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“We’re here to talk to you about your relationship with Dotty Ludkin, or Dotty Berg as she also liked to be called.” And to show the other man he meant business, Chase pulled up a chair and plunked himself down in front of Mr. Toneu’s desk. Then, when he realized his faux-pas, he immediately got up, and offered that same chair to his highly pregnant wife, who gratefully took a load off her feet and carefully lowered herself onto the chair.

Mr. Toneu stared at Odelia’s belly with a touch of alarm, then finally said, “I’m sorry, but there must be some mistake. I don’t know any Dotty Ludkin or Dotty Berg.”

“And we have it on good authority that you do. To refresh your memory, here is a recent picture of Dotty.” He took out his phone and showed the picture Dotty’s dad had sent him. It showed the girl in all her youthful splendor. It was taken when she’d spent a day at the beach with her dad.

Dewey stared at the picture for a moment too long, then finally demurred.“Never seen her before in my life.”

“Dotty was murdered last night,” said Odelia, speaking for the first time. “Strangled to death in her apartment. We talked to one of her colleagues who said she worked for Star Calypso as a call girl. This colleague also told us you were one of Dotty’s clients.”

“Please don’t lie to us, Mr. Toneu,” said Chase. “This is a murder inquiry, and frankly I don’t have the patience right now to deal with people who refuse to tell us the truth.”

Dewey finally relented.“Yeah, all right. I did hire Dotty a couple of times in the past, but this was before I got engaged. So if you could please not mention any of this to my fianc?e?”

“Where were you last night, Mr. Toneu?” asked Chase. “Let’s say between midnight and two?”

“Home in bed.”

“Can anyone confirm that?”

“No, I live alone. My future wife is conservative that way. She doesn’t believe in premarital relations. Wants us to move in together once we’re married and not a minute sooner.”

“Who is your fianc?e if I may ask?”

“Marsella Horowicz. She runs the Vesta Muffin Animal Shelter. I don’t know if you know it?” He gave a pointed look at me and Dooley, as if assuming we were well acquainted with the animal shelter. A common misconception, of course. It’s not as if all pets like to hang out at night at the shelter for drinks and a pleasant chat.

Chase grimaced.“We know it.”

“Is there anything you can tell us about Dotty?” asked Odelia. “Maybe something she mentioned that could shed some light on her murder?”

Dewey frowned.“Like what?”

“I don’t know—maybe she felt threatened by a client?”

He slowly shook his head.“Dotty never talked about her other clients. She was very discreet that way. The only person she ever mentioned was some guy who runs a shoe shop, but that’s because I’d complimented her on her footwear which I could tell was high quality. She said she got it from Garwen Blemish because he was a regular and he gave her a twenty percent discount. But that was the only time she mentioned a name to me.”

“She didn’t say anything about being scared or anything?”

“No, nothing like that. She came across as a happy person. Very cheerful. In fact I told her it was a pity she was in the line of business she was in. She was capable of so much more. But she said the money was good, and she liked her boss—more than her old boss at the catering business where she used to work before. Lousy pay and lousy job.” He adopted a look of concern. “You’re saying she was murdered?”

“Last night,” said Chase.

“May I ask how she was murdered?”

“I’m sorry, but at this stage we’re not revealing any details.”

“I understand.” He glanced over to the large window that offered a good view of the showroom. “It certainly puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?”

“What do you mean?” asked Odelia.

He produced a sliver of a smile.“Nothing. You won’t mention this to Marsella, will you? Like I said, she’s very conservative and wouldn’t appreciate her future husband hiring an escort, even if it was before we got engaged.”

“How long have you been engaged, Mr. Toneu?” asked Odelia.

Dewey picked up a framed picture of what was probably his fianc?e and said, “Three months now, though I’ve known Marsella for years. Took time for her to become convinced of my good intentions but she finally accepted me three months ago.”

“So when was the last time you saw Dotty would you say?”

“Must have been last year. Sometime in the fall maybe?”

“And how many times would you say you hired her… services?”

“Not that many. Maybe, like, three or four times, tops.”

“And how well did you know Dotty’s employer—Calista Burden?”

Dewey shook his head.“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I ever met her.”

“But you must have talked to her. She was the one who did the bookings.”

“It’s possible we talked on the phone, but like I said, I never met the woman.”