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“I know, I know,” said Wayne, dragging a hand through a shaggy mane of dark hair. He sat forward. “Look, I didn’t kill him, if that’s what you’re implying. Okay, so he fired me over some stupid old tweets, and I was unhappy with the guy, hoping he’d have more backbone than that. But I’m not going around murdering people, okay? Like I said, I’m a peoplepleaser, not a people killer.”

“One doesn’t exclude the other,” she pointed out.

He barked a humorless laugh.“Nice. Very nice. Anyway, I can prove it wasn’t me. When was he killed?”

“Around three o’clock last night.”

“Bingo.” He had taken out his phone. “At three o’clock I was delivering a meal to…” He tapped his phone. “Ian McCluster. Three-course meal from Delmonica’s.”

“At three o’clock at night?”

“Sure. You’d be surprised how many people order meals in the middle of the night. Those are the best shifts, by the way. Extra pay and extra tips for the tip jar.”

“So if I contact Ian McCluster he’ll confirm that you were on his doorstep at three o’clock last night?” When Wayne nodded, she added, “What’s the address?”

After he’d given her the address, she closed her notebook, and shook the guy’s hand. And then he was off, to deliver another meal to another happy customer.

“What do you think?” I asked after Wayne had mounted his bike and left.

“Ian McCluster lives awfully close to Advantage Publishing headquarters,” said Odelia. “In fact according to Google Maps Wayne could have reached there in less than twenty minutes, after delivering that three-course meal from Delmonica’s.”

“So he’s a prime suspect?”

Odelia shrugged.“Too soon to tell, but he’s definitely on the list.”

Our next port of call was the Mitchell home. Scarlett had told Odelia to go easy on Tom, since he was probably suffering an acute attack of lovesickness. But still, he was a potential suspect, and so he needed to be interviewed by our relentless reporter!

We found the whole family home, all living under the same roof in a modest row house in one of the less agreeable neighborhoods in Hampton Cove. The streets were clean, though, and the house was nice enough once you stepped inside.

Tom’s mom Melanie was a voluminous woman with a ready smile and a homey demeanor. She clearly loved her son Tom and his little brother Harry, and also Danny, the cousin, Advantage’s mailroom maven.

“So I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions,” said Odelia once we were all seated in the living room, which centered around a very large flat-screen television where some football game was silently playing. “You know that Michael Madison died last night?”

Melanie Mitchell nodded fervently.“Danny told us the news. Bad business. Really bad. Do you have any idea when the boys will be able to go back to work?”

“Mrs. Kingsley doesn’t work for Advantage, Mom,” said Tom.

“I know, but maybe she heard something.”

“I have no idea,” Odelia confessed.

“They have to find a new boss first,” said Danny. “And knowing Advantage that won’t take long. Big conglomerates like that have contingency plans for these types of situations.”

“Suicide situations, you mean?” asked Melanie.

“Death of a CEO type of situations. CEOs get killed all the time. They break their necks skiing in Vail, or burn to death when their private jet falls from the sky, or they choke to death on a caviar sandwich. Very risky being a CEO.”

“I didn’t know people ate caviar on a sandwich,” said Harry, who was Tom’s little brother, and looked about twelve, though in actual fact he was fifteen. He was chewing his nails, and clearly wanted to be elsewhere right now.

“You can eat caviar on anything,” said Danny. “Toast, a sandwich, fries….”

This had Harry burst out laughing.“Caviar and fries! No way!”

“Okay, so rumor has it,” said Odelia, trying to get the conversation back on track, “that Madison didn’t jump, but was actually pushed out of his window.”

Silence greeted these words, then Melanie said,“What do you mean?”

“She means he was pushed, Mom,” said Tom.

“But what does that mean?”

“It means he was killed,” said Danny. “Isn’t that what you mean, Mrs. Kingsley?”

Odelia confirmed that this was what she meant, and Melanie gasped, clutching a hand to her throat.“But that means… he was murdered!”

“Yes, Auntie Mel,” said Danny. “That’s usually what happens when you’re pushed out of a window and end up dead.”

“But why? And who? And… oh, God, what does this mean!”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” said Odelia, glad to get that part of the conversation out of the way.

“I thought you said he jumped?” said Harry, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“That’s what I was told,” said Danny. “But clearly Mrs. Kingsley heard different.”

“Was there a witness?” asked Tom. “Someone who saw what happened?”

Dooley and I shared a look, but Odelia answered smoothly,“I don’t know. I’m just telling you what I heard. So can you think of anyone who’d hurt Mr. Madison? You, Tom?”

Tom shrugged.“I can think of a lot of people who didn’t like Madison. I didn’t like him, for instance.”