“Look, I’m going to charge Dan.” When Odelia started to protest, he held up his hand. “I’m sorry, but I have no choice. I have a witness who saw him standing over the guy with the murder weapon.”
“A witness who died,” Odelia pointed out. “In suspicious circumstances, I might add.”
“I disagree. The woman fell down the stairs. No indication she was pushed. None whatsoever.”
“I don’t think he did it,” said Odelia stubbornly. “Dan simply isn’t that kind of person.”
“You heard what Maria Power said. People tend to act weird when she’s involved. Men go nuts, and so do women. And I think Heather Gallop had something very valuable to offer Dan, and when they couldn’t agree on the price, he killed her and simply took it.”
“Oh, so now you don’t think she was his girlfriend and he killed her because she wanted to break up with him or because she was pregnant?”
“No, I don’t think she was his girlfriend.”
“Did you manage to get in touch with her folks?” asked Chase.
“Yeah, I did. And get this. She used to work for Rupert Finkelstein’s daughter.”
Both Odelia and Chase sat up a little straighter at this. “The director?” Chase said.
“One and the same. Finkelstein’s daughter died a couple of months ago, and it’s not inconceivable that Heather managed to lay her hands on something very valuable indeed.” he wiggled his bushy brows. “A copy of his famous version of Romeo and Juliet.”
“And that she came to Hampton Cove to interest Dan in that same copy,” said Chase, nodding.
“Which sounds to me like a motive for murder, wouldn’t you agree? Big collector and fan like Dan? I’m sure a guy like that just might stoop to murder for the chance to lay his hands on the most sought-after movie of all time. A copy of the one and only Gnomeo.”
Chapter 27
It was a long way back to town, especially since we were used to going by car, and now had to rely on our own four paws to carry us home. Add to that the fact that a mouse’s paws are even smaller than a cat’s, and it was slow going at first. Then Dooley had the great idea to suggest that Elsa jump on his back and hitch a ride, and so she did.
I wasn’t entirely at ease after that. It’s bad enough for a cat to have to travel in the company of a mouse, but even worse to carry one on one’s back.
If the cat community of Hampton Cove got word of this our names would be mud. Of course they were mud already, after our unsuccessful fight with Hector and Helga.
Very humiliating for a cat to have to declare defeat against a couple of mice.
“So how was it to live with the most famous actress in the world?” I asked.
“Oh, I didn’t have all that much to do with Maria,” said Elsa. “She kept herself to herself, and so did I. But Boomer sometimes told me stories about her.”
“What kind of stories?”
“He found her a little sad,” said Elsa. “Apparently she had a few husbands who didn’t live up to her expectations and left her broken-hearted. So now she prefers to live alone. Well, with a dozen staff to cater to her every need, of course. So she’s not really alone.”
“She was married a lot of times, was she?”
“Oh, sure. Eight husbands, at last count, and all of them up to no good. Swindlers, fraudsters, cheaters, bullies, drunks and druggies, according to Boomer. She never had much luck in that department.”
“Poor woman,” said Dooley.
“No, poor she most definitely is not. She has a nice fortune safely tucked away.”
“We haven’t told you this, but we’re investigating a murder,” I said. “Or in fact two murders, and maybe even three.”
“Murders?” said Elsa, her eyes widening in surprise. “Is that why you were at the house?”
“Yeah, our human is a reporter, and amateur sleuth, and her boyfriend is a detective, so they were there to interview Maria. Though I can’t imagine what they hoped to find. She has a certain involvement with the case, I suppose, but not directly.”
“A woman was murdered by Odelia’s boss,” Dooley explained. “And then yesterday he murdered a man, and then he probably murdered another woman.”
“That’s a lot of murder,” said Elsa, deeply impressed.
“I don’t think Dan murdered the cleaner,” I said. “He was already in police custody by the time she fell down the stairs.”
“He could have popped over and killed her before he was arrested,” said Dooley.
“No, he was apprehended at the hotel, remember? But anyway, Daisy Rayo presumably wasn’t the victim of a crime but of her own clumsy feet. She fell down the stairs and broke her neck,” I explained for Elsa’s sake.
“Oh, right,” said the tiny mouse with the predilection for fine cheeses. I’d have to let Odelia know she needed to stock up on Gouda, Cheddar and Brie. And cream cheese, of course. To make Elsa feel at home. “So your human’s boss is a murderer?” she asked.
“Yeah, looks like,” I said. “Though Odelia isn’t convinced. She thinks Dan may have been set up.”
And he could very well have been. By this mysterious UPS man who wasn’t a UPS man. Though back at the hotel it seemed clear that Dan was the culprit. At any rate, I thought it was time that Odelia brought us up to speed on the investigation. There were gaps in my knowledge of what exactly had happened and what discoveries she’d made.
I blamed this entirely on my preoccupation with Hector and Helga. I simply didn’t have my head in the sleuthing game at this point, and I sincerely hoped Elsa could help us out so I could dedicate my time to helping my human catch killers again.
A cat suddenly stole out of the undergrowth by the side of the road and stared at us.
“Is that… a mouse?” the cat asked, incredulous.
I immediately recognized this passerby as Clarice.
“Um… yes,” I said hesitantly.
The raggedy cat barked an incredulous laugh. “Are you seriously carrying a mouse on your back, Dooley?”
“Her name is Elsa,” said Dooley pleasantly. “And she’s going to help us chase away the mice in our house.”
Clarice frowned and thought about this for a moment. “I think I see what you’re doing. Very clever, Dooley. Use one evil to destroy another evil. Devious. Very devious.”
“For your information, I’m not evil,” said Elsa.
“No, Elsa is very nice,” said Dooley. “She gave us some very tasty cheese to eat.”
Clarice rolled her eyes. “So she bought you. I should have known it was the mouse who’s the clever one, and not you two. Well, carry on, I suppose. It’s your funeral.”
And with these words, she slunk back into the undergrowth and disappeared.
“We should have asked her to help us with Hector and Helga,” said Dooley.
“She would have said no,” I said. “Brutus already asked her and she refused.”
“Maybe she changed her mind.”
“Doubtful.”
“Was that a friend of yours?” asked Elsa.
“Yeah, Clarice. She’s a feral cat,” I said.
“She’s very nice, and very sweet if you get to know her,” said Dooley.
“Thanks, but I don’t think I want to,” said Elsa with a shiver. “She gives me the heebie-jeebies.”
“Yeah, Clarice has that effect on mice,” I said. “And cats. And people. Well, pretty much on everyone, I guess.”
“She eats rats whole,” said Dooley admiringly. “She simply gobbles them up and swallows them down. You have to see it to believe it.”
“Oh, I believe it,” said Elsa, who clearly wasn’t a fan of Clarice.
And so we continued our long trek into town. I sincerely hoped that next time Odelia would stick around long enough to take us back by car. Not much fun to have a human with a car if she’s going to desert you in the middle of nowhere, I mean to say.
Chapter 28
Odelia had just stepped out of the police station when a woman approached her. She looked in her late fifties, with a pronounced nose and chin, large glasses and a slight overbite.