“Toneu and Marsella are engaged? That is the first I’m hearing of this.” He didn’t seem particularly pleased to hear that the woman running the animal shelter was engaged to be married to a possible murderer. “Does Marsella know about his predilection for hired amorous encounters?”
“I don’t think so. Toneu was very insistent we don’t tell her.”
“I’ll bet he is,” the Chief grunted as he malevolently stabbed his blotter with his pencil.
“Toneu claims he was home alone that night—he and Marsella haven’t moved in together yet. She doesn’t believe in premarital relations and they’ll start cohabiting once the wedding vows have been exchanged and the marriage has been duly registered.”
“I see,” said the Chief. “Possible motive being that he didn’t want his fianc?e to find out about his liaison?”
Chase and Odelia both nodded.“Calista Burden—or Dunne as she called herself—had started a sideline,” Chase explained, “whereby women hired her to seduce their partners and find out if they were as faithful as they claimed to be. It was Dotty’s job to do the seducing. And seeing as she already knew Toneu from before, it’s not hard to see how she could have offered her services to Marsella, if the latter wanted to put her fianc? to the test.”
“This Calista sounds like an enterprising person,” said the Chief admiringly. “She really found an interesting little niche for herself, didn’t she? So you think Toneu failed the test and decided to get rid of the evidence by murdering the two women who knew about it?”
“Especially,” said Odelia, “since Toneu’s business is in trouble and Marsella has made a substantial financial investment in her fianc?’s dealership to keep it afloat. If she were to discover that her future hubby has been unfaithful she might call off the wedding and demand he pay back the money, which would mean he’d have to declare bankruptcy.”
“Also,” said Chase, “we talked to Shelley Eccleston, who volunteers at the shelter, and she says Marsella has had her doubts about the wedding for some time, with several of Toneu’s old girlfriends suddenly crawling out of the woodwork to warn her about the guy and claiming he’s quite theladies’ man. So I totally see her hiring Calista to take Toneu for a spin—though of course she denies everything and so does he.”
“You’re right. I like this guy more and more for this,” said Odelia’s uncle, cheering up. “In fact I like him so much I might be induced to apply for a warrant for his arrest.”
“There are other suspects, Chief,” said Chase. “There’s another client of Dotty’s named Garwen Blemish, who runs a shoe store and doesn’t want his liaison with the girl to come to light. Figures it will reflect badly on him and might damage his reputation.”
“Doesn’t sound like a very strong motive,” said Uncle Alec. “Alibi?”
“Home alone, just like Toneu. He’s a widower,” Chase explained.
“And then there’s Calista’s husband Dave,” said Odelia, “who claims he knew about Star Calypso and was okay with it, but who knows? Two witnesses heard him and Calista fight the other day. He says it was a minor spat between husband and wife and doesn’t remember what it was about, but according to our witnesses it sounded pretty serious.”
“Like you said, maybe he wasn’t as okay with his wife’s line of work as he says he is,” said Uncle Alec, nodding. “So where was he? Also home alone?”
“In Texas at a sales meeting,” said Chase. “I checked the hotel and he did check in and spend two nights there, but who’s to say he didn’t sneak out at some point and fly back here to murder his wife and fly back? Though I admit that does seem very unlikely.”
“Did you check possible flights?”
“Still working on that, Chief.”
“Okay, go on. Anything else?”
“Well, there’s Dotty’s boyfriend Mitch Utz,” said Odelia. “He also got into a fight with his girlfriend, on the day of the murder, as witnessed by one of Dotty’s neighbors. He denied it at first, but when we confronted him with the evidence, he admitted he’d just found out that Dotty wasn’t working for a caterer as she claimed but as a call girl. And I think it’s safe to say he wasn’t happy about it. Not happy at all. He told her to quit and when she said she wouldn’t he blew his top.”
“So where was he?” He held up a meaty hand. “Don’t tell me. Also home alone?”
“No, he went to see a movie. Him and Dotty had arranged to have dinner and see a movie but she ended up bailing on him so he went by himself.” And before the Chief could ask, he quickly added, “And yes, I did check, and no, nobody remembers seeing him at the cinema, but of course that doesn’t mean he’s lying.”
“It also doesn’t mean he didn’t do it,” said Odelia. “Since the movie ended at ten and time of death was between midnight and two. Plenty of time to head on over to Dotty’s place, kill her and then drive across town to Calista’s and take care of her.”
The Chief sat forward.“So how did he strike you, this Mitch Utz? Is he capable of murder, you reckon?”
Chase and Odelia shared a look, then both shrugged.“Hard to say,” said Chase finally. “He doesn’t have any priors. Never been arrested. Not even as much as a parking ticket. By all accounts a decent guy. Comes from a good family. So I really couldn’t tell, Chief.”
“No, me neither,” said Odelia, shaking her head. “He seems like a levelheaded young man. But then of course you never know. Finding out that his girlfriend was a call girl could have made him snap. It has happened before.”
“Yeah, I could see him strangle Dotty in a fit of rage, but then to drive across town and kill Calista?” said Chase. “That’s premeditated murder, and that doesn’t fit his profile.”
“Mh,” said the Chief, leaning back again. “Okay, so that’s it? Dotty’s clients Dewey Toneu and Garwen Blemish, Calista’s husband Dave and Dotty’s boyfriend Mitch?”
“There’s also the neighbor,” said Chase. “Sybil Garlic? She was engaged in a one-woman campaign against Dotty, trying to drive her out of the apartment. Put flyers in people’s mailboxes, smeared dog poop on Dotty’s car, wrote letters to the owner. Basically tried to damage Dotty’s reputation and force her to move out. Claimed her presence was driving down property prices and would attract all kinds of unsavory characters.”
“Apart from the harassment campaign, she seems harmless enough, though,” said Odelia. “A little dotty and spiteful but not really killer material, I’d say.”
“Fair enough,” said Uncle Alec. “So plenty of suspects, not a lot of alibis and so far nothing conclusive that really points to one person in particular if I understand you correctly.”
“That seems to be about the gist of it,” Chase admitted.
“Well, then get me something, people. Go find me a smoking gun, for crying out loud.”
“You mean a pair of smoking stockings,” Odelia quipped, but judging from her uncle’s unhappy expression her attempt at levity didn’t go down well with the chief of police.
“Just get me results,” her uncle growled, tapping the blotter with a pudgy finger. “You wouldn’t believe how many phone calls I’ve received over this. A double homicide in the middle of tourist season? The entire council is up in arms and even Charlene is frantic. Not to mention the head of the chamber of commerce and every storeowner in town.”
“We’ll find you your killer, sir,” said Chase. “And that’s a promise.”
“Don’t think I won’t hold you to that, son.” Then he frowned at Odelia’s sweaty face and her protruding belly. She’d gone back to her breathing exercises, releasing her breath in little puffs. “And you—shouldn’t you be resting instead of gallivanting all over town looking for a killer?”
“But you just said—”
“I know what I said, but I wouldn’t be much of an uncle if I didn’t put the health and safety of my beloved niece first and foremost, now would I?”