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“And a good thing, too,” said Gran. “We’ve had plenty to work with trying to match up Tom and Natalie.”

“You’re not still going to continue that matchmaking business, are you?” said Chase. “Not when a murder has been committed?”

“We could do both,” said Scarlett. “Solve Madison’s murder and get Tom and Natalie together.”

“It’s going to be a lot easier now that Madison is gone,” added Gran.

“Cold, Gran,” said Odelia. “Very cold.”

“I’m just being realistic!” Gran cried. She took a sip from her hot cocoa. “Okay, so who else is there? Oh, that’s right. Wayne Piscina!”

“Who’s Wayne Piscina?” asked Chase, who’d also been jotting down notes.

“He’s an assistant who got fired for some old homophobic and racist tweets,” said Scarlett. “And if I’m not mistaken, he’s also suing Madison and Advantage.”

“With so many people hating on Madison, it’s a miracle the man survived for so long,” Chase grunted as he wrote down Wayne’s name. “Anyone else?”

“That’s about it, I guess?” said Scarlett, looking to her friend for confirmation.

“Yeah, for now,” said Gran. “Isn’t that enough to get you started?”

“More than enough,” Odelia agreed. “And you’ll continue to dig around?”

“Oh, trust me, honey,” said Scarlett. “We’re going to dig like we’ve never dug before!”

“Funny, isn’t it, Max?” said Dooley.

“What is?”

“We’re all going to dig, just like that badger.”

“I know. And let’s hope we dig up something good.”

CHAPTER 21

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“I’ve got one more suspect,” said Gran, once Dooley and I were installed in our old position on top of her desk at Advantage Publishing. “Natalie.”

“You can’t possibly think that poor girl had anything to do with Madison’s murder,” said Scarlett.

“She is pregnant with his baby, and he did treat her terribly. Telling her to get an abortion and breaking up with her. People have been murdered for less than what he did to that ‘poor girl,’” Gran insisted.

“Long list of suspects,” said Scarlett.

“I’m sure it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Guys like Madison create lots of enemies.”

“I can’t believe Natalie would do a thing like that, though, or Tom. They’re such a cute couple.”

“They’re not a couple yet, honey.” She frowned. “You don’t think…”

“What?”

“That they did this together, do you?”

“Are you crazy? They’re hardly on speaking terms.”

“Mh. I guess you’re right,” said Gran, then sighed. “Oh, well. Looks like we’ve got a couple to unite,and a murder to solve. No pressure!”

“I wonder if there could have been a ladder,” I told Dooley.

“A ladder?”

“Yeah, if the murderer got in through Madison’s window by putting a ladder up against the building.”

“The badger didn’t mention a ladder.”

“We didn’t ask.”

“If there was a ladder, he would have mentioned it.”

“Maybe not. Maybe badgers don’t think anything about ladders set up against buildings and used to murder people. Maybe they think it’s just par for the course.”

We both thought about this for a moment, and soon came to the same conclusion: we had to talk to that badger again. Which was going to prove hard, since he had disappeared down his burrow—or den or sett.

In the meantime Gran had taken it upon herself to talk to Natalie again, and try to find out about her involvement with the death of her boss.

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“You’re kidding,” said Natalie, as she stared, wide-eyed, at Vesta.

“No, I’m not,” said Vesta as she shoved a cup underneath that recalcitrant coffee machine she’d been struggling with since the day she arrived at Advantage. “The police think Madison might have been pushed.”

“But I heard they found a suicide note?”

“Suicide notes can be faked.”

“Oh, God. This just keeps getting worse and worse!” the glorified secretary said, clutching a distraught hand to her face. She looked pale and drawn, which was no surprise. The man she professed to love had just been killed, and yet here she was, still showing up for work.

“If I were you I’d go home,” Vesta now told the girl. “There’s nothing you can do here.”

“I can’t go home,” said Natalie.

“Your brother still giving you a hard time?”

Natalie nodded.“We had a flaming row last night. When I arrived the place was a mess. He’d invited a couple of his friends and they’d spilled cigarette ashes all over my furniture, slices of pizza left upside down on my coffee table, beer soaked into my carpets. You should have seen the place, Vesta. It wassuch a mess. So I threw them all out and told Luke to clean up, which he refused.”

“I think you should kick him out.”

“I would, but he’s got nowhere else to stay.”

“He’s got friends. He can bunk with them.” And mess up their places.

“I couldn’t do that to him. He’s still my brother.” She sighed. “Before mom died, I promised I’d always take care of my little brother, and I won’t break that promise.”

“You know what I think? Luke knows you made that promise, and now he’s taking advantage of you.”

“I know,” said Natalie miserably. “And now with Madison gone, I don’t know what to do.”

“You’re still having the baby?”

The girl nodded wordlessly.

“Even though its dad is dead?”