MALDEN — An adorable golden retriever named Coco saved the day.

A second-floor balcony lookout, a startled leap, and nearly 18 hours of frantic searching ended Friday afternoon when the Irish cream golden retriever sniffed his way to a missing Malden cat hiding in a bush yards from her own front door.

The cat, Lola, lives on the second floor of an apartment building in Malden, where her owner says she regularly sits on the balcony to watch the birds and passersby.

On Thursday night around 9 p.m., Lola was out on the balcony as usual. Half an hour later, she was gone.

A neighbor told Lola's owner he had seen the cat take off into the night. The owner ran outside with a phone flashlight, treats in a bag, calling Lola's name down every block she could think of. She walked until 3 a.m. before her legs gave out and she went home — adrenaline still high, hope thinning.

She posted on Facebook and Reddit. The tips poured in: put the litter box on the balcony, lay out a favorite blanket, wait for it to get quiet and dark to search again. Lola was probably too scared to come out during the day.

Lola's owner went back out at 6 a.m. and walked until 9, when the neighborhood got too noisy. She braced for another long night.

Then Lola's owner's sister in Connecticut decided to drive up to help.

With her came Coco — the Irish cream golden retriever who has been to the Malden apartment many times before, and who knows Lola from those visits. The plan was that Coco might be able to track Lola's scent. Before getting in the car, the sister had rubbed Lola's favorite blanket all over the dog.

They did not expect it to work this fast.

At about 4:45 p.m. Friday, the sister parked outside the apartment building. Coco hopped out — and instead of running to his usual greeting spot at the apartment door, he sprinted straight to a bush in the lot.

Lola's owner came outside. Coco trotted over to say hello for a moment. Then he ran right back to the bush.

“Did he find her already?” Lola's owner joked.

A few birds flew out of the leaves. Everyone assumed Coco was just chasing them.

Then the dog buried his face in the bush and — in the owner's own words — “drove into the bush like foxes do in snow.”

Lola came shooting out and ran for the nearby stairwell.

Coco's owner put him back in the car. Lola's owner cornered the cat at the bottom of the stairs. Lola was terrified — even of her — for a few long minutes before slowly walking back to her owner and letting herself be picked up.

“I had checked that bush several times,” Lola's owner said. “I wouldn't have imagined she was hiding in there. But Coco insisted something was there.”

Lola is safe.