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“Oh definitely,” Oscar said. “We’re independently wealthy now, no question about that.” He preened and flapped his wings happily. “Our worries are over.”

Butterbean stood up on her hind legs to sniff the bag.“It worked just like we planned. Those coin men won’t know what hit them! Oh boy, they’re going to be mad.” Butterbean inspected the bag carefully. Up close, it looked like it would be too small for her. Maybe if she asked nicely, Oscar would tip the coins onto the floor so she could roll in them. It did look like a lot of fun, and Oscar seemed to be in a mood to say yes.

Butterbean cleared her throat.“Um, Oscar…”

“GUYS! We’re back!” The rats’ voices came echoing through the vents. “Did we get it? Did Oscar die?” Marco and Polo shot out of the space behind the couch and skidded to a stop at the sight of the duffel bag.

“OSCAR! WHOOHOO YOU DID IT!” Marco cheered, attempting to climb up and fist-bump Oscar.

“We weren’t sure, when you fell out of sight like that,” Polo said. “You dropped like a stone.”

“Um. Yes,” Oscar said.

“Dropped is right. Did you mean to do that?” Marco asked.

Oscar cleared his throat.“Of course I did. Time was of the essence, so I decided to go with speed, not elegance.”

“Well good, we were worried!” Polo said, hugging one of Oscar’s skinny legs.

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Oscar patted her awkwardly on the head and averted his eyes. He hadn’t actually been going for speed or elegance—he’d just been trying to stay in the air. Once he’d started falling, he’d picked up speed so quickly, he’d been afraid he wouldn’t be able to stop in time. If he hadn’t managed to snag the bag handle on Mrs. Food’s window crank, he might have ended up a grease stain on the pavement below. A very rich grease stain, but still a grease stain.

“Thank you, Polo.” Oscar cleared his throat. “So first things first. We should probably count the coins to see how many we have. Walt, you have online contacts who can help us with the next step?”

“I do.”

“We’ll need you to get in touch with them. See what we have to do to get the ball rolling. We don’t have much time.”

“We’ll need to give Chad his sardines, too. We can’t forget that,” Polo said. She had a bad feeling that Chad was upset with them, but she wasn’t sure why.

“And Wallace! We need to give him some seeds,” Marco added.

“Right.” Oscar nodded. “I’m so proud of you all! Our plan went off without a hitch!”

“Well, not quite,” Polo said, shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other. “Not quite without a hitch.”

“What? What do you mean?” Oscar clicked his beak. He was pretty sure the plan had gone perfectly.

“There was a hitch,” Marco said. He thought it was pretty obvious from what Polo had said.

“My button,” Polo said, putting a hand up to her neck. “The hitch is my button. The string broke, and it fell out of the grate into the living room.”

“It’s in the middle of the floor now,” Marco said.

Oscar laughed with relief. He’d been afraid they were going to tell him something bad. Something that would mess up the plan. “Oh, well, a button. That’s a very small thing.”

“But it was distinctive,” Polo said. “If they find it, they’ll know it was me.”

“Don’t be silly,” Walt said.

“Polo, you’re not being reasonable,” Oscar said. “Even if they find it, they never saw your button! They won’t have any idea it was you.”

“Right.” Butterbean nodded encouragingly. “They’ll think it was Madison.”

Four heads turned toward Butterbean.

Oscar frowned.“What do you mean, they’ll think it was Madison?”

Butterbean shifted uncomfortably. She didn’t like being put on the spot that way. “They’ll think it was Madison, because the Coin Man knows it’s her button.”

Walt stalked over to Butterbean and sat down.“Explain.”

Butterbean sighed.“When we were in the elevator, the Coin Man noticed her sparkly buttons. He talked about them. As soon as he sees it, he’ll know it’s hers.”

Polo sat down hard on her haunches. She’d been afraid the Coin Man would come after her. But the idea that the Coin Man would come after Madison? And that it was her fault? That was even worse.

“Are you sure?” Polo squeaked.

“Of course not,” Oscar said. “That’s ridiculous. The Coin Man didn’t notice Madison’s buttons.”

“He totally noticed her buttons,” Butterbean said.

“Oh no,” Polo said weakly.

“But that’s good for you, Polo,” Butterbean said encouragingly. “He’ll never suspect you.”

“What have we done?” Polo said softly. “We have to fix this!”

“It’s too late, Polo,” Marco said, patting her on the shoulder. “There was no way to get it back. Madison will probably be fine.”

“Marco’s right, Polo,” Oscar said brusquely. “It’s too bad that the button was left behind. It really is. But it can’t be helped. We need to move ahead with our plans.”

Walt nodded.“Remember what Bob said. We don’t want to go to the shelter.”

“But…”

“I’m sure nothing will happen to her. After all, she didn’t take the coins. They won’t be able to blame her,” Walt said.

“She’ll have an alibi,” Oscar said.

“I guess you’re right,” Polo said. “I don’t feel right about it, though.”