7c6cdd7d45cb035b54aafd3ac9eb9cc8

“Let me try,” said Chase, and put his shoulder against the door. It didn’t budge. “Call an ambulance,” he said. “I’ll see if I can get in through the back.”

Odelia did as he said, and moments later the door swung open and Chase appeared, twigs in his hair and looking slightly out of breath.“Had to climb a tree,” he explained. “Bathroom window was open. I think I might have stepped on a rubber duck, though.”

They both entered and approached the figure lying in a crumpled heap on the floor. Her neck was at an awkward angle, and even before Chase pressed his fingers to her throat to find a pulse, Odelia knew the girl was dead.

“Oh, heck,” she said, sitting back on her haunches. “What’s going on, Chase? This is the third death in two days, and all of them connected.”

“She could have fallen down the stairs,” he said, but Odelia shook her head.

“Too much of a coincidence, wouldn’t you say? First she provides a witness statement fingering Dan for murder, and then she falls to her death less than an hour later? Something isn’t right.”

Chase glanced around, then looked past Odelia and got up.“Ma’am,” he called out, and Odelia watched him jog across the street.

She just wished she’d brought her cats along. They might have been able to sniff out some clues. And as if they’d been reading her mind, just then Max and Dooley tripped inside through the open door.

“We decided to follow you,” Max explained.

“We like Dan, and we don’t want you to lose your job,” Dooley added.

“What happened here?” Max asked.

“She fell down the stairs,” Odelia said.

“Fell or was pushed?” Max asked immediately, showing he was no fool.

Odelia shrugged.“I was hoping you could tell me.”

Chase had returned.“Lady across the street just told me the weirdest thing. Said she saw Daisy enter the house this morning, then walk in again two hours later, only she never saw her leave.”

“Of course not. She fell down the stairs.”

“No, before that. She walked in, and then she walked in again.”

Odelia frowned, then shook her head.“Wait, what?”

“She said she saw Daisy enter the house at eight, after going for her morning run, which the neighbor, whose name is Mrs. Smithers, by the way, says she did every day, rain or shine. And then she saw her enter the house again at nine thirty. Only she says she never saw her leave between eight andnine thirty.”

“What does that mean?”

Chase grinned.“It means Mrs. Smithers is a nosy parker, but an imperfect one. Even nosy parkers have to go the bathroom from time to time, right? They can’t all be seated in front of the window all the time.”

Odelia nodded. In the distance, the sound of an ambulance could be heard. Max and Dooley had returned from their brief perusal of the house.“No pets,” Max announced.

“No mice either,” said Dooley, bringing a smile to Odelia’s face in spite of the circumstances.

“Which means no witnesses,” she murmured.

“Nothing from your cats?” asked Chase, who was used to Odelia’s special relationship with her cats by now.

“Nope, nothing.”

“There is a very strong scent of Maria Power hanging all over the house, though,” said Max. “But that can easily be explained.” He gestured to the stairs. “The woman had a regular shrine to the actress in one of the upstairs rooms.”

Odelia nodded and headed up the stairs. She took a left turn, as Max indicated, and was surprised to find a room completely filled with Maria Power paraphernalia: movie posters, pictures, cups and saucers with her likeness… and a hat once worn by the actress.

“Another Maria Power fan,” she said.

“Yep,” said Max, who’d followed her in. “That name keeps cropping up.”

“I think we better pay a visit to Maria Power herself. Somehow this entire case seems to revolve around her.”

“And gnomes,” said Max. “Don’t forget about the gnomes.”

Chapter 22

All the way to the house of Maria Power, silence hung like a wet blanket over the car. In the backseat, as usual, Dooley and myself. Behind the wheel: Chase, with Odelia riding shotgun. In a second car, following right behind us, was Uncle Alec, who didn’t want to miss this chance to meet the one and only Maria Power for the world.

Odelia and Chase, too, were, judging by the silence, deeply impressed by this unique opportunity to talk to the reclusive actress, who was pretty much an icon in the acting world.

To be absolutely honest it wasn’t meeting the iconic legend of the silver screen I was looking forward to as much as her cats, which I sincerely hoped she owned. But even more than Miss Power’s cats it was their kibble I hoped to lay my paws on. Apart from the nuggets of food Kingman had awarded us, I hadn’t eaten all morning, since the mice had stolen our food, and my belly was making its displeasure known loud and clear.

“I’m hungry,” said Dooley, showing he felt exactly the same way about our upcoming visit.

“Yeah, we really need to fix those mice,” I said. “If this goes on much longer I’ll starve.”