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“We work with Odelia Poole,” Dooley explained helpfully. “She’s an investigator and a reporter. She helps out the police from time to time when they’re stuck. She’s very smart.”

“Yeah, right. A bunch of loser cats helping a nosy parker journo solve crime. Where have I heard that before?”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “But did I hear your owner call you Princess?”

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out,” he growled.

“But… isn’t Princess a female name?”

“I am a female,” he snarled. “Can’t you tell?”

Frankly I couldn’t, but I was prepared to be broad-minded. “So, Princess, can you tell us some more about this theory of yours? Burt Goldsmith was murdered, you say?”

He—or she—was reluctant, I could tell, but finally the desire to confide in someone won out. “Someone was after him, all right. Shadow used to say they were all after Burt.”

“All?”

“All the interesting men. His competitors. All except one, of course. The Most Compelling Man in the World. My human.” She stuck out her chest. “Curt wouldn’t hurt a fly. He’s the greatest. And the most compelling, of course.”

“Of course,” I said graciously.

“You look like a male,” Dooley said abruptly. He’d been studying the black cat closely.

“I was born a male,” Princess explained gruffly. “But then I decided I was a female. What’s it to you, you insensitive bozo?”

“Just curious, I guess,” said Dooley, not insulted in the least.

“I always felt like a female trapped inside a male body. Do you have any idea what that does to a cat? No, of course you don’t, you ignoramus. Well, take your judgments and shove them up your keister, will you?”

“What’s a keister?” asked Dooley, interested.

“Never mind,” I said, intent on steering the conversation back to safer ground. “Do you have any idea where we can find Shadow? We’d like to ask her some questions.”

“If they’re as dumb as the ones you’ve been asking me I don’t know if I should tell you,” Princess grumbled irritably, darting furious glances at Dooley.

“We would be most grateful,” I said. “Not to mention that if we find out who did this to Burt, our human—who, as I explained, works with the police—would help clear your human from any suspicion.”

Princess frowned, working this over in her mind.“Okay, yeah, I’ll bite,” she said finally. “Last time I saw Shadow she was running for that door over there. This was moments after the explosion. She came shooting out of Philippe Goldsmith’s room, Burt’s grandson.”

I glanced at the door Princess indicated. It was the same door Dooley and I had entered through. The fire escape. Like the cats at Vena’s had speculated, Princess must have been spooked by the explosion and fled in a panic. She literally could be anywhere right now.

“Thank you so much,” I said. “You’ve been a great help, Princess.”

“Don’t mention it,” she said gruffly.

“You have a pee-pee, though, right?” asked Dooley, still mulling things over.

“Are you insane?!” yelled Princess. “Or just plain stoopid?!”

“I think it’s time we moved on,” I told Dooley, giving him a nudge.

“I’m just curious,” said Dooley. “I never met a male female before. Or a female male.”

“Get out of my face, dumbbell!” Princess bellowed. “I’m done talking to you haters!”

“Thank you, sir,” said Dooley automatically as he turned to walk away.

The stream of vituperative language that followed was not something I’m prepared to repeat. Suffice it to say there were some very colorful statements made, and I picked up quite a few words I’d never heard before. Judging from Dooley’s ears turning red and his face screwing up in surprise, he hadn’t heard them before either. Then again, that’s not saying much.

Just then, the doors to the elevator opened and Chase and Odelia stepped out.

Chapter 14

“So why did you want to meet here?” asked Odelia as Chase greeted her in the lobby of the Hampton Cove Star.

“I know how eager you must be to start interviewing suspects and tracking down leads, Poole, so I thought we might pool our resources.”

“Poole—pool. I see what you did there.”

He grinned.“I thought it was clever.”

“But I thought you hadn’t decided whether this was an accident or not?”

He sobered.“The fire marshals are still working on their report, but their preliminary findings suggest a highly explosive substance was used that could not have been present in the room under normal circumstances.” He paused for effect. “Nitroglycerin features high on their list of suspected explosives.”

She frowned.“Nitroglycerin? Do people still use that stuff?”

“It’s still used in the mining, quarrying, demolition and construction industries. It’s the active explosive in dynamite. Used for drilling highway and railroad tunnels. Things like that. There’s also an important medical application for the stuff, apparently. To treat certain heart conditions like angina pectoris and chronic heart failure.”

“You’ve been reading up on your Wikipedia.”