“It’s pretty dead down here,” said Dooley, summing up the atmosphere nicely.
Somehow I fully expected a Davenport ghost to raise its voice and warn us off, but nothing stirred, nor man or beast, and we were glad to escape from the place.
Returning to the house, we came upon Odelia, who gave us an inquiring look, but when I shook my head, she shook hers, indicating that so far her search had yielded nothing.
Gallagher Davenport, meanwhile, was still sipping from his glass of port, puffing from his cigar and looking about as placid as a man whose house is being invaded by the constabulary can look.
“I don’t kidnap cats, my dear sir,” he took great pains to explain to Uncle Alec. “I simply don’t. If I want a cat, I pay for it.”
“Where were you around nine o’clock?” asked the police chief sternly.
“Why, right here, of course.”
“Can anyone vouch for you?”
“My cats,” he said.
But when I looked where he was pointing, all I could see was a collection of stuffed Persians!
I shivered. If only he’d had a live cat on the premises, we could have talked to her, but these were all long past their expiration date!
And then suddenly a lot of phones started ringing: Odelia’s phone, Uncle Alec’s phone, and Chase’s phone. They all took them out simultaneously and glanced at the display.
“Is the search over?” asked Davenport.
“My people will stay here until Harriet is found,” said Uncle Alec, much to the man’s chagrin.
Odelia turned to us.“Let’s go,” she mouthed.
“But we haven’t found Harriet yet!” said Brutus.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
She removed herself from the small group standing in the entrance hall, and lowered her voice.“There’s been a murder!” she said.
Oh, dear.
“But I want to stay here,” said Brutus. “I need to find Harriet!”
It was a tough call, of course. Chances were that Harriet was still somewhere on the premises, well concealed and out of sight. But if a murder had been committed, and Odelia required our assistance, we couldn’t very well turn her down, now could we?
So in the end we told Brutus that we’d deal with this murder business first, and then return later tonight to look for Harriet.
The big cat could live with that, though he said he’d stay there and look on his own. “I’ll keep a close eye on this guy, and make sure he doesn’t stuff Harriet!”
Now there was something I hadn’t thought I’d hear when I woke up that morning.
CHAPTER 22
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“Do we know who the victim is?” I asked as Chase stepped on it.
Odelia gave her husband a look of significance, then said,“Jay Green.”
“Jay Green!” Dooley cried. “But we just saw him this afternoon!”
“Yeah, and now he’s been murdered,” said Odelia sadly. “And it looks as if Laia might be dead, too. Though that news hasn’t been confirmed yet.”
“Oh, no,” said Dooley. “Laia and Jay!” He shook his head. “They should have listened to you, Odelia. They should have gone to the police when you told them to. And now it’s too late.”
“We don’t know if that has anything to do with this,” said Odelia.
“What are they saying?” asked Chase.
“They’re shocked about what happened,” she relayed our words.
We arrived on Tucker Street, with its now familiar anti-cobblestone posters, and immediately made our way to the loft Jay and Laia shared. Out in front an ambulance idled at the curb, and I saw that Abe Cornwall’s car also stood parked nearby. All in all, there was a considerable police presence, and several of the neighbors had stepped out of their houses to see what was going on.
The room where we had spoken to Laia and Jay that afternoon was now a crime scene, the same way it had been the night before, when a breakin had been reported, only now the crime was even more grave.
In the center of the room, right next to the sofa where Jay had been seated when we last saw him, his body now lay in a puddle of blood, though of Laia there was no trace.
“Laia has been taken to the hospital,” one of Uncle Alec’s officers told us.
“Is she hurt?” asked Odelia anxiously.
“She was found unconscious, but from what I hear she’ll live.”
“Oh, thank God,” said Odelia.
Bent over Jay’s body stood Abe Cornwall, his hair looking as lively as ever.
“As if I didn’t have enough bodies to deal with,” he grumbled.
“So what happened, Abe?” asked Chase.
“It’s not pretty,” said Abe, casting a warning look in my direction for some reason.
“Best if you guys wait this one out,” Odelia announced softly, and ushered us out of the room like a couple of wayward children!
But before we left the room, I picked up a few words that told me she was probably right.
“Battered to a pulp… heavy blunt object… killer must have gone completely berserk…”
“So is he dead, you think, Max?” asked Dooley as we waited patiently in the corridor.
“Yes, I think it’s safe to say that he is, Dooley,” I said.
“Did his heart give out? Sometimes that happens to young men.”
“No, I don’t think his heart gave out. He was definitely murdered.”
“Oh, my. Well, that’s not very nice, is it?”
“Murder rarely is.”
I thought my friend took it pretty well, but then I understood his mind was still with Harriet.“We have to get back out there and look for her, Max,” he said now. “I mean, it’s a sad business, this murder business, but Harriet is still alive, and if we’re quick, we can still save her, while Jay is definitely dead, and there’s nothing we can do for him anymore, even if we wanted to.”
“You’re absolutely right, Dooley,” I said.
“I am?”
“Of course.”
“Brutus will find her, I’m sure of it. He’s so determined, he’s going to keep looking until…” Then a thought must have occurred to him, for his furry face fell. “Oh, no!”
“Oh, no, what?”
“What if this guy kidnaps Brutus, too!”
“Brutus is not a Persian, Dooley. And Davenport seems to prefer Persians.”
“I know, but he is the painter in the family. Harriet is the creative brains, but Brutus is the paws, and the guy said he wanted to buy the both of them, as a set.”
He was right, of course. So what if Brutus was in grave danger right now? Then again, would Davenport risk grabbing another cat with dozens of cops trampling all over his house and grounds? He’d have to be nuts to try.
The door opened again, and Odelia joined us, looking very grave, as the situation obviously warranted.
“Well, he was murdered, all right,” she said.
“Did they find the murder weapon?” I asked.
“Not yet, but according to Abe it might be one of those cobblestones they’re using to repave the road.”
“Oh, dear.”
“They really did a number on him. Abe said his head is as flat as a pancake.”
“Who called it in?”
“A neighbor. He’s being interviewed as we speak. But the odd thing is that two calls actually came in. The neighbor’s call, but just before that another call.”
“How did the neighbor discover the body?”
“The door to Jay’s loft must have been open, for his cat had wandered in. He saw the bloody paw prints all over the hallway, and followed them into the loft.”
“And what about Laia?”
“No idea. The neighbor found the two of them, Jay obviously badly hurt or dead, and Laia lying right next to him. He actually assumed they were both dead, which is what he told Dolores when he called it in. But fortunately when the paramedics arrived they found a pulse and took Laia straight to the hospital.”
Behind her, Chase had appeared, carrying a phone in a plastic baggie. He also carried a grim look on his face.“Look what I found,” he said.
“A phone?” Odelia ventured.
“Mr. Green’s second phone. There’s only one phone number on this one, which has been frequently called. Plenty of messages, too, one even racier than the next.”