“The thing is that I’m not convinced it was murder, Rose. It could have been an accident. Jared trying to lift a weight that was too great for him, and being crushed to death.”
“It was murder!” Rose said, and shoved her chair back and got up. “I’m going home,” she announced, and grabbed her backpack from the floor. “You never believe me!”
“No, I want to believe you, Rose,” Odelia said. “But the evidence just isn’t there.” Just then, Odelia’s phone belted out its tune again, and she quickly picked up with a curt, “Yes, Chase?” She listened for a moment, then her eyes slid up Rose’s face.
“What is it?” asked the girl, looking tense.
“All right,” she said. “I’ll tell her.”
“Tell me what?”
Odelia disconnected and said, “You were right, Rose. It was murder.”
“See? I told you!”
“The weightlifting machine was sabotaged. When Jared unhooked the safety, the cable stabilizing the weight snapped and the entire thing came crashing down on him.”
“Oh, my God,” said Rose, bringing a distraught hand to her face.
“They found a pair of wire cutters on the floor near the machine. They’re dusting them for prints right now.” She hesitated. “They want you to come down to the police station, Rose. They want to take your fingerprints.”
“My fingerprints! But why?”
“Just a routine thing,” Odelia assured the girl. “So they can eliminate you from their inquiries.”
“They don’t think… I did it?”
“No, of course not. They just want to make sure the prints on the wire cutters aren’t yours. You didn’t touch anything while you were there, right?”
“No, I didn’t,” said Rose. “I didn’t touch a thing. I saw Jared lying there, dead, and the first thing I did was call you.”
“Good. You did good, Rose.” She placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Everything will be just fine. You’ll see.”
“Murder,” said Rose. “Which means the killer must have known Jared wanted to talk to me.” She shivered. “Which means he might have still been there—watching me.”
They were both silent for a moment, then the doorbell rang and Odelia crossed the living room to let the officer in.
“So it was murder,” I said quietly.
“Yeah,” said Harriet, “and I think we all know who did it, don’t we?”
And she directed a hard look at Rose Wimmer.
Chapter 25
“Do you think Mr. Knight did it, Max?” asked Dooley as we rode in Odelia’s car to the police station. Rose was quiet in the passenger seat, looking subdued and a little scared, and Dooley and I were in the back. Harriet and Brutus had decided to stay home. Gran had arrived and had lured them next door with the prospect of some delicious snacks to be had.
“I don’t know, Dooley,” I said. “Why would a banker kill one of his clients? Especially a client who’s in the process of borrowing a great deal of money so he can launch a chain of fitness clubs? It’s not exactly a sound business tactic. I’m sure business schools everywhere advise against that type of practice.”
“He probably killed Rose’s dad and somehow Jared Zmuda found out and threatened to tell Rose,” said my friend.
The same thought had occurred to me. I still found it hard to credit that the man would go to such lengths. And besides, how did Jared Zmuda know the identity of the killer? What was his involvement? It all made little sense to me, I must admit.
We’d arrived at the police station and Odelia took Rose inside to be fingerprinted.
“I feel like a criminal,” said the girl.
“It’s just routine,” Odelia assured her. “Nobody is accusing you of anything, Rose.”
“Still, I feel as if they are,” she said.
While Rose was being processed, Dooley and I sat in the waiting area out in front of the police station. And that’s why we were soon treated to a rare and fascinating sight: a small procession of police officers arriving, Uncle Alec and Chase Kingsley at the head of the throng, and then proceeding into the precinct, talking animatedly as they did, and all wearing very grave expressions on their faces.
“I think it’s time to go spying again, Dooley,” I announced, and hopped down from the chair I’d been occupying.
“Spying?” he asked. “Where?”
“I have a feeling Uncle Alec discovered something, and he’s going to spill the beans in his office, so that’s where you and I are going to be.”
We hurried out of the building, and soon found ourselves hopping onto the windowsill outside the police chief’s office, putting our inconspicuous ears to the pane. Unfortunately the window was double-paned. But lucky for us cats have superior hearing, so we could still hear everything that was being said. And sure enough, Chase and Uncle Alec were in conference inside, and clearly had important information to share.
“Same guy?” asked Uncle Alec, seated behind his desk and tapping the desk blotter with his stubby fingertips.
“Same guy,” Chase confirmed.
“What guy?” asked Dooley next to me.
“Shh,” I said quietly.
“So it was Jared Zmuda who sent those pictures of his willy to Rose?”
“Yep.”
“Better go and see if those prints have been processed yet,” the Chief grunted. “If it was her we’ve got a clear motive.”
Chase hurried out of the office and I shared a worried look with my friend.
“They think it was Rose,” I said.
“That’s not good.”
“Not good at all.”
“So it was Mr. Zmuda who sent the picture of that sausage?”
“Looks like.”
“But I thought his name was Jared and not Dick?”
“He was probably using a fake name,” I said after a pause.
“And who’s this Willy they’re talking about?”
“Another alias,” I said after another short pause.
“Jared, Dick and Willy. The guy sure gets around,” said Dooley, shaking his head.
But before we could thresh this thing out some more, our attention was attracted by developments inside the office. Chase had returned, and was looking both excited and grim-faced.
“It’s her,” he announced in grave tones.
“Son of a gun,” the Chief said, slapping his desk. “Better get a warrant for her arrest.” And before Chase could comply, he added, “And better add a warrant to search the house. Who knows what we’ll find there.”
Chase locked eyes with his superior officer. “You think she killed her dad, too?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she did. Remember the big fight she had with her dad about the boyfriend? Sounds like a grade-A motive for murder to me.”
“What do we tell Odelia?”
“Don’t tell her anything just yet. She seems to have grown fond of the girl.” But then Chase’s eyes swiveled to the window, followed by Chief Alec’s. “Scratch that,” the Chief grunted. “Looks like my niece’s spies are hard at work already.” He sighed. “Better get her in here. I’ll bring her up to speed. You take Miss Wimmer into custody and get busy on that house search.” Uncle Alec gave us a reproachful look. “Is there nothing in this town that you guys don’t know about?”
I just shrugged and gave him a sheepish look.
Moments later Odelia entered the office after a cursory knock on the door and said, “You wanted to talk to me?”
“Yeah, close the door and take a seat.”
Odelia did as she was told, and when she glanced over to where we were still eavesdropping to our hearts’ content, gave us a quick grin and a wave.
“Look, we’re going to have to arrest Rose,” said the Chief, not wasting time getting down to business.
“Arrest Rose! But why?”
“Her fingerprints were on the wire cutters found underneath that bench press machine. So she cut those wires and sent that four-hundred-pound stack of weights crashing down on Jared Zmuda’s throat the moment he activated the machine.”