31906844db5c02010017a90f3f2ca805

“I could play games with you all night, Detective,” said the club owner, pursing his lips and now looking completely like an actual frog. “But this is a matter that I want to see resolved as quickly as you. Jeb owes me money, that is correct. I loaned it to him out of the goodness of my heart, and because I’m a great fan of his work. Every day he spends locked up is a day he can’t earn the money to pay me back. So why would I want to put him there?”

“You could have murdered Camilla to show Jeb you mean business.”

“That’s not how I operate. I may talk a big game but I’m not a murderer. I don’t go around killing people’s loved ones to put pressure on them. That kind of behavior is bad for business, and ultimately attracts too much attention from the wrong crowd.” He gestured to Chase. “You, Detective Kingsley. And your uncle, Miss Poole. Attention I don’t want or need. No, I’m afraid I had nothing to do with Miss Kirby’s death, and I’m as anxious as you are to find out what happened. Did Jeb kill her? That would be too bad, because I’ll probably forfeit my money. Did someone elsekill her in order to frame Jeb? Also not in my best interests. So I sincerely hope you find whoever is responsible so that Jeb Pott can go back to making blockbuster movies, entertaining the masses and paying me back what he owes me.”

He appeared to be telling the truth, Odelia thought. Though with a gangster you just never knew, of course.

“Maybe you can ask around,” said Chase. “Maybe one of your associates knows something or heard something.”

“I have asked around, as you can imagine, which is how I knew before you showed up here in your Superman costume that you’re in charge of this case. But so far I haven’t been able to find out anything that can shed light on the matter. But you could, Miss Poole.”

“I could what?” she asked.

“Solve this case. I’ve followed your exploits eagerly, and you seem to have a knack for solving tough riddles. I’m sure that if you put your mind to it, you’ll solve this one, too.”

“I don’t know. This is a particularly tough one.”

“I know. It has stumped me, too.” He blinked as he surveyed the scene beyond his private room. “Just look out there.”

Odelia looked out there, and so did Chase.

“What do you see?”

“Um, a lot of people having a good time?”

“No, a lot of peoplewanting to have a good time, and hoping they’ll find it. But in order to have a good time, you need to look beyond the obvious. Get in touch with your soul. Look for the truth within.”

It all sounded a little new-agey for Odelia’s taste, but she nodded anyway.

“What are you saying, Tino?” asked Chase.

“I’m saying that if Miss Poole wants to solve this murder, she needs to move beyond the obvious. To look inside—into her own heart. That’s where she’ll find all the answers.”

Chase rolled his eyes, but Odelia thought he had a point.

“I think I see what you mean,” she said.

“Right? I don’t know why I just said that.” He spread his arms. “A gift I got from my mother. She was a fortune teller, and had the gift of sight. She always said I had the same gift, but the only good it does me is when I read the people I do business with. And even then I get it wrong sometimes. Like with Jeb Pott. I thought he was a safe bet, and now it looks like he wasn’t. So prove me right, Miss Poole. Prove to me that Jeb is not a killer, and that I was right about him all along.”

As they walked home, Odelia pondered these words.“Look for the truth within,” she murmured.

“Oh, don’t you start believing that crap, too,” said Chase. “He was just messing with you.”

“I don’t think so,” said Odelia. “I think he really meant what he said, about having the gift and inheriting it from his mother.”

“Tino Krawczalis’s mother was a prostitute, and if she was a fortune teller she never advertised it.”

“Still, she might have had the gift of sight.”

So she needed to look inside to solve this particular murder. Only problem was, as much as she wanted to believe Tino, she had a hard time making sense of the mystery that surrounded the death of Camilla Kirby.

“I know what we have to do,” she said, patting Chase on the arm.

“Don’t tell me. You want me to look inside, too.”

“I’m going to take out my whiteboard. And I’m going to do it right now.”

“It’s after midnight! I think you need to go to bed. Get some sleep. Look at this whole thing again with fresh eyes in the morning.”

“Oh, we will go to bed, but first we’re going to create an investigation board.”

Chapter 34

“So who are our suspects?” asked Odelia.

Dooley and I and Harriet and Brutus were all seated in the front row, Odelia’s captive audience. Bim, Bam and Bom were also there, although they were a lot less captive. In fact they downright ignored her, chasing each other’s tails and gamboling about the room like a fluff-ball stampede.

On the couch sat Gran, looking sleepy, as well as Chase, Tex, Marge and Uncle Alec.

“Um…” said Marge. “Suspect number one is Jeb Pott, obviously? Even though I don’t think he actually did it.”