7c6cdd7d45cb035b54aafd3ac9eb9cc8

It felt a little strange for Odelia to go into the office that morning, in light of the previous day’s events. Not just the fact that a murder had been committed at the Gazette offices but that her boss had been accused and arrested for murder, before being released again.

When she arrived, Dan was already in his office. When she entered, after a perfunctory knock on the doorjamb—his door was always open—she found him sitting behind his desk, staring into space. When he saw her, he seemed to wake up from his stupor and gave her a pained smile.

“Hey, honey. No dead bodies today, I’m happy to announce.”

“And a good thing, too,” she said, returning his smile. She took a seat in front of his desk. “How are you holding up?”

He looked pale and gaunt, and much older than his years. Dan wasn’t a young man but he seemed to have aged considerably these past twenty-four hours.

“Hanging in there,” he said. “Can you imagine that Wilbur Vickery gave me the stink eye this morning? And Blanche Captor and Ida Baumgartner even crossed the street when they saw me coming. Like a leper,” he said with more than a hint of bitterness.

“I’m sure it’ll all pass soon,” she said soothingly. “As soon as the real killer is caught they’ll be apologizing to you, I’m sure.”

“I’m not so sure. And what if the killer is never caught? You know what people are like. They’ll think I did it and they’ll give me a wide berth from now on.” He shook his head despondently. “What good is a reporter if no one will talk to him? You’ll have to take over the paper, Odelia. And I’ll have to retire in disgrace.”

“Don’t say things like that, Dan,” she said, her concern spiking. “I’m going to catch that killer if it’s the last thing I do, and your reputation will be just the way it was before: sterling.”

He gave her a half-smile.“I’m not sure it was ever sterling to begin with.”

“Oh, yes it is,” she said emphatically. “Now buck up and stop using the R word.”

He gave her a look of confusion.

“Retirement” she clarified with a smile.

“Oh, right.” He checked his watch. “I’m sorry but I have to go now. I have an important appointment I can’t miss.” And with these words he got up and walked out. He lingered by the door for a moment, and Odelia saw that he was staring at the spot where Heather Gallop’s body had lain. “When this is all over I think I’ll have this office completely remodeled,” he said. “I can’t work here without thinking about…” He swallowed. “Awful business. Absolutely awful,” he muttered, then tapped the doorjamb once and left.

Odelia walked over to her own office and started working on her article on the Maria Power retrospective. And she’d been working for about half an hour, smiling at some of the pictures she’d snapped of her uncle and Charlene Butterwick dressed up as gnomes, when suddenly her door flew open and Chase walked in. He was slightly out of breath.

“There’s been another murder,” he said without preamble. “Jack Warner. And this time Dan was caught red-handed.” He eyed her seriously. “I’m afraid he did it, babe. Your boss is officially a serial killer.”

[Êàðòèíêà: img_3]

Dooley and I were lounging on the sidewalk in front of Wilbur Vickery’s General Store, enjoying a few rays of sun on our fur, and some of the kibble Kingman had been so kind to wrangle up for us, when all hell broke loose across the street.

The Hampton Cove Star is our town’s boutique hotel, and home to visiting celebrities and other notables. Now it was also the scene of quite the ruckus, as police cars arrived in droves, and suddenly we could see Odelia and Chase hurry up and enter the hotel.

“Let’s go, Dooley,” I said immediately. “Something’s happened.”

“Oh, do we have to?” he asked, chewing on a piece of chicken kibble. He, too, was suffering from the strain the mice had imposed on our home and hearth.

But when he saw my expression, he immediately swallowed the piece of kibble whole and joined me in padding across the street, careful not to get pancaked by an overzealous driver.

We arrived there just as Odelia and Chase were standing around waiting for the elevator to heed their call, and Odelia smiled.“Just in time,” she said as she crouched down and tickled our necks. Then she grew serious, and whispered, “Keep your eyes peeled, you guys. Dan’s life depends on it.”

She didn’t offer any more information, but what she’d said sounded ominous enough to me.

We rode the elevator up in silence, and got off on the third floor. It soon became clear what had happened when we stepped into one of the rooms. There, lying on the floor, was Jack Warner, and he looked pretty dead to me. And right next to him… another garden gnome.

“It’s the garden gnome gang again!” Dooley cried. “First they steal the gnomes and then they use them to kill people!”