One Bark And Stormy Prom Night (Happy Tails Dog Walking Mysteries Book 3)

by Stella St. Claire

  The teen looked up, and Olivia searched for signs of guilt on her face. Cheating at school was one thing, but using Happy Tails to threaten people was quite another. With Deedee threatening to tell people that Olivia was poisoning people’s dogs, Olivia couldn't afford any other rumors floating around.

  "Hi, boss," Tanya chirped easily. "I was just swinging by to check my schedule because I remembered that I forgot to ask for prom night off!"

  Olivia feigned ignorance. "Why were you typing? Did someone call while I was out?"

  "No, I was just answering an email from a teacher. Thanks for giving me prom off."

  Olivia tried to feel more at ease as Tanya jumped up and came over to give Goodwin and Fender some love. "Of course, I gave it to you. I'm helping with the prom committee. I wouldn't dare schedule you to work that day. You'll need the day off to get your hair and makeup done. In fact, why don’t you take Friday off as well, just in case you need to get something last-minute."

  "What?" Tanya frowned. "No, I don't need Friday off. I need to work! I need money!"

  The truth was that Olivia wasn’t sure she wanted Tanya around until she figured out the truth. "I promise to schedule you an extra day in the next couple of weeks to make up for it. You shouldn’t be working. It’s your prom. Relax."

  A dark look crossed Tanya's face, and Olivia was taken aback by the fire in the girl’s eyes—but just like that, it was gone. The bright and bubbly girl returned, and she shrugged as though she didn’t have a care in the world. "Okay. As long as you make it up to me. Thanks, boss. I should go. I’ve got homework to do."

  Homework—or changing people's grades? Olivia tried not to think about it as she listened to the girl bounce down the stairs.

  Trying to push Tanya’s ugly expression from her mind, Olivia checked the messages from her phone and the emails from her website. She had a few new inquiries about her dog-walking rates, and the hardware store had called to say that her sheetrock was in. Not wanting to spend the night alone, she texted Jackie and Janelle to see if they were up for a little wine and construction work.

  Because what could go wrong there?

  Mainly, she just wanted to keep busy and force herself not to check her phone every three seconds to see if Andrew or the real estate agent had called to confirm that he really had backed out of their agreement.

  Except for Jackie and Janelle, her phone was blessedly silent.

  After picking up the supplies and hauling them upstairs (with several curious onlookers, none of whom offered to help her during the umpteen trips that it took), Olivia settled back down in her office chair. Cracking open her book, she read until Jackie and Janelle’s arguing grew louder and louder as they climbed the steps. "Why would we call Patrick? He doesn’t know any more about construction work than Olivia, but at least she’s done some research."

  "It wouldn’t hurt to have a man’s opinion," Janelle huffed.

  "Oh, really?" Jackie countered. "I can think of plenty of times when a man’s opinion is just about the worst thing ever."

  "Did you and Brett have a fight?"

  "Why is everything about Brett? I go on a few dates with someone and you practically have me married to him!"

  Olivia threw open the door and glared at them. "What is going on here? I asked you two to join me so we could get some work done and have a good time."

  Jackie crossed her arms and glared at Janelle. "Your sister thinks it’s better to have a man around."

  "I did not say that. I just said that maybe Patrick could give us a few pointers!" Janelle blew at her bangs in frustration as she balanced the wine glasses in her hand. She had three bottles of wine tucked under her arms, causing Olivia to raise an eyebrow. They certainly weren't going to get much work done if they drank all that.

  "I think Jackie might be right about this one," Olivia said gently. "Your husband isn’t the handiest person around. Besides, all we have to do tonight is screw the drywall in and apply the tape. The guys at the hardware store even labeled the back of each sheet so we know where it goes. If we’re feeling bold, we can add a layer of plaster. I’ve got everything upstairs." She eyed the two women. "Are you two going to argue all night?"

  "Maybe," Jackie growled.

  Olivia reached out and grabbed two of the wine glasses as she shut the door behind her and walked across the landing to the second set of steps. The three trudged upward in silence, but when they reached the landing, she asked, "You were in a great mood this morning. What happened?"

  Jackie opened the door to the apartment on the left and the three women stepped inside and stared at the project before them. Olivia was excited, but she knew the other two had reservations.

  Jackie said without preamble, “Mayor Henderson came by the store today to check out my prom promo display. He had a few choice words about my young adult romance collection.” She eyed the walls and said slowly, “Olivia, I thought you said this would take an hour or two—max.”

  “What?” Olivia surveyed the sheetrock with pride. “It’s already cut. All we have to do is hold it up and screw it in. It is seriously not going to be hard. Did you tell the mayor where he could put his opinion?”

  “I mentioned that Celeste came by the other day and told me that she’d adored some of the books I put out,” Jackie said with a mischievous smile. “The mayor bought two.”

  Janelle widened her eyes as she pulled out a cork puller. “Seriously? Celeste?”

  Shrugging, Jackie picked up a glass and held it out. “Now that I think about it, I think she told me that she adored the book display.”

  Unable to help themselves, Janelle and Olivia burst out laughing. The thought of the mayor reading young adult romance novels in hopes of impressing Lady Celeste was just too much. “Do you think he’s going to swing by her shop with the book in hand in order to impress her?” Olivia asked.

  That sent Janelle into a fit of giggles all over again. “I can’t wait to see him walking around town with it tucked under his arm. Oh, Jackie, you are too bad.”

  That reminded Olivia. “I think he’s trying to get me to ask Lady Celeste to be his prom date. He wants to make sure that she’s on the chaperone list in case she gets some visions of any teenagers about to cause problems.”

  “Have you asked her yet?” Jackie wanted to know.

  “Frankly, I’d forgotten about it until now. I should just send some flowers with a note from Mayor Henderson that reads will you go to the prom with me? Check yes or no!”

  They all cracked up with laughter. Now that tempers were settled and they were drinking and having a good time, Olivia knew the night was going to go smoothly. As they separated the sheetrock into the different rooms and leaned them up against the wall, Olivia filled the others in on what she’d overheard at the school office.

  “Tanya?” Janelle whispered. “Surely you heard wrong. I can’t imagine her threatening any dog.”

  “When I told her that I didn’t want her working on Friday, I saw something that made me really uncomfortable. There was this unfiltered rage in her eyes, but she got a hold of herself and conducted herself calmly. It makes me wonder if there’s something there that we don’t know about that girl. It is hard to believe, though. Elspeth is just so calm and quiet,” Olivia said as she gathered some screws and stuffed them in her pocket. “All right, he said we needed to start with the corners and work our way out in case there’s any left over at the edge.”

  Grabbing the drill, she pulled the trigger a few times and grinned at the noise it made.

  Power tools were fun.

  “You could ask Andrew to look at the computer in the office and see if he can figure out what Tanya has been doing on there,” Janelle offered as she and Jackie held the first sheet in place. Olivia followed the exposed studs with her hand and drilled in the first screws. Stepping back, she admired her handiwork.

  “Nice!” Jackie said. “Can I go next?”

  Olivia handed her the drill and picked up the next sheet. “The seams
aren’t supposed to be even. Apparently that makes it easier to plaster. Anyway, I thought about asking Andrew for his help, but I’m not sure he wants to get involved.”

  Jackie and Janelle exchanged a look that was hard to miss.

  Olivia narrowed her eyes, watching Jackie screw in the next piece of sheetrock. “What?” she demanded over the sound of the drill. “What aren’t you two telling me?”

  “Nothing,” Janelle said quickly, but she had always been a terrible liar. “We just think that Andrew might want another chance to spend some time with you, that’s all.”

  Jackie handed the drill over to Janelle and grabbed the next sheet.

  “And what makes you two think that?” Olivia asked suspiciously. She swung her head around to Jackie. “Did Brett say something?”

  “Let’s just say that I think you’re on the right track with being transparent with Andrew,” the redhead said mildly. “You know, I don’t think this is going to take long, at all.”

  By the time they’d finished drilling the sheetrock into place, they’d gone through a bottle and a half of wine. They were a little too tipsy to attempt the taping process, so they went back downstairs to snag a few goodies from the bakery. To their surprise, they saw a face peering in at the windows.

  Olivia gasped. “That’s Deedee. What is she doing here?”

  Janelle winced. “I completely forgot. She called me earlier and asked how long I’d be here. I told her that we’d be doing some work upstairs until late, but I meant for her to come during business hours! Should we just ignore her?”

  Since the woman was knocking on the window and waving frantically at them, Olivia knew that ignoring her wasn’t a great option. Maybe it was the wine warming her belly, but she felt she liked the odds of having three against one, and so she unlocked the deadbolt and threw the door open. “We’re closed!” she snapped.

  Deedee ignored her as she pushed past. “I’m here on a business matter with Janelle.”

  “Deedee, when I said that I’d be here after hours, I didn’t mean for you to come by then. We’re in the middle of a project upstairs. I’m afraid that I don’t really have time to speak to you.”

  “This won’t take long. I’m here because I heard a rumor that you were going to start selling freshly made dog treats out of your bakery?”

  Olivia tensed. She had a sudden feeling that Deedee wasn’t here to do business as much as she was here because of competitive jealousy.

  Janelle obviously didn’t sense anything wrong. “That’s right. It just makes sense, considering that Olivia’s dog-walking business and doggie daycare is right upstairs.”

  The buxom blonde whirled around and glared at Olivia. “I’m sure you’ll find that Olivia will be out of business soon, once people realize that she’s selling poison to their dogs,” she growled. “Because I see that you’re still advertising Rich Eats.”

  “There is nothing wrong with Rich Eats,” Olivia huffed. “I feed it to my two dogs, and they’re just fine.”

  “I heard it from the mouth of your delivery girl that Rich Eats is poison!” Deedee snarled. “You don’t care about the dogs. You just care about the bottom line. Just because you can buy Kimberly’s food for cheaper . . . I bet you’re jacking that price up and making a tidy sum.”

  Jackie stepped between Deedee and Olivia with her hands balled into fists. “Are you telling me that you overheard Tanya telling people that the food was poisoned?”

  “That’s exactly what I heard. At least that girl has the moral high ground to do the right thing,” Deedee hissed.

  Olivia felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach. As much as she wanted to defend Tanya, it looked as if the rumors were true. Tanya was using her dog food to threaten people, and it was obviously getting out and being twisted.

  She swallowed hard. If Deedee had heard that the food was poisoned, who else might have heard? Could someone have killed Kimberly because they thought her food was poisoning their dogs?

  “What do you want with me?” Janelle asked finally as the silence thickened.

  Deedee tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I want you to partner up with me in making dog food treats. I’ve got a few that tested very well, and I was looking for some places to sell them before I start packaging them.”

  Olivia shook her head, and Janelle caught the movement. “I’ll think it over,” she declared hastily. “Now, I hate to end this early, but we really do need to get back to work.”

  Janelle and Jackie practically pushed the protesting woman out before locking the door. “What?” Janelle demanded. “What are you thinking?”

  “I’m thinking that Deedee might have overheard Tanya threatening someone, but it got twisted, and she thinks the food really is poisoned,” Olivia said slowly.

  Jackie nodded her head. “Do you think that maybe someone else might have heard that, and it’s what got Kimberly killed?”

  “If that’s the case, we need to talk to the vet and see if anyone has brought sick dogs in. If Tanya did poison them, or if someone is suspected of poisoning them, she would know,” Olivia muttered. She glanced at the clock. It was well past time that Dr. Roberts’ office would have closed.

  “We could break in,” Jackie suggest cheerfully.

  “Absolutely not,” Janelle gasped in horror.

  Olivia agreed. “It’s not like we’re breaking into someone’s house or that we have permission. There are drugs in that building, and we could get in some serious trouble if we get caught. I think this time it might just be safer if we wait until Dr. Roberts opens in the morning.”

  There was disappointment on Jackie’s face and relief evident on Janelle’s. Olivia just wanted to laugh. As much as it intrigued her to do something daring, she wasn’t completely stupid. The investigation could wait until morning, and she’d have a hard time opening up a line of communication with Andrew if she was only calling for money to be bailed out of jail.

  If Jackie was right, then Andrew might very well be receptive to helping her investigate just a little more. And since it was her computer, it wasn’t like he was going to do anything nefarious.

  As the girls gathered some treats to take back upstairs, Olivia texted him and asked if he could look at her computer tomorrow. She made it very clear that it had something to do with the investigation so he didn’t think that she was tricking him.

  Do I want to know why your computer is involved? he texted back quickly.

  I’ll explain tomorrow. It’s too complicated over text.

  There was a beat of silence. You could call me. I’m not doing anything except watching an old game on television.

  Her heart skipped a beat, and she smiled. It was nice that he wanted to hear her voice. I would love nothing more than to call, but the girls and I are hanging sheetrock upstairs.

  Andrew’s response was immediate. What?

  Don’t worry. There are no nail guns involved.

  He didn’t answer right away, and she forced herself not to second-guess things as she pocketed the phone. She’d already told herself that she wasn’t going to walk on eggshells when it came to Andrew.

  “Everything okay?” Janelle asked as she handed Olivia a box of cookies.

  “I steal one cookie, and you act like your profits are going to take a nosedive, but here you are, thinking we’re going to eat a dozen cookies . . .” she glanced over at Jackie’s load and her eyes widened. “And a dozen cupcakes!”

  “I ordered pizza, too,” Janelle said with a shrug. “We might as well have some fun while we’re up there working.”

  Olivia bit her lower lip and surveyed the two as they headed upstairs. “I’m not sure we should be working and drinking and eating at the same time.”

  “Oh, relax,” Jackie called over her shoulder. “This was your idea, and we’ve finished the complicated stuff. How hard can taping and plastering be?”

  Probably not hard unless you’re weaving back and forth, Olivia thought privately, but she followed the girls up.
Whatever mess they made tonight, they could clean up tomorrow.

  Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and she pulled it out and checked it.

  I’ll be there after work. Have fun and be safe tonight.

  The I love you wasn’t there, but it didn’t matter. She could feel the unspoken words between them even though he was miles away, and it calmed her.

  13

  The next morning Olivia stopped by Helping Paws Veterinary Clinic. Dr. Roberts headed the only vet hospital in town, but it was a huge hospital that offered general surgery options as well as typical wellness care. There had been a time when Olivia was in Dr. Roberts’ office every couple of weeks. She’d adopted Goodwin without really understanding how to take care of a dog, and every time she’d seen Goodwin licking the grass, she’d assumed that he was dying and brought him in to be checked.

  Now her vet visits were much less frequent, but when she’d started her dog-walking business, she’d gone to Dr. Roberts for some tips on basic doggie first aid, just in case something happened to the precious pooches on her watch.

  It was so early in the morning that the clinic was still operating on emergency hours, but Olivia had already called to make sure that the vet was in. The waiting room was a ghost town, and that was a good thing.

  “Hi. Welcome to Helping Paws Veterinary Clinic. I’m Sarah Beth. How can we help you?”

  Sarah Beth, with her perky blonde ponytail and glowing skin, was awfully young to be working at the front desk. Olivia frowned. “Are you still in high school?”

  The girl grinned. “Sure am! The school has this new work program, and Dr. Roberts lets me handle the front desk during off hours. I can usually catch a few hours of work before I go to school.”

  “I’m Olivia Rickard. I know the program well. Tanya Rottingham works for me.”

  The girl’s smile slipped. “You’re the dog walker.”

  Olivia had a feeling that Sarah Beth not only knew Tanya but knew of her assistant’s extracurricular activities. She didn’t want to scare the girl away. “That I am. Do you know Tanya?”