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He hung his head.“No, I don’t,” he said, now with a voice as if from the tomb. “We were having an affair. It’s true.” He looked up. “But I didn’t kill her.”

Chase took a stack of papers he’d brought into the interview room and began reading. “Wolfy, baby. Have you talked to your wife yet? Inquiring minds want to know. Smiley smiley smiley. When is the divorce planned? Heart heart heart. I think I can hear the wedding bells already. Kiss kiss kiss. Can’t wait to say I do, sweetboo. Cupid Cupid Cupid.”

“All right, all right, all right,” said Wolf. “Yes. I promised her I’d divorce Emily.”

“But you were never going to do that. Because your wife was your partner in Langdon Productions, and without her and her family’s money, you were sunk.”

“Who told you all this?” Then he shook his head. “Never mind. You’re right. I couldn’t get a divorce. Not unless my next couple of projects all proved sure-fire hits. Emily had already told me she was sick and tired of throwing good money after bad. Called the production company a black hole. So it was do or die, and the Bard in the Park thing in the Hamptons was going to give me a lot of publicity and hopefully push my next Broadway show, which I’m hoping will put us in the black. And I promised Dany the main part.” He spread his arms. “So you see? I would never kill her. Shewas going to be my star.”

“So why didn’t you give her the starring role in Bard in the Park?”

“Like I said, I’m only doing these Bard in the Park shows for the visibility and the buzz. There’s no money in it. Plus, I didn’t want to show off Dany and risk her being wooed away by the competition when they saw how good she was. And she was awesome.”

Odelia frowned. So what did that make her? Less than awesome, apparently.

“You’re not making your case here, Wolf. You just admitted you couldn’t afford to get divorced. And that Dany was pressuring you. So why don’t you simply admit you killed her?”

“But I didn’t! I loved that kid. She was great fun to be around. And I’m the one who discovered her. This was just like that movie…” He snapped his fingers. “A Star Is Born!”

“InA Star Is Born the male commits suicide when the female’s success eclipses his own,” said Chase dryly.

“What I mean to say is, I discovered her. I was going to turn her into a star, and—”

“And then you were going to ride on the coattails of her success.”

“Exactly!” said Wolf without a trace of irony. “She was my ticket to the big time. If she became a star, I didn’t need Emily or her damn money. I could buy her out. Be my own man!” He tapped the table frantically. “So why would I kill Dany, huh? It makes no sense!”

Odelia turned to her uncle.“Max and Dooley talked to Wolf’s Chihuahua.”

Uncle Alec grinned.“Now there’s something you don’t hear every day.”

She ignored him.“The dog—who is called Ringo, by the way—said Wolf would never kill Dany. They had a good thing going, but also, Wolf was with Ringo when Dany was killed. He saw the killer, Alec. He saw the killer and it wasn’t Wolf Langdon.”

Uncle Alec fingered one of his chins.“Are you sure about this?”

“Yes. Ringo also said he didn’t get a good look at the killer’s face, but an owl did.”

Alec’s grin widened. “An owl.”

“An owl, yes. Sitting in a tree…” Hearing herself, she had to smile, too. It sounded pretty ridiculous. “Anyway, Max and Dooley are talking to this owl as we speak, so…”

Uncle Alec nodded.“You think we may have arrested the wrong guy.”

“Could be. Unless the dog is lying, but in my experience dogs rarely lie.”

That grin was back.

“Yes, I know how this sounds,” she said. “But you know me, uncle. I’ve solved cases you thought were unsolvable before.”

“I know you have. And I’ll be happy to hear what this… owl has to say. In the meantime Wolf Langdon is still my best suspect, and I’m keeping him right here.”

“The yellow parka.”

“The yellow parka—and his motive. Greed is always a great motive for murder, and he had a whopper of a motive, no matter what he’s saying about thisA Storm Is Born stuff.”

She didn’t bother to correct him. “Someone could have planted that parka.”

“Someone could have, but inmy experience that is rarely the case.”

“So what about the Chihuahua and the owl?”

He held up his hand.“I know your Dr. Dolittle qualities have been useful on more than one occasion, honey, but the statement of a dog and an owl is not something that will stand up in court, I’m afraid. A solid motive and physical evidence, on the other hand…”

“I understand,” she said.

“Besides. Just like humans sometimes make lousy witnesses, so can dogs. Or owls.”

She glanced back at Wolf, who was still trying to convince Chase of his innocence.

Looked like her career as an actress was finished before it even started.

Chapter 29