Doggie Day Care Murder (11 page)

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Authors: Laurien Berenson

BOOK: Doggie Day Care Murder
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I'd forgotten about Alice, however. She likes to talk entirely too much for a tactic like that to appeal to her. Alice has never met a silence she couldn't fill.
Now she leaned forward in her chair expectantly. “That sounds promising.”
I reached my foot over and kicked her under the desk. Alice winced slightly and clammed up.
“I'm open to possibilities,” I said to Candy.
“It's just that . . . Steve was my brother.”
This time when she paused, neither Alice nor I said a word.
“And I hate to say anything bad about him, especially now that he's gone. But if you think it might help . . .”
“I do.”
Candy sighed. “You met Steve, right? So you know he was a pretty good-looking guy.”
“Right.” I was pretty sure I could see where this was heading.
“And maybe he liked to flirt a little. You know, just a little harmless playing around with the ladies.”
“The lady
clients
,” I said, just to keep things clear.
“Yes . . . and . . . well, let's just say that some of them reciprocated. In fact, quite enthusiastically.”
“So Steve was sleeping around,” said Alice.
I was tempted to kick her again.
“Just once or twice,” said Candy.
“Were these woman married?” I asked.
“I don't know. Some of them probably yes, others maybe no.”
Some of them?
“So now we're moving beyond once or twice.”
“I guess there could have been more.”
“How many more?”
Candy looked up. “Steve was my
brother
. It's not like we talked about these things with one another. I'm just going by what I saw and what I guessed.”
“So there's a possibility that someone's husband might have been angry at Steve?”
Candy nodded reluctantly.
“Maybe even more than one?”
“It could have happened,” she admitted.
“Did you tell these things to the police?” I asked.
“No.”
“How come?”
“Because I'm trying to save my business here, all right? I'm already losing clients after what happened and I can't think of a quicker way to alienate even more of them than by going public with things that should have been kept private.”
Candy was fidgeting in her chair. She was on the defensive now. I liked that, it kept her talking.
Her movement disturbed Winston, though. The Corgi lifted his head and listened for a moment. Then he jumped down and padded away. Candy, intent on what she was saying, didn't even notice the dog's departure.
“Steve wasn't perfect, okay? He screwed up, and now he's gone. And I'm the one left trying to pick up the pieces. Right now, the best thing I can do for myself is save Pine Ridge and that's my number one priority.”
Abruptly, Candy stood up. She braced her hands on the edge of the desk and leaned forward.
“So now you know everything. Are you going to help me or not?”
“I'm in,” said Alice.
Lord love a duck, that woman was quick on the draw. I supposed that meant she was volunteering me again.
“Me too,” I said.
11
“Y
ou got me into this,” I said to Alice as we walked out. “So you're going to help.”
“What do you mean? I don't know anything about solving mysteries. Besides, now that camp has started and Berkley's squared away, I'll be starting work on Monday.”
“Tough luck.”
I was feeling snarky, can you tell? Probably hormones again.
“You're not the only one who's busy,” I said.
Alice stopped and held the door. “Oh right. I remember now. You're gardening.”
She would bring that up.
“Among other things.”
“Name one.”
“There's Davey—”
“Camp.”
“And Sam—”
“Working.”
“The Poodles—”
“Keep each other company.”
“Kevin,” I said triumphantly.
“Big deal.” Alice sniffed. “A baby. Millions of women have done it. Try having two in diapers at once.
That's
work. Besides, like I said, I don't know a single thing about clues, or suspects, or any of that stuff.”
“You can learn. It's not nearly as hard as it looks. Mostly it's just a matter of paying attention to the little things other people miss. Take Madison, for example.”
“Who?”
“Madison, the receptionist.”
I nodded toward the teenage girl, who was currently standing on the other side of the parking lot. A delivery van was parked there, side door open. A young, well-built delivery man wearing a tight T-shirt and equally tight jeans was unloading fifty-pound sacks of kibble and stacking them onto a handcart.
The two of them were talking while the man worked. He appeared to be taking his time handling the bags, and Madison's appreciative gaze followed every rippling move his muscles made.
Alice glanced over at the scene, then frowned as she turned back to me. “How do you know her name?”
“We've talked to her a couple of times. She was the one who called nine-one-one, remember?”
“Yeah, I guess. She's the office girl. So what?”
“So what if she was a suspect?”
Alice turned and had another look. This time with more interest.
“Is she?”
“I don't know yet.”
“Who's the guy?” asked Alice. “It looks from here like those two are into each other. Maybe that's a clue.”
“You see? Now you're getting the hang of things. That's how you figure stuff out.”
“I guess I could do that,” said Alice. She opened the car door and climbed in. “If I had time.” The door slammed. “Which I don't.”
“And yet,” I said, getting in beside her, “you volunteered me.”
“That's entirely different. Face it, Melanie. Solving mysteries is what you do. Maybe you've taken some time off recently for other things—”
“Like life?”
“Yeah, that. But now Kevin is here, and you're beginning to get back to normal. Which for you, apparently, is chasing murderers. Plus, you've quit your job—”
“I didn't quit, I'm on sabbatical.”
Alice sighed. Loudly. “Semantics, okay? Besides. . . here's the deal. I really felt sorry for Candy. Who could help it? Now that Steve's gone, she's all alone. Someone has to step in and help her out.”
“You're forgetting one thing,” I said.
We'd reached the end of the driveway. Alice pulled through the white gate, turned on her blinker, and headed for home.
“What's that?”
“The first rule of investigating murders is follow the money.”
“So?”
“There may not have been any insurance, but Candy still inherited. Pine Ridge used to be half hers, now she owns the whole place.”
“She has a motive,” said Alice. She sounded delighted by the discovery.
“That's right. So before you start feeling too sorry for her, don't forget that she could be a murderer.”
 
 
Aunt Peg was the one who came up with the plan.
Which surprised exactly no one. Aunt Peg has a strategy for every situation, and usually several backup ideas too. If she only had more relatives to manipulate, she could probably rule the world.
“You'll go undercover,” she said the next afternoon as we were having lunch. Aunt Peg was holding Kevin on her lap with one hand and eating a ham and cheese sandwich with the other.
Here's the thing about having a new baby. Everyone stops by. Friends, relatives, people you once thought liked you for yourself, now turn out only to have eyes—and hands—for the baby. Since it had been three whole days since her last visit, Aunt Peg figured she was due again.
As is often the case, her arrival coincided with a meal. True to form, she'd brought dessert with her: Sarah Bernhardts, a sumptuous dark chocolate and marzipan confection from a bakery in downtown Greenwich. My mouth started to water as soon as I saw the signature box.
The first course that Sam and I came up with—homemade sandwiches on a choice of wheat or rye bread—looked pretty paltry by comparison. Thankfully, Aunt Peg was busy being entertained by Kevin and didn't seem to notice. I could have handed her a strip of beef jerky and she'd have put it in her mouth without protest.
“Do what?”
Okay, not a terribly articulate question but my mouth was full. As soon as I finished my sandwich, I could get to those candies.
“How much do you know about the staff and clients at Pine Ridge?” asked Aunt Peg. “Those are people whom Steve Pine spent most of his time with.”
“Not much,” I admitted. “Mostly just what Candy told me.”
“Then you've got some work to do. You want to find out what makes that operation tick without anybody realizing that you're spying on them. What if Candy Pine pretended to hire you?”
“To do what?” This time the Sarah Bernhardts weren't to blame. Just complete and utter lack of comprehension.
“Let me think. There must be something she could pass you off as for a day or two, while you nose around.”
“A consultant,” Sam suggested. “Looking for ways to cut costs and trim down the business now that Steve's gone.”
Aunt Peg shook her head. “Too adversarial. We want people to confide in Melanie, not fear for their jobs when she's around.”
“What about a dog psychologist?” I said. “Maybe Candy could say she was bringing me in to work with some of their problem clients.”
Aunt Peg shot me one of her looks. You know what I mean.
“Do you honestly think you could pull that off?”
“For a day or two, I don't see why not.”
She was unconvinced. “Let's not get you in over your head before you're even started. There must be something simple, something easy.... What about a web site?”
“Pine Ridge already has one.”
“That works. Candy could tell everyone that now that things have changed, she wants to do an overhaul. You'll be designing the new web site, but first you want to walk around for a day or two and get a feel for the place.”
“Perfect,” said Sam.
Was he nuts?
“Perfect except for the fact that I haven't even the slightest clue about web site design,” I said.
Trust me on this. Using Google was my idea of higher learning when it came to web-related activities.
“You can finesse that part pretty easily,” said Sam. “After all, nobody is going to expect you to do any work right there. And it does give you a great excuse for being there and looking around.”
Now I was the one who was unconvinced. It didn't do me any good, however, since I was also outvoted.
“If I'm going to be doing that,” I told him, “then you'll have to keep an eye on Kevin for a couple of days.”
“I can help,” said Aunt Peg.
With everyone in agreement on the home front, I called Candy and ran the idea past her. She hopped on board enthusiastically and asked how soon I could start. So there we had it.
Undercover it was.
 
 
“I thought you had, like, a dog,” said Madison.
Teenage grammar, it was a marvel.
I was tempted to ask Madison what she meant by
like a dog
. A cat? Maybe a squirrel? But I was supposed to be making friends and ferreting out information, so I refrained.
It was early Monday morning and I was back at Pine Ridge, presumably as an observer of the everyday operation. At least that was the brief explanation Candy had offered before leaving me to wander around on my own.
Now I was out in the front office watching clients drop their dogs off for the day. It wasn't hard to see that there was considerably less activity than there had been during the same time the previous week. Before Steve's murder had changed everything.
Today, there was no line of customers waiting to check in, and Madison wasn't working nonstop. She had plenty of time to shoot me curious glances.
Clearly, she was wondering what I was doing there. Not only that, but she was a little annoyed by my presence.
Which, frankly, was one reason why I'd remained in the front office, rather than leaving to check out the rest of the facility. The fact that Madison was suspicious of my motives was enough to make me wonder about hers.
“I do have a dog,” I replied. “Actually, I have five.”
“And you also design web sites?”
“Why not?” I tried out a cheery smile. “Everybody's got to do something, right?”
“I suppose. But . . .”
I waited for her to continue. She didn't. Madison had stopped looking at me too. Instead, she seemed riveted by the empty countertop.
“But what?” I asked finally.
“The old web site is fine. I don't see why it needs updating.”
“That was Candy's decision,” I said. “I'm just helping her out.”
“It isn't fair.”
“What isn't?”
Madison's eyes lifted. “She's cutting Steve out. That's what this is really about, isn't it? She wants to erase him from the web site like he was never here.”
“I don't think—”
“It doesn't matter what you think,” she said. “You don't know.”
“Then tell me.”
Her narrow shoulders rose and fell, a hopeless gesture. Steve had been gone less than a week and his loss was keenly felt. His absence left a large hole in the Pine Ridge community. Candy might have insisted on business as usual, but she couldn't mandate her employees' emotions to match.
“It doesn't matter now,” Madison said unhappily.
“I'd still like to know.”
“She was jealous of him.”
“Candy?”
Madison's expression went blank. She was tuning me out.
“See? That's what I thought. You don't get it. Never mind.”
I gave myself a mental kick. I'm a teacher, I'm used to dealing with kids. I know what they're like—vulnerable, emotional, mercurial in their moods. I should be doing better than this.
“Give me a chance,” I said. “I'm new around here. I don't know how everything works. Or how it worked before. That's what I'm trying to figure out. Maybe you could help me.”
“Maybe I already have a job.”
She was all attitude now. Prickly and defensive. Still, I was betting that Madison wanted to explain, to tell me her side. Otherwise, what were we doing here?
I glanced over my shoulder, looked out the front windows, and didn't see any cars pulling in. Good. That gave me some time.
I leaned on the counter, closing the space between us and forcing Madison to acknowledge my presence. “Why was Candy jealous of Steve?”
“Because he was cool and she isn't,” she said. “All you had to do was look at the two of them and you'd know that.”
One look at Steve Pine, and you'd know that he was a teenage girl's fantasy. Candy had admitted that Steve liked to fool around with the clients. I wondered whether his flirting had carried over to the staff as well.
“I never had a chance to get to really know Steve,” I said. “But from what I saw, he seemed like a nice guy.”

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