7c6cdd7d45cb035b54aafd3ac9eb9cc8

“Unless he dumped it,” Chase said. “On his way out of the hotel.”

Police had searched high and low for that phone, though, and hadn’t found it. So either Dan was the most cunning killer they’d ever met, or he wasn’t Jack’s killer at all, and had been framed. Again. Odelia was inclined to believe the latter, while her uncle and Chase were inclined to believe Dan wasn’t as innocent as he made out to be.

Uncle Alec leaned forward.“Look, “ he said, addressing his niece, “the only evidence about this UPS guy is a cat. A cat who could be mistaken.”

“I don’t think Buster is mistaken,” said Odelia.

Uncle Alec heaved a sigh.“I don’t believe I’m asking this, but what do you know about this Buster? In your opinion, is he a reliable witness?”

“He’s one of Max’s main sources of information. Buster belongs to Fido Siniawski, and as a barber Fido manages to extract more confessions, confidences and gossip from people than any other person in town. And Buster is right there to listen to all of it. So you might say he’s one of the best-informed cats in Hampton Cove. So yes, if Buster says he saw a UPS man enter the office, you can bet that he did.”

Uncle Alec sat back in his chair, which creaked as he shifted his weight. In spite of the diet his new girlfriend had put him on, he still had a long way to go.“You’re putting me in a very tough spot here, honey,” he said finally. “I have everything I need to finger your boss as the killer, except for these loose ends.”

“We could try to find this UPS guy,” Chase suggested. “I mean, is it possible that Buster saw a man who looked like a UPS guy but wasn’t?”

“He says he was wearing the brown uniform with the letters UPS,” said Odelia.

Uncle Alec rubbed his face. He looked haggard. When an investigation wasn’t going well, he often looked as if he’d slept in his clothes and hadn’t had taken a shower in days.

“Look, I’m going to charge Dan.” When Odelia started to protest, he held up his hand. “I’m sorry, but I have no choice. I have a witness who saw him standing over the guy with the murder weapon.”

“A witness who died,” Odelia pointed out. “In suspicious circumstances, I might add.”

“I disagree. The woman fell down the stairs. No indication she was pushed. None whatsoever.”

“I don’t think he did it,” said Odelia stubbornly. “Dan simply isn’t that kind of person.”

“You heard what Maria Power said. People tend to act weird when she’s involved. Men go nuts, and so do women. And I think Heather Gallop had something very valuable to offer Dan, and when they couldn’t agree on the price, he killed her and simply took it.”

“Oh, so now you don’t think she was his girlfriend and he killed her because she wanted to break up with him or because she was pregnant?”

“No, I don’t think she was his girlfriend.”

“Did you manage to get in touch with her folks?” asked Chase.

“Yeah, I did. And get this. She used to work for Rupert Finkelstein’s daughter.”

Both Odelia and Chase sat up a little straighter at this.“The director?” Chase said.

“One and the same. Finkelstein’s daughter died a couple of months ago, and it’s not inconceivable that Heather managed to lay her hands on something very valuable indeed.” he wiggled his bushy brows. “A copy of his famous version of Romeo and Juliet.”

“And that she came to Hampton Cove to interest Dan in that same copy,” said Chase, nodding.

“Which sounds to me like a motive for murder, wouldn’t you agree? Big collector and fan like Dan? I’m sure a guy like that just might stoop to murder for the chance to lay his hands on the most sought-after movie of all time. A copy of the one and only Gnomeo.”

Chapter 27

It was a long way back to town, especially since we were used to going by car, and now had to rely on our own four paws to carry us home. Add to that the fact that a mouse’s paws are even smaller than a cat’s, and it was slow going at first. Then Dooley had the great idea to suggest that Elsa jump on his back and hitch a ride, and so she did.

I wasn’t entirely at ease after that. It’s bad enough for a cat to have to travel in the company of a mouse, but even worse to carry one on one’s back.

If the cat community of Hampton Cove got word of this our names would be mud. Of course they were mud already, after our unsuccessful fight with Hector and Helga.

Very humiliating for a cat to have to declare defeat against a couple of mice.

“So how was it to live with the most famous actress in the world?” I asked.

“Oh, I didn’t have all that much to do with Maria,” said Elsa. “She kept herself to herself, and so did I. But Boomer sometimes told me stories about her.”

“What kind of stories?”

“He found her a little sad,” said Elsa. “Apparently she had a few husbands who didn’t live up to her expectations and left her broken-hearted. So now she prefers to live alone. Well, with a dozen staff to cater to her every need, of course. So she’s not really alone.”

“She was married a lot of times, was she?”