“What do you mean?”
“I mean I’ve got my suspect, and I’ve interviewed pretty much everyone connected to this case. So now it’s up to the prosecutor to get a conviction.”
Alarmed, she turned to him. “You’re not going to charge Jasper?”
“Of course I’m charging Jasper. He’s got motive, means and opportunity. The perfect trifecta. Of all the suspects, we’re most likely to convict him.”
“But he didn’t do it. Even Bryony said he would never harm Johnny.”
“He was a boy toy past his prime, honey. He saw other, younger guys moving in and he knew it was only a matter of time before he was out.”
“But Johnny was going to marry him!”
“He didn’t know that. If he had, things might have gone differently.”
She shook her head. “I’m sure he didn’t do it.”
“You keep forgetting his fingerprints were on that vial, Odelia. This is an open-and-shut case from where I’m sitting, and I’m sure the District Attorney’s Office will agree with me on that. Easiest conviction ever.”
“This isn’t over yet,” she grumbled, putting her feet up on the dash.
He grimaced. “Are you sure you aren’t part bloodhound, honey?”
She very well might be. Her uncle dropped her off at the newspaper, and she went in to find Dan and tell him to expect a call from the mayor.
“Let him call,” said Dan. “I’ll tell him to go to hell.”
“He’ll probably ask you to fire me, Dan.”
“So? I’m not going to fire my best reporter.”
She grinned, greatly relieved. “I’m also your only reporter.”
“Well, all the more reason not to fire you.”
“But what if the mayor threatens to go after your advertisers?”
“Look, the Hampton Cove Gazette has been around for over forty years, and will still be here when Mayor Turner is long gone. Politicians have tried to mess with me and my paper before, and failed. My advertisers don’t care about politics. They care about having a paper that’s widely circulated and popular with its readers, and they know that in order to do that you need ace reporters such as yourself. You just keep doing what you do best, and I’ll tell Mayor Turner that he can stick his threats where the sun don’t shine.”
She smiled at the elderly man. “You’re the best, Dan, did you know that?”
“I do, but I don’t mind hearing it again from time to time.”
“Well, you are.”
He spread his arms. “Don’t we make a great team? The best editor and the best reporter, annoying the heck out of the celebrities and politicians in this town. Now you go out there and do your thing. You have my blessing.”
Chapter 21
I’d decided to take an extended nap, and so had Dooley. After spending all of the previous day out and about, and half the night as well, I was feeling the strain. So today we decided to take a break. If Brutus wanted to traipse around town all day, that was his business, but we were going to sleep.
Odelia had left early that morning, promising she was fine without us for a day. She was going to interview some more people, and if she needed help she’d let us know. So when suddenly a grating voice sounded right next to me, I figured it was Odelia. “All right, all right,” I muttered. “One minute.”
As usual I took up one half of the couch in Odelia’s living room and Dooley the other half. I’d been dreaming of little tweety birds sitting in a tree, and Princess and I had just chased them to the top branch. We were both perched on that branch like Kate and Leo in Titanic, and I was yelling “I’m the king of the world!” when someone said, “I need your help, Maxie, baby.”
Only one cat called me Maxie baby, and suddenly my dream turned into a nightmare. A thump on my shoulder told me this wasn’t a dream at all, but brutal reality. And when I opened my eyes and found myself staring into the face of Brutus, I groaned. “Oh, go away,” and closed my eyes again.
“I need your help. Chase is leaving town and so am I if I don’t stop him.”
A jolt of elation shot through me. Had I heard this right? Was Brutus leaving town. “You’re leaving?” I asked, sitting bolt upright now.
“Yeah,” he said, looking none too pleased.
I saw that Harriet was seated next to him, and it was obvious she’d been crying. Dooley, now coming out of his slumber, muttered, “Who’s leaving?”
“Brutus,” I told him.
“Hey, that’s great,” he said blithely. “So when is he going?”
“This isn’t funny, Dooley,” said Harriet between two sniffs. “Chase resigned. The chief didn’t want to fire him but he resigned himself.”
“Yeah, we were there when it happened. Right outside the window.”
“What happened?” I asked, genuinely interested now.
“It was that horrible drug dealer Chase caught yesterday,” Brutus said.
“Odelia caught that drug dealer, not Chase,” I corrected him.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. The creep filed charges for police harassment, and his lawyer must have talked to the Commissioner, Chase’s former boss, and he talked to the mayor of this crappy little town and forced the Chief’s hand.”
“Only Chief Alec refused to fire Chase so Chase decided to quit,” Harriet said. “Such an honorable man. And now he’s being pressured to leave.”
I scratched my head. “That’s… surprising.” I wondered what Odelia would have to say about this. She and Chase hadn’t exactly hit it off, though I had the impression she was warming to the guy. And now he was leaving. So was this a good thing or a bad thing? Hard to know for sure. My first instinct was to applaud this outcome, since it meant we’d never see Brutus again.
“It gets worse,” now a voice spoke from the door. I’d been so focused on Brutus’s story I hadn’t heard Odelia walk in, but when she took a seat on the couch, between Dooley and me, I could see she wasn’t in the best of moods.
“Worse?” cried Harriet. “Oh, no!”
“I just interviewed Veronica George and her mother, Bryony Pistol, Johnny’s wife, and I’m convinced that Veronica is behind this whole thing. I think she’s the one who called the Commissioner and got Chase to quit.”
In a few brief words, she gave us the gist of her interview.
“So you think Veronica and that dealer are still an item?” I asked.
“I’m sure they are. And the more I think about it, the more I’m starting to suspect they might be involved in Johnny’s murder.”
“But why would Veronica kill her own father?” asked Brutus.
“Money,” she said simply. “Johnny was divorcing Bryony so he could marry Jasper, which meant Veronica would lose a big chunk of her inheritance, since the bulk of the estate would go to Jasper in case something happened to Johnny. If she killed him before the divorce was final, Bryony inherited everything, and by extension Veronica. So that’s motive for you.”
Brutus thought about this for a moment. “You might be right.”
“Veronica and Donovan Rubb could easily have set this up together,” Odelia continued. “To get his hands on spider venom was a piece of cake for the drug dealer, as he must have all kinds of shady contacts.”
“But what about Jasper’s fingerprints?” asked Harriet.
She shook her head. “Somehow they must have planted those prints on that vial. I don’t know how, but that’s the only explanation.” She turned to me. “What I want you guys to do is spy on Veronica and Rubb. I want to catch those two together. If I can prove they never broke up, in spite of what Veronica says, maybe I can pressure them into confessing to the murder.”
“All right,” I agreed immediately. I’d had my nap, so I was good to go.
“Sure thing, toots,” said Brutus, and I winced.
Odelia smiled down at the black cat. “So are you guys all working together now? That’s a first.”
“I don’t want to leave this town,” Brutus admitted. “I like it here. I’ve found some great friends…” He gave me a poke in the gut. “And even my sweetheart…” He winked at Harriet. “And Chase likes it here, too.”