But on the other hand, everything was so perfect now. Why change it? Why complicate it? Why risk it? If they took this step, and they weren’t ready for it, it could spell d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r.
“Whoa! Goodwin,� she snapped as the dogs pulled her a couple more feet forward. Jax, the yellow Labrador, was so well behaved, and even Lily, the dachshund, was good as long as there was something for her to dig in or chew on. But her giant, brown, shaggy thing was a troublemaker.
“Andrew, about tonight,� she started as she looked behind her, but the sight froze her blood. He was bending to one knee with a mischievous smile on his face.
Here?
Now?
She was at work, with three smelly, furry, four-legged creatures pulling her in the opposite direction. For God’s sake, he wasn’t going to propose here, was he? Whirling around before he could ask that life-altering question, she started to run. Barking in glee, the dogs jumped into action.
“Olivia, hold up!� Andrew called out. “I think I have a broken shoelace. Hang on!�
A broken shoelace? Slowing down, she closed her eyes as embarrassment and relief washed over her. Guilt followed immediately. Was she the worst girlfriend in the world?
Pointing lamely at the Jump Start food truck across the parking lot, she grinned weakly. “Sorry. I saw that Yvette hasn’t moved the truck yet, and I just really need coffee. I’ll go ahead and get our order.� Shaking her head at her own idiocy, she jogged the rest of the way to the truck. It wasn’t in her nature to run, but the situation begged for a quick escape.
She was actually surprised to see the truck in the parking spot. Normally, at this time of day, Yvette was across town, and Olivia would have to wait until after she’d dropped the dogs off at their various homes before main-lining her caffeine addiction. The sight of the large painted cappuccino on the side of the truck warmed her to her very toes.
The service window was closed, so she raised her voice to make sure she was heard. “Yvette! I’m so glad I caught you! You have no idea how much I need my coffee. But no scone,� she added as an afterthought. She’d heard Janelle ranting for the past few days that Yvette was selling Janelle’s baked goods past their sale date. Olivia had thought that Yvette’s goods tasted a little off, but then, she normally sampled Janelle’s goodies straight from the oven. Nothing was ever as good as that.
“Andrew is with me, so he’ll take his—large coffee, cream and sugar.� She dropped her voice. “Actually, just make his coffee black. A little bitterness might do him some good,� she muttered as she glanced behind her. Andrew was jogging toward her with his phone up to his ear.
Goodwin whined and pulled at the leash. Olivia frowned and spoke to the window again. “If you can’t tell, that’s Goodwin, but he’s being a devil dog, so no whipped cream for him today.� She glared at Goodwin sternly. “See? That’s what happens when you pull. No whipped cream for you.�
A few seconds of silence passed. She and Yvette weren’t friends, but it wasn’t like the food truck owner to ignore her. The woman enjoyed her money. “Yvette?� She reached up and knocked on the covered window. The aluminum rattled, but there was no additional noise coming from the truck.
Andrew caught up with her and sighed. “Olivia, I’ve got to go, sweetheart. Work just called. Apparently, they’re having some problems with the computers in the surgical wing of the hospital—but I know I can still make it for dinner tonight.�
Ignoring him, she handed off the leashes. “Something’s wrong.�
“I’m going to make it up to you,� he protested.
Olivia shook her head. “Not that. Something’s wrong with Yvette!�
“What are you talking about? Olivia, I have to go now. Take the dogs.�
He tried to hand her the leashes, but she walked past him to the back of the truck. “She should have started her rounds hours ago,� Olivia pointed out. “If she took the day off, she’d put a sign up. Yvette doesn’t just abandon the truck.�
“Maybe she’s running late. You can get coffee after you drop the dogs off. Olivia, what are you doing?�
“I’m telling you that something is wrong. I just want to check inside.� Having reached the back, she jiggled the handle on the door. Goodwin barked anxiously, and the door opened.
The switches on the coffee burners were all showing red, and the warmer for the baked goods was on. Even the small cooler in the corner was humming. The whole place smelled delicious—like coffee, of course. The food truck was ready for business, but Yvette wouldn’t be serving any coffee today.
Instead, she was soaking wet—as if she’d dumped a carafe of coffee over herself—and motionless on the floor. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a low-cut halter-top. Her long blonde hair was spread out over the floor. Yvette was in her late twenties, and it stunned Olivia to see a woman her own age lying dead on the floor. For a moment, she couldn’t even breathe.
“Olivia? What are you doing?� Andrew’s question jarred Olivia out of her frozen state.
Swallowing hard, Olivia turned to see Andrew, dark against the open door. “Call 911,� she said hoarsely. “I think Yvette is dead.�
“Dead? Olivia, get out of there.� Before she could protest, Andrew’s hand circled her, and he lifted her easily from the truck. His phone was already out, and he handed the leashes to her. With one arm wrapped protectively around her waist, he called Sheriff Nicholas Limperos.
Goodwin yanked hard against the leash and pulled away from Olivia. “No! Goodwin, get back here!� she yelled.
“Olivia, don’t go in there,� Andrew ordered, but the dog had bounded into the truck and was sniffing in the corner.
“I can’t just let him run wild in the truck,� Olivia protested. She pushed the other two leashes into his free hand that he was holding out to restrain her, and climbed in. Leaning down to snag the leash, she couldn’t help but notice the coffee beans that had rolled under the counter.
Yvette was meticulous about cleaning the food truck. Almost insanely meticulous. It didn’t make sense that she hadn’t swept under the counter. Immediately, Olivia’s mind flashed back to a Palmer Files mystery book. Rose’s obsessive-compulsive neighbor had allegedly committed suicide, but Rose had proven it was murder because the neighbor would never have left a mess behind.
Pulling hard, the dog yanked the leash through Olivia’s hands—somehow she managed to keep hold of the end of the leash—bounded to the far side of Yvette’s body, and lay down. “I can’t reach him without stepping over Yvette, and I don’t want to disturb the crime scene,� Olivia called helplessly to Andrew, still outside the open door.
Rose Palmer would never make a mistake like this. She was an amazing investigator. Just last week, Olivia had followed the fictional private investigator as she took down a crime boss. A crime boss! Rose wouldn’t dare let an undisciplined dog ruin a crime scene.
Andrew hung up and peered in. “Crime scene? You don’t know that a crime was committed here. Yvette could have passed away for a number of reasons. We don’t exactly know her private business.�
Andrew wasn’t wrong, but there were some things that didn’t make sense. Yvette was soaked in coffee, but she wasn’t holding a coffee pot in her hand to indicate that she’d spilled coffee on herself when she fell. In fact, the place was spotless, with the exception of the coffee beans spilled on the counter and floor, but the container of beans was tucked neatly away on the counter. No dust. No spider webs. Nothing to indicate that Yvette didn’t
take excellent care of the truck.
Olivia also knew that Yvette carried a change of clothes in the front of the truck. The woman hated the thought of wearing just one outfit all day, and she wouldn’t dare be caught with a stain. Why hadn’t she changed?
Andrew was still urging Olivia to get out of the truck, but her eyes roamed over the scene as quickly as possible. There was a hole torn in the plastic covering of the scone tray, and two scones were missing. Her heart raced. Janelle was careful when she wrapped her baked goods, and even if Yvette was selling out-of-date treats, she wouldn’t have ripped the plastic like that.
Someone knocked over a canister of beans and then put it away without cleaning everything up. Someone ripped open the scones and stole two before leaving. Someone poured coffee on Yvette and then put the pot away.
Her eyes strayed to the small, round coffee vat in the corner. It was covered, but there were coffee stains running down the side.
Taking a deep breath, Olivia took a few more steps closer to the body and stared at Yvette’s face. There were burn marks on her skin, and her hair was soaking wet.
Immediately, she knew what had happened, and her heart sank. “Oh, Yvette.� Swallowing hard, she snapped her fingers. “Goodwin. You come here right now!�
As if he understood her distress, her dog lifted his head and loped back over to her. Grabbing his leash firmly, she hopped out of the truck just as Nick’s sheriff car pulled up. As she glanced up, she saw the security camera mounted to the corner of the truck, and she shivered.
“Olivia. Andrew,� Nick greeted. “What’s going on?�
“Sheriff. It looks like Yvette passed away in the truck,� Andrew said calmly.
“She was murdered,� Olivia blurted out. “Someone drowned her in her own vat of coffee.�
As the two men stared at her, she glanced uneasily around her. There was a killer in their small town, and they’d murdered Yvette just hours before Olivia got there. What if they were still around, watching her?
“Olivia, I think you’ve been reading too many mystery books,� Andrew said, laughing nervously. “This is Lexingburg. Murders don’t happen in Lexingburg.�
“Tell Yvette that.�
3
The sheriff spent about fifteen minutes asking Andrew questions before letting him go. Andrew leaned over and kissed Olivia on the cheek. “I’ve got to get to work. Are you sure that you’re going to be okay?�
“Go to work,� she said as she pushed him slightly. “I’m fine.�
He searched her face with a grim expression. “Olivia, promise me that you’re going to give your statement to Nick and let him do his job. Don’t interfere.�
“Me? Interfere? Why on earth would I do that?�
“Because I know you. You spent all of five seconds in the truck, and you told Nick that it was murder.�
“It is murder, but Nick is the sheriff, and I will let him do his job,� she promised.
Reaching out, he squeezed her hand. “I shouldn’t be at work for long, so I’ll call you if I can’t make it. Eight o’clock.�
If there was any excuse to miss out on dinner, it would be discovering Yvette dead, but Olivia couldn’t do that to Andrew. He just looked so eager. “I’ll try to walk my evening dogs early. I’ll talk to you later. Have a good day.� Although she smiled, she knew her tone was begrudging at best.
There was disappointment in his eyes, but it was overshadowed by worry. Olivia couldn’t help but feel awful. Here was the most wonderful man worrying about her, and she was dodging a romantic evening because she was afraid he was going to propose.
“I’m a terrible person,� she muttered as she watched him walk away.
Nick raised an eyebrow. “What was that?�
Turning to the aging sheriff, she shook her head. “Nothing. You have some questions for me?�
“Andrew said that Goodwin jumped into the truck. Do you know if he disturbed anything?� He affectionately scratched the dog’s ears and knelt to receive kisses from the other dogs. Nick and his wife Mary had their own dog, a sweet Labradoodle named Tucker. Olivia occasionally walked the dog, although Mary thought Nick was walking Tucker during his lunch breaks. She was pushing her husband to exercise more. Apparently his last doctor’s appointment hadn’t gone well.
“Not that I know of. He jumped into the truck, stepped over Yvette, and settled on the floor. He didn’t even try to get into the treats or steal the coffee. The beans were already spilled on the counter, and I didn’t see him lick anything. The place was clean. Yvette’s a neat freak. More than a neat freak. She wouldn’t wear stained clothes, and she wouldn’t leave coffee beans on the counter and floor.�
“Coffee beans, huh,� Nick grunted as he stood and started making notes. “It looks to me like you saw quite a bit.�
Clearing her throat, she fidgeted and looked everywhere but at him. “I just wanted to make sure that my dog didn’t compromise your crime scene. That’s all.�
“Right,� he said wryly. “Olivia, I know that you love your mysteries, but this is real life.�
“Sheriff,� she said with a wide grin, even shrugging for good measure, “I just came here to get my coffee, and I got worried when Yvette didn’t answer. I’m just guilty of being a good neighbor.�
“You’re always trying to be a good neighbor,� Nick complained. “You’re also a little nosey.�
Outraged, she gasped. “I am not!�
“Two months ago, you threw a surprise party for Lydia even though she explicitly stated that she didn’t want a celebration,� he said calmly.
“Her husband left her. She needed something to cheer her up,� Olivia pointed out. “And she had a good time.�
“She screamed so loud that we all thought she was going to have a heart attack Back in November, you broke into Norman’s house to confront a robber, even though there was no robber.�
“It wasn’t breaking in! I had a key. I was dog sitting, and his dog was trying to tell me that something was wrong. In my panic, I just forgot about the alarm code,� she said stubbornly. “And something was wrong!�
“The fish died.�
“And that upset the dog. Look, I know what you’re thinking, but I promised Andrew that I wouldn’t get involved, so I’m just telling you what I saw. The fact that I’m an observant person is a good thing!�
Three more squad cars pulled up, and Nick sighed and closed his notebook. “We’re going to process the scene now. I’ll let you know if I have any more questions, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t call it a crime scene or talk to anyone else about it.�
“Okay, but I just wanted to let you know that Yvette would never have opened the tray of scones that way, so maybe you’ll find fingerprints on the plastic. And the coffee bean canister may have overturned in the struggle, so you might find fingerprints on that as well.� She spoke so rapidly that her words ran together. She didn’t want to give Nick a chance to accuse her of being nosey again before she got through all of her observations. “And if someone spilled the beans, the killer may have tried to sweep it up, so check the broom handle and the mop!�
Nick gave her a pointed look. “Olivia, I know how to do my job.�
Slowly backing up, Olivia gave him a sheepish smile. “No, of course you do. I’m just going to drop off the dogs and grab some breakfast at Happy Endings. Call me if you need me.�
The sheriff had already turned his back, and Olivia tried to push the sight of Yvette’s body out of her mind. Of course Nick could do his job. The man was pushing fifty, and he was an excellent sheriff.
Of course, he was an excellent sheriff for Lexingburg. The biggest problem here was when someone like herself accidentally set off an alarm. People didn’t get murdered here, and Nick wasn’t equipped for this kind of problem.
What could it hurt if she helped?
“No,� she told herself sternly. “It’s not your job. You’re a dog walker, and you’ve got a lot on your plate.�
Like a sister who wanted her to buy real estate and a boyfriend who wanted to put a ring on her finger.
After dropping off Jax and Lily, it was just Olivia and Goodwin when they headed to Happy Endings. The brownstone that her sister rented was in a perfect location. Right in the middle of the row of businesses on Main Street, it sat between Shelfie, a bookstore, and Delilah’s Silks, a women’s boutique. It faced one of the three major crosswalks, and attracted both local and tourist clientele.
Releasing Goodwin in the small fenced-in yard out back, Olivia snuck in through the back door and snagged a scone from the cooling rack before searching for her sister. The bakery always smelled like fresh-baked cookies. When Janelle first started baking, the kitchen would be a disaster, but by the time those doors were unlocked, the place was pristine. The front of the bakery was decorated in pale creams, blues, and purples. Most of the customers chose seats on the large patio out front, but during bad weather, the small dining space inside was crowded. Janelle was an excellent baker, and her business did well.
The only problem was the building itself. It dated back to the fifties, and it had been several decades since the place had seen some repairs. While the shops on either side were updated, Janelle dealt with issues on a monthly basis, and the landlord always made the cheapest repairs possible. The roof needed fixing, but Franklin only managed patches when it started leaking. The screens no longer fit in the window frames, so Janelle couldn’t open the windows, and even though Franklin said he’d fixed it, Janelle was fairly certain there was still mold growing behind the sinks in the bathrooms.
Barking up the Wrong Bakery (Happy Tails Dog Walking Mysteries Book 1) Page 2