“Do we dare look over the fence?” asked Char.
“Just a little peek,” said Loni. “We need to know what happened.”
Phyllis nodded in agreement. “We have to try. We’ll boost you up, Lon. No one will recognize you in that disguise. Alright?”
Loni saluted Phyllis. “Aye-aye, captain! You can count on me!”
“Let’s go,” whispered Char, waving them forward. Wordlessly the group clung to one another, and when they got to the fence, Char put Vic down on the grass, and they boosted Loni up on top of the wood pile.
“What do you see?” asked Phyllis.
Loni readjusted her wig and scarf. “Lots of police officers,” she whispered down to them. “I don’t see a body yet. Too many people in the way. I’m not tall enough. Can you girls get me a little higher up?”
Phyllis and Gwyn each took one of Loni’s legs and tried to boost her up higher.
“Just a little bit more,” said Loni, adjusting the black scarf again as the wind continued to blow it in her face. “I can almost see.”
Gwyn tried to get Loni higher, but Loni began to move as she tried to arch her back so she could see better. And then just like that, Gwyn felt Loni rock backwards. “Quit it, Loni, you’re going to fall,” she hissed up at the smaller woman.
“No, I’m just trying to pull myself up higher,” Loni hissed back.
“I’m losing my grip,” whispered Phyllis, trying to readjust her hands on Loni’s butt. “Char, grab her backside before she—”
But before anyone knew it, the whole pile toppled over backwards. Char managed to catch hold of Loni’s dress before she hit the ground, but it was a near disaster. “Ooh!” hollered Loni.
“I told you not to move!” cried Gwyn, dusting herself off.
“I couldn’t see! My scarf got in my eyes,” she barked back.
“Well, you shouldn’t have moved while we were trying to readjust your weight,” argued Phyllis. “Come on. We’ll boost you up again.”
The women lifted Loni up off the ground, and this time, Gwyn put her on her shoulders and boosted her up.
“Can you see now?” asked Char as Gwyn got into position, staring at the fence.
“I’m going to have to ask you to get down, ma’am,” said the same deep voice they’d heard earlier from the other side of the fence.
“Oh, I, uh, was looking for my dog. Is he over there?” asked Loni uncomfortably.
“There are no dogs over here, ma’am. Please get down, or I’ll be forced to come over there and take you down myself,” said the police officer.
Gwyn felt her heart tumble into the pit of her stomach.
“Oh, no problem. If you see my dog, I’ll just be over here,” said Loni awkwardly. “Toodeloo,” she said, giving him a little flutter of her fingers as Gwyn slowly lowered her to the ground on the other side.
The minute they were all back on solid ground, Phyllis wrinkled her nose. “Darn it! We have to figure out what is going on over there!”
“I’ll tell you what’s going on,” said a voice from behind them. The girls all spun around to see a woman in her midfifties with curlers in her hair, wearing a bathrobe. “Margaret Sutton is dead!”
25
“So it was Margaret,” breathed Char, making the sign of the cross. “That poor woman! What happened to her?”
The woman shrugged. “I have no idea. I woke up this morning to the sound of a dog barking like mad. I came out here to see what was going on and discovered the dog on the other side of Margaret’s fence going crazy! So I climbed up on the woodpile and looked over the fence to see if I could see what his problem was, and there she was. Dead in her flower garden.”
Gwyn covered her open mouth with a trembling hand. “Was she murdered?”
“I have no idea. I didn’t see how she died. I couldn’t see anything. She was just lying there on her back in her garden. I went back in the house and called 911 and waited for them to show up. I was too scared to go back outside.”
“What time was that?” asked Char.
“Well, my alarm goes off at seven, but I probably listened to that dog bark for about forty-five minutes before I actually went out to see what his problem was. That was at about a quarter to eight. He could have been barking longer, though. I sleep with the fan on and the windows closed. My house is pretty well insulated. I never hear him bark. It wasn’t until I woke up and opened the windows this morning that I started hearing him.”
“Do the police think she was murdered?” asked Gwyn.
The woman shrugged. “Beats me. They knocked on my door, and I told them where the body was. A detective was over here for about a half an hour asking me questions, but I wasn’t much help because I didn’t see anything. Poor Margaret,” sighed the woman.
“Do you know Margaret well?” asked Char.
“Not real well. I mean, we visited once in a while. She was a nice old lady. She liked to be outside. She was a bit of a night owl. I don’t think she slept very well. I’d see her out walking late at night all the time. I always figured she’d be hit by a car or something because she never wore reflective clothing, and sometimes if I came home late at night, I’d almost hit her pulling into my garage because she was so hard to see. I suggested to her on numerous occasions that she should wear bright clothing when she went out to walk late at night, but she seemed to feel safe.”
“Is Margaret from Aspen Falls originally?” asked Gwyn.
The woman shook her head. “I don’t really know. She lived here when I moved in almost fifteen years ago. I’m embarrassed to admit that I never asked her anything about her past. This is just so sad. I’m really going to miss seeing her around.”
“It is sad. I’m very sorry for the loss of your neighbor.” Gwyn hugged the woman. “Are you going to be alright?”
She nodded. “Yes, I’ll be fine, thank you. I called my daughter and told her what happened. She just lives over in Bakersdale. She’s on her way right now to spend the day with me because I was pretty shaken when I called her.”
“I don’t blame you,” said Char. “Finding anyone dead would be horrific.”
The woman dotted at her eyes with her tissue. “It was,” she agreed.
“Thank you for all the information,” said Gwyn. “The police aren’t saying anything out there.”
“Oh, I’m sure everything will be in the paper soon enough. There was just a news reporter in my backyard a few minutes ago.”
“We saw him,” said Loni.
“Well, if you ask me, it should be in the paper. If there’s a murderer running around Aspen Falls, I think the citizens have a right to know, don’t you?”
The women all nodded agreeably. “Yes, absolutely,” said Phyllis.
“That’s why I didn’t chase the reporter off my property,” she said. Then she waved a hand at the women. “Well, I better get inside and get these curlers out. Janie will be here shortly.”
“Thank you,” called the women as the neighbor retreated into her house.
“Girls, I think we need to talk to the neighbor on the other side of Margaret’s house,” said Char. “Maybe they saw something.”
“Absolutely,” agreed Phyllis. “But instead of going back through that crowd, I think we should go around the back, through the alley.”
Char bent over and scooped up Vic, who had been silent during the conversation with the woman. “Let’s go, girls.”
The house on the other side of Margaret Sutton’s property had a chain-link fence surrounding the backyard, and inside the fence, a full-grown German shepherd paced the length of Margaret’s privacy fence. The dog didn’t even have to see the group of women before he began barking like mad. “Roof roof roof roof roof!”
The dog’s deep, lumbering voice made the hair on Gwyn’s arms stand straight on end. She was afraid that all the action had the dog on edge and maybe he’d jump the fence and attack them.
“Hey, buddy,” said Loni, shoving her arm over the chain-link fence.
“Loni, are you crazy? Don’t stick your arm in there! He’ll bite you!” hollered Char, holding Vic as far away from the fence as she could.
The dog barked again. This time there was an inflection in his tone. “Roof roof roof!”
Loni smiled at him calmly. “I’m Loni. These are my friends, Gwyn and her mother, Hazel. This is Char and Phyllis. And the little guy is Vic. We just wanted to know what happened to Margaret.”
“Ra-ra-roof!” he bellowed.
“Yeah, I know she died, but did you see what happened?” she asked as if the dog were answering her.
Gwyn stared at the two of them, wide-eyed. She knew her friend could talk to animals, but she hadn’t even considered asking an animal for help.
“Can you understand him?” asked Phyllis incredulously.
Loni nodded excitedly. “He said he saw everything!” She looked at the big, scary-looking dog again. “Gimme a minute, will ya?”
Phyllis held her arms out to silence the rest of the group while Loni continued communing with the animal.
“What exactly did you see?”
The dog began to bark wildly, relaying as much information as he could to Loni. “That had to be horrible. I suppose you wanted to tear him to pieces!”
The German shepherd paced back and forth along the fence then.
“He’s very upset,” whispered Loni. “He liked Margaret. She snuck him doggie snacks.”
“Well, what happened to her?” demanded Phyllis.
“Someone attacked her,” whispered Loni. “Last night after the festival at the Falls. It was late, though. Everyone else was long gone.”
“Ask him if he knows what time it was,” suggested Char.
Loni nodded and looked at the dog. “Darwin, what time was she killed?”
The dog stopped pacing and gave her a little yip.
She waggled her head back at him. “Well, excuse me!” She turned to the girls. “He says he’s a dog. Dogs can’t tell time,” she said matter-of-factly. Then she put her hand beside her mouth and whispered to the women. “He was kind of snotty about it, too.”
“Did he see who it was that attacked her?” asked Gwyn. “We need a description.”
Loni nodded and said to the dog. “What did the attacker look like?”
The dog barked, yipped, and cajoled.
“It was a man. He was tall. He had on a black hooded gown, just like the one we saw in our vision of how Kat died!” said Loni anxiously, repeating what the dog had just told her. “And he carried a book. A big brown book.”
Gwyn sucked in her breath. “It’s the same person. It has to be!”
“Girls, we have a serial murderer on our hands. This is bad, very, very bad,” said Phyllis, her skin going pale as the blood drained from her face.
“We need to find out what time she was killed. It might help us track down who was at the Falls that time of night. Can you ask Darwin if we can talk to his owner?”
Loni nodded and looked at the dog, who stared up at her, wagging his tail excitedly. “Darwin, my friends want to know exactly what time Margaret was attacked. We need to talk to one of your owners and find out what time you were outside last night. Can you get them for us?”
Without another sound, Darwin turned tail and ran towards the house. He slipped inside his doggy door, and from the alley, the women could hear Darwin howling like crazy. Soon, the back screen door opened and Darwin came running out dragging a man behind him. “What is it, Dar?” asked the man.
Darwin lunged ahead and nearly dragged the man to the back of the yard where the women stood waiting. When he got to the fence line, he sat in front of Loni, pleased with himself, and wagging his tail.
The man looked down at Darwin in shock. “Who are you?” asked the man incredulously. “And what did you to do Darwin? He never sits like this when he sees strangers.”
Loni smiled at him. “I have the magic touch when it comes to dogs.”
“Apparently. What’s with the scarf?” he asked, giving her a little nod as he held on to Darwin’s collar.
Loni touched the black veil covering her face.
“She’s in mourning,” said Hazel, piping up for the first time.
Loni nodded solemnly. “My, uh, dog died,” she said with a pronounced fake accent.
The man made a face. “I’ve never heard of being in mourning after your dog dies.”
Loni lowered her head reverently. “It’s what they do in my country,” she added.
“Oh. What country are you from?”
She cleared her throat. “Romania,” she said curtly. “It’s a tradition to be in mourning after our pets die. When my horse died, I was in mourning for two years.”
“Two years?” he asked. “Wow. That’s a long time to have to wear a scarf over your head.”
Loni nodded. “I take great pleasure in speaking to your dog,” she said.
“He’s been a bit worked up today,” said the man. “You know, with Mrs. Sutton’s passing and all.”
“Yes, we heard about that,” said Char. “Such a shame.”
“It is a shame. She was a nice gal. Lived alone. She really liked Darwin.”
“I am getting a vibe from the dog,” said Loni, playing up her fake accent. “Did Darwin act strangely at all last night?” She glanced down at the alert, pointy-eared dog.
The man nodded. “He did. I’d let him out in the front yard during the festival. He likes to people-watch. But I went to bed around eleven and brought him inside. Around midnight he must have heard people back out at the Falls, and he begged to be let back out. Usually, I don’t let him out in the front yard at night because once in a while he’ll see something and jump the fence. I didn’t want to take the chance, so I leashed him to the front porch and went back to bed.
“Then about twelve thirty or one o’clock in the morning, he began to go nuts—barking like crazy. I went outside and looked around, but I didn’t see anything. So I brought him in the house. He was real antsy after that, but eventually, he settled down.”
“The neighbor on the other side of Mrs. Sutton was the one that called the police,” said Char. “She just told us that she called 911 because Darwin was barking early this morning, and when she looked over the fence to see what he was barking about, she saw Mrs. Sutton dead in her backyard.”
“Yeah, he’s been a mess since last night,” agreed the man.
“What time did you let Darwin into the backyard this morning?” asked Phyllis.
“It was early. Probably about six. He woke me up earlier than usual, begging to go out back. I guess he must have sensed something happened to Mrs. Sutton.”
The women all looked down at Darwin, who seemed to be nodding. “I think you’re right,” said Loni.
“We appreciate your help, Mister…” began Phyllis.
“Oh, Martinez,” he said, reaching a hand out to shake Phyllis’s hand. “Ernesto.”
“Thank you, Ernesto,” repeated Phyllis. “We really appreciate the information.”
“No problem.” He started to tug Darwin’s collar back towards the house.
“Oh, Ernesto,” said Char. “Do us a favor and tell the police what time Darwin went nuts last night. We have a sneaking suspicion that Mrs. Sutton didn’t die from natural causes. I bet Darwin saw something last night.”
Ernesto looked down at his dog. “You think?”
“One hundred percent,” said Gwyn.
Now they just had to figure out who it was that Darwin had seen.
26
After leaving Darwin, Ernesto, and Margaret Sutton’s backyard, the group drove back to Kat’s house on the edge of town.
With all her friends crashed on the furniture around her, Char rubbed her temples. “I can’t believe Margaret’s dead now too.”
Vic snuggled up in the warm crook of his wife’s arm. “That poor, poor woman! I used to see her walk past the bakery every day. This is horrible news!”
From her seat in the recliner, Hazel le
aned forward and stared at Vic. “Gwynnie,” she whispered. “I think you forgot to give me my pills this morning. I’m hearing the dog talk!”
Gwyn reached across the armrest and patted her mother’s hand. “You didn’t forget to take your pills, Mom. The dog can talk.”
“I’m not surprised that the dog can talk. I’m surprised that I can hear the dog talk,” said Hazel, wide-eyed and frozen in her seat.
“Hazel, this is my husband,” said Char, speaking louder than usual so Hazel could hear her across the room. “This is Vic. You didn’t hear the man’s voice talking in the car ride earlier?”
Hazel blinked. “I thought that was Phyllis.”
“You thought I sounded like a man?” asked Phyllis from the other side of the sofa.
Hazel’s head reared back as she shrugged. “You always sound like a man.” Then she pointed at the dog. “So you’re married to your dog?”
Char nodded with an uncomfortable grimace. “Yes, Hazel.”
“That’s legal?”
“I guess.”
Hazel’s eyes widened as she shook her head. “The things people will do to get their pets covered under their Medicare.”
Char laughed. “Hazel, I didn’t marry him so he could get covered under my Medicare. He was a man when I married him. Some witches did a spell on him, and he turned into a dog.”
“Well,” drawled Hazel, lifting her heavy brows, “I bet that puts a damper on things in the bedroom.”
“Mother!” snapped Gwyn. “That’s none of your business! Stop being rude.”
“What?” Hazel threw her hands out on either side of her and looked around the room. “It’s not what everyone is wondering?” Then she pulled the lever on the side of the recliner, leaned back in her seat, and closed her eyes. “Fine, wake me when it’s time to go.”
Loni stood up and walked towards the bathroom. “I’m going to look and see if Kat has any ibuprofen in her bathroom. This damn headache won’t go away.”
“Bring me some too,” hollered Phyllis.
Gwyn nodded. “Me three.”
“Bring us all some,” Char hollered after Loni. She leaned back in her seat. “Well, this has been quite the exhausting morning.”
That Old Witch!: The Coffee Coven's Cozy Capers: Book 1 Page 19