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“Where were you between eleven and twelve this morning, sir?” asked Chase.

“Right here,” said Joel, sitting down again. “Just ask my secretary. I’m always here—always working.”

“This is where all of your malls and supermarkets are managed from?” asked Odelia.

“That’s right. The entire Timperley business empire, if you can call it that, is managed from this office. Like my dad managed it before me, and my grandfather before him.”

“There’s one other matter we need to discuss,” said Chase.

“What?” asked Joel, his exuberance having taken a serious hit.

“You and your friends were out joyriding thirteen years ago.”

“Oh, God, not with the Poppy Careen business again!” said Joel, rubbing his face with his hands. “Look, we had nothing to do with that, all right? We were all interrogated over and over again, and nothing was ever proven. We weren’t even there that night! We were in a completely different part of town.”

“So why did Dunc Hanover spend the better part of the next morning having his car get a complete makeover to hide any traces of the accident he was in?”

Joel’s jaw dropped at this, and he stared at Chase. “What are you talking about?”

“We have solid evidence that Dunc had his Mustang serviced on October 14th, the day after Poppy Careen was killed. More importantly, he had his front bumper replaced, and dents removed from the right side fender of the car and repainted. Why would he do that if not because he’d been in an accident the night before? The right side, not coincidentally, is the side that knocked her brother Rick off his bike.”

“Look, it’s possible that Dunc was in an accident that night, but he never went near that girl. None of us did.”

“So you’re saying he was involved in another accident, and the fact that he ordered a rush job to get his car fixed, and asked the mechanic to keep it off the books is just a coincidence? Or the fact that the damage corresponds with Poppy and Rick’s injuries?”

Joel was nodding furiously.“Yes! Exactly! Look, we were a bunch of stupid kids back in the day, with too much time on our hands, and parents with too much money so we got to drive the kind of cars other kids could only dream of. So we spent a couple of weekends joyriding and doing all the kinds of stupid stuff kids do at that age. But we never killed anyone, or even injured anyone, for that matter. And the fact that Dunc had to bring his car into the garage the morning after one of those stupid stunts, well, that only proves that he must have hit some other car, or a tree or whatever. If you’re going to drive through town at these crazy speeds and pull dangerous stunts, accidents will happen.”

“So when we talk to the mechanic who worked on your friend’s car, he will confirm that the damage to his car didn’t come from hitting a little girl and her brother?”

“Of course!” But he didn’t look entirely at ease. In fact he looked downright nervous now, and was sweating bullets.

“I think he’s lying, Max,” said Dooley.

“Yeah, I think so, too,” I agreed.

Looks like we were on the right track.

Chapter 18

Scarlett’s new boss looked licked when he returned to the office. He was pale and drawn and muttered something about not wanting to see any clients before retreating into his office and closing the door. But then of course they already knew what had happened to Dunc Hanover. Looks like Omar had arrived too late to save his friend.

“Maybe it was a good thing that he got there too late,” said Harriet. “Or else he might now be dead, too, if he’d bumped into the murderer.”

“Poor guy,” said Brutus. “First one friend is killed and now another. If this keeps up he won’t have any friends left.”

“At least he still has his mother. They say a boy’s best friend is his mother. Or is that a girl’s best friend?”

The phone on Scarlett’s desk chimed and she picked up. “Yes, sir?” she said.

“You better go home, Miss Canyon,” said her boss. “Nothing more for you to do here.”

“Thank you, sir. Will you be all right?”

“I’m fine,” he said with a voice from the tomb. “Absolutely fine,” and then he hung up.

“You heard the man,” said Scarlett as she picked up her purse. “Let’s go.”

And so they left the office, their first day as undercover spies at an end. Harriet wasn’t sure if they’d learned much of significance, but she was determined to give Max a full report. It was now his job to figure out if what they had to report would bring them closer to solving these murders or not.

We met up with Harriet and Brutus and Scarlett at the food court, which was pretty much the heart of the mall. It was also the place where most people were gathered. The tea room Gran had selected as her post was a popular one, but she didn’t seem to mind all the activity, busy as she was with receiving Scarlett’s regular updates on all things happening inside the offices of Morro& Wissinski.

“Oh, Max,” said Harriet as she excitedly came tripping up. “Have we got news for you.”

“Tell me all,” I said as we took up position next to the table.