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Chief Alec drove Odelia and Gran to the Hampton Springs Hotel. Odelia wanted to check the story of Cybil Truscott and the pool boy so they could scratch the widow off their list of suspects. They entered the hotel and the Chief asked the clerk at the reception desk about the incident of last night. The clerk immediately blushed.

“Um, yes, that happened,” the young man said. He had red hair and freckles and a hard time suppressing a grin.

“So where can we find the male star of this auspicious event?” the Chief asked.

The guy gestured at the pool area.“Dale’s working today, though from the looks of things he won’t be for much longer.”

“Why is that?” Odelia asked.

“Hotel rules. We’re not supposed to get too friendly with the guests.”

“And Dale broke that rule,” the Chief said, nodding.

“He got way too friendly,” he said, that grin finally breaking through. “Way and way too friendly from what I heard.”

“Right,” said the Chief, tapping the desk. “Thanks, buddy.”

They walked outside, and Gran said,“I don’t get it. This Truscott woman can make a spectacle of herself in front of the entire hotel and I can’t even spend some time at the beach with my lover? That’s just not right, Alec!”

“There’s a difference between what people do in the privacy of their pool in the middle of the night and what they do on a public beach during the day,” he grumbled.

“But this isn’t Truscott’s private pool. This is the hotel pool.”

“Nobody complained,” the Chief said. “No complaint, no problem.”

“I should have ducked behind the bushes,” Gran grumbled. “But Leo doesn’t like the bushes. Says it feels too sneaky. And he doesn’t like sneaky.”

“Sounds like Leo is quite a pistol,” said Uncle Alec.

“Sounds like Leo is a bad influence,” Odelia said.

She shared a look with her uncle.“Or the other way around,” the latter muttered. She smiled. He just might be right. Leo didn’t really look like the kind of guy who’d go out of his way to cause trouble. In fact he looked one cardiac arrest away from a trip to the morgue. If anyone was the pistol here, it was Gran.

They stepped onto the paved pool area and searched around for the infamous pool boy. There were plenty of hotel guests lounging on pool beds and chaise lounges, sipping cocktails and reading the latest summer bestseller. Then she spotted a young man messing around with what looked like a filter near the edge of the pool. He was tan with brown hair, dressed in blue dolphin boxers and looked way too young to be entertaining Mrs. Truscott in the middle of the night.

They headed over while Gran made herself comfortable on one of the chaise lounges. Chief Alec had sworn not to let his mother out of his sight for the rest of the day, or anywhere near Leo. His officers had wanted to put her under arrest, but when they discovered who she was, had balked at the prospect of arresting their boss’s mother. To save face, Alec had told them he’d personally guarantee something like this didn’t happen again. At least not today.

“Hey there, son,” the Chief said as they approached the kid.

He looked up, shielding his eyes from the sun.“Yes?”

“Alec Lip. Chief of Police. Can I have a word with you?”

The kid rose to his feet. He looked like he’d been expecting this. “Yes?” His eyes darted to Odelia, a question mark forming on his face.

“Oh, this is Odelia Poole. My niece. She’s helping me investigate the murder of Niklaus Skad. So it’s Dale, right? Dale….”

The kid licked his lips. He didn’t look a day over twenty. “Dale Hoover, sir.”

“Well, Dale Hoover, we’re trying to ascertain the whereabouts of Niklaus Skad’s wife last night. I believe you’re familiar with Cybil Truscott?”

“I… I don’t believe I am, sir. Is she a guest at the hotel?”

“Oh, yes, she is. And we heard youare familiar with Mrs. Truscott.” He gave Dale a knowing look. “Very familiar, if you know what I mean.”

“I—I’m sure I don’t know, sir,” Dale stammered, blushing beneath his tan.

“You and Cybil were seen going at it last night in the pool,” Odelia explained.

“At it? I don’t know…”

“Come on, son. I don’t have to draw you a picture, do I?” the Chief asked.

“The entire hotel saw you, Dale,” Odelia said. She gestured up, and Dale followed her gesture. His face fell. The entire hotel was built around the pool area, five floors of balconied rooms all looking out across the pool.

“Oh…” he said, now looking positively mortified. “Oh, well damn.”

“Yes, that’s the expression I would have used,” said the Chief with a sympathetic smile. “I take it you didn’t know you had witnesses?”

“No, I did not, sir,” said the kid, gulping slightly.

“One thing you should know about women like Cybil Truscott, son,” said the Chief. “They love attention. In fact they crave it. So while you may not have been aware that this spot is a very public one, even at night, she certainly did.”

“I was expecting her to invite me up to her room, but she insisted we stay here. She said the water…” He gulped again. “The water acted like an aphrodisiac.”

“Right,” Odelia said skeptically. More like the attention.