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“What are the chances that Dominic Careen is one of the men who robbed Morro& Wissinski?” said Chase. “He clearly has a grudge against the two men. So what if he and his wife decided that it must have been Jona Morro who killed Poppy? And so after waiting all those years in vain they finally decided to take justice into their own hands and killed Morro? I mean, the way he died speaks volumes, don’t you think?”

“Is it possible that the car that killed Morro is the same car that killed Poppy Careen?” asked Uncle Alec. “Can you look into that, Chase?”

“I doubt it,” said Chase. “The guy would be an idiot to string up a car used in a hit and run.”

“From what I hear, Jona Morro was a pretty cocky fellow. And as I remember, all five of those kids were convinced they could do whatever they wanted and get away with it. So maybe Morro decided to string up that car as a statement.”

“Statement of what?” asked Chase.

“To tell the world: you can’t touch me. I’m above the law.”

“If he’s the guy that killed Poppy, his crime finally caught up with him.”

“I’ll have another chat with Kristina and Dominic,” said Odelia.

“And this time I’m coming with you,” said Chase, and he wasn’t taking no for an answer.

“Do you think that Dominic and Rick Careen are the two men who killed Jona Morro and knocked out Omar Wissinski, Max?” asked Dooley.

“I don’t know, Dooley, but it certainly warrants looking into.”

“If they did kill Mr. Morro, do you think the judge will be very lenient with them? They did what the police couldn’t do, after all: find justice for Poppy.”

“It’s not up to ordinary citizens to go out and kill people, Dooley. What if Jona Morro had nothing to do with Poppy’s death? Then the wrong person was killed today.”

“But what if it was him?”

“Then they should have told Odelia what kind of evidence they had, and she could have done something about it.”

“Poor Odelia,” said Dooley, as he studied our human. “Maybe we should tell her to stay home and rest. She is pregnant, after all. It’s not good for the baby, Max. She’s putting herself at risk.”

“I think you’ll find that it’s very hard for anyone to stop Odelia from doing exactly what she wants to do, Dooley. Not even us.”

“Maybe Chase can talk to her? He is the baby’s dad, after all. He should look after its health, and the health of its mother.”

“I’m sure Odelia is fine,” I said reassuringly. “And besides, Chase is with her. He’ll watch out for her. And when he’s not around, we are also there, Dooley. We can protect her.”

A dangerous glint had come into Dooley’s eyes. “This will be our mission from now on, Max. We’ll protect Odelia and her baby with tooth and claw!”

“Um, okay,” I said. “Though maybe less of the tooth and claw for now. A calm and soothing environment is also important for an expecting mother.”

“Then she shouldn’t go out and investigate murders, Max!”

And we were right back where we started. These circular arguments were a given with Dooley. Tough to convince him of anything. He kept returning to his original statement, no matter what I said. In that sense he was almost as stubborn as Odelia. Then again, we were her cats, after all. So maybe we took after her? Or did she take after us?

Chapter 8

We were back at the Careen place, only this time Dominic had joined his wife on the big couch, and son Rick stood behind it, as if reluctant to take a seat, lest he had to do a runner.

“It’s a simple question, Mr. Careen,” said Chase, who had taken the lead. “Did you or didn’t you blame Jona Morro for the death of your daughter?”

Dominic’s face spelled storm, but his wife did her best to be the peacekeeper. “Like I told Odelia this morning, we don’t know which of the five friends killed Poppy. All we know is that one of them must be responsible.”

“I knew it was Morro,” said Rick suddenly.

His mother turned to him.“Rick!”

“It’s all right, Mom. He’s dead now. And good riddance, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Why did you think it was Jona Morro?” asked Odelia.

“I asked around, and Morro used to visit the same club where I like to hang out a lot. He used to boast about his speed racing record. His family own a race car team, you see, and when he was young Jona wanted to become a race car driver. And he was pretty good, too. Said he loved racing, but what he loved even more was street racing. So one night he was boasting, and someone asked him why he’d stopped street racing, if he loved it so much. He said there had been an incident, and someone was killed, so his dad made him stop. From that moment he was only allowed to race on the track anymore, not the street.” He shrugged. “It told me all I needed to know. He’s the one who killed Poppy, all right.”

“We can’t be sure, Rick,” said his mom. “He was just boasting.”

“I don’t think so. He was telling the truth.”

“Why didn’t you report this?” asked Chase.

“It would have been my word against his, wouldn’t it? And that slippery bastard would have walked. Again.”

“So you decided to take the law into your own hands, is that what you’re saying?”