It was a hard lesson to learn for the big, red cat, but one that was absolutely necessary. If he kept eating like this, he’d simply dig his own grave with his teeth, the poor baby, and she did not want that on her conscience.
Harriet and Brutus had shown up just when the meat was starting to give off its delicious scent, but when she cut a glance to Harriet, the gorgeous Persian had sadly shaken her head. So far she hadn’t discovered a thing. Brutus, who’d immediately pounced on some slivers Dad had cut from the steaks, didn’t seem to have any news for her either. That only left Dooley, but all he said was that he’d finally discovered how she cleaned those hard-to-reach spots in her bedroom, and given her a big, fat wink. Weird. Then she remembered she’d left the computer running. Oh, dear. She hoped she’d turned on Parental Control. There was so much on the Internet her cats did not need to see.
Uncle Alec walked up to her, a can of Heineken in his hand. “And? Any luck with the Cranberry woman?”
“Nope. Turns out she had an alibi, just like everyone else in this case.”
“Dang. She looked promising.”
“She did,” Odelia agreed. “Very promising. Just like the ex-husband looked promising, the boyfriend looked promising, and the leader of the home owner’s association looked promising.”
“Tough day, huh?” asked her uncle, shooting her a keen look.
“Yeah, pretty tough,” she admitted. “We keep catching breaks that turn out not to be breaks after all.”
“What about your cats?” he asked. “They usually provide the telling clue.”
“So far my cats have provided me nothing but trouble,” she admitted, and told her uncle about Max’s embarrassing behavior at Maureen Cranberry’s place.
“So that’s why my meatball went missing from my meatball sub,” said her uncle with a grin.
“It seems he’s eating everything he can get his paws on. Ever since I put him on a diet he’s been totally insufferable. It has taken his focus completely off trying to find Donna’s killer. All he’s interested in is finding food, not clues.”
“That’ll pass,” her uncle assured her. “He just needs some adjusting is all. When your aunt put me on a diet the hardest part were those first few days. Once I got past that it was smooth sailing all the way.”
She glanced down at her uncle’s rotund belly. Pity Aunt Ginny was gone. Alec could have used one of her patent diets right now. But who was going to put him on one? Certainly not her. She had a hard enough time trying to keep Max to his diet, and he was just a cat.
Chase came ambling up, also a can of Heineken in hand. “So? Another long day at the office, huh? Time for some R&R.”
“Speak for yourself,” grunted Chief Alec. “When dinner is over I’m heading straight back to the station. I’ve got a ton of paperwork to finish. What about you, Odelia?”
“I have an article to write,” she confessed. She’d started writing it when they came back from Maureen Cranberry, but she still had to put the finishing touches on the piece. “The paper is going to print tomorrow and Dan wants the article done.”
“On the Donna Bruce case?” asked Chase.
“Yep. I don’t really know what to write, as we’re nowhere near figuring out what happened, but deadlines are deadlines.”
“And what are you up to, Chase?” asked the Chief.
“Well, I was actually thinking about asking out your niece, but I have a feeling she’s about to blow me off.”
Odelia looked up in surprise. “You wanted to take me out tonight?”
“I promised I was going to, remember? And you told me you were going to think about it.”
“I know, but I figured, with this whole Donna Bruce thing…”
He smiled. “There will always be work, Odelia. You can’t let it interfere with your personal life.”
“He’s right,” Uncle Alec grunted. “You never know how much time you’re going to have with your loved ones. If I’d known that back when Ginny was still alive, I’d have spent a lot more time with her. Now it’s too late.” He looked somber for a moment, the memory obviously still haunting him.
Odelia placed a hand on her uncle’s arm. “You had a lot of good years together, Uncle Alec. You should be grateful you got to spend them with Aunt Ginny as long as you did.”
He gave her a weak smile. “You’re right, honey. And I am. Grateful, I mean. I’m just telling you not to make the same mistake I did. Putting work before everything else. This case will get solved, or it won’t. You can’t let that stop you from spending time with this hotshot detective over here. At least if that’s what you want.”
Now it was her turn to smile. “What are you saying? I should give this hotshot detective a shot?”
“He’s not a bad guy,” said Chief Alec. “He’s young and impetuous, of course, but then all guys are at his age. But with some patience and effort I think we might make something out of him yet.”
Chase gave the chief a playful shove. “Thanks, old-timer. I appreciate the vote of confidence. So what about it, Odelia? Wanna catch a movie with this hotshot detective?”
And she was just about to respond in the affirmative, when a wide-eyed young man dressed in a brown uniform showed up in the backyard, carrying a huge box. Judging from the logo on his uniform he was the UPS guy, and when he was done scanning the small group gathered around the barbecue set, he gulped and asked, “Who is Vesta Muffin? I’m looking for a Vesta Muffin.”
Gran seemed reluctant to reveal herself, so finally Mom had to step up and tell the guy, “That’s my mother. Why didn’t you ring at the front door?”
“I did. More than once. Can I leave this with you, ma’am? It’s… buzzing.”
He placed the bulky package on the lawn and quickly took a few steps back.
“Buzzing?” asked Mom, eyeing the package with suspicion. Then she turned to Gran. “Mom. What did you order this time?”
“Nothing,” said Gran. “Must be some mistake.”
“No mistake,” said the UPS guy. “You ordered from donna.vip. Paid extra for special delivery. Though nobody told me the package would be alive.”
His eyes were wide as he offered Mom the gadget to sign. Mom jotted down her scrawl and the UPS guy immediately was off like a rocket. “Thanks!” he yelled and disappeared from view.
They all gathered around the package, and Odelia discovered that the UPS guy had been right: the thing was buzzing.
“What did you order, Gran?” she asked.
“Nothing!” Gran insisted. “You told me to stop ordering stuff so I did.”
Dad bent down, a glass of red wine in his hand, and read from the label on the package. “It says your name right here, Vesta.”
“Must be a namesake. Lots of Vestas around.”
“Vesta Muffin? Living at this address?”
“Sure. UPS screwed up again. Figures.”
She seemed awfully nervous about a simple mistake, though, which told Odelia it wasn’t a mistake at all. The only reason she was mad at the UPS guy was that he’d shown up now, when everyone was there, and not a couple of hours earlier, when she could have intercepted the package.
“Well, I guess we better see what’s inside,” said Uncle Alec, and started removing the packaging. And that’s when something came buzzing from inside the box and attached itself to his nose. He swatted it away, and Odelia got a good look at the culprit. It was a bee!
“Gran,” she demanded. “Tell me you didn’t order a bunch of bees!”