Ник Сайнт - Purrfect Heat

“Um… something like that, I guess.”

We looked at Harriet and Brutus, in the midst of their make-up scene, and both turned away and started making our way out of the alley.

“I think I’m way too young for all that dating stuff, Max.”

“I think you’re right, Dooley.”

“It just looks very complicated.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I don’t like complicated, Max.”

“Me neither, Dooley. Me neither.”

Chapter 28

Odelia stubbornly walked on. If Chase didn’t want to confront Ziv Riding about his nocturnal visit to Hampton Cove, she was. She stalked over in the direction of the boutique where Max said he’d seen the Tesla parked, and saw Riding leaving the store and returning to his vehicle.

She hurried over, wanting to catch him before he skedaddled. The store was Riding’s, and exclusively carried the Ziv Riding brand.

“Mr. Riding!” she yelled. “Mr. Riding! A word, sir!”

Riding turned around, his hand on the door of his car. He was a handsome man with smooth, even features and remarkable black eyes. A smile spread on his face when he saw her coming. “Of course I’ll do a selfie, darling. But only one. And only from the right. That’s my best side.”

“My name is Odelia Poole, and I’m a reporter for the Hampton Cove Gazette and a civilian consultant with the Hampton Cove Police Department.”

His smile faltered. “No selfie?”

“No,” she said decidedly. “No selfie. Someone saw your car parked behind Fry Me for an Oyster a couple of nights ago.”

Now his smile was completely wiped away. “No comment, Miss…”

“Poole. Odelia Poole.”

He opened his car door and made to get in. “Bye, Miss Poole.”

“It was the same night Niklaus Skad was murdered, Mr. Riding. Would you care to comment?”

“No, I would rather not,” he said as he slid into his seat. He tried to close the door, but Odelia held onto it. “What was your involvement with Niklaus Skad, Mr. Riding?”

“No involvement. I liked his cooking show, though. Now could you please let go of my door, Miss Poole? It’s my door and I need it.”

“What about the sweatshop you built in town? What was your involvement with that?”

“I don’t know about any sweatshop. My clothes are all made in Asia. Now please if you could just…”

“Your clothes were made by Asian workers you illegally brought into this country and then set to work in appalling conditions.”

“Thank you for your interest,” he said. “Please schedule an interview with my publicist. I’m always happy to talk to the members of the press.”

With a press of his finger, he started the car and drove off, closing the door as he moved away. It was amazing, Odelia thought. The car hardly made any noise. It just… glided away ever so gracefully. Then she groaned in dismay. The guy was as slippery as they came. And she had nothing on him. Nothing at all.

She mounted the sidewalk and staggered off, feeling utterly dejected. Chase thought she was a flake and that she was hiding something. She’d just angered a fashion designer who probably had nothing to do with this whole Niklaus Skad thing. And she had to sort out the mess her cats had made. This whole Diego versus Brutus thing was getting out of hand.

She set foot for the alley Brutus had been talking about. Maybe she should sort this out once and for all. It wasn’t as if she had anything better to do. Like her uncle said, they caught the killer. He confessed. The rest was conjecture.

The first thing she saw when she entered the alley was Max and Dooley sauntering towards her. “Hey, Odelia,” said Max. “How did it go with Ziv Riding?”

“It didn’t. Though he drives a really cool car. How did things go with Diego?” Dooley jerked his thumb in the direction of the alley, and she saw Brutus and Harriet, smooching up a storm. “I take it things worked themselves out?”

“They certainly did,” Max said. “With a little help from Clarice.”

“Right,” she said.

“Hey. Isn’t that Grandma?” asked Max.

She looked in the direction indicated, and saw that it was indeed her grandmother, and she was looking just as dejected as she was feeling. She was shuffling along on the other side of the street. So she quickly crossed and joined her. “Gran? What’s wrong?”

Gran looked up, her wrinkly face drawn. “Oh, I won’t tell you.”

“You won’t tell me what?”

“You’ll just laugh at me.”

“I promise I won’t laugh at you.”

“It’s Leo. He left me.”

“He left you?”

“Yeah, for a younger woman. Can you believe it? We were making out in the park when some hot young dame sat down next to us. Leo’s eyes wandered, the hot chick giggled, and then his hands wandered and next thing I knew he was making out with her instead of me! I just left.”

“Some hot young chick made out with Leo? How old was this chick?”

“You know her. Frankie Canolli’s grandmother Jackie.”

“Jackie Canolli? But she’s like a hundred!”

Gran gave her a hard stare. “She’s younger than me!”

“Not by much.” Odelia had been in school with Frankie. They were the same age.

“Didn’t you tell her off? Or Leo?”

Gran shrugged her bony shoulders. “Ah. No use talking to Leo. We were never much for talking anyway. Ours was more a physical bond.”

“I’ll say,” she muttered.

“And I’m not speaking to Jackie. Haven’t said a word to her since she took my roast beef recipe and passed it off at the pinochle club as her own.”

She placed an arm around her grandmother’s shoulders. “I’m sorry. I didn’t like Leo, but that’s just because I didn’t think he deserved you.”

“I know he didn’t deserve me, but at my age you can’t afford to be choosy, honey.”

They walked in silence for a while. “Chase is mad with me,” she finally said.

“Oh? And why is that?”

“He thinks I’m hiding something from him.”

“About the cats, huh?”

“Yeah. He knows something is going on but he can’t figure out what it is and now he’s mad I’m not telling him.”

“So tell him.”

She looked at her grandmother. “What?”

“Just tell him. See how he reacts. If he’s fine with it, he’s a keeper. If not…” She held up her hand. “Well, then at least you know he doesn’t deserve you.”

She gave her grandmother a hug. “Thanks, Gran. I won’t tell him but still, thanks.”

“If you’re not going to tell him, and he’s going to stay mad at you, can I have a shot at him?”

“Gran!”

“Just asking.”

Chapter 29

Chase had placed his long legs on Chief Alec’s desk, while the chief had done the same on his side. They sat staring out the window. Chase still couldn’t get over the fact that Odelia would stubbornly insist they needed to go after this Ziv Riding character. The only thing the guy had done wrong—apart from running a sweatshop in this town—was drive the wrong car.

“I mean, you see that, right?” he asked for the umpteenth time. “It’s a Tesla! Everybody drives a Tesla these days. A buddy of mine is visiting Belgium and he said it’s full of Teslas over there. Frickin’ Belgium, for crying out loud!”

“Is Belgium even a country? I thought it was a city.”

“Pretty sure it’s a country, Chief. Beer, chocolate and waffles?”

“Oh, right.”

He lapsed into silence again. “And what about this cat business? There’s something going on with those cats of hers. Like she’s got some kind of intuition when it comes to Max. Is that even possible? Or normal?”

“Why not? It’s called women’s intuition, Chase. And Odelia loves her cats.”