“Any help gladly accepted,” Bobo said hastily. He didn’t want to hurt Fiji’s feelings. She was a generous woman, and (though he’d never said this to her) she always smelled good—like laundry hung out on the line, a smell he remembered from childhood—and she looked soft and warm, like a comforter you really wanted to draw on top of you on a cold night.

The front door had not closed completely when Fiji entered, and Mr. Snuggly glided in. He went right to the spot where Maggie had stood holding the brooch, and he sniffed very thoroughly. Then he yowled.

“That’s one smart cat,” Bobo said respectfully. He liked all mammals; dividing the world into cat lovers and dog lovers had always seemed weird to him.

“You have no idea,” Fiji muttered. Mr. Snuggly looked up at Fiji with a bland expression and yawned, having told them how he felt about Maggie. He began to pad around the store, looking and sniffing with great curiosity.

Bobo hoped Mr. Snuggly wouldn’t try to sharpen his claws on any of the furniture. But the cat seemed pleased to do an inspection tour without testing any of the upholstery. Finally, he stopped in front of a shelf of new items—well, items new to the store—and meowed. Fiji had been watching the cat’s progress, too, and she went to his side.

“What is it?” she asked the cat. He looked up at her, then at something on the shelves. Bobo was at a right angle to the cat and couldn’t decide what Mr. Snuggly was eyeing so intently. Fiji, however, picked the cat up and said, “Are you showing me the old camera?”

For a moment, Bobo expected the cat would reply. Instead, Mr. Snuggly reached out a golden paw and touched the back of the camera. To Bobo’s surprise, Fiji put the cat down and turned the camera around, opening its interior.

“Come look,” she called, and Bobo went over. He looked inside. Though the overhead lights were none too bright, he could see something small and electronic with a green light.

“What is it?”

“It’s some kind of surveillance equipment, I assume. When did this item come in?”

“The camera’s been here for years. A girl was fiddling with it a couple of days ago, I think. She just came in to look around. Said she needed some furniture.” He scrambled to remember more about her. “She was real young, and she told me she was a newlywed, said she got married at the Rev’s chapel. She finally bought a drying rack. She used a debit card.”

“Really.” Fiji’s eyes narrowed. “Huh. Did she have brown hair and bad teeth?”

“Yeah,” Bobo said, with undisguised surprise.

“Okay,” Fiji said. “I guess I need to have a talk with her. You got an address?”