“Bad. Very bad.” She sighed. “We’ll just have to learn to live without, I guess.”
“Live without…” He gestured between them. “…this?”
“Uh-huh. She told me something about putting in her earplugs but I wouldn’t feel comfortable with my granny in the next room. Like you said, it’s something of a turn-off.”
“When you put it like that.”
“I don’t know how Mom and Dad have managed all these years.”
“Maybe they never do it?”
She grimaced. “Let’s not go there.” Imagining her parents like that was an even bigger turn-off than imagining her grandmother in the next room, listening to every noise she and Chase made. Then she brightened. “We could rent a room. Here. At this fine establishment.”
He placed an arm around her shoulder. “Or we could do it in my car. Or yours. I’m not picky.”
She giggled, snuggling into his arm. “I’d like that. Let’s steam up some windows.”
Just then, Chase’s phone chimed. When he placed it to his ear and listened, he arched an eyebrow, as if what he was hearing was a highly unusual piece of news. After he disconnected the call, he was silent for a few beats.
“Was that the station?” she asked.
He nodded automatically.
“Well, what did they say? Did they find Tracy Sting?”
“Oh, they found her,” he said in a toneless voice.
“Well? What are you waiting for? Go interrogate the lady.”
“It wasn’t just her they found.”
“What do you mean? She had an accomplice?”
“You could say that.” He seemed to shake something off. “A citizen called in a complaint about a display of public indecency. A couple were going at it inside a stationary vehicle. Going at it with some eagerness I might add. Steamed-up windows and everything.”
“Don’t tell me. Our Miss Nitro and her mystery accomplice?”
He turned to her. “Miss Nitro and your uncle, actually. Cops were dispatched and found them in flagrante delicto inside Alec’s police cruiser—both in a state of undress.”
They walked into the police station, and judging from the looks Dolores, the crusty receptionist, was giving them, by now everyone and their uncle were aware of what had happened. “I can’t believe my uncle the police chief would do such a thing,” Odelia said.
“I can’t believe he’d use the cruiser. Isn’t that misappropriation of police property?”
“Who cares about the car? He was canoodling with a felon!”
“Maybe she’s one of those femme fatales,” he offered. “Those are hard to resist.”
They arrived at interview room number one, where the entire Hampton Cove police force stood staring through the little window at the woman locked inside. She was a striking beauty, no doubt about it. Flaming red hair, perfect features, a chest Odelia would have given her eyeteeth for. At least she was dressed, which hadn’t been the case when they arrested her, as the arresting officer loudly explained to his fascinated audience.
“Where’s my uncle?” asked Odelia.
They all pointed to interview room number two. Odelia took a glance through the window and saw her uncle fuming silently inside, pacing the small space. She grimaced. Awkward. Chase had followed her and placed a hand on her back. “I’ll interview the woman first. See what she says. And then I’ll deal with your uncle.”
She watched as Chase entered the interview room along with a colleague, and folded her arms across her chest. She noticed how every cop standing there with her did the same, all settling in for what promised to be a most entertaining show.
“Miss Sting,” said Chase as he took a seat, his colleague, a female officer named Sarah Flunk, rifling through some notes as she shot not-so-friendly glances at the suspect. “Are you aware that there are laws in this state against public lewdness?”
Miss Sting made an annoyed gesture. “We were in a private vehicle parked in a back alley, hidden from view or so we thought. Can I help it if some nosy parker peeping tom pervert do-gooder decided to stick his nose where it doesn’t belong? And isn’t the chief of police exempt or something?”
Chase coughed into his fist. “Where did you and the Chief meet?”
She leveled an icy look at him. “Why don’t you ask him?”
“I’m asking you.”
“I met him in a bar. He accused me of being a cold-blooded murderer so I invited him to dinner. That’s when he came after me and invited me into his car. Things kinda took off from there.” She made a gesture of annoyance. “Look, we’re consenting adults, officer—”
“Detective.”
“Whatever. None of your business what your boss and I were doing in his car.”
“Fine,” he said. “Frankly I don’t care what you and Chief Alec were doing. What does concern me is that you’re the prime suspect in a murder investigation and that your engaging with the person in charge of that investigation amounts to a form of bribery.”
She uttered an exclamation. “Bribery? Really? Are you nuts?”
“Insulting a police officer isn’t going to—”
“No, really. I already told Alec I didn’t have anything to do with this whole Burt Goldsmith thing.” She sliced the air with her hand, spitting out the words. “No-thing!”
Chase smiled. “Obviously you were most persuasive.”
“You’re a pig,” said the woman, shaking her head.
“And you’re in hot water here, lady. We have four witnesses who claim your company hired you to ‘take care of’ Burt when he wouldn’t go quietly into the night. So you decided to release him from his contract with a bang. What did you tell him? You’re fired?”
“Oh, please,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I guess this is where I tell you I want to speak to my lawyer.”
“And this is where I tell you that it won’t do you any good.”
“Are you going to charge me? If so, go right ahead. If not, I think I’ll be leaving now.”
“You’re not going anywhere, Miss Sting.”
All around Odelia, cops were glued to the one-way window, following the back-and-forth with relish. Just then, Odelia’s phone chimed and she walked out of the small space and into the corridor. “Yes, Gran?” she said, stepping into her uncle’s office for a moment.
“You better get over here,” said her grandmother.
“Why? What happened?”
“It’s Dooley. He’s not well.”
Ice suddenly curdled her veins. “I’ll be there in ten.”
“Come to Vena’s. That’s where we took him.”
Chapter 29
The whole family was gathered at Vena’s, hovering around Dooley’s sickbed. The scene resembled one plucked straight from one of Grandma’s soap operas. Well, minus the beefcake doctor. Instead we had to make do with Vena, not a picture of beauty and grace, unfortunately. Then again, she’d saved Dooley’s life, which made her a hero in my book.
“Why the hell did he take those pills?” asked Tex, shaking his white-haired head.
“I just wanted to see what they tasted like,” said Dooley in a thin and reedy voice.
“You know what they tasted like,” I said. “I told you they tasted horrible. And would more than likely make you puke your guts out.”
I’d jumped on top of the cat bed and was keeping my buddy company. I was the one who’d alerted Grandma that something was wrong when I found Dooley passed out on the kitchen floor, unresponsive and pretty much dead to the world. Apparently he’d hopped on the kitchen counter and had gobbled up all the remaining vitamin pills.
“I never should have left those pills out,” said Odelia.
“You couldn’t have known,” said Marge soothingly.
“Who would have thought that vitamins could be bad for you?” said Grandma.
“Some cats have an adverse reaction,” Vena said. “If you ingest as many as Dooley did, it causes havoc to the digestive system, which in turn puts pressure on the heart.”