Moments later, a shortish man came in. He had a sort of hangdog look on his face, and the bags under his eyes were a testament to a life spent hunched over the drawing board. I immediately recognized him as the man I’d seen in Waldo’s office, and so, presumably, did Odelia. The man himself didn’t seem to recognize us, though.
“Hi,” he said. “I’m Heiko. You’re the cops, I presume?”
“Yeah, we’re the cops,” said Chase, as they all exchanged handshakes. Then Heiko glanced down to me and Dooley and seemed to wonder if his eyes were deceiving him. “Um, do you also see two cats?” he asked.
“They’re my cats,” said Odelia. “I don’t like to leave them at home—they’re very attached to me.”
“Oh, okay,” said Heiko, then shrugged. “I guess I thought I was seeing things. I’ve been working nonstop since I walked in this morning, so if I act a little weird, I apologize.”
He took a seat at the table—not at the head of the table, I noticed, a place which presumably had been reserved for Dave himself—and sort of slumped, as if his skeletal musculature wasn’t capable of keeping his structure in an upright position.
“So what can I do for you, detectives?”
“Well, we’re looking into the death of Dave James, and were hoping you could answer a couple of questions.”
“Oh, absolutely,” said Heiko. He shook his head. “It’s a tragedy—a real tragedy. Dave was in here all the time, you know—very much the heart and soul of the studio, and now suddenly he’s gone.”
“It’s going to mean big changes,” said Chase.
“Yeah, I guess so. Though at this point I have no idea what those changes will look like.”
“Did Dave make arrangements in the event of his death?” asked Odelia.
“If he did, he didn’t discuss them with me,” said Heiko, whose droopy eyes gave him a sort of perpetually flummoxed look.
“But Flint is the head of the studio, right? Flint Kurt…”
“Kutysiak. Yeah, Flint is more or less the head of the studio, but his position was never formalized. It just sort of organically happened, you know.”
“Because he’s the lead artist?”
Heiko winced a little.“We don’t use that term around here, detective. The only lead artist was Dave. He always stressed how every member of the team was equally important to bring his vision to life.” He flashed us a quick smile. “Even though Flint might think he’s in charge, in actual fact Dave was very muchthe head of the studio.”
“Does the name Jayme Ziccardi mean anything to you?” asked Chase.
Heiko shook his head.“No, it doesn’t. Should it?”
“She’s the young woman Dave selected as his successor,” said the cop.
This caused Heiko to frown in confusion.“His successor? I don’t understand.”
“Dave set up a foundation a couple of years ago,” said Odelia.
“Yeah, the Baxter Foundation,” said Heiko, nodding.
“The idea was to give deserving young artists a boost,” said Chase, “but now it looks as if he also intended it to function as a kind of talent incubator—a way for him to find a successor. And one person whose work he thought was promising was Jayme Ziccardi. So much so that he made arrangements to transfer all of his assets and copyrights to her in the event of his death.”
“So… this Jayme person inherits the lot?”
“It would appear so,” said Odelia.
“But what about Dave’s wife?”
Chase shrugged. Cops are very adept at asking questions, but when it comes to answering them, mum’s the word, as Heiko was now learning.
“So let me get this straight,” said Heiko, as he made a concerted effort to sit up a little straighter. “Our new boss is a woman we’ve never even heard of?”
“It’s more complicated than that,” said Odelia, “since Jayme has been charged with Dave’s murder.”
“Christ,” said Heiko, slumping once more. “So you caught Dave’s killer already, huh?”
“We’re not fully convinced that she is the person we’re looking for in connection with Dave’s murder,” said Chase.
“So you think it might have been someone else and this Jayme was framed, is that it?”
“He is smarter than he looks, Max,” said Dooley.
“He certainly is,” I agreed with my friend.
“He does seem to have a problem with gravity, though.”
“A lot of humans do.” Gravity is tough on humans. It’s a lot less hard on cats, though, since we’re smaller, which might be why we’re so much more agile in our movements.
“Look, if you really want my opinion,” said the artist, “I think you should look no further than the person who had the most to gain by Dave’s death.”
“And who would that person be?” asked Chase.
Heiko quickly glanced to the door, then lowered his voice.“You didn’t hear this from me, but Dave never talked about what would happen when he was gone, okay? I guess he was superstitious that way. Or maybe he thought he’d live forever, just like his turtle. But I know for a fact that Flint saw himself as the man who would lead Tollie into the future and beyond. Only he had the feeling that Dave was hanging on too tight, and wasn’t willing to let go. Flint has been ready to take over for a long time. First he thought Dave would retire when he turned sixty-five, then when he turned seventy. But the guy didn’t show signs of slowing down—onthe contrary. He worked as hard as ever. And it looked to me as if he was prepared to go on until he dropped dead. And Flint isn’t getting any younger. The guy is ambitious, and he wants to be in charge, and he increasingly felt that Dave was getting in the way of his ambitions.” He leaned back, feeling he’d said enough.
“So what are you saying?” asked Chase, who clearly felt the artist hadn’t said enough.
“I mean, Flint is like that English guy, you know—that prince.”
“What prince?”
“You know. Prince Charles. He’s been wanting to be King for so long and he just keeps getting older and his mom just keeps on going. Soon he’ll be dead, since women always live longer, and she’ll still be on the throne. That pretty much describes Flint’s position.”
“So Flint was getting impatient, is that what you’re saying?”
Heiko shrugged.“He once told me that if Dave didn’t hand him the keys to the kingdom soon, he’d have to go and pursue other options.”
“Other options? What did he mean by that?”
Heiko gave Chase a significant look.“If a man won’t take a step back, the only solution is to make him.”
“So you think Flint killed Dave?”
“I didn’t say that. You told me that this Jayme person killed Dave. And she probably had her reasons. But if she didn’t do it, I think Flint is as good a candidate as any, is all I’m saying.” Then a look of concern came over him. “You’re not recording this, are you?”
“No, we’re not, Mr. Palace,” Odelia assured him.
“Cause if Flint takes over, he’ll be the boss, and I wouldn’t want him to think I called him a killer.”
“We won’t tell him.”
Heiko blew out a sigh of relief.
“So this is a routine question, Mr. Palace,” said Odelia. “But where were you last night between six and eight?”
“Is that when Dave was killed?”
Odelia nodded.
“I was home with my wife and kid. We were having dinner.”
“Now I have one final but very important question for you,” said Chase.
Heiko’s face took on a look of concern. “What is it?”
“Will there be a Tollie the Turtle cartoon in tomorrow’s paper?”
The man’s smile was something to behold. “Oh, yes, detective. And it’s going to be a beaut. I may not like Flint very much, and think he’s way too ambitious, but you gotta admire the man’s artistry. That guy can draw, and he’s really outdone himself this time.”
“Who wrote the comic?” asked Odelia.
“Flint did.”
“He wrote and drew tomorrow’s comic?”