“Did… you have a good relationship?”
“Yes, we did. In private, my father was a sweetheart. Not the bully they made him out to be.”
“There’s a rumor,” Odelia began, and Deirdre looked up sharply.
“Don’t believe the rumors, Miss Poole. I know people say Daddy cut me out of his will but there’s absolutely no truth to that.”
“I heard you were suing him?”
Deirdre shook her head decidedly. “Vicious gossip started by Daddy’s enemies. We had a wonderful relationship.”
“Now that you’re here, I wanted to show you something,” said Chase, and took out the picture of the rose. He placed it on the desk in front of Deirdre.
“What is this?” she asked, looking up.
“It was found in the safe. Where your father died,” Chase explained.
Deirdre’s eyes shot full of tears at these words, and she quickly took out a tissue and pressed it to her nose. “This is all so horrible. He didn’t deserve to die—and he certainly didn’t deserve to die in this way. Who would do such a terrible thing? And why?”
“Does the name Yasir Bellinowski mean anything to you?” asked Odelia.
Deirdre shook her head, trying to compose herself. “Is he the man that did this?”
“He’s one of the leads we’re pursuing,” said Chase.
“He’s a gangster, isn’t he? A mobster? My father published stories about him.”
“Did he ever mention Bellinowski to you?”
“Daddy never talked about his work. He liked to keep his family life and his professional life strictly separate. He even forbade us from reading the National Star when we grew up. Of course me and my sisters would sneak copies home from school and read them anyway.” She smiled a weak smile. “We were very proud of him. All of us were. Even Mom.”
Odelia remembered reading about Deirdre’s mom. She was Dickerson’s second wife, and originally hailed from France, where she’d returned after the divorce. Dickerson had gone on to marry two more times, but those marriages had ended in divorce as well.
“I know the rumors, Detective,” Deirdre said. “I know how they say that I did it. Or at least one of us. To get our hands on Daddy’s money. But I can assure you we would never hurt our father. He was a family man and doted on us. Even after he divorced our mother.” She looked up imploringly. “Please find whoever did this, Detective. These monsters can’t be allowed get away with this. They really can’t.”
And with these words, she finally broke down into sobs.
Odelia rubbed her back, but generally felt helpless. She couldn’t imagine anything ever happening to her father or mother. She’d be devastated, too. And when she locked eyes with Chase, she could see he was thinking the same thing. There was a determined look in his eyes. He was going to bring Yasir Bellinowski to justice. Whatever it took.
Chapter 42
That evening, a homey scene at Odelia’s masked a deeper, more horrible truth: a usurper was working away in the background, chipping away at the foundations that made ours such a warm nest. I would have warned Odelia, but she was so busy with her investigation, hunched over her laptop, a frown marring her lovely features, that I didn’t have the heart to disturb her.
I was on the couch, Dooley next to me, watching Jeopardy with Gran, while Harriet and Brutus were nowhere to be found, and neither, for that matter, was Milo.
I knew he couldn’t be far away, though, and the fact that he was closetroubled me, making it impossible to relax.
Now cats are generally vigilant creatures by nature, but I was actually ill at ease, my tummy churning and making strange noises, and that had never happened to me before.
“Where is Brutus, Max?” asked Dooley.
“I don’t know.”
“Where is Harriet, Max?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is Milo, Max?”
“I don’t know!”
“No need to shout,” grumbled Dooley. “If you don’t know, just say so.”
I didn’t want to point out that I just had, so I bit my tongue.
“When is Gran going to fix the garden?” asked Dooley, who was in a questioning mood. It generally happened when Jeopardy was on. He probably thought he was Alex Trebek.
“I don’t know, Dooley,” I grumbled.
“There’s nothing to fix,” said Grandma. “The garden is fine just the way it is.”
We both directed a look at the disaster area Gran had reduced the garden to, and both decided it was better not to comment. The mausoleum project had apparently been abandoned, just like the Versailles project that preceded it. I didn’t mind. The piles of sand and the holes were wonderful to dig into and made a nice change from my litter box.
They also provided a great opportunity for Harriet and Brutus to hide when they went on one of their nookie sessions. Though judging from the distant and frankly disturbing way Brutus had behaved today, I had a feeling there wouldn’t be a lot of that going on tonight.
“Did I tell you guys that Tex and I reconciled?” asked Gran now. She was unusually chatty. Possibly because she’d managed to watch all of her soaps and was now fully caught up. Quitting her job had given her oodles of time to do so, and she’d made good use of it.
“That’s great,” said Dooley.
“Does this mean you’re moving back in with Marge and Tex?” I asked.
Dooley’s excitement diminished. He had his doubts about Chase moving in with Odelia, and the prospect of the two of them making lots of babies, which would inevitably push out Odelia’s cats. Even though I told him many times this was not the case, he still wasn’t too keen on the idea.
“Nah,” said Gran. “I like it here. Tex and I have made our peace—he finally apologized for kicking me out of his office and confessed that he needed me—but that doesn’t mean we have to live together. Frankly when two strong personalities like ours spend too much time together we inevitably clash. So it’s better if I stay with Odelia. I never crash with Odelia. She has one of those soft, yielding personalities that suit me a lot better.”
We both directed a curious look at Odelia, but she hadn’t been listening. Phew. It’s never nice to be called a ‘yielding’ personality, which is a fancy word for a pushover.
“So Tex actually apologized?” asked Dooley.
“Pretty much,” said Gran, shoving a Cheez Doodle into her mouth.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” said Odelia suddenly, and we all looked up.
“Did you finally get those winning numbers?” asked Gran.
“Just something to do with the case,” said Odelia, then abruptly got up. “I’m sorry, you guys. I need to pop out for a bit. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
And with these words she hurried out the door and was gone.
Gran shrugged. “Hormones,” she said knowingly. “They hit you when you least expect it.”
Chapter 43
Odelia was in her car and hurtling along the road when she remembered she’d totally forgotten to take her phone. She slammed the wheel with the heel of her hand. Too late to turn back, though. She needed to see this through. Fifteen minutes later she took the turn onto Uncle Alec’s street, practically losing a hubcap at the corner as her tires screeched dangerously, then parked in front of her uncle’s house and got out.
Pressing her finger to the bell, she was relieved when the door was yanked open and Chase stood before her, a box of Chinese food in one hand, a fork in the other, and a spot of something yellow on his plaid shirt. “Odelia? Were we doing something tonight?”
“I know who killed Dickerson,” she said, moving past him and into the house. She paced the living room as he sat down and finished his dinner. “Remember how I told you about Olaf Brettin visiting Dan at the office?”