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“Which is where?”

“The playground. I’m to put the money in a plastic bag and put it in a nearby trashcan, then immediately walk away.”

Odelia nodded thoughtfully.“That doesn’t give us a lot of time.”

“I know. I think he’s doing it on purpose. Make sure I don’t have time to think this through, or to set up some kind of counter… initiative.”

“You know what? We’ll make sure that we’re ready for him.”

“He said no police.”

“Don’t worry. He won’t see us. The important thing to remember is that a blackmailer relies as much on his anonymity as he does on the secret he’s got on you, and the fear he can put into you. So when we know who he is, we’ve already won half the battle. At that point, if we want, we can confront him.”

“But won’t he simply start spreading rumors about me? Or whatever evidence he has of my real identity?”

“To be honest with you, Mrs. Bond, at this point I’m as much in the dark as you are. And I think we need to play this by ear, and the first step we can take right now is to make sure we know who we’re dealing with. Find out who this man is.”

The woman nodded.“Of course. You’re right.”

“Now let’s go over this again, only this time in more detail, and if you can give me your phone, and show me the number this person called you from, I think we can start to find out what we’re dealing with here.”

And as Mrs. Bond handed Odelia her phone, and they started making arrangements on how to handle this blackmailer, Dooley said,“I don’t think she’s had a facelift, Max.”

“And why is that, Dooley?” I said, ruminating on Mrs. Bond’s predicament.

“Can’t you see? Her nose is where it should be, and so is her mouth and all the rest.” He breathed a sigh of relief. “Imagine having to talk through your chin. That would be awkward, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, it most certainly would, Dooley,” I said with a smile.

Chapter 3

After Rosa Bond had left, Odelia had gone into her editor’s office, to talk the thing through. I could see from the expression on my human’s face that she wasn’t entirely comfortable with this latest assignment. And this is what she told Dan.

“She specifically asked me not to write about the blackmail,” she said. “So frankly I don’t see how this will work, Dan. I mean, she isn’t paying me, and the police department isn’t paying me for my time, but I still want to help. So how do we do this?”

“I’ll pay you for your time,” said Dan.

“But didn’t you hear what I just said? I won’t be able to use any of it for the paper. So what’s the point?”

“The point is that you will be helping a woman in need. And that’s all that matters.”

“But—”

“She can’t go to the police?”

“No. She doesn’t want to expose her kids to what happened nine years ago.”

Dan shrugged.“So you help her. And so what if we can’t use it for the paper? Sometimes we simply want to help people, Odelia. Because it’s the right thing to do.”

“But, Dan…”

“Do you think I haven’t hunted down stories and not been able to use any of it in the end—simply because people asked me not to print it? Of course I have!”

“I see.”

“Look, we’re reporters, and we’re in the business of looking for great stories. But because of our very specific skillset sometimes we’re able to do what the police can’t. And that’s fine. In fact that’s great.” He gave her an encouraging smile. “Now go out there and make an old man proud. Catch this blackmailer and make sure he never blackmails again.”

“You’re a very peculiar editor, Dan, has anyone ever told you that?”

“Oh, many people,” said the newspaperman with a grin. “I consider it a compliment.”

And as Odelia got on the phone to confer with her husband on how best to handle this situation that had cropped up, I decided to do a little digging into Rosa Bond’s past. Frankly I was intrigued, and curious to find out if the story had indeed played out the way she described it.

So I settled down with the tablet Odelia bought for us. Harriet and Brutus had left the office to take a little stroll and stretch their legs, so it was just Dooley and me.

It didn’t take long for us to hit on several news stories describing the events as they’d transpired nine years ago in the fair city of Wilmington, North Carolina. Rosa’s name had indeed been Wendy Atcheson back then, happily married to Clive Atcheson, branch manager of the Capital First Bank. Untilthe day the man had absconded with the entire contents of his vault, and subsequently run off to Mexico with his secretary Janice Schiller. The total haul of the criminal couple had been a cool five million. Not a bad sum if you wanted to live the good life down South, where cost of living is modest, and it’s easy to fly under the radar with your illegally acquired nest egg. The fact that he had to leave his wife and kids behind didn’t seem to have bothered the banker too much, for he’d never been seen or heard from since, and even though the case had never been officially closed, andhe was still a wanted man there hadn’t been a new development for the past nine years.