Murder, She Barked

I grabbed his arm. “Maybe! Luciano couldn’t have made the phone call. Chloe said she was busy giving him directions when the call came in.” I handed Trixie the empty butt of my ice cream cone. “Okay, here’s what we’ll do. You ask around town to see what you can find out, especially where Jerry went that night. In the meantime, I’ll find out what I can about Luciano.”

“Deal. Uh-oh. Here comes trouble.”

Ben ambled toward us. “I can’t find her. Not anywhere. Wagtail isn’t that big! What am I going to tell Kim’s father?”

“You’re looking for a little girl?” Holmes sat up in alarm. “I thought we were talking about an adult!”

“Relax, Holmes. Kim is an adult. And she intentionally ditched Ben.”

And just like that, she reappeared, carrying a shopping bag from Prissy Clodfelter’s store.

“Where have you been?” demanded Ben. “I’ve been looking for you for hours.”

“Don’t be put out, schnookums.” Kim held her head down and raised her eyes in a manner calculated to be flirtatious.

That raised Holmes’s eyebrows.

“They used to date,” I explained.

“I just stopped to do a little shopping.” She leaned over to Trixie. “Look what I bought you!” Kim reached into the bag and withdrew a cat-shaped cookie.

Trixie almost lost her balance in her eagerness to reach it. Her tail wagged, and she extended her neck as far as she dared trying to reach the bag. Her little black nose twitched. There must have been more in the bag.

“Thanks, Kim. I’m going to have to put her on a diet. People have been offering Trixie treats all day long.”

“Trixie!” Kim crooked her neck. “That’s so cute. “Well, you’d better enjoy these treats, Trixie, because I’m not shopping there again. The woman in that store was so rude. Cute place with a terrific window display, but she was such a snoot.”

Trixie wore an expectant expression and wiggled her behind. No doubt hoping for another treat.

“Aww. I want a dog,” Kim whined.

“Want that one?” asked Ben.

I pulled Trixie closer. “Very funny.”

“They don’t allow dogs in my building,” Ben reminded me.

“I don’t live in your building.”

“What are you going to do with her when you come over? Leave her in the car? Hey! Speaking of cars, where is mine?”

“Parked in the inn lot.” I dreaded the moment he would see it. Might as well get it over with.

“I’ll drive the golf cart back to the house and change for dinner,” chirped Kim.

Ben seized her arm without looking at her. “Not so fast. You come with me. I’m checking out of the inn and sleeping at your cabin tonight.”

Twenty-nine

“I can’t trust you not to say or do something that might get you into trouble,” said Ben, scowling at Kim. “I’m not losing you for hours again. I could use a leash for you.”

That was a fine excuse! Painfully aware that Holmes watched me, I tried to play it cool. “Do you need a chaperone?”

Kim’s eyes flickered over Holmes, head to toe. “Depends on who it is.”

“Down, Kim. He’s engaged.” I apologized for not introducing them.

Kim swayed a little, cocked her head again in her obnoxiously provocative way, and made eye contact with Holmes. “Engagements were made to be broken.”

Ben huffed.

“Well, hurry up! I don’t want to miss all of Yappy Hour.” Kim glanced at her wrist as though she’d forgotten she wasn’t wearing a watch. “Let’s all have dinner together. Won’t that be fun?”

I couldn’t think of many things that would be less fun.

But Holmes was game. “In an hour and a half at Hair of the Dog?”

Kim pouted. “Oh, not there.” She wrinkled her nose. “Can’t we go someplace more interesting? Let’s see, I feel like . . . barbecue!”

“Hot Hog, then.” Holmes stood up and stretched. “I’ll meet you there.”

• • •

At nine o’clock that night, Holmes walked Trixie and me back to the inn. During dinner, Kim had flirted with everyone except me. She knew no bounds. Ben, Holmes, the waiter—everyone seemed to love her.

“Not that it’s any of my business,” said Holmes, “but I don’t think I’d trust Kim alone with Ben.”

“She’s quite an operator. But I trust Ben. He’s too . . .” I stopped myself. I almost said he was too boring to have an affair! That was terrible on so many levels that it boggled my mind. “He’s too decent to have an affair.”

We walked up the front steps, and Twinkletoes greeted us at the front door, mewing and twisting around our ankles. She even touched noses with Trixie.

Holmes gazed at the guests milling around in the Dogwood Room. “Where do you suppose the dotty grandmothers are?”

Twinkletoes scampered through a dog door in the wall just past the dining tables.

The second I removed Trixie’s leash, she followed Twinkletoes.

“Kitchen.” We said it simultaneously.

I opened the door that bore the words Staff Only, and found that Oma’s private kitchen looked almost like I remembered it. Oma, Rose, and Gingersnap lounged comfortably before a blazing fire.

“I’m so glad you left the kitchen intact!” I gushed. “I always loved this room.”

In the glow of the fire, Oma seemed healthy and relaxed. “Me, too, liebchen. It has always been my private refuge.”