7c6cdd7d45cb035b54aafd3ac9eb9cc8

“Oh, sure. I talked to one of our main investors through Zoom. They’re in China, and very keen to expand K-Bear into the Asian market. Only not so keen after I told them Kirk had just lost all of their initial investment money. Why? You think I killed Kirk?”

“Just asking questions, Mr. Scofield,” said Chase, jotting down a couple of notes.

“So I take it you guys don’t have a suspect yet?”

“I can’t really comment on an ongoing investigation,” Chase said.

“Well, I didn’t do it, if that’s what you think. I loved the guy. I mean, was he a flawed human being? Of course he was. Flawed in more ways than one. But he was my friend, and I was sure we were going to get through this. If only he could stop flushing our future down the toilet.”

“Are you aware that your friend was having woman trouble?” asked Odelia.

“Oh, yeah,” said Burt, nodding vigorously. “It was the story of his life. Kirk was one of those people who kept falling in love. He only had to look at a woman once to know she was the one for him. And then five minutes later he’d see someone else and know for a fact that she was the one for him, too. A serial infatuator, he called himself.”

Odelia had another, less kind, term for the kind of man Kirk had apparently been, but refrained from voicing the thought.

“Have you been in contact with his wife?” asked Chase.

“Sandy. Yeah, she’s staying at the same hotel. We kinda try to ignore each other. Sandy isn’t happy with Kirk right now, and has filed for divorce, which he wouldn’t grant her, on account of the fact that he was still in love with her.”

“He had a funny way of showing it,” said Chase, “considering he was having an affair both with Allison Gray and Allison’s niece Mia.”

Burt closed his eyes.“God, what a mess.”

“He didn’t tell you about that?”

“He did, he did. He said he’d fallen in love again, and then again, and both women were amazing. I told him to watch out. Dating both the aunt and the niece was asking for trouble. And looks like trouble finally found him.”

Chapter 20

“I think we should ask Chloe,” said Dooley as we both stared at the droppings the mouse had left for our perusal.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, I don’t know what to do, and neither do you, so why don’t we ask someone who knows everything there is to know about everything?”

It was a good idea, I had to admit. I had no experience dealing with mice, and neither did Dooley, and from what I’d seen of Harriet and Brutus handling—or rather, not handling—the previous mice infestation, they had no clue how to handle these rodents either, so that only left Chloe to help us deal with this emergency.

And as luck would have it, Harriet walked in at that moment, accompanied by Brutus, and when she found us gathered around the droppings, frowned and asked,“What are you guys doing over there?”

“We have another question for Chloe,” I announced.

“And this time it’s a matter of life or death,” Dooley added the somber note.

He was right, of course. Life or death of the mouse colony, for Odelia had given us strict instructions to get rid of the mice or else. I could only imagine to what measures she might resort if we didn’t manage to persuade the mice to vacate the premises voluntarily. Images of mouse traps and poison came to mind, all not very humane, in my view.

Harriet, her curiosity piqued, came tripping up to take a closer look at the object that had snagged our attention and necessitated a Chloe intervention.

She took one sniff and wrinkled up her nose in disgust.“Eww!” she said, perfectly expressing my own sentiments exactly.

“What is it, baby cakes?” asked Brutus.

“Max had a little accident,” she said. “Couldn’t you hold it in until you reached your litter box, Max? Or was it you, Dooley?”

“Me!” I cried. “I didn’t do this!”

Harriet turned a reproachful eye on Dooley. The latter wilted under the onslaught, but still managed to squeak out,“It wasn’t me, I swear!”

“If you didn’t do it, then who did?”

“The mouse!” Dooley cried. He doesn’t like it when Harriet is upset with him, and neither, I have to admit, do I, though I’ve gotten used to her volcanic temper over the years.

“Mouse? What mouse?”

“Don’t you remember, bright eyes?” said Brutus. “The mice are back.”

Harriet paled beneath her fur. Hard to spot, I know, but I still spotted it.

“They’re back?” she asked.

“Yes, looks like,” I said. “Though I don’t know if they’re the same mice from before or a fresh batch.”

“I’ll bet it’s the same ones,” said Dooley. “The one we just saw was very rude, and just left these droppings here for us to find. As if challenging us, you know.”

“Oh, it’s the same ones all right,” said Harriet. “Only Molly and Rupert would behave in such a disgraceful way. Those two have absolutely no shame.”

“Molly and Rupert?” I asked. “I didn’t know you were on a first-name basis with them.”

“If you spend enough time down there,” she said, gesturing to the basement door, “you will get to know them soon enough.”