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“Oh, boy,” he said. “This case is giving me a headache.”

Odelia came walking out of the house, along with Gran, and gave us a‘join me’ sign.

“Where are we going?” I asked as we crossed the street again.

“I’m going to offer my findings to my client,” she said.

We both looked puzzled, I guess, for Gran growled,“She’s going to talk to that Fae Pott again, and tell her what we’ve discovered so far. It’s what private investigators do. They keep their clients up to date.”

“Oh, right,” I said. “So did you get your pictures of the dead person, Gran?”

She directed a foul look over her shoulder.“Alec won’t let me, the jerk. Calls it interfering with his crime scene. I asked him if he wanted my fist to interfere with his face and he said he was putting his foot down. And then when I put my foot down on his foot, he kicked me out of the house. He kicked out his own mother! Can you believe that?”

I could, and I did, and I silently commended Uncle Alec on showing backbone.

Odelia pressed the bell, and moments later the gate swung open and we were walking down the driveway in the direction of the house. Even before we arrived there, Fae and Helena were already coming out of the house to meet us.

“And? What have you found?” asked Helena.

“And what are all those policemen doing across the street?” asked Fae.

“They found a dead body,” said Odelia.

“A dead body!” cried Helena. “Oh, dear lord.”

She darted a quick look at her daughter and burst into tears, Fae patting her on the back.“It’s going to be all right, Mom,” said the girl. “Isn’t that right, Odelia?”

Odelia nodded noncommittally, and we all moved inside.

I thought Helena looked even worse than the last time I’d seen her. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she was as pale as a ghost.

“She still loves Jeb,” said Dooley, who’d also noticed the woman’s distress.

“Yeah, she must have never stopped loving him,” I said, “in spite of the fact that he left her for a younger woman.”

Fae and Helena looked surprised that two cats followed in Odelia’s footsteps.

“Odelia loves her cats,” Gran explained. “They’re like her good-luck charms.”

“They are,” Odelia confirmed. “I don’t go anywhere without them.”

“I adore cats,” said Fae, kneeling down next to us and tickling our chins.

“I like her so much,” said Dooley.

“You like every human who tickles you,” I said. Well, so did I, actually. Fae certainly seemed nice. And I admired the way she stood up for her father and believed in his innocence, in spite of all the evidence against him. Loyalty like that was a rare trait.

As Odelia and Gran moved into the living room to give Helena and Fae an update on the investigation, Dooley and I took this opportunity to freely roam the house.

“Where is Sasha?” I asked, and just as I said it, the Bichon Fris? came tripping in from the kitchen, and greeted us like long lost friends.

“Max! Dooley! So nice to see you again!”

“Hey, Sasha,” I said.

“Why don’t I give you the grand tour this time?” the fluffy little doggie offered.

“That would be great!” I said, though I could have done without the escort. It’s hard to snoop freely if the owner’s lapdog is looking over your shoulder the whole time.

As it turned out, there wasn’t all that much to be gleaned. In the study a large portrait of Jeb Pott was hung over the fireplace. It depicted him in his fresh-faced heyday, before he had allowed himself to become a little seedy around the edges. There were also a bunch of movie posters from the same period, and a stack of DVDs, ordered chronologically.

“Clearly his family never stopped loving him,” said Dooley.

“Oh, no,” said Sasha. “Helena is still devoted to Jeb. Loves him to death.”

I shivered. I’d never cared for that particular expression.

We trudged up the stairs, to visit the master bedroom, which told us that Helena hadn’t remarried, for we could detect only her smell there, and only one pillow on the bed.

The next bedroom belonged to the girl, Fae. More posters of Jeb on the walls, and even a doll depicting him as Captain Blood, his breakout role. A book was lying on the nightstand. It was calledWhen You Left Me, and I scanned the blurb, more out of boredom than because I thought it would offer up any valuable clues.

“This is where I sleep,” said Sasha proudly, jumping on top of the bed.

“Nice,” I said, not all that interested. “Dooley and I sleep at the foot of the bed, too. Isn’t that right, Dooley?”

“We sleep until our humans sleeps, then we hit the road,” said Dooley.

“Yeah, we like to head out at night,” I said. “Places to go, cats to see…”

“Harsh,” said Sasha reproachfully. “I keep my human company all night long. I never leave her side—which is a lot of work,” she added defensively when we merely stared at her. “I have two humans, you see, and I try to divide my time equally between them. Fair is fair. So if I’ve spentthe morning with Fae, I try to spend the afternoon with Helena. And when I’ve spent one night with Helena, I try to spend the next night with Fae. Hard to keep up.”

Looked like this dog needed a time management app.