He smiled jovially as she saw them, his little blue eyes almost hidden behind many wrinkles.
“Afternoon, ladies!” he exclaimed. “How’s this for weather? A cat can look at a king.”
But Arden had no time for polite preliminaries.
“Mr. Reilly,” she began, “we have something very important to tell you.”
“Have you, now? What’s happened? Rain leakin’ through into your dinin’ room table? It never pours but the salt gets damp.”
“Please, I’m serious,” Arden said firmly, and taking a deep breath she announced:
“Dimitri Uzlov has disappeared!”
“Disappeared! What do you mean?”
“He’s been gone from the houseboat for days, and nobody has heard from him. You said, yourself, you hadn’t seen him lately. Remember?”
“Yes, I remember,” agreed the chief. “But what makes you think he’s disappeared?”