Double Dog Dare

by E J Cochrane

  “I already have plans tonight.”

  “A date?” Nadia asked, sounding far more insecure than she would have ever thought possible.

  “Technically,” she said, savoring the slight edge she had. It wasn’t often (or ever) that a beautiful woman fretted over her availability.

  “Oh.” Nadia’s dejected response hung in the air for a moment, and she almost regretted toying with her. “I’d still like to see you sometime, even if you’re not totally available.” That was a twist she hadn’t expected.

  “I’m seeing my grandmother tonight.”

  “Oh,” Nadia said again, more brightly. “I like your grandmother.”

  “You’ve never met her.”

  “True, but she encouraged you to go out with me before.” Unnecessarily, Maddie recalled. “Maybe she’ll do it again, possibly even for dinner tomorrow.”

  “With Granny, anything’s possible.”

  She knew Nadia expected a more definite answer, but at the moment semi-flirtatious uncertainty was the best she could offer. She had too many other concerns competing for her attention to devote more than a few perplexed and doubtful thoughts to Nadia’s reemergence.

  By the time she made it to her grandmother’s house, she had managed to waste close to two hours on a futile search for more information about Leigh’s supposed life of crime. While a quick Internet search confirmed the ease with which an EpiPen could be transformed from a life-saving tool into a utensil of death, she still knew next to nothing about the mysterious Terry or who would want her dead.

  She wasn’t sure what to make of her frustrating lack of success. On the one hand, she hated not having answers to her questions, but on the other hand, she thought it might be a good thing that this murder wasn’t more high profile. The last thing Leigh needed was to be branded with some sordid nickname (like the Fatal Pharmacist) that she couldn’t shake even after being proved innocent.

  That her quest for details had failed miserably merely confirmed Maddie was no junior detective in the making. Somehow, she doubted that evidence would be compelling enough for Leigh, but she would have to worry about dissuading her friend after dinner with Granny.

  “You’ve been busy lately,” Maddie said as she helped Granny set the table.

  She had tried to visit her grandmother throughout the previous week to no avail. Granny hadn’t answered her phone, no matter when she called. If not for the fact that Granny at least returned calls, she would have worried that she would find her grandmother’s supine corpse splayed on her kitchen floor.

  “An old woman can’t have a social life?” Granny asked, with a bit more sass than Maddie’s comment warranted.

  “Of course you can, Granny. I’ve just missed you lately. We haven’t even talked in a week.”

  “So tell me what’s going on with you,” Granny said. She carried a tray of homemade biscuits to the dining room table, already laden with pot roast, salad, steamed vegetables, and mashed potatoes. Sunday dinner at Granny’s was not for the weak.

  “Is that a not-so-clever way of avoiding talking about yourself?”

  “It’s clever enough if it works.” Granny raised an eyebrow at her granddaughter, a challenge Maddie didn’t attempt to rise to.

  “I’ve got appointments with three new clients this week, and we’re still on the hunt for a new space for Little Guys.”

  Maddie had plenty more to talk about than work, but this seemed like the safest place to start. It was certainly better than, “I’ve stumbled on the path of another murder,” or “The woman I was seeing, who bailed almost as soon as we started having sex, showed up out of the blue and seems to want to start over. And I’m actually considering it.” Playful banter with Nadia aside, Maddie doubted how encouraging Granny would be about her current romantic situation. She tended to champion self-respect over potential regret brought on by cloudy judgment and suspect romantic notions.

  “You’ll find the right spot.” Granny laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Your sister is as much a whiz with buildings and property as you are with animals.”

  She basked in Granny’s praise as she savored her meal—essentially heaven in edible form.

  After a second sublime bite, she brought up another of the stressors in her life. “And then there’s Dottie.”

  “What do you mean?” Granny asked almost before she finished speaking.

  “I think she’s avoiding me.”

  “She’s probably just been busy.” Granny offered a reassuring pat of the hand with her ready excuse for Dottie’s recent truancy.

  “She’s always busy,” Maddie conceded her friend’s hectic schedule, though it defied logic that Dottie, who had no job or family responsibilities to speak of, should be so busy. “But she usually has time to answer my texts. I’m starting to worry about her in the house.”

  “Don’t,” Granny snapped.

  “What if there’s a problem? I need to know if something’s wrong.”

  “There isn’t.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “If you can count on any person in this world to be vocal about problems needing fixing, it’s Dottie. Now, eat your potatoes before they get cold.” Granny leapt from her seat. “I forgot the gravy. I’ll be right back.” Without another word, she zipped into the kitchen, and Maddie knew the topic would be changed when her grandmother returned.

  “You haven’t mentioned anyone special lately.”

  Maddie called that one. “That’s because there’s nothing to mention.”

  “Should I worry about your social life?”

  “Maybe not,” she said and watched Granny’s eyebrows rise in curiosity. “I might be going on a date soon.”

  “When will you know for sure?”

  “Possibly tomorrow,” she said before explaining, in somewhat vague detail, about Nadia’s return to her life.

  “And you think this Nadia is worth a second chance?”

  “She’s worth talking to,” Maddie said, convincing herself as well as her grandmother that it was true. “I liked her a lot the last time we went out. I would have liked to see where things went. So maybe.”

  “Well, if she gained enough sense over the last couple of months to realize she was a fool, maybe she is worth another try.”

  She smiled, wondering what Nadia would make of Granny’s backhanded encouragement. When a yawn crept up on her, she tried to stifle it, but Granny caught her in the act.

  “I know your active social life hasn’t been keeping you up at night. What’s got you so tired?”

  “I had a late night last night.”

  “Doing what?”

  “An old friend is going through a rough time. I did what I could to help her, but…”

  Granny scowled. “That sounds like you gave up before the problem was resolved. Did you leave your friend in need?”

  “It’s not like that, Granny.”

  “Then what is it like?” She looked stern but sympathetic. Maddie couldn’t believe she faced a scolding for not obstructing justice.

  “She wants me to investigate a murder.” She gave Granny a brief recap of Leigh’s story. “I’m not looking to add to my grievous injury collection.”

  “I don’t want you to take risks or put yourself in any danger, but are you really going to be that selfish?”

  Her jaw dropped. She had expected support from her grandmother, not counsel to rush after another killer.

  “Is she a good friend?”

  She nodded, reflecting on all the years she’d known and depended on Leigh.

  “If the situation was reversed, would she say, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you because I might get hurt if I’m too pigheaded and antsy to wait for the police to go after the killer I found’?”

  Properly chastised, she shook her head.

  “You could help her find answers without putting yourself in danger. All you have to do is prove she couldn’t have done it and let the police handle the rest. Seems like my brainy granddaughter co
uld have figured that out on her own.” She disappeared into the kitchen again and returned with a homemade chocolate cake. “Do you think you can handle helping your friend now?”

  “I think I can try.”

  Chapter Seven

  Exhausted as she felt, sleep eluded Maddie. Though she’d been stunned by Granny Doyle’s not-so-gentle nudging at dinner, Maddie knew she had a point. Though it wasn’t quite as simple as Granny put it, Leigh, who had never balked at helping anyone, needed her support. And reciprocating Leigh’s generosity didn’t automatically guarantee Maddie would be in peril—unless she’d learned nothing from her last foray into detective work.

  Rolling onto her side, she found herself face-to-face with a softly snoring Bart, his pink tongue hanging out of his partially open mouth. Goliath lay on his back at the foot of the bed, his substantial body sprawled across the lower half of her queen-size bed. Bunking with not one but two bed hogs often made for an unsatisfying night’s rest, but she couldn’t blame her current tumultuousness on them.

  “So,” she sighed, giving in to her mental upheaval, “where do we start?”

  For a reply, Bart’s snuffling increased in volume, and Goliath flopped onto his side, inching closer to the center of the bed and pinning her legs beneath him.

  “Thanks for the feedback, boys. It’s appreciated.” Not that she expected much in the way of investigative enlightenment from them, but for now they were all she had.

  In truth, she’d prefer to discuss this with another human, even Dottie, whose input ranged from the ridiculously off-topic to the surprisingly insightful. But Dottie still hadn’t returned any of her calls or texts. If not for her best friend’s intrusive appearance on Saturday night, she would have flirted with all-out panic days earlier. As it was, she remained apprehensive and concerned about her best friend’s secrecy and well-being. Nevertheless, no matter the reason for her uncharacteristic aloofness, Dottie was out as a sounding board.

  Nor was she eager to consult Leigh. Not only did she run the risk of inciting another emotional meltdown by saying one wrong thing, but she also didn’t want to get Leigh’s hopes up. If she had any chance of figuring this out, she would need to know whom to suspect. She would probably have to ask about Terry’s acquaintances (sooner rather than later), but if she could make some advancements before turning to Leigh, she thought the conversation might go better.

  The trouble with that plan was that she had no idea where else to start, and her peacefully sleeping pups offered absolutely no help. Maddie rolled over (a ridiculously drawn out process thanks to a hundred and thirty pounds of dog cutting off the circulation in her lower extremities) and looked to the ceiling for guidance. As she watched the moon-cast shadows creep across the room, she more fully considered a key distinction Granny made.

  “I don’t have to figure out who did it. I just have to prove Leigh couldn’t have. How hard could that be?”

  Just then, both dogs exhaled so forcefully that their lips flapped in a double raspberry that she tried not to take as commentary on her chances of success.

  By five in the morning (no better rested, but oddly less agitated) she resigned herself to talking to Leigh. Despite her reservations, it was the best course of action, especially since her focus would be clearing Leigh rather than solving the crime. However, even though she was wide awake, she knew most of the world (including her recently dipsomaniacal friend) did not share her appreciation for the peace and quiet of early morning. She wasn’t sure Leigh’s gratitude for Maddie’s investigative assistance would override her perturbation over a crack of dawn fact-finding mission. Since it was too early to go to work and impossible to fall asleep, she used the interim between getting out of bed and a decent hour to contact the outside world in the best way possible—an invigorating, head-clearing run.

  Stepping out into the crisp morning air, she felt instantly better. The temperature, chillier than in recent days, still didn’t measure up to an average October morning in Chicago, and she allowed herself a moment of joy before succumbing to guilt over her selfish celebration of climate change.

  Her lungs burned as the cool air hit them, and as she headed east toward the lake, the calm she usually achieved on a run (even when one or both dogs came along and ground her progress to a halt with distracted sniffing, squirrel chasing, or stick chewing) washed over her. Something about the sound of her steady breaths commingling with the pounding of her shoes on the pavement set her mind at ease and released any tension she felt. She’d seldom found any other experience as liberating.

  She exchanged the runner’s nod with one of her fellow fitness junkies and considered (as she did so often lately) Leigh’s rather grim situation. Though she hated how easily her friend had slipped into habitual inebriation, she could (to some extent) understand it. Like running for Maddie, right now drinking provided a momentary release for Leigh in the form of obliterating consciousness. Not that Maddie didn’t appreciate a good upper lip-stiffening cocktail (though she’d seldom relied on booze to erase her worries), but if she was going to help Leigh, she was going to need her to be more lucid and less alcohol-infused.

  To that end, she settled on an early-morning visit to circumvent a potentially drunk and unresponsive Leigh. Maddie had no way of knowing how soon after work Leigh started imbibing, but she doubted Leigh would drink early in the morning or jeopardize her career by skipping work to drown her sorrows in the bottom of a bottle. True, she had slipped a little lately (understandably so), but Leigh had always been responsible. She hoped that hadn’t changed in recent weeks, but she hurried home just in case. Though she’d almost certainly come face-to-face with a hungover and cranky Leigh, the potential benefits far outweighed the risks.

  Haphazard plan firmly in place, she rushed through the boys’ morning ritual (effectively dismantling the forgiveness she’d earned just the day before), and promising she’d make it up to them later, raced out the door. But as she stood on Leigh’s porch, she doubted her decision. What exactly was she going to ask Leigh? What’s your alibi? She was certain the police had already covered that, and assuming Leigh wasn’t mistaken about being a suspect, her alibi left something to be desired.

  But she had to start somewhere, she thought as she pressed Leigh’s doorbell, igniting a torrent of barks from Rufus.

  When she opened the door, Leigh looked almost as rough as she had on Saturday. Maddie didn’t find Leigh’s continued debauchery surprising, but she was concerned that her friend (who had to be at work in just about an hour) hadn’t done much more to get ready for her day than roll out of bed—possibly when Maddie hit the doorbell. She hated to delay Leigh further than her obvious hangover had already done, but she had upset her dogs and gone a little out of her way. She might as well get something for her troubles.

  “What are you doing here?” Obviously confused, Leigh stood in the doorway scratching her head. She winced at each of Rufus’s sharp barks, which thankfully quieted when Maddie stooped to receive his adoring greeting.

  “We need to talk. I hope this isn’t a bad time.” She forced her way inside, feeling zero guilt for her early morning intrusion. If not for the ungodly hour, Dottie would be so proud.

  “Actually, I’m running a bit behind this morning. It’s been hard to get going.” Leigh stayed by the door, probably hoping to abbreviate her visit.

  “I’ll be quick then.” Relieved to smell coffee brewing (at least Leigh had progressed that far in her morning preparations) she followed the delectable scent into the kitchen. Considering what she was volunteering to take on, she didn’t think Leigh could begrudge her a little liquid rejuvenation.

  “Okay,” Leigh sighed and dragged herself into the kitchen after Maddie. “What’s going on?”

  “I need to know more about Terry and how she died, and right now you’re my only source.”

  “You need to know that now? Why?” Leigh asked, her face scrunched up like she’d just taken a sizable bite out of a lemon.

  “I thin
k that will make proving your innocence a lot easier.”

  Leigh’s eyes sprang fully open. “You’re going to help me?” She nodded and sipped from her mug. “What convinced you?”

  “My grandmother.”

  “I love your grandmother.”

  “She’s quite popular these days.”

  Leigh squinted in confusion again, but she let it pass.

  “I figure the easiest way to fix this would be to prove that you couldn’t have done it.”

  “Okay. How do we do that?” Leigh asked as she poured herself a cup of her own coffee.

  “We establish your alibi.” A flash of panic crossed her face, but Maddie tried to ignore the sense of foreboding it instilled in her. “When did Terry die?”

  “It was a couple of Wednesdays ago.”

  “You can’t be more specific?”

  She scrunched up her face in thought. “In the afternoon, I think.”

  “You don’t remember the date?” Maddie thought it impossible that such a momentous day wouldn’t be seared in her friend’s mind. Then again, Leigh had worked overtime lately to wash those memories away.

  “Sorry. I’m kind of out of it right now.” Leigh shrugged apologetically.

  “That’s all right.” She smiled, sympathetically she hoped. “We’ll figure out the exact date later. For now, we can probably assume you were at work on a Wednesday afternoon.”

  Leigh bowed her head sheepishly, and Maddie braced herself for whatever unpropitious disclosure Leigh was about to make.

  “Normally I would be, but I called in sick that day. I wasn’t feeling great.”

  She interpreted that as hung over and tried not to feel discouraged so early on. One minor complication didn’t doom the entire investigation.

  “You didn’t, by chance, visit a doctor, did you? Or any other extremely public place with lots of witnesses and maybe some security cameras?” Leigh shook her head slowly. “I didn’t think so.” She sighed. This was going to be fun.