Debut Cozy Mystery Box Set 2

by Dianne Harman

  She walked into her bedroom and said, “I’m home, Jazz. It’s time for you to go outside even though it's a lot warmer in here. Let’s go.”

  Kat opened the sliding glass door and watched Jazz walk onto the porch and down the steps to the grass in the back yard. She stopped, sniffed the air, and then turned to where Rudy was standing at the rear of the yard. Kat’s heart stood still as she waited for either dog to make a move. She turned around, so she wasn’t looking at the yard or the dogs.

  “Blaine, I can’t stand this. What if Rudy hurts her? He outweighs her by more than ten to one. I've read that Rottweilers have the most powerful jaws of all the different breeds of dogs. What if he puts Jazz’s head in his mouth?”

  “You can relax, Kat. I think you just got a free pass. Rudy is lying down while he lets Jazz sniff him. He just stood up and now he’s sniffing her. All seems to be fine. Now they’re running back and forth along the back fence, although Jazz has to take about five steps for every one Rudy takes. I think you could bring them in. Looks like they’re going to get along with each other just fine.”

  Kat opened the door and called to the dogs. “Jazz, Rudy, come.” The two polar opposites ran to the door, one small and white, the other large and black. It was truly a study in contrasts. Jazz ran over to where her toys were stored in a large basket at the far end of the family room. She looked back at Rudy as if to say, “Here’s where my toys are. Want one?” He ambled over, pushed them around, and finally picked up a ball. A moment later he took it to Blaine.

  “So you want to play ball, do you? Don’t think Kat would appreciate it if we played in the house. I’ve still got my coat on, so let’s go outside.” The two of them walked over to the door with Jazz following. For the next fifteen minutes Blaine threw the ball in different directions, so both dogs had a chance to catch it. When they finally came back in the house, Rudy went to sleep on the dog bed Blaine had put down for him. Jazz sniffed it a few times and decided maybe it would be okay to have a big warm dog to sleep next to, and so she did.

  Kat felt the knot in her stomach unwind. “Blaine I didn’t realize how nervous I was about all of this,” she said as her phone began to ring. “Excuse me, I better answer that.” She looked at the screen and saw that it was Nick. “It’s your brother.”

  “Nick, you’ll be happy to know that I’m looking at a beautiful Rottweiler named Rudy who’s sound asleep on his bed in my family room and my little Westie is asleep right next to him.”

  “That’s just great,” Nick said. “With him there my brother and I don’t have to worry about you. From what Casey told me, Rudy can handle about any situation. I think you’ll be very happy you got him.”

  “Blaine went to the kennel with me, and helped me introduce the two dogs. I really liked Casey, and his children are adorable. I promised his oldest boy, Stefan, that he could visit Rudy and have a play day with him. I think that helped with the separation. Evidently Rudy was his favorite dog.”

  “Casey’s mentioned before that it’s always hard on his wife and the children when one of the dogs leaves and yet, I think having a guard dog that’s used to a family environment is an asset. Casey is very good at what he does.”

  “I'm not surprised. What did you find out about Tiffany and where did you end up?” Kat asked.

  “Kansas City.”

  Kat interrupted him. “You followed her to Kansas City? Where are you now?”

  “I'm at the office. I didn’t have a chance to tell you a few things I found out about her. The icing on the cake happened today. Why don’t you sit down, if you’re not already doing so? This is going to take a little time.”

  “Excuse me for just a moment.” She put her hand over the phone and said, “Blaine, Nick said this is going to take a little while. If you want to stay, I'd love to fix you dinner.”

  “Tell you what, Kat. Talk to Nick and spend a little time getting to know Rudy. I'll go back to my office and work for a couple of hours. Would it be okay with you if I come back about 7:00 for dinner?”

  “Perfect.” She waved goodbye to him and said, “Sorry, Nick. Blaine was here, and I was just saying goodbye to him.”

  “No problem. Okay, here's the deal. Tiffany Conners met her husband in Kansas City when she was working as a pole dancer in a gentlemen’s strip club that Lester used to go to whenever he was in Kansas City. Tiffany comes from a small town in southern Kansas and was a beauty queen in high school. From what I found out she really believed she could make it to Los Angeles or New York and be a movie or stage star, but she decided she needed to have a nose job and breast implants before she went. There weren’t any plastic surgeons in her small town.”

  “A pole dancer? Wow! I'm not surprised about the plastic surgery. I always thought she looked a little too firm to be natural.”

  “Well, from what I found out she didn’t stop there. She had her lips done and everything else she could afford. The problem was in order to afford all that she had to earn more money than she could make as a stripper. She began seeing men in her apartment for limited amounts of time, if you know what I mean.”

  “I have a pretty good idea what you’re talking about. Sounds like something out of a novel.”

  “I agree, but Tiffany was smart. She realized at some point in time she was past the age where she could ever make it big in the movies or on stage. Lester had fallen in love with her, but he had no idea she was seeing men on the side. According to some people we talked to at the strip club, she told him she was very religious and felt horrible about her job, but when she’d left her hometown, she couldn’t find a job, and she was almost starving. She revealed to him she’d gone to the manager of the apartment building where she lived and told him she didn't have enough money to pay her rent. He said he had a friend who owned a strip club and could probably hire her. From what her co-workers said, she seemed to thoroughly enjoy her work.”

  “Wow! You found out a lot in a short period of time, but I don’t see what any of that has to do with me or why she’d be so upset about my book.”

  “I’m getting to that. She's been married to Lester Conners for five years now. Evidently she tried to adjust to the country club life and living in a sleepy university town, but she missed the excitement of the sex industry. From what I found out she had actually been in a couple of porn movies. A few months ago she contacted the producer she’d previously worked with, and that’s where she went today. She spent several hours acting in a porn movie. When she read the copy of your book manuscript, I’m sure she became frightened that people would put two and two together and think the woman in your book who acts in porn movies was her. From what we could find out, her husband has no idea she’s involved in any of this.”

  “I knew nothing about her. It was just something I made up and put in my book, but I can certainly see where she’d feel threatened. What do you think I should do?”

  “For now, nothing. I’m concerned that if she was the one who murdered Nancy, there’s a good chance she’ll try to get rid of you too, so the story you wrote would never be published.”

  “I’m looking at a big black dog who will make sure nothing is going to happen to me, but remember, Barbara’s the one who gave her the manuscript. I wonder if Barbara could be targeted by her.”

  “I don’t know. I'm simply the messenger. You’re the client, and you’ll have to decide what to do about it.”

  “Let me think about it. Uhh, Rudy just stood up and walked over to the door. Maybe he wants to go outside. Can I call you back in a few minutes?”

  “Sure. I'm going to be here for a while. You’re not our only client. I need to check on a few things.”

  CHAPTER 16

  Kat walked over to where Rudy was standing by the door. When she opened it, a gust of cold wind entered the house, and she decided the weatherman had been right about a snowstorm coming soon. Winter darkness had descended, and the sky was black, giving the outdoors an eerie feeling. She was glad she’d brought Rudy home. Ja
zz followed him out the door, and a few minutes later she heard a scratch on the door. As soon as she opened it the two dogs raced in the house, happy to be in a warm place.

  Better feed them, she thought. Don’t know how Rudy acts when he’s hungry, but as big as he is and with that huge mouth of his, I don’t think I want to find out if he bites the hand that feeds him. I’ve heard some dogs do that because they’re in such a hurry to get their food.

  She wasn’t sure how Rudy or Jazz would respond if she fed them in the same room, so she put Jazz in the laundry room and let Rudy eat in the kitchen. She set his dish in front of him, not sure what his reaction would be. He licked her hand and delicately took a bite of the dog food, looking up at Kat as if to reassure her she didn’t need to worry. Luckily for her, he was a gentleman when he ate. When he was finished she let Jazz out of the laundry room, and the two dogs roamed through the house, going from one room to another.

  They look like Mutt and Jeff. If this wasn’t such a serious situation, I’d be amused, but I’m just fine with Rudy checking out the rooms. At least that’s what he seems to be doing. Wonder if that was part of his training.

  She picked up the phone and pressed in Nick’s number. A moment later she heard his warm voice saying, “Well, how did he do?”

  “Quite well. He’s obviously housebroken, and I also fed him. He was as gentle as could be. It was almost as if he was trying to tell me not to worry about his strength, that he’d use it only if he needed to.”

  “Sounds like he’s everything Casey said he’d be. Kat, I had one of my people do a thorough check on Sally Lonsdale. Here’s what we found out. She grew up in Cimarron, a small town not too far from here. Her father was a Baptist minister, and from what my researcher found out, a real fire and brimstone one. She was an only child, and although he was conservative in his role as a minister, he was the epitome of rigidity when it came to his daughter and her upbringing.

  “In a lot of cases like that the child rebels and becomes wild. Not so in this case. He believed all men were sinners, and he didn’t want his daughter despoiled by a sinner. He preached about the evils of sex in the media, and claimed it was the root of the problems with the younger generation. He would not allow television in his home and regularly picketed the library to protest about certain books he felt were inappropriate for a public library.”

  “That would seem to fit with what I know about her.”

  “There’s some more. Her mother died of breast cancer at an early age, and even though Sally did get married, she’s devoted to her father and spends a great deal of time with him. He’s quite elderly, but still attends church and pickets the library from time to time. From what my researcher found out, Sally never had a chance to live the life most young people do. She’s currently very active in the church, and that’s how she met Carl Jennings. His wife, Nancy, wasn’t as religious as her husband and often didn’t attend church. Carl was there every Sunday and was just as active in church life as Sally. There was never anything romantic between them, just two people who shared a common cause - eliminating what they considered to be anything deemed sexually unsuitable.

  “Sally is a certified public accountant and has a small tax practice. She lives very frugally, although her husband has a good job. She drives a fifteen-year-old car, and we saw nothing that would indicate they ever traveled, not even to Kansas City, which isn’t that far away. She’s a reader, but she gets her books at the library. About the only expense we noted was their membership in the country club, but that seems to be because her husband’s hobby is golf.”

  “Nick, I don’t have a feeling that she’s a real threat.”

  “Well, yes and no. On the surface from what we found out, she has never acted in an aggressive manner, but she is rabid on the subject of sex, and we know that she read your manuscript. Sometimes people simply flip out and lose all sense of the difference between right and wrong.

  “It’s like a switch has been turned on in their brain, and they have a sudden impulse to take some sort of dramatic action. In this case that dramatic action might very well have led her to commit murder. Although I don’t think that’s what happened, I won’t rule it out. I’m just glad you have Rudy with you.”

  “So am I. Now what?” Kat asked.

  “I have someone following her and observing if there’s any unusual activity on her part. I’m also having more research done on Tiffany Connors. Lastly, I have someone following Carl as well. Since those are the three suspects so far in this case, that should take care of them. Of course, there’s always the chance that whoever murdered Nancy is not one of those three. I should know more tomorrow morning. I’ll call you then if I find out anything.”

  “Thanks, Nick. I’m so glad Blaine suggested you, and I’m so glad you suggested Rudy. I don’t think I really appreciated how nervous I was last night. With him here, I’m sure I’ll get a good night’s sleep tonight. Talk to you in the morning. I’ve invited your brother for dinner, so I probably better start fixing it. We certainly don’t want the new district attorney starving. Who knows what kind of bad decisions he could make? Thanks again for your help.”

  CHAPTER 17

  “Were you able to get anything done when you went back to the office?” Kat asked as she opened the door for Blaine.

  “I was able to tie up a few loose ends, so it was a productive ninety minutes. And you,” he said as he took off his coat, “did Nick tell you anything of interest?”

  “Lots. Come on in the kitchen, and I’ll tell you all about it while I put the finishing touches on dinner. Would you like a glass of wine or a drink?”

  “Definitely. Whatever you have would be fine. Thanks,” he said as he sat down at the kitchen table. She poured two glasses of wine and handed one to him. He took a sip and said, “This is wonderful. What is it?”

  “It’s a Stag’s Leap cabernet sauvignon. My husband was a wine connoisseur and felt that if a person was going to drink wine, it should only be good wine. It was pretty much a rule in our house and one which I still ascribe to, and it does make for enjoyable meals.”

  “What are you making us for dinner?”

  “It’s one of my favorites, but it takes a little doing, so I never bother just for myself. It’s called manicotti, which is a large tubular type of pasta that’s stuffed with chicken and Italian sausage and then covered with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. I hope you enjoy it. I thought I’d make a green salad and some toasted garlic bread to go with it. Sound okay to you?”

  “Sounds a whole lot better than okay. I’m of the camp that believes good eating should be the 11th Commandment, and from what I’m hearing, I think this is a meal I’m definitely going to enjoy.”

  “Hope you feel that way after you're finished.”

  “Where’s Rudy?”

  “He looked out the window when he heard your car pull up. He must have recognized you, because he saw you get out, and then he went upstairs along with Jazz. If he didn’t recognize you this guard dog thing might be a myth.”

  “I don’t think so. Now, tell me what Nick had to say.”

  She took a sip of her wine and began to relate what Nick had told her about Tiffany, Carl, and Sally. When she was finished he sat quietly for a moment, twisting the stem of his wine glass. “Kat, you know I’m a lawyer, and I’ve worked on a lot of criminal cases over the years. Quite honestly any one of those three people could have killed Nancy, but the thing I always start with is who has the most to gain from the person being murdered.”

  “That’s an interesting place to start. I don’t see Sally having anything to gain other than a book that she thought shouldn’t be published wouldn’t be. I find it difficult to believe that so small of a motive could result in murder,” Kat said.

  “I agree, but I’ve also seen what I would consider second tier suspects wind up being the killer. I wouldn’t rule her out, but I agree with you, she doesn’t strike me as being the murderer.”

  Kat furrowed her brow
as if trying to catch a fleeting thought. “This is really off the wall, Blaine, but what if her father found out about the book? As incensed as she seemed to be from what Bev overheard at the salon, and as much time as she seems to spend with him, maybe she told him about it. I wonder if he’d be capable of murder. I don’t know if he’s even physically healthy enough to do something like that, although Nick did say he still picketed the library and occasionally gave a sermon.”

  “Only one way to find out,” he said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and punching a number in. “Hey, Nick, I’m here with Kat, and we have a question for you. What are the chances that Sally’s father is the murderer? From what you told Kat he would certainly see the book as the devil’s dealings. What we’d like to know is if he’s physically capable of committing murder.”

  “Off the top of my head, I don’t think so, but let me do a little research. It’s actually a pretty good thought. I’ll get back to Kat later tonight or in the morning,” Nick said.

  “Okay, Kat, that takes care of Sally and her father. Carl’s a wild card to me. On one hand he seemed to love his wife, but on the other hand he strongly disapproved, maybe even more than strongly, of Nancy editing your books. Is that motive enough to kill her? And wouldn’t he know that he and his daughter would probably become estranged if he committed the murder?”

  Blaine continued, “On the other hand, he might consider his wife dirty because she edited your books, and if he got rid of her, he would be doing something to help cleanse the world of the filth he thinks is overtaking it. I know that’s a bit of a stretch, but it could cause him to become a prime suspect. What bothers me is his relationship with his daughter. Is his hatred of books such as yours deep enough that he would risk losing his daughter?”

  “I don’t know,” Kat responded. “From what Lacie said, Nicole doesn’t want anything to do with her father. Evidently he and Nancy had words over this subject before, and Nicole thought he was out of line. She was very close to her mother and is devastated over her death.”