“Yes, let’s talk about that,” said Chase. “You said something about your lawyer promising you something? What’s that all about?”
“Oh, um…” He looked sheepish now. “I thought that’s why you guys were here. I had too much to drink and, well, I kinda passed out on the beach.”
“You passed out on the beach?” Chase asked, jotting down a note.
“Yes, that’s right. Right after I crashed Bill and Hillary’s party.”
“Bill and Hillary… as in Clinton?” asked Odelia, surprised.
Konrad heaved a deep sigh and settled back on the settee. “Not my finest hour, I must confess. You see, I’d just gotten the news about my show being canceled, and I wasn’t in the best of moods. But instead of staying in my room, like I probably should have, I decided to go out and party. A buddy of mine has a yacht in one of the marinas in East Hampton, so I dropped by for a drink. Our company moved to the beach and we polished off a few bottles of bubbly.” He paused, rubbing the back of his neck.
“And then?” Chase prompted.
“And then things got kinda vague. I remember sitting by a campfire listening to some dude playing the guitar. Then some of the girls wanted to go skinny-dipping and asked me if I was game. And I guess I was, cause next thing I remember I woke up in a prison cell and some cop accused me of crashing Bill’s birthday party and making a nuisance of myself.” He shrugged. “What happened between the skinny-dipping and the Clintons I don’t know.”
“And this all happened the night Niklaus Skad was killed?” Odelia asked.
“Yeah, you can check with East Hampton police. I was in jail when Niklaus was killed. First thing I heard about it was when my lawyer came to bail me out in the morning.”
“I take it you and Mr. Skad didn’t get along?” Chase asked.
“No, we most definitely didn’t. That guy stole my idea. I was going to do a show called Kitchen Calamities. This was months before he pitched Kitchen Disasters to the networks. When I heard about it, I confronted him. He just laughed in my face. Said I shouldn’t have blabbed about the concept to everyone I knew.” He frowned. “Bastard didn’t even deny stealing my idea. And then of course it made him a fortune and a household name.”
It was obvious there was no love lost between the two celebrity chefs, but if his story about crashing the Clinton party was true, it would be easy to check. Which let him off the hook. “Do you have any idea who might have wanted to hurt Mr. Skad?” Odelia asked.
The man uttered a curt laugh. “Um, just about everybody? Niklaus wasn’t a well-liked man, Miss Poole. He made a lot of enemies over the years, and worst of all, he was proud of the fact. Always said that the number of enemies a man had showed how successful he was. He even bragged about how hated he was.”
Yep. That sounded about right.
“Thank you for your time, Mr. Daines,” Chase finally said, after checking a few more things. “You’ve been most helpful.”
The chef stood and shook Chase’s hand. “No, I’m afraid I haven’t. Look, I know you have to find the killer—it’s your duty, after all—but let me tell you that most people you will talk to will tell you the same thing: they’re all happy Niklaus was killed. That man was evil, Detective. Pure evil.”
When they stepped from the room, Chase heaved a deep sigh. “So I guess that’s it then. Another suspect down. We don’t have any left.”
“Poor man. First Skad stole his million-dollar idea for a show, and then he went and got his own show canceled. He must have hated him so much.”
“Yeah, he’s the best suspect I’ve talked to so far. Physically he’s also perfect. He could easily have shoved Skad into that oven. And he was in town the night of the murder.”
“Pity he’s got an ironclad alibi.”
“Rock solid,” Chase agreed.
“So where does that leave us?”
“We’re still waiting on the final report from the coroner, but barring any surprises we’re pretty much out of moves here. I honestly don’t know who else could have done it.”
“You talked to the rest of the staff?”
“All of them. They all alibied out.”
“And no witnesses have come forward?”
“None. Which is weird, as someone must have seen something.”
They descended the stairs, and Odelia gave the interview some more thought. Chase was right. Konrad was the perfect suspect. And he was innocent.
“Looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you, Detective Kingsley.”
He gave her a grimace. “So now suddenly it’s my investigation again, huh?”
“You are the detective. I’m just a consultant.”
He shook his head. “Round about now we could use some of those magic sleuthing powers your uncle claims you possess. Cause from where I’m standing things are starting to look pretty hopeless.”
She thought of Max and Dooley. If they didn’t come up with something soon, Chase was absolutely right. Things did look hopeless.
Chapter 21
All the way back from the hotel to the house, I thought about what Dooley had said about Brutus. How I’d stirred the beast and he would return to haunt us. And when we were about to turn the corner and enter the street where we lived, I saw Brutus coming toward us, and he looked completely deflated again.
I nudged Dooley. “Look who’s coming.”
“He doesn’t look like he’s going to bully us,” Dooley said.
“Very observant of you, Dooley. So maybe you were wrong, huh?”
“Let’s wait and see.”
“Hey, that’s my line!”
“And now it’s mine.”
We sat down on our haunches, and I started casually licking my tail. I didn’t want to give Brutus the impression we were waiting for him. Dooley, catching on, started licking his private parts.
“Dooley!” I hissed. “Do you have to do that now?”
“Huh? What?” he asked, looking up from his business.
“Just lick your paw or something. This is a public place.”
“I don’t have to lick my paw. I just licked my paw before. Now I want to lick my—”
“It’s not proper!”
He stared at me. “What’s gotten into you all of a sudden? We’re cats, Max. Not humans. We lick whatever we want to lick at any given time.”
“Still.”
“Still nothing. Living with Odelia has turned you into a human. Time to remember that you’re a cat.”
I guess he was right. It’s just that every time in the past I started licking my privates, Odelia started giggling. It’s made me self-conscious.
“I honestly think that if people would walk around in the nude more and lick their private parts in public, the world would be a much better place,” Dooley said.
I watched as Gran and Leo came walking down the street, kissing and hugging and generally all over each other’s business, and I said, “I disagree. There are certain human private parts I really don’t care seeing.”
Brutus had reached us and also plunked down on his haunches. “Hi,” he said in a tired voice. He sounded like the voice from the tomb on a bad day.
“So?” I asked. “How did it go?”
“It didn’t. I waltzed in there, just like you told me to, and told Diego what was what. I said Harriet was my girlfriend and he had no right to come barging into our lives and stealing her away from me.” He paused, and clamped his mouth shut, giving me a haunted look. Then he shivered visibly. “Brrrr.”
“And?” I asked. “Don’t keep us in suspense. What happened?”
“Harriet happened. She told me in no uncertain terms that she was no plaything, to be handed over from cat to cat and to be decided over by anyone but herself. She said she was her own cat and she was perfectly capable of deciding who she was going to date and I was an idiot for trying to control her.” He shivered, and it was obvious the episode had rankled him.