d5e426eccb138e04dab909926b2752c6

“Of course they’re one and the same,” said Harriet. “Haven’t you been paying attention? Vicky was probably murdered twenty years ago, soon after she was kidnapped, and kept on ice all these years.”

“On ice?” he asked, intrigued by this novel theory.

“On ice,” said Harriet decidedly. “That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it. Now all we need to find out is who ordered the abduction and the murder, and how come they decided to dump her body two decades later.”

“Probably because they forgot to pay the electric bill,” ventured Brutus.

Harriet gave him a curious look.“You know, Brutus, that’s not such a crazy idea. The freezer they kept the body in must have lost power and so the body thawed out. And instead of burying her, they simply decided to get rid of her.”

All around them, people were busily gibbering into their phones, or tapping the keys of their computers, and as Brutus listened for a moment, he thought he knew what this was: the nerve center of Garibo Enterprises, or in other words the sales division, where customers could place large orders of the kind of candy Garibo excelled in, and that were shipped across the country.

“Your shipment will be arriving in two days, Mr. Franklin,” a young woman announced in an exaggeratedly chipper tone of voice. “Yes, that’s right! Two hundred boxes of Garibo Candy Mix to place in your store display. You’re welcome, sir!”

Unless Vicky Gardner’s body had been kept in the company freezer, and shipped out by the company dispatchers, Brutus didn’t really see the point of hanging around there.

“Let’s go,” he said therefore. “We’re never going to find out what happened to Vicky by hanging around this place.”

“But, sugar bear,” Harriet protested. “I’m sure we’ll find the vital clue soon!”

“Nah,” he said morosely. “We should have stuck close to Max. Max knows. I don’t know how he does it, but he always does.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” said Harriet finally, after watching a man draw a line with a Sharpie on a sales number board and screaming, “People, I just shifted my three-hundredth shipment this month. Huzzah!”

“Huzzah!” his colleagues all yodeled, then immediately hunched over their phones again, eager to break the man’s record by shifting their three-hundred-and-first shipment for the month.

“Okay, let’s get out of here,” said Harriet finally, and the two cats shuffled out of there without much pep in their step, this time in search of another clue: where was the exit?

And as they passed the water cooler, a young man and a young woman were chatting.

“So you think old man Gardner will finally hand the reins of this place to Garibaldi?” asked the young guy.

“Nah, I think he’ll hang on until they pry them from his cold, dead hands,” said the young lady.

“I heard Quintin is planning a coup.”

“A coup?”

“Yeah, bringing in a new guy.”

“To replace Garibaldi? He wouldn’t dare.”

“He’s never liked Garibaldi. Thinks he’s too soft to run a million-dollar business.”

“Garibaldi’s done a great job so far—even the old man can’t deny that,” said the woman, who was gripping a plastic cup and taking sporadic sips.

“No, I guess he can’t. But you know what Quintin is like. Stubborn to the core.”

“If he tries to dump Garibaldi there will be hell to pay. Marcia will never allow it.”

“I’d love to be a fly on the wall when those two get together,” chuckled the young man. “I’ll bet there’ll be blood in the water.”

Harriet’s eyes were gleaming, Brutus noticed, and he smiled. “Looks like we found our clue after all, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, looks like,” said Harriet with a note of triumph in her voice. “See, Brutus,” she said as they walked on. “It’s not just Max who’s a super sleuth. We’re not so bad ourselves.”

“Blood in the water,” he said. “Interesting turn of phrase.”

“Very interesting indeed…”

Chapter 30

We all met up in the parking lot: Gran and Scarlett were arguing with Odelia and Chase, and it took Dooley and myself a while to get a word in edgeways.

“If only you’d told us you were coming we could have coordinated our approach—that’s all I’m saying,” Odelia was saying.

“And if only you weren’t so secretive,” Gran said, “and didn’t make it your number one priority to shut out the watch, this could have been a great success and not the sorry mess it turned into.”

“I’m shutting out the watch? That’s rich, coming from you!” said Odelia. “You’re the one who keeps shuttingme out!”

“Why are the veins in Odelia’s neck standing out like that, Max?” asked Dooley.

“It’s because she’s upset,” I said. “Which causes her blood pressure to spike, which probably isn’t a good thing.”

He gave me a look of consternation.“You mean her head is going to explode if she keeps shouting like this?”