“We’re trying to figure out what happened to Shadow’s human,” I explained. “Apparently he was blown up this morning and we’re trying to determine if foul play was involved.”
“You fools,” Princess growled. “Of course foul play was involved. What do you think? That he accidentally blew himself up when he lit a cigar? The guy was murdered!”
“Oh,” said Dooley excitedly. “Do you have any evidence to corroborate this theory, my friend?”
The cat growled something between gritted teeth, looking and sounding just like Clint, Clint squint and all. For a moment I fully expected him to snarl,‘Make my day, punk.’ Instead, he said, “Corroborate? What are you? Some two-bit Sherlock Holmes wannabes?”
“We work with Odelia Poole,” Dooley explained helpfully. “She’s an investigator and a reporter. She helps out the police from time to time when they’re stuck. She’s very smart.”
“Yeah, right. A bunch of loser cats helping a nosy parker journo solve crime. Where have I heard that before?”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But did I hear your owner call you Princess?”
“That’s my name, don’t wear it out,” he growled.
“But… isn’t Princess a female name?”
“I am a female,” he snarled. “Can’t you tell?”
Frankly I couldn’t, but I was prepared to be broad-minded. “So, Princess, can you tell us some more about this theory of yours? Burt Goldsmith was murdered, you say?”
He—or she—was reluctant, I could tell, but finally the desire to confide in someone won out. “Someone was after him, all right. Shadow used to say they were all after Burt.”
“All?”
“All the interesting men. His competitors. All except one, of course. The Most Compelling Man in the World. My human.” She stuck out her chest. “Curt wouldn’t hurt a fly. He’s the greatest. And the most compelling, of course.”
“Of course,” I said graciously.
“You look like a male,” Dooley said abruptly. He’d been studying the black cat closely.
“I was born a male,” Princess explained gruffly. “But then I decided I was a female. What’s it to you, you insensitive bozo?”
“Just curious, I guess,” said Dooley, not insulted in the least.
“I always felt like a female trapped inside a male body. Do you have any idea what that does to a cat? No, of course you don’t, you ignoramus. Well, take your judgments and shove them up your keister, will you?”
“What’s a keister?” asked Dooley, interested.
“Never mind,” I said, intent on steering the conversation back to safer ground. “Do you have any idea where we can find Shadow? We’d like to ask her some questions.”
“If they’re as dumb as the ones you’ve been asking me I don’t know if I should tell you,” Princess grumbled irritably, darting furious glances at Dooley.
“We would be most grateful,” I said. “Not to mention that if we find out who did this to Burt, our human—who, as I explained, works with the police—would help clear your human from any suspicion.”
Princess frowned, working this over in her mind.“Okay, yeah, I’ll bite,” she said finally. “Last time I saw Shadow she was running for that door over there. This was moments after the explosion. She came shooting out of Philippe Goldsmith’s room, Burt’s grandson.”
I glanced at the door Princess indicated. It was the same door Dooley and I had entered through. The fire escape. Like the cats at Vena’s had speculated, Princess must have been spooked by the explosion and fled in a panic. She literally could be anywhere right now.
“Thank you so much,” I said. “You’ve been a great help, Princess.”
“Don’t mention it,” she said gruffly.
“You have a pee-pee, though, right?” asked Dooley, still mulling things over.
“Are you insane?!” yelled Princess. “Or just plain stoopid?!”
“I think it’s time we moved on,” I told Dooley, giving him a nudge.
“I’m just curious,” said Dooley. “I never met a male female before. Or a female male.”
“Get out of my face, dumbbell!” Princess bellowed. “I’m done talking to you haters!”
“Thank you, sir,” said Dooley automatically as he turned to walk away.
The stream of vituperative language that followed was not something I’m prepared to repeat. Suffice it to say there were some very colorful statements made, and I picked up quite a few words I’d never heard before. Judging from Dooley’s ears turning red and his face screwing up in surprise, he hadn’t heard them before either. Then again, that’s not saying much.
Just then, the doors to the elevator opened and Chase and Odelia stepped out.
Chapter 14
“So why did you want to meet here?” asked Odelia as Chase greeted her in the lobby of the Hampton Cove Star.
“I know how eager you must be to start interviewing suspects and tracking down leads, Poole, so I thought we might pool our resources.”
“Poole—pool. I see what you did there.”
He grinned.“I thought it was clever.”
“But I thought you hadn’t decided whether this was an accident or not?”
He sobered.“The fire marshals are still working on their report, but their preliminary findings suggest a highly explosive substance was used that could not have been present in the room under normal circumstances.” He paused for effect. “Nitroglycerin features high on their list of suspected explosives.”
She frowned.“Nitroglycerin? Do people still use that stuff?”
“It’s still used in the mining, quarrying, demolition and construction industries. It’s the active explosive in dynamite. Used for drilling highway and railroad tunnels. Things like that. There’s also an important medical application for the stuff, apparently. To treat certain heart conditions like angina pectoris and chronic heart failure.”
“You’ve been reading up on your Wikipedia.”
“Mostly what the fire marshal in charge told me. At any rate, at this point they’re seriously looking into that bottle of beer that was brought in—figuring it probably contained something a lot more flammable and explosive than common household beer.”
“An explosive beer bottle. Now that’s something Burt would have appreciated. A most fascinating way to end his life.”
“And it was sent up by a very compelling man.”
“Curt Pigott. Didn’t your people talk to him already?”
“Just routine questions. Your uncle Alec suggested we grill him a little more thoroughly.” They’d approached the elevator and stood waiting for the cab to travel down. “How are your cats, by the way?”
She was touched by his concern.“They’ll be fine. Thanks for telling me about the fleas.”
He shrugged.“The least I can do. I care about the little darlings myself, you know.”
It was the first time Chase had shown any interest whatsoever in her cats, and she was pleasantly surprised.“I didn’t know you were a cat person.”
“Oh, sure. I’ve loved those funny furballs all my life. In fact I had a cat when I was a kid and I loved the little tyke to pieces. Was devastated when it died. Held it in my arms and wouldn’t let it go until my mom told me Blackie was in heaven now, looking down upon me and following my further exploits with keen interest.” He wiped at his eyes with his sleeve.
“Blackie?”
“He was a black cat.”
“Right.”
“They do tug at your heart, don’t they?”
She watched with fascination as a tear rolled down his cheek. It was a side of him she hadn’t seen before. A tenderness he hadn’t displayed in her presence. It melted her heart.
They rode the elevator up in silence, as she wondered whether to tell him that she could actually communicate with her own little‘furballs.’ Maybe at some point she would.
The elevator doors opened and to her surprise she saw that Max and Dooley were prancing along the corridor.“Hey, babes,” she said. “What are you guys doing here?”
Chase laughed.“Funny. The way you speak cat.”