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“So you think Jay is stringing Laia along.”

He held up his hands.“Awfully big coincidence, wouldn’t you say?”

“Okay, but let’s assume for a moment that Jay isn’t a gigolo, and that he really is the victim of a harassment campaign. Can you think of anyone who could be behind this?”

He drew a wrinkle between his brows for a moment, then nodded thoughtfully.“Have you talked to Loretta Everyman?”

Odelia consulted her notes.“Jay’s ex-girlfriend?”

“Yeah. Real piece of work. Real skank, if you catch my drift.”

“How do you know so much about Jay?”

That clever look was back.“The moment Laia told me she had a new boyfriend, I made it my business to find out more about him. Laia has always been my best friend, Mrs. Kingsley, and even though she broke up with me, that doesn’t change the way I feel about her. Look, frankly I was worried about her. I still am.”

“So you hired a private detective to spy on Jay?”

“No, nothing like that. I just asked around, and let me tell you: the stories I heard weren’t good. But when I confronted Laia with them, she said I was just being jealous. So for my own sense of self-preservation I decided to step back.”

“Very noble of you.”

“I know,” he said, not catching the irony. “But hey, even though I adopted a hands-off approach, I still worry. How can I not? I care for Laia. Always have, always will.” He nodded. “She’s a great gal, and Jay Green doesn’t deserve her.”

CHAPTER 7

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“For a man who says he has no hard feelings toward his ex-girlfriend Bud sure has a lot of hard feelings toward his ex-girlfriend,” Dooley remarked as we climbed back into Odelia’s battered old pickup.

“You’re right about that, Dooley,” said Odelia as she tapped her keys against the steering wheel. She turned to us. “So what did you think? Could he be involved? Or is Jay hoodwinking his girlfriend, like Bud says?”

“Hard to tell,” I said. “One thing’s for sure, Bud holds a serious grudge against Jay.”

“Yeah, I got that impression, too.”

“I don’t think he was being fair,” said Dooley. “A gigolo provides a very important service to humanity. With all those lonely women out there, it’s very decent and very kind of him to provide some company to all those ladies.”

I shared a smile with Odelia.“It’s not a given that Jay really is a gigolo,” said Odelia. “He claims he isn’t, so there’s that.”

“He’s probably one of those discreet benefactors,” said Dooley. “Who do a lot of good but don’t want people to know about it. You know, like a modern saint.”

This time Odelia actually had to laugh, earning her a confused look from Dooley.

“We better have a chat with this…” She consulted her notes again. “Um, Loretta Everyman.”

“What’s a skank, Odelia?” asked Dooley, without missing a beat. “Is that like a skunk? Cause I saw a documentary about skunks on the Discovery Channel and when they get scared they spray you with something very smelly.”

“A skank is a not-so-pleasant person,” I said. “Perhaps a little sleazy.”

“Do you think Loretta Everyman will spray us with something very smelly when she doesn’t like us? Cause I just finished grooming myself, you know.”

“No, I don’t think Loretta will spray us with something smelly,” I said.

Odelia cranked her car in gear and backed out from between a Tesla and a BMW. These tennis club people sure had a lot of money to spend on cars.

“Maybe one of these days you should buy yourself a new car,” I suggested, not for the first time.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” she said with a sigh. Then had to use all her strength to yank hard at the wheel, making sure she didn’t hit a nice Porsche.

I guess back when they made her pickup—in the Stone Age, I mean—they hadn’t invented power steering yet, and expected people to develop extra muscles to make their cars go where they wanted them to go. Then again, Odelia is plenty strong. If you can squeeze an entire infant out of your tummy, you have to be.

Loretta Everyman worked the counter at our local supermarket. No, not the General Store, where our friend Kingman is more or less in charge, but the supermarket located in the strip mall on the road into town.

Loretta was hard at work sliding her customers’ wares along the scanner when we approached.

“Could I have a quick word, perhaps?” Odelia suggested, placing a can of cat food on the counter, which was an excellent choice indeed. “Jay Green told me to talk to you,” she clarified when Loretta stared at her, uncomprehending. At the mention of her ex-boyfriend, a sort of dark cloud slid across the young woman’s face and she grunted, “I have no idea who that is.” She picked up the can of cat food, scanned it and slammed it down again. “That’ll be one ninety-nine.”

“Jay is the victim of a harassment campaign,” Odelia explained as she took out her card.

“Oh, and he thinks I had something to do with that, does he? Well, that’s just great.”

“I’m not saying you’re the person responsible,” said Odelia, talking quickly, since a line was forming behind her. “Just that maybe you could shed some light on who is.”