Murder, She Barked

“It was Philip who sent Jerry in search of downed electric wires and called Oma to come search for Dolce?”

“Looks like it,” said Dave. “He knew she would come running to Ellie’s house if Dolce was lost.”

“So why did Tiny have the car?”

“Tiny was supposed to drive the car. He parked it at the end of the street in front of Philip’s house, left the keys inside, and took a walk to think about it. He needed the money Brewster promised him, but he didn’t want to kill anybody. Tiny didn’t know how to get out of that mess without angering Brewster. That’s when Philip stepped in. He stole the car, intending to hit your grandmother, but killed Sven by accident. Then he parked it near Hair of the Dog and took the keys.” Dave snorted. “Pretty obnoxious. Meanwhile, Brewster thought Tiny had killed Sven and was steaming mad. Tiny was afraid to tell Brewster he didn’t know who had driven the car. So he took credit for it but told Brewster he lost the keys. It really was Tiny you saw coming back from pushing the car over the cliff. Brewster had made a spare key. Brewster didn’t go out to the highway. Tiny walked back through the woods, where Brewster picked him up in a golf cart. According to Tiny, Brewster pressured him to kill the driver who saw him out on the highway. Brewster’s no dummy. He knew that if the driver identified Tiny, everything would lead back to Brewster.”

I gasped. “So Philip mailed the original car keys to Tiny.”

“Apparently so. Tiny mistakenly thought Brewster mailed him the keys as a threat. That’s why he was spending nights in his daughter’s sleeping bag up in your storage room. He was afraid to go home.”

Dave stared at Philip with a scowl. “The frightening thing is that Philip could have gotten away with it. We had enough against Tiny and Brewster to convict them and nothing tying Philip to any of this. Not until Zelda found his cell phone.” Dave crossed his arms. “Should have worn waders, this water is freezing. Hey, Philip, how’d you lose your cell phone?”

Philip didn’t say a word.

“I’m thinking you lost it running back and forth to Hair of the Dog to make phone calls the night you killed Sven,” said Dave.

“I’m going to have hypothermia. I can’t feel my legs. I’ll tell you if you get me out of here.”

“Okay,” said Dave. “You first.”

“It was that stupid dog, Dolce. He was crazy wild when I let him out. In the middle of the green, he jumped up and put his paws on my shoulders, knocking me down. My phone must have fallen out of my pocket. Now get me out of this water!”

It wasn’t going to happen. We couldn’t move him without the danger of making his injury far worse, and the golf cart weighed way too much for us to pull it out of the lake by hand.

The ambulance arrived minutes later. The medical technicians didn’t hesitate to splash into the water to stabilize Philip. They immobilized his head and strapped him onto a stretcher.

Trixie and I were the only ones who weren’t wet.

Forty-six

Oma and I invited everyone to dinner that night, including inn employees, interested guests, and even Aunt Birdie. Zelda, Shelley, and I shoved the tables in the dining area into a big circle and arranged side tables for a buffet. Thomas catered it.

Only Aunt Birdie, Dave, and Ellie declined. Not surprising under the circumstances. Mr. Luciano showed up, with Gina on a leash, looking healthy and happy. Holmes and Rose arrived together. Even Ben and Kim came to celebrate. Our guests mingled before dinner with Appletinis and ginger pear Getaway cocktails in their hands.

To my surprise, Dave showed up after all. I hurried over to him. “I thought you weren’t coming. Let me get you a drink.”

“Thanks, I can’t. I have a lot of work to do tonight.” He studied the floor for a moment. “You were right about Prissy.”

“Oh, Dave. I’m so sorry.”

“I didn’t want to believe you. I thought Prissy had a thing for me but it was just an act to get on my good side. She took the job as police dispatcher to help Brewster.” Dave snorted. “He had a pattern of hiring people to do his dirty work for him. Prissy kept him apprised about the situation in Snowball and fed him information about where the police would be patrolling. We’ve arrested a couple of young guys over on Snowball who stole the goods from homes and hotel rooms for Brewster. Apparently, he feared they would turn on him and raid his house, so he hid everything in socks in a laundry basket where he thought no one would look. Periodically, he sent it off to be smelted.”

“Do you think Jerry was onto him?”