6 Beach Blanket Barbie (8 page)

“Oh
, no. What happened?” I asked. Once a dog starts biting, it’s often difficult to get it to stop.

“Scooter Sherwood.”

I groaned. Scooter was a nine-year-old tornado who tended to blow through town, destroying everything in his path. Saying that Scooter was undisciplined didn’t do justice to how huge a disaster the boy really was. I honestly don’t know why the child hadn’t been taken from his drunk of a father years ago, but apparently as long as a parent required their child to attend school, gave them food and shelter, and didn’t beat them, they were deemed fit.

“Scooter decided it would be a good idea to pounce on Sally Brown
while she was walking Cody, and Cody bit him,” Jeremy explained. “I wasn’t going to bring him in, but Scooter’s dad showed up and insisted on it.”

“He wouldn’t go for a home quarantine?” I asked.

“Nope. Said he was gonna petition to have the dog destroyed.” Jeremy escorted Cody into an empty cage.

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Yeah. Sally is beside herself, but there isn’t much I can do until this gets straightened out.”

I pulled the door to the pen closed after Jeremy exited. I felt bad for the poor dog
, who was just trying to protect the little girl he loved. “Has Cody bitten anyone before?” I asked.

“He bit Scooter
once before,” Jeremy informed me. “I guess Sally’s dad slipped Scooter’s dad some money, and the incident was never reported to us or the sheriff, but Scooter’s dad brought it up today, and Sally’s mom didn’t deny his allegation.”

I frowned. “That’s bad.”

“Yeah, it’s not looking good for Cody.”

“I’ll have a chat with both Scooter
’s dad and Sally’s parents,” I offered. “Maybe I can mediate an agreement of some sort.”

“Good luck
.” Jeremy headed back down the hall. “Scooter’s dad was pretty mad.”

“Yeah, it’s going to be tough to get the guy to be reasonable,” I agreed as I followed Jeremy.
“Still, if I were a dog, I’d want to bite Scooter.”

“Right there with you
.” Jeremy laughed. “While I was at the scene talking to everyone, Scooter went next door to the market and dumped a display cart of tomatoes onto the floor. Ernie was pretty mad, but Scooter said he didn’t see the cart and accidently ran into it with his skateboard.”

“Seems like stuff like that happens a lot. May
be we can use the fact that Scooter attacked Sally as a defense for poor Cody.”

Jeremy ran a hand through his long bangs. “Couldn’t hurt to bring it up
, but a good attorney will argue that a dog who bites is a dog who bites. Best we can hope for is to get Scooter’s dad to drop the whole thing before attorneys get involved.”

“Maybe I’ll leave a little early and stop by to talk to Scooter
’s dad,” I offered.

“I wouldn’t bother. The guy was toasted. Maybe you can get him to see reason after he sobers up.”

“I’ll stop by his place in the morning.”

By the time I got back to the boathouse, both Levi and Ellie were already there. Ellie had brought bruschetta, crab-stuffed mushrooms, and salmon wheels for appetizers, which she was arranging on a platter, while Zak was busy cutting up veggies for steak kabobs. After greeting everyone, I hurried upstairs to slip into a pair of shorts and a tank top. One of the things I love best about the advent of warmer weather is the ability to dress down when I get home rather than having to pile on the layers.

The first thing I noticed after I climbed the stair to the loft I use as a bedroom was that the dirty laundry had been removed from the hamper and scattered across the floor. “Marlow,” I called. The fuzzy orange ball of fur
in question jumped into my arms from atop the dresser. “What in the heck have you been doing all day?” Marlow began to purr. I set him on the bed and began gathering up my clothes while the mischievous cat watched me. Spade, who had been sleeping in my reading chair in front of the window when I came in, is a quiet cat who rarely if ever gets into trouble, but if Marlow can find something to get into, you’d better bet he was going to do so.

I
took off my jeans and put on a pair of cut-off shorts. Marlow rolled over onto his back and began to purr. I tossed my jeans in the hamper and then scratched his belly before I pulled my hair into a long ponytail and replaced the tennis shoes I’d worn to work with bright yellow flip-flops. I secured the lid of my hamper after cleaning up Marlow’s mess, picked up the loveable bundle of fur, and headed back downstairs.

“Have an appetizer
.” Ellie pushed a plate in front of me.

I picked up a piece
of freshly baked sourdough bread covered with a colorful blend of olives, tomatoes, shrimp, and onion and took a bite. “Um, this is really good.”

“Thanks
; it’s a new blend I’m experimenting with for my summer menu. Try the salmon wheels. I’d like to add a few entries to the menu that are lighter than the standard chicken wings and stuffed mushrooms.”

“Oh
, I don’t know. I like the wings,” Levi commented. “My favorite are the nitro wings with a beer.” He walked over to the refrigerator to retrieve the aforementioned beverage.

“Try a glass o
f chardonnay with a mushroom.” Ellie handed me a glass of the chilled wine.

“Thanks. It’s been a long day.” I explained about both my unpleasant experience at Serenity’s yoga studio and the dilemma with Cody.

“That Scooter is something else,” Ellie agreed. “He was skateboarding on the pier the other day and accidently knocked over two of my trashcans, which were almost filled to the top. It was a huge mess that took me almost an hour to clean up. When I tried to talk to him about respecting other peoples’ property, he called me a four-letter word and kicked over one of the benches before leaving.”

“Kid sounds angry
,” Zak observed.

“Yeah, he does take out his aggression on everyone and everything,
” Levi said. “I heard he got kicked out of school and his dad is homeschooling him, but I don’t think there’s much schooling going on. The guy went off the deep end when his wife died. It’s really a sad situation.”

“Kicked out of school?” I questioned. “Scooter blows through town every
day just prior to school starting and then again soon after it’s over. I just assumed he was going to and from.”

“As far as I know
, he got kicked out over two months ago. Must not have wanted the fact that he didn’t need to make the trip interfere with his regularly scheduled vandalism.”

“I’m not busy tomorrow if you want me to stop by
to talk to Scooter’s dad on Cody’s behalf,” Zak volunteered.

“He might be more apt to listen to you,” I responded.

“Okay, let me take a shot and we’ll see what happens.”

“So how d
id your conversation with Serenity go?” Levi asked.

I filled the group in on everything I’d learned
, including the fact that Serenity had maintained a relationship with Barbie after she left town until she began lying and acting strangely. I also filled them in on Barbie’s relationship with some new guy, and the fact that she was thinking of breaking things off with him. I didn’t mention the depth of Barbie’s feelings for Levi but did wind things up with the fact that Serenity didn’t think Phillip Hayes had actually had an affair with our victim.

“Sounds like this
new guy could be a suspect,” Ellie commented.

“I think we should add him to the list,” I agreed.

“I’d keep Phillip on the list as well,” Zak said. “Just because Barbie didn’t return his affections doesn’t mean he wasn’t obsessed with her. She had a way of getting a man’s attention.”

Zak winked at me to let me know I shouldn’t feel threatened by t
he comment and surprisingly, I didn’t. “I’ll see if I can track Phillip down tomorrow.” 

“I spoke to Courtney today,” Ellie added. “She didn’t say anything that would cause me to believe she killed Barbie
, but she did seem to be hiding something. I don’t think we should take her off the list just yet.”

“I know you said you wouldn’t
be doing any investigating today.” I turned to Levi.

“True
, but I did have time to go to the post office.”

“And?” I prodded. There had to be more to his statement than that.

“There was an envelope in my box. It didn’t have a return address, but I recognized Barbie’s handwriting.”

“She sent you a letter?” I asked.

“She sent me this.” Levi set a newspaper on the counter.

“Why would she send you a newspaper?” I asked.

“I think it’s a clue,” Levi provided.

“What kind of clue?”

“Barbie and I watched a movie a while back in which spies from two different countries communicated by placing an ad in the classified section of a specific newspaper. To most people the ad would look like any other, but to the men involved, it was really a code. We laughed about it and joked that if we ever went into spying, we’d do the same thing. This is the weekend edition of the
Bryton Lake Courier
. It came out on Friday morning. I called the paper and was told that there were seven new ads placed on Thursday for the weekend edition. My theory is that after I blew Barbie off, she took out the ad, picked up the paper on Friday, and mailed it to me.”

“
Do you know which ad was the one she took out?” I asked.

“No. The
guy I spoke to at the paper said no one by the name of Barbie Bennington took out an ad. She must have used a fake name.”

“Did you read the ads?” Ellie asked. “Maybe you can figure it out.”

“Of course I read the ads,” Levi snapped.

Ellie appeared to be stricken by the tone of Levi’s voice.

“Let’s all look at them and see if we notice anything,” I said.

“How about we eat first
?” Zak suggested. “The veggies are chopped, the steak is marinated, and the grill is fired up and ready to go. What do you say we move this party out onto the deck?”

“Sounds good
. It really is a beautiful evening. Can you believe this weather?” I was trying for casual conversation as a way to diffuse the tension between Levi and Ellie. “I heard we’re in for record high temperatures in the next week or so. I’m predicting a busy holiday weekend.”

“It beats that Memorial Day whe
n we got two feet of snow,” Zak agreed.

“It’s been busier than I anticipated for this time of year at
the Beach Hut,” Ellie added. “I’m thinking about adding evening hours if I can find enough staff to handle them. These kabobs look wonderful and would be an easy addition if I decide to do a dinner menu. I could offer steak, shrimp, chicken, all veggie.”

“You could even offer an all
-meat/no-garden option for us carnivores,” Levi suggested.

“Well
, these are done,” Zak announced. “Everyone grab a drink and some salad and let’s eat before they get cold.”

After
dinner we looked at the seven new ads and tore them apart. Two of them were for cars for sale, one of which might be perfect for Bobby. Two others were help-wanted ads, one for a hairdresser and one for a delivery driver. There was an ad announcing an estate auction and another listing an antique cabinet for sale, and the final ad was for an apartment for rent. None stood out as odd or suspicious. If Barbie was trying to communicate through one of the ads, she might have done too good a job hiding the message.

“Could there be another reason Barbie sent you this newspaper?” Ellie
asked.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Maybe there’s something significant about one of the articles, or there’s an ad in the main body that warrants our attention. If she placed a clue in the classifieds, I’m not seeing an obvious message.”

“Here’s our ad for the Memorial Day event,” I pointed out. “You did a nice job designing it,” I complimented Ellie.

“Thanks. Levi is mentioned as a participant and organizer for the event; maybe Barbie saw the ad and wanted you to know she was thinking about you.”

“
I doubt Barbie would bother with something like that,” Levi pointed out. “I’m sure her purpose in sending me the paper relates back to her. Maybe I’ll sleep on it to see if anything comes to me during the night.”

“Might be a good idea,” I agreed. “Right now I’m headed in to watch
American
Sensation
. Anyone want to watch it with me?”

“I will,” Ellie offered.

“I’ll be in after I clean up out here,” Zak said.

“I think I’ll head home. Thanks for dinner.” Levi got up and dusted the sand from his shorts. “I’ll see everyone tomorrow.”

Charlie climbed up into my lap as I sat down next to Ellie, who was holding Marlow. Once the sun went down, the temperature had begun to drop sharply, so I lit a fire and put on a pot of coffee before turning on the television and settling in for two hours of competition madness. Like most everyone in the country, I had a singer I was rooting for. The suspense of finding out whether he’d win was almost more than I could bear.

“Do you think Levi will be okay?”
Ellie asked after he left.

“I’m not sure
,” I responded as I waited for the commercial break to wrap up. “He’s really taking this hard. I think it would be difficult for him in any event, but with the added stress of receiving the phone call from Barbie, it’s like the whole thing is doing a number on him.”

“I’m really worried about him. He’s taking this investigation seriously. I can’t believe he didn’t want to stay
to see Tina win the crown.”

“Tina? Are you kidding me? Tim is the obvious choice.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Ellie countered. “Tina has a lot more people appeal.”

“
But Tim has a better voice,” I argued.

Ellie shrugged.
“Sure, if you like that kind of thing. He’s a bit edgy for my taste.”

“Edgy? What do you mean
edgy
? Just ʼcause he has his own style doesn’t mean he’s edgy.”

“I just prefer Tina’s mainstream appeal. She really is a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll.”

“So you’re saying she’s indecisive.”

“No, I’m not saying that
at all. I just think she’s a bit more versatile than the others.”

I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t believe Ellie
didn’t see that Tim was the clear choice for the crown. “Shhh,” I instructed. “They’re about to start.”

Zak came in from the deck and sat on the other side of me. Spade crawled into his lap
, while Lambda laid at his feet. It was nice that there were as many laps as animals this evening. “So what do you think?” Zak asked as he settled in. “Carmen all the way?”