Gran looked horrified. “You can’t do that!”
“Oh, but I can,” Dad assured her. “And I probably should.” He seemed to waver for a moment. “Of course, it’s a whole hassle to apply for new credit cards. Maybe if you promise me that from now on you’ll behave, I won’t have to take such a drastic step.”
Gran nodded anxiously. “I promise! From now on, no more ordering online!”
“Dad, don’t fall for those empty promises. You know she’ll break them the first chance she gets.”
“Well, I for one believe her,” said Dad.
“You’re a good man, Tex,” said Gran. “And an ever better son-in-law. I just knew I was doing the right thing when I advised Marge to marry you and not that bum Jock Farnsworth.”
Dad frowned at this. “Vesta,” he warned.
“Well, that’s what happened! Good thing I told Marge to pick you.” She gave Dad a radiant smile.
Odelia looked from Gran to her dad. “Who is Jock Farnsworth?”
“Nobody,” said Dad quickly, throwing Gran a dark look.
“He was your mother’s boyfriend around the time she was dating your father,” said Gran.
“Mom was dating two guys at the same time?”
“Can you imagine?” Gran chuckled. “Your mother was quite the hot chick. She had so many suitors we had to fight them off with a stick, your grandpa and me. But when she told me she couldn’t decide between Jock and Tex, I was the one who made her pick Tex.”
Dad rolled his eyes. He was obviously not happy with Gran raking up this ancient family history. Odelia narrowed her eyes at Dad. So that’s why he was so easy on Gran using his credit card. She was holding this Jock Farnsworth over his head.
“Who’s Jock Farnsworth?” she asked again.
“Nobody!” Dad insisted.
“Franklin Farnsworth’s kid,” said Gran.
“Franklin Farnsworth? The chicken wing guy? The richest man in Hampton Cove?
“He’s not that rich,” Dad muttered darkly.
“He is super rich,” Gran said with a smirk. “And now Jock’s poised to step into his father’s shoes and take over the family business, he’ll be the richest man in town. And he could have been your daddy, Odelia.”
She stared at her grandmother. It was hard to believe Mom had dated Franklin Farnsworth’s son once upon a time. Talk about ghosts from the past.
“Are we done talking about Jock Farnsworth?” asked Dad irritably.
“Sure, whatever you say, Tex,” said Gran, still that smirk on her face. She had Dad just where she wanted him and she knew it.
“What happened to Jock?” asked Odelia. “After Mom broke up with him, I mean.”
“Well, let me see,” said Gran, pretending to think hard. “Oh, that’s right. He married Grace Carpenter—Ralph Carpenter’s only daughter.”
“Ralph Carpenter. The second richest man in town.”
“Sure. Ralph and Franklin always dreamed of joining their families. Marge breaking up with Jock paved the way.”
So not only had Mom dated the richest kid in Hampton Cove, but now that kid was married to the richest girl in town. And no one had ever told her! Dad was still scowling at Gran, so she patted his shoulder. “Mom made the right decision, Dad,” she assured him.
“You think so?” he asked, not seeming convinced.
“She married my dad, didn’t she?”
Dad smiled and gave her a hug. “Thanks, honey. That’s very sweet of you.”
“Franklin Farnsworth was bad news anyway,” said Gran. “Imagine Marge marrying into that family and spending every holiday at Farnsworth Castle, having to be nice to Irma Farnsworth.” She shivered. “We had a narrow escape there, Tex.”
“We sure did,” said Dad softly.
Odelia wanted to know more about these secrets from her family’s past, but both Tex and Gran were eager to change the topic, so she decided to leave it at that. She’d just ask Mom instead.
“Actually the reason I dropped by was to ask you about Donna Bruce,” Odelia told her dad.
“Oh, right. The murder case. Terrible business, that. Simply terrible.”
“Was she a patient of yours?”
“No, she wasn’t. She used a concierge doctor. Though I knew of her, of course. Before she became a lifestyle tycoon she was a wonderful actress.”
“The bee stings,” said Odelia. “I always thought bee stings weren’t lethal?”
“Well, they can be if you get enough of them,” said Tex. “And then there’s the fact that some people are allergic and can go into anaphylactic shock. I guess Donna was one of those people.”
“I don’t think so,” said Odelia. “The coroner would have mentioned it in his report. The cause of death was definitely the bee stings. She apparently suffered thousands of them in a very short amount of time.”
“That would do it,” said Dad. “The average person can tolerate ten stings per pound of body weight. So she must have sustained a lot of them.”
“But could she have survived the attack?”
“Very unlikely,” said Dad. “From what I understand, thousands of bees were unleashed on the poor woman. And the fact that she was in the sauna, with nothing to protect her, means she would have suffered stings all over her body. Whoever planned this must have thought things through.”
Gran was shaking her head. “Who could have done such a terrible thing?”
“Well, as it turns out Donna Bruce made a lot of enemies over the years,” said Odelia. “She was not a well-liked woman.”
“I can see that,” said Dad, nodding. “She had a reputation for being difficult and demanding.”
“I hope you catch the culprit, honey,” said Gran. “Donna was my hero. I wouldn’t know what to do without some of the stuff she advised on her website.”
Odelia remembered the jade eggs and thought Gran could have done without them with no trouble at all. Then again, maybe Dad was right. If Gran really wanted to buy all this stuff, and he didn’t mind funding her Donna fixation, who was she to stop her?
Picking up her two cats, she left the doctor’s office and set foot for the police station. She was meeting with her uncle and Chase to discuss the case and this time she wanted Max and Dooley to be present when she did. Chase might think it a little strange when she brought two cats to the meeting but so be it. He would just have to get used to the fact that she was a crazy cat lady, as he’d told her on more than one occasion.
Chapter 17
“So how did your sleuthing session with Harriet and Brutus go?” she asked as they were walking down the street, en route to the police station.
“Terrible,” Max sighed. “We now know everything about Justin Bieber’s tattoos and Blac Chyna’s favorite designers. We even know how many nannies Rumi and Sir Carter have—”
“Rumi and Sir Carter?”
“Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s twins,” said Dooley knowingly. “They’re very cute.”
“—but we still don’t know a thing about who killed Donna Bruce,” Max finished. “Oh, but we did find out she had a boyfriend with a tiny wee-wee. His name is—”
“Dexter Valdès. Yes, Donna’s ex-husband told us about him. He looks like a great suspect.”
“What about the ex-husband?” asked Max. “I thought he did it?”
“He has a solid alibi. He was with the boys. Sweetums and Honeychild.”
“Of course he was.”
Odelia looked down, noticing that Max’s breath was a little labored. “Are you all right down there, honey? Do you want me to carry you?”
“No, I’m fine,” said Max, holding up a paw. “Never felt better.”
But judging from the way he walked, he was having trouble with his weight. He lumbered, his step not as graceful as it used to be. It frankly worried her. “Don’t eat Cat Snax anymore, Max,” she urged. “That stuff’s full of sugar. It’s not good for you.”