Ник Сайнт - Purrfect Advice. Purrfect Passion. A Purrfect Gnomeful

“A serial infatuator, his business partner called him,” said Chase.

Gran scoffed at this. “Serial infatuator my ass. The man was a womanizer of the worst kind. And somewhere along the way, it got him killed. Only question is, who and why?”

They all sat staring at one another for a moment, then Scarlett said, “If the man slept around so much, there must be other women that we don’t know about. Maybe he also slept with the cook, the maid and the gardener at Allison Gray’s house? And one of them got mad and then got even?”

“It’s a thought,” Odelia agreed. “Only problem is, how are we going to find out about this mystery woman?”

“With good old-fashioned police work, that’s how,” said Gran decidedly. “We simply ask questions and then we ask some more questions and then, when we’re finished, we start all over again.”

“Isn’t she wonderful?” said Scarlett, much to Odelia’s surprise. “She’s such a great little detective, isn’t she? You must be so proud of your grandmother, Odelia, honey.”

“Well… I am,” said Odelia, staring at Scarlett, and Gran’s smile as it blossomed across her face like a rose. What was going on here? These two hadn’t stopped fighting since 1986, and now suddenly this?

“Let’s go and ask some of those questions, shall we?” Scarlett suggested, getting up from her perch on the settee.

“Yeah, let’s,” said Gran. “First I’d like to verify Sandy’s alibi, and then I’d like to go back to Allison’s place and ask some more questions over there.”

“Excellent idea,” said Scarlett as both women walked out of the lobby.

Odelia stared after them. “Are they… arm in arm now?” she asked, stunned.

“Yeah, looks like. It’s a damn sight better than pulling each other’s hair, let me tell you that.”

“I don’t know what’s happening anymore!” Odelia cried, raising her arms heavenward. The world was going mad. But in a good way.

“I’m going back to the office for a bit,” Chase said. “I need to give your uncle an update. And I want to get a hold of that investor guy Burt said he’d been talking to.”

“And I’ll…” Do what, exactly? “Well, I guess I’ll go to the office and… work.”

“Always a good idea,” said Chase with a smile, and kissed her lightly on the lips.

Tex Poole sat in his office, wondering where his receptionist had gone off to this time. Vesta had said something to him the previous day about a murder investigation she was involved in, and he hadn’t really paid all that much attention to her wild theories about the death of this cat whisperer guy. But she hadn’t come in for work that morning and he’d been forced to handle the phones himself again.

Now he was between patients and he sat checking the Gazette website for Gabi’s column. He’d asked a question and had been wondering if and when Gabi would grace it with a response. It had been a couple of days but so far nothing. And as he scrolled through the long list of questions and answers, he suddenly saw the one he’d asked.

He sat up with a jerk, a jolt of excitement racing through him. His question had been a simple one, but he still was curious about the response. ‘I’m a middle-aged man who’s been professionally active for the past twenty-five years in a job that is of the utmost importance to the community. But I’m also a husband to a wonderful wife, and lately I’ve been wondering if I haven’t neglected my marriage too much. What do you think?’

Gabi’s response, as he read it eagerly, left him a little deflated: ‘Dear Fretful Heart, your marriage is fine so stop worrying. What you should worry about is your brother-in-law and his lack of ambition. Don’t you want a mayor in the family? Chew on that!’

He sat back and thought for a moment, then read the response again. How did Gabi know he had a brother-in-law? Then again, didn’t most married people have brothers-in-law? And she had told him to stop worrying about his marriage, as it was ‘fine.’

Well, that was something at least. If Gabi said his marriage was fine, it probably was.

His phone chimed and he took it from his desk. When he saw that his wife was trying to reach him, he smiled and picked up. “Hello, gorgeous.”

“Hello, Tex,” she said flatly. “When will you be home?”

“Um, it’s been pretty quiet, so I should be home on time.”

“Great. What do you want to eat? Lamb chops or casserole?”

“Lamb chops,” he said, wondering why Marge sounded so… annoyed. “Is everything all right, honey?”

“Why shouldn’t it be?” she said. “Isn’t everything always all right?” And with these mysterious words, she disconnected, leaving him to wonder if Gabi had made a mistake in describing his marriage as ‘fine.’

Marge hadn’t sounded all that fine to him.

Chapter 22

That morning at the breakfast table, Allison wasn’t feeling like herself. She’d watched Mia come down and eat her breakfast, looking listless and sad, and it pained her to see her beloved niece going through such a terrible ordeal.

Luckily the coroner’s people had removed Kirk’s body the day before, and had told her she could have the room back. She’d immediately asked her maid Ellen to give the room a deep cleaning, and Ellen had roped in her two cousins and together they’d made the room look spick and span again. Still, it wasn’t enough to remove the stain of the murder that seemed to hang heavy on the house and its atmosphere, Allison felt.

So she was planning to go into town later that day to connect with an interior designer she knew well and give her carte blanche to completely redo the upstairs. New flooring, wallpaper, ceilings, the works. She wanted a complete remodel that would make the house feel like new again, fresh and ready to stand for another couple of decades.

“How are you feeling, honey?” she asked, a little trepidatiously, since she still felt to blame for what had happened. After all, she was the one who’d brought Kirk into their home, and she was the one who’d had an affair with the man. And even though she hadn’t known he was also conducting an affair with her beloved niece, she should have known better than to fall prey to such a deceitful and lustful man.

“I’m all right, I guess,” said Mia, listlessly picking at a bread roll, plucking out the crumb and rolling it into little balls. She looked up. “Have you heard from those detectives?”

“Yes, one of them just called me and asked if they could interview the staff.”

“But didn’t they interview them yesterday?”

“Yes, they did, but they are following a new line of inquiry, or at least that’s what she said.”

“You mean Odelia?”

“No, her grandmother Vesta. And her friend Scarlett.”

“Oh,” said Mia without enthusiasm. She seemed to have taken a liking to Odelia, possibly because she was closer to her in age than Allison, or the two older ladies.

“Listen, there’s something I need to tell you,” said Allison now. She’d thought long and hard, and had lain awake for a long time pondering the dilemma, and that morning had finally reached a decision. She couldn’t keep the truth from her niece any longer. Sooner or later she’d probably find out anyway, and it was better if she heard it from her.

“The thing, is, honey, you weren’t the only one Kirk was having an affair with.”

Mia frowned but didn’t look up. “I know that, Auntie Allison. Kirk had a wife.”

“No, I mean, apart from his wife. He was also having an affair with another person.” She cleared her throat. This was a lot harder than she’d imagined.

“Another woman? Who?”

She glanced at her niece, then looked away again. “Um, well, me,” she said quietly. “Only, I didn’t know he was also involved with you, honey. Otherwise I would never—”