Chapter 26
Konrad Daines had been charged with the murder of his celebrity chef rival and arrested. A lawyer was on his way over, though it was obvious there wasn’t a lot he’d be able to do for his client. Konrad had confessed. Case closed.
And Odelia was just about to go to the Gazette to write up the shocking story of the two rival TV stars, when Brutus came barging into the police station, meowing up a storm.
“You have to come with me, Odelia,” he pleaded.
She quickly glanced around, but Dolores had gone on a bathroom break, and Chase was still in the Chief’s office, discussing the denouement of the case. She crouched down. “What happened? Are you hurt?”
“Nobody’s hurt! It’s Diego!” Brutus said between two pants. He looked as if he’d been running, his heart beating a mile a minute.
“Diego? What about Diego?”
“He’s with another cat! You have to come along as my witness.”
“He’s with a cat? You mean, in the biblical sense?”
He stared at her blankly. “I don’t know what that means.”
“I mean, are they… smooching?”
He gave a disgusted snort. “Not just smooching. They’re having sex!”
She laughed, tickling Brutus behind his ears. “Oh, my. And we can’t have that, right?”
“No, we can’t! I mean, of course we can, but Harriet… I mean…”
“I think I understand. You want me to tell Harriet that Diego is with some other cat, being unfaithful to her, so you and Harriet can get back together.”
“That’s it! You’re so smart!”
She sighed, getting up. “I can’t do that, Brutus. I can’t be a snitch on my own cats. If you feel Diego isn’t doing right by Harriet, you have to tell her, but I’m not going to sneak around and spy on him so I can tell on him to Harriet.”
“But why?! He shouldn’t be doing that!”
“That’s not for me to judge, Brutus. And, honestly, I think you should just let it go. I’m sure Harriet will find out soon enough what kind of cat Diego is. And she doesn’t need you to tell her.”
“But I… love her!”
“Then you’ll just have to trust her to do the right thing.”
“But how is she going to know about Diego if I don’t tell her?”
“She’ll know,” she said with a smile. “But if you go and snitch on Diego, she’ll lose all respect for Diego, and she’ll lose all respect for you, too.”
Brutus groaned in agony. “Why is everything always so complicated?!”
“I’m glad it’s not just us humans that make things complicated,” she said.
Just then, Max came slamming into the police station. “Odelia! You have to see this!”
She held up her hand. “Brutus already told me all about Diego, Max. And I told him I wouldn’t turn snitch on my own cats.”
“Who cares about Diego?!” Max cried. “It’s the Tesla! I saw the Tesla!”
Her curiosity piqued, she bent down again. “The black Tesla?”
He nodded furiously. “It belongs to Ziv Riding. He’s got one of those vanity plates, that’s how I found out. He went into one of the boutiques on Main Street.”
Now this was definitely interesting. “I think I better go and get Chase,” she said, and gave Max a pat on the head. “Well done, buddy. Great sleuthing.”
“Thanks,” he said, then caught Brutus’s scowl. “What?”
“Nothing,” said Brutus. “Just that I thought you’d back me up on the Diego thing.”
Max rolled his eyes. “Oh, God. Enough with the Diego thing already.”
She left the two cats and went in search of Chase. They needed to check up on this Tesla sighting. She hadn’t told Chase cats had seen the black Tesla parked behind Fry Me for an Oyster, and neither would she tell Riding. It was enough that an anonymous witness had seen the car. She needn’t involve Max.
She stuck her head into her uncle’s office. “The black Tesla has been sighted. And guess what? It belongs to Ziv Riding.”
“Sweatshop Ziv Riding?” Chase asked.
“Yep. One and the same.”
“Well, go on, then,” said the Chief. “Go ask him what he was doing here the night of the murder.”
They didn’t need her uncle’s encouragement. She and Chase were hotfooting it out of the police station and hurrying along the street before Chief Alec had managed to get up from his seat.
“So who saw the car?” Chase asked.
“I did, actually,” she said after a moment’s pause.
“I thought you said the Tesla had been sighted?”
“Yeah, by me. It was sighted by me.”
He gave her a curious look. “Why didn’t you just say that?”
She flapped her hands a bit. “I was so excited I couldn’t think straight!”
“Right,” he said, and she had the impression he didn’t believe one word she said. But she couldn’t worry about that now. They needed to figure out what the fashion designer had been doing that night at the restaurant.
“Are you sure it’s the same car that was parked in the alley that night?”
“Not a hundred percent sure, no,” she admitted.
“I mean, there must be hundreds of Teslas, thousands, even. And a lot of them are black.”
“I guess so,” she said.
“So what makes you think it was Riding’s car?”
She paused for a moment. “Actually…”
He gave her a wry look and halted, right in front of the General Store. “What’s going on, Odelia? Why are you going about half-cocked?”
She flapped her arms again, looking more like a chicken than a reporter. “I have a hunch, all right?”
“A hunch,” he said skeptically. He’d crossed his arms over his chest and stood regarding her with his head to one side, as if wondering what to do with her.
“A hunch! I have a hunch that this Tesla is that Tesla!”
“You never told me who the witness was that saw the Tesla that night.”
“I—I can’t. I—I promised I wouldn’t reveal her name.”
“If you’ll just let me talk to her I might get a confirmation on the license plate.”
She shook her head decidedly. “She didn’t see the license plate.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.” She wondered what would happen if she told Chase Max had heard it from Montserrat, the stray Erin Coka had taken under her wing, who’d heard it from some other stray. He’d probably have her 5150ed.
“So let me get this straight,” he said. “Someone—who doesn’t want to be named—told you she saw a black Tesla parked outside the restaurant the night Niklaus Skad was killed. No license plate. Now you see another black Tesla, driven by Ziv Riding, parked along the street, and you want to talk to the man, why, exactly?”
“Don’t you think it’s too much of a coincidence? Ziv Riding has this sweatshop in town, and his car was seen at a murder scene?”
“We don’t even know if Riding and Skad knew each other. And may I remind you that we caught Skad’s killer? He’s in custody right now. The case is closed, Odelia.”
“But what about the sweatshop thing?”
“Not our concern! We’re not handling that investigation and we’re not going to get involved, either.”
She shook her head, stubbornly. “I still feel—”
“It’s not about what you ‘feel,’” he said. “It’s about the facts.” He raked his fingers through his mane. “Oh, God. And I almost went along with this nonsense. Me and your uncle.” He held up his hands. “Look, you’re on your own with this. Please don’t involve me. And may I add that I have a strong suspicion you’re not telling me everything you know?”
They stared at each other, and then she said. “I know Riding’s Tesla was parked at the restaurant. And I’m going to find out what’s going on. With or without you.”
“Well, it’s going to be without me, honey,” he said, stepping back. “Like I said, you’re on your own from here on out.”
And without another word, he turned around and started walking back to the police station.