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“Oh, I take them all the time,” said Gran, her leg shaking violently now, as she tapped her fingers nervously. “Popped one this morning. You can’t overdose on vitamins.” And with these words, she grabbed the bottle from Odelia’s hand, popped the top and dropped a pill into her mouth.

“Spit it out!” Odelia cried, pulling over onto the shoulder.

“What? Are you crazy?”

“Spit it out now!”

“I don’t wanna!”

“Right now!” she said, holding out her hand.

Reluctantly, Gran spat out the pill.“You’re not going to deprive an old lady of her vitamins, are you? I need my vitamins.”

“They’re not vitamins, Gran. These are highly addictive, very dangerous pills. You could easily have overdosed on them.”

“What are you talking about? Tex prescribed them for me.”

“He prescribed vitamins, and then Conrad sold you ecstasy!”

“But Conrad said—”

“He’s a drug dealer! He probably sells all kinds of drugs.”

Gran looked annoyed, clutching her purse now.“Damn cheating bastard. I’m gonna ask for my money back. He can’t do this to a little old lady.”

Gran was only a little old lady when it suited her, but Odelia decided not to get sucked into an argument. It was bad enough her grandmother was a pill-popping ecstasy addict.“I’m going to take you to see my dad.”

“I just saw him last week!”

“You’re going to see him again. In fact you’re going to see him right now,” she said, making a swift decision, then performing a U-turn and heading back into town. Prunella Lemon would just have to wait.

“But I don’t wanna see Tex!”

“You should have thought of that before you started taking drugs!”

“I thought they were vitamins!”

“Well, they’re not, and now you’re going to see the doctor. Who knows what that stuff has done to your blood pressure.”

“Killjoy,” Gran said, and folded her arms, tucked her head in, and glared ahead of her, the image of a moping child.

“I know how you feel, Gran,” said Dooley from the backseat. “We feel just the same way when we have to go see Vena. Isn’t that right, Max?”

“Yeah, we don’t like to see the doctor either,” Max said.

Oh, God, Odelia thought. Sometimes she felt as if she were in charge of a day-care center, not a household of grownups, both cats and humans.

She parked in front of her dad’s office and got out. When Gran made no attempt to do the same, she walked around and opened the door. The old lady was still hunched over in her seat, arms folded, a mutinous look on her face.

“Gran, get out.”

“I don’t wanna.”

“Oh, for crying out loud,” said Odelia. She unbuckled her grandmother’s seatbelt, and physically started dragging the old lady from her seat.

“Hey, this is elder abuse!”

“If you don’t start acting like a grownup right now I’ll show you elder abuse.”

“I’m telling you, I’m not coming!”

For a moment, a tense standoff ensued. A battle of wills.

“I’ll go later—right now I want to come with you and solve this murder,” said Gran. “I’m fine, okay? I feel great. I’ll come with you—we’ll interview this Prunella Lemon woman together, and then you can drop me off at Tex’s and I’ll happily take all the tests you want.”

Finally, Odelia relented.“Oh, all right. But only if you promise not to give me a lot of lip if we drop by Dad’s later.”

Gran mimicked zipping up her lips and Odelia got back into the car.

Gran smiled.“Thanks, honey. I really enjoy sleuthing with you.”

“You’re just saying that because I gave you what you wanted.”

“True,” Gran conceded. “But I mean it. I do like sleuthing with my granddaughter.”

Odelia suppressed a smile. She wouldn’t admit it right now, but she kinda enjoyed her grandmother’s company, too. When she wasn’t driving her nuts, that was.

Chapter 21

“So what’s the plan?” I asked as we were back on the road. “Where are we going?”

“First we’re going to have a little chat with Prunella Lemon. She’s the woman who wrote those Mellie Moose books,” said Gran, who appeared to be in a particularly good mood now that danger in the form of a doctor’s visit had been averted.

“Ellie Zeus,” Odelia corrected her. She directed a critical look at her grandmother. “And then after that I want to have a word with your drug dealer.”

“I don’t have a drug dealer,” said Gran. “I have a supplier of vitamins.”

“He’s a drug dealer, Gran, and the sooner you admit it the better.”

“I will not incriminate myself. He sold me vitamins and until you can prove otherwise I’ll believe that’s what he sold me. And for a bargain price, too.”

“And what do you want us to do?” I asked.

“Talk to anyone you can—try to find out what happened to Jeb and his ex-wife. I’m sure there will be plenty of pets at the club.”

“You say pets, but actually you mean dogs,” said Dooley.

“Dogs are pets, too, Dooley,” Odelia pointed out.

“I’m not so sure about that,” Dooley said quietly as he gave me a look of worry.

“I think it’s about time you let go of those ugly prejudices against dogs, boys,” said Odelia. “Otherwise you’ll never be truly great detectives.”

We both howled with indignation.“That’s not true!” I cried.

“We don’t have anything against dogs!” Dooley said.