“I agree,” she said. “I hate people who are mean to animals.”
“Me, too,” said Stacie with a sad smile. “I just can’t tolerate them.”
“So… where were you when Mr. Skad died, Stacie? I’m sorry—I have to ask.”
“Of course. I was right here, preparing for the next day’s shoot. That’s what I usually did at night. Making sure that everything was ready for the next day. So that Niklaus just had to walk on set and do his thing.”
“Can anyone confirm that you were here?”
“Nope. Not even Puck. He was still locked up in Mr. Skad’s suite.” She gave Odelia a hesitant look. “Do you think the police will suspect me?”
“I think you’ll be one of the suspects, yes.”
She nodded.“Of course. I had the motive to kill him. And I certainly had opportunity. Though I had no idea he returned to the restaurant. Usually when we were out on location he liked to stay in his room and…” She grimaced. “… invite company.”
“Female company?”
“Yes. He liked to go out and, well, sample the local offerings.”
“Why do you think he went back to the restaurant? Maybe he wanted to prepare for the next day?”
She shook her head adamantly.“No way. Niklaus never bothered with that. He even told me once he stayed far away from the restaurants he was doing. He wanted to arrive on the scene with fresh eyes and go with his gut. He didn’t want to overthink things. Visiting a restaurant the night before a shoot was something he’d never do.”
“So you have no idea why he returned?”
“None.”
She eyed the woman curiously. She was slight. Too slight to be able to lift the body of her boss up and into the oven. If she were the murderer she would have needed help. No way she could have done this alone.“Thank you, Stacie.”
“You’re welcome. I suppose the police will want a word with me?”
“Yes, I’m afraid they will. But don’t worry. My uncle is a kind and fair man.”
“Your uncle is a policeman?”
“Yes. He’s Chief of Police.”
They both rose, and Stacie stood hugging herself for a moment.“I hope he catches whoever did this. I would like to go home and put this whole thing behind me as soon as possible.”
“I’m sure we’ll catch the culprit soon,” she said, projecting a confidence she wasn’t exactly feeling. So far they had nothing. Unless this Chef Serarols proved to be a viable suspect. Her uncle certainly seemed to think so. “What was your impression of Hendrik Serarols?”
“He seemed nice enough. I think he’s a great chef, and he only made those mistakes because Niklaus was giving him such a hard time. It’s not easy to perform under such great pressure.” She gave a weak smile. “I speak from experience.” Her smile vanished. “Why? Do you think he did it?”
“He doesn’t have an alibi for the night of the murder, so…”
“I can’t believe he would do such a thing. But then again, I guess everybody is capable of murder, even the ones you least suspect.”
“That is certainly true,” she agreed.
From the corner of her eye, she saw that Max was frantically trying to get her attention. So she walked to the door and opened it, then blocked Stacie’s view of it by pointing at the window. “Is it true that Niklaus Skad’s wife gave such a performance the night her husband was killed?”
Stacie grinned.“Oh, yes, she did. I honestly couldn’t watch. It was so embarrassing. A woman like her pouncing on a man half her age? There was something really tragic about it.”
She watched as Max, Dooley and Brutus snuck out through the door.“You knew her well? Cybil Truscott?”
“I did. And I’d say Niklaus and Cybil deserved each other. They were both people who only cared about themselves.” Puck gave a bark of agreement at this, and Stacie bent down and gave him a hug. “This guy here is just about the only good thing I’m taking away from this experience.”
“He’s lucky to have you,” Odelia said.
“No, I’m lucky to have him,” Stacie said.
And as she stepped out and closed the door behind her, she was convinced that Stacie was innocent. No way anyone could fake that performance.
She looked around, and saw that Max and the others were waiting for her at the top of the stairs.“What were you guys doing in there?” she asked, crouching down.
“You told us to have a talk with Puck, so we did,” Max said simply.
“And? What’s the verdict?”
“Puck doesn’t think Stacie could have done it. She’s way too sweet.”
“And too weak,” Brutus added.
“Too slight,” Max corrected him.
“I agree,” Odelia said. “I don’t think she did it.”
“So who did?” Dooley asked.
“If you can answer that, I’ll give you all the chicken wings you could ever dream of,” she said, giving Dooley a pat on the head.
The cat grinned.“See, Brutus? That power of the mind thing is working already!”
Chapter 18
We plodded down the stairs in Odelia’s wake. I was feeling pretty exhilarated. This mission had been a success. I actually felt like James Bond or something: sneaking into hotel rooms to spy secrets and stuff. The only difference between James and me was that there hadn’t been a pretty girl waiting in that hotel room but a big, hairy dog. Story of my life, I guess.
“So what’s next?” Brutus asked. The mission had cheered him up.
“Next is that we need to get rid of this Diego character,” I said.
Brutus shook his head.“It can’t be done, Max. Didn’t you hear Odelia? He’s here to stay.”
“Not if you make him go away,” I said.
“Me? How can I make him go away?”
“You just have to put your paw down, Brutus. You have to lay it all out for him. You have to show him who’s the boss.”
He paused halfway down the stairs.“And how am I supposed to do that?”
“The same way you showed us who’s boss,” I said. “Remember when you first arrived in town? How you told us you were the cat of a cop and you were laying down the law from now on and a bunch of little sissy cats weren’t going to stand in the way of you achieving world domination?”
“Um, I don’t think that’s what happened,” Dooley said.
“It’s how I remember it,” I said. “And that’s what counts. What it all comes down to is that you have to cat up, Brutus. Girls like a strong cat. A cat who tells it like it is. Who takes no crap from no one, and definitely not from some nasty skinny-ass cat like Diego.”
Throughout my little pep talk, Brutus was perking up. He was almost looking like his old self again. Whether this was a good thing or not remained to be seen. I was pumping him up. Boosting his ego. He might just as easily turn against us. Side with Diego and make our lives a living hell. But I didn’t think so. We had an actual opportunity here to make Brutus our ally and not our enemy and we had to take it. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, or something along those lines. And since Diego was clearly the bigger of two evils here, Brutus needed to become our friend.
“For once I think you’re right, Max,” Brutus said, his eyes displaying a malevolent gleam. “For once I think you might be right on the money.”
I didn’t like this ‘for once’ nonsense. In my humble opinion I was always right. But I wasn’t going to let a little thing like that ruin the moment. “You have to waltz in there and take back your sweetheart,” I said.
“Wait, what?” asked Dooley.
“You have to simply grab her and plant a big, wet one on her lips and tell her that daddy’s home and no one is going to take her away from you.”
“Um, Max?” Dooley asked. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to squash that little pipsqueak like a bug!” Brutus growled. “I’m going to storm in there and take my girl back from that… that… nincompoop!”