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“Maybe because of the words ‘Fire Alarm’ printed right next to the button?” Odelia suggested, still looking a little irate. And I didn’t wonder. The entire venue had quickly emptied out, and the owner hadn’t been too happy when he’d discovered from studying the CCTV images that Dooleyhad been the one to trip the alarm. He’d of course recognized Dooley as being Odelia’s—by now all of Hampton Cove probably knew that Dooley and myself belonged to the town’s number-one reporter—and had told Odelia in no uncertain terms what he thought of this stunt.

“I just wanted to make that little girl happy,” Dooley said. “So I jumped. I hit it on the first try, too.”

“Well, you made one little girl happy and about a thousand people who couldn’t finish watching their movie very unhappy,” said Odelia, “so what do you think about your little stunt now, Dooley? Was it worth it?”

“No, it wasn’t,” he said quietly.

“So please don’t ever do it again, all right?”

“I won’t do it again, Odelia.”

“What’s the deal with these good deeds anyway?”

“Dooley saw a documentary about the Boy Scouts of America,” I explained.

“The Cub Scouts of America,” Dooley interjected.

“TheBoy Scouts of America,” I insisted, “and it inspired him to try and do good deeds so he can become a boy scout himself. Gran encouraged him. Made him take a pledge.”

“If everybody would do a good deed a day the world would be a better place,” Dooley said.

In spite of herself Odelia had to smile at this, though she quickly suppressed the smile lest she appear too lenient in the face of this stunt having backfired to a great degree.“Though I admire the sentiment, you need to think before you act, Dooley,” she said.

For a few moments, silence reigned, then Dooley said,“Do you think I should stop doing good deeds?”

“No, I don’t think you should stop doing good deeds. I think you should use your head next time you see an opportunity to do a good deed. Or better yet, ask Max.”

“Ask Max?”

“Ask Max, and if he says it’s all right you can go ahead and do whatever good deed you like. Do we have an understanding, Dooley?”

“Yes, Odelia,” he said meekly.

“What did Rose’s boyfriend tell you?” I asked, deciding that perhaps changing the subject was the best way to leave this embarrassing episode behind us.

“He thinks that Dino Wimmer killed himself and that Rose is kidding herself when she thinks he didn’t. He thinks the First Financial Crest was in financial trouble and when Dino realized he couldn’t salvage the bank he took the easy way out.”

“A lot of people seem to think that Dino Wimmer killed himself,” I pointed out. “Dino’s wife, Dino’s former business partner, Uncle Alec…”

“Yeah, so far only Rose seems to believe a different story,” said Odelia with a frown. “And my dad. But unfortunately I haven’t discovered any evidence to the contrary.”

“There does seem to be an issue with the loan Dino refused to give this real estate mogul,” I pointed out, referring to Odelia’s talk with Romney Knight she’d just now told us all about. “So at least we’ve got one man with a motive to get rid of Mr. Wimmer.”

“Two,” said Odelia. “Romney Knight seemed very eager to do business with Leo Kemp. In fact he could hardly wait to approve the guy’s loan application.”

“Have you found out who sent that picture of a sausage to Rose?” asked Dooley, a little timidly because of the dressing-down he’d just received.

“No, I haven’t,” said Odelia with a smile. “Uncle Alec sent it to some cybercrime people to look at. Though I think that’s probably the least of Rose’s worries right now.”

We’d arrived home and got out of the car. Walking into the house, I made a beeline for my food bowl. Being out and about all morning had really made me famished, and it was only after I’d sufficiently restored my strength that I was ready to devote my attention to other, more cerebral things oncemore. Like listening in on the conversation Odelia was having with Gran, who’d dutifully filed into the house to deliver her report.

“… and so it looks like this car is the only lead we have at the moment,” Gran was saying.

“But no details on the car,” Odelia said, nodding.

“Just that it was a fancy car, whatever that means,” said Gran.

Chase had also arrived home, and was following the impromptu meeting with rapt attention.“If you want I can look into that for you,” he said. “There are some traffic cameras set up at the intersection near the Wimmer home. If you can tell me when that car is supposed to have left, it’s not hard to figure out when it should have arrived at that traffic light and should have beenpicked up by those cameras.”

Odelia’s face lit up with the light of hope. “You can do that?”

“Oh, sure. No sweat.”

“Thanks, Chase.”

“It’s a long shot,” said Gran, “but as the saying goes, it’s all we’ve got right now.”

Harriet and Brutus walked in through the pet flap, and it didn’t escape my attention that Harriet still looked a little annoyed.