The problem was that West had unwittingly picked a location several houses down from Governor Jim Gilmore’s birthplace, which had become increasingly overrun by tourists. She was across the street from the crowded Robin Inn, a popular hangout for students and cops who liked big servings of lasagne and spaghetti and baskets full of garlic bread. As for finding parking on the street, it was a chronic lottery with chances always slim to none, and West had grown to despise students and cars. She even hated their bicycles.

She dropped her briefcase in the foyer, and Niles slinked out of the office and regarded his owner with crossed blue eyes. West threw her suit jacket on the living-room couch and stepped out of her shoes.

“What were you doing in my office?” West asked Niles. “You know not to go in there. How did you anyway? I know I locked the door, you little fleabag.”

Niles was not insulted. He knew as well as his owner did that he didn’t have fleas.

“My office is the worst room in the house,” his owner said as she walked into the kitchen and Niles followed. “What is it about going in there, huh?”

She opened the refrigerator, grabbed a Miller Genuine Draft and screwed off the cap. Niles jumped on the windowsill and stared at her. His owner was always in such a hurry that she just thought she closed doors, cabinets, windows and drawers, and put away things Niles might enjoy in her absence, such as loose nails and screws, balls of string, half-and-half or part of an egg and sausage sandwich left in the sink.

His owner took a big swallow of beer and stared at her Personal Information Center, an expensive gray phone with a video screen, two lines, caller ID and as many stored telephone numbers as Niles’s owner decided to program into memory. She checked for messages, but there were none. She scrolled through the Caller ID InLog to see if anyone had called and not left a message. No one had. She took a big swallow of beer and sighed.

Niles stayed on the windowsill and stared down at his empty food bowl.

“I get the hint,” his owner said, taking another swig of beer.

She walked into the pantry and carried out the bag of Iams Less Active.

“I’m gonna tell you this right now,” his owner said as she filled Niles’s handmade ceramic food bowl, “if you walked on my keyboard again or screwed around under my desk and unplugged anything, you’ve had it.”

Niles silently jumped down and crunched on his boring, fat-free, meatless food.

West left the kitchen for her office, dreading what she might find. Abyssinians were unusually intelligent cats, and Niles certainly went beyond the norm, which was a problem since he was curious by nature and didn’t have enough to do.

“Goddammit,” West exclaimed. “How the fuck did you do that?”

Glowing on her computer screen was a crime map of the city. That simply could not be possible. She was certain the computer had been turned off when she left the house that morning.