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“Yeah, um… Burt. Burt Scofield. Isn’t that right, Mia?”

“Yes,” said Mia, blinking again, as if awakening from a daydream. “Um, he’s staying at the Hampton Cove Star, I think.”

Chase nodded as he jotted all this down.

“So… I don’t get it,” said Mia now. “I told you that I killed Kirk, so why are you looking at other suspects?”

“Honey,” said Allison urgently, then smiled apologetically at the Chief. “Don’t listen to my niece. She’s still under the influence of those sleeping pills she took.”

“Yes, I wanted to ask you about that, Miss Gray,” said Uncle Alec. “Why did you take those pills? And how many did you take, exactly?”

“I’m sorry, but I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately.”

“I gave her those pills,” said Allison. “They’re mine, and I probably should have told her to take half a pill. I forgot to take into account that Mia is a lot slighter than I am.”

“When I woke up this morning, at first I thought I was dreaming. I was sitting next to Kirk’s body and…” She choked and tears appeared in her eyes. “I haven’t told you this yet, but Kirk and I were dating. I liked him. His death…”

“It’s come as a big shock,” said Uncle Alec kindly.

“Yes, but what I don’t understand is why you’re not arresting me for murder?”

“Did you have reason to kill him, Miss Gray?”

“No, of course not. I liked Kirk. We were having a lot of fun together.”

“We know you didn’t do it, honey,” said Gran, adopting a grandmotherly tone. “A witness has come forward who told us there’s no way you could have done it.”

“A witness?” asked Allison, looking up in surprise. “What witness?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you,” said Gran. “All I can tell you at this point is that Mia didn’t kill Kirk, and that’s why my son isn’t looking at her as a suspect but a witness.”

“But I was right there, next to him,” said Mia. She held up her hands. “There was all this blood. I had to wash them…” Her hands were shaking, her lips quivering.

“There, there,” said her aunt, and put an arm around Mia’s shoulders. She then directed a questioning look at Gran, whose face didn’t betray a thing.

It was like walking a tightrope, and this mystery witness would never be represented in any official police report. Still, it was better for Mia to know exactly where she stood, and that she couldn’t possibly have killed her boyfriend.

Odelia watched as Max and Dooley entered the room, and when Max gestured that he wanted a word, she nodded. He came trudging over while Allison concerned herself with consoling her niece, and when Max spoke his next words, Odelia was more than a little surprised.

“Jasmine thinks Allison did it. She was having an affair with Kirk, and didn’t like the competition. So she killed Kirk in acrime passionnel and set her niece up as the killer.”

Both Odelia and Gran, who’d also heard Max’s words loud and clear, looked up at Allison. The mother of all Gabis must have felt the tension, for she glanced over, and said, innocently, “What?”

Chapter 11

We were outside, taking a walk through the gardens. Odelia had decided she better confront Allison with her accusations without an entire contingent of real and imagined detectives present, and had asked if she could talk to the woman in private.

Scarlett had protested, but Gran had quickly shut her up. And now we were walking along a garden path, birds chirping merrily in nearby trees, the pleasant sound of water burbling in a cozy little brook that meandered through the nicely landscaped garden.

“So what did you want to talk to me about?” asked Allison as she darted a curious look at Dooley and myself from time to time. She probably wondered why two cats would faithfully tag along in their human’s trail. We were, after all, not dogs, who are used to that sort of thing.

“I think you haven’t been completely honest with us, have you, Allison?” said Odelia, opening her remarks with a shot across the bow.

Allison immediately bridled.“Of course I’ve been honest! What are you talking about?”

“I think you liked Kirk a lot more than you let on. In fact I think you and Kirk were having an affair behind your niece’s back.”

Allison pressed her lips together and froze.“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said primly.

“Oh, I think you do. The same witness who told my grandmother that Mia couldn’t possibly have killed Kirk told us she once walked in on you and Kirk in the kitchen, and you weren’t exactly making pancakes on the kitchen counter.”

Allison stared at Odelia.“Someone walked in on me and Kirk? But… that’s impossible!”

“Our witness is adamant. She says you and Kirk did things on that kitchen counter that would make Lady Chatterley’s lover blush.”

“Who’s Lady Chatterley, Max?” asked Dooley, not missing a beat.

“Um… I think it’s one of those great heroes of romance,” I said, though to be honest I’d never personally made this particular lady’s acquaintance or seen her movie on theHallmark Channel.

Instead of Lady Chatterley or her lover, it was Allison who was blushing at Odelia’s words. “Well,” she said finally. “Well, really.”