He gave her a half-smile. “I’m not sure it was ever sterling to begin with.”
“Oh, yes it is,” she said emphatically. “Now buck up and stop using the R word.”
He gave her a look of confusion.
“Retirement” she clarified with a smile.
“Oh, right.” He checked his watch. “I’m sorry but I have to go now. I have an important appointment I can’t miss.” And with these words he got up and walked out. He lingered by the door for a moment, and Odelia saw that he was staring at the spot where Heather Gallop’s body had lain. “When this is all over I think I’ll have this office completely remodeled,” he said. “I can’t work here without thinking about…” He swallowed. “Awful business. Absolutely awful,” he muttered, then tapped the doorjamb once and left.
Odelia walked over to her own office and started working on her article on the Maria Power retrospective. And she’d been working for about half an hour, smiling at some of the pictures she’d snapped of her uncle and Charlene Butterwick dressed up as gnomes, when suddenly her door flew open and Chase walked in. He was slightly out of breath.
“There’s been another murder,” he said without preamble. “Jack Warner. And this time Dan was caught red-handed.” He eyed her seriously. “I’m afraid he did it, babe. Your boss is officially a serial killer.”
Dooley and I were lounging on the sidewalk in front of Wilbur Vickery’s General Store, enjoying a few rays of sun on our fur, and some of the kibble Kingman had been so kind to wrangle up for us, when all hell broke loose across the street.
The Hampton Cove Star is our town’s boutique hotel, and home to visiting celebrities and other notables. Now it was also the scene of quite the ruckus, as police cars arrived in droves, and suddenly we could see Odelia and Chase hurry up and enter the hotel.
“Let’s go, Dooley,” I said immediately. “Something’s happened.”
“Oh, do we have to?” he asked, chewing on a piece of chicken kibble. He, too, was suffering from the strain the mice had imposed on our home and hearth.
But when he saw my expression, he immediately swallowed the piece of kibble whole and joined me in padding across the street, careful not to get pancaked by an overzealous driver.
We arrived there just as Odelia and Chase were standing around waiting for the elevator to heed their call, and Odelia smiled. “Just in time,” she said as she crouched down and tickled our necks. Then she grew serious, and whispered, “Keep your eyes peeled, you guys. Dan’s life depends on it.”
She didn’t offer any more information, but what she’d said sounded ominous enough to me.
We rode the elevator up in silence, and got off on the third floor. It soon became clear what had happened when we stepped into one of the rooms. There, lying on the floor, was Jack Warner, and he looked pretty dead to me. And right next to him… another garden gnome.
“It’s the garden gnome gang again!” Dooley cried. “First they steal the gnomes and then they use them to kill people!”
“I’m not sure it’s the same gang, though,” I said as I glanced around. I picked up a strong whiff of the scent I’d grown to associate with Maria Power again, which was hardly surprising as the same dress we’d seen hanging in Jack Warner’s apartment was draped across the bed for some reason.
“I wonder why he decided to bring that dress here,” I said.
“Maybe he likes to dress in women’s clothes,” Dooley suggested. “Some men are like that.”
“But why take a hotel room?” I asked. And what did Odelia mean when she said Dan was in mortal danger?
“Yes, we arrested Dan,” Uncle Alec was saying. “One of the cleaners caught him in the act, hovering over the victim, the gnome still in his hand. Her testimony sealed the deal.”
“Where is she?” asked Chase. “The cleaner?”
“Randal sent her home. She was completely overwrought. He told her we’d interview her later, when she’d recovered from the shock.”
Odelia nodded, glancing around. “So describe to me what happened, Uncle Alec. Exactly.”
Her uncle cleared his throat and assumed a wide-legged stance. “Well, Jack Warner arrived at the hotel at eight thirty. According to the receptionist he was in fine fettle. Told her this was the best day of his life. Though he didn’t say why that was, the receptionist figured he probably had a date lined up. Often people use the hotel for that purpose.”
“So then what happened?”
“Well, the receptionist was on the lookout for this illustrious date, Jack being well known to her, as she’s a member of the Maria Power Society herself. And so when Dan suddenly showed up…” He shrugged. “To say she was surprised is an understatement.”
“Dan told me had an important appointment he didn’t want to miss,” said Odelia. “He didn’t tell me it was Jack Warner, though.”
“No, he wouldn’t tell you, would he? Not if he planned to kill the man.”
“So then this cleaner walks in and Dan is standing over the dead man?” Chase asked.
The Chief nodded. “She opened the door by mistake, figuring the room was empty, and caught Dan in the act, still holding the gnome. He dropped it when he saw her and she started screaming her head off.” His face took on a grave note. “And then he ran off.”
“Dan ran off?” asked Odelia.
“Yeah. He did a runner. Didn’t get far, though. The cleaner immediately called down to the lobby, and by the time Dan arrived, they stopped him and called the cops. Randal and Sarah were first on the scene, and they arrested him on the spot.” There was a note of satisfaction in his voice. “And this time he’s not going to walk any time soon.”
Chapter 20
Odelia, as she sat down for the interview, remembered her promise to Dan: that she was going to catch this killer. Only she hadn’t thought that he’d go out and murder a man immediately afterward.
She found it hard to focus on the words of the hotel’s housekeeping supervisor, as her mind kept returning to the conversation with Dan that morning. He’d seemed so down in the dumps. And then to come here and kill his main rival? Why would he do such a thing? And had she read the man wrong all this time? It was hard to imagine.
They were in the bowels of the hotel, where the housekeeping department was located. Cleaners were passing through the supervisor’s office, inquiring after what had happened, but when they saw she was busy talking to the police, just as quickly disappeared again, like diffident creatures of the night.
The supervisor was a sturdily built woman, with an honest open face and a ready smile. “I thought it strange, you know,” she said now. “Daisy wasn’t supposed to come in today. And so when I heard she’d shown up after all, and had witnessed a murder…” She shook her head. “Terrible. Absolutely terrible.”
“Do you have her address, because my colleague forgot to take it down,” said Chase.
“Oh, of course,” said the woman, swiveling in her chair and turning to her computer. She’d placed her glasses on her nose and was frowning at the screen while she tapped a few keys. “Here it is. Daisy Rayo. Been with us four years now. Very nice girl. Hard worker.”
“And you’re saying she wasn’t even supposed to be here today?”
“No! It was her day off. She must have gotten the dates mixed up. Happens sometimes. Though not to Daisy, who’s very precise about that sort of thing.”
“Did you see her before she went home?”
“No. By the time we were told, she’d already left. But Mimi saw her, and said she looked terrible. Crying her eyes out. In a terrible state, Daisy was. Good thing they sent her home, poor thing. To run into a killer like that—he could have turned on her and killed her, too! Isn’t that what these serial killers do with witnesses? Kill them so they won’t talk?” She shivered. “Who would have thought nice and friendly Dan Goory would turn out to be some kind of monster?”