Dooley and I shared a glance. Here we go again, the glance said. Chloe or not, Harriet would always be Harriet. And maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing, either.
Chapter 33
Odelia and Chase hadn’t had much luck so far. None of the restaurants they’d visited remembered seeing a man answering to Kirk Weaver’s description in the last week, and neither had any of the bars or coffee shops. So when Odelia saw her four cats walking down the sidewalk looking excited and happy, she immediately perked up.
“I think they’ve got something,” she told Chase, grabbing his arm.
“Who got what?” he asked, then dropped his gaze to the pavement and got her drift. “Oh, of course.”
“Max,” she said as she crouched down. “Tell me some good news. I could use it right now.”
“Harriet, please tell Odelia what you discovered,” said Max.
“Well, a couple of days ago The Velvet Box had Kirk and a blond woman come in to look at rings. And a couple of days later the same blond woman walked by the store arm in arm with a dark-haired woman with a dolphin tattoo on the side of her neck, and Samantha is pretty sure the blond woman is staying at the Star, so what do you think?”
Odelia laughed, but then got up, as she didn’t want to be seen talking to her cats like a madwoman. “Very good,” she said under her breath as a passerby gave her a strange look. “I think you just blew this case wide open again.”
“Where did she blow the case, Max?” Odelia heard Dooley ask his friends, but she was already darting across the street, followed by Chase, as she honed in on the Hampton Cove Star, the town’s most popular hotel. “We’re looking for a blond woman who’s friends with a dark-haired woman with a dolphin tattoo,” she announced.
“I’m sure we’ll find her in no time,” Chase said dryly. “I mean, how many blond women could there possibly be staying at the Star?”
Only one, she hoped, though it wasn’t likely. They walked in, and headed straight for the front desk, where the desk clerk, a gangly teen, stood checking his phone, a bored expression on his face.
“Hi,” said Chase, producing his badge. “Can you help us out, buddy?”
“Depends,” the pimple-faced youth said, looking annoyed at the interruption.
“We’re looking for a blond woman,” said Odelia, a little out of breath.
“And she’s friends with a dark-haired woman with a dolphin tattoo,” said Chase added. “If that helps.”
“It doesn’t,” said the kid. “Do you have a name for me?”
“No, we don’t,” said Odelia. “But I mean, seriously, how many blond women could possibly be staying at the hotel, right?” She laughed.
The kid didn’t even crack a smile. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to be a little more specific. I need at least a surname.”
“Well, I don’t have a surname to give you. Only a description.”
“Not much of a description, though, is it?”
“Look, who knows the people staying here? Like… members of your housekeeping staff, maybe?”
“You want me to ask the cleaners if they happened to see a blond hair on one of the pillowcases in the last couple of days or so?” he suggested with a smirk.
Odelia suppressed a sudden impulse to grab the kid by the neck and squeeze.
“Don’t you have photo ID in that computer of yours?” asked Chase. “Can’t you scroll through it to look for any blondes?”
“First off, if you think I’ll let you sniff through our computer, think again. There are laws, you know. Privacy and stuff? And secondly, have you ever heard of hair dye? Blond today, brunette tomorrow?”
It was obvious the kid wasn’t going to cooperate, so Odelia took Chase’s arm, and led him into the lobby, where they took a seat on the same burgundy settees they’d sat on the day before. It seemed like they were spending an awful lot of time in this hotel.
“We’ll just sit here and wait until this blond woman and her friend come walking in or out,” she said. “I mean, sooner or later she has to pass by the lobby, right?”
“Could be that she already checked out,” said Chase. “In which case this whole thing is simply an exercise in futility. No, why don’t I call your uncle and maybe he can make this kid stop jerking us around?”
“You mean lean on him until he breaks?”
“Sounds like a plan, right?”
Just then, Vesta and Scarlett waltzed into the lobby, followed by four cats.
“What’s this I hear about a break in the case?” asked Vesta.
“There would be a break in the case, if the kid behind the reception desk would play ball,” said Chase. “But since he’s not, so far we’ve got zip. What have you got?”
“Nothing much. One girl remembers seeing Kirk, but he was by himself. Buying a bra,” said Scarlett, raising her eyebrows meaningfully.
“Probably a present for one of his lady friends,” Chase ventured, at which point all three women present rolled their eyes at him, the gesture clearly telegraphing ‘Duh!’
“Why don’t I have a crack at the kid?” Vesta suggested.
“And me,” said Scarlett, and before Odelia could stop them, both women were stalking up to the reception desk, the kid eyeing them with a distinct sense of disdain. He clearly wasn’t too fond of his job.
Odelia and Chase watched on as Vesta and Scarlett talked to the teenager, and saw his face change color. First from his natural pink to a bright beet red, then to a sickly white.
And as they made their way back, Vesta announced triumphantly, “We have a name and a room number, you guys and gals. The name is Norma Connors and the room 425.”
“Miss Connors is very blond and also has very big boobies—at least according to our pimply expert over there.”
“How did you do that?” asked Chase, a touch of awe in his voice.
“Well, first I told him that I’d tell his manager about the sex sites he’s been visiting on the front desk computer,” said Vesta.
“And then I told him I’d start screaming at the top of my lungs that he’d just touched my boob if he didn’t give me the room number of the pretty blonde with the girlfriend with the fish tattoo,” said Scarlett.
“How did you know he’d been surfing to naughty sites?” asked Odelia.
“Oh, will you look at the kid?” said Vesta. “He’s a teenager, hormones raging through his teenage body, and probably not a girlfriend in sight. Now let’s go, shall we? I believe we have a date with a suspicious blonde on the fourth floor.”
Chapter 34
It was a full elevator car that rode up to the fourth floor of the Star, packed with both human and feline detectives, all on the hunt for this mysterious blonde who may or may not have been involved with Kirk Weaver and who might or might not be able to shed some light on the man’s death.
“I feel like I should be the one to run point on this one,” said Gran after a moment’s silence. “After all it was my cats that provided the telling clue.”
“Technically it was Mom’s cat,” said Odelia. “Since Harriet is the one who discovered the existence of this mystery woman.”
“And since Marge is my daughter, I should be the one to lead the investigation,” Gran smoothly interjected.
“Brutus is actually Chase’s cat, and since he was also present when this clue was discovered, he should probably be the one to deal with this new witness and potential suspect,” said Odelia, rubbing her boyfriend’s arm.
Chase, who didn’t seem eager to get in the middle of an argument between his fiancée and his soon-to-be grandmother-in-law, wisely kept his tongue.
“I think I should be the one to ask the first question,” said Scarlett, “as it’s clear to me from the description that Norma Connors and I have a lot in common, and I feel we’ll immediately share a unique bond that will make her open up to me.”
“Oh, puh-lease,” said Gran. “Just because you both got the big boobies doesn’t mean she’ll confess to murder the moment she lays eyes on you, Scarlett.”