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

She gave the producer a watery smile. She hadn’t exactly come to Thailand to be a star, and she had a feeling all this attention might even be detrimental to her chances of solving this case. Detectives rarely work well when placed under the limelight. Being in the shadows, unnoticed, working away in the background is more their thing.

“That’s great,” she said, without much excitement. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” And with a pat on the back, he was off, leaving her to consider her new role as Passion Island’s rising star.

Max and Dooley had come trotting up, and they looked as surprised as she was.

“So you’re going to be a reality star now?” asked Max. “Like Kim Kardashian?”

“I doubt it,” said Odelia as she started the hike back to the resort at a slower pace than the producer, who’d already disappeared out of sight. “I’ll get my fifteen minutes of fame and that’ll be it. And a good thing, too. I don’t think I’d like that kind of scrutiny.”

“You could start your own show,” Dooley now suggested. “Keeping Up with the Pooles. I’m sure lots of people would be interested.”

“No, thanks,” said Odelia. “People don’t want to see me talking to my cats and sniffing around town for obscure clues and suspects.”

“Gran would like it,” said Max. “In fact I’m pretty sure she’d love it.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt it. But I’d hate to live my life under a magnifying glass, a bunch of people with cameras filming every second of it.”

“You do know that reality shows are completely scripted, right?” said Max. “You show the public whatever you want to show. None of it is even remotely real.”

“Still, I think I’ll pass,” she said. Just the thought of her family being on national TV gave her the creeps. Though, as Max had said, Gran would probably love it, and so would Harriet. “Look, we’re here to solve a case,” she reminded her feline friends. “Not to become famous. So let’s focus on figuring out what’s going on, shall we?” She had a jacuzzi meeting with the three other contestants scheduled after breakfast, and she hoped to pump her fellow candidates for information, especially Joanna.

“Maybe you can drop by the main villa again,” she suggested. “Keep your ears to the ground and see if you can’t pick up something valuable.”

“Will do,” said Max promptly.

It was too bad that she wouldn’t be able to coordinate her investigation with Chase, but that couldn’t be helped. She did wonder how Clint had found out. She’d been so careful. Then again, he might have simply decided to have her followed, in an attempt to get some extra footage of the show’s breakout star.

They’d arrived at the resort, and she decided to head straight to breakfast. She wanted to talk to Kimmy before the others arrived, and tell her what had happened.

She found Kimmy chatting to one of the servers. It was the production assistant’s task to make sure the candidates were being treated like royalty, and part of that task was to ensure they were properly fed.

She gave Kimmy a sign and the assistant immediately took the hint and came over.

“I just got busted,” she said under her breath, and explained how Clint had confiscated her phone.

“That’s bad,” said Kimmy. “That means they’ll probably send you home for breaking the rules.”

“No, they won’t. Apparently I’m too popular to kick me off the show.”

Kimmy’s eyebrows shot up. “Huh. That’s a first. Clint has never allowed anyone to get away with such a serious breach before.”

Odelia stared at the other woman. “He probably never kept a candidate after she incapacitated a seducer either, right?”

Kimmy slowly shook her head as the significance of Odelia’s words sunk in. “You think Clint himself could be involved?”

“You tell me. You’ve worked with the man for, what, six years?”

“He seems hell-bent to keep you in the show.”

“And everyone tells me I’m the spitting image of the five women who went missing.”

Kimmy flung a hand to her mouth. “Oh, no!”

“Oh, yes,” said Odelia, grim-faced. “It would be so easy for Clint to select a certain type of woman for his show.”

“And so easy to make them disappear.”

“But why? Why would Clint kidnap the contestants of his own show?”

“I have no idea. But I’ll tell you what. His wife is also blond and slender, so he’s definitely into the type.” Her face displayed a horrified expression. “Oh, God. I’m working for a pervert, aren’t I? He kidnaps women he likes and does whatever with them.”

“We don’t know that for sure, Kimmy,” said Odelia. “But I do know your boss makes for a very credible suspect.” She suddenly got an idea. “Can’t you, you know, sneak into his office and check his laptop or something?”

She didn’t mention Max had already sifted through the man’s emails and hadn’t found anything suspicious. But he’d only had a very narrow window of opportunity to work with. A more thorough search could reveal something incriminating.

Kimmy nodded, looking worried as she clasped her clipboard to her chest. “I’ll try to sneak a peek when he’s taking his after-lunch nap.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe this. Clint Bunda. A criminal.”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” said Odelia, placing a comforting hand on the young woman’s arm. “We need proof before we start throwing around accusations. By the way, have you talked to Joanna yet?”

“No, haven’t had the chance.”

“I’ll talk to her.”

“How will you bring up the subject?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll think of something.”

Chapter 35

Chase frowned at his phone, as if it had personally insulted him. All he could think was that another seducer must have thrown himself into Odelia’s arms to try and break down her defenses and in the process of fending him off she’d dropped her phone.

Odd, he felt. Ominous. And as he set foot for his villa, only a short walk from the beach where he liked to conduct these early morning phone calls that did so much to cheer him up, he was thinking dark thoughts of Mike and Fred and the other seducers.

He glanced in the direction of the other island, and not for the first time wondered if he shouldn’t brave the heaving seas and simply make the swim down there.

He was greeted at the breakfast table by Vesta and Scarlett, who looked a lot rosier and healthy than they had any right to, considering their age and lack of sleep.

“And? All is well on the women’s island?” asked Gran.

“She hung up on me,” he grumbled as he took a seat. “Probably trying to fend off more seducers. Those guys are on her like bees on a pot of honey.”

“So what about the gong?” asked Scarlett.

“And that second gong?” Gran added eagerly.

“First gong was for Jackie, the second was a false alarm. Odelia found a guy named Fred in her bed and kicked him out, then beaned him in the head with an iron. Guy needed seven stitches.” He smiled at this. For some reason the image of a seducer named Fred needing to be stitched up bucked him up in no small measure.

“Seven stitches?” said Scarlett, then whistled.

“Yeah, the guy wasn’t happy when she turned him down.”

“Remind me never to get on your granddaughter’s bad side,” said Scarlett.

“So you see?” said Vesta. “Nothing to worry about. Your fiancée can handle herself, like I always knew she would.”

“I feel like we’re wasting our time here,” said Chase as he directed a listless glance at Gary, Arthur and Nick, who looked like they hadn’t slept a wink last night. Probably too busy entertaining their respective seductresses. “The real action is over on the other island, not here. And Odelia is all alone, facing not only a gang of seducers but probably a dangerous criminal, too.” He slammed the table with his fist, causing his fellow contestants to look up in surprise. “I should be over there, dammit!” he growled.