A Hiss of Murder (Pet Shop Cozy Mysteries Book 7)

by Susie Gayle

  “What? Who is this?”

  The guy hangs up.

  “I have no idea who that was,” I tell Sarah, “but it wasn’t Karen. Someone has her phone… probably the same guy that has yours.” I twist in my seat, looking all around. “He said, ‘I see you.’”

  “He’s watching us right now?” Sarah asks, looking around nervously too.

  We both glance again over toward her car. “Screw it. I’m going to take a look.”

  I get out of my car. On the passenger side, Sarah does, too. “What?” she says to my dismayed glance. “We both know I’m not a wait-in-the-car kind of girl.”

  “Fine. Then keep an eye out.”

  We leave the boys in the backseat and carefully walk over to Karen’s car, as if a bomb might go off or something. Sarah looks around. I try to see inside, but her windows are darkly tinted, and even though it’s daylight out the parking deck is dim and shadowy.

  I try the driver’s side door handle. It’s unlocked. I pull it open.

  “Karen?”

  She sits in the driver’s seat, staring forward, her eyes wide and her mouth open a little. She’s not moving.

  “Oh my god. Karen!” I check for a pulse. One-one thousand. Two-one thousand. Three…

  I hear it before I see it, and the mere sound of it freezes my blood.

  A hollow, unmistakable rattle.

  Coiled on the passenger seat is Petunia, our missing tiger rattlesnake.

  CHAPTER 10

  * * *

  I leap back and slam the door shut. Behind me, Sarah has both hands over her mouth.

  “Karen,” she says quietly. She rushes forward toward the car but I grab her around the waist.

  “No,” I tell her. “The snake is in the car. Sarah… she was bitten. I saw the puncture marks on her hand just before I closed the door.”

  Sarah shakes her head. “No. No, no…”

  I hug her to me.

  “We need to call Patty—” she starts to say.

  Over her shoulder, across the parking deck, I spot one shoulder and the head of a man peering out from behind a concrete column, watching us.

  “Hey!” I shout, startling Sarah. I let her go and shout again. “I see you!”

  The man’s eyes go wide and he takes off running toward the ramp. Anger suddenly swells in me, pushing aside the shock. I take off after him.

  “Will, wait!” Sarah runs after me.

  I consider myself to be in generally good shape for my age, but running is not my strong suit and the guy has a good forty-foot lead on me already. He runs for the ramp down to the first level and rounds the corner. I lose sight of him for a few seconds, but I can still hear his shoes pounding the concrete, getting further away.

  Behind me, I can hear Sarah running, too—or trying to, since she’s still wearing her tall leather boots, not ideal for sprinting. “Will!” she cries out. “Will, be careful!”

  Karen’s face flashes in my mind—the one I just saw, eyes open and unmoving. Adrenaline hits me and I gain a new burst of speed. I round the corner and dash down the ramp in time to see the guy turning the next corner at the bottom, heading for the exit.

  Daylight blinds me for a second as I leave the parking deck, jerking my head around wildly. I see the guy on the other side of the intersection, dashing across the street between the deli and Miller’s store. I run catty-corner, hoping to cut him off before he reaches the sidewalk.

  A horn blares. Brakes screech.

  I turn to my left just in time to see the grille of a pickup truck hit me.

  I try to spin out of the way, but the corner catches my hip and sends me sprawling on my back in the road.

  “Oh.” I groan as pain shoots up and down my leg. From my position in the road, I try to see where the guy went, but he’s long gone.

  “Oh jeez, are you okay?!” A woman gets out of the truck and hurries over to me. “I-I didn’t even see you… you came out of nowhere…”

  “I’m fine,” I manage to say, my teeth gritted. I tenderly feel my hip; doesn’t seem like anything’s broken. The truck had slowed down almost to a stop by the time it hit me. “I’m okay.” I get up slowly, testing weight on my leg. It hurts, but it’ll probably just be a big ugly bruise.

  “Are you sure? Please, let me give you my information—”

  “I said I’m fine!” I snap at the woman. “Just go!”

  She looks from me to her truck and, without another word, gets back in and drives away.

  “Good god, Will, you could have been killed!” Sarah catches up to me, breathless and looking shocked. “Are you alright?”

  “I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.”

  “You were hit by a truck.” She shakes her head. “He’s gone. Come on, we need to go back—”

  “Wait a sec. Just wait. Brown leather jacket, black hair, small bald patch…” I close my eyes and try to remember everything I can about the guy I chased.

  “Will, come on—”

  “Looked like he was in his early thirties. He had a goatee; I saw it when he turned back to look at me—”

  “Will!” Sarah shouts. I open my eyes and I can see that she’s fighting to blink back tears. “We need to go back up there. Karen…” She bites her lip. “We both saw it.”

  “I know.” I pull her into a hug. She buries her face in my shoulder for a few seconds, sniffles once deeply, and then wipes her eyes with a finger. “Come on.”

  I lean against her, limping as we make our way back across the street to the parking deck. On our way up the ramp, I ask her, “Did you see his left hand? It was bandaged with a cloth.”

  “Where Rowdy bit him.”

  “Yeah. That was our guy.”

  “Give me your phone,” she says quietly.

  My hand goes instinctively over my pocket. “Why?”

  “Why do you think? To call the police.”

  “Sarah… I’m still not sure that’s a great idea.”

  She stops walking and turns to me, incredulous. “Then what do you suggest, Will? We leave Karen here in a parking deck for someone else to find?”

  “I’m just saying that maybe we should take a minute and think,” I tell her slowly.

  She scoffs and strides past me, up the ramp to the second level. I follow her as best I can, moving slowly on my hurt hip.

  “Will!” she cries out. I double my efforts and reach the top of the ramp. “What? What is it…? Oh.”

  Karen’s car—and by extension, Karen and Petunia—are gone.

  CHAPTER 11

  * * *

  We sit in my SUV in the parking deck for what feels like a long time. According to the clock on my dash, it’s only a few minutes, but it feels like hours. Beside me, Sarah dabs at her eyes with a tissue. I stare out the window at nothing, my chin in my hand.

  Finally, Sarah breaks the silence by asking aloud what we’re both thinking.

  “Who would do that?” she says quietly. “What kind of monster would just… take her like that?”

  “One that didn’t want any evidence left behind,” I murmur. Then louder I say, “Sarah, this was planned. Someone texted us, pretending to be Karen, so we would come here and find her like that.”

  “Like a threat?”

  I nod. “I think so. And that guy I chased off… I think he was bait. He was supposed to distract us, so that someone else could move her car.”

  “With a rattlesnake in it?”

  “I guess so. I mean, we might be dealing with… professionals.”

  “Professionals?” She blinks at me. “What are you implying?”

  I shrug. “I think it seems obvious that there’s more than one person involved, and it’s likely that they were hired by Savage or Stein. Or both. There’s just too much threatening them now; too many people in on this. They must be getting desperate.”

  “We need Patty,” she says resolutely.

  “Sarah…”

  “Will,
let’s face facts. Someone has murdered Karen.” Sarah takes a shaky breath. “And then they took her body and her car. If we wait, there might not be evidence to find.”

  “If we call Patty, then we have to admit that we didn’t report the break-in at Karen’s apartment or the pet shop. We didn’t tell anyone that Karen was missing. We’ve known about the blackmail and didn’t say anything. And most importantly, two people on the council—both of them respected in the community—would tell her that I was involved in this whole scheme, even though I’m not.”

  Sarah stares at me, shaking her head slowly. “So, to top all that off, we’re not going to report a murder? So, you don’t go to jail?”

  “It’s not just me!” I protest. “It’s Sammy… and it’s you, too. You’re in this. That’s my fault. I never should have told you anything.” I rub my face with both hands and add, “Besides, technically it wasn’t a murder. Petunia bit Karen. If we can’t prove who put the snake in her car, who do you think is going to get blamed for her death?”

  “We will,” Sarah says quietly.

  “Right. So, best-case scenario—even if somehow we don’t get charged with any crimes—we’d still lose the shop at the very least.”

  “Then what can we do?”

  “First, we’re going to sit here a minute and clear our heads. Then we’re going to do what we planned to do—go talk to Tom Savage. Get whatever we can out of him. Whoever did this took Karen’s car; I can’t think of anyone better to be able to get rid of one than a used car salesman, right? Not sure there are many chop shops in Seaview Rock.”

  “And if that doesn’t pan out?”

  “Then we go to Sammy,” I tell her. “He might be able to…” I trail off as another realization hits me. “Oh, no. Do you think Sammy might be a target, too?”

  Sarah shakes her head. “No, I don’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because, Will, Petunia was in Karen’s car. Sammy is the only other one with a key to the pet shop besides us. And those scratches on our lock… they weren’t there before, were they?”

  “No,” I mutter. “They weren’t.”

  “So that means Sammy took the snake, and he gave it to them. That’s the only possibility.”

  “No way. I refuse to believe he has anything to do with this. He might be in just as much danger as we are—”

  “Will,” Sarah says loudly, “I think it’s about time you stop seeing Sammy as this great, trustworthy guy. Maybe that’s who he was… but face it. That’s not who he is now.”

  “Let me just call him and warn him—”

  “And if he is involved, give him the opportunity to let his ‘friends’ know what we know?”

  “I…” I let out a long, deflating breath. “I’m sorry. I just can’t accept that he would have anything to do with this.”

  “A year ago, you wouldn’t have believed you’d ever solve a murder. A few months ago, you never would have believed that Sammy would blackmail someone, for any reason.” She puts her hand on mine. “I’m really sorry, Will, but if we’re not going to bring Patty in on this, we’re not bringing in Sammy either. We’re in this together, you and me, because we can trust each other. But right now, that’s as far as my trust goes.”

  “That’s fair,” I tell her quietly. “Let’s go, then.” I start the car and pull out of the parking deck.

  CHAPTER 12

  * * *

  It hits me about halfway to Savage Cars. In the midst of everything going on, all the threats and possible repercussions and intrigue, the sudden realization smacks me in the head so hard I have to pull over and clench my fingers around the steering wheel to keep them from trembling.

  “Will?” Sarah asks.

  “She’s gone,” I mumble. “She’s really gone.”

  Karen may have done a really horrible thing to me. She may have destroyed our marriage and the subsequent three years of my life, up to the point when I met Sarah. But she was still the first woman I truly loved. She used to be my wife. Once, we were happy. Later, she was a friend.

  Sarah rubs my shoulder. “Do what you need to do. Let it out.”

  “I plan to.” My knuckles turn white from my grip on the steering wheel. I will let it out—because what I’m feeling right now is sadness, yeah, but it’s pinned underneath a heavy slab of red-hot anger.

  I pull back onto the road and head to Savage Cars.

  ***

  We enter as calmly as possible. I force a smile at the receptionist. “Is Mr. Savage in?”

  “He’s in his office,” she says pleasantly, “but I don’t believe he’s taking visitors at the moment.”

  “Oh, he’s expecting me.” I start toward the door.

  “Has he been in all morning?” Sarah asks.

  “Um… yes, since around nine,” the receptionist replies.

  With my hand on the knob, Sarah grabs my arm to stop me. “Hey,” she says quietly, “don’t tell him that we found Karen.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because we don’t yet know who our mystery man is taking the orders from. If we don’t say anything and he does, it’ll tell us just how much he knows.”

  I nod. I’m glad one of us is thinking clearly. I push the door open and let Sarah in first. Once it’s closed behind me, I turn the lock.

  Tom Savage sits behind his desk with the phone against his ear. He doesn’t appear surprised to see me—but he does look nervous. He’s a large man wearing a beige suit, his hair starting to gray near the temples.

  “They’re here,” he says into the phone. “I’ll call you back.” He lowers the receiver as I approach the desk. “Mr. Sullivan—”

  I grab the cord from the back of the desk phone and yank on it as hard as I can, pulling it free from the wall. Then I smile amiably. “I don’t want us to be interrupted.”

  Savage clears his throat. “What, uh, what can I do for you?”

  “You can start by telling me who you and Stein hired.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, fidgeting slightly.

  “Come on, man. There’s only so long the two of you can play that card. We know you hired someone. We know they broke into my ex-wife—no, my friend’s apartment and stole her phone. Then they broke into my shop and stole Sarah’s phone.”

  “Who’s Sarah?”

  Sarah raises her hand. “I’m Sarah. Hi.”

  “Anyway,” I continue, “I’m guessing this person, or people, have been following Karen for the last few days, waiting for an opportunity. And now that we’re back, they’re on us. So, who are they?”

  Savage shakes his head slowly. “I’m afraid I don’t know. As far as I’m aware, our arrangement is the same as always.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  With both my arms, I sweep everything off his desk at once—framed photos, a laptop, some file folders, one of those Newton’s cradle things—it all goes soaring off the end of his wide oak desk in a stupendous crash.

  I’ve always wanted to do that, and I gotta tell you, when you’re angry, it feels pretty amazing.

  “Whoa!” Savage cries out. “That is uncalled for!”

  “I’m just getting started. Did Stein tell you I threatened to go public?”

  “She did…” he says warily.

  “Good. Then you should know I’m not kidding when I say that I. Will. Ruin. You.” I punctuate each word so he knows I’m serious.

  “You wouldn’t. You’d be ruining yourself, too,” he says cautiously.

  “Yeah, well, that seems to be where I’m heading anyway.”

  Sarah puts her hand on my shoulder. “Hey, relax a little. Let me handle this, okay?” To Savage, she says, “Listen, Tom. Can I call you Tom? Tom, Rachel Stein already told us what we want to know. The only reason we’re here is to see if you two are on the same page, because from where I’m standing, it doesn’t look like it.”

  He smirks—b
ut just a little, a flicker of uncertainty on his face. “You’re lying. She didn’t tell you anything.”

  “No? She told us about the two guys you hired.”

  Savage furrows his brow. “Two…? No. That’s not right.”

  Sarah shrugs. “She also said she’d pin the whole thing on you. She’d say you forced her.”

  I have to smile at that one. She’s not lying, and I’d entirely forgotten about that part. See, back when I first approached Rachel Stein after the last town council meeting, she had indeed told me that she’d pin the blame on Savage if I ever went public. I had told Sarah about that when I told her everything else, but in the heat of the moment I forgot we had that little bargaining chip.

  “Forced her?” Savage scoffs loudly. “That’s preposterous! She wouldn’t.” Despite his protests, he sounds more uncertain by the second. “She can’t… she has just as much to lose as I do. Maybe more, actually.”

  “How do you figure?” I ask.

  Savage rolls his eyes. “She’s got three kids. They’d never speak to her again. And that house of theirs? The car she drives? Forget it. Her husband’s the one that pays for it. That’s the only reason they’ve stayed together this long.” He almost spits the last sentence out, as if he tastes something bitter.

  “Oh, good grief,” Sarah mutters, pinching the bridge of her nose.

  Obviously, there’s something here I’m not understanding. “You’re not worried about jail time?” I ask.

  Savage blanches, his face going pale. “Jail time? What on earth for? It’s not a crime. It’s just… frowned upon.”

  “Ugh,” Sarah makes a face of disgust.

  Savage scowls at her. “That’s not very nice.”

  Okay, now I’m terribly confused. “Someone want to clue me in? Maybe speak slowly, use small words?”

  “Come on, Will,” Sarah says. “Don’t make me say it out loud.”

  “Say what out loud?”

  She puts both her hands up in exasperation. “Savage and Stein are having an affair.”