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But Chase looked like the kind of guy who would stand a fellow a chance, even when that fellow was a fly. And besides, the cop was so preoccupied with his do-or-die interview that he presumably wouldn’t even notice the fly observing the proceedings.

So Norm flew on down to the local police station like a bat out of hell, then straight in through the window and took up position in a corner of Chase’s office, ready for action.

And he didn’t have to wait long, for he’d only just arrived when the suspect was led in. Madame Solange, or Caprice Cooper as her real name apparently was, much to Norm’s disappointment, looked almost like a regular person. Gone were the flowing robes, and the low voice, even the smoky makeup. She now looked like any other young woman, one Norm wouldn’t give a second glance if he passed her on the street.

Not that he ever gave any human a second glance, unless they came after him with a fly swatter.

“Please take a seat, Miss Cooper,” said Chase.

“Mrs. Cooper,” the woman corrected him.

“Oh, that’s right,” said Chase, consulting a file on his desk. “Your husband is Geoff Cooper? Likes to call himself Wolf Moonblood?”

“Yes.”

“The owner of Circus Moonblood.”

Mrs. Cooper nodded, and glanced around a little uncomfortably.“So why am I here?”

“The thing is, Mrs. Cooper, that a number of complaints have been made.”

“Complaints? About me?”

“I’ll just run down the list, shall I? And you can tell me what you think.” And Chase read out the entire list of strange occurrences that had taken place of late, and stressed that each time the people it happened to had previously visited Madame Solange.

Solange shrugged.“I don’t know anything about that, Detective. Basically I just tell people what they want to hear, and they pay me very handsomely for the privilege.”

Chase sat back.“So you tell the people what they want to hear…”

“Yep. That’s my big trade secret. I hope you won’t blab about it,” she added with a half-smile.

“But… so how do you explain that people actually get what they want… but in evidently fraudulent ways?”

“No idea. I guess you’d have to ask them.”

“Take Dan Goory for instance,” said Chase. “He wants a certain model train, he tells you he wants this model train, you tell him he’llget his model train, and a couple of days later it arrives on his doorstep… stolen from a collector in Bridgeport. How do you explain that?”

“Simple. Mr. Goory wanted that train so badly he stole it. And now he’s blaming me.”

“Have you been to Bridgeport lately, Mrs. Cooper?”

“Nope. I’ve been right here in Hampton Cove since I arrived in town a week ago.”

“Where were you on the evening of the fifteenth at ten o’clock?”

“Like I said, I haven’t left town since I arrived—me and my husband.”

“Mr. Russ Mulling, the collector of this very valuable locomotive, claims to have been the victim of a burglary on that particular night. He even got a snapshot of one of the thieves.” The cop placed a picture in front of Madame Solange, who glanced at it without much interest.

Norm, who liked to do things properly, buzzed down from his hiding place, and did a quick flyby to get a closer look. M would want him to memorize all the details.

Madame Solange, or Caprice Cooper, frowned at him and even made to swat him! Luckily he was a trained spy fly, and managed to escape unscathed. The man in the picture was very large, had a crooked nose and cauliflower ears, and looked like a boxer. He also looked exactly like one of the three men who’d abducted Uncle Alec!

“I’ve never seen this man before in my life,” now said Solange.

“Or what about this man?” said Chase, and placed another picture next to the first one. “He was caught on CCTV leaving the Toyota dealership where Barry Billong works, after threatening Barry that he’d break his legs, arms and neck if he didn’t propose marriage to my colleague Officer Sarah Flunk.”

Once again Norm did a flyby, and this time he saw that this second man was the same man as the first man, the knowledge of which would have saved him a dangerous stunt, as once again Solange tried to slay him with a swatting motion of her hand!

“Like I said, I don’t know this man, have never seen this man, and have no idea why he would do such a thing,” said the fortune teller.

“Look, I’ll be blunt with you, Mrs. Cooper,” said Chase.

“I thought you already were being blunt, Detective Kingsley,” said the woman with a smile. She was charming, Norm thought. Very charming—and potentially deadly!

“You promise people the world, and then all of a sudden, and seemingly out of the blue, people get exactly what they asked for. Only it’s not the hand of Lady Luck making their dreams come true but this man and his associates. So that leads me to think—”

“That I run some kind of wish-fulfillment racket? Why would I do that, Detective? Why would I risk going to prison just to collect a measly fifty bucks from my clients? You’ll have to admit that doesn’t make any sense.”

Chase stared her down for a moment, but Solange easily held his gaze.