his time. Him and some of his seedy friends.”
“Thanks…”
“Barry Gibb,” said the cat.
“Barry Gibb?”
“Yeah. On account of my great singing voice.” He suddenly puffed himself up and started belting out,“Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk I’m a woman’s man.”
“Thanks, Barry Gibb,” I said quickly.
“Hey, it’s all about stayin’ alive, buddy.”
“Absolutely.”
“Tell Clarice I said hi, will you?”
“I will,” I said as we returned to Chase and Odelia, who stood patiently waiting.
“And tell her not to be a stranger!” Barry Gibb cried after us, and I lifted my paw in response.
“Nice fellow, Barry Gibb,” said Dooley.
“Yeah, very nice,” I agreed.
“Let’s ask him to join cat choir.”
“Let’s not.” And addressing my human, I said, “Generals Arms. It’s a bar where Edwardo hangs out a lot.”
Odelia’s smile was something to behold. “Thanks, Max. I owe you one.”
Chapter 12
We waited outside while Chase and Odelia walked into the Generals Arms to talk to the bartender. Strange as it may sound, but some of these bars and restaurants have a No Pets Allowed policy. It’s not something I’ll ever be able to understand, though of course it is true that pets usually don’t carry wallets and so don’t make the best customers. And since these places only make money when the patrons pay for their services, I guess there is a certain logic to barring pets from frequenting them.