Suzy nodded.“She thinks the Duchess doesn’t appreciate her. She also says the Duke was much better off without her, and I always tell her that’s a lie. The Duke has finally become a man. Before, he was just a boy. A very silly boy.” She smiled “And now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go check on theothers.”
“Of course,” said Odelia. “Thanks, Suzy. And don’t worry. Whatever you tell me stays between us, all right?”
Suzy gave her a quick nod and then scooted off, obviously embarrassed about the things she’d allowed herself to divulge to a total stranger.
Odelia turned to Chase.“So the cook, huh?”
“It’s always the cook that did it,” he said laconically. “Or is it the butler?”
Chapter 10
Dooley and I were sneaking down the corridor. We were on a mission—a mission of the utmost importance. I was feeling like one of those soldiers who are tasked with the smuggling of important letters or instructions across enemy lines. Only the enemy lines in this particular place weren’t that easy to pinpoint. The enemy was an unknown, and he or she could strike at any moment. I, for one, couldn’t understand how Tessa could remain so calm under the circumstances. If someone was trying to kill me by dropping stones on my head and poisoning my tea I’d probably freak out and run for the hills.
But here she was, bravely staying put and facing her attacker.
We finally arrived at Tessa and Dante’s room, and I saw we were in luck: the door was ajar. So we snuck inside and proceeded into the room. Like Odelia’s and Chase’s, this had once been the province of a single staff member, and had since been turned into spacious and comfortable lodgings for the royal couple. A connecting door led to what I assumed was the nursery, as I could hear baby noises. Tessa and Dante were in there, a TV playing in the bedroom.
The target of our mission wasn’t present, though—or at least not as far as I could tell from a first cursory examination of the room. And then I saw him—or her? Fluffy was lounging in an overstuffed chair, intently watching the screen, where the news of the day was playing. An earthquake in Turkey, an oil spill in the Gulf, and war in West-Africa. Not much news on the news.
“Psst,” I whispered.
“Psst,” Dooley echoed.
“Hey. You. Dog.”
“Fluffy!”
The English bulldog looked down and studied us with interest.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“As you can see I’m working on my general education. What’s up with you? And why are you whispering?”
“We wanted to have a quick word before everyone retired for the night.”
“Oh, of course. What do you want to talk about? The weather? The economy? Or would you prefer some gossip hot from the gossip mill?”
“I’ll have some gossip hot from the gossip mill please,” said Dooley.
“Please be quiet, Dooley,” I said. “Let me handle the negotiations.”
“Oh, all right,” Dooley said, and plunked himself down in front of the TV.
“I don’t know if anybody has told you this,” I began, “but Odelia is not actually a cousin of Tessa’s. In fact they’re no relation at all.”
“Oh?” said the dog, visibly intrigued by this denouement.
“Odelia is an amateur sleuth, and Chase is a cop. They’re here to investigate an incident that took place when a rock almost fell on top of Tessa.”
“By the way,” said Dooley. “Are you a boy or a girl, Fluffy?”
“A girl, of course. Can’t you tell?”
Dooley shook his head.“Not really.”
Subtlety has never been Dooley’s strong suit.
“Anyway,” I said, trying to get the conversation back on track. “So about that incident with the ball of stone dropping down from a great height…”
Fluffy shivered.“Oh, I was there. It was horrible. Absolutely ghastly.”
“I can only imagine. And the tea incident? Were you there for that as well?”
She nodded slowly.“How do you know about all this?”
“We have our sources,” said Dooley. “And I’m afraid they’re classified.”
“No, they’re not,” I said, hoping Dooley would stop sabotaging the investigation. “Our source is Angela. She and Tessa are trying to figure out what’s going on.”
“What’s going on is that someone is trying to murder my human, cat.”
“You can call me Max.”
“And I’m Dooley,” said Dooley, in case Fluffy hadn’t caught on.
“So… if your human is an amateur sleuth, does that make you cat sleuths?”
“That’s classified,” said Dooley.
“No, it’s not. Yes, we are cat sleuths. We help Odelia solve murders and other crimes. By going where no human has gone before.”
“Mars?”
“Places where humans don’t usually go, like back alleys, and the nooks and crannies where only strange creatures stir.” And strange dogs.
“You make it sound so exciting,” said Fluffy.
“Well, it is. And dangerous, of course,” I said. “You wouldn’t believe how many dangers my fellow cats and I have braved to help our dear human.”
Okay, so maybe I was laying it on a bit thick, but I like to think I was doing it in service of my mission: to get this mutt’s full participation.
“So what do you want me to do?” Fluffy asked.
“I want you to think hard and tell me who might be behind these attacks.”
She thought hard, judging from the wrinkles on her face—well, more wrinkles than usual, I mean.
“The stone,” I said when nothing seemed forthcoming. “Think back to that stone dropping. Did you see anyone on the roof? Pushing that stone down?”
She shook her head, eyes squeezed tightly shut now.“I only had eyes for my human, and that horrible stone that nearly crushed her to death.”
“So you didn’t look up?”
She shook her head again.
“What about the tea?”
“What about the tea?”
“Do you like tea?” asked Dooley.
“Not particularly, no,” said the dog.
“Oh. I thought, you being English and all, you’d love tea.”
“Dooley,” I said warningly.
“Just establishing Fluffy’s frame of mind,” said Dooley.
I tamped down a groan.“Tessa was given a cup of tea laced with Belladonna. Do you have any idea who might have poured her that tea?”
“Cook,” Fluffy said instantly. “That’s the only person I can think of.”
Now we were getting somewhere.
“Who brought her the tea?”
“Suzy. The maid.”
“She could have dumped that poison in.”
“She seems like a nice person, this Suzy,” Dooley commented. “Just saying,” he added when I gave him a censorious look.
“She is nice,” Fluffy agreed. “Which is why she would never poison Tessa’s tea. Suzy is devoted to Tessa.”
“See?” said Dooley. “She has a nice face. Not the face of a killer.”
“And how would you know what a killer’s face looks like?” I asked.
“Killers are mean—they have mean faces. Suzy has a nice face.”
There was no arguing with Dooley, so I decided to ignore him.“What about this cook person?” I asked.
“Yes, well. Cook doesn’t like Tessa. Never has. Whenever I’m in the kitchen prancing around all she does is complain about Tessa. On and on it goes. Quite galling. Not at all pleasant to hear someone badmouth your human like that.”
“What does she say?”
“That Tessa is arrogant, thinks she knows best, always interferes with her work—Cook’s work, I mean. Tessa has very particular ideas about the food she eats. What she considers healthy choices. So she gives precise instructions what to cook for her and Dante. In fact she’s in the kitchen all the time, trying out new recipes, using the blender to make green smoothies for herself and her husband, experimenting with different ingredients and recipes.”
“And Cook doesn’t like that.”
“Oh, she hates it. Says she’s never worked for anyone as prissy and utterly demanding as Tessa, which I’m sure is simply not true.”
“Do you think she hates her enough to try and murder her?”