“What does he do?” asked Odelia, clearly touched by Jason’s story.
“He runs a construction company. Very successful, too. He’s my boss now, since I work for him. I’m an electrician,” he explained. “I learned in prison. My brother was the only one who wanted to hire me, which is ironic, as the reason I was in prison was to protect him. So now he’s returning the favor by employing me.”
It was a touching story, to be sure, but I could tell that Chase, for one, wasn’t buying it. Alison must have noticed, too, for she thumped the cop’s shoulder.
“Hey, what did you do that for!” the burly copper said.
“For arresting the wrong man. Twice!”
“I didn’t arrest him the first time.”
“No, he didn’t,” Jason confirmed.
“But you arrested him this time.”
That was undeniable, but Chase was unapologetic.“He’s still the most likely suspect,” he insisted, which caused Alison to give him another shoulder thunk. “Stop that!” he warned. “Otherwise I’ll have to arrest you for assaulting an officer.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Don’t tempt him,” said Jason as he glanced up at the cop.
“Okay, so there’s one other thing I’ve been meaning to ask,” said Odelia in an attempt to ease the tension. “This story about you hiring a private investigator to look for your dad, how did that work out? Did they find him?”
“Nothing so far, but I’m not giving up. I will find my dad.”
“Have you ever considered that maybe your dad doesn’t want to be found?” said Chase, rubbing his shoulder. “That maybe he had good reason to disappear?”
“What’s that supposed to mean? He’s still my dad. He wants me to find him.”
“What Chase means is that your dad left the country for a reason. Because he was afraid he was going to be arrested for killing his brother,” Odelia explained.
“I know all about that. But he didn’t do it on purpose, did he? He gave my uncle Dean a shove, and he hit his head. It was an accident, and a good lawyer would get him off. So I don’t understand why he doesn’t come back to us.”
“Maybe he has come back,” said Chase, giving Alison a meaningful look.
The girl was quiet for a moment, then said,“I’ve been wondering about that. But when I mentioned this to my mom she said it was out of the question.”
“So your mom knew about your search for your dad?” asked Odelia.
“Oh, sure. I told her all about it.”
“And what did she say?”
“Surprisingly little. She seemed completely indifferent. Whether we found my dad or not didn’t seem to matter to her one way or another. Which was odd.”
“Odd, how?”
“As far as I can tell my mom and dad loved each other. But when I told Mom that I wanted to find him, and that I’d hired a detective, she simply didn’t care.”
“Another secret,” Chase murmured. “So many secrets.”
Alison looked up as if stung.“I’ll have you know that every family has secrets,” she said, stabbing his chest with a pointy index finger. “Better check your own closet for skeletons before you start digging into other people’s.”
“Hey, hey,” said Odelia. “That’s not what he meant.”
“So what did he mean?” asked Alison angrily.
“That all the people involved in this case seem to be harboring secrets, and that your mother was collecting them, and was going to reveal them in her book. But she also had her own secrets, and that maybe one of them got her killed.”
It gave the young woman food for thought. Finally she nodded.“Okay, I’m sorry. You’re just doing your job, I know. But it’s frustrating for me that you’re accusing the people I love of things they didn’t do.”
“Well, that’s too bad,” said Chase, his jaw working.
“Oh, why do I even bother?” said Alison, and turned on her heel.
We watched her enter the apartment building, and Jason said,“She’s feisty, isn’t she? Which is probably why I love her so much.” Then he seemed to realize he was talking to the people who had arrested him, and followed his fianc?e in.
“Do you still think they did it?” asked Odelia after a few moments.
“Oh, yeah,” said Chase. “I don’t know how they did it, but they did it.”
“One possibility is that they paid off that private investigator.”
“I’m way ahead of you, babe. I’ve already ordered a background check on the guy. It’s only a matter of time before we dig up the dirt on this crooked gumshoe. And then we’ve got them. All three of them. On conspiracy to commit murder.”
CHAPTER 26
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After a long day talking to witnesses and suspects, we were finally home again. But instead of resting on our laurels, as might be expected from a powerhouse detecting duo like myself and Dooley, we found ourselves in the midst of another mystery that needed our collective mental capacities. Or two mysteries, actually.
The moment we entered the house, Gran came hurrying up to us. She had a sort of wild look in her eyes, and asked, in a breathless way,“Grace! Have you seen Grace! Where is she!”
“She was at the daycare center all day,” I informed Gran, as I watched her with a touch of concern. “Though now she’s home again, since Odelia and Chase picked her up.”
“But… where is she?” asked Gran. “Where is my great-granddaughter!”