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“No, Dolores,” said the Chief. “Haven’t heard anything about a witness on a red bike.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Ask Sully to take a statement,” said Uncle Alec, waving off his dispatcher with an impatient hand. “I don’t have time for this. I’m up to my neck in this murder business.”

“And what a fine neck it is,” said Dolores with a cheeky grin.

Uncle Alec, who has no neck to speak off, directed a dark frown at his insubordinate subordinate, but his frown hit the door, as Dolores had ducked out again.

“So what’s next?” asked Chase.

“You tell me.”

“I would like to talk to Yoko Bricknell,” said Odelia. “Janette says Yoko hated Neda even more than she did. She also wanted to direct the choir,” she explained.

“You do that, and don’t forget about Francis,” said her uncle. “I’ll arrange those search warrants and send a couple of uniforms to go through those places with a fine-tooth comb.”

Odelia and Chase both got up to leave.“Oh, and better check Janette’s flower shop,” said Odelia. “It would be the perfect place to hide some valuables.” When her uncle gave her a questioning look, she added, “Buried in a flower pot?”

“Great thinking, honey,” said Uncle Alec with a nod. “Well, off you go. Catch me a killer.” He then shot a nasty glance at me. “You, too, Max. Make yourself useful.”

I could tell he didn’t like the presence of two cats in his office, and so I said, “We’ll catch your killer for you, Uncle Alec,” just to make him realize he was doing the right thing, giving us his confidence like this, and access to his office.

“What did he say?” asked Uncle Alec.

“He says that he’ll catch you this killer,” said Odelia with a smile.

“He’d better,” said the Chief. He leaned back in his chair, which uttered a loud groan in protest. Uncle Alec is a large man, and with every hair on his head he loses, he gains a couple of pounds to keep things in balance. “You know, if Max keeps solving all of my crimes for me, soon he’ll be in this chair running this office, and I’ll be out on the street.”

“No one knows that Max helps us solve crimes,” said Odelia soothingly.

“Oh, you think they don’t know? Honey, there are no secrets in this town. I’m sure that people are saying why pay this guy Alec Lip a handsome salary when that darn cat does all the work and all he’s asking in return is a nice bowl of cat food!”

“I’m sure they don’t, Uncle Alec,” I said.

But judging from the dark look he shot in my direction, it was obvious that the whole feline sleuthing thing was bothering him—and bothering him a lot!

10

Yoko Bricknell turned out to be a lovely young woman with bright orange hair. And I thought I could detect a few touches of verdant green in there as well. It all seemed very fitting with her place of business, which was a restaurant that prided itself on its bouillabaisse.‘Serving the best bouillabaisse in the Hamptons,’ it claimed on the sign placed outside. I think it’s probably hard to confirm such a bold claim, unless one wants to sample all the bouillabaisse served in all the restaurants in the Hamptons, and who would be up for such a challenge? Not me, Ican tell you. I don’t even like bouillabaisse.

Yoko didn’t seem surprised to be paid a visit by the local constabulary, and even the fact that it came with two cats in tow didn’t faze this young woman in the slightest.

She gestured to a table near the back of the establishment where she worked as a waitress, and waited for her interrogators to get down to business.

There weren’t many people in the restaurant, which meant that either public taste has gone off bouillabaisse, or that we were in the lull between the lunch and dinner hour.

“So what do you want to know?” she asked, tapping a green fingernail on the tabletop.

She was dressed in black from top to toe, and even had a black apron tied in front, with a large pocket where presumably she kept her order book and whatever change she needed to have on hand for those few people who still like to pay with cash, not plastic.

“We’re investigating the murder of Neda Hoeppner,” said Chase, not beating about the bush.

“Neda is dead?” asked Yoko, halting the tapping and bringing that same hand to her face in a gesture of consternation. “But… I just saw her this morning. At choir rehearsal.”

“She was attacked in her home after she came back from choir practice,” Odelia explained in gentle tones—gentler than her police officer counterpart at least.

“Oh, God,” said Yoko, and her face betrayed her shock and surprise at this unexpected development. “Do you know what happened? Was it a random attack?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” said Chase as he placed his little notebook on the table and held his pencil, poised, over the standard-issue police paraphernalia. “How well did you know Neda, Miss Bricknell?”