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“Hey, you guys,” said Chase, and tickled us both under our chins. We purred in response, and he said, “Wanna hitch a ride into town? Well, hop in. Your taxi awaits.”

“He understands us so well,” Dooley gushed as we got into the car.

“He does, doesn’t he? And he doesn’t even speak our language,” I said.

Chase is probably our favorite person in the world, next to Odelia, of course. He has saved my life many times. I think he was probably put on this earth to do just that, and Dooley thinks he might be Jesus. I’m not so sure about that, but he is pretty special.

As we drove back to town, Uncle Alec and Chase were discussing the case.

“Search of her room doesn’t tell us a thing,” said Alec.

“Yeah, and I didn’t get a lot from the daughter either,” said Chase.

“Grace didn’t get a flight out of New York,” said Alec. “I had the airports checked and nothing. Train stations same story. If she skipped town, she didn’t do it by train or plane.”

“They could have taken a car.”

“What car? Her car is still in the garage, and we found Fabio’s car parked down the road.”

“Taxi? Uber?”

The Chief shook his grizzled head.“Had them all checked. Uber, Lyft, taxi companies, all a big bust. No, she’s still here, or if she was taken, whoever took her left no trace.”

“Can’t wait to hear what Abe has to say.”

Alec took out his phone and handed it to Chase.“Here, you call him.”

“No, you call him,” said Chase, refusing the phone.

“I’m driving! You call him.”

“You’re still chief, Chief, so you call the coroner. That’s procedure.”

“You’ll be chief soon, son, so you better get used to this. You call Abe.”

“No way in hell am I going to be chief. You’re the chief and as far as I’m concerned you’ll be chief until you die. Now get on the damn phone and call Abe already.”

“Oh, have it your way,” said Alec and got the coroner on the phone. “Abe! Give me some good news!”

“No news, I’m afraid,” the voice of the county coroner sounded through the car’s speakers. “No traces of blood. Plenty of fingerprints, but that’s to be expected. I’m having them processed and will let you know if we find anything unusual or interesting. We did find traces of acetone,which can be used to produce chloroform, but is also used as a paint thinner, so no surprises there either. By the way, is this Fabio Shakespeare fellow related to the Bard, you think?”

“What bard?” Alec barked.

“The Bard, of course. The Bard of Avon. Shakespeare!”

“I have absolutely no idea, Abe,” said Alec. “And frankly I don’t care.”

“Well, if he is, it would be interesting to see his family tree.”

“If we find the guy, and he hasn’t been cut into little pieces, or had his head bashed in, or is otherwise engaged, I’ll be sure to ask him,” said the Chief acerbically.

“Bad mood, Chief? What’s bugging you this time? Hemorrhoids? Bunions?”

“He’s being pushed out by the Mayor,” said Chase.

“No way. You, too?”

“What, who else is getting pushed out?” asked the Chief.

“Why, me, of course. Haven’t you heard? The Mayor has been using his pull with the County Executive, and I’m being offered early retirement. They want new people, young people. I’m too old and too ornery, apparently, or at least that’s what they told me.”

“Old fossils, Abe,” said Alec sadly. “We’re old fossils.”

“Speak for yourself, you old fossil,” said Abe. “I’m not that old. I just got started!”

“And now you’re done,” said Alec. “So who’s replacing you?”

“Some kid fresh out of school. She’s the County Executive’s niece, can you believe it?”

And as the two old fossils exchanged more details about their retirement plans, Dooley said,“Uncle Alec is wrong, Max. An old fossil is a dead thing that has been in the ground for a very long time. Uncle Alec isn’t dead and he hasn’t been in the ground for a very long time, and neither has Abe.”

“It’s just a figure of speech,” I said. “What he means is that he’s so old it’s time to put him in a museum.”

“He wouldn’t like it,” said Dooley. “Museums aren’t meant to be lived in. They have no showers and no kitchens and no bedrooms to sleep in. At least I don’t think so.”

“No, I guess they don’t,” I said. A thought had suddenly occurred to me. Why were the Mayor and the County Executive trying to get rid of the Chief and the County Coroner all of a sudden? And were these two events related somehow? It was something to think about, and I vowed to mention it to Odelia once we’d returned to the house.

Chapter 22

Odelia had gone in search of her grandmother and her cats but so far she hadn’t found them. Gran wasn’t answering her phone, and she wasn’t at the house either. So she’d decided to drop by her dad’s office to see if she wasn’t holed up there.

Dad came out of his office when she walked in, looking slightly rattled.

“Hey, Dad. Have you seen Gran by any chance?”

“No, and if I never see her again it will be too soon,” said her father, indicating he wasn’t happy with Vesta, which wasn’t unusual. Tex and his mother-in-law didn’t always see eye to eye. In fact it wasn’t too much to say they sometimes fought like cats and dogs.