The Mysteries of Max: Books 31-33 by Nic Saint (interesting novels in english txt) 📕

“What?”

“Well, we do. Storks are hard-working birds. They have to fly around carrying babies all the time. And you know babies are heavy, Max. They come in at seven or eight pounds. Can you imagine that poor stork, flying all the way out here, carrying a seven-pound baby in its beak, having to turn back? I don’t think we can do that to the poor bird.”

“But…”

“No, I think Odelia will just have to change her mind, and I’m going to have a long talk with her the first chance I get.”

“But, Dooley!”

“Storks have rights, too, Max!”

Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear.

Chapter 25

Odelia was having breakfast when her mom and dad suddenly stormed into the house, looking perturbed. Marge, who was Odelia’s lookalike, only twenty years her senior, and Tex, her white-haired amiable doctor husband, immediately got down to brass tacks.

“Is it true that your grandmother was arrested last night?” asked Mom.

“Um, yeah, I guess she was,” said Odelia, who’d been enjoying a cup of strong black coffee and a Nutella sandwich. “But they let her walk as soon as she confessed.”

“Confessed!” Mom cried, raising her eyes heavenward and placing a hand to her chest in a gesture of extreme agitation.

“But what was she arrested for in the first place is what I’d like to know,” said Odelia’s dad as he took the Nutella pot, a spoon, and dipped it into the pot with the air of a man digging for treasure.

“It’s a long story,” said Odelia. “Do you really want to know?”

“Yes! Of course we want to know why a woman who’s living under our roof got arrested!” said Mom.

“Well…”

“Howdy folks,” said Chase, as he came ambling down the stairs, looking chipper and bright.

“Is it true that you arrested my mother last night?” Mom demanded, not looking exactly like a loving mother-in-law should regard her newly acquired son-in-law.

“Why, yeah, I guess I did,” said Chase a little sheepishly.

“And did you grill her hard?” asked Dad with some relish.

“Tex!” Mom cried.

“I’m sorry. I meant: did she confess to whatever it was she was up to?”

“Oh, yeah, she confessed all right,” said Chase with a slight grin as he, in turn, filled a cup with delicious black brew and took a seat at the kitchen counter.

“What did she do?!” Mom practically yelled.

“Well, she was caught trying to plant four stolen jerrycans in the tool shed belonging to an old couple,” Chase explained.

“She did what?! Oh, my God!” Again the eyes went heavenward and the hand desperately clutched at the chest, as if trying to draw comfort from the gesture.

“It’s fine, Mom,” said Odelia. “The Dibbles aren’t pressing charges, are they, Chase?”

“No, I don’t think they will. The Chief managed to talk them out of it. They were pretty eager to, though. Apparently people aren’t happy when two burglars sneak into their backyard at night and try to plant stolen evidence in a murder case. Go figure.”

“This evidence was stolen?” asked Dad, delightedly licking from his spoon and helping himself to a cup of coffee. He seemed to enjoy the episode tremendously.

“Yeah, they stole the jerrycans from the house of Joshua Curtis, suspect in a murder case. They figured they were doing Odelia a favor, while in fact they weren’t doing anyone any favors at all, least of all themselves. But we got it all squared away and the evidence is safely secured, and will be processed for fingerprints and the like.”

“But why? Why is she doing this?!” Mom cried.

“Because I wanted to save Odelia’s client, of course,” a voice spoke from the sliding glass door, which had opened and closed to allow the final member of the Poole family to join this impromptu breakfast meeting.

“Thanks for nothing by the way, Gran,” said Odelia. “I never asked you to steal evidence for me. And now Uncle Alec thinks I’m trying to sabotage his investigation and won’t let me come anywhere near the case.”

“Look, I’m sure Joshua Curtis will have a perfectly good explanation for why those empty jerrycans were in his garage.”

“Actually he doesn’t,” said Chase. “I interviewed him again last night, and he claims he’s never seen those jerrycans before, nor did he put them in his garage. He claims someone must have planted them.”

“And did they?” asked Odelia, interested in anything Joshua had to say.

“Of course not. He’s just trying to wriggle himself out of this thing.”

“That does seem rather like a silly thing to do though, don’t you think?” said Dad.

“What does, Dad?” asked Chase as he took a seat next to his father-in-law.

“Well, if this Joshua Curtis really did torch the place, and killed those people, wouldn’t he have made sure not to leave the jerrycans lying around his garage? Murderers usually try to conceal the evidence of their crimes, don’t they? I mean, I’m not a murderer myself, so I can’t speak from experience, but that seems to be one of the first rules of murder: get rid of the evidence.”

“See?” said Gran. “I knew he didn’t do it!”

“He did do it,” said Chase. “No question about his guilt at this point. As to why he didn’t get rid of the evidence.” He shrugged. “When you’ve been a cop for as long as I have, Dad, you understand that there are clever criminals, and not-so-clever ones. And clearly Joshua belongs in the last category.”

“He gave me the impression of being very clever,” Odelia countered.

“Yeah, well, as I see it the man let his emotions get the better of him. He was so in love with Melanie Myers that the idea that another man was putting his hands on her made him so angry he just had to kill him. And so he didn’t think things through.”

“I think you’re wrong, Chase,” said Gran. “I think you and Alec got this whole thing backward, and because you’re so focused on Joshua, you’re letting the real killer walk.”

“Ma, please promise me never to get arrested again,” said Odelia’s mom. “It’s not a good look. We all have to live in