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“Yeah. Trudy and Jasper are staying at my place. They’re leaving on Monday.”

“I’m going to need Jasper to do me a big favor.”

“Anything.”

And as Odelia explained the nature of this favor, I could tell that her plan was going to work out beautifully. And this time there would be no Kimberly to steal her scoop, or ruin her carefully laid-out plans.

Chapter 31

“I don’t get it,” Harriet said not for the first time. “What do you think is going to happen?”

“Just you wait and see,” I told her.

“This better be good,” Brutus grumbled. “I skipped a meal for this nonsense.”

“Oh, it will be good,” I said. Or at least I hoped it would be.

“It’s going to be a very big good deed,” Dooley announced. “In fact it will be a good deed so big it will be the equivalent of a thousand small good deeds, which would make me the winner of the Good Deed of the Year contest.”

“Is there a Good Deed of the Year contest?” I asked, surprised.

“I’m sure there is. It’s awarded at the same time as the Cub Scout of the Year award. And I’m sure that this year I’m going to win both awards.”

“Like we’ve all explained to you about a million times already, Dooley,” said Harriet, “only humans can be cub scouts.”

“But why would they call them cubs?” Dooley asked. “A human can’t possibly be a cub. It’s a contradiction of worms.”

“It might be a contradiction interms but that doesn’t mean it isn’t so,” I said. “And now could you all please be quiet. The show is about to start.”

“This better be good,” Brutus grumbled again.

We were all seated in the backyard of Grace Ojala, Daphne Wimmer’s good friend and fellow Avon lady, staring intently through the window into the woman’s living room. You would have thought that Grace would have noticed four cats staring into the house but we made sure only our heads were visible, and even then were ready to duck back down in case she glanced in our direction.

As it was, though, she appeared far too busy checking her phone to notice the feline contingency watching her every move.

Suddenly we could hear the sound of the doorbell and Mrs. Ojala practically jumped a foot in the air.

“Jumpy, isn’t she?” said Harriet, darting a curious look in my direction.

“Yeah, she is,” I confirmed.

The woman quickly got up and hurried to open the door, and moments later we watched as Daphne Wimmer walked in, looking visibly perturbed. Her face was flushed and her hair looked as if she’d been dragging her hands through it.

“You can’t do this, Grace,” said Daphne without preamble. “You’re supposed to be my friend!”

“Can’t do what?” asked Grace, clearly surprised by this outburst.

“This!” said Daphne, and brandished her phone in her friend’s face.

“I don’t understand,” said Grace.

“Your so-called confession! Why are you doing this to me, Grace? You know I was with Jared that night—I told you. I wasn’t anywhere near the house.”

“What are you talking about? What confession?”

“Oh, don’t act dumb with me!” Daphne cried, rounding on her friend. “I understand you want to have a clear conscience, but not at my expense!”

“But… I don’t understand!” Grace said.

“The video! The one you’ve sent to the cops—unless you haven’t sent it yet?” she added hopefully.

“What video? I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

“This video!” said Daphne, and started playing a video on her phone.

Grace stared at it, then said,“But… that isn’t me.”

“Oh, don’t bullshit me, Grace!” Daphne burst out. “Have you sent this video to the cops or not—it’s a simple question and I want a straight answer. Yes or no?”

“No! Of course I didn’t send any video to the police.”

Daphne seemed to relax a little at this. She planted her hands on her hips and said,“Really, Grace—I can understand your conscience suddenly acting up. What with Rose being arrested. But there’s no reason for you to talk to the police. Besides, you know what they’ll do to you, right? You lied to them. You falsely supplied me with an alibi for the night of Dino’s murder. You do know that lying to the police is a punishable offense, don’t you? You’ll go to prison.”

“But… I just told them what you told me to say,” said Grace, still staring at the video on her friend’s phone. “You said you spent the night with Jared, and I believed you. You asked me to say that you were here and I did. To protect your reputation and your relationship with Rose.”

“Good. Fine. Then we understand each other.” Daphne wagged a menacing finger in Grace’s face. “So not a word from you. Not a peep. And no more video confessions!”

“I don’t understand this,” Grace lamented, gesturing with the phone. “I never made this video. I swear, Daphne. I didn’t!”

Daphne gave her friend a strange look.“You know, it just dawned on me that you’re the only person in the world who can still make trouble for me. The only one.”

Grace simply looked at her friend, her mouth opening and closing.

“You haven’t been very happy lately, have you, Grace? In fact when the police ask me I’d have to say you’ve been feeling really low.”

“But, Daphne!”