Drool Baby (A Dog Park Mystery) (Lia Anderson Dog Park Mysteries) (14 page)

Jim chuffed out a laugh. "Something like that."

"What about Roger?"

"Roger complains about his problems, and then he won't listen to anything anyone has to say. The man is a broken record. That can get down right annoying.
Then there's all his talk about wanting to commit suicide. Someone might want to help him along."

Lia came back and gave Peter a quick kiss before she sat down. "I can see you two plotting."

Peter took her hand and bounced it on his knee. "I guess we were. Jim's got a theory."

"And what is that?"

"He thinks each of our victims became a target because they spoiled our killer's morning coffee."

"Jim, you can't be serious."

"Think about it. They all stirred people up."

"Not Bailey."

"I know Bailey was your friend, but a lot of people don't hold with her New Age stuff. Some folks think it's crazy, and some folks think it's demonic," Jim
explained.

"Oh, and what do you think?" Lia challenged.

"I'm a man. I don't think."

"You got that right," Lia sniffed.

"If Jim's right, who do you think would be the next target?" Peter asked.

"Oh, Marie or Roger, no doubt. Neither of them have any filters. That means I'm not a target, and you can go home, Romeo." She batted her eyes in an act of
sarcasm.

"I'm crushed. I still think you're in the middle of this somehow. Luthor was your boyfriend. Bailey was your partner. Catherine was your patron."

"And Terry was my secret lover?"

"Jim, do I need to worry here?" Peter asked.

Lia gave him a pointed look. "Ha. Ha."

"Getting back on topic," Jim interrupted, "let's think about this the other way. Who likes a peaceful morning and can't stand hearing about reincarnation
and spirit guides?"

"Cheeze it," Lia said. "We've got company coming.

"Hey there," she called out to Nadine and Anna, "What brings you all the way back here?"

"The manly men were getting robust in their conversation. The testosterone was flying," Anna said.

"We're looking for gentler discourse," Nadine added.

"You hear that, Peter?" Jim said. "We're not manly men."

"Jim, I think we've been insulted. We should pick up our dolls and go home."

"Oh, you know what we mean," Nadine said. "They were all guns and carburetors and stinking Democrats."

"They're talking about carburetors?" Peter asked. "They don't make carburetors anymore."

"That's got to be Charlie, working on one of his cars," Lia said

"Yes," Nadine affirmed, "and since he's having problems with it, Terry offered to shoot it for him as long as he lined up a few Democrats in front of the
car. He said he wanted a twofer on the bullets. Then he said he'd have to use hollow points for maximum penetration. He said it would be poetic justice,
since Liberals think we should all use mass transit instead of owning cars."

Lia turned to Peter. "Look at what we missed."

"This is your secret lover?" Peter muttered into her ear.

"No whispering, you two," Anna said.

"Private joke. Sorry, We'll be good, won't we, Peter?"

"Yes, Ma'am," he nodded, looking at two prime suspects and wondering which of them had the nerve to pull the trigger. "So you ladies don't hold with guns?"

"Lou and I used to target practice when we were younger," Nadine said. I haven't picked up a gun in years. It's not the guns so much as all this talk about
what they want to do with them. Once they get going, they all talk like they'd eat their young."

"I've never had a taste for guns myself," Anna said. "It's not like you can do anything productive with them."

Marie joined them in time to catch Anna's comment. "Sure you can," she said. "You can produce fertilizer. And some people would do so much more good as
fertilizer than they do walking around."

"Marie!" Nadine scolded.

Marie shrugged. "You want me to make a list?"

Mr. Ray crouched on a stack of papers, taking the occasional swat at John's mouse for entertainment. Miko curled in John's lap, undisturbed by the
machine-gunning of computer keys.

John's favorite guilty pleasure was breaking into the IRS. Always for a good cause, of course. Tax returns could be so informative. After the tax records,
he pulled police records. Then came credit reports and credit card records. Then phone records. Last, just for fun, he tapped into an online record check
site, so he could pull up names and addresses of former neighbors without much sweat.

He downloaded all of it onto two thumb drives to keep it off his hard drive. Everything was nicely organized into a folder for each target. It was a good
evening's work.

His back was aching more than usual from the hours of sitting. He popped a chicken dinner into the microwave, then ate it while walking around the kitchen
to ease his back. He fed tidbits of the chicken to the cats while they sat at attention, licking their muzzles.

He and Peter had agreed that Peter needed to stay away from these documents. John had offered to review everything and not send any documents, but that
made little sense since John didn't know the events or the people.

After dinner, he packed up one of the thumb drives, being sure to wipe his finger prints first. Tomorrow he'd overnight it to Jim McDonald from a
non-existent address. But now he would meditate with the packaged thumb drive. He felt an ugly smudge on the thumb drive, a darkness that might not be
reflected by the records themselves. Maybe Buddha would help him figure out what it was.

John placed the packaged thumb drive under the Buddha. He lay on his back, on the sofa with his knees raised to ease the pain. He figured Buddha would
understand. He closed his eyes and requested a vision that would shed light on the killer's identity. Eventually it came, floating in his mind. A yellow
cupcake. Only this was flat on top, like it fell in the oven. And the bottom was brown. There was no icing. Literal? Metaphorical? He asked for more but
didn't get it. Should he share this with Jim? No, Jim would think he was crazy.

Lia pulled a chair beside Jim so she could look over his shoulder as he opened the flash drive he'd received that morning. She jolted as Kita nosed her
arm. "Geezelpete. You got a paper towel around here somewhere? Kita just landed a streamer on me."

"Kitchen counter," was Jim's terse reply.

"Poor baby," Lia said, scratching Kita's head. "You can't help it, can you? Don't you worry, we're going to get your mom back for you." Jealous, Fleece
nosed in under her hand. Kita snorted and went to curl up in the corner. "So you're the boss around here. Okay, I'll pet you, too." She got up and went
into the kitchen.

"What am I looking for?" Jim yelled from his office.

"Credit card reports. We're hoping someone was dumb enough to buy ammo and leave a record." Lia returned to Jim's office and they started poring over a
year's worth of charges for more than twenty cards.

"Geez," Lia said. I have exactly one credit card, and it's tucked away in a drawer. Then I've got one debit card. How many do you have?

"I've got a debit card and three credit cards."

"Check out Marie. She's got her LL Bean card and her Shell card, a BP card and a Kroger's card. Next thing you know, she'll have a White Castle card that
gives premium points you redeem for sliders."

Jim grunted. "This type's too tiny for my eyes. I'm going to zoom in."

"I can't believe he was able to pull up all the receipts."

"I suspect this thumb drive could get Mr. Trees put away for a long time. Which is why we're looking at it, and not Peter. Peter needs deniability."

"Then what do we do when we find something and it's time to go official with it?"

"If we find anything on these records that the police need to have, we print it off on a public computer and send it in anonymously. We make sure we don't
leave any fingerprints. No licking envelopes, either."

"Been watching CSI again, have you?"

"I'm old, not stupid."

"Geez Louise. Marie spent two hundred and seventy dollars at some place called Fiona's Playpen. Do we even want to know what that's for?"

"Nope." Jim pulled up the receipt anyway.

"Thigh high boots, a patent leather corset, strawberry flavored edible underwear. . . . What's a ball-gag?" Lia turned to look at Jim and noticed his face
was bright pink.

"Nothing you want to know about. Nothing I want to know about." Jim pushed away from the computer. "Hoo boy. I don't know about this. We could end up with
more than we bargained for. We have to look them in the face tomorrow. How are we going to do that?"

"I don't know. But I'm starting to understand what Peter was going through when he couldn't tell me everything he knew about Luthor. Look, we
don't have to go through every receipt. We'll look at the charges on the statement and just pull up receipts for places that might sell ammo. We ought to
look at book stores, too. Reading material could be important."

Jim pulled up a book order and started reading. "'Advanced Cabinet Making', 'Mac OS X, the Missing Manual', 'Velvet Handcuffs', 'Lesbian Space Sluts from
Planet Libido'. . . . Here, you read this." He rolled his chair away from the monitor.

Amused, Lia took over. "'Pussy Tales', 'House Mouse', 'Backdoor Girl', 'Taming Talia' . . . ."

"Don't tell me, I don't want to know anymore."

Lia scanned the rest of the list. "Nope, no guides to butchering the human body, no 'Murder for Beginners.'"

"Aren't you embarrassed?" Jim asked.

"Nope. At least we know Marie has a life."

"I wish I didn't know."

"Look at it this way. We'll never have to wonder what to get her for her birthday."

"I don't give her anything on her birthday anyway."

"Take a break. Take the girls for a walk. I'll keep going through this. By the time you return, I should be done with Marie. Nadine's charges should be
tamer."

There were no bullets on any of the credit cards. They finished up without anymore surprises. Nadine had a fondness for cookbooks and Diane Mott Davidson,
as well as a taste for thrillers. Jim wondered if this indicated a blood-thirsty nature.

Lia said, "With The Hunger Games out, Nadine would just have to stand in line behind every fourteen year old girl in the country."

Anna ordered a lot of puzzle books. She preferred mysteries to thrillers, including Jeffery Deaver, Patricia Cornwell and Nevada Barr.

"Considering how Luthor and Catherine died, don't you think our killer would be more the mystery type?" Jim asked.

"Let's see. Marie's into torture. We don't know if that's on the giving or receiving end."

Jim winced.

Lia continued, "Nadine's blood-thirsty and Anna likes sneaky stuff. I'd say that makes them all equally inclined to be murderous, wouldn't you?"

Jim's computer beeped to alert him to incoming mail. "I need to look at this. Do you mind staying in the living room for a few minutes?"

"No biggie. I can take a break."

When she returned, Jim had closed out his email and returned to the credit reports.

"What was that all about?" Lia asked.

"It's private," Jim mumbled as he ducked his head.

"What, you got a secret girlfriend?"

Jim blushed.

"You do! You have a cyber-girlfriend! Is she pretty?"

Jim shrugged, not meeting her eyes. "I think so."

"Where did you meet her?"

"There's this Catholic dating site," he admitted.

"Have you met her yet?"

"What is this, Twenty Questions?"

"You going to meet her?"

"I hope so. Now can we get back to work?"

"Whatever you say. I think it's awfully sweet."

"Well, don't tell anyone."

"Scout's honor," Lia swore, crossing her heart.

They continued pulling up receipts for another twenty minutes. Jim rolled away from the desk and sighed. "We've got that part done. It's going to take days
to go through the rest of it, and I don't know if it's going to give us what we want."

"Okay," Lia said, "I'll bite. What do we want?"

"What we really want are suspicious deaths happening around Nadine, Anna, and Marie."

"How are we going to find those?"

"I've been reading up on serial killers."

"You have, have you?"

"And you've got two kind of killers," Jim continued. "Killers with random victims, usually thrill killers, and killers with specific targets. Now, our
killer . . ."

"Bucky."

"Okay, Bucky. He's . . . ."

"She's. We're investigating women."

Jim huffed. "She's gone to a lot of trouble to target specific victims, using different methods. One thing I think we can say is that Bucky knows her
targeted victims very well to pull that off."

"I'll go along with that."

"So the events we know about, the ones from the dog park, they started this past summer. Where was Bucky getting targets before then?"

"Good question," Lia said. "So we're looking at this from a sociological point of view, in a way. Everyone belongs to all these little groups. Family
groups, work groups, dog park groups. For example, none of the evening dog park regulars are being picked off, as far as we know."

"Yep. Terry goes up in the afternoon sometimes. He'd hear about it and tell us if anything happened."

"Then you have neighbors. I'm thinking they'd have to be really close neighbors for Bucky to know enough about them or to even care. And if you go to
school, there are the people you have classes with and then there are clubs and organizations."

"These people we're looking for," Jim said, "they would have had extended regular contact with Bucky. So I don't think it would be someone who was in a
class with Bucky unless they had the same major and took a lot of the same classes. School's a really long time ago for everyone on our list. We're looking
for people who were a regular fixture in Bucky's life. So where are we going to find the highest number of people in close contact to Bucky over the
longest period of time?"