ôDid you recognize him as Mr. Karat?ö
Merle nodded.ôIÆd never met Cotton in person, but IÆve seen his picture plenty. It was him, all right. So I called the cops, and ten minutes later they were all over the place.ö
ôWere you here last night, Merle?ö asked Odelia.
ôI was, until about eight. Then I went home.ö
ôAnd where is home for you?ö
ôRight next door. The big farmhouse. CanÆt miss it when you drive up from the direction of town. I live there with Mrs. Poltorak and our four little ones.ö
ôFour kids!ö Dooley cried. ôDid you hear that, Max? That man has four kids!ö
ôMust be a lively household,ö I commented. ôThough itÆs a big farmhouse, so plenty of space.ö
ôWhat if Odelia and Chase have four kids, Max! ItÆs going to get very crowded!ö
ôI very much doubt whether theyÆll have four,ö I said. ôBesides, if they do, theyÆll simply have to move, wonÆt they? The house will be too small.ö
ôBut I donÆt want to move, Max! I like where we live!ö
ôLetÆs not worry about that now, shall we? Odelia is having one baby. One.ö
ôWhat if itÆs quadruplets? Or quintuplets? Or sextuplets!ö
ôI very much doubt that Odelia is having more than one. We would have noticed.ö
He stared at Odelia very hard.ôI see it now, Max.ö
ôSee what?ö
ôThe bump!ö
And he was right. Odelia was starting to show, which wasnÆt unusual, since she had been pregnant for a couple of weeks now.
ôIÆll bet itÆs septuplets or even octuplets,ö Dooley said morosely. ôAnd no amount of dead mice or birds will make Odelia take any notice of me once those eight babies arrive.ö
ôOh, Dooley,ö I sighed. ôLetÆs just focus on the case for now, shall we?ö
ôSo what do you do here, exactly, Mr. Poltorak?ö asked Chase.
ôWe raise ducks for slaughter,ö said Merle.
ôAnd produce foie gras, right?ö asked Odelia.
ôBest foie gras in the county. Maybe even the country.ö
ôAre you the sole producer of foie gras for the Karat Group?ö
ôThatÆs right. WeÆve always produced foie gras, though not exclusively for Karat. That changed about ten years ago. Since then weÆve only worked for the Karats. First Diedrich, and now Cotton. Though I have to admit that Diedrich was a much better boss than Cotton. Cotton is a little too wild for my taste, if you know what I mean.ö
ôWith his predilection for supermodels, you mean?ö asked Chase.
ôYeah, that and his fondness for fast cars. One of these days heÆs going to get himself killed, I always said, and now it looks as if someone else has done him in.ö
ôDo you have some kind of security in place at the farm?ö
ôNot really. Who wants to steal ducks? ItÆs not exactly gold or diamonds.ö
ôDo you have any idea who might have done this to him?ö asked Odelia.
ôMust be those animal rights nutters,ö said Merle. ôThey picketed outside the farm only last week, even threw a bucket of paint on my truck. And they threw a bucket of paint on Cotton yesterday at Town Hall. Though what I canÆt figure is what he was doing here in the middle of the night. HeÆs never set foot on the farm before.ö
ôWhat do you think will happen now?ö
ôI have no idea. Looks like the Karats ran out of people to run the business.ö
ôDoesnÆt Cotton have a brother?ö
ôHe does, but heÆs not interested in running the company. Or at least thatÆs what IÆve heard.ö He held up his hands. ôHonestly I donÆt care. IÆm in charge of this here duck farm, thatÆs all. What the Karats wonÆt do is take away their business. We make them way too much money. Karat Foie Gras is pure gold. And CottonÆs death wonÆt change that.ö
Chapter 11
ôI donÆt understand, Max,ö said Dooley. ôWhat did Odelia mean when she asked if Cotton had a brother? Cotton isnÆt dead. Of course heÆll return now and take over from poor Mr. Blandine again.ö
ôItÆs not that simple,ö I said. ôThe whole point for Eric Blandine to step in was to whisk Cotton out of the limelight for a while, until this whole hubbub about his lurid ways had died down. The company stock took a big hit with that disastrous shareholdersÆ meeting, and if it came out that he was being treated for sex addiction and that his replacement was murdered in his absence, it would probably hit the stock even harder, and send it plummeting into the basement, trading at cents on the dollar. It might spell the end.ö
ôI donÆt think so. I think people will be so happy that Cotton didnÆt die, the stock will go up.ö
But since it wasnÆt up to us to figure out the right strategy to handle this murder from a business perspective, I didnÆt want to spend valuable time thinking up possible strategies. That was for the Karat GroupÆs PR department and the company principals.
In the meantime, we were heading to the home of Eric BlandineÆs wife to give her the bad news. Never a pleasant task, but nevertheless one that has to be done.
Odelia had been on the phone and now disconnected.ôLooks like Blandine didnÆt get contacted through his phone,ö she said. ôThe tech department didnÆt find any messages setting up last nightÆs meeting, and no phone calls either.ö
ôEmail, maybe?ö
ôNo email either, as far as they can tell. TheyÆre still looking at his laptop, though, so maybe theyÆll have better luck there.ö
ôHe was using his own mobile, not CottonÆs?ö
ôNo, he still had his own mobile. All calls for Cotton were forwarded to Tobias Pushman for the time being, who was acting like a shield.ö She absentmindedly chewed her fingernail. ôSo how did they get in touch with Blandine? And how did they manage to get him out there in the middle of the night?ö
ôOdelia?ö asked Dooley, scooting forward a little on the backseat.
ôMh?ö
ôIf youÆre having octuplets you would tell us, right?ö
Odelia laughed at this.ôOctuplets! I hope not!ö
Chase glanced over to his wife.ôWhoÆs having octuplets?ö
ôMe! According to Dooley, at least.ö
ôImagine having eight,ö Chase grunted, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter.
Odelia darted an amused look at her hubby.ôOh, I donÆt know. I think it would be a lot of fun. A house filled with joy and laughter and all that.ö
ôBut babeùeight!ö Chase cried, going white around the nostrils.
ôSo? I was an only child, and so were you, so donÆt tell me you never thought of having a little brother or sister when you were growing up?ö
ôI did, but not eight!ö
ôI think itÆll be fun.ö
ôFun!ö
ôOh, relax, sourpuss! IÆm not having eight babies.ö
Chase blew out a sigh of intense relief.ôOh, phew.ö
ôBut IÆm not ruling out septuplets.ö
ôSeptuplets!ö Chase and Dooley cried out in unison. ôNo way!ö
ôOkay, fine! How about just the one then?ö
ôOne I can handle,ö said Dooley. ôThough only barely.ö
ôOne is fine,ö Chase grunted. ôOr even two or three.ö
ôWell, itÆs just the one,ö said Odelia, sinking lower in her seat and putting her feet up on the dash.
ôBabe, donÆt do that,ö said Chase. ôAnd make sure that seatbeltÆs securely fastened.ö
ôOkay, grandma,ö said Odelia with a grin, but she removed her feet from the dash and sat up straighter. ôThough you can drive the legal limit, you know.ö
She was right. For some reason we were crawling along the road, with at least a dozen cars behind us, a few drivers leaning on their horns.
ôItÆs important to be safe,ö Chase pointed out. ôRoad safety is no laughing matter.ö
ôI know, babe,ö said Odelia, rubbing the copÆs arm affectionately. ôBut at this rate weÆll arrive there next week. And we still have lots of people to see, you know. Or donÆt you want us to nab this nasty killer?ö
ôOh, all right,ö said Chase, and sped up a smidgenùbut only a smidgen.
I glanced over and saw that Dooley was beaming for some reason.ôWhy are you so happy all of a sudden?ö I asked.