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“You can’t rush greatness,” Chris agreed. “But, like my brother said, we hope to have a fresh batch of delicious Duffers for sale in two weeks’ time. Scout’s honor.”

More voices had been calling out with questions and critical remarks, all expressing their disappointment that the famous and delicious salamis were not available.

“They’ve run out,” said a voice as Marge left the shop.

“They’ve run out of Duffers? But I’ve come all the way from Newark for a Duffer,” said another disappointed customer.

And as Marge walked into the Vickery General Store, hoping to buy some salami there, she thought about her daughter. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to write an article about the famous Duffer? The salami that put Hampton Cove on the map. Odelia could even ask to be shown the production line and describe the process that went into producing the famous delicacy. And as she pushed her trolley into the store and headed for the butcher counter, she fired off a WhatsApp message to Odelia.

‘New idea for story: the Duffer.’

Then she fired off another message to her brother.

‘Hey, sleepyhead. Duffers are off the menu. Any ideas for an alternative?’

Alec wasn’t exactly a foodie, but he did have his faves, and Marge enjoyed catering to her family’s wishes when it came to cooking their family dinners.

She’d arrived at the butcher meat counter and checked out the salamis on display. Then, on a whim, decided not to buy any. Nothing could compare with the Duffer, so why even try? Instead, she ordered pork chops. She’d just remembered Alec loved glazed pork chops, and so did Tex and Vesta. A nice truce reached over pork chops. Why not?

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Chase walked into the police station and the first person he saw, as always, was Dolores. Then again, Dolores was the person everybody saw when they set foot inside the station. Dolores Peltz, a red-haired woman with a fondness for mascara, had been a mainstay of the Hampton Cove Police Department for as long as the town could remember. Rumor had it she’d been born at that desk and had simply never left. Long after the last Hampton Covian had died, Dolores would probably still be there, manning the desk and guiding the citizenry to the right officer or taking down their complaint.

“Hey, Dolores,” said Chase as he breezed in.

“Shouldn’t you be home?” asked Dolores. “Enjoying your vacation?”

“Yeah, well, we hit a snag,” he said.

The snag being Vesta Muffin. Tough to redecorate a house when your girlfriend’s grandmother has suddenly decided to move in and throw her weight around. So he’d figured he might as well head into the office and let Odelia and Vesta duke it out.

“You look tired, honey.”

“That’s probably because I am tired.”

He hadn’t slept well, and neither had Odelia. First the change of location to a bed he’d never slept in before, and then the midnight trip to Vena’s, and afterward he’d had a hard time finding sleep with four cats jostling each other for space at the foot of the bed. They all wanted to sleep at Odelia’s feet, but since there was only so much space to go around, his stretch of foot space had become collateral damage in the silent battle, and even though he’d kicked out his feet from time to time, sending one or two cats flying, they’d encroached on his territory again and again until finally he’d given up and stuck his feet out the side. He’d woken up with cold feet as a consequence. And a stiff neck.

It was something he’d learned through long association with Odelia’s cats: cats always won out in the end.

“So have you seen Alec?” asked Dolores in that croaky, cigarette-smoked voice of hers. She’d probably been smoking a couple of packs a day since the cradle, judging from her wrinkly face and throaty purr.

Chase, who’d already walked past the desk, retraced his steps. “What do you mean? Is the big guy not in yet?”

“Nah,” said Dolores, who’d been filing her nails and now blew on them.

“Didn’t he say anything yesterday when he left?”

“Didn’t say nothing to me. He just left and said he was going to look into that missing kid case, and that’s the last I heard of him. He didn’t get back before my shift was over so I figured he’d gone straight home.”

Chase nodded.“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, hun.”

He walked on, and passed his boss’s office, poking his head in just to be sure Dolores hadn’t missed the chief. It happened. But the office was empty. Huh. Weird. Then again, the chief was probably out and about, checking something or working on a case. He often did that, and even though he usually conferred with his people when he was on a case, often, if the case was too minor to bother his officers, he handled it all by his lonesome. Obviously that was what was going on here. So he moved past the chief’s office and then into his own and turned on his computer to start his day.

Chapter 10