eb93c43e214c621f9157c05b4b6a6878

“Look, I’ll talk to the cops, all right? Get this sorted out. Adeola is already looking for the best lawyer money can buy, and we’re doing everything we can to get Agatha out of this jam. And as far as this nonsense about an affair is concerned, you can rest assured we’ll figure out who sent this picture to my wife and then we’ll sue them to kingdom come. They won’t get away with it this time.”

The elevator arrived in the lobby and the doors slid open. Like a horse at the sound of the bugle the producer shot out of the gate. But Odelia was hot on his trail. You don’t become Hampton Cove’s number-one reporter without tenacity.

“One more thing,” she said as she caught up with the guy.

“What now!” he growled unhappily as he doggedly marched on, his arms pumping like pistons and his short legs trying to put some distance between us.

“Where were you last night between three and five?”

“In my suite. Asleep. Happy now, nosy parker?”

“Alone?”

“Yes, alone! I already told you, I wasn’t having any affairs. When you get to be my age, a shoot like this can kill you. I’m not likely to take any chances by sleeping around now do I? Now can I go? I’ve got about a hundred people waiting for me!”

And then he was off like a rocket, and this time there was no keeping up.

CHAPTER 18

[Êàðòèíêà: img_2]

I noticed how Dooley was fervently glancing around the lobby, as if trying to locate a certain somebody, and I had a feeling I knew exactly who this somebody was.

“Have you spotted her yet?” I asked therefore.

“Who?”

“Marion, of course.”

His face lit up.“Where is she?”

“I don’t know.”

“But… I thought you said you saw her?”

“No, I asked if you had seen her.”

He looked thoroughly confused now, and not a little bit disappointed.“I think she’s avoiding us, Max. I’m almost sure about it.”

“Now why would she be avoiding us, Dooley? That makes no sense.”

“Because she thinks we’re pulling her paw?”

But before we could get into this matter a little more deeply, Odelia returned, a big frown on her face.“Slippery so-and-so,” she murmured under her breath, darting anxious glances around, lest people saw she was talking to a pair of cats.

“So now what?” I asked.

“Now we see what other interviews Barney has set up for us,” she said. “We’re totally dependent on him, seeing as we have exactly zero jurisdiction here.”

So she started in the direction of the reception desk, hoping to find Barney, and next to me Dooley was making fervent noises, hoping to find Marion, and as we wove through the sea of hotel guests moving about the lobby like a minor flash mob, suddenly Barney appeared, like a genie from a bottle, a big triumphant smile on his face.

“Do I have a coup for you,Mademoiselle Odelia!” he cried as he rubbed his hands gleefully. “I have Mrs. Jacobs’s husband and Mrs. Jacobs’s son in my office this minute, waiting to talk to you! They are—how to say this—champing at the bit!”

I very much doubted anyone would be champing at the bit to talk to a private detective, but I admired Barney’s enthusiasm. He should have been a detective himself instead of that Giblet character.

“I thought Astra was divorced?” said Odelia, who clearly knew all about the dead woman.

“Oh, well maybe he is her ex-husband,” the manager amended. “But he is very keen to talk to the person in charge, which is you!”

He was pointing to Odelia with two index fingers, a double-barreled testament to his faith in her investigativesavoir-faire.

“Well, let’s see what he has to say,” said Odelia, and led the way. After her more or less disastrous interview with Oscar Kinetic, I could sense this was her chance at redemption. Her chance to make a breakthrough and throw this case wide open, so to speak.

Next to me, Dooley was still scouring the landscape for a sign of Barney’s cat, but no such luck. So it was a distinctly dispirited Dooley who joined us in Barney’s office.

Maximino Murr, Astra’s ex-husband, was probably in his early fifties, with dark hair graying at the temples, a kind face and a pair of thick-framed glasses obscuring his eyes. His son, Ippo Murr, was the spitting image of his dad, only taller, thinner and obviously younger. They both looked extremely serious.

“I had no idea about what happened to Astra until Mr. Sheffield told us,” said Maximino. “How did she die, exactly? All he said was that foul play was involved.”

“She was stabbed to death,” said Odelia, eliciting a sharp intake of breath from both father and son.

This time Odelia was seated behind the manager’s desk, while her two interviewees were in front of her, looking pretty shaken, perhaps even stirred.

“I didn’t even know Astra was my mother until a couple of weeks ago,” said Ippo, expression downcast. “When Mom died—well, I should say my stepmom now, I guess—one of her final wishes was for me to know she wasn’t my biological mom but my stepmom. Though to me she’ll always be my mother.”

“That must have come as a great shock to you,” said Odelia.

“Yes, you can say that. Especially since Astra was… well, famous.”