“Well, then let’s get us some proof,” he said simply.
“All right. Let’s get us some proof,” I said with a smile.
Chapter 28
Odelia was in and out of the shower in a flash. Foregoing her usual morning coffee, instead she grabbed a bagel, sliced it and smeared it with cream cheese, stuffed it into her mouth and was off at a trot. Dan didn’t mind her arriving late but she’d hoped to arrive before Kimberly so she could discuss her new colleague’s stunt with the editor.
When she arrived at the office, though, Kimberly was already seated at her desk. The junior reporter greeted her with a chipper smile and a hearty, “Good morning, Odelia. Sleep well?”
Instead of returning the smile and greeting, Odelia walked straight on through to Dan’s office and closed the door. “We need to talk,” she said.
Dan, who must have been admiring more of his nephew’s deepfake videos for he was looking at his phone and chuckling softly before himself, took off his reading glasses and rubbed his eyes. “What is it?”
“The article about Rose Wimmer. Did you approve it?”
“What article? What are you talking about?”
“It’s on the website, Dan!”
“Is it?” When she practically shoved her phone in the man’s face, and after he’d put his glasses back on and peered at it for a moment, his face cleared. “Oh, now I remember. Great piece of writing, Odelia. Excellent stuff. Who would have thought the daughter did it, eh?”
She gritted her teeth, having to fight back the urge to hit her editor over the head with her phone. “I didn’t write this, Dan. Kimberley did.”
A look of confusion mantled the man’s features. “She did? Well, I’ll be damned.”
“This was my story, Dan. My case and my story. So why did Kimberly—”
“I wrote the story because you wouldn’t,” suddenly a voice spoke in Odelia’s ear. Her junior colleague had silently opened the door and walked in.
Odelia whirled around. “What are you talking about?”
“It was obvious to me that you were protecting Rose Wimmer, and when I heard what happened I decided to write the story you wouldn’t.” When Odelia just stared at her, Kimberly passed by Odelia, placed both hands on Dan’s desk and said, “I told you this would happen, Dan. I warned you. That’s what you get when a reporter starts taking on clients. Her priorities get scrambled, her allegiances blurred. Instead of writing a killer piece on this girl’s murderous tendencies she wasn’t going to write a single thing. Instead she’d probably have written a piece to defend the murderous wench.”
“You snuck behind my back!” said Odelia. “Talked to cops who had no business divulging this kind of information. Rose Wimmer may very well be innocent—or not—but it’s not up to us to give her a trial by media. She is still innocent until proven guilty, or didn’t they teach you that in college?”
But Kimberly stuck her chin in the air and faced off against Odelia. “I think you should decide once and for all if you’re a reporter or a private detective, Odelia. Because it’s obvious to me that you can’t be both. What do you think, Dan?”
“Yeah, what do you think, Dan!” said Odelia, who’d crossed her arms in front of her chest and had raised her voice.
The aged editor scratched his scalp with a pencil. “Ladies, ladies,” he said, trying to defuse the situation.
“Look, I can’t work like this,” said Odelia. “This is not the kind of behavior I expected from a colleague.”
“At least I’ve got my priorities straight,” said Kimberly. “The paper always comes first.”
“Oh, please,” said Odelia. “You have no idea what’s going on here—no idea at all.”
“I think you’re the one who’s floating around in space, completely untethered from reality,” her young colleague countered. “You still think Rose Wimmer is innocent, don’t you? Pretty little innocent Rose. Well let me break the news to you, Odelia. She’s not. Your little friend is a cold-blooded vicious killer who’s murdered twice now, and we owe it to the public to make sure that they know all about it.”
“Dan?” said Odelia. “Say something.”
“Um…” said Dan, clearly out of his depth.
“Oh, for crying out loud,” said Odelia, and said, “You know what? It’s obvious to me that you want my job. Well, you can have it.”
“No, but…” said Kimberly, frowning.
Odelia then turned to Dan. “I quit!”
“Wait, what?” said Dan, his eyes widening.
“Odelia, I didn’t mean to…” Kimberly began.
“Yes, you did,” said Odelia, and stalked out, then slammed the door—hard.
It was only when she’d stepped out of the office and was out on the street that she realized what she’d just done.
She’d quit her job!
Chapter 29
It took us a while to find Odelia but we finally found her in the park, sitting on a bench, and looking a little shell-shocked.
“What happened?” I asked. “We dropped by the office but you weren’t there. Dan looked like a bomb had just dropped on his head.”
“I quit,” she said. “I quit my job, you guys, and now I don’t know what to do.”
“But why?” I asked. “I thought you liked that job.”
“I do. But Kimberly stole my article, and then she accused me of neglecting my duties to the Gazette and instead going off gallivanting around town trying to save Rose, even though she’s obviously guilty. And Dan, instead of standing up for me, seemed to take Kimberley’s side, so I told him I quit.”
“Kimberly stole your scoop?”
“She did. She knew I was working on that article on Dino Wimmer’s death and she purposely went into the precinct to interview officers connected to the case and wrote the story. And Dan hadn’t even noticed! Or seemed to care,” she added with a touch of bitterness.
“I’m sure that if you just talk things through with Dan…”
“I’m never speaking to that man again,” she said. “He’s chosen his side. He’s got Kimberly now. He doesn’t need me anymore.”
I smiled. She looked so much like a kicked puppy I would have stroked her head if I’d been a little taller.
“So who’s going to pay the bills from now on?” asked Dooley.
“I’ll pay the bills,” said Odelia. “I’ll find another job.” She sighed. “Though frankly I’m not sure what job that would be. The Gazette is the only paper in town, and I don’t feel like moving away from Hampton Cove.”
“You can always become a cop,” Dooley suggested. “Chase is a cop, and your uncle is a cop, so I’m sure they’ll give you a job if you ask nicely.”
“It’s not that simple, Dooley. To be a cop you have to pass through police academy, and even then it’s not guaranteed I’d be able to get a job in town. As far as I know they’ve got a full roster here and aren’t looking for new recruits.”
“You could be a private detective,” he suggested next. “You’re very good at that, and I’m sure plenty of people would love to hire you. And maybe they’ll even pay you.”
“Well, I don’t know…”
“Look, I’ve got something important to tell you,” I said, deciding that the topic of Odelia’s recent unemployment was perhaps best put on the back burner for now. There were more important and especially more urgent matters to take into consideration right now. “I think I may have figured out who killed Dino Wimmer,” I said. “It came to me in a flash last night. And I think I just might be right about this.”
Odelia stared at me in surprise. “You know who killed Dino Wimmer?”
“Well, I have a theory. It probably needs testing, though.”
“Tell me all about it,” she said, and so I did.
When I’d finished laying it all out to her, she was nodding thoughtfully. “I see what you mean about testing your theory, Max. And I think I know just how to go about that. The only problem is that it would require the assistance of a man I’ve just antagonized.”