eb93c43e214c621f9157c05b4b6a6878

Once we were outside, Odelia said,“He’s lying. Ten months ago Dotty was still working for the caterer. She only started with Star Calypso less than ten months ago, and if Toneu was seeing her regularly, there must have an overlap between his time with her and his engagement.”

“Can you blame the guy? He doesn’t want Marsella to find out he’s already been unfaithful to her even though they’re not even married yet.”

“Poor Marsella. Should we tell her?”

“That she’s marrying a possible murderer?”

Odelia stared at her husband.“You think Toneu killed Dotty and Calista?”

“He certainly has a motive: the only way to make sure that Marsella didn’t find out about Dotty was to silence both her and her boss.”

“So why didn’t he silence Tosha? She’s the one who gave us Toneu’s name.”

“You’re right. It doesn’t make sense. Besides, Rilla said Calista was very discreet, which stands to reason, as discretion is probably paramount in her line of work.”

“Apparently Dotty wasn’t as discreet as Calista would have liked, if she gave Toneu the name of one of her other clients.”

“Max?” said Dooley as we climbed back into Chase’s car.

“Mh?” I said, still thinking things through after this recent interview.

“What were the services Dotty and Calista provided? And why doesn’t Dewey want his fianc?e to find out?”

I swallowed.“Okay, so you know how people like to kiss other people, right?”

“You mean like Chase and Odelia?”

“Exactly like Chase and Odelia. Only some people have a hard time finding someone to, um, well, kiss?”

“Okay,” he said, trying to wrap his head around this strange conceit. “Like Wilbur Vickery?”

“Wilbur is a good example,” I said, much relieved. Wilbur runs the local General Store and is a lifelong bachelor, though not of his own volition but because he hasn’t found the right woman yet—and probably never will, if his seduction technique is anything to go on. “So people like Wilbur can pay someone to kiss with them, see? And Dotty is such a person.”

“People paid her to kiss?”

“Exactly. They paid her really good money to kiss with and Dewey was one of those people. Only Dewey is engaged to be married to Marsella Horowicz, who runs the shelter, and she wouldn’t like it if her fianc? was kissing other women now would she?”

“No, I guess she wouldn’t,” said Dooley thoughtfully.

“So that’s why he asked us not to tell Marsella. If we did, she would probably call off the wedding since she feels very strongly about things like fidelity and such.”

“I see,” he said, though I could tell that he really didn’t. Then again, I hoped I’d given him enough food for thought to keep him quiet for a while. These were hard questions and frankly I didn’t feel entirely qualified to answer them with authority.

“So… does Dewey pay Marsella, too? For kissing her, I mean.”

“Not exactly, Dooley,” I said.

“So when you marry a person you can kiss them for free, but when you don’t, you have to pay? Is that how it works?”

“More or less,” I said with a sigh.

Chapter 11

A couple had just dropped off a hamster at the shelter and Shelley had had a hard time containing her disapproval. They said they got the hamster for their daughter but the girl had grown bored with the animal and had moved on to wanting a pony now. And so instead of keeping the hamster like any responsible pet parent would, they’d simply decided to unload it on the shelter.

“People like that should be hung, drawn and quartered,” she said as she gently stroked the tiny animal on top of its head. “Don’t they know they can’t treat their pets like that?”

Gavin, who had been busy sweeping the floor in the reception area, leaned on his broom.“Maybe you should have told them. Kick them a conscience for a change?”

“What difference would that make? They’d simply complain to Marsella and Pimkie would still have ended up in a cage.”

“Pimkie? Is that what they called it?”

Shelley nodded. She was busy typing on the computer now, updating the website so potential pet parents would know that Pimkie was in search of a new home. And hopefully a warmer and more receptive one this time. It was one of her eternal concerns that the homes they found for their animals would prove to be unsatisfactory. And since animals can’t talk, it was hard to know for sure what happened behind those walls.

“I just wish I could work here full-time, you know,” she said. “Instead of having to work at that stupid office dealing with stupid cement. Who cares about cement anyway?”

“You won’t be in that stupid office always,” Gavin reminded her. “One day you’ll be the big boss, and you can order your flunkies about. You could even tell them to run the store while you spend all your time in here.”

She smiled at his naivet?. “It doesn’t work like that, Gavin. It’s a hands-on business. You should see my dad. He’s in there all the time. He works more hours than anyone.”

“Same here,” Gavin said gloomily. “Imagine me having to run that shoe store for the rest of my life. Talk about a death sentence.”

“I thought you liked shoes?”