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The same thought had occurred to me. I still found it hard to credit that the man would go to such lengths. And besides, how did Jared Zmuda know the identity of the killer? What was his involvement? It all made little sense to me, I must admit.

We’d arrived at the police station and Odelia took Rose inside to be fingerprinted.

“I feel like a criminal,” said the girl.

“It’s just routine,” Odelia assured her. “Nobody is accusing you of anything, Rose.”

“Still, I feel as if they are,” she said.

While Rose was being processed, Dooley and I sat in the waiting area out in front of the police station. And that’s why we were soon treated to a rare and fascinating sight: a small procession of police officers arriving, Uncle Alec and Chase Kingsley at the head of the throng, and then proceeding into the precinct, talking animatedly as they did, and all wearing very grave expressions on their faces.

“I think it’s time to go spying again, Dooley,” I announced, and hopped down from the chair I’d been occupying.

“Spying?” he asked. “Where?”

“I have a feeling Uncle Alec discovered something, and he’s going to spill the beans in his office, so that’s where you and I are going to be.”

We hurried out of the building, and soon found ourselves hopping onto the windowsill outside the police chief’s office, putting our inconspicuous ears to the pane. Unfortunately the window was double-paned. But lucky for us cats have superior hearing, so we could still hear everything that was being said. And sure enough, Chase and Uncle Alec were in conference inside, and clearly had important information to share.

“Same guy?” asked Uncle Alec, seated behind his desk and tapping the desk blotter with his stubby fingertips.

“Same guy,” Chase confirmed.

“What guy?” asked Dooley next to me.

“Shh,” I said quietly.

“So it was Jared Zmuda who sent those pictures of his willy to Rose?”

“Yep.”

“Better go and see if those prints have been processed yet,” the Chief grunted. “If it was her we’ve got a clear motive.”

Chase hurried out of the office and I shared a worried look with my friend.

“They think it was Rose,” I said.

“That’s not good.”

“Not good at all.”

“So it was Mr. Zmuda who sent the picture of that sausage?”

“Looks like.”

“But I thought his name was Jared and not Dick?”

“He was probably using a fake name,” I said after a pause.

“And who’s this Willy they’re talking about?”

“Another alias,” I said after another short pause.

“Jared, Dick and Willy. The guy sure gets around,” said Dooley, shaking his head.

But before we could thresh this thing out some more, our attention was attracted by developments inside the office. Chase had returned, and was looking both excited and grim-faced.

“It’s her,” he announced in grave tones.

“Son of a gun,” the Chief said, slapping his desk. “Better get a warrant for her arrest.” And before Chase could comply, he added, “And better add a warrant to search the house. Who knows what we’ll find there.”

Chase locked eyes with his superior officer.“You think she killed her dad, too?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she did. Remember the big fight she had with her dad about the boyfriend? Sounds like a grade-A motive for murder to me.”

“What do we tell Odelia?”

“Don’t tell her anything just yet. She seems to have grown fond of the girl.” But then Chase’s eyes swiveled to the window, followed by Chief Alec’s. “Scratch that,” the Chief grunted. “Looks like my niece’s spies are hard at work already.” He sighed. “Better get her in here. I’ll bring her up to speed. You take Miss Wimmer into custody and get busy on that house search.” Uncle Alec gave us a reproachful look. “Is there nothing in this town that you guys don’t know about?”

I just shrugged and gave him a sheepish look.

Moments later Odelia entered the office after a cursory knock on the door and said,“You wanted to talk to me?”

“Yeah, close the door and take a seat.”

Odelia did as she was told, and when she glanced over to where we were still eavesdropping to our hearts’ content, gave us a quick grin and a wave.

“Look, we’re going to have to arrest Rose,” said the Chief, not wasting time getting down to business.

“Arrest Rose! But why?”

“Her fingerprints were on the wire cutters found underneath that bench press machine. So she cut those wires and sent that four-hundred-pound stack of weights crashing down on Jared Zmuda’s throat the moment he activated the machine.”

“But why? Rose is no killer.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that if I were you. It was Zmuda who sent her those pictures of his willy, and presumably it wasn’t the first time he’d done something like that.”

“Jared sent those pictures?”

Uncle Alec nodded.“I know it’s a thin excuse for a motive but those fingerprints put her at the scene, and are as good as an admission of guilt, Odelia.”

“But what about that message?”

“What message?”

“The one telling her to come to the club. Did you find out who sent that message?”