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Chapter 34

A big meeting had been called, and all the usual suspects were present and accounted for: Odelia, who’d called the meeting. Gran, who acted as co-chair. Marge, and of course myself, Dooley, Harriet and Brutus. We even had a guest star in the form of Kingman, who, judging from the way he kept directing a self-satisfied smirk at me, had exciting news to impart.

Absent were Tex, who had been taken away in the paddy wagon, Chase, who had been driving the paddy wagon, and Uncle Alec, who owned the paddy wagon and who was, as we speak, presumably tying Tex to the police station torture rack preparatory to applying gentle pressure until the man cracked under the strain and confessed all.

The location of the meeting was Odelia’s place, and all five cats were comfortably ensconced on the couch while Marge and Gran were seated on chairs, with Odelia standing in front of her whiteboard, waving a black marker and writing down the names of potential suspects and their possible motives.

In other words, a classic set-up. Hercule Poirot would have nodded approvingly, and so would Sherlock Holmes, Perry Mason and Nero Wolf, had any of them been present.

“Francine Jones,” Odelia said, jotting down the name of Jaqlyn’s widow. “She had recently discovered that her husband was having an affair with Monica Chanting.”

“Monica Chanting herself,” said Gran. “Who wanted the affair to blossom into a marriage but found that Jaqlyn was reluctant to tell his wife and file for divorce.”

“How about Monica’s husband Garvin Chanting?” Marge suggested. “He could have found out about his wife’s affair and decided to take matters into his hands.”

Odelia dutifully wrote down the name of Monica’s husband and his motive.

“Okay, so next we have Barney Sowman, the neighbor whose tires had been slashed by Jaqlyn, and who was involved in a dispute with the man over an access road.”

“Barney definitely had his own ideas about the murder,” I said, and reported Barney’s suggestions for a potential murder weapon. It made quite an impact on my audience, and Odelia added a red asterisk next to Barney’s name, to indicate he was a promising suspect.

“Other suggestions?” she asked now, glancing around.

Just then, the door opened and two men walked in. Reading from left to right they were none other than Chase and Uncle Alec.

Instantly, Marge was on her feet.“Oh, no!” she cried, shaking her head vehemently. “You two aren’t welcome here anymore. Out! Both of you—out! Traitors!”

“But, Marge!” said Uncle Alec, clearly taken aback.

“You arrested my husband,” said Marge, pointing an accusing finger at Chase, who looked stricken and a little scared of the woman, “andyou handed him over to the state police without batting an eye,” she added, turning that same finger on her brother, who’d gone a little white around the nostrils all of a sudden. “You’re both dead to me.Dead!”

“Mom,” said Odelia, “they were just doing their jobs. You can hardly blame them.”

“I do blame them. I blame them for robbing a good man of his freedom over some unfounded suspicions.”

“He had a body stashed in the trunk of his car!” Alec cried.

“So? That’s still no reason to arrest him.”

“Marge, settle down,” said Gran, adopting a harsh tone. “You’re acting like an idiot.”

“Oh,I’m acting like an idiot, am I?They’re the ones who are the idiots, and they’ll feel pretty stupid when they discover that Tex is innocent. And now get out of my house!”

“It’s not your house,” Gran pointed out.

“I don’t care! Out of my sight!”

“Marge Lip!” Gran bellowed suddenly, causing Marge to jump. “Shut up and sit down!”

“But—”

“Now!”

“Yes, Ma,” Marge muttered, and did as she was told.

“We’re in the middle of a family crisis and this is not the time to lose your head. We all need to work together to get Tex off the hook, and you’re not helping.”

“Yes, Ma,” said Marge dutifully.

“Chase and Alec were only doing their duty. When you’re a cop and you find a dead body in the trunk of a car, you arrest the guy who owns the car, it’s that simple. If Chase hadn’t arrested Tex, someone else would have, and Chase would have had a lot to answer for, maybe even lost his job. And the same goes for Alec. Now please let’s dispense with the drama and focus on finding the real killer. Chase—take a seat. You, too, Alec. Odelia, get on with it. We haven’t got all day.”

Everyone settled down, and Odelia took up position in front of her whiteboard again. In deference to the latecomers, she quickly reiterated the list of suspects she’d compiled so far: Francine Jones, Monica Chanting, Garvin Chanting and Barney Sowman.

“Max, you have the floor,” she said now. “What did you find out so far?”

“Well, apart from Barney’s eagerness to select a suitable murder weapon to dispense with annoying neighbors, the birds in a nearby tree said they saw Jason Blowhard and Jaqlyn Jones have a big fight on the next street shortly before Jaqlyn’s murder.”