“I’m sure Jerry will find something to do on his own,” she said. “When your community service is over, you might consider working at the library.”
“This library, Marge? With you?”
“Why not? I could always use a helping hand.” She had to admit she liked Johnny. Jerry, not so much. She thought he had a mean streak, and was very crude. Johnny, her kindly heart told her, could probably be saved. And as she resumed her activities, putting returned books back on the shelves, she soon found her thoughts drifting back to Jock and Grace and Alicia, and how she hoped her brother would find the lost woman soon.
“I don’t know, Dan. I think they were kidnapped. You should have seen the state of that cottage. It was a real mess, and then there’s those earrings my mom found, and Grace’s cell phone.”
“I have to call Alicia, she will be freaking out,” said Dan.
After dropping her mother off at the library, Odelia had returned to Gazette headquarters, where she now sat in Dan’s office, discussing recent developments.
“How did you end up being Alicia’s godfather?” asked Odelia.
“Oh, Jock and I go way back,” said Dan, putting on his raconteur’s cap and giving her an indulgent smile.
“He’s much younger than you, though, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, he is. He’s got about twenty years on me. Jock’s old man and I were in school together. And we were great friends. This was before he became the chicken wing king, of course, and before I became a newspaperman. And since we were friends, he was the first one I turned to when I needed advertisers for my new venture. He was the first one to buy an ad in the Gazette, and quickly became my biggest sponsor. Still is, to this day. And, well, you know how it is. We met at receptions and openings and parties, and stayed friends over the years. I was at the hospital when Jock was born, and became something of an honorary uncle to the kid, then when Jock had kids of his own, I naturally assumed the role of godfather. It was a tremendous honor when he asked me to be Alicia’s godfather, and I’ve taken my duties very serious indeed.”
“So serious you were the person she turned to when her mom disappeared.”
“Yeah, her dad had told her not to go to the cops under no circumstances, and since she didn’t want to disobey him, but still couldn’t just sit there and do nothing, she thought about me—and then of course I thought about you.”
“Alicia did the right thing. And Jock, I’m afraid to say, is acting very suspicious.”
“Yeah, it sure looks that way,” said Dan, his expression darkening. “Oh, I don’t know what’s going on with that boy. He used to be such a sweet kid, and now it seems he’s somehow mixed up in the disappearance of his own wife—trying to cover up a crime.”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Odelia said. “She could very well have gone off with her boyfriend. I’m sure Uncle Alec and Chase will waste no time finding out what’s going on.”
“I’m just glad it’s in the hands of the police now. I just hope they find her—and unharmed, too. Grace might not be the best mother in the world, but she’s the only mother Alicia has, and she needs her.”
Odelia nodded. She hoped, for Alicia’s sake, that her uncle would find the woman fast.
Chapter 17
“So what are we looking for, exactly, Max?” asked Dooley.
“I have no idea, Dooley,” I said, truthfully. “Anything that might lead us to the whereabouts of Grace Farnsworth, I guess. And her boyfriend Fabio Shakespeare.”
“Do you really think he’s her boyfriend, Max?”
“It definitely looks that way.”
“But… Grace is married, isn’t she?”
“Yes, she is.”
“So… I thought only unmarried people had boyfriends? And then once they’re married they have wives and husbands?”
“It’s a little more complicated than that, Dooley. Sometimes people who marry have a boyfriend or a girlfriend on the side.”
“Like a side dish?”
“Yeah, exactly like a side dish. They still have their husband or their wife, but they also have a boyfriend or a girlfriend.”
“But… isn’t that illegal?”
“No, it’s definitely not illegal, though it’s probably not very nice towards their husband or wife.”
“They’re not going to like that, Max.”
“Usually they don’t tell them, Dooley. They conduct these affairs in secret.”
He thought about this for a moment, then asked, “Do you think Marge has a boyfriend? Or Tex a girlfriend?”
“No, I’m pretty sure they don’t,” I said. “Marge and Tex are faithful to each other. They love each other a lot so they don’t cheat.”
This gave him more food for thought, and finally he shared some more of his brainwaves with me. “Are humans a monogamous species, Max?”
I blew out some air. Dooley has a habit of asking a lot of tough questions, and I don’t always feel qualified to answer them. “I have no idea, Dooley. What does your Discovery Channel say?”
“It says there are some monogamous species, like hornbills, gibbons and beavers, and others that are not, like the red-winged blackbird or the coquerel’s sifaka. They weren’t clear on humans, though, but when I look at this Jock Farnsworth and his wife, I’m inclined to think maybe not.”
“I guess it’s up to the people involved,” I said. “Marge and Tex certainly are monogamous, and happy to be, and so are Odelia and Chase.”
“Chase and Odelia aren’t married, though, right? So they can cheat on each other as much as they want.”
“The same principle applies, Dooley. And I don’t think Chase cheats on Odelia, or the other way around. I think they’re pretty faithful, even though they’re not married.”
“So… why do people get married, Max?”
“I guess because they want to tell the world they’re devoted to each other.”
“So why aren’t Chase and Odelia getting married? Aren’t they devoted to each other?”
“Yes, they are. I guess they haven’t found the time. Or the money. Getting married is expensive if you want to do it right, with a nice dress and a nice venue, and a nice meal to offer your guests.” Presumably, though, Odelia and Chase simply didn’t think it was all that important. After all, they were happy together, and that’s what counted. I wasn’t going to explain this to Dooley, though. It might take me down another rabbit hole.
We’d arrived at the main house, and, as is our habit, had entered through the kitchen door. It was a large house, but it didn’t take us more than a quick visit to that kitchen to determine that Jock and Grace Farnsworth weren’t the kind of people who kept cats or dogs. No food bowls present, and no scent of any pets lingered in the house either.
“I guess they’re not the pet-keeping kind,” I finally determined with a touch of disappointment. Hard to do one’s job if the people under investigation refuse to keep a pet.
“Maybe they have a pet parrot?” Dooley suggested. “Lots of rich people keep a pet parrot.”
“We would have smelled a parrot a mile away, Dooley,” I reminded him.
“I did smell something else,” he said now as we walked through the house, just in case we’d missed something. Going from room to room it became clear the house wasn’t just old, it smelled old, too, with that musty smell that old houses have. Not pleasant.
“What’s that, Dooley?”
“I smell chickens,” he said now, a testament to his powerful sense of smell.
“Now that you mention it, I think I smell chickens, too.”
“Well, Jock Farnsworth is the chicken wing king,” he said, “so he probably keeps those chickens close by just in case he needs their wings.”
I stared at my friend. For all his silly questions, he still surprises me with these flashes of intelligence. “Of course,” I said. “He must have his chicken sheds nearby. Let’s pay a visit, and maybe they’ll be able to tell us what’s going on with Grace disappearing.”