“But why? Rose is no killer.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that if I were you. It was Zmuda who sent her those pictures of his willy, and presumably it wasn’t the first time he’d done something like that.”
“Jared sent those pictures?”
Uncle Alec nodded. “I know it’s a thin excuse for a motive but those fingerprints put her at the scene, and are as good as an admission of guilt, Odelia.”
“But what about that message?”
“What message?”
“The one telling her to come to the club. Did you find out who sent that message?”
“I did. It was sent from Jared’s phone. And I’m gonna go out on a limb here and posit that she sent that message to herself, using the victim’s phone.”
“But why?”
“To give her an excuse to be at the scene of the crime, of course.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. If she wanted to kill Jared she could have easily snuck out of the club after he died. She didn’t have to bother with a message or calling me.”
The Chief threw up his hands. “Look, it’s early days, and there’s a lot we don’t know yet, but I’m not taking any chances, and with the evidence we have now, I’m taking my responsibility and having her arrested. We’ll search her room, dig some more into her phone, talk to the boyfriend, and hopefully that will give us a better picture of what we’re dealing with. But I can tell you right now that I have a good feeling about Rose as a suspect. And I think we’ll find that she not only killed Jared Zmuda but her dad, too.”
But Odelia was shaking her head. “You’re making a mistake. Rose isn’t a killer.”
“Well, we’ll see about that,” said the Chief, a stubborn expression stealing over his face. “And now you better get those cats out of my face before I arrest them, too.”
“Looks like we’ve worn out our welcome,” I told Dooley, and before Uncle Alec could carry out his threat, we decided to skedaddle.
“Do you think Rose is guilty, Max?” asked Dooley as we made our way back to Odelia’s car.
“I don’t know, Dooley. But things are not looking good for her, that’s for sure.”
And just as we passed the front door of the precinct, I saw that Odelia’s colleague Kimberly was walking in. She had a pep in her step and looked like a reporter on a mission.
Chapter 26
Once we were back at the house it’s safe to say that Odelia’s mood wasn’t good. She kept checking her phone, hoping for an update from Chase or her uncle Alec, and when none seemed forthcoming, plunked down on the couch and sat chewing her nails and watching CNN with the sound off—which in my mind doesn’t really have the same effect. It’s odd watching all these people talking and having no idea what they’re saying.
Dooley and I tried to console her by pointing out that Uncle Alec was great at what he did and so was Chase, and that if Rose indeed was innocent they would prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.
“Yeah, but what if she’s guilty? Then I’ve taken on a client who not only is a double murderer but tricked me into antagonizing a bunch of innocent people.”
“Well, only two innocent people,” I pointed out. “The banker guy and the real estate mogul. And judging from Mr. Kemp’s performance earlier he doesn’t seem like a nice person anyway.”
“No, but you can see now where he was coming from. Rumors like that could conceivably cause a lot of trouble for his business. And all because a teenager managed to convince me he might be guilty of murder.”
“He still might be,” I said.
“Oh, Max,” she said with a groan, and buried her head in her hands.
“What’s going on here?” asked Gran as she walked in through the sliding glass door, Harriet and Brutus right on her heels. Our fellow cats managed to look both well-fed and complacent, which told me that they’d been snacking on some fine food supplied by Gran while we were looking out for our human’s client’s interests.
“Rose has been arrested on suspicion of murder,” Odelia said.
“Murder? What murder? Her dad?”
“No. Well, yes.”
“Make up your mind. Is it yes or no?”
“There’s been a second murder—or a first one, if Dino’s death was a suicide.”
“A second murder?”
“Or a first one.”
“You’re making me really confused here, Odelia!”
“Jared Zmuda was murdered. He’s the—”
“Gym guy. Yeah, I know who Jared Zmuda is. And Rose killed him?”
“Maybe. Uncle Alec seems to think so. Her fingerprints were found on the murder weapon—which wasn’t actually the murder weapon.”
“Odelia!”
“Okay, so her prints were found on wire cutters that were used to sabotage the weightlifting machine that killed him.”
“He was killed with a weightlifting machine?”
“A bench press machine. He was crushed to death by a weight that smashed down on him when he tried to lift it.”
“Ouch. Sounds painful.” Gran wagged a finger in her granddaughter’s face. “See? I told you those fitness clubs are death traps.”
“You never told me that.”
“I’m telling you now. So what happens next?”
“We wait for your son and my boyfriend to figure out what happened.”
Gran made a scoffing noise. “Then you’re gonna have to wait a long time.” Clearly she didn’t have a high opinion of her son’s detecting skills. She took a seat next to Odelia. “What are you watching this crap for?”
Promptly she used the remote to switch to the Discovery Channel. She turned up the sound. A bird was tweeting, and a soothing voice spoke, “The male Scarlet Macaw boasts a wonderfully colorful plumage. It is designed to attract the female of the species…”
“I like this show,” said Dooley, perking up at the sound of the narrator, who seemed intent on lulling his audience to sleep. Which maybe was a good thing. Odelia at least stopped worrying her fingernails and her shoulders, which she’d almost pulled up to her ears, relaxed a little.
“My main suspect is dead,” Dooley told Gran.
“Oh? And who was your main suspect?” she asked with a smile.
“A man named Dick. Or Willy. But actually his name was Jared. And he liked to send people pictures of his sausage.”
Gran burst into laughter, and even Odelia was grinning from ear to ear.
“What’s so funny?” asked Dooley.
“Nothing, buddy,” said Gran, patting my friend on the head.
“I can’t believe you watch this stuff,” Harriet said, referring to the nature show, where the vividly-colored bird had now flown to a different tree to continue his singing. “It’s so boring,” she complained.
“It’s interesting,” Gran said. “You learn something about life. A damn sight better than those terrible reality shows you like to watch.”
“At least those reality shows are real,” Harriet countered.
“Yeah, right,” said Gran.
“I like it,” Brutus announced. “I like to watch birds. It relaxes me.”
“It is relaxing,” said Gran. “And great for your blood pressure. Better than pills.”
“What’s better than pills?” asked Tex as he came walking in the same way Gran had done. He was accompanied by Marge.
“The Discovery Channel,” said Gran. “Half an hour of this stuff and my blood pressure is almost back to normal.”
“Is it true what they’re saying?” asked Marge, darting a worried look at her daughter.
“What are they saying, Mom?” asked Odelia.
“That Rose Wimmer has been arrested for murder? Apparently she killed both her dad and Jared Zmuda.”
Odelia stared at her mom. “Who told you that?”
“Nobody. It’s on the website.”
“What website?”
“The Gazette. I assumed you wrote it?”