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“Stands to reason that the person who stole the hives would have suffered a few bee stings in the process,” Uncle Alec said thoughtfully. “So that’s one other thing to look into.”

“What about the boyfriend?” asked Odelia. “Any sign of this Dexter Vald?s yet?”

“So far nothing,” said Uncle Alec. “We did find out he still lives in town, but he wasn’t home when we sent some officers by to pick him up. But don’t worry. We’ll find him soon enough. I put out an APB for his arrest.”

Just then, there was a loud altercation in the hallway, and when Odelia got up to take a closer look, she saw that two officers were bringing in a handsome-looking man who was the spitting image of Ricky Martin, only two decades younger. He was handcuffed and shouting at the officers.

“Dexter Vald?s,” said one of the officers, panting slightly from the exertion of subduing the man. “We picked him up at Pier’s Pont. Bar fight.”

“I hate Donna!” the man suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs. “I hate Donna and I’m glad she’s dead!”

Chapter 18

It was the first time we got to sit in on a police interrogation and I was adamant to make the most of it. I was hungry, though, so first I needed a snack. So when no one was watching, I snuck into Chief Alec’s office and quickly found what I was looking for. While I was in there before I’d noticed the chief kept a half-eaten meatball sub in his bottom drawer. The scent had been driving me crazy.

“Max! What are you doing?!” Dooley shouted from the door.

“I’m foraging! What does it look like I’m doing?!”

“But you can’t! You promised Odelia you would stick to your diet!”

“I lied, okay? I can’t stand it anymore, Dooley. I’m not like you. I can’t fill my stomach with water and pretend I’m not hungry! I’m starving!”

So I skewered the meatball from between the two buns with one nail and popped it into my mouth. Yummy. Then I went looking for a second meatball, which I hoped was in there somewhere.

“Max! Someone’s coming!” Dooley suddenly yelled. “Too late!”

“What are you guys doing in here?” asked Odelia, entering the office at a trot. She picked up a file from the desk and glanced down at me. She took one look at the meatball sub—now sans meatball—and her brows knitted into a frown. “Max! You’re cheating on your diet again!”

“No, I’m not,” I said.

She planted a hand on her hip.“I can see the sauce dripping from your lips, Max.”

Oops. I quickly swiped my tongue along my lips.“There. All gone,” I said, then burped.

She shook her head.“Oh, Max. What am I going to do with you?”

“I told him he shouldn’t!” Dooley said.

“Tattletale!” I hissed.

“Come on, you two,” said Odelia. “We don’t have time for this. We’re about to interrogate Dexter Vald?s.”

She ushered us out of the office and closed the door. I could have told her this wasn’t necessary, as I’d already determined there wasn’t a second meatball inside that sub. Uncle Alec must have dug it out and eaten it himself.

We followed Odelia down the corridor and then into a small room, where a mirror offered a view of a second, even smaller room. We hopped up on the table at Chief Alec’s instigation and made ourselves comfortable while Odelia joined Chase in the next room and sat down across from Dexter Vald?s. In my personal opinion the man only barely resembled Ricky Martin. His eyes were bloodshot, his cheeks stubbled and his hair unkempt. He might have been younger, but right now he looked like a much seedier and disheveled version of the fabled Latino heartthrob and hit sensation.

“So, Dexter,” said Chase, opening the proceedings, “you hate Donna Bruce so much you’re happy she’s dead, huh?”

The man seemed a lot less vocal about his hatred of Donna Bruce than before. He gave Chase a wary look.“Look, dude, when I said that I didn’t really mean it.”

“Oh, backpedaling are we?”

“You had a fight at Pier’s Pont just now,” said Odelia. “When the owner called the police you were trying to shove a billiard ball down the throat of another patron, telling him your wiener was the biggest wiener in wiener history. Is that correct?”

Dexter nodded.“That sounds about right. In my defense, he made fun of my wiener.”

“Could this be related to the article Donna wrote about your wiener?” asked Chase.

“It’s got everything to do with that article,” Dexter confessed. “If she hadn’t written that article my life wouldn’t have turned into a vaudeville act. Now everyone is making fun of my wiener. I haven’t even had a girlfriend in months, all because of that damn article.”

“So you did hate Donna Bruce, and you did want to kill her,” said Chase.

The man threw up his arms.“How would you feel when someone shared the size of your wiener with the world, dude?”

“I’d feel comfortable enough in my own skin not to let it bother me,” said Chase.