The Mysteries of Max: Books 25-27

Chapter 29

“Bellamy Butt Movers and Shakers? Yes, this is Odelia Poole. I’m a reporter for the Hampton Cove Gazette, and I’m working on a story about the death of Frank Butterwick. Mr. Butterwick had someone who worked for him that I’d like to speak to. And it is my understanding that you helped move him out of his apartment a couple of months ago.”

She gave the person on the other end of the line the name and address of Brett Cragg, and was gratified to hear that Bellamy Butt’s aptly named moving company had, indeed, moved Mr. Cragg out of his apartment. What she wasn’t happy about was that the address they’d moved him to was located in the great state of Ohio. They did have a phone number on record for the young builder, and she gratefully jotted it down.

Her next call told her that the number had been disconnected, though, which made her investigations into Charlene’s uncle hit another snag. And as she patiently waited for the tow truck to pick up her pickup, she wondered about her next course of action.

So she’d talked to Frank Butterwick’s former associate, the police had already talked to his current workers, and she’d tried to hunt down his very first worker and failed.

Where did that leave her? Exactly nowhere.

And she was just wondering where to go from here when the tow truck finally arrived and for the next ten minutes she watched as her pickup was being hauled away.

She’d already called her grandmother and asked her for a ride, and when the old lady drove up in Odelia’s mom’s ancient Peugeot, she was glad to finally be mobile again.

“You should do like me,” said Gran as she steered the vehicle in the direction of town. “You should start one of them Gofungus things. You’ll have a new car in no time.”

“I don’t think Gofundme is designed to help people buy themselves a new car, Gran,” she said. “Besides, I’m sure my pickup will be fixed soon.”

“That old thing? I’d take it to the junkyard if I were you.”

“The guy who came to pick it up said it was probably a faulty fuel pump. I’ll have the car back tomorrow already.” He’d also said she was extremely lucky that she didn’t end up rolling her stalled pickup straight into oncoming traffic and getting herself killed in a head-on collision, but she wisely kept that bit of information to herself.

“Better get yourself a new set of wheels is what I say. That wreck you call a car is going to cost you an arm and a leg in repairs over the next couple of years.”

“Well, I happen to like that old wreck, and as long as I can keep driving it, I will.”

“You know what? As soon as these Gofunky people have collected enough money so I can buy myself that Escalade, you can have this car. How about that?” She tapped the wheel. “It’s still a pretty decent old thing. Pretty sure you’ll be able to get a couple thousand more miles out of it.”

“Thanks, but I’m sure Mom will be glad to have her car back.”

“Marge doesn’t need a car,” grunted Gran. “Besides, she’ll be a millionaire soon. She’ll be able to buy herself all the cars she needs.”

“Oh, that’s right. I didn’t even know Mom and Dad owned that land.”

“Nobody knew! I think they completely forgot about it themselves, the doofuses.”

“So you think they’ll sell?”

“Of course they’ll sell! They’d be crazy not to! Now I know that Marge has an eccentric streak, and your father isn’t exactly the sharpest tool in God’s big shed, but even they wouldn’t be so dumb as to leave a couple million dollars on the table.”

“Millions? You really think they’ll fetch millions for that piece of land?”

“From what Charlene said this morning? It sure looks like it to me.”

“Yeah, I suppose a deal like that is too good to turn down.”

“Which is exactly what I told them. And they should move fast, too. These developer types are tricky. They’ll pay you millions today and pennies on the dollar tomorrow—for the same land!”

“Do you think that mall will actually be built?”

“Of course that mall will be built. Everybody wants money, honey. And politicians like Charlene most of all. I’m pretty sure she’ll be getting all kinds of kickbacks and backhanders, and so will the other council members.” She tapped her nose. “Take it from me—a lot of people will get filthy rich off this deal, and Hampton Cove will be left with a town center that’s deader than a dodo. But hey, that’s progress for you: some people get rich, and others get poor. Let’s just make sure we’re on the right side of the equation.”

“If you really believe this mall will turn downtown Hampton Cove into a dead zone, don’t you think we should organize some kind of protest? Try to convince Charlene to stop this development?”

Gran shrugged as she sat hunched over the steering wheel, driving through town at breakneck speed as was her habit. “Fat lot of good that’ll do. These two-faced politicians will do whatever they want to do. They’re not going to listen to the likes of you or me.”

“Why not? Your son is Charlene’s boyfriend, which practically makes her your daughter-in-law.”

Gran grinned. “Where have you been, honey? Nobody ever listens to me! And the ones who are least likely to do what I say is my own damn family!”

Odelia smiled. Gran had a point. “I still think that if you hate that mall, you should tell Charlene. You never know—maybe she’ll actually listen.”

“Yeah, right,” muttered Gran, and aggressively bypassed a vehicle, gesticulating widely as she did, then took a hard right and pulled over, stomping on the brakes.

Odelia was propelled forward, saved by her seatbelt, and so were the cats. Who wasn’t so lucky was Rambo, who’d been seated in the trunk of the car, due to his sheer size, and now came rocketing forward and plopped down on top of the cats, burying them in a mountain of dog.

By the time he’d managed to scramble out of the car, four cats were gasping for air, and looking more than a little unhappy.

“When you said you’d hire a guard dog to keep us safe, you didn’t mention that he’d try to kill us!” said Harriet, who was never shy to voice her grievances loud and clear.

“I’m sorry,” said Gran. “Things will get better once Gofunkus buys me my Escalade.”

“Or a whole lot worse,” murmured Max.

They all stood on the sidewalk and watched Gran take off again—like a bat out of hell.

“She should really learn how to drive,” said Brutus.

“Yeah, for the leader of the neighborhood watch she’s this neighborhood’s biggest threat,” said Max. “In fact we probably need a second watch to watch the first watch.”

“I’m never setting foot in a car with Gran again,” Harriet vowed.

“I think she means well,” said Dooley.

“I’m hungry,” said Rambo with a yawn. “When do we eat?”

“Step into my office,” Odelia said. “As long as this cat killer is on the loose, I think it’s best if you guys stick close to me.”

It was with some reluctance that her cats followed her into her office. Then again, she couldn’t very well ask Chase to keep an eye on them again after last night’s eventful shift. And even though they now had their own watchdog in the form of Rambo, she still felt more relaxed when the entire cat troupe stayed where she could see them at all times.

And so once again she was faced with her initial conundrum.

How to proceed with the Frank Butterwick case!