eb93c43e214c621f9157c05b4b6a6878

“And I have my cuddly personality to win her over,” he added with a light sigh.

“Cuddly personality,” I repeated, not believing what I was hearing.

“I think we should go out there again tomorrow night,” said Dooley, “and this time take Odelia along with us.”

“What, on the roof?”

“Of course! Unless we can lure Marion to our room and give her a demonstration of the way we talk to Odelia and she talks back.”

“Mh,” I said.

It was an idea, of course. And admittedly we could use Marion’s help. We were on unfamiliar ground, and the hotel was her home, after all, so she might prove invaluable to Odelia’s investigation.

“Okay, here’s what we’ll do,” I said. “Tomorrow first thing, we go look for her in the lobby. And somehow we convince her that we weren’t pulling her paw but that we’re for real and that it’s in her human’s best interest if we all work together to pull off this investigation. Thenif she still thinks we’re full of nonsense, Odelia will pop out from behind the rhododendron and repeat verbatim what we just said.”

“Why a rhododendron?”

“Never mind the rhododendron. What do you think of my plan?”

“I like it. But I don’t like the location. That lobby is a dangerous place for a cat, Max. Full of people who don’t look where they’re going. We might get trampled.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” But then I had it. “So let’s set it up in Barney’s office! A safe place, and familiar to Marion. And if her own human tells her to cooperate, I’m sure she won’t refuse.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Dooley happily as we high-fived to a successful outcome. He sighed. “They could be green, of course.”

“What could be green?”

“Marion’s eyes. A sparkly green.”

Oh, boy. The kid had it bad. Real bad!

CHAPTER 13

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In the bright light of day, Odelia wondered if she’d made a mistake when agreeing to take the investigation into the murder of Astra Jacobs in hand. She might be able to crack the odd case back home from time to time, but here in Paris she didn’t have the network she had in Hampton Cove. She had the support of Barney Sheffield and his team, but that was it.

She had no police powers, no jurisdiction, no way of putting pressure on potential suspects—heck, she hardly even spoke French!

“Maybe I shouldn’t have said yes to Barney,” she said now as she pulled on a pair of jeans—not the skinny ones like before, since having a baby had done strange things to her hips and thighs—and addressed her always-sensible husband.

“Just give it a shot, babe, and don’t expect too much,” said Chase as he checked the day’s itinerary on his phone. He was supposed to give a speech, and had been fretting a little about that. He might be an ace detective, but public speaking freaked him out as much as the next person.

“You think so?” she said dubiously. “I can always tell him I’ve changed my mind.” After all, she wasn’t in Paris to solve cases but to enjoy a relaxing vacation and see the sights.

Chase framed her face between two large, warm hands.“I know you, babe. If you don’t do this, you’ll just keep thinking about it, and wondering if you shouldn’t have taken on the case after all. So just go ahead and give it your best shot.”

“If you say so.”

“And if it doesn’t work? That’s fine, too. The police will handle it, I’m sure. Or Barney can bring in some other detective.”

“But I want to win that reward money. We can put it in Grace’s college fund.”

“You know as well as I do that you’re not doing this for the reward money. Not really.”

She nodded quietly. He was right. She didn’t really care about the reward money. All she cared about was making sure that a miscarriage of justice was being prevented and that Agatha walked free.

“I have a hunch she’s innocent, Chase, but what if she isn’t?”

“If you have a hunch that she didn’t do it, I’d say trust that hunch. It’s served you well enough in the past.”

He pressed a kiss to her lips and released her to her musings. After giving the matter some more thought, she finally decided to honor her promise to Barney and go ahead with the investigation. First things first, though. She needed to have a chat with Agatha before she launched into a full-blown search for Astra’s killer.

“Can I hitch a ride with you? The police station is on the way to the conference venue.”

“Sure thing,” said Chase warmly. “In fact you could help me out a lot by giving my speech a read-through.”

“You’ll do just great,” she assured her hubby. She’d already read snippets of his speech and thought he’d done an amazing job.

“Yeah, but I made some last-minute tweaks and I’m not sure if they’re an improvement or will sink the whole thing.”

She glanced to the balcony, where Max and Dooley were enjoying some leisurely time in the early morning sun. They’d been going on about someone named Marion and how they needed to set up a meeting with her in the manager’s office. Not sure what that was all about.

“Have you heard of a person named Marion?” she now asked. “She’s supposed to be connected with Barney in some capacity.”