Odelia and Chase watched him walk away. “An artist who loves his own work,” said Odelia. “You have to admit it’s admirable.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” said Chase. He gestured to the door. “Interview the witnesses, spouse?”

“Lead the way, spouse.”

CHAPTER 3

We found our two witnesses in the room across the corridor, as promised, and it was true that they looked discombobulated, but then I guess most people would feel this way when they come across a dead body. It’s one thing to see it in the movies or read about it, and quite a different experience altogether to encounter it in real life. Both of the people we saw looked extremely pale, with the woman looking as if she was about to throw up—or perhaps she already had.

In a corner of the room, I saw a large mock-up of a fly, and it immediately attracted my attention. It isn’t every day that you see a fly blown up to such proportions, and I immediately made a beeline for the bug. As mock-ups go, it was extremely well done and looked very real.

“This is amazing, Max,” said Dooley. “It looks like a real fly—only ten times bigger.”

“How about a million times bigger?” said Brutus as he studied the bug from every angle.

“I think it looks scary,” said Harriet. “Imagine if this was an actual fly. It would wreak havoc on our town, you guys. It would be like a horror movie! It would be fly armageddon!”

“It’s not a real fly,” I said. “It’s just plastic and rubber and foam with a lick of paint. Though it’s true that it’s extremely well done. Whoever made this is an artist in their own right.”

“I made it,” said the artist in question. “It was for my presentation to Prince Abdullah. We’ve developed a new type of bug spray, a much improved version of our old one, and I decided to bring along this fly to add a little oomph to my sales pitch. These things tend to be very dry, and so I thought that some didactic material would help get our message across.”

“And that message is?” asked Chase, who was busy taking notes, but couldn’t help darting an occasional look at the fly, which was a real eye-catcher.

“Our bug spray is one hundred percent environmentally friendly,” said the man, whose name was Carlos Perks and who was a chemist. “Most insecticides are very harmful to the environment, and so they should be used with extreme caution. My bug spray is perfectly safe. It can even be inhaled or ingested by a person and they won’t experience any adverse effects.”

“And still one hundred percent effective in eradicating the pests,” said his fiancée, whose name was Mindy Horsefield. The woman was making a superhuman effort to engage herself in conversation, but it was clear to all present that she was having a pretty hard time at it.

“Maybe you should lie down, Ms. Horsefield,” Odelia suggested. “We can do this interview at a later time.”

“No, let’s do it now,” she said adamantly. “Better to get it over with.”

“So can you tell us in your own words what happened when you arrived at Prince Abdullah’s room?” asked Chase.

“Well, I knocked,” said Mindy. “And when there was no answer, I knocked again. And then, just when we were about to go, Carlos thought he heard a sound coming from the room.”

“What kind of sound?” asked Odelia.

“Like a gurgle?” said Carlos. “Or maybe a groan or something? It’s just that we thought that maybe the prince had forgotten about our meeting.”

“Even though he had texted me only half an hour before that the meeting was definitely a go,” said Mindy with a shrug. “So I knew that he must have changed his mind.”

“But then you heard this gurgle or groan,” Odelia prompted.

Carlos nodded. “That’s right. It seemed to come from inside the room, and so I decided that maybe the prince was in some kind of trouble. And that maybe we should get in there.”

“And then you broke down the door,” said Chase dryly.

Carlos gave him a nervous look. “I’ll pay for the damage, of course.”

“Nonsense,” said Mindy. “You acted on impulse. The impulse to save a life. And turns out you were right. Someone attacked the prince. Only we were too late to save him.”

“Is he…” Carlos gulped and I could see his Adam’s apple jumping up and down. “Is he dead?”

“I’m afraid so, sir,” said Odelia. “He was shot.”

“Shot!” said Mindy. “Oh, my God!”

“You didn’t hear a gunshot?” asked Chase.

Both Carlos and Mindy shook their heads. “Like I said, all I heard was some kind of strange gurgle coming from inside the room,” said Carlos. “I wasn’t sure what it meant but I got this sudden feeling that something was seriously wrong, and that maybe I should do something.”

“If it had been up to me I would have gone down to reception,” said Mindy. “But Carlos figured he couldn’t wait that long. So he burst into that room and…” She grimaced and her face went a shade paler than it had already been. “And then we saw…” She closed her eyes.

“I fell to the floor and came face to face with the prince,” said Carlos softly as he stared before him and wrung his hands. “He was just lying there, looking at me. Eyes wide open.”

“I knew the moment I laid eyes on the prince that he was dead,” said Mindy. “He had that look in his eyes, you know. A look of terror. Like you see in the movies sometimes.”

“Was there anyone else in the room apart from Prince Abdullah?” asked Chase.

Mindy shook her head. But then she slung a hand to her face. “Oh, my God. You mean, the killer?! You think he was still in there?” She turned to Carlos. “He could have shot us, too!”

“I don’t think he was in there,” said Carlos. “If he was, we would have seen him.”

“He was probably hiding,” said Mindy. She turned to Chase. “Was he there, you think?”

“I’m sorry, but at this moment we have no way of knowing,” said Chase.

“But… is there another exit?”

“There’s the balcony,” said Chase. “Most likely he got out that way.”

Mindy looked sick now. “I’m sorry, but I need to…” And suddenly she bolted in the direction of the bathroom, slammed the door, and a moment later we could hear the telltale sounds of a person relieving themselves of the remnants of their breakfast.

“Apologies for my fiancée,” said Carlos. “It’s the first time that she… that we… I mean, we’ve never…” He swallowed with some difficulty, and I got the impression that he would soon be joining Mindy in that bathroom.

“Let’s go and find us some witnesses of our own,” Brutus suggested, and darted a final look at the giant fly.

“Too bad it’s not a real fly,” said Dooley. “I’m sure it would have a great story to tell.”

It reminded me that once upon a time we had made the acquaintance of an actual fly, who had done some great work for us. The thing is that cats are great spies, but even they can’t beat a fly, since they can get into any room and simply spend time there, unobserved by anyone. The proverbial fly on the wall, in other words, but then for real.

Dooley must have also remembered our friendly spying fly, for the moment Harriet and Brutus had left the room, he said, “I wonder who Carlos used as a model to create this, Max. Do you think it was our friend Norm?”

I smiled. “I’m sure he didn’t need to use a model, Dooley,” I said. “He probably found a picture of a fly online and used it to create this mock-up.”

“I wish Norm was here now,” said Dooley. “I wonder what he would think about this mock-up. Like looking in a mirror, I imagine. Only one of those funny mirrors at the playground that make you look ten times your own size.”