“You’ve been so wrapped up. I tried to show you. I’ve been introducing you to my contacts, to the whole network. I thought if I did it slowly, you’d take it better. But you couldn’t see past your despair…”

“Who is the network? Those cats from the shore? Wait…” Alfonzo’s stomachs clenched with the memory of the small blue book he’d read and then forgotten. “Are you…” He struggled for the term. “A SERF? Is that what they’re even called? Aren’t they dangerous?”

“I didn’t want to tell you until everything was ready. But the timeline has changed. And they are not dangerous—it’s the land creatures who are,” Mitchell hummed.

Mitchell then began a new hum. It was a strange hum, filled with rage and joy. It was not loud, but it enveloped Alfonzo’s whole body, from ears to tail. He felt safe for the first time in a while, as if all the pressure and pain of the past seasons were dissolved by the hum.

“SERFs are all around. I am SERF. Pamella is SERF. Lipstick and Tuxedo are SERF. Akida Kombu is SERF. And I will tell you something more, something I know will touch your heart: Viviana is SERF. SERF has been all around you in secret. And you, my friend, you are becoming SERF as well. Without knowing it, you have already contributed greatly to the SERF cause.”

“How?” Alfonzo could only croak.

“That paper I gave for your dissertation wasn’t recycling. It’s the evidence of dealings between the mayor and Seadyne. On the back sides of your dissertation are financial files. It was how I smuggled the truth out of City Hall. I am a leak, and so are you.”

21.

The llama and the alpaca hunched side by side on Alfonzo’s apartment floor, with their long necks arched over scattered dissertation pages. Alfonzo wanted to see the evidence with his own eyes. Cigarette and catnip clouded the room.

“The mice neighbors are probably furious with me,” Alfonzo said.

“Maybe they consider secondhand smoke a bonus. Free cigarettes!” Mitchell lit another. “Do you talk to them?” he asked.

“I think my size makes them nervous.”

“It might be that they know too much about you, your comings and goings, your musical tastes and your phone calls.”

“They’ve heard me cry, that’s for sure.”

Alfonzo studied the papers. They revealed that Appleby, Dowd, and Associates had arranged shell companies for the mayor and Seadyne. Seadyne paid Seahorse Co. $13.8 million for concrete that was never delivered. Seadyne paid Cheyne Enterprises $65.6 million in consulting fees. Behind Seahorse and Cheyne and Amsea were members of the mayor’s family. Cheyne Enterprises, for one, was registered as a company in the fiscal paradise of Bermuda in the name of Shergar’s adolescent daughter, Cinnamon.

“It must be hard to work as a building consultant while still in junior high.”