And so it was that I finally got to enjoy a well-deserved nap.
And I didn’t even get kicked or squashed in the process!
Chapter 16
That night, after Dooley and I had had a good long nap, and were feeling wonderfully refreshed, we passed out of the house through the pet flap and were soon walking along the sidewalk in the direction of the park so we could attend cat choir.
“Where are Harriet and Brutus, Max?” asked Dooley.
“Probably busy filming episode one-hundred-and-twelve of Harriet the Cat,” I said.
Frankly I hadn’t wanted to go look for the twosome, since I’d had enough for a while of Harriet’s diva mentality and Brutus’s posturing. And also, nobody likes to be kicked on a regular basis, even though Odie seems to have enjoyed being kicked for the past forty years or so. Then again, they are merely figments of Jim Davis’s imagination, whereas Dooley and I are actual living and breathing feline beings.
“Do you think Brutus will kick me again, Max?” Dooley asked now.
“Why, you don’t like being kicked?” I asked.
“No, I don’t,” he admitted.
“Well, nor do I like being squashed, Dooley.”
“I don’t think I’m cut out to be a stuntcat, Max.”
I smiled at my friend and gave him a pat on the back.
“So maybe we should tell Gran to find some other actors to play our parts, Max?”
“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I think it’s time we quit the comic business.”
“But won’t Harriet be awfully sad when we do?”
“Harriet will be fine. As long as she can play the lead, she doesn’t care who plays the bit parts.”
And so we walked on, and soon my mind returned to another problem that had been vexing me: the fate that had befallen Jayme Ziccardi, who was now spending her first night behind bars, and probably not liking it any more than Dooley liked being kicked.
“I really hope Jayme will be all right,” said Dooley now, indicating that his mind was working in tandem with mine.
“I’m sure she will. It’s not as if they actually torture people in prison, Dooley. They get fed and treated just fine.”
“Still, it’s probably not a lot of fun being in jail.”
“No, I’m sure it isn’t,” I agreed.
“So do you think she’s guilty, Max?”
“I don’t know, Dooley. But I sure hope she didn’t do it. Otherwise she won’t have a future, and that would be a very sad thing.”
“Also for Hester. She won’t like it when her only granddaughter has to spend the rest of her life behind bars.”
“Okay, so let’s go over the case again,” I suggested. “Who are our suspects so far?”
“Well, Jayme, of course, since she stood to inherit a lot of money, and couldn’t risk Dave changing his will before he died. Or maybe she had no patience. He was only seventy-two. He could have lived another twenty years.”
“She certainly has a good motive,” I agreed. “And her alibi isn’t great.”
“She should have taken Woofle to the beach with her, Max. Then we could have interviewed him and he could have confirmed her alibi.”
Dooley was right. Even though a labradoodle’s sworn testimony rarely stands up in court, we still would have had confirmation that the young woman was innocent.
“And then there’s Veronica,” I said. “Who must have been furious when she found out about the will and about Jayme.”
“But wouldn’t she have tried to make Dave change his will instead of murdering him?”
“If she’d been acting like a rational person, maybe. But what if she was so outside herself with anger that she didn’t think straight? Murdering a person with an ax feels like the act of a very angry person, Dooley.”
“Are they sure it was an ax?”
“According to the coroner it was, only they haven’t been able to find the murder weapon. It seems to have disappeared.”
“Along with Tollie the Turtle. Now why would the killer have taken Dave’s turtle?”
“Beats me,” I admitted.
“So Veronica and Jayme are the prime suspects?”
“Yes, and so is Danny, who seems to have a violent streak in him, and didn’t like his stepfather one bit. Also, Veronica says she was home last night, but nobody can verify her story. And Danny says he went for a drive, and no one can confirm his story, either.”
“And what about the people from the studio?” asked Dooley, working his way down the list.
“Well, Flint Kutysiak was home, being served with a summons for damaging that person’s car, and Heiko Palace was home with his wife and son. Though Chase will need to check that alibi, and also Flint’s alibi.”
“Chase has a lot of checking to do, doesn’t he, Max?”
“That’s the work of a detective, Dooley. Checking and double-checking if what people tell you is the truth or a lie.”
“But why would Heiko or Flint want to kill their boss?”
“To be able to follow in Dave’s footsteps?” I suggested. “Especially if they’d discovered that Dave had decided to start training Jayme as his successor, choosing her over one of the more established members of his studio.”
“That would be a very good motive,” Dooley agreed.
We’d arrived at the park, and I saw that our friends had already gathered in the playground, getting ready for another night of harmless musical entertainment. Shanille was there, of course, our choir director, and Kingman, and all of our friends.
Kingman looked a little sad, and when we approached him, he lamented,“Can I come and stay with you guys for a while?”
“Why? What’s happened?” I asked.
“Rudolph has kicked his rehearsals forThe Voice up a notch. He’s been singing all day. And since he can’t sing and his music isn’t actually music, it’s been hell for a sensitive cat like me.”
“Can’t Wilbur get him to pipe down?”
“Oh, Wilbur has been telling him to pipe down plenty, but Rudolph is not one of those people who is susceptible to suggestion.”
“So maybe he should go home and practice where he doesn’t bother anyone?”
“Like I told you this morning, Rudolph’s wife kicked him out, probably for the same reason. And besides, Rudolph is co-owner of the store, so even if Wilbur wanted to get rid of him, he can’t.”
“He’s co-owner of the General Store? I didn’t know that.”
“Few people do. You see, when Wilbur had the opportunity to take over the store, all those many years ago, the bank didn’t want to give him the money, on account of the fact that one of his previous businesses had gone belly up, and his credit was in the toilet. So he had to go knocking on his big brother’s door to come up with the money. At the time Rudolph was a successful businessman.”
“Rudolph was a successful businessman?” I asked, much surprised.
“What business was he in?” asked Dooley.
“He owned several casinos in Atlantic City. So he had plenty of black money.”
“Rudolph’s money was black?” asked Dooley. “But why? Did he paint it?”
“The money wasn’t actually black, Dooley,” Kingman explained patiently. “But it was income he hadn’t declared to the IRS, so he wouldn’t have to pay taxes on that income.”
“So Rudolph invested his black money in his brother’s business?” I said.
Kingman nodded.“All very illegal, of course, but the lady Wilbur bought the store from didn’t mind. In fact she was happy to receive part of the purchasing price under the table.”
“Under what table?” asked Dooley.
“So on paper Rudolph is Wilbur’s partner?” I asked.
“Yeah, he actually owns a bigger piece of the store than Wilbur himself.”
“And of the building where you and Wilbur live. So you’re living in Rudolph’s house.”
“Yeah, so whenever he comes to stay, he stays for as long as he wants, since it’s his place, and Wilbur is a guest, and so,” he added sadly, “am I.”
“Does Wilbur have to pay rent to his brother?”