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“Yeah, that was the plan,” she said, then sighed. “Or at least Jay’s plan. I never said I agreed with it. It seemed a little rough on Laia, and probably criminal. The Twines are a pretty powerful family around here, and I’m sure they would have come after us if we’d taken that money.”She frowned into the middle distance. “Which is why I’ve taken my precautions.”

“What do you mean, precautions?” asked Odelia curiously.

“Well, they got to Jay, didn’t they? And they’re bound to come for me next.”

“Who’s coming for you?”

“The Twines, of course. Who else? They know we stole from them, and now they’re getting even.”

“But… you didn’t take the necklace, did you?” asked Chase, confused.

“No, of course not. That was Dylon’s job. He was supposed to steal the necklace, Jay was going to deal with the insurance, and then we were going to skip town with the money, and make sure the necklace ended up in Laia’s hands again. So the Twines wouldn’t come after us. But then the whole thing fell apart. First Dylon died, then the necklace went missing, and then they killed Jay.”

“The thing is, Loretta,” said Odelia, “that we now have reason to believe that Dylon was also killed, and possibly by the same person who killed Jay.”

Loretta stared at her for a moment, her mouth open, then she snapped it closed, a determined look in her eyes.“Well, that does it. If you don’t give me police protection now you’ll have the blood of an innocent woman on your hands pretty darn soon.”

“What do you mean?” asked Chase.

“God, man, do you have to spell it out for you? They killed them both! First they murdered Dylon, for stealing their necklace, and then Jay. And that necklace is safely back in the family vault by now.” She snapped the ash off her cigarette. “Don’t mess with the Twines. The message is clearnow, isn’t it?”

“But how would the Twines know about the plan you and Jay and Dylon were hatching?” asked Odelia.

“I don’t know. But they must have found out somehow. Maybe Dylon blabbed, and word got back to the Twines, or maybe Laia told her mommy and daddy, and they decided to intervene.” She narrowed her eyes. “Though now that I think about it, it could have been Laia herself. If she knew about me and Jay. I mean, you know what those rich girls are like. They think they can get away with murder.”

“Laia has a solid alibi for both murders,” Chase pointed out.

“Then it was the Twines. Mark my words, if they’re not stopped, more killings will happen, with me number one on their hit list.”

It all seemed a little far-fetched, and I had the impression she was trying to cover her own part in the scheme. Which is perhaps why she got so belligerent when Chase asked where she was last night and the night before.

“What are you harassing me for! I didn’t do this. Go talk to the Twines!”

Which probably was her way of telling us she didn’t have an alibi.

Her smoking break was at an end, and her manager came looking for her, insisting she went back to work.

“Well? Aren’t you going to arrest me?” she asked, holding out her hands and offering her wrists.

When Chase declined to offer her the courtesy of a fine set of manacles, she made a scoffing sound and returned inside.

“Nice attitude,” said Chase once Loretta was gone.

“Yeah, she’s not exactly cooperative, is she?”

“Let’s just put this one in the no alibi column.”

“She made the Twines sound like a family fromTheGodfather,” said Odelia. “Which doesn’t strike me as being the case.”

“No, Algis Twine isn’t exactly Don Corleone,” Chase said with a smile. “Unless he’s taken to baking pancakes for his gang.” He checked his watch. “Talking about gangs, I think it’s time we had a little chat with Tyrone Friday.”

“Who’s Tyrone Friday?” asked Odelia as we headed back to the car.

“I’m glad you ask,” said Chase as he placed an arm around his wife. “Tyrone is, or was, Dylon’s supplier. Though we’ve had a hard time pinning anything on him. Tyrone is by way of being a local kingpin in the drug trade. And so if anyone knows what Dylon was involved in, it would be Mr.Friday.”

“A real gangster,” said Odelia. She glanced down at us. “Maybe I should leave the cats in the car for this one.”

“Not a chance!” I cried.

“I want to see the drug kingpin!” Dooley yelled.

“Oh, don’t worry,” said Chase. “Tyrone wouldn’t hurt a fly. It’s the people who work for him you should worry about, not Tyrone himself, who’s a real pussycat.”

“Tyrone is a pussycat?” asked Dooley, confused. “Gee, I had no idea that a cat could also be a drug kingpin, Max.” Then he added, “What is a drug kingpin?”

“The man in charge of the local drug trade,” I said. “In other words, the big honcho, the big cheese, the man up top.”

“Can’t wait to see him,” said Dooley. “Maybe we can invite him for cat choir.”

CHAPTER 31

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Turned out that Tyrone Friday owned a restaurant that was called, very uninspired, I thought, Tyrone’s Place. And it was there that we found the big man.