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He bowed his head.“I know I messed up. But honestly I didn’t think things would become so bad between Dave and Veronica. I always hoped they’d be able to work things out. You wouldn’t believe it now, but once upon a time they were very much in love.”

“One question remains,” said Odelia. “Veronica seemed to think that Jayme was having an affair with her husband. Do you think…”

“Oh, that’s absolute nonsense,” said Waldo, shaking his head vehemently. “And I told her. But of course Veronica being Veronica she simply wouldn’t listen.”

“What do you think will happen now?” asked Chase, as he got up.

The banker spread his arms.“I have absolutely no idea. With Jayme arrested, accused of Dave’s murder, she probably won’t inherit, and so everything will go to Veronica. So unless Dave made other stipulations, the future of Tollie the Turtle now lies with her.”

Chapter 12

“He seemed very nervous, Max,” said Dooley.

“Understandable,” I said. “Now that Dave is dead, who knows what will happen?”

“Veronica hates Tollie, so she’ll probably want to stop the comic.”

“She might hate Tollie, but she doesn’t hate the wealth that turtle has brought her. So I don’t think she’ll stop the comic. Though she might want to sell it to some consortium.”

“I think maybe it’s best if we have a chat with the members of Dave’s studio now,” Chase suggested as we all repaired to the car.

“I wonder what happened to Tollie,” said Odelia. “Did you get a chance to talk to Jayme? Did you ask her about Tollie?”

“I did talk to her, and she denies everything. Says she never came near the house, and has never even met Dave face to face in all the time she’s been a recipient of his foundation’s scholarship. In fact it was only Saturday that she discovered who was behind the foundation, and it came as much as a surprise to her as it did to her grandmother.”

“So how about what Hester said? That Jayme walked the dog last night?”

“She did walk the dog, but then she ushered the dog into the backyard and went for a walk by herself, along the beach. She says she often goes for long walks like that. It’s where she gets her inspiration for her drawings.”

“And nobody saw her?”

Chase shook his head.

“Okay, so if she didn’t do it, then who did? And why did Dave write her name on that piece of paper?”

“Has it occurred to you that the killer could have written that note? Trying to implicate Jayme?”

“You know what you should do? You need to have that note examined by a handwriting expert. Compare it to Dave’s handwriting to see if he actually wrote it.”

Chase nodded.“Great idea, babe.”

“Hey, that’s why my uncle pays me the big bucks.”

Chase grinned.“Yeah, right.”

We all piled into the car: the humans taking up their positions in the front of the vehicle and Dooley and I hopping up onto the backseat, our regular place. Now cats may not like to ride in cars as much as dogs do, but I have to say I’d gotten used to it by now. I still didn’t enjoy the sound of that engine, or the strange sensation of traveling at a considerable rate of speed to our destination, but I had to admit there are certain benefits to riding in cars with humans: you get where you want to be very fast indeed, and you don’t even need to wear out your paw leather in doing so. Also: you can take a refreshing nap while you’re being chauffeured around. What I don’t like is the engine, though, which makes a terrible racket. If they could build a car without an engine, that would be perfect.

“So Heiko Palace,” said Odelia, reading from her notes, “and Flint Kutysiak are the main artists working for Dave. Looks like they do most of the work connected with the comic.”

“Except for the conception of the comic, which Dave still did himself,” said Chase.

“Maybe Harriet can apply for a job,” Dooley suggested. “She’s good at creating jokes.”

“I doubt whether Harriet will be able to come up with jokes as good as the ones Dave made,” said Odelia with a smile.

“What are they saying?” asked Chase.

“Dooley suggested Harriet could fill Dave’s shoes and become Tollie the Turtle’s new writer.”

“Oh, she’d love that,” said the cop with a grin.

“It’s not as easy as it looks, Dooley,” said Odelia, half turning to have this little chat with us. “And let’s not forget Dave had been doing this for half a century. Whoever will replace him as Tollie’s writer has some very big shoes to fill.”

“I’m sure he made arrangements,” said Chase. “Maybe he got a stock of comics built up for just such a contingency, and they’ll be using those now, until they find a new writer.”

“Yeah, but who’s going to run the studio now that Dave is gone?”

“I’m sure we’ll find out,” said Chase. “Though that’s not really our concern, is it, babe? All we need to do is find Dave’s killer.”

“I know,” said Odelia, putting her feet up on the dash, a very dangerous habit indeed, and one I didn’t like to see. “But it just saddens me to know that Dave still had so many plans, and now he won’t be able to carry them through.”

“Like training Jayme as his successor, you mean?”