Diego huffed out a booming laugh.“See, Dooley? Your friends are just a couple of pussies!” He draped a paw around Dooley’s shoulder. “You stick with me from now on, buddy. I’ll teach you everything I know.”
“Dooley!” I cried. “Don’t go with him!”
Dooley glanced back. He seemed confused and conflicted.
All of a sudden there was a loud CLUNK right next to us. I jerked my head up, and saw that a cat had landed on the dumpster. She was a feral cat, her fur all mangled and matted and missing in parts. She looked like she’d been in more fights than the members ofFight Club, and had a scar that ran through one of her eyes. She looked like a monster. I recognized her instantly.
“Clarice!” I cried.
“Oh, no, not Clarice,” Brutus said with a whimper, and Dooley, too, didn’t look happy to see her. He clasped a hand to his nose, which tended to get slashed every time we got involved with the wild cat.
“Who the hell are you?” Diego asked, giving her the evil eye.
“I am your worst nightmare,” she hissed, slowly moving along the top of the dumpster, her claws scratching the metal. “I am the one female that will never be seduced by your clever lines, your smooth tongue or your treacherous lies.”
“You’re not a female,” Diego said with a careless laugh. “I don’t know what you are, but you’re definitely not on my list. Just look at her, Dooley. Ha ha! Look at that mongrel, dude!”
But Dooley wasn’t laughing, and neither was the rest of us.
“Better hold your tongue, Diego,” she hissed, running a claw along the edge of the dumpster. “Or I just might cut it out!”
“What an idiot!” Diego laughed. “And ugly as the night, too!”
“Max, Brutus and Dooley are my friends,” Clarice declared, quite surprisingly. “You mess with my friends, you mess with me!”
“Well, come on then,” said Diego. “If you want to rumble, let’s rumble!”
Clarice displayed a sly smile.“Oh, you’re asking for it? Well, fine.”
And with these words, she jumped from the dumpster, right on top of Diego’s head. For the next few seconds, there was a blur of activity as the two cats fought. There was a lot of hissing, a lot of snarling, and even more vicious clawing going on. Fur was flying as claws were scratching and hitting their mark.
Then, as suddenly as it had all started, it was over. There was a loud squeak of pain, and a whirr of orange as Diego raced off, his tail between his legs, missing a good chunk of fur and leaving a trail of blood as he streaked off, caterwauling all the while.
Clarice, who seemed unharmed, sat casually licking the blood from her claws.“That should teach that misguided Romeo a lesson he’ll never forget.”
“Clarice, you’re my hero!” suddenly a voice rang out behind us.
We all looked around, and saw that we’d been joined by Harriet.
She sat looking at the spot of orange in the distance that was Diego.
“How long have you been sitting there?” I asked.
“Long enough to hear Diego’s mean-spirited and outright horrible advice,” she said softly. “And even long enough to see him with that other cat.” She gestured up. “I was actually on the roof. I’d followed him here when he went out. Said he was going to get a breath of fresh air.” She shook her head. “I knew he was up to no good. A player like him?”
Clarice stared at the spot of orange that grew smaller and smaller.“I don’t think he’ll be back, honey. I hope you don’t mind.”
“No, I don’t,” she said. “In fact I should have been the one to teach him a lesson.” She nodded at the feral cat. “Thank you, Clarice.”
Clarice shrugged.“Eh. Just a little community service. I had my eye on that player for a while. Nasty little devil. I enjoyed it, actually. It’s not every day that I can take out the good old claws and get a little practice in.”
“I’m so sorry, Brutus,” Harriet said. “I know I hurt you terribly.”
“Oh, sweetie pie,” Brutus muttered brokenly. “Sugar plum.”
“Oh, hugsy wugsy,” Harriet sighed. “My huggy boo. Forgive me?”
“Of course, sweet cheeks. In a heartbeat.”
“Oh, cuddle cakes.”
The big reunion scene was both endearing and massively annoying, and I had to turn away when Harriet and Brutus started sniffing each other’s butts, just like old times.
“Ugh,” Clarice said. “I’m out of here. This is too much for me.”
This from the cat that took on bullies twice her size and fed on rats that would have scared the average human.
“Bye, Clarice,” Dooley said.
“See ya next time,” Clarice said, padding off. “Stay out of trouble, you two.”
We looked on as she gracefully jumped up on a dumpster, then onto a ledge, and then made her way to the roof of the nearest store.
Dooley let out a long sigh of admiration.“What a cat,” he said.
“Yeah, what a cat,” I agreed heartily.
Dooley turned to me.“I’m sorry I doubted you, Max.”
“That’s all right.”
“No, you were right. Diego was a bad influence. It’s just that… he sounded so convincing.”
“That’s the power of the dark side for you, Dooley,” I said.
“Oh, is that what that was?” he asked, eyes wide. “It’s so powerful!”
“Yeah, good thing Clarice showed up and brought you back to the light.”
“Right,” he said. “So Clarice is like Princess Leia, huh?”
“Um… something like that, I guess.”
We looked at Harriet and Brutus, in the midst of their make-up scene, and both turned away and started making our way out of the alley.
“I think I’m way too young for all that dating stuff, Max.”
“I think you’re right, Dooley.”
“It just looks very complicated.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I don’t like complicated, Max.”
“Me neither, Dooley. Me neither.”
Chapter 28
Odelia stubbornly walked on. If Chase didn’t want to confront Ziv Riding about his nocturnal visit to Hampton Cove, she was. She stalked over in the direction of the boutique where Max said he’d seen the Tesla parked, and saw Riding leaving the store and returning to his vehicle.
She hurried over, wanting to catch him before he skedaddled. The store was Riding’s, and exclusively carried the Ziv Riding brand.
“Mr. Riding!” she yelled. “Mr. Riding! A word, sir!”
Riding turned around, his hand on the door of his car. He was a handsome man with smooth, even features and remarkable black eyes. A smile spread on his face when he saw her coming.“Of course I’ll do a selfie, darling. But only one. And only from the right. That’s my best side.”
“My name is Odelia Poole, and I’m a reporter for the Hampton Cove Gazette and a civilian consultant with the Hampton Cove Police Department.”
His smile faltered.“No selfie?”
“No,” she said decidedly. “No selfie. Someone saw your car parked behindFry Me for an Oyster a couple of nights ago.”
Now his smile was completely wiped away.“No comment, Miss…”
“Poole. Odelia Poole.”
He opened his car door and made to get in.“Bye, Miss Poole.”
“It was the same night Niklaus Skad was murdered, Mr. Riding. Would you care to comment?”
“No, I would rather not,” he said as he slid into his seat. He tried to close the door, but Odelia held onto it. “What was your involvement with Niklaus Skad, Mr. Riding?”
“No involvement. I liked his cooking show, though. Now could you please let go of my door, Miss Poole? It’s my door and I need it.”
“What about the sweatshop you built in town? What was your involvement with that?”
“I don’t know about any sweatshop. My clothes are all made in Asia. Now please if you could just…”
“Your clothes were made by Asian workers you illegally brought into this country and then set to work in appalling conditions.”
“Thank you for your interest,” he said. “Please schedule an interview with my publicist. I’m always happy to talk to the members of the press.”