Without Missing a Bark

by Stella St. Claire

  "Oh, geez." Olivia rolled her eyes. "I think I prefer crazy Janelle to blissfully happy Janelle.” She tapped the pile of paper on the table. “Just scan through the letters."

  "What am I looking for?"

  "Set aside anything that seems overly threatening. I'm going to try to match the letters with the columns.” She sighed and admitted, “That was Andrew's idea."

  Janelle scanned the first letter and gave a sigh of her own. "I have a feeling that it's going to be a long night."

  Privately, Olivia thought that would be preferable to going home to an empty apartment.

  19

  “The doctor said that you’re supposed to be resting,” Christopher said gently as he leaned against the doorframe of the hospital room.

  Rose looked up and scowled. “You’re one to talk. I have a sprained ankle and a bruised rib. You have a bullet in your shoulder.”

  “Always so thorny.” He walked in and placed a finger under her chin as he lifted it. “Were you planning on leaving without saying goodbye?”

  “You act like I’m a lover slipping out of your bed,” Rose grumbled, but her heart was beating rapidly. Sometimes she hated the way he made her feel. “It’s not like I was never going to see you again.”

  “Maybe you were hoping that I didn’t hear what you said to Gabe in that warehouse. If I weren’t such a good person, I might say that I told you so.”

  His grin turned wicked, and she rolled her eyes. “No one has ever accused you of being a good person.” She pulled away and winced at the twinge in her ribcage. “But you were right. Solving mysteries is what I do. I couldn’t handle the failure, and I gave up. I’m back now.”

  “Spunky and personality and all. Is there anything else that you wanted to confess to me?”

  Grabbing her crutches, she hobbled by him and looked over her shoulder with a grin. “If I made it that easy for you, I wouldn’t be me, now would I?”

  His faint chuckle followed her down the hall, and Rose knew that everything was going to be just fine.

  Olivia ended up spending the night at her sister’s house. When she woke up and checked her phone, her heart sank. There were no calls or texts from Andrew.

  He was probably already at work, so she loaded up the dogs and drove home. The first thing she did was check up on Natalie in the doggie daycare office.

  "Hi, boss," Natalie said in cheerful greeting. Today, she was trimmed out in pink. "Did you need something from me?"

  "No. I just got back. I figured I'd check in and make sure everything is okay." Olivia saw the worried look on Natalie's face and laughed. "It's not like that. Andrew and I got into a fight last night, and I guess I'm just trying to keep busy."

  "Hey, you're the boss,” Natalie said in her breeziest tone. “You're welcome to check up on me whenever you like. I can't really help distract you, though. Everything is okay, here."

  "That's good. I'll be back in a few hours for doggie daycare." What Olivia really wanted to do was to send Natalie home and spend the day with the dogs, alone, but at least this way she could focus on the investigation. Maybe once she closed the case, she could finally make things right with Andrew.

  Maybe it really was time to hang up her sleuthing hat.

  Trudging upstairs to their third-floor apartment with the dogs in tow, she unlocked the door and froze.

  Andrew hadn't gone to work after all. He was sitting in the living room with his computer open, and he was scribbling in his notebook.

  "You're here," she breathed.

  "I am. You didn't come home last night." He stared at her. "You've never not come home before."

  "I asked Jackie to text me when you came back. She never texted. I thought that you spent the night in your office.” Olivia swallowed hard. “I'm sorry. I was at Janelle's, going over the letters."

  "How is she doing?"

  "Very happy—until she started going through the letters. Then she went a little crazy and starting raving about what a horrible person Dear Ruby was. Honestly, I almost had to put her on my suspect list."

  Andrew shuddered. "I'm glad you didn't. Questioning her would not be fun.” He sat straighter and rubbed his neck, adding, “I did some digging, and I pulled up some dirt on Sylvia."

  Eyes widening, Olivia bit her lower lip, and Andrew sighed and shook his head at her. "On the computer, Olivia. I dug up some dirt on the computer."

  "Andrew, I'm sorry. It's not that I don't trust you. It's just that—"

  "Her former editor told me that Madeline knew that Sylvia was answering letters for her. Apparently, they had an arrangement. Madeline needed some time off, and Sylvia was willing to give it to her. Then, when Sylvia lost her job, Madeline invited her to Lexingburg to work here."

  Andrew's interruption didn't go unnoticed by Olivia, but she didn't point it out as the obvious stalling tactic that it had to be. “So Sylvia doesn’t have a motive? Still, she released Dear Ruby’s identity. I know that she had to be the one who did that."

  Andrew shrugged. "If she did, I don't know why. We'll have to ask her."

  Olivia took a deep breath. Now was her moment to show Andrew that she trusted him. "Actually, I already spoke to Sylvia, but I didn't get very far.” He opened his mouth to say something, but she plunged on. “I think you should take a crack at it. The most direct approach might be best way to go on this one, and she already knows that I'm investigating."

  "Actually, I was thinking that we could do it together." Andrew closed the laptop and stood. "If that's okay with you. I took the day off, and Natalie is covering for you today, right?"

  Olivia swallowed hard. She couldn't decide if this was a white flag or a trap. "Okay. Sounds good. Just let me take a shower real quick."

  "Sure thing. Have you eaten? I can make us some breakfast."

  It sounded so nice and normal. The knot of anxiety in the pit of her stomach eased a little, and she headed to the bedroom. She really could use a shower.

  After tucking the ring securely back in her wallet, she escaped under the hot water. A million thoughts crowded around in her head, but she had to focus on what was right in front of her. Andrew obviously didn't want to fight. He wanted to finish investigating the mystery, and she wanted to prove that she trusted him.

  The delicious smell of eggs and bacon hurried her getting dressed and lured her back to the kitchen.

  Andrew had also brewed coffee. He looked almost apologetic as he waited for her.

  "Thanks for breakfast," she said softly. "It smells great."

  "Sure. When I'm freelancing full time, I'll be able to make breakfast for you more often."

  He was talking about their future. That was excellent news. Now was the time for her to prove that she was willing to talk about their problems. "So, about last night . . ."

  "Charles is actually going to have coffee with us today, too. I just got off the phone with him. So, we can hit both suspects at the same time. Efficient, huh?" Loading up her plate, Andrew set it down in front of her, and Olivia stared at him. It wasn't like Andrew to interrupt her or even refuse to talk.

  "Thanks. Yeah, that is efficient. If you want to talk to him alone—"

  "We should do it together," he said abruptly.

  "Andrew!" Olivia took a deep breath. "Why are you interrupting me?"

  "Because sometimes you're not good at multitasking," Andrew growled. "One thing at a time, okay?"

  "Okay." Slowly, she picked up her fork. Maybe everything wasn't as great as she had hoped.

  After breakfast, she and Andrew walked to the newspaper office. Sylvia was the only one in the office, on the phone at the receptionist’s counter, and she looked like she might implode as she snapped into the receiver, "Denny, we are not going to meet our publishing deadline! We haven't missed a deadline since I picked up this paper, and I'm not about to start now. I'm not going to repost old columns, so find something to fit in that space!" Her face was almost purple as she hung up.

  Immediately, she sighed and sank back in
her chair. Olivia cleared her throat. "Sylvia?"

  Silvia had been so immersed in the call that she hadn’t noticed them come in, even though the bell above the door had jingled merrily to announce them. "Olivia. Andrew. Hi. This isn't a great time. I'm a little short-handed here. Our website crashed, and now Denny wants to repost old Dear Ruby letters instead of finding something new to put there. It's just lazy!"

  "What do you mean, your website crashed?" Andrew asked with a frown.

  "I don't know. Charles told me last night that he needed to do some maintenance work on it, but this morning, it was still offline. The problem is that I'm running a discount for new subscribers to sign up, and now they can't sign up."

  "Charles Frederick?" Olivia tensed. "The same guy who runs the I Hate Dear Ruby group?"

  The editor looked up sharply. "How do you know about that group?"

  "I'm investigating, remember? I also know that someone by the username Lady Lazarus leaked Dear Ruby's true identity."

  Sylvia's face fell. "I guess I should have known you'd dig that up. You really are good."

  "You immediately regretted it, didn't you?" Andrew asked. "That's why you took it down."

  "Sometimes, my temper gets the best of me. Madeline and I’d had a huge fight. We used to be good friends.” The editor shook her head, her gaze growing distant. “We worked together in Chicago. When she needed to go on sabbatical, I stepped in for her.” A wry expression crossed her face. “When I got fired for it, she found me a job. We were good—I mean, I didn’t blame her for getting fired—but her letters were getting progressively harsher. I asked her to scale it back, and she told me that I was ungrateful. I said some things I didn't mean, and then”—she shook her head—“I spilled her secret identity."

  "People saw it."

  “One person saw it," Sylvia said quickly. "Charles pulled the active membership at the time and saw that only one person was logged in. So, it was just the two of us and one member. I expected her to republish the name, but she didn't. The truth is that I'd forgotten about it until after her death."

  Guilt was written all over the woman’s face. "You thought that it was your fault," Olivia said in sudden realization.

  "I did—but it was months ago. Why would someone wait until now to act?" Sylvia shook her head. "Is it my fault?"

  Something was bothering Olivia about the whole case, though she couldn’t put her finger on it. She glanced uneasily at Andrew, then said, "Sylvia, do you know why Charles started the group?"

  Sylvia laughed in surprise. "Charles didn't start it. He just maintains it.” Frowning, she added, “He and I went on a couple of dates. He told me that someone had approached him with a job. I wanted to shut it down until I realized that it might keep litigation at bay. People could expel their anger inside the group instead of hiring lawyers. I actually pay Charles to keep up the site now."

  "So he wouldn't have any reason to kill Sylvia?" Andrew demanded.

  "Of course not! He's out a of a job, now that she's dead."

  "The person who killed Madeline did it out of rage," Olivia said slowly. "Her name had been out there months ago and then erased. Even if someone did see her name, it doesn’t make sense that they would sit on it for six months."

  "I'll bite. How did the killer know who Madeline was?" Sylvia asked.

  Andrew snapped his fingers. "Maybe they didn't. Maybe the person just had a beef with Madeline Stone herself. Maybe it didn't have anything to do with the Dear Ruby column."

  "Or maybe they figured it out, the same way that I did." Olivia closed her eyes. How had she not seen it? "I think this is about the puppies, after all."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Madeline was trying to sell the puppies she’d stolen. She needed the money. Maybe the person she contacted met her at her house, and when they walked in, they saw all the articles. They made the connection on their own."

  "So—what? You're saying that Scott might be the killer, after all?"

  "Scott?" Sylvia echoed, then added slowly, "I can see it. He used to bother me all the time about Dear Ruby's identity."

  Olivia shook her head. "No. Scott has an alibi. He was at his office at the time Madeline was killed. Sylvia, can you make me a list of any other people who have asked for Dear Ruby's identity?"

  Sylvia laughed, though it wasn’t a happy sound. "Sweetheart, that's the whole town. I get that question fifty times a day."

  "Might as well cancel the interview with Charles," Olivia said as she glanced at Andrew. He'd been pretty focused on the man, but he didn't seem upset at this turn of events. Actually, he just looked as confused as she felt. "I guess we can spend the day working through the rest of the letters. Maybe we'll find something there."

  "You'll get them, Olivia," Sylvia said, as if cheering her on. "You always do."

  "Always a first time for everything," Olivia said under her breath.

  She couldn't help feeling like they were right back to square one.

  20

  "Okay, I've made two piles," Olivia announced, hours later. Taking a sip of her beer, she rubbed her temples. There was so much hatred in these letters that she could almost feel it seeping into her. "This pile is for suspicious hate letters that Dear Ruby received, and this pile is for the letters that had pretty scathing responses. The weird thing about the hate letters is that some of them were because ‘Dear Ruby’ hadn't responded to them."

  Andrew pulled another beer out of the fridge and opened the bottle. "What do you mean?"

  "There was a time when the column was so popular that she'd receive a dozen letters a day. My guess is that she couldn't answer them all, and that upset quite a few of her fans. Some of these letters are from people who didn't think that she was harsh enough. I'm telling you, people are weird."

  "Anything promising?"

  "My three favorites come from the hate-mail stack. The first is a husband whose wife divorced him. She took his three kids away when she discovered that her husband was cheating on her. I'm no expert when it comes to handwriting analysis, but it looks like one person wrote all five of these letters." She slid them across the table.

  Andrew glanced through them, eyebrows raised, and he nodded agreement.

  "Next up is a woman who broke off an engagement because Dear Ruby convinced her that she was too young to get married. Her ex-fiancé went to Afghanistan and didn't make it. The writer was left alone and pregnant.” Olivia sighed sadly. “She ended up losing the baby before her due date."

  "Oh, man." Andrew stopped comparing the handwriting on the letters she’d given him and shook his head. "That's rough."

  "Yeah, but it's still not as heartbreaking as this last one." Olivia picked up the letter and cleared her throat. "Dear Ruby. A year ago, my teenage daughter wrote to you about whether or not she should lose her virginity to her boyfriend. She was fifteen at the time. You told her that sexual freedom was a right and that she should embrace it."

  "Uh-oh," Andrew said softly.

  "Three months later, my daughter was pregnant. She chose to have a dangerous abortion procedure and was hospitalized for a month. Maybe next time your column could talk about the consequences of making an adult decision as a child." Olivia looked up to meet Andrew’s sober gaze. "Actually, the language was a lot harsher than that, but you get the idea."

  He shook his head again and said, "At least with the first two, they were adults facing the consequences of their actions, but the third is a mother trying to defend her child who didn't know any better. That's awful."

  "Yeah. I found the original column, but I don't recognize the person who sent it in. I think that if anyone, especially a teenager, had been hospitalized for a month, the town would know about it." In frustration, Olivia set the letter down. "I'm pretty sure this letter originated in one of the other cities where the column was syndicated."

  "That’s going to make it hard to track down."

  "Yes, but it also means that she's probably not our killer. The person who fo
und Madeline was looking for those puppies. That means to me that it's someone in this town." Glancing at the clock, Olivia stood up and stretched. "I've got to go. I've got doggie daycare."

  "Want me to keep looking through the letters?" Andrew asked.

  No. What she really wanted him to do was to talk about what had happened last night, but she just tried to smile brightly as she nodded.

  At least they weren't fighting.

  Natalie was collecting her things when Olivia walked in and said, "Are you working for Celeste this evening, or do you have something fun planned?"

  "Bowling with some friends." Natalie straightened and swung the lime green bag over her shoulder. "You need anything before I go?"

  "No. Thanks for stepping in this morning. I appreciate it."

  Olivia’s assistant paused at the door. “This is going to sound a little strange, but do you plan your outfits?”

  “Do I what?” Olivia gave her a strange look. “Were you thinking of color coordinating with me?”

  “No, but that’s not a bad idea. I like colors.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Olivia said. She shook her head and chuckled. She had started to reach for the computer when she realized that Natalie was still staring at her. “But you want an answer now?”

  “No. You can think about that.” Natalie grinned and tugged on her shirt. “Maybe some bright colored shirts with your logo on it. But what I really needed was an answer to the original question. About whether you plan your outfits?”

  “Ah, no. I usually just wake up and reach for something in the closet,” Olivia said slowly. Natalie could sometimes be a little strange, but this was over the top, even for her.

  “Right. No, of course you don’t.” Olivia’s assistant bit her lower lip and looked anxious. “Do you and Jackie have any plans? At her house? Girls’ night with drinks—or movie night?”

  What in the world was going on? Natalie had just said she was going out bowling with friends, so it couldn’t be that she was lacking for company. “Do you want to be friends with Jackie?”