The man laughed a very fake laugh. “Who told you that? Of course he wasn’t being fired. He was the best Fox we ever had. He made the studio billions. If anything, they were begging him to add another three movies, making him the actor with the most Fox movies in history. It would have turned Robert Ross into a legend on par with—what’s this?” He quickly scanned the email Chase had placed before him, and his face clouded. Then his lips formed a perfect O.

  “It’s the email Robert sent his brother,” Chase clarified, in case it wasn’t clear.

  The agent shoved the document away from him as if it had personally insulted him. “Hearsay,” he blustered.

  “You’ll find that the original email the producers sent to your client was added to the email he sent to his brother. We talked to the producers, and they have confirmed that they were severing all ties with the actor. They weren’t happy with the behavior he had displayed, which reflected badly on them and on their billion-dollar franchise. In fact, they were lawyering up and were going to sue Robert for breach of contract, most notably the infamous morality clause in his contract, of which I’m sure you’re well aware, Mr. Grant. As his agent, you negotiated his contracts, so you knew perfectly well that Robert was in breach.”

  The agent dusted a piece of imaginary fluff off the table. “They officially confirmed all this? In writing?”

  “They did.” Chase shoved another email in front of the agent, who read it intently. Finally, he sat back, and I could see his mind working overtime.

  “Okay, so that’s their prerogative,” he said. “I’ll have to talk to our lawyers about this, but if this is their official position...”

  “Look, I don’t really care about the company’s beef with your client,” said Chase. “All I care about is that you were being put in a very difficult position. If Robert was fired from the franchise, that wouldn’t go down well with your bosses at the agency. You might even lose your own job in the aftermath.”

  “They would never do that. I have other clients. I’m a valuable asset.”

  “Robert Ross was your most prominent client. If you lost him...”

  The man looked thoroughly annoyed, and I had the impression that Chase was getting to him. “Okay, look. So I wasn’t happy about the whole situation. None of us were. But we were dealing with it, all right?”

  “And how were you ‘dealing’ with it, Mr. Grant?”

  “Is that the reason you flew in from LA last night?” asked Odelia. “To deal with the fallout from Robert’s increasingly outrageous behavior and drug abuse?”

  “There’s nobody who appreciates more than me what Robert has meant for the agency—for the movie industry at large, in fact. But it is true that lately his behavior was getting out of control. And so when I heard about the incident with the girl—”

  “Suzanne Palmer?”

  The agent nodded. “That was the last straw. When we were told—”

  “Who told you?”

  “I don’t think it’s relevant who—”

  “Who told you!” Chase insisted.

  His eyes shot across the room like a pinball machine, but finally, he murmured, “Miss Palmer’s friend.”

  “Jeanine Bishop?”

  He nodded. “She called me personally. Said her friend had been involved in an altercation. Apparently, Robert had attacked her, and she had taken a swing at the guy. So I confronted him over the phone, and he admitted the whole thing. Which is when we held a meeting at the agency and decided that something needed to be done. Some of us felt we needed to cut him loose, while others insisted on keeping him on board and...” He hesitated and leaned forward. “Can I talk to you guys off the record for a moment?”

  “This is a murder inquiry, Mr. Grant,” Chase pointed out. “There is no ‘off the record,’ I’m afraid.”

  The agent clammed up for a moment, then decided to forge ahead. “Okay, so they sent me here to talk to Miss Palmer. To convince her...”

  “Not to mention what happened to anyone?”

  The agent nodded unhappily.

  “And to offer her money in exchange for her silence, maybe?”

  Again he nodded.

  “And if she said no?”

  “Then we’d have no other recourse than to fire our client. And if I’d known that the producers had already fired him, I probably could have stayed home and not bothered to fly out here.”

  “I thought you were here to help with the funeral arrangements?”

  “That’s not my problem,” said the agent. “His family will deal with that.”

  “So I take it you have decided to wash your hands of Mr. Ross?”

  “Look, it’s not my fault that the guy went off the reservation. I mean, my God, drugs and murder and assaulting women? We don’t condone that kind of behavior.”

  “So you’ve heard about Sebastian Poe, have you?” asked Odelia.

  “Yeah, Miss Bishop told us about that as well. Though I have to admit it all sounded a little... too much, even for a guy like Ross. But I checked, and it’s true that Poe disappeared a couple of weeks ago. I talked to his girlfriend, and he left on his yacht one morning and never came back. And it’s true that Poe and Ross were thick as thieves, so...”

  “Poe didn’t die,” said Chase reluctantly. Clearly, he enjoyed watching the agent squirm.

  The agent sat up with a jerk. “He’s alive?”

  “He is. We talked to him just now, and he will be fine.”

  “Oh, that’s great news!” he said. He grabbed his phone. “Do you mind if I send off a quick message?”

  “Yes, I do,” said Chase curtly, dampening the agent’s excitement to some degree. But it was clear that the man felt he’d been given a new lease on life.

  “I have the impression that the only reason they decided to cut Robert loose is not because he took drugs or attacked Suzanne,” said Harriet, “but because they thought he killed his friend.”

  “Yeah, I also get that impression,” I agreed. “And the only reason Mr. Grant is in Hampton Cove is to try and bury both stories once and for all.”

  “Nasty little man,” Brutus said, and I couldn’t help but concur.

  CHAPTER 29

  The round of interviews was over, and so we decided to get some fresh air. Brutus and Harriet wanted to return home and see if their litter boxes had been filled again, and Dooley and I wandered over to the General Store to give an update on the case to Kingman, who had expressed an interest. As a big fan of the James Fox movies, he wanted to be kept in the loop. Which is why we soon found ourselves in the pleasant company of our voluminous friend, who was snacking on a tasty new sampling of kibble when we joined him.

  “I’m not sure what’s in this,” he told us, “but it’s not bad, not bad at all. Have a taste, fellas, and tell me what you think.”

  And so we tucked in, which wasn’t exactly a great hardship, as the kibble certainly was tasty enough. “I like it,” said Dooley. “It tastes like... chicken?”

  “Fish, I’d say,” I said as I rolled a piece of kibble around in my mouth.

  “Beef jerky,” said Kingman. “It’s got this really punchy aftertaste.”

  And since we couldn’t agree, we decided to ask Clarice, who just happened to pass by at that moment. She didn’t say no to a free bowl of kibble, but after she had dug her teeth in, she flashed us a big grin. “I don’t think you’re going to like this, fellas.”

  “Why? What’s wrong with it?” asked Kingman with a touch of concern.

  “It’s rat,” said Clarice. “And I also taste some black beetle in there, and if I’m not mistaken, some cockroach too. And chicken,” she said in deference to Dooley. “I’d say that this here kibble was made in a factory under not very sanitary conditions. They should probably add a label that says, ‘May contain traces of rat, black beetle and cockroach.’”

  “Yikes!” Kingman cried and immediately started upchucking the previously delicious kibble he’d imbibed. And since, like yawning, vomiting is contagious, Dooley and I did the same thing.

  So when Kingman’s human, Wilbur Vickery, came walking out of the store, attracted by the unmistakable sound of three cats vomiting, he stared down at us with his hands on his hips for a moment, then picked up the bowl of kibble, shook his head, and said, “I should have known it was garbage. Thanks, Kingman. I’ll send it back to the supplier.”

  ”He’s using us as guinea pigs!” Dooley cried, not looking all that happy.

  “Why do you think he keeps feeding us this stuff?” asked Kingman, removing a piece of rat/beetle/cockroach kibble from between his teeth. “He wants us to try it first, and then if we don’t like it, he won’t sell it.”

  “I like it,” said Clarice, who looked disappointed that Wilbur had removed the bowl. “For a refined palate like mine, it hits the spot.”

  “It hit my spot also,” said Kingman, pointing to his stomach. “A little too hard, though.”

  “Rat is good for you,” said Clarice. “Nice succulent meat. And beetles and cockroaches are full of proteins and contain everything a growing kitty needs. So I don’t see why you guys are complaining.”

  “I’m allergic to cockroaches,” said Kingman. “And beetles. And rats.”

  “How can you be allergic to something you’ve never eaten?” Clarice cried.

  “I ate it now, and I’m allergic,” said Kingman, pointing to the little puddle at his paws.

  “Wilbur should never have offered us this kibble,” said Dooley. “It’s not what a true cat daddy does.”

  “And what does a true cat daddy do?” asked Clarice with a slight grin.

  “Well, he makes sure that his cats always get the food they need, but also the food they can easily digest, and he doesn’t try to poison them with this stuff that’s full of horrible things like beetles and cockroaches and rats.”

  “Yeah, even if he has to taste the food himself first to make sure it’s kosher,” Kingman chimed in, “he’ll gladly make that sacrifice because that’s what a true cat daddy does. Isn’t it so, Dooley?”

  “Absolutely,” Dooley confirmed.

  Clarice chuckled. “You guys are delusional.”

  I have to admit I only heard snatches of this last piece of conversation, for my mind had suddenly started spinning in overdrive. “Could you repeat that last bit, Kingman?” I asked.

  “About a true cat daddy? Sure. He saves the food from his own lips to feed his beloved precious cat, that’s what he does. It’s all about sacrifice, Max.”

  “That’s it!” I cried, pointing at our friend. “You just solved a murder!”

  “I did?” asked Kingman, much surprised. But then he smiled. “Of course I did. Because I’m that clever.” Then he frowned. “So who did it, Max?”

  Bert Collins was working alongside his wife in the lovely little garden they had created behind the house. It was Jane’s pride and joy, along with her designs, of course. Even the kids had enjoyed spending time in the backyard when they were little, though now that they were bigger, they hadn’t set foot in it for years, except when Bert took out his barbecue and organized one of his famous feasts. That hadn’t happened in a little while, though, since Jane hadn’t been feeling so great lately, so it was deemed best if they didn’t have friends over for a little while until she felt up to meeting people again.

  He didn’t think it would be long before she emerged from her most recent slump, though. Especially now that her former boyfriend had died. The story would be all over the news, of course, but eventually, the hubbub would die down, and then the man would finally be out of their lives forever. Bert just hoped the police wouldn’t drop by again with their questions and their annoying habit of digging into the past and dragging it all up again. He hoped he had made that clear to them. Which is why he was so surprised when he looked up and saw that Detective Kingsley was staring down at him, and also Mrs. Kingsley. They were accompanied by their cats, as usual, which struck him as weird and slightly unsettling.

  He got up with some effort and hoped Jane hadn’t noticed the arrival of the detecting duo. Which is why he hurried to join them and invite them into the house, where Jane wouldn’t see them.

  “I thought I told you not to bother us anymore?” he whispered as he ushered them into the house.

  “That was before we realized what you did, Mr. Collins,” said Detective Kingsley.

  His blood suddenly turned to ice in his veins. It couldn’t be. But when he looked into the man’s eyes, he saw that he knew. But how?

  But then, since he had decided long ago that when the police ever came knocking on his door accusing him of a crime he had, in fact, committed, that he would immediately confess, since he wasn’t the kind of person who could remain firm under pressure, he heaved a deep sigh.

  “How did you know?” he simply asked.

  CHAPTER 30

  Once again, we sat in Chase’s squad car as the cop drove along with Mr. Collins in the back. Only this time, he was taking the man into custody. Odelia had decided to stay behind to be with Mrs. Collins and to wait until her sister arrived to take care of the woman and the kids while Bert was being processed and interrogated. But apparently, he didn’t want to wait that long because the moment he stepped into the car, he started telling us the whole story.

  “He should never have come back here,” he said. “The moment I found out about it, I knew what the impact on Jane would be. She never stopped loving him, you see. And sometimes I even think that the whole reason she’s suffered so much is because of what he did to her. Nobody knows about this apart from myself and, of course, Jane herself, but he actually got her pregnant, and then when she told him, he decided that he didn’t want the kid and walked out on her. She lost the baby, possibly due to the severe depression she fell into when he broke up with her. But somehow she still managed to get through all that, but the truth was that she developed a sort of obsession with the guy. In spite of what he did to her and the cruel way he treated her, she loved him, and that never stopped.”

  “You don’t have to tell me all this, sir,” said Chase. “It’s better to wait until we’re at the police station.”

  “It’s fine. I just want to get it off my chest, if you don’t mind. When I met Jane, she was twenty-three, and quite possibly the most beautiful and lovely girl I had ever met. I fell in love with her at first glance, and at first, she seemed interested in me as well, so I thought I’d struck gold, you know, mutual attraction. Love at first sight and all that. Before long, we started dating, and that’s when I realized that Jane wasn’t capable of loving anyone other than the man who had broken her heart. And her heart wasn’t the only thing he had broken, for even though she seemed happy and outgoing and sweet and kind, deep down she was incapable of being truly, unreservedly happy. And she was definitely incapable of loving anyone, and certainly not me. But I didn’t mind. I just figured I had enough love for the both of us, which maybe I had, and maybe I hadn’t. So when I proposed and she said yes, I thought it was the start of something terrific. It took her a couple of years to trust me enough to tell me what had happened to her. I still remember as if it was yesterday. We were watching a James Fox movie, and she suddenly burst into tears, big, loud sobs. When I asked her what was going on, she refused to tell me. When I insisted, it all came out. Which is when a lot of things suddenly fell into place. At my instigation, she started seeing a psychiatrist, and that helped a lot, I have to say. After all, we had four beautiful daughters together and, on the whole, have led a blessed life. But Jane is still broken, even after all those years, and I’ve had to accept that.”

  “What a story, Max,” said Dooley.

  “Yeah, what a story,” I agreed.

  “So James Fox movies were banned in our house, and I put a block on the name Robert Ross on our computers and our phones to make sure Jane would never be confronted with that man ever again. And we were lucky for a long time in that he wasn’t interested in her. Not one little bit. Until last week, when he suddenly announced out of the blue that he was arriving in Hampton Cove and wouldn’t she like to meet up, for old time’s sake? She didn’t tell me about it, knowing how I would react. But I found out anyway when I saw her googling the guy on one of our daughters’ phones. It wasn’t hard to find out he had been traveling around on his yacht, the Aurora, and that his travels were taking him to Hampton Cove, where he was being celebrated by the Chamber of Commerce. One of Jane’s best friends is Caroline Poots, you see. If she’d known about what that man did to Jane, she probably would never have invited him. But then, like I said, nobody knew apart from me and Jane. She hadn’t even told her parents. And so when she snuck out of the house a couple of days ago, I decided to follow her. It wasn’t a big surprise to find that she took a cab to the marina, where she boarded the Aurora. I don’t know what he told her, but that evening she was even more distant and emotionally reserved than usual. Like I said, she never stopped loving him, and even though I don’t know for sure, I can only guess that he fed her a lot of nonsense about getting back together and rekindling their romance. Guys like Robert Ross often start thinking about their past, and regrets about the things they did or didn’t do makes them maudlin and sentimental. They regret not having raised a family. And then they remember some old girlfriend and the baby she told him she was expecting. It’s even possible that she told Ross that one of our daughters was actually his and decided to hide the ugly truth.”

  “I don’t think I will watch his movies anymore, Max,” said Dooley.

  “I think a lot of people won’t watch them after the truth comes out, Dooley.”

  “I knew she was going to meet him again,” said Bert. “She was happy, all of a sudden. Bouncy, even. As if she was in love—butterflies in her stomach. But I knew he’d break her heart again. Men like Ross are incapable of loving anyone other than themselves. He was setting her up to be disappointed all over again, and this time she might not survive. So I decided to put a stop to her torment once and for all. To put a stop to her tormentor. Because I do love my wife. For real, not because I’m feeling restless and want to indulge in some fantasy for a while, until I’m bored with her and cast her away again. I knew she was going to see him at eleven o’clock this morning because she had been to the hair salon and had bought a new dress and said she was meeting Caroline in town. She had even marked it in her calendar. But when I called Caroline under some pretext and mentioned the meeting, she obviously had no idea what I was talking about.