ôOf course you did,ö said Chase, and stepped past the unlikely couple. About a dozen more cops followed in his footsteps, and while two officers kept a close eye on Maisie and Fabrizio, the rest all fanned out and started searching the house top to bottom.
ôNow this is what I had in mind,ö I told Dooley, ôbut before you can search a place, you need to have a good reason. Or in police parlance, probable cause.ö
ôAnd does Chase have a good reason now?ö asked my friend.
ôLetÆs wait and see,ö I said, and stretched out on the front lawn next to the boxwood while the search was in progress. There wasnÆt anything we could do, after all, and another close encounter with Maisie and Fabrizio was the last thing either of us wanted.
Odelia had also driven up, and now joined the search. SheÆd brought Harriet and Brutus, and the four of us settled in for a long wait.
As the sun pulled on its big-girl pants and painted the world in a roseate hue, neighbors up and down the street came out of their houses to take in all the police activity, and before long, spectators had gathered in front of the house, talking amongst themselves and speculating freely about what was going on here.
In other words: free entertainment for young and old.
Suddenly a voice upstairs called out,ôChief! Over here!ö
We all perked up at this, and so did the crowd, three deep now, all craning their necks to see what the upshot was of all this shouting. Judging from their expressions they fully expected some bloodied corpse to be carried out of the house at any moment.
Odelia now appeared in the door and beckoned us over.
And so we entered the house, a small procession of cats, and joined Chase and Odelia in the living room, along with Maisie and Fabrizio, who looked very antsy indeed.
ôI demand an explanation!ö said Fabrizio.
ôYou canÆt do this to me,ö said Maisie. ôI just lost my husband. I deserve some respect!ö
But instead of respect, Chase held up two mobile phones, both neatly sealed inside an evidence bag. At the sight of the phones, MaisieÆs face went a little pale, and so did FabrizioÆs.
ôI told you to get rid of those!ö Fabrizio snapped.
ôI was gonna! But with all these cops around, I couldnÆt!ö Maisie returned.
ôWeÆve checked the phones,ö said Chase, ôand found the message you sent to your husband on the evening of his murder. A message for him to meet you at the Poltorak farm.ö
ôSo? ItÆs not a crime to meet your husband,ö said Maisie, but she looked shifty now.
ôI think weÆll find your husbandÆs fingerprints on the other phone, which is the one you gave him, isnÆt it?ö
But Maisie pressed her lips together, and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
ôHereÆs what we think happened,ö said Odelia. ôYou and Fabrizio were having an affair, and you had been thinking about divorcing Eric for a while now. So when the offer came for Eric to replace Cotton Karat while he was in therapy for his sex addiction, you saw an opportunity to get rid of your husband, and get some money out of this deal, too.ö
ôYou knew that the Karats would do anything to avoid the whiff of scandal,ö Chase said as he placed the phones on the table in front of the duo, ôand so you hatched a brilliant scheme. You bought two phones so you and Eric could stay in touch when he assumed the role of Cotton, and told him to meet you that night out by the Poltorak duck farm. And since Eric always did what you told him to do, he dutifully showed up for the meeting.ö
ôWeÆre not exactly sure which one of you actually killed him,ö said Odelia. ôBut we think it was probably a joint effort. Eric had told you about the threats made against CottonÆs person by the Duck Liberation Front people, and so you made it look as if they were behind the murder. You killed your husband, cut out his liver and delivered it to the Karat Group headquarters with a note, claiming responsibility for the DLF.ö
ôA nice touch, I have to say,ö said Chase. ôIn fact the whole setup was brilliantly conceived and carried out.ö
ôWhich is when we come to the second part of your plan. You blamed the Karat Group for EricÆs death, accusing them of not keeping him safe, and threatened to take them to court, all the while knowing full well theyÆd settle out of court before that happened.ö
ôI talked to Tobias Pushman just now,ö said Chase, ôand he confirmed that he reached a settlement with you yesterday, for a total sum of three million dollars. Not a bad haul for a woman who set up and murdered her own husband, wouldnÆt you say, Maisie?ö
MaisieÆs face spelled storm now, and she was freely glowering at Chase and Odelia.
ôDonÆt say a word, Maisie,ö Fabrizio warned. ôTheyÆve got nothing on us. Nothing.ö
ôWeÆve got these phones,ö said Chase. ôThey prove that it was actually you who lured your husband to his death. They place you at the scene of the crime and not, as you claimed, here at the house. And then of course thereÆs this.ö And like a trained conjurer, he produced from behind hisback another plastic evidence bag, this one containing a long, serrated knife with a red handle. And if I wasnÆt mistaken, there was blood on the blade.
ôOh, God,ö said Fabrizio, as he buried his head in his hands.
ôI told you, I was waiting for these coppers to get off our backs!ö Maisie burst out.
ôStupid, stupid, stupid,ö Fabrizio moaned.
Suddenly MaisieÆs eye shifted to me and she frowned. ôHey,ö she said, pointing in my direction. ôThatÆs the same orange fatty that was in here last night!ö
At this, I drew myself up to my full height and said, rather haughtily, IÆm afraid, ôFor your information, my name isnÆt Fatty. ItÆs Max, and IÆm not orangeùIÆm blorange!ö
Chapter 34
ôEric Blandine was one of those people who wouldnÆt say boo to a goose,ö I said.
ôWhy would anyone want to say boo to a goose, Max?ö asked Dooley.
ôItÆs just an expression, Dooley. Nobody actually says boo to a goose.ö
ôI wouldnÆt mind saying boo to a goose,ö Brutus grunted. ôTeach them some manners.ö
Brutus had once been chased by a goose, and evidently the experience still rankled.
We were in Tex and MargeÆs backyard, where a party was in full swing. Ever since Gran had given up trying to force the vegetarian lifestyle on the rest of the family, it was almost as if the sun had come out and IÆd rarely seen the Pooles as happy as now.
ItÆs like wearing a pair of tight shoes: the moment you take them off, itÆs liberating.
ôSo Eric Blandine was a man who wouldnÆt say boo to a goose,ö Harriet reminded me.
ôYes, thank you,ö I said with a grateful smile in my friendÆs direction. ôSo when he suddenly decided to ignore the instructions Tobias Pushman had given him about keeping a low profile and showed up at Merle PoltorakÆs farm in the shank of the evening, there had to be a good reason. And that got me thinking about the manÆs psychology. Why would a man as meek as Eric Blandine ignore a direct order from a man who was basically his bossÆs boss? A man who ordered him not to show his face anywhere?ö
ôBecause his wife had told him to,ö said Harriet with a nod of satisfaction. ôSee, pookie? A good man always does what his girl tells him to.ö
ôAnd gets murdered in the process,ö Brutus muttered, earning himself a scowl from Harriet.
ôBut how had Maisie reached her husband? There were no messages on his phone, no emails, no phone calls. So it stood to reason that before sending him on his mission, she must have given him a secret phone so they could stay in touch throughout.ö
ôBut how did you know she hadnÆt dumped those phones?ö asked Brutus.
ôI didnÆt, obviously, but I was hoping she hadnÆt. And as it turned out, she hadnÆt gotten rid of the murder weapon either.ö
ôThat wasnÆt very smart of her,ö said Harriet. ôShe should have dumped the weapon on the night of the murder, and the phones.ö
ôShe didnÆt want to risk the knife or the phones being found,ö I said. ôSo she decided to keep them for now, until she could figure out a way to get rid of them for good. She never thought anyone would suspect either her or Fabrizio, so she felt pretty safe.ö