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“That’s right,” she said. “Please take a seat.” She giggled again. “Though you’ll have to sit on the bed, I’m afraid.”

The humans all distributed themselves amongst the limited seating options available: Odelia grabbed a chair, and so did Gran, while Scarlett preferred to remove a few items of clothing from the bed and position herself there. Chase opted to remain standing, and was already taking out his notebook, the consummate professional.

“So tell us, Norma, how well did you know Kirk Weaver?”

“Oh, not very well at all,” said Norma as she sat down on the bed next to Scarlett, on whom she seemed to look as a kindred spirit, just as Scarlett had predicted. The women did share a certain resemblance.

“But you did know him.”

“Yes, I did. Well, I knew him from the television, of course, as we all do, and I always admired him. A man who can handle cats as well as he could is a man to be admired, don’t you think, Detective?”

“Yes. Yes, I guess he is,” said Chase, looking a little flustered as Norma directed a dazzling smile at him.

She was dressed in short shorts and a tank top that did little to conceal her curvy features. She also had those cornflower blue eyes that men go all gaga over, with long lashes she kept fluttering each time Chase opened his mouth to speak.

“So can you tell us a little more about your relationship with Mr. Weaver?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it a relationship,” said Norma. “We went out a couple of times, and one of those times we ended up in here, in this very bed.” She giggled as she patted the nice white linens. “But that was only the one time.”

“And when was this?” asked Chase, his pencil poised over his little notebook.

Norma’s blue eyes searched the ceiling, and her button for a nose wrinkled prettily. “Um, I would say last Thursday?” Then her face cleared. “Wait a second.” And then to my surprise, she suddenly hollered, “Kim! Kim-my! Come out here a second, will ya!”

The door to the bathroom opened and a cloud of steam came out, followed by a dark-haired woman with short brown hair and… a small tattoo of a dolphin on the side of her neck. She was dressed in only a sports bra and a slip and gave us all a dark look. “What’s this? More Jehovah’s Witnesses? How many times do I have to tell you, Norma? You shouldn’t give these people all of your money.”

“But these aren’t Jehovah’s Witnesses, Kimmy.”

“Mormons?” asked Kimmy, studying Gran, who made a face.

“Do I look like a Mormon to you?” said Gran, getting worked up.

“Yeah, actually you do.”

“Well, I’m not.”

“They’re detectives, Kimmy. They’re investigating the murder of that cat whisperer guy we met last week.”

“Kirk? Oh, yeah. I remember him. Creepy-looking creep.”

“Would you call Kirk a creep?”

“Yeah, I would.”

“That’s only because you were jealous, Kimmy,” said Norma brightly. “Now can you tell this nice gentleman over there when Kirk came up to our room? Was it Thursday or Friday? I can’t remember.”

“Thursday,” said Kimmy decidedly. “And who are you?” she asked, directing a frank and critical look at Chase.

“Chase Kingsley. Detective,” said Chase. “And you are…”

“Kimmy Smith. I’m Norma’s wife.”

I could hear the collective gulp echo through the room as all those present put this information into their respective pipes and smoked it.

“You’re Norma’s… wife?” asked Chase.

“Yeah,” said Kimmy, tilting her chin. “Got a problem with that, stud?”

“No, of course not,” said Chase. “It’s just that…”

“Norma just told us that she had… relations with Kirk last week,” Odelia explained. “So how did you feel about that?”

“I didn’t like it, that’s for sure. But when we got married we agreed to have an open relationship, so if Norma wants to bring home some stray from time to time, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“Oh, Kimmy,” said Norma sweetly, demurely folding her hands in her lap.

“I don’t like it, but I’m not going to stop her either.”

Eyes met all across the room, as detectives Chase, Vesta, Odelia and Scarlett all came to the same conclusion: they’d finally found themselves a most promising suspect.

“So let me get this straight,” said Gran. “You found your wife in bed with another man, and you didn’t object?”

“No, ma’am, I did not,” said Kimmy.

“And you don’t think it’s strange that only a couple of days after this meeting Kirk ends up dead?” asked Scarlett, directing her, quite frankly, loaded question at Norma.

Norma thought about this for a moment, then her face cleared.“Oh, I think I see what you’re implying. You think that Kimmy killed Kirk, is that it?”

“Yah, that’s exactly what she’s implying,” said Kimmy, “and I gotta say it’s ridiculous.”

“Yeah, it is a little ridiculous,” said Norma with a laugh. “Kimmy a killer. No way.”

“I couldn’t kill a fly,” said Kimmy, giving Scarlett a look that could kill.

“I think we’ve just found our killer,” Dooley whispered to me.

“I think so, too,” I whispered back.

“It’s getting hot in here,” said Gran, as she gave Kimmy a hard stare. “Why don’t I open a window?”