“Uh-huh,” said Brutus, not exactly providing a ringing endorsement.
“Wow,” said Gran. “Good work, Harriet and Brutus. Write that down, Odelia.”
But Odelia didn’t need her grandmother’s instructions. She was already writing down ‘Jenny’s father—revenge,’ before translating Harriet’s words for the others.
“Kingman?” asked Odelia. “You wanted to share something?”
“Oh, boy, do I have something to share!” Kingman cried, thumping his chest. “I know who did it and it wasn’t Jenny’s dad. Francine’s brothers Mike and Kenny were at the party, and they decided to have a chat with Jaqlyn about the way he was treating their little sister. Things got out of hand and they beat him to death. I heard it from their own lips!”
The moment Odelia translated Kingman’s bombshell revelation, the room erupted into an excited clamor. Now this was the goods! The only one who wasn’t impressed was Harriet. “I still think Jenny’s dad did it,” she intimated stubbornly. “Isn’t that right, Brutus?”
“Oh, sure,” said Brutus. “Jenny’s dad—no doubt about it.”
“So Mike and Kenny,” said Odelia, writing on her board. “We need to talk to them as soon as possible.”
“Well done, Kingman,” said Gran, patting the cat on the head. “Good job.”
“Thanks,” said Kingman. “Some people would call it beginner’s luck, but I think I’m simply a natural. It’s all in being discerning when gathering clues. Knowing which ones to keep and which ones to toss. For instance Father Reilly kept babbling on about how Master Omar was the one that did it, by possessing Tex and using his body like a puppet and making him do his bidding. But that’s just a lot of horse manure if you ask me.”
Odelia stared at him. “Father Reilly thinks Master Omar did it? But why?”
“Well, Father Reilly claims Jaqlyn was about to leave the fold and spill all of Master Omar’s secrets, and Omar couldn’t have that, so he shut Jaqlyn up. Permanently.”
Odelia nodded, and wrote down Master Omar’s name between brackets, just to be on the safe side. Odelia is nothing if not diligent.
“Okay, so we have plenty of suspects and plenty of alibis to check out,” she said now. “Does anyone want to add anything at this point? Any comments, thoughts, insights?”
Uncle Alec tentatively raised his hand, braving a scathing look from his sister. “Um… the state police have taken over the investigation, so officially Chase and I are both off the case. Which means we can’t interview suspects, or even come near them.”
“Yeah, they don’t trust us,” said Chase. “Being Tex’s relatives and all.”
“Well, that’s fine,” said Gran. “It just means we’ll have to clear Tex’s name ourselves. I suggest we divvy up the suspects and try and track them down. We already talked to Monica and Francine, and Monica has a solid alibi, so we can scratch her off the list.”
“I talked to Barney,” said Uncle Alec. “And my gut tells me he didn’t do it.”
“Your gut also told you to arrest my husband,” said Marge pointedly.
“Oh, Marge, please give it a rest,” said Gran. “So no Barney?”
“Barney’s dog Jack didn’t think he did it either,” I said. “He looked into his master’s heart and saw that it was pure as gold.”
“I tried to look into my heart but I couldn’t see a thing,” Dooley shared.
“Right,” said Odelia, scratching off Barney’s name as well as Monica’s. “About Francine… I don’t think she did it either. We talked to her and she didn’t strike me as a cold-blooded murderess.” She put the woman’s name between brackets. “So that leaves us with Jason Blowhard, Jenny’s dad, and Francine’s brothers Mike and Kenny.” She underlined the names of Jenny’s dad and Francine’s brothers. “These look promising.”
“And let’s not forget about the loan sharks,” said Uncle Alec. “Jaqlyn owed them a lot of money and Charlene thinks they may have followed him here.”
“No witness reports to support that theory, though,” Chase added.
“Still worth checking out,” Gran decided. “Write it down, Odelia.”
“Loan sharks,” Odelia said, adding this peculiar fauna to her impressive list.
“I’ll talk to Jenny’s dad,” said Marge. “I know Nick pretty well. I’m sure he’ll talk to me, especially with Tex being hung out to dry for a murder he didn’t commit.”
“And maybe we can go and have a chat with Francine’s brothers,” Gran suggested to her granddaughter.
“What do you want me to do?” asked Chase. “I can’t talk to witnesses but there must be something I can do.”
“You’re sitting this one out, Kingsley,” said Marge sternly. “You’re in the doghouse now. And I suggest you stay there and don’t move until I decide whether I’ll forgive you.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Chase, and Odelia gave him a wink, which cheered him up considerably.
“What can we do?” I asked.
“You can join us when we interview Francine’s brothers,” said Odelia. “And Harriet and Brutus can join Mom when she talks to Jenny and her dad.”
“What about me?” asked Kingman. “I’m on fire here. So please use me, Miss Odelia.”
Odelia smiled at this. “Why don’t you go and talk to Shanille and try to pump her for information on Father Reilly and his particular views on Master Omar?”
“But… I thought that was a dead end?” said Kingman.
“A good detective follows up on every single lead,” she said, giving him a tickle behind the ears. “No matter how inconsequential, you never know what they might yield.”
“Okay, Miss Odelia!” said Kingman, well pleased with these nuggets of wisdom rolling from the detective’s lips. “I’ll pump Shanille like she’s never been pumped before!”
“Um, go easy on her, will you?” said Gran. “If I know Shanille she might not like all of this… pumping. Delicacy and tact go a long way—take it from a tactful person like me.”
All the humans present laughed at this, and Gran frowned. “What? What did I say?”
Just then, Odelia’s phone tinkled and she picked up with a cheerful, “Odelia Poole speaking.” She then glanced at the others present. “Yes, I will hold for Master Omar.”
A hush descended on the room, and Odelia switched her phone to speaker mode.
“Hi, Odelia,” said Omar. “This is Omar speaking. I heard about what happened this afternoon and I’ve decided to call an extra meeting tonight to deal with the aftermath of Jaqlyn’s death. I wanted to invite you and your family personally, considering your father seems to be embroiled in this terrible tragedy as well.”
“A special meeting?” asked Odelia.
“We’re not going!” Gran loud-whispered.
“Oh, hi there, Vesta,” said Omar. “You’re invited too, of course. Francine Jones is also coming, her brothers Mike and Kenny, Monica Chanting and her husband Garvin, Barney Sowman, Jenny and Nick Parker and, um, I have a feeling I’m forgetting someone…”
Odelia’s eyes went wide when she realized Omar had just listed all of our suspects.
“I think it will be beneficial to thresh this thing out once and for all, don’t you agree?” Omar continued. “And what better way to heal a lot of broken hearts and pain than by bringing the entire community together to commemorate that unfortunate Jaqlyn?”
“Um, I guess,” said Odelia, not entirely convinced. “So… this is a private meeting?”
“Yes, just the people I’ve mentioned and your family.”
“Are you going to film the whole thing like you always do?” asked Gran, leaning into her granddaughter’s phone and speaking with a touch of rancor.
Omar chuckled. “No, not this time, Vesta. This will be just us. So how about it?”