by Nic Saint
We sat down on our haunches, and I started casually licking my tail. I didn’t want to give Brutus the impression we were waiting for him. Dooley, catching on, started licking his private parts.
“Dooley!” I hissed. “Do you have to do that now?”
“Huh? What?” he asked, looking up from his business.
“Just lick your paw or something. This is a public place.”
“I don’t have to lick my paw. I just licked my paw before. Now I want to lick my—”
“It’s not proper!”
He stared at me. “What’s gotten into you all of a sudden? We’re cats, Max. Not humans. We lick whatever we want to lick at any given time.”
“Still.”
“Still nothing. Living with Odelia has turned you into a human. Time to remember that you’re a cat.”
I guess he was right. It’s just that every time in the past I started licking my privates, Odelia started giggling. It’s made me self-conscious.
“I honestly think that if people would walk around in the nude more and lick their private parts in public, the world would be a much better place,” Dooley said.
I watched as Gran and Leo came walking down the street, kissing and hugging and generally all over each other’s business, and I said, “I disagree. There are certain human private parts I really don’t care seeing.”
Brutus had reached us and also plunked down on his haunches. “Hi,” he said in a tired voice. He sounded like the voice from the tomb on a bad day.
“So?” I asked. “How did it go?”
“It didn’t. I waltzed in there, just like you told me to, and told Diego what was what. I said Harriet was my girlfriend and he had no right to come barging into our lives and stealing her away from me.” He paused, and clamped his mouth shut, giving me a haunted look. Then he shivered visibly. “Brrrr.”
“And?” I asked. “Don’t keep us in suspense. What happened?”
“Harriet happened. She told me in no uncertain terms that she was no plaything, to be handed over from cat to cat and to be decided over by anyone but herself. She said she was her own cat and she was perfectly capable of deciding who she was going to date and I was an idiot for trying to control her.” He shivered, and it was obvious the episode had rankled him.
“She said that, huh?”
“All that and a lot more,” he admitted. “She also said that if she wanted to give her heart to Diego then that was nobody’s business but her own. And if I thought I was going to change her mind by acting like a jealous boyfriend I had another thing coming. And then she kissed Diego. For about a minute or so. It could have been longer. I decided not to stick around.”
I shared a look of commiseration with Dooley. The latter shrugged. He obviously figured that at least Brutus hadn’t turned into the bullying monster we’d all come to know and despise. He was just his old, miserable self again.
I patted the big cat on the shoulder. “Why don’t you join us, Brutus?”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m licking my tail and Dooley is licking his privates.”
“Why not?” he asked, heaving another deep sigh. “It’s not like I have anything better to do.”
So we spent the next ten minutes grooming ourselves. It’s an important part of being a cat, and it helps to take your mind off things.
“So what’s new?” Brutus asked after a while.
“Nothing,” I said.
“You think Odelia cracked the case yet?”
“Nope,” I said.
“So what’s our next move?”
I gave this some thought. What was our next move? The only thing I could come up with was to spend some time at our usual haunts. The barber shop. The police station. The General Store. Maybe someone somewhere had seen something and could get this investigation moving in the right direction again.
So once we were satisfied that our fur was all nice and shiny again and generally flea-free, we ambled off in the direction of Main Street. The police station was a bust. No cats around, and Uncle Alec was holed up in his office playing Solitaire on his computer. The barber shop was a bust, too. None of the cats hanging around there had seen anything.
Our final destination was the General Store, where our buddy Kingman reigns supreme. He’s a large piebald that likes to gossip. And since just about every cat in town passes by the store eventually, he’s usually the best choice to pick up some juicy fresh gossip.
“Max! Dooley! Brutus!” Kingman said from his perch on the counter. He likes to keep his human Wilbur company while the latter rings up the purchases. He gracefully hopped down and trod over to where we were sitting, right next to the discount DVD bin. “So what’s happening, dudes?”
“We were just about to ask you,” I said.
“Quid pro quo, Max,” Kingman said with a sly grin. “Quid pro quo.”
“Grandma Poole is dating a guy called Leo Wetland,” I said.
He made a throwaway gesture with his paw. “That’s old news. You’ll have to do a lot better than that.”
“Niklaus Skad was killed?” Dooley tried.
“Old news!”
I glanced at Brutus. He was sitting on the biggest piece of news. He shook his head. I gave him a penetrating look. He shook his head again. So I decided to blurt it out myself. “Harriet is dating a cat called Diego.”
This time an eager look came into Kingman’s eyes. “Tell me more.”
So we told him more, Brutus meanwhile suffering the death of a thousand cuts. I told myself it was for a good cause. If Kingman wanted juicy gossip, it meant he had a big story to share, or else he wouldn’t bother.
“Diego, huh? I’ve seen that cat around. Strutting his stuff. Bad news, Max. Bad news.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
His eyes flashed. “Did you know that there’s a sweatshop in town?”
“No way!”
“Yes, way. Right here in Hampton Cove. An actual sweatshop!”
“What’s a sweatshop?” Dooley asked.
“It’s a shop where people go to sweat,” Brutus said.
“Like a fitness club?”
“Yeah, exactly like a fitness club,” said Brutus. “Right, Max?”
“No, not like a fitness club,” I said.
“So what is it?” asked Dooley, confused.
I gestured at Kingman. “You tell ‘em.”
“A sweatshop is a place where unscrupulous businessmen keep a bunch of workers—often even kids—and make them work really, really hard for pretty much no pay, for long hours and in horrible conditions.”
“I knew that,” I murmured, even though I didn’t.
“I get it,” Dooley said. “They make them sweat a lot and don’t pay them anything.”
“But isn’t that, like, illegal?” Brutus asked.
“Good point, buddy!” said Kingman. “Of course it’s illegal!”
“Yeah, they probably don’t pay any taxes,” I said.
“And they’re breaking pretty much every labor law,” Kingman added.
“So where is this sweatshop? And how do you even know this?”
“A cat that hangs out there told me. Said they’ve got a bunch of illegal aliens locked up in there.”
“Aren’t all aliens illegal?” asked Dooley. “I mean, I’ve seen Independence Day. Those horrible creatures definitely weren’t invited.”
“Not aliens from outer space,” I said. “Aliens as in immigrants.”
“Oh. Right,” he said, understanding dawning.
“Norma said they look Chinese,” said Kingman. “One of the workers actually feeds her milk from time to time. Through a crack in the window. She said there are bars on all the windows and they’re not allowed outside.”
“Terrible,” Brutus said, and I could tell he was moved by the story. So was I. In this day and age, in this country, this was a real outrage.
“So where is this sweatshop?” I asked.
Chapter 22
Odelia was hitch
ing a ride in Chase’s car when suddenly she saw three cats tripping along the sidewalk. They were Max, Dooley and Brutus. When Max spotted the car, he motioned for her to pull over.
“Pull over, Chase,” she said. “Pull over right here.”
“What’s going on?” he asked, doing as she asked.
Without responding, she opened the door and allowed the three cats to hop in.
“Oh, God. Not your cats again,” Chase said.
She ignored him. If Max signaled her to stop, he had something important to tell her.
“There’s a sweatshop in town, Odelia,” he said the moment he got into the car. “Kingman talked to Norma who said there are a lot of Chinese illegal aliens being kept on an old farm on the edge of town.”
“They’ve got bars on the windows, Odelia,” said Dooley.
“And they’re not allowed to leave,” said Brutus.
“And they have to work really hard,” Max added.
She glanced over at Chase. “You’re going to have to trust me on this, Chase.”
He looked puzzled. “Trust you on what?”
“Remember when you said I should use my sleuthing magic to solve this case?”
“Uh-huh?”
“Well, this is me pulling the sleuthing magic card and telling you just to drive where I tell you to drive and not ask me any questions.”
“Wait, what?”
She turned around, to the three cats who were now propped up on the backseat. “It’s the old Tucker place, out on Dubarq Road,” Max said.
“Go straight and then take a right at the end of the block,” she told Chase.
It didn’t take them long to arrive at their destination. And even though Chase had thrown her a lot of curious glances, he’d managed to refrain from asking her any questions. Now that they were nearing their destination, he abruptly pulled the car onto the shoulder, cut the engine and turned to her.
“So what’s this all about? What is back there at that old house?”
“It’s an old farm, and… I think there’s a sweatshop out there.”
He stared at her. “A sweatshop. In Hampton Cove. And you know that how?”
Now came the tricky part. “You remember when I told you about the note Gran found in her new Ziv Riding sweater?”
“The cry for help, yes.”
“And when Mom found a similar note in her blouse?”
“You think those notes came from this place?”
“Yes, I do. I think Ziv Riding isn’t having his clothes manufactured in Asia, like he claims. I think he’s having them manufactured right here in Hampton Cove, only in appalling conditions by people who are being held here against their will, and forced to work in terrible circumstances.”
He looked over the dashboard at the old farm. It didn’t look like a sweatshop, but she knew that if Max told her there was a sweatshop out there, he was most likely right. Cats had ways of finding out stuff.
Chase rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then turned back to face her. “So how do you know?”
“I, um…” She glanced back at the cats through the rearview mirror. They were shaking their heads, No! “See, the thing is…”
“I’m listening,” he said.
“I can’t tell you,” she finally said.
He uttered a surprised grunt. “What?”
“I simply can’t tell you.”
“That’s ridiculous. Either you knew already about this sweatshop, and completely forgot about it until you saw your cats parading down the street, or somehow your cats told you about this sweatshop, which is completely ridiculous.” He studied her for a moment. “So which is it, Odelia?”
She threw up her hands. “You’re right. Silly me. I totally forgot about the sweatshop. Seeing Max and Dooley and Brutus brought it all back to me.”
“Because…”
“Because…” She rooted around for a plausible response. “Because the person who called me last night and told me about the sweatshop also has a cat,” she said finally. “And seeing Max and the others reminded me.”
In the backseat, Max slapped his paw to his face. “Oh, God,” he muttered.
“And you can’t tell me who this person is?” Chase asked.
“I promised her I wouldn’t reveal her identity.”
He nodded, tapping his steering wheel. “Of course. And how did this person happen to find out?”
“She just happened to pass here the other day, and heard muffled shouts and cries. So she went to investigate closer and saw a bunch of people in there, locked up and being forced to sew Ziv Riding’s clothes.”
He gave her a comical grimace. “That’s just about the most ridiculous story I’ve ever heard. But I’m willing to give you a pass, Odelia.”
“You are? I mean, it’s the honest-to-God’s truth.”
“Of course it is.” He directed a suspicious look back at the cats. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’m going to hazard a guess it’s got something to do with those cats. I don’t know what it is but I’m not going to pressure you into telling me.”
She blinked. “You’re not?”
“No, I’m not. I guess when the time comes and you feel you can trust me, you’ll tell me. For now I think our first priority should be to get those people out of there. But first we need to make sure your… source is telling the truth.”
“My source never lies,” she assured him.
He gave her a lopsided grin. “Honey, I’m a cop. Double-checking hot tips is what I do for a living. So please humor me.”
“Sure,” she said, pleasantly surprised that he’d let her off the hook so easily. “I’ll come with you.”
“No, that’s all right. You better stay here and out of sight. We don’t want to spook them and make them close up shop before we can get the cavalry out here.”
He opened the door and got out. But before he did, she said, “Chase?”
He stuck his head back in. “What?”
She gave him a warm smile. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. One of these days I’m going to get you to spill all of your secrets, Odelia Poole. Just you wait and see.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
“Oh, but you will.”
He gave the roof a pat and then he was off, keeping low, moving with surprising agility and grace. She saw him dart through a meadow, then he disappeared from sight.
“That was a close call,” she said, heaving out a long breath.
“Are you going to tell him?” Max asked.
“Maybe one day,” she said musingly. “But not now. Definitely not now.”
“I think you should tell him,” Brutus said surprisingly.
“And why is that?”
“There should be no secrets in a relationship,” he said.
She laughed. “For your information, we’re not in a relationship.”
“You will be,” he said.
“Don’t mind Brutus,” said Max. “He’s feeling a little out of sorts on account of the fact that Diego stole his girlfriend.”
“Diego stole Harriet?” she asked, surprised. “That was quick work.”
“He’s a quick worker,” Max said.
“He’s a snake,” Brutus grunted. “A viper in your bosom, Odelia.”
“Hey, watch what you say about Odelia’s bosom,” Dooley said.
“It’s an expression,” Max said.
“I don’t care! Brutus better show some respect.”
“I have the greatest respect for Odelia,” said Brutus. “You took me in when my need was high.”
“Your need wasn’t high,” said Dooley. “You got fed meat every day by Chase.”
“Chase never feeds me any meat. He barely notices I’m there. Chase is not a cat person. He just took me in because his mother asked him to.”
Max and Dooley goggled at Brutus. “No meat?” asked Max.
“No juicy steak,” Dooley asked.
“Just generic kibble,” Brutus grunted. �
��The kind on sale in your local supermarket.”
“Oh, Brutus,” said Odelia, touched.
“Don’t get me wrong,” said Brutus. “I love Chase. But… I love Odelia more.”
Silence reigned in the car for a few beats, then both Dooley and Max gave Brutus a hug, and Odelia reached back and tickled him under his chin. “And we love you, Brutus,” Dooley assured him.
“Well, we do now,” Max corrected him.
“Must have been that lack of meat that made him so intolerable,” Dooley added.
“Thanks,” Brutus grunted, clearly undone by these signs of affection. “Thanks, you guys. You’re the best friends a cat can ever hope to get. I won’t forget this.”
“You’re all right, Brutus,” Odelia said. “I’ll buy you all some meat tonight.”
There was a tap on the roof of the car and they all jumped a foot in the air. Then Chase’s head appeared through the open window. He was panting a little, and he was chewing on a piece of straw. “That’s a sweatshop, all right. Let’s call in the state police. This is a lot bigger than Hampton Cove.” He glanced back at the cats. “Well done, you guys.” He then directed a look at Odelia. “And now I’m talking to your cats. I’m going all screwy.”
“Not screwier than Odelia,” said Max.
Chase whipped his head around. “Was it my imagination or did he just talk back to me?”
But Odelia merely smiled.
Chapter 23
We patiently waited in the car until the state police that Chase had called in arrived. They came zooming down the road, blinkers and sirens off. The first car stopped right next to ours, and Chase quickly switched cars, and rode in with the cavalry. They surrounded the farmhouse. We watched from our first-row seat as dozens of cops exited their vehicles and descended upon the old Tucker farm, weapons drawn, approaching slowly and stealthily.
When finally Chase gave the all-clear sign, Odelia let us out of the car and we walked up with her.
We saw dozens of ill-dressed people being led out of the farmhouse. They looked unkempt and scared. Ambulances drove up and teams of EMTs took care of them. I saw that more than half a dozen of them were children, and they looked as dirty and undernourished as the adults. It was a horrible scene.