“Flint, please,” said Flint warmly.
“There’s one other thing we need to discuss with you,” said Odelia.
“Yes, of course. Anything to help you find Dave’s killer.”
“And Tollie’s kidnapper,” Julio added. “What a dreadful, dreadful business. You think this could be thieves? You know there’s a huge market for exotic animals. They’re probably worth a lot of money. So maybe they came for Tollie and bumped into Dave?”
“We’re certainly looking into that, sir,” said Chase.
“So it would appear that Dave recently settled on a successor to take over for him,” Odelia began.
“He did?” said Flint. “That’s news to me.”
“He didn’t mention that,” said Julio.
“No, he never mentioned anything about that.”
“Well, he made all the legal arrangements. Drew up a new will.”
“Who’s the successor?” asked Flint, looking as surprised as Heiko Palace—or indeed as Veronica must have when she found out.
“Jayme Ziccardi. She’s a student at the Gardner Institute of Arts, the art school Dave founded.”
“And sponsored. Yeah, I know all about the school. It was part of his legacy, and one he was particularly proud of.”
“He never mentioned any Jayme to us, did he, sweetie?” said Julio.
“No, he certainly didn’t. Are you sure about this?” asked Flint.
“Yes,” said Chase. “Of course Dave didn’t think he would die so soon after drawing up a new will. I’m sure he hoped to live for quite a while longer, and he was planning to start training Jayme so she could take over from him when the time was right. He had settled a lump sum on Jayme that she’d receive when she turned eighteen, and according to the lawyer who worked with him in drawing up this will, he was going to introduce her to the studio at some point when he felt she was ready, and then gradually allow her to get acquainted with his work and have her work her way up.”
“The idea was,” said Odelia, “for Jayme to master all the different aspects of the work. So that she’d become an all-rounder, and could take over Tollie when Dave retired.”
Julio and Flint shared a look of bewilderment.
“But how come he never discussed this with us?” asked Flint.
“I was hoping you could tell us,” said Chase.
Flint shook his head.“I won’t lie to you, detective. I always thought I was going to be Dave’s successor. I’m the lead artist at the studio. I’ve been working there my whole life, fresh out of art school fifteen years ago.”
“Flintis Tollie the Turtle, detective,” said Julio. “He does it all. He’s been writing the scripts, creating the drawings, he even does part of the inking from time to time, and he’s spent plenty of time coloring, too. He’s mastered the entire process from start to finish, and we always thought—well,you always thought Dave was grooming you to take over.”
“I think we probably should also mention that Jayme Ziccardi has been arrested,” said Chase, “on suspicion of Dave’s murder.”
“She killed Dave?” asked Flint.
“Well, she’s our main suspect right now.”
“But you don’t think she did it?”
“We’re trying to cover all the bases.”
“This is news to us, isn’t it, sweetheart?” said Julio, grasping his husband’s hand and pressing it tightly.
“So in light of what we just told you, we wanted to ask you if you could think of anyone who would want to cause Dave harm,” said Odelia.
Flint frowned as he chewed on this question.“There’s Veronica’s son, of course,” he said. “Dave and Danny never got along.”
“Oh, Danny is an absolute terror,” said Julio.
“He is a handful. Though I don’t know if he’s capable of murder.”
“I’ll say he is. Danny is the kind of kid who likes to squash ants, detective. And torture cats.” He glanced in our direction when he said this, and both Dooley and I gulped.
“He tortures cats?” asked Odelia, the frown on her face showing she didn’t approve of this particular pastime.
“Well, nothing has ever been proven,” said Flint.
“The number of cats that have gone missing in that kid’s neighborhood is staggering,” said Julio. “Staggering!” he added when Flint opened his mouth to protest.
“Like I said,” said Flint, obviously not wanting to be served with another summons, this time for defamation of character, “nothing has ever been proven.”
“It’s a well-known fact that all serial killers start out by squashing ants and killing pets, detective,” said Julio. “And so if the rumors are true, Danny boy is the prime suspect in my book.”
“I’m not sure if…” Flint began.
“Well, and I am. I’ve never trusted that kid. Not since he called me a very nasty slur when you had your office Christmas party last year.”
“What slur?” asked Chase, who was jotting all this down.
“Never mind what slur,” said Julio, who was getting a little emotional and pressing a hand to his face. “Just take it from me that that boy is evil. Evil!”
“All right,” said Chase. “We’ll certainly look into that. Thank you, Mr. Prokop.”
“Julio, please, detective—may I call you Chase?”
“Um…”
“Lovely name, by the way, Chase. Very butch.”
“Thanks… Julio.”
“Do you work out? You look like you work out.”
“Julio, not now,” said Flint.
“What did I say?”
“Anything else you’d like to tell us?” asked Odelia.
Julio thought for a moment, while Flint frowned before himself, then both men shook their heads.“Nothing else…Chase,” said Julio softly, as he studied Chase from under lowered lashes.
“So what’s going to happen now?” asked Flint. “I mean, if this Jayme inherited the studio, but she’s in jail for murder, where does that leave us? Legally, I mean?”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to discuss that with an attorney,” said Chase as he rose to his feet.
“Julio seems to like Chase a lot, Max,” said Dooley.
“Yeah, looks like,” I said.
“Do you think he’s in love with Chase?”
“No, I don’t think he’s in love with Chase, Dooley. He’s just admiring him. And you have to admit there’s a lot to admire about Chase.”
“Oh, absolutely. Chase is my personal hero, Max.”
“Mine, too.”
And for a moment Dooley and I gazed reverently at Chase, much the same way Julio was now gazing at the burly cop. I should probably mention that Chase has saved our lives on numerous occasion, and personally I think he’s the best thing that ever happened to this family. If Danny Tomon squashed ants and tortured cats, I think it’s safe to say that Chase probably healed ants and saved cats when he was a little boy. The man is a hero.
But then it was time to leave, and Julio and Flint bade us farewell for now, after impressing it upon Chase and Odelia to keep them informed.
And as we filed into the car and took off, the couple waved us goodbye from the door.
“Two very nice men,” said Dooley. “I like them both.”
“Yeah, me, too,” I said.
“Though Flint didn’t seem too happy that Jayme is the one who’ll take over the studio.”
“I think it’s hard to take over a studio when you’re in jail, Dooley.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true. All the more reason to prove she’s innocent, so she can go do what Dave thought she should do.”
“I think you’ll find that it’s hard to decide for another person what their life’s work should be. And I think Dave made a big mistake when he selected Jayme as his successor.”
“And why is that?”
“He should have discussed this with her before he made things official.”
“Maybe that’s why she killed him? Because he told her she should take over Tollie the Turtle and she said she didn’t want to, and they fought and she killed him with an ax?”
Somehow I didn’t see the soft-spoken and kind-hearted young woman we’d met take an ax to her benefactor’s head. Then again, people will always surprise you—both in favorable and less favorable ways.