0aeaa1e36e6f2e625b6ba8d48f773062

Chapter 11

Just as Odelia left Mr. Knight’s office, she almost bumped into a familiar figure.

“Odelia Poole!” said the man, who was none other than Jared Zmuda, owner and proprietor of the Triple Platinum Gym—her very own club. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Hey, Jared,” she said.

“Gone to see the big guy, have you?” he said, pointing to the door of the office she’d just left.

“Yeah, I needed to see him about… something.” Even though she’d known the fitness club owner for a long time, she didn’t feel comfortable discussing her personal business with the guy.

He didn’t seem to have any such qualms, though, for he said, “I’m going to take out a loan. I’m going to expand the club. Build a second club and then possibly a third and a fourth.”

“Expanding, huh? That’s great news, Jared,” she said, and meant it, too. If business was going well that meant that the club was in Hampton Cove to stay, which was good for everybody.

“Yeah, I figured why not start a chain of clubs, you know? Maybe even a franchise. Put my name on the marquee.” He opened the file folder he was carrying and showed her a design for a logo. It was a stylized version of his face. “Pretty cool, huh?”

“Nice,” she said. “I hope they approve your application.”

“I’m sure they will,” he said. “The guy who went over the loans is gone, you know. Offed himself. And the one who’s taken over is much more lenient. Or so I’ve been told.”

The door to Mr. Knight’s office opened and the same secretary who’d ushered Odelia in before now gestured for Jared to step in.

“See you, Odelia,” the club manager said with a grin, then took a deep breath, and entered the inner sanctum of the First Financial Crest’s man up top.

[Êàðòèíêà: img_3]

Vesta and Scarlett were eyeing the house where Dino Wimmer had died the night before. Standing on the sidewalk across the street, Vesta felt it was a good idea first to get a feel for the neighborhood before they started their canvassing.

“Fancy place,” said her friend. Scarlett was dressed in her usual attire: ultra-short jeans skirt, high heels, and a crop top that didn’t leave much to the imagination. Vesta, on the other hand, was dressed in her regular tracksuit, this one of the blue variety with pink stripe.

She pressed her glasses higher up the bridge of her nose and nodded.“Bankers,” she said, spitting out the word as if it had personally insulted her. “They’re swimming in money. Don’t know what to do with it. Meanwhile the rest of us are working our asses off to keep a roof over our heads.”

“I think Tex is working his ass off to keep a roof overyour head,” Scarlett pointed out.

“Smart-ass,” Vesta grumbled, but the smile on her lips indicated she took her friend’s comment in stride.

“So how do you want to do this?” asked Scarlett.

“We’ll ask the neighbors if they saw something last night,” said Vesta. “This killer, whoever he is, must have come and gone, and it stands to reason he’s not the invisible man, so someone is bound to have seen something.”

And they were just crossing the street preparatory to ringing the bell of Baldwin Street number 46 when her phone chimed. She took it out and glared at the display for a moment before barking into the gadget,“We’re in position and are about to launch into our investigation—over!”

“You don’t have to say over, Gran,” Odelia said. “This isn’t a walkie-talkie.”

“I know that,” she said as she nodded a greeting to a woman walking out of number 46 and giving Scarlett a startled look.

“I think I just found our first suspect,” said Odelia.

“Oh? Who is it?”

“Dino Wimmer had recently turned down the loan application of a guy named Leo Kemp, local real estate mogul. I just talked to Dino’s business partner at the bank, and there’s every chance the loan is going through now that Dino’s gone.”

“Great motive for murder,” said Vesta approvingly.

“I’m sending you two pictures. One is Leo Kemp, the other Romney Knight—the business partner. So if you can show these pictures to the neighbors? Ask them if they’ve seen either of these guys hanging around the house in the last couple of days. I’m sending you the pictures now.”

“Will do,” said Vesta, and disconnected. “We’ve got our first suspect,” she said. “Fat cat who wanted to become even richer and found Dino standing in his way.” She quickly checked the pictures Odelia had sent her and showed them to Scarlett. Romney Knight looked like a taller, square-faced Wolf Blitzer and Leo Kemp was a big, burly individual with white hair and thick-framed glasses. He looked like Cary Grant had looked in the eighties.

“Handsome devil,” said Scarlett.

“Moneyand good looks. Some guys have all the luck,” Vesta muttered, and set foot for their first target of the day.

Chapter 12