Pawsitively Secretive

by Melissa Erin Jackson

  Amber’s stomach knotted. Is that what happened with Chloe? Even Bethany suspected that “Johnny” was someone posing as a college-aged kid from Belhaven who had lied his way into Chloe’s heart. Had the man who had been paid to snatch Chloe also been the one pretending for months to be a boy infatuated with her?

  “Second,” Alan said, pulling Amber from her thoughts, “if you choose a handle that doesn’t have your name anywhere in it, how would anyone know it was you? If I’m on there as ILikeAirplanes, you wouldn’t know who I was unless I told you, and even then, you’d just have to believe I was who I said I was.”

  “Johnny sent her a picture, though,” Amber said.

  “But only one, and a rather staged one at that,” said Alan. “Never one taken in the moment. Why do you suppose that is?”

  Amber frowned. “How are you supposed to find out who this Johnny guy really is then?”

  Alan shrugged. “It’s virtually impossible to track these people down. In emergency cases—like missing kids, sexual assault, and murder—logs of conversations can be obtained with a court order. Sometimes those reveal IP addresses, and those can be traced to physical locations, but it doesn’t always lead directly to a suspect. And even that information can take a long time to get.”

  “What a nightmare,” Amber muttered.

  “I’ll see if I can find the list that hacker posted,” Alan said. “Maybe it ended up on the dark web and this Johnny guy bought it.”

  Amber had liked it better when she’d been blissfully unaware of things like this.

  He was quiet for a while after that, tension wrinkling his forehead. She figured he was still a little dismayed that he’d divulged his deep secret about his sister and had done so with an ease that clearly was uncharacteristic for him. “As you now know … cases with kids mean more to me than the paycheck. I try to pretend that a job is a job, but ones like these …”

  Amber watched his profile, at the way he clearly was cycling through a wide array of emotions. Did he want to share more with her? Did he not know how? More than likely, he was trying to figure out why he’d been compelled to do so earlier and was completely reluctant again now.

  “How do you feel about sharing intel?” he finally asked. “I rarely do this, but clearly something makes me trust you. You’re in it for the kid. So am I. I want her found and I’m more than happy to work together to find her. I’ll even split the—”

  She raised a hand to stop him. “Whatever money Karen pays you, that’s all yours. Chloe home safe is all I want.”

  He nodded once, then placed a hand on the door handle. “You have my number,” he said, then climbed out. Before shutting the door, he leaned his head back inside. “And when you’re surveilling someone, lock your doors. Any weirdo off the street can slip into your car if you’re not paying attention.”

  Then he shut the door and strode back up the sidewalk, hands in his pockets. Once again, he was reduced to a regular guy out for a casual stroll.

  As she pulled away from the curb, she wondered if it would give the chief a coronary to know that she and Alan Peterson the PI were now allies.

  I’ve met some real sleazebags who will do anything they think is necessary to get the information they’ve been paid to find. Depending on who he gets in here … well, they could make things even more difficult for us.

  She wrinkled her nose.

  Maybe it was best to keep this one to herself.

  Chapter 15

  With only a week until the Hair Ball, the Here and Meow meetings were now held weekly instead of every two weeks. With yesterday marking a week since Chloe had disappeared, Kim thought it in bad taste to hold the meeting on Thursday.

  So now it was 5:45 on a Friday night and Amber was sitting in her rental car in the parking lot of Purrcolate, wondering if she could claim she’d come down with a horrible case of the flu in order to get out of this. She might have tried had Kim not completely turned into the gala-host equivalent of Bridezilla in the last few days. Between the stress of throwing the town’s biggest event next to the Here and Meow, worrying she was going to screw up and disappoint the late Melanie Cole, and dreading the news about Chloe, Kim had become increasingly … difficult. Amber had heard that the unflappable Ann Marie had been reduced to tears yesterday when Kim went on a long rant about why Ann Marie was the largest disappointment in Kim’s life. Ann Marie, apparently, had picked up the tablecloths for the gala yesterday, but when she placed the order had accidentally ordered robin’s egg blue instead of eggshell white and Kim had nearly had a heart attack in the middle of the community center when Ann Marie unloaded the first few.

  Amber had heard all this from Nathan, who had called Amber last night to warn her that Kim was “on the war path” and to be ready for “possible tears and screaming” at today’s meeting. This, plus the very high probability that she’d see Jack Terrence, had made Amber consider packing up and moving to a remote village somewhere.

  Instead, she told herself she was strong and fierce and she could get through this. She had a car now, at least, so if this all went really badly, she could drive to Cat’s Creamery and buy sixteen gallons of chocolate ice cream to drown her sorrows in.

  She climbed out of her car and then marched across the parking lot with confidence. The familiar scent of baking scones washed over her as she pulled open the door.

  And all her confidence deflated the moment Jack looked up at her and smiled. No recognition beyond Amber being a customer he liked and wanted to possibly go out with sometime. No memory of the few dates they’d already been on. No memory of the terrifying night on Edgar’s property when Amber had almost died.

  “Hey, Amber,” he said. “Long time, no see.”

  She wanted to run back out of here and never come back. “Hey, Jack,” she managed.

  Larry stood behind the counter as well, where he’d been restocking the pastry case. He continued to do so, but a slight scowl marred his forehead. Amber could only see half of his face and the way his eyes darted from Amber, to Jack, and back again, his head never moving.

  “Can I get you anything besides the usual spread of blueberry scones in there?” Jack asked. “I have a new lemon seed scone I debuted at the junior fashion show. Have you had a chance to try one of those yet?”

  She bit her bottom lip. He didn’t remember that she’d helped him unload those new scones, because he’d seen the real her and decided he couldn’t handle it. “Blueberry is fine,” she said, voice cracking. “Thank you.”

  Then she hurried toward the mottled glass door that led to the conference room reserved for the Here and Meow Committee on evenings like this one. She willed her tears away.

  “What’d I say?” she heard Jack ask.

  “I don’t have the first clue,” Larry muttered.

  Inside the conference room, the vibe wasn’t much better. Amber was right on time, but Ann Marie, Nathan, and Francine were already seated across from Kim, their hands folded in their laps. Francine sat furthest from Amber and craned her neck to look over the heads of both Ann Marie and Nathan so she could offer Amber a small smile. A “thank you for helping me get this position but also why didn’t you warn me that Kimberly Jones had gone off the deep end?” kind of smile.

  No one spoke. Kim had her elbows on the table, and was massaging her temples in wide, slow circles. From what Amber could see of her friend, she wore a bright orange silk blouse and a black-and-white striped vest over it—like a pirate.

  Kim suddenly let an arm fall with a thud and glared at Amber. “I’m so glad you could finally join us. Why don’t you take a seat so we can get started, hmm?”

  Amber winced and slunk into the chair beside Nathan, leaving Kim on the opposite side by herself. Nathan whispered “war path” out the side of his mouth.

  “Something you want to share with the class, Nathan?” Kim asked.

  “Kimberly …” Ann Marie started.

  “I need you not to talk right now,” Kim said, cutting her off. “I
’ve been on the phone all day trying to sort out the tablecloth debacle.”

  Ann Marie swallowed whatever she’d been about to say.

  Kim huffed out a breath and opened the manila folder she had lying by her arm, pulling out a meeting agenda checklist. “Because we’re obviously understaffed at the moment, there is going to be a lot we need to do in the next week. I’ve taken a week off work to make sure we can get it all done.”

  “Kim, we’ve all offered to take time off,” Amber said. “You know I gave Lily and Daisy more hours this week specifically so I could help you more, but you haven’t given me much to do.”

  “From what I’ve heard,” Kim snapped, voice dripping with venom, “the chief has been keeping you plenty busy.” She punctuated that with a little smile that implied she’d just eaten something exceedingly sour.

  So help her, Amber would need to throttle this woman soon.

  “Now, if you’re all finished interrupting me …”

  After half an hour, and Kim’s tenth snippy comment, Amber had had enough. She leaned forward, catching the wide-eyed attention of Nathan, Ann Marie, and Francine. “Why don’t you three take a little break?”

  They shoved away from the table so fast, Nathan’s chair hit the wall behind him.

  Kim jumped to her feet. “Oh. My. God. Amber, you do not have the authority to assign breaks. If we let anarchy rule us, this entire gala will be a disaster and we’ll be a laughingstock.”

  Nathan, Ann Marie, and Francine scurried for the door. Ann Marie had her hands on Nathan’s back and was shoving him forward, whisper-hissing, “Go, go, go!” Francine was close behind her.

  Kim started for the door as well, her face red and her hands balled into fists at her sides. Amber darted in front of the door just as it closed after Francine. To go with her orange shirt and striped vest, Kim also wore brown pinstripe pants and lime green flats. At least these ones matched each other, Amber supposed.

  Kim came up short, chest heaving. Amber was genuinely worried her friend might slap her.

  “Kim,” Amber said softly, her hands out. “You need to—”

  “You don’t tell me what I need to do!” Kim snapped. “I’m out there working my butt off to make sure this gala runs smoothly, and when I could really use your help, you’re too busy fraternizing with the chief of police!”

  Amber groaned, tipping her head back. When she looked at Kim again, somehow her face was even redder. “You can’t seriously still be hung up on that, Kim! I’m not involved with the chief in any way other than trying to help find Chloe.”

  “Why? You’re not a police officer,” Kim said, crossing her arms tight over her chest.

  Amber shot a quick look behind her, as if she expected to see Ann Marie, Francine, and Nathan—and maybe even Jack and Larry—with their heads poked into the room, waiting for her answer. Taking Kim by the upper arm, she dragged her to the other side of the conference room.

  “Ow, ow, ow,” Kim muttered, but she let herself be pulled along.

  “Okay, so this is a little embarrassing,” Amber said, once she unhanded her, “but I’ve been snooping around a lot in all the free time I’ve had—” she shot Kim a pointed look—“and I caught the attention of a PI in town who’s investigating Chloe’s disappearance.”

  Kim’s eyes doubled in diameter. “Caught his attention how? Who hired him—the mayor?”

  “Not the mayor,” Amber said. “He won’t tell me who his client is. And I was … oh gosh … I was following him around town trying to figure out who his client could be, and while I was on my first stakeout, I was distracted and he just … got into my car and asked why I was following him.”

  With a dramatic gasp, Kim gently swatted at Amber’s arm. “Shut. Up. Was he mad?”

  “He was mostly annoyed that I was tailing him when I’m bad at it,” she said. “He used the word ‘terrible’ more than once.”

  “Rude! It was your first stakeout!”

  “That’s what I said.” Amber lowered her voice. “He says I’ve got good instincts though, and I figured out a couple of things even before he did, so we’re kind of allies now? The chief actually doesn’t know that part.”

  “What kind of things?”

  Amber bit her lip, not sure how much to divulge to Kim. “You have to keep this to yourself, okay?” Kim nodded her head so hard, Amber worried it would snap off and roll under the conference room table. “Someone kidnapped Chloe as a way to seek revenge on the mayor.”

  “Kidnapped? Revenge?” Kim loudly blurted, then clapped her hands over her mouth.

  Amber shushed her. “We have reason to believe she’s okay, but we don’t know where she is. So if I’ve seemed distracted or unavailable this past week, it’s because of all this other stuff. I’m trying to help find Chloe.”

  Kim’s bottom lip shook violently and then she launched herself at Amber, throwing her arms around her neck. She dissolved into sobs. “Oh my God, Amber. I’m so sorry I’ve been such a witch!”

  Amber sputtered a laugh, but quickly swallowed it down.

  “I’ve been so, so worried about Chloe.” She pulled away from Amber, keeping her hands on her elbows. Her face was a splotchy mess, her eyes red. “She’s really okay?”

  “We’re pretty sure, yeah.”

  Tears streamed down Kim’s face. “I’m the reason she snuck out,” she blubbered.

  “Kim, hon, what are you talking about? She snuck out well after all of us left that night.”

  It took her a few moments to get herself under control. “A week before, we all met for ice cream after the meeting, remember? Oh, wait, I don’t think you could make it that night. Anyway, she was on that stinking phone of hers instead of interacting with the group,” she said, sniffling. “So I pulled her aside and asked her if she was okay and who she was so busy texting. She told me she was talking to this guy from Belhaven she had a huge crush on. She said he wanted to meet her, but she was too scared because she was worried he wouldn’t like her in person as much as he did on the app. I told her she was amazing and beautiful and to follow her heart. I told her … I told her when you find someone who you really care about, you had to just go for it no … no matter what.” Kim burst into tears again.

  Amber let her friend cry on her shoulder for a while. Nathan, Francine, and Ann Marie poked their heads in at one point, heard Kim wail, and then quickly backed out of the room.

  When Kim finally pulled herself together, Amber asked, in a very serious and solemn tone, “Did you kidnap Chloe?”

  Kim was so surprised by the question that it dried up the rest of her tears. “Of course not!”

  “Then it’s not your fault, okay? It’s not your fault that Melanie died, either,” Amber said. “You’re stressed out and you’re taking on too much. You’ve been so worried about things going sideways that you’ve shut us all out. You need to let us help you. I promise you that we all want this gala to go off without a hitch as much as you do.”

  “Okay.” Kim sniffed. “I think some part of me thought if I did it all myself, I knew it would get done right. I think I might have actually told Ann Marie robin’s egg blue instead of eggshell white! But I was so mad at myself for possibly getting it wrong that I took it out on her. Oh, I’m the worst.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re just tired,” Amber said. “Now, I need you to come up with a list of things you want us to do. If this tablecloth thing is truly a disaster, send one of us to the nearest town that has what you need.”

  Kim’s chin wobbled a bit. “I’m really sorry.”

  “I know.” Amber grabbed some napkins off the table and handed them to Kim so she could blow her nose. “Also … what in the world are you wearing?”

  Glancing down at herself, it was as if Kim suddenly came out of a daze. “Oh my God, Amber! I look like a circus clown!”

  “It’s … it’s not the best look.”

  Instead of bursting into tears, Kim erupted in giggles. This sound pulled Ann Marie, Francine, and Natha
n back into the room.

  “Is it safe?” Nathan asked.

  “Oh my God, you guys!” Kim said, running to them with her arms out and enclosing them all in a hug. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a b-word! Francine, bless your heart for not quitting on me. I’m not normally like this. I promise.”

  “She’s really not,” Ann Marie said from somewhere within the group hug.

  Kim laughed. “I have so much work for you all to do!”

  “It’s about dang time,” Nathan said.

  With the gala being a week away, the businesses selected to compete for the Best of Edgehill competition had to submit what their entries into the contest would be in order for menus and banners to be made on time.

  This morning, Amber and Ann Marie had divided the list, getting six each, and had to speak to each business owner to confirm final entry and sample numbers and to take pictures. Amber had been given the first half of the list, largely because Purrfectly Scrumptious was across the street, but also because Ann Marie was so grateful that Amber had snapped Kim out of her Galazilla mode, that she thought it only fair that Amber get all the food-related ones today, plus a pair of clothing shops. The businesses Ann Marie was checking in with were harder to quantify and would rely more on displays, video presentations, photographs, and performances. Ann Marie’s would take her most of the day.

  Amber would have thought this was a perfect arrangement, had it not been for the fact that Purrcolate was on her list twice. Which meant she’d end up staying there twice as long as she would anywhere else. She wasn’t sure which Terrence brother she dreaded seeing more: the rightfully suspicious Larry or the clueless Jack.