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“For one thing, she doesn’t remember who you are.”

Chapter 35

“She looks all right to me,” said Tex. He’d briefly examined his wife and now gave her a clean bill of health.

“So why doesn’t she remember Chase?” asked Odelia.

We were all in Tex and Marge’s kitchen, the entire family having gathered around the kitchen table—minus Uncle Alec, for obvious reasons.

“I’m not sure,” said Tex. Then, addressing his wife, “This man over here, honey. You remember him, don’t you?”

Marge glanced over to Chase, then smiled and stuck out her hand.“So nice to meet you, sir. What was your name again?”

“Chase,” said Chase, a little startled. “Chase Kingsley.”

“And you’re a cop, Chase?” asked Marge.

“Yes, ma’am, that I am.”

“He’s also my boyfriend,” said Odelia. “Oh, mom, why don’t you remember?”

But Marge gave her daughter a curious look.“Remember what, honey?”

Odelia threw up her hands in frustration.

“Do you think Marge remembers us?” asked Dooley.

“Yeah, if she hadn’t she would have said so,” I pointed out.

“She seems to have lost part of her memory,” said Tex. “Though I examined her head and I don’t see any evidence of a contusion—no abrasions, bruising or swelling… Could be she suffered a ministroke, but I’d have to take her to the hospital to know for sure.”

“She’ll get her memory back, though, right?” asked Odelia.

“Hard to say,” said Tex. “She might and she mightn’t. Memory is a tricky thing.”

“Is there other stuff she’s forgotten, you think?” asked Vesta. She waved at her daughter. “Marge!” she yelled. “Do you remember me?!”

“She’s not deaf,” said Tex censoriously.

Marge laughed a careless little laugh.“Of course I remember you, Ma. Don’t be silly.”

“That’s fine,” said Vesta, looking satisfied that at least her daughter hadn’t forgotten all about her, too.

“She’s also completely forgotten about our visit to Madame Solange,” Odelia said. “Though not about your visit, Dad.”

“Yes, well, like I said, memory loss is a tricky thing, and extremely unpredictable. She might forget something that happened yesterday, and remember something that happened thirty years ago with incredible clarity, or the other way around.”

“Listen, honey,” said Vesta, patting her granddaughter’s knee. “There’s something we need to discuss. You better tell them what you told me, Chase,” she said.

Chase cleared his throat and opened his notebook.“I would like to read you a brief overview of a number of reports I’ve received in the last twenty-four hours,” he said. “Your boss, Dan Goory, went on television claiming he received a model train, a rare locomotive, in the mail. A train he’d been wanting to lay his hands on for years, right?”

“Yeah, he told me all about it,” said Odelia, nodding.

“That particular locomotive was reported stolen from a collector in Bridgeport.”

“Dan won’t like that,” said Odelia.

“There’s more,” said Vesta. “While Scarlett and I were in Chase’s office the reports kept coming in.”

“Sarah Flunk went on television announcing her engagement to Barry Billong. Only problem was that Barry has already proposed marriage to another girl, and he was coerced into this second proposal by two men showing up at the dealership and threatening him with physical violence. Wilbur Vickery claims he received a wedding proposal from the daughter of Prince Charles, future king of England. Only problem is that Prince Charles doesn’t have a daughter, and the British ambassador, who caught the transmission, has filed an official complaint against Wilbur for making false claims.”

“Oh, God,” said Odelia.

“Ted Trapper claimed in front of the cameras of an WLBC-9 television crew that he won the Powerball. One hundred million dollars. Only the ticket he received was a fake, and the Powerball has filed charges against Ted for fraudulent claims. Fido Siniawski has testified live on WLBC-9 that he inherited a winery in Florida from his deceased uncle Renny Swaitniki. Only problem is that Renny Swaitniki is alive and well, and not related to Fido, and has now filed charges against Fido for false and hurtful claims. Oh, and a woman named Luella Pear testified in front of WLBC-9’s camera that she’d finally been granted adoption of the baby boy she and her husband have been trying to adopt for the past two years. Only the adoption agency have no knowledge about this particular adoption whatsoever and have filed charges against the Pears for false and fraudulent claims.” He put down his notebook. “There’s more but I think you get the gist.”

“And all of these people made these claims after they’d paid a visit to Madame Solange,” said Vesta, nodding to Chase.

“Which leads me to think that this Solange just might be behind the whole thing,” Chase concluded.

“I like Madame Solange,” Marge said chipperly. “She’s the kindest, sweetest, most lovely woman I’ve ever met. And the most generous, too. I think we should invite her.”

“Oh, I’m going to invite her,” said Chase. “To the police station for an interview.”

“I don’t like Madame Solange,” said Dooley. “She wasn’t very nice to us.”