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I hadn’t thought that far. It was indeed the same girl whose phone had been inundated with obscene photographs whose dad now apparently had taken his own life. Somehow I doubted whether there was a connection between these two phenomena, though. Then again, you never know.

It only took Chase ten minutes to arrive at the house where Odelia’s friend lived. It was a nice big mansion, located in one of the leafy suburbs our small town boasts. And when we drove up to the front door, Chase parking his car in the paved courtyard, a young girl came hurrying out. Her face was teary, and she looked visibly distraught.

“Oh, Odelia,” she sobbed, and Odelia quickly enveloped her in a comforting embrace.

Chase, meanwhile, wasted no time entering the house. In the distance an ambulance siren could be heard, the one Odelia had called the moment we’d stepped in the car and set off on our nocturnal journey across town.

Dooley and I joined the cop and traced him through several well-lit rooms until finally we arrived in what was obviously Rose’s dad’s home office. Slumped in his chair behind a desk sat a large man, his chin resting on his chest. A desk lamp cast its light on his face, which had an eerie grayish tinge. His eyes were closed, and he looked peaceful. Too peaceful.

“Is he dead?” asked Dooley.

“I think so,” I said as we watched Chase carefully pressing his finger into the man’s neck.

“He looks like he’s sleeping,” Dooley said.

But Chase shook his head.“He’s dead, all right,” he murmured as his experienced cop eyes started taking in the scene.

“Poor man,” said Dooley. “He probably worked too hard. Working too hard will kill you.”

Odelia had entered the room, and joined her boyfriend in examining the banker’s office.

“There’s a note,” said Chase, drawing Odelia’s attention to a document on the desk.

Odelia leaned in, careful not to touch anything, and quickly scanned the document.

“What does it say?” I asked.

“It’s a suicide note,” said Odelia. “He says he’s sorry but that he can’t go on living like this. That he made a mess of things etcetera etcetera.”

“Poor guy,” I said. “Looks like you were right, Dooley. He worked too hard and couldn’t take the strain anymore.”

Just then, Rose came streaking into the room, still looking highly distraught.“The ambulance is here. Do you think they’ll be able to save him?”

“I’m afraid not,” said Odelia softly. She walked over to the girl, who stood staring at the inert figure of her dad with a strained expression on her face. Odelia placed her hands on the girl’s arms and said, “I’m afraid he’s gone, Rose. Your father is gone.”

She nodded, and tears slid down her cheeks.“Did you read the note?”

“I did,” said Odelia.

“I don’t believe it,” said Rose. “He would never do that to me—never.”

“I know,” said Odelia, and hugged the girl close again.

But Rose shook off Odelia’s embrace and said, with emphasis, “I mean it. Daddy would never kill himself. Never.” She then swept up two large tear-filled eyes to Odelia and said, emphatically, “He was murdered, Odelia. Murdered!”

Chapter 4

Odelia glanced around the office where Rose’s father had taken his own life. She could see nothing that would indicate murder. Next to the note the man had left stood an empty pill bottle.

“Sleeping tablets,” Chase said, following her gaze. Next to the pill bottle was a glass, also empty.

Odelia glanced up at Rose, who’d taken a seat in the corner of her dad’s office. “Does this house have an alarm system, Rose?”

“It does,” said Rose.

“Was it on?”

Rose nodded.“Daddy always made sure the alarm was on.”

“The front door? It was locked?”

“Yes. I know what you’re thinking. If the door was locked and the alarm was on, how can anyone have entered the house and murdered my dad. But I’m telling you that’s what must have happened. It just must have.”

“All right,” said Odelia. “We don’t have to talk about that now.” She crossed the room and joined the young woman just as Odelia’s uncle walked in, along with the coroner Abe Cornwall. “We better go and sit in the kitchen,” said Odelia as she escorted Rose out of the room. “So it’s just you and your dad, right? No one else in the house?”

They’d arrived in a large and well-appointed kitchen and Odelia opened the fridge to see if she could find something to heat up and give to the highly distraught Rose.

“Daphne is doing one of her party weekends,” said Rose, staring before her with unseeing eyes. “She left yesterday morning and is staying with a friend of hers—also an Avon lady.”

“Did you call her? To tell her what happened?”

Rose looked up at her with those big blue eyes.“No. You think I should?”

Odelia gave the girl a level look.

“Oh, all right, I’ll call her,” said Rose, and left the kitchen.