Purrfect Heat

Chapter 10

When Odelia ended the conversation with Chase she discovered that Max and Dooley had skedaddled. Which didn’t surprise her. Max hated going to the vet, and Dooley seemed convinced he was about to die. She got up from her desk and found Dan leaning against the doorjamb.

“So? How’s the investigation going?”

“So far the most likely suspect is the chef.”

“Isn’t it always?” he quipped with a twinkle in his eye.

“Chase seems to be convinced the couple running the restaurant didn’t do it, and I talked to Skad’s wife and she claims she has a solid alibi.”

“Which you will undoubtedly go check.”

“Undoubtedly,” she said with a smile.

“So did I hear you talking to your cats again?” Dan asked.

“Dooley isn’t feeling well,” she said cautiously. Dan didn’t know she could talk to her cats, though she suspected he had some idea of what was going on. They’d never discussed it, though, and she wasn’t going to risk her career at the newspaper by admitting that her cats were the source of many of her best and most exclusive stories.

“I can imagine it must be quite a burden looking out for—how many cats do you have now?”

“Four—and it’s not a burden. My mom and Gran take care of them, too, so it’s no biggie.”

“You know, when I hired you all those years ago, I partly did so because I figured you were young and you were going to go after the stories with the freshness and zeal that I’m lacking, due to my advanced age.”

“You’re not old, Dan,” she protested.

“Wait,” he said, holding up his hand. “Let me finish. But I also hired you on a hunch. Someone had told me once that the Poole women are special. That they have a feline streak. That they understand cats more than the rest of us do. My hunch proved correct. You’re a better reporter than I ever was, and that’s saying something, as I launched this damn paper.”

She wondered what he was trying to say, if anything. “Thanks, Dan. That’s high praise coming from you.”

“You take good care of those cats for me, won’t you? And tell them thanks.”

She reddened. “I, um—I’m sure I don’t know what you mean. Cats can’t talk.”

“No, but they can listen. And they ask the right questions.” He tapped his nose. “And that, my dear, are the hallmarks of a great reporter.”

She left the office wondering if she shouldn’t have protested more. Now it looked like she was accepting Dan’s idea that somehow she could talk to her cats. Then again, she hadn’t admitted anything, and if she knew Dan, she was sure he’d keep her secret.

She arrived at the police station and saw that Chase’s car was gone. She walked into the squat one-story building and breezed past Dolores, who manned the front desk. She gave her a wave and walked right through to her uncle’s office at the end of the hallway. She knocked and stepped inside without waiting for a reply.

Her uncle was sitting with his feet up on his desk when she entered, and she took a seat across from him, also putting her feet up. “So Max and Dooley talked to Erin Coka’s cat Montserrat, who told them another cat, this one called Fred, not that it matters, saw a black Tesla parked in the alley behind the restaurant last night. Just thought you’d like to know.”

Her uncle took pad and pencil and wrote down, “Anonymous witness sees black Tesla parked in alley behind Fry Me for an Oyster.” He looked up. “Plates?”

“No plates.”

He smiled. “That would have been too easy. Anything else your feline detectives discovered?”

“I found out something.” She told him about her conversation with Cybil Truscott and her uncle whistled.

“Now there’s a nice, juicy suspect if I ever saw one. Motive, opportunity… I think she might even have managed to get the body up in the oven. Big, strong woman, right?”

“Not big, but I’ll bet pure rage would have fueled her. She’s the vindictive type.”

“Real ball-buster, huh?” He picked up his pad again, and wrote, tongue between his teeth, “Talk to pool boy at Hampton Springs Hotel.”

“Any word from the coroner?”

“Just got a call from him, as a matter of fact. Found a fortune cookie in the victim’s stomach.”

“A fortune cookie? What did it say?”

“Someone special will soon enter your life.”

“Huh. Guess that must have referred to the killer.”

“He or she certainly left an indelible impression.”

They shared a smile. Gallows humor was typical for cops and reporters alike. “What else did he find? Cause of death?” she asked.

Uncle Alec shook his head and shifted his bulk in his chair, which creaked under his weight. “Abe says it’s hard to figure out what happened when the integrity of the body has been compromised to such an extent. He’s still trying to find out, but so far he couldn’t determine cause of death.”

“Maybe toxicology will tell us something.”

“It certainly wasn’t a bullet that killed him, or a blow to the head. That would have been obvious. Strangulation? Impossible to determine. Knife wound? So far nothing indicates he was stabbed.”

“What happens if Abe isn’t able to discover a cause of death?”

“It’ll just make things a little harder for us. We won’t have a murder weapon to look for, or an MO to use to pinpoint the killer.”

She nodded. “So Chase told me about the Echo?”

Her uncle laughed. “Yeah, that was something. And good thing they decided to come clean. Getting Amazon to release the recordings would have been tricky.”

“I think it’s smart they came forward. They must have known they’d be the prime suspects until their alibi was confirmed.”

“Maybe you and Chase could get one of these Echo contraptions. Spice up your love life.”

She gave him a dark look. “Chase and I have no love life to spice up. We’re not dating, Uncle Alec.”

“Then maybe you should start. I think you guys would be great together. I know for a fact he likes you, Odelia. Likes you a lot.”

“He... he told you?”

“He didn’t have to. I can tell from the way he talks about you. He admires the hell out of you. Thinks you’d make a great detective.”

“That’s because he doesn’t know… my little secret.”

“He doesn’t have to know. Besides, even without Max and Dooley you still make a great detective. You just have a knack for it.”

“Thanks. It’s just that… what if he found out? I mean, not just for me. I have to think about Mom and Gran, too. Nobody can find out. They’d just label us freaks. And the attention that would garner would destroy us.”

“Nobody is going to find out, honey,” he said softly. “And even if Chase got an inkling, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. And he definitely wouldn’t tell on you.”

“I don’t know,” she said. “It’s much harder to keep something like that a secret when you’re involved with a person.”

“Of course. And if you are serious about him, I think sooner or later you’re going to have to come clean.”

She shook her head. “Never. I’d rather not date him than tell him.”

“Then you’d be making a big mistake,” he warned her.

“It would be an even bigger mistake to tell him,” she insisted. “He wouldn’t understand. Nobody does.”

“I do.”

“That’s different, Uncle Alec. You’re family. You grew up with it. Chase is—”

“Chase could be family. I know the boy, Odelia. He’s got a good heart.”

She was still shaking her head when the Chief’s phone rang. He picked up with a jovial, “Lay it on me!” He listened for a moment, then his face fell and he removed his feet from the desk. “Well, I’ll be damned. Are you sure it’s her? Uh-huh. Okay. I’ll be right over.” He hung up and stared at Odelia.

“Well? What is it?” she insisted.

“It’s your grandmother. There’s been an incident.”

Her heart constricted as she shot up from her chair. “Is she all right?”

The Chief grinned. “More than all right, apparently. There’s talk of indecent exposure.”

She closed her eyes. “Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes. Several beachgoers complained to one of the lifeguards near Pyke Point that an old woman and an old guy were going at it on the beach, in full view of the other visitors. The lifeguard called the cops and your gran and the guy have both been placed under arrest.” He shook his head. “I never thought that the day would come I’d have to bust my own mother for lurid behavior.”

“If it’s any consolation, I never thought the day would come I’d be embarrassed by my own grandmother.”

“Well,” said Uncle Alec, getting up and slipping on his gun belt. “The day has come, honey. So let’s see what she’s got to say for herself, shall we?”