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“Of course I have a security camera,” he said when Chase informed him that we were trying to locate a certain vehicle on a certain day at a certain time. “You can never be too careful these days. You’d be amazed how many people try to take off without paying. Now what day did you say you wanted me to look at?”

We proceeded to a back room located behind the counter, where a series of recorders stood humming away with industrious diligence. Behind Mr. Corset’s counter a bank of screens provided him with a good overview of the goings-on at his gas station, and the little shop attached to it, but back here all of those images were also recorded on a set of sturdy disks, and kept for posterity.

“How long do you keep the recordings?” asked Chase, not hiding his admiration for the man’s setup.

“Indefinitely,” said Mel proudly. “You never know if at some point in the near or far future a cop will drop by, just like you’re doing now, and ask me if I’ve got the recordings for some date far in the past, like you’re doing now. And then it’s an honor and a privilege for me to be able to tell him, like I’m telling you now: of course I’ve got that footage for you, officer, like I’m about to show you now.”

And he dug into a large metal filing cabinet, where a series of discs were neatly lined up, organized according to date.

“Here we go,” said Mel, as he handed Chase a disk. “This should do the trick.”

“Where can I watch this?” asked Chase.

“Oh, you can take it, if you want. I keep copies of everything you see in here. A physical copy at home, of course, and a digital copy in the cloud. You can never be too prepared or organized, just in case a cop drops by and needs a copy, like you do now.” And he beamed at us with pride writtenall over his features.

On our way out, I noticed Fr?d?rique studying her human carefully, only taking a break from her intense scrutiny to give me a wink.

I gave her two thumbs up. If Mel Corset was involved in the disappearance of Addie Dexter and Ted Machosko, Fr?d?rique would find out and let us know.

Our next port of call was the police precinct, where Chase had the setup needed to study the security footage more closely.

And so the long wait began. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to find something on CCTV footage before, but it’s more or less the same thing as trying to find your glasses: the thing you want is almost always in the very last place you look. Not that cats wear glasses, of course. Our eyesight is perfect, thank you very much.

And as Chase and Odelia studied the cars as they passed through the gas station, hoping to catch a glimpse of Addie and her boyfriend, Dooley and I wandered through the police precinct, hoping to find a bite to eat. A very nice officer must have understood our predicament, for she very kindly provided us with a plate with some pieces of meatball on it.

“Meatball,” said Dooley after we’d dug in. “Yum.”

“I still wonder why those snails all descended on Tex and Marge’s garden like that,” I said.

“Do you think snail tastes like meatball?” asked Dooley, chewing noisily.

“I have no idea, Dooley, and I don’t intend to find out.”

“I think they taste like snot,” said my friend. “Slimy, you know.”

“Let’s not talk about snot while we’re eating,” I suggested.

“Max, Dooley!” suddenly Odelia said, as she came storming into the small precinct kitchen. “We found her!”

And so they had. On the screen, when we walked back into Chase’s office, a large RV was clearly visible, and as he slowed down the footage, and zoomed in, a blond-haired young woman came into view. She was walking from the RV to the gas station, presumably to pay the bill, and as she did, a second person emerged from the RV. He was dark-haired, lanky, and had sharpish features.

“I don’t like him,” said Dooley immediately. “I think he killed Addie and then took off.”

“I thought you said she became a juggler and he became a clown?” I said.

“Now I’m thinking he probably became a knife thrower, and practiced on his girlfriend and missed.”

We all studied the footage, as Chase ran it a couple of times. Finally Addie got back on board the RV, and the vehicle passed from view, traveling in the direction of Hampton Cove.

“How far did they travel before Addie’s cell phone cut out?” asked Odelia.

“About another ten minutes,” said Chase. “Which puts her exactly…” He’d pulled up a map on his screen, and pointed to a place just outside town. “Here.”

“We better go and have a look,” said Odelia as she got up.