“That’s exactly what I said!” said Dooley.
Harriet gave him a smile.“Great minds think alike, Dooley.”
“And I think it’s the gambling business that’s key here,” said Brutus. “Jona was an inveterate gambler, and probably Dunc was the same way. Only his girlfriend doesn’t like to mention the fact, since he’s a famous artist, and she doesn’t want to ruin his reputation.”
“You think so?” I asked, interested in Brutus’s point of view.
“Of course! She wants to make sure that now that Dunc is dead, his work will still be sold, and if his reputation is destroyed, prices for his work might drop, and she doesn’t want that.”
“So you think the people who’ve been lending money to both Jona and Dunc have decided to start murdering all of the people that are in debt with them?” asked Harriet. “That just doesn’t make any sense, darlington. For one thing, it’s bad business to murder your clients, and for another:it draws too much attention.”
“They’re setting an example!”
“One example is fine, but two? That’s overkill. And not necessary!”
“I think it’s the Careens that are behind this,” said Dooley.
“And I think it’s the gamblers,” said Brutus.
Suddenly they all turned to me.“So what do you think, Max?” said Brutus anxiously.
I shrugged.“Frankly I think it’s too soon to tell. First we need to collect more information. More evidence. And then we’ll be able to tell what happened exactly.”
“And I’m afraid that if we wait much longer, more murders will be committed,” said Harriet. “So you better think fast, Max!”
Oh, boy. Pressure. I hate pressure!
At the table where the humans sat, a similar conversation was taking place.
“Wanna know what I think?” said Gran.
“No, what?” said Odelia.
“I think Kristina Careen is behind these murders.”
“Kristina Careen is agoraphobic, Gran. She doesn’t leave the house.”
“And I say that she does. This agoraphobia thing is just a front. When nobody’s looking that woman sneaks out and goes and murders the people she thinks are responsible for her daughter’s death.”
“So you think she’s faking it?” asked Scarlett.
“Of course she’s faking it!”
“We talked to Kristina,” said Chase. “And I don’t think she’s a fake, Vesta. She looked pretty genuine to me, and so does her illness.”
“Are you a shrink? No, you’re not. Talk to the shrink! He’ll tell you I’m right.”
“Kristina has a shrink?” asked Scarlett.
“Yeah, she’s been in therapy for the past thirteen years,” said Odelia.
“Then I don’t think she’s a fake, Vesta,” said Scarlett. “Do you know how expensive these shrinks are? No one in their right mind would pay that much money and fake it.”
“I’m not saying she’s been faking it all these years. I’m saying that maybe in the past couple of weeks she discovered that she can leave the house and be fine. And instead of telling her family or her therapist she kept it a secret, so she can murder with absolute impunity.” She shrugged. “I think Kristina Careen has mastered the perfect murder.”
“The purr-fect murder,” Harriet said with a grin. “How about that?”
“I doubt it, Gran,” said Odelia. “You should have seen Kristina. She’s not a fake.”
“So who do you think is behind these murders? The bachelor brigade? Because one of them decided to get married? Are you going to tell me that Jona Morro was getting married, too?”
“We have no evidence of that,” said Chase.
Scarlett sat up a little straighter.“Do you want me to ask Omar?”
“Do you think he’d tell you?” asked Gran.
“Oh, absolutely. That man is like an open book to me. He’ll tell me anything I want to know. You should have seen him, the poor dear. Absolutely devastated.” She rearranged her admittedly impressive d?colletage. “So tomorrow morning, I’ll offer him a nice cup of coffee and a shoulder to cry on.”
“A shoulder, Scarlett,” said Gran. “Not your… frontage.”
Scarlett lightly slapped her friend’s arm. “Vesta! Who do you take me for!”
“For a woman who’d do anything to extract information from her target,” said Gran with a grin. “Just like me.”
“Take it easy, Scarlett,” said Odelia. “For all we know Omar could be behind these murders.”
“But why? They were his best friends.”
“Because they were both getting married?” Gran suggested.
“I doubt it. Omar is an absolute dear, and I’m going to prove it to you.”
“When did he leave the office, exactly?” asked Chase.
“Um… around eleven?”
“We arrived at Dunc’s loft at noon,” said Chase. “And according to Abe the body was still warm, so the murder must have been committed shortly before we arrived.”
“You could have caught the killer in action!” said Scarlett.
“Yeah, looks like we just missed him. When did Omar get there, babe?”
“Must have been around… twelve-fifteen? Something like that?”
“How long does it take to go from the mall to Gardner Street?”
“Ooh, let me!” said Scarlett, and took out her phone. “Google Maps,” she said as she tapped her screen with her long fingernails.
“I don’t know how she does it,” said Harriet. “When I tap my tablet screen with my nails it doesn’t work. I have to use my paw pads.”
“I think it takes years of practice,” I said as we all watched Scarlett with amusement.
“Got it!” she finally said, jiggling her ‘frontage’ for good measure. “Twenty minutes!”
“You have to take into consideration that he had to go from his office to the parking lot to get his car,” said Gran. “So you better add another twenty minutes.”
“Plus traffic and parking his car,” Scarlett added. “Always a problem on Gardner Street.”
“You know Gardner Street?” asked Odelia, surprised.
“My nail salon is in that building,” said Scarlett, and held out her hands for Odelia’s inspection.
“Nice,” murmured the latter as she studied Scarlett’s admittedly impressive nails.
“Okay, so that seems to pan out,” said Chase. “I guess we can rule out Omar for Dunc’s murder.”
“And for Jona’s murder as well,” said Gran. “Unless the man would have knocked himself on the head.”
“It’s possible to knock yourself on the head,” said Scarlett, and tried to demonstrate it, almost causing her to topple off her chair. “Okay, so maybe it’s not that easy,” she finally conceded. “Besides, like I said: Omar is a sweetie. He’d never raise his hand in anger.”
“See?” said Gran triumphantly. “That only leaves Kristina—the fake agoraphobic!”
“Or her husband and son,” said Odelia, giving her gran a censorious look.
“Or the gambling mafia,” Chase grunted.
“Or one of the other bachelors!” said Scarlett. “Have you talked to Sergio yet?”
“Not yet,” said Chase with a grin. “Why? You a fan of Zeus?”
Scarlett clutched a hand to her heart.“Am I a fan of Zeus? Are you kidding me! I’m only Zeus’s biggest fan!” She wrapped a hand around Chase’s impressive bicep. “Can I join you for the interview? I promise I won’t do anything embarrassing like ask for the man’s autograph.” She batted her eyelids imploringly. “Prettyplease?”
“This is a police investigation, Scarlett,” said Chase, adopting his police persona and giving her a stern-faced look. “Not a press junket with a movie star.”
“Oh, all right,” she said, displaying a pouty face. “Be that way, if you must.”
“We’ll ask him for his autograph, if you want,” Odelia suggested.
Scarlett perked up a little.“Have him make it out to ‘My beloved Scarlett,’ will you?”
Chase uttered a groan, but Odelia smiled and said,“I’ll see what I can do.”