Never Con a Corgi (11 page)

"I know," Leigh agreed. "That's why I need you. I was hoping you could introduce us. I met her a long time ago, at the shelter's grand opening, but I doubt she would remember me, and if she's a tough sell, I figured your influence couldn't hurt."

Bess puffed herself up. "Well, it's nice to know you give your old aunt credit for
something
, at least."

Leigh sighed. Her Aunt Bess could forgive lots of things, like a neighbor pilfering gasoline, or a teenaged niece borrowing plaid polyester pants for a seventies party and "forgetting" to give them back. But there were two things Bess never forgot. The first was cruelty to an animal. The second was withholding juicy information she knew perfectly well she had no right to hear in the first place.

"I said I was sorry," Leigh repeated. "Maura swore me to secrecy until she could talk to you."

Bess arched one eyebrow. "Mm-hmm. Well, she's talked to me. Asked a boatload of questions and didn't tell me dip squat. I understand your not wanting to get into it last night with the others around, but now we're alone. So, shoot!" She plopped her ample rear end down on the couch, sending the requisite three cats flying off the cushions below.

Leigh pushed two more aside and joined her. "What is it you want to know?" she said without enthusiasm, wishing she could think and talk of something other than Brandon Lyle. She didn't know how morticians did it. No matter how many bodies she was unlucky enough to see, the last one creeped her out as much as the first. Brandon's sightless, staring eyes kept popping into her head... his waxy face, frozen into an expression of utter shock...

"Yoo-hoo, kiddo," Aunt Bess's voice cooed. "You were telling me the leading police theory as to who killed Brandon Lyle."

Leigh shook her head. "I was?"

Bess nodded innocently.

Leigh sighed. "Maura won't tell me anything, either. But Cara and Gil are thinking maybe a loan shark. Brandon did seem pretty desperate for money."

Bess considered a moment, her lips twisted. "Nope," she announced finally. "Not buying it. They said on the news—not that
my own niece
would tell me—that he was shot in the back. A loan shark would want him to suffer, would want him to see it coming. No, I'm thinking it was more heat of the moment. A crime of passion."

Leigh squirmed. "I'd really prefer it wasn't. We don't need any more suspicion on Gil. Or on the church members who were at that meeting. What if one of them is nuts? Even more nuts than Clem?"

Bess dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand. "Not that kind of passion, silly. I'm talking the classic. The usual.
Love
triangle."

Leigh watched the sparks fly in her aunt's mischievous eyes.
This
was why Leigh got into trouble so often. It wasn't just bad luck. It was heredity.

"Brandon was cheating on his wife with his administrative assistant," she offered.

Bess's face lit up like Christmas. "Well, there you have it!" she said gleefully. "Now, we just have to figure out which woman killed him, and prove it."

"No,
we most certainly do—"

"The first thing I need to know is exactly where you found the body," Bess began, getting to her feet. "Because everyone knows that the killer
always
returns to the scene of the crime. And with my handy new gadgets, we can have 24/7 surveillance, easy as pie!"

"Aunt Bess—" Leigh began hopelessly.

"Do you
want
to help Gil get out of this mess, or don't you?" Bess interrupted. "You know how worried Cara is. Looking for witnesses is good, but this is better, and it's not even illegal. At least, I don't think it is. The cameras will be on my property, after all. Anyway, grab some boots and an umbrella and follow me. Just point out the spot and I'll get the equipment moved before nightfall. Who knows... we might even catch Ferdinand and the other feral cats in the bargain!"

Leigh continued to sit, the wheels in her head spinning. Maura's disembodied head hung somewhere over her right shoulder, growling menacingly. But Cara's puffy-eyed visage was floating to her left, sobbing with worry.

Leigh's jaws clenched.

She got up and grabbed an umbrella.

Chapter 12

"I've always liked your aunt," the older woman standing before Leigh said fondly.

"Yes," Leigh agreed, "she's a real peach, isn't she?" Her words were not entirely sincere. She had been hoping that Bess would do more than make a brief introduction on Anna Krull's porch, assure Anna that Leigh's upcoming suggestion was brilliant, and then promptly disappear. Leigh knew perfectly well that Bess's suddenly remembered "appointment" was nothing but an excuse to go back and hustle her camera equipment to the pond. Bess would be watching every raccoon, squirrel, deer, and drunken teenager that approached the spot for weeks.

"Why don't you come on in and sit down?" Anna offered, leading Leigh the short distance to a worn couch in a small living room. "Would you like something to drink?"

"No, thank you," Leigh said as she sat, glancing around the room with widened eyes. Its interior was not what she had expected. She knew that, although the Krull family had once been prosperous farmers who owned all the land for miles around, Anna herself had been left with only a modest legacy, as her wastrel father and grandfather had sold off most of the land to pay their gambling debts. The outside of her house was always neatly kept and planted with seasonal flowers, but there was nothing fancy about it, and the car parked in her garage was half as old as Leigh. The house's furniture looked even older, which made it all the more surprising that the living room bubbled from end to end with state-of-the-art saltwater aquariums.

"Just a little hobby of mine," Anna explained, taking a seat beside her guest. "I adore fish. They're so quiet, you know. Seahorses are my favorite. I breed them."

Leigh studied the myriad bumpy-skinned creatures who clung to wispy sea plants with their tails, bobbing slightly in the artificial current. Her head filled immediately with nosy, more than likely inappropriate questions, but her hostess seemed ready for business. "Now, then," Anna said briskly. "What can I do for you? Bess says you have a fundraising idea for the shelter. You took your Aunt's place on the board, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did," Leigh answered, happy to know that Anna was keeping up with things, even if she rarely visited the facility. The road-front property on which the shelter sat was worth a nice chunk of change, and not just to Brandon Lyle. The shelter was fortunate that Anna not only wanted to hang onto it herself, but was willing to lease it so reasonably. "We're all very appreciative of how generous you've been with your land. I can't tell you how much."

Anna waved away the sentiment, but offered a gracious smile. Her dentures had seen whiter days, but her blue eyes were lively, and she had the look of a woman who felt much younger than her seventy-some-odd years. Leigh wondered if she and Clem hung out much. "It works out well for me, too," Anna responded. "My taxes are covered, and I still have control over what's built out there. And what's not."

Leigh digested the subtle comment, and decided that her Aunt Bess was right. Anna Krull might not look intimidating, with her pixie-cut hair, alligator skin, and comfortable 100% cotton clothing—all of which together could not weigh more than ninety pounds soaking wet. But she and Bess clearly had mutual ancestors. Namely, a horse and a donkey. "What I'm suggesting won't sacrifice a single tree," Leigh assured. "The only thing we'd need to build would be a fence. I'm thinking of a dog park—a confined area where people can let their pets off leash."

Anna's smile disappeared. "How many people?"

Leigh tensed. She was well aware of how much Anna—like Bess, Clem, and anyone else who chose to live in the middle of the wilderness off a flood-prone road—valued their privacy. But as she delivered her rehearsed spiel on how the dog park could bring in extra revenue without bringing any extra traffic onto anyone's private land, she was gratified to see the smile gradually return to Anna's face.

"Well then, I think it's a fine idea," the woman praised. "I like the thought of all those cooped-up pooches having the chance to run a bit. Where would you put it?"

Leigh hesitated, unpleasant images once again threatening to unsettle her stomach. "I had been thinking that around the pond would be nice, since the dogs could go for a dip. But now, considering what's happened..."

Anna's brow furrowed. "Yes," she agreed. "We've always had trouble with trespassers out there, but now that..." she contemplated a moment. "No, that won't do, I'm afraid. That pond is already menace enough, attracting hippies and such, and your Aunt Bess is no help at all. She's close enough to hear when they're making a ruckus, but she absolutely refuses to shoo them off!"

Hippies?
Leigh suppressed a grin. "Yes, well, that's Aunt Bess for you."

Anna's tone softened. "I suppose they've never really hurt anything," she conceded. "But I'd rather not make the public any more aware of that pond's existence than it already is. Besides, you couldn't fence it in anyway; it's not all on my property. My land, Bess's, and the church's all meet somewhere in the middle of water." She put up a hand and stroked her jaw thoughtfully. Then her eyes lit up. "Why don't you run the fence from the parking lot up to where the old house was? There's no pond that way, and it's a longer walk, but then you'd have a nice clearing for the dogs to play in. If you wanted to get the pump for the well working again, you could even have fresh water available."

Leigh envisioned picnic lunches and dogs leaping in the air to catch flying discs. She smiled broadly. "That sounds perfect!"

"Only thing is," Anna qualified, "I wouldn't want anyone trying to access the clearing from the private road. They'd have to walk from the animal shelter lot."

"I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem," Leigh replied. She had seen what was left of the gated drive that led off into the trees past Bess's house. The dead-end stretch was barely penetrable by goat cart, much less automobile.

"We've got enough traffic on this road already," Anna insisted. She was silent a moment, then she turned to Leigh, her voice suddenly earnest. "Your Aunt Bess is a strong woman, but lately, I've been a little concerned about her. Do you think... considering what's happened... that she's getting nervous about living out here all by herself?"

Leigh's eyebrows rose. No one who knew her Aunt Bess, even a little bit, would trouble themselves with that question. She got the distinct impression it wasn't really Aunt Bess that Anna was talking about. "If you mean, in regards to the murder behind the church," Leigh forced herself to say, "I don't think she worries about her personal safety, no. Do you?"

The older woman's face flushed slightly. "Oh, no. Of course not." She paused a moment, her eyes fixing on her front window. "Did your Aunt Bess tell you that he was here that night?"

Leigh leaned forward. "You mean, Brandon Lyle?"

Anna nodded. "He wanted my land, you know. I'd told him 'hell no' over the phone a dozen times, but he'd never come here in person before. The young woman did, Geralyn, but she was polite."

The older woman rose and stood over one of the aquariums; peered at a thermometer, adjusted a dial. Leigh restrained herself from comment. She knew the look of a person who wanted to talk when she saw it. And it was certainly the least she could do to listen.

"I knew there was a church meeting going on that evening, but I wasn't worried about it," Anna continued. "I didn't think they'd sell with Bess being such a big shot there, and even if they did—well, the development couldn't happen anyway, not without Clem or Bess. When I heard a car in the driveway, I couldn't imagine who it might be. I don't get many visitors, especially not at that hour."

The hand the older woman rested on the aquarium hood began to tremble slightly, even as her voice turned indignant.

"I was already in my nightclothes, for heaven's sake!" Anna exclaimed. "He came right up on the porch under the light, and I could see it was a man all dressed up in a fancy suit, but I didn't know who he was. The chain was on the door, so I did open it up a crack, and then as soon as he started talking, I recognized his voice. But..." she shook her head. "There was something about him that wasn't quite right."

Anna huffed out a breath and squared her thin shoulders. "I don't scare easy. Truly, I don't. But I have to say, that man gave me the willies."

Leigh stood up and moved closer. "What did he say to you?"

Anna shook her head. "I don't completely remember. Same things as always, about how he wanted to 'help' me. Said he could set me up in one of those luxury places for seniors—wouldn't listen when I told him I didn't want to leave here, that I already had everything I needed." She left the window and began to pace. "But I didn't argue with him about it then. I just told him to go away. He kept on, though, till he got downright weird—telling me I
had
to sell, because his entire future depended on it. Told me I was ruining his life!"

Leigh's teeth gnashed. Even posthumously, Brandon's rating on the egocentric ass scale kept climbing.

"By the end, he was practically sobbing," Anna continued. "Banging on the door, begging to be let in, demanding to see me face to face. That's when I'd had enough. I told him if he didn't get off my porch and off my land in the next ten seconds, the next thing he'd see would be the barrel of my granddaddy's Winchester!"

She paused in front of her small fireplace, over which an antique rifle was mounted. Leigh looked at the dusty weapon and the multitude of rusty screws and wires that held it in place, and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

Anna cracked a sheepish grin. "I suppose it was an empty threat," she conceded. "I couldn't get that thing down and loaded in ten seconds if a herd of wild elephants was after me. But he didn't know that."

She sank suddenly back down on her couch. "The thing is, I've never been afraid to live alone, never been afraid to defend myself, either. But this business... his spooking me like that, then dying that very night, and so close by! I'm ashamed to say, it's got me rattled."