Marco and Polo pressed their faces to the grate, watching as the shaggy guy dried his hands on his pants and then headed out into the living room.
“Quick, to the other grate!” Marco squealed, hurrying back toward the living room.
“A second guy,” Polo said under her breath. “Oh, that’s not good.”
“No, and what’s worse, there’s no sign of treasure at all,” Marco called over his shoulder.
“Of course not, not in the bathroom,” Polo scoffed.
“But, Polo. Maybe Butterbean was wrong?” Marco slumped against the grate. “Oh man, we’re going to be living in the vents after all.” He ruffled his hands through the fur on his head. “I don’t even know if there’ll be room for Walt and Butterbean and Oscar. Do you think they can squeeze?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. We’re not living in the vents,” Polo said. At least she hoped not, because the others would absolutely not be able to squeeze. “Butterbean’s nose is reliable. Just keep watching.”
The shaggy-haired man was looking in the refrigerator, apparently unhappy with what he saw. He stared inside for a few minutes and finally closed it without getting anything. Then he opened a couple of cabinets, sighed, and closed them again.
“I know that feeling,” Marco muttered.
The man took out his phone and started looking at it.
“That’s it,” Marco said, pushing away from the grate. “There’s no point in watching this. We failed. Again. There’s nothing we can do.”
“We can’t give up!” Polo squeaked. “Sure, it’s all boring. But it’s surveillance! It’s supposed to be boring!”
Marco sighed.“I think we were wrong, Polo. I don’t think there’s any treasure. Maybe it was just the one coin.”
Polo clenched her jaw.“What did you want him to do, just pull out the coins and start counting them?” she said. “Pretty unrealistic, Marco. This isn’t a movie.”
“I expected something!” Marco said, waving his arm in the direction of the grate. “More than this!”
The man in the apartment put down his phone and sighed. Then he opened the cabinet-style end table by the couch and took out a small duffel bag. He hoisted it onto the coffee table, unzipped it, and dumped out a stash of gold coins.
“Holy cow,” Polo said in a low voice.
Marco’s eyes bugged out as he looked at the pile. “Guess it wasn’t so unrealistic after all, huh.”
“I guess not.” Polo raised her hand for a high five. “Whoohoo!”
“Whoo!” Marco echoed, high-fiving her. “We did it! We found the coins. And boy, there are a LOT of them.”
“Tons,” Polo said. “Good news for us, right?”
“Right!”
They watched the man counting the gold pieces in front of him. It was strangely soothing. They were so shiny.
Finally Marco shot Polo a sidelong look.“How are we ever going to carry a bag like that?”
Polo didn’t answer. She just stared at the pile of coins and the duffel bag that was almost as big as Butterbean.
Walt was trying to look calm, but her tail was twitching wildly. She didn’t think she would be able to keep Madison from noticing the aquarium again. It was pretty obvious the rats weren’t in it.
“Maybe I could pretend my wing is broken? Do a big show of flapping around?” Oscar said thoughtfully. He’d done a little acting in his younger days. Maybe it was time to get back to his roots.
“Sure, but what would she do then, take you to the vet?” Walt said. “We don’t want that.”
“No, true,” Oscar said, shuddering. He definitely didn’t want to go to the vet. “So no wing. Another hairball?”
“I can try, but I’d rather not.” Hairballs were Walt’s specialty, but she hated to overuse them.
“We’ll keep that as a backup then. As a last resort.” Oscar tapped his beak against the bars of his cage. “Should I soil my newspaper?”
“Do you think she’d notice?” Walt asked.
“Hmm. Maybe not,” Oscar admitted.
“Still, it’s worth a try,” Walt said. Marco and Polo had been gone a long time. She’d been so sure they would be back before Butterbean and Madison returned, but now she was afraid they might not come back at all. They didn’t really know anything about those vents, after all. Anything could have happened.
The elevator dinged in the hallway.
“The girl?” Oscar asked.
“I think so.” Walt took a deep breath and stood up. She took one last glance at the vent. Empty.
“I’m ready to soil as needed,” Oscar said.
“Thanks,” Walt said as she listened to Butterbean’s tags jingling in the hallway. “Here we go.”
As the key turned in the lock, Walt heard a loud skittering behind her. Marco and Polo ran out into the living room just as the door started to swing open.
“Rats! Take cover!” Oscar screamed. “It’s the girl!”
“Shoot!” Marco squeaked in alarm, immediately bumping into Polo and knocking them both over.
Walt took one look at the slapstick rat routine behind her and made a decision. And as Madison walked in the door with Butterbean, she sprang.
“Whoa!” Madison squealed as Walt hit her full in the chest, knocking her back. “Cat!”
Walt held on with her claws and scaled Madison’s chest until she’d reached Madison’s shoulders, immediately whipping her tail into Madison’s face. “GO GO GO!” Walt meowed as she coiled her body around Madison’s head.
“GO!” Marco said, grabbing Polo by the hand and giving her a boost up the table leg. The two scrambled for the aquarium as Madison staggered out of the entryway.
“Should I wrap my leash around her legs?” Butterbean barked excitedly. “That could be fun!”
“We don’t want to kill her!” Oscar squawked.
“Oh, okay,” Butterbean pouted, sitting down on the rug. “It’s safe now, Walt! They’re inside again.”
Marco and Polo slid down the water bottle into their cage, flopping into a pile in the cedar chips and pretending to be asleep. It wasn’t hard to do. They were both exhausted. The wheel didn’t keep them as in shape as they’d thought.
“Sheesh, cat, I’m glad to see you, too, but come on!” Madison managed to scoop Walt off her shoulders and set her down gently on the couch. “Good kitty,” she said, patting Walt on the head.
Walt ignored her and started licking her tail.
Madison snorted and turned to the other animals.“Okay, so everybody good, then? Anybody else crazy today? Rats?” Madison peeked into their aquarium. “Rats are good? Bird? Good? Okay then. See you guys.” She staggered back toward the door and grabbed for the handle. “Sheesh!”
She scooted through the doorway quickly, like she expected the animals to jump her again, and then she was gone.
Marco rolled over on his back and groaned. Polo popped her head out of the aquarium.“Is it safe? Because oh man, we’ve got problems.”
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11
[Êàðòèíêà: img_4]
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“WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE’S another guy?” Walt said, lashing her tail in frustration. Butterbean stepped quietly to the side. Walt had already hit her in the face with it three times. It kind of stung.
“That’s what we saw! There’s another guy!” Marco insisted. “He was counting the coins!”
“He’s not as creepy as the main guy. But we still have to get past him, too,” Polo pointed out. “That’s TWICE as many guys.”
“Not to mention figuring out how we’re going to carry such a HUGE bag of coins. That thing was as big as Butterbean!” Marco said. “I was thinking Oscar could grab it, but how could he fly with it? It’d be so heavy!”
“He has a bad back!” Polo said, pointing at Oscar.
“It’s not that bad,” Oscar said, shifting awkwardly. So he had a few twinges every now and then. It’s not like he was totally incapacitated.