by Susie Gayle
“Try telling Sarah that.”
“That’ll be the hard part. She’s always wanted what she’s never had: to impress Mom.”
“Until now,” I say. “Melinda’s giving her exactly what she wants.”
“Is that really such a bad thing, though?” Dennis asks. “Even if it’s not entirely sincere, as long as Sarah believes it, isn’t that good enough?”
“I guess that’s not up to us to decide,” I admit. We drop the subject, for now at least.
At around nine-thirty, a familiar blue minivan pulls up and, a minute later, Adam and Lindsay enter the shop with their grooming supplies.
“Good morning, Pet Shop Stop!” Adam says exuberantly. I’m not sure the guy knows how not to be enthusiastic. “Should we set up in the back, like last time?”
“Yeah, go for it,” I tell him. “We put up some signs and handed out flyers, but I’m not sure how great business will be on the first day.”
“We did some canvassing of our own around here and Bridgeton,” Lindsay tells us. “Who knows? Might be better than we expect.” She smiles sweetly. “Hi, Dennis.”
He blushes fiercely as she passes by him, his cheeks matching her pink hair. I smirk.
“Shut up,” he mutters to me.
***
Lindsay turns out to be right. By one thirty, we have seven grooming customers come and go, including six dogs and one very displeased Persian cat that yowls the entire time while Adam sings to it.
Once the cat is finished and gone, Lindsay stretches her arms out at her sides and says, “Phew! That’s the busiest we’ve been in forever. I’m starving.”
Behind the counter, I nudge Dennis with an elbow and gesture toward her with my chin.
“What?” he whispers.
“Take her to lunch,” I whisper back.
“…I can’t.”
“Yes you can. And if you don’t, I’m going to greet you with chicken sounds every time I see you for the rest of your life.”
“That’s not fair!”
I cluck loudly, just once, prompting both Adam and Lindsay to turn, startled, in my direction.
“You’re such a jerk,” Dennis grumbles.
“You’ll thank me later.”
He shoots me one more scowl, takes a deep breath, and marches toward the rear of the store. “Lindsay? Uh, there’s a pretty good pizza place nearby, if you’re, um, interested in going. With me, that is.” He clears his throat. Adam glances over at me and we share a grin.
“Sure.” She smiles warmly. “That sounds nice. Adam, do you want to come?”
“No, no,” he says, “I’m going to clean up here. Why don’t you bring me back a slice of pepperoni?”
The two of them leave. On the way out, Dennis shoots me a smile and a thumbs-up.
“That’s not weird for you, is it?” I ask Adam.
“Nah,” he says, wiping down his table. “Dennis seems nice. And… a bit eccentric, which is kind of Lindsay’s type. Hey, do you mind if I open this back door? I want to clean the pet hair out of my brushes.”
“Go for it,” I tell him.
“I think that Persian clogged your sink,” he tells me. “Don’t worry, though, I’ll take care of it.”
“I appreciate it,” I tell him as my phone rings in my pocket. “Hey, Sarah. What’s up?”
“Have you seen my mother?” she asks.
“No… I thought she was with you.” The whole reason Sarah stayed home today was to spend time with Melinda.
“She wanted to do some sightseeing around town, and I wanted to work on my proposal a bit, so she took Dennis’s car and we agreed to meet at Wok This Way at one thirty,” she tells me. “I’m here, but she’s not, and I can’t reach her on her cell.”
“Huh. I’m sure she’ll turn up; maybe she just lost track of time.”
“Maybe,” Sarah agrees. “Hey, do you know what she said to me this morning? She said that she can’t believe she raised such a capable daughter.” Sarah laughs a little. “I was in shock.”
“Yeah…” I pinch the bridge of my nose. I don’t want to tell her. I really don’t want to tell her. But she deserves to know. “Sarah, listen…” At the rear of the store, Adam comes back inside, leaving the back door open. He rolls the sleeve of his t-shirt up to his shoulder and sticks his hand into the clogged sink.
“What is it, Will?”
“Hang on a sec.” I go around the counter and outside to the curb for some privacy. “Last night,” I tell her, “when you and Dennis went to the restroom at the Runside, I spoke with your mother…”
“Will,” she interjects, “you don’t have to tell me anything. That’s between you two; I don’t need any more convincing that she’s changed.”
I almost scoff. I can’t tell her now, not after that. “You’re right,” I say instead. “I’m sure she’ll be there any minute. Enjoy your lunch.”
After I hang up, I stand there out on the sidewalk for a while, simultaneously enjoying the sunshine and wondering just how I’m supposed to tell Sarah that Melinda is still up to her old ways—if I should even tell her at all.
“Hey, Will!” I turn to see Sammy walking up the street toward me, waving.
“Hey Sam, what are you doing here?”
“Eh, business is slow today at the barbershop. Figured I’d pop in for a quick visit, see how the grooming thing is going.”
“The grooming thing is going just fine,” I tell him. “Why did you really come by?”
He shakes his head and laughs. “You can read me like a book.” He sighs. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you, Will. It’s kind of important, at least to me.” He looks around and adds, “I feel a little exposed out here. Can we go inside and chat?”
“Sure, Sam.” I have a pretty good idea of what he wants to talk about, and I’m fairly certain it has to do with him and Karen. I turn and tug on the door to the pet shop… but it doesn’t open. It’s locked.
“That’s weird,” I mutter. I pat my apron pockets, but I don’t have my keys on me. I knock on the glass. “Adam? Adam, can you unlock the door?” I say to Sam, “The back door should still be open. Let’s go around.”
The two of us head quickly to the rear of the building. I can’t imagine why Adam would have locked me out, and in the few seconds it takes us to go around my mind entertains all sorts of possibilities—chief among them that I trusted a total stranger to be in the store alone. Who’s to say he didn’t swipe the cash from the register and take off?
I get my answer as soon as we enter the open back door. Both of us freeze.
“Oh my god,” Sammy murmurs.
“Call 911,” I tell him quickly as I dash over to Adam, who is doubled over the wide stainless steel sink, his head completely submerged in the water. I pull him out and lay him on his back and start CPR.
CHAPTER 7
* * *
“So just to be clear,” Patty asks me, “you were the only one here at the time?”
“Yes. No. Sort of.” I describe the situation to her a third time. “I went outside to talk to Sarah on the phone. Sammy came up. We tried to go back inside; the front door was locked. The back door was open.”
And Adam Barker was already dead.
Years ago, right after my divorce, I was in a pretty bad place and wouldn’t leave the house except to go to the pet shop. Eventually Sammy managed to force me out by signing us both up to be volunteer firefighters. I never actually got to fight a fire, but I did learn some emergency techniques—the most useful among them being CPR. But even being a card-carrying lifesaver couldn’t save him.
While Sammy called 911, I kept trying to revive Adam. I don’t know how long I was there, alternating between chest compressions and ventilation, but it was Patty Mayhew, the chief of police of Seaview Rock, that eventually pulled me away.
Patty jots a few more notes down on her pad and then flips it closed. She’s a stout, stern woman that has gotten me out
of trouble on more than one occasion. I’ve worked with her in the past on murder investigations, so I know firsthand that she’s as capable as she is discerning.
Nearby, Officer Tom inspects the sink and surrounding area for any sort of evidence of foul play. No one has said it yet, but I don’t think anyone believes that Adam accidentally drowned in fourteen inches of water.
Outside the store, Lindsay sits on the curb with her knees bunched up to her chest as Sarah consoles her. Dennis paces back and forth behind them. Sammy leans against the counter on the other side of the store. Patty already questioned us both, and now she’s just waiting for the county coroner to come for the body. Funny thing that is, how once someone is dead they’re no longer Adam or Will or Sammy—they’re “the body.”
Officer Tom carefully gets down on his hands and knees and inspects underneath the sink and the floor. I know one thing he won’t find.
When Patty pulled me away from Adam, I fell back on my haunches and landed on something small and round. While Patty checked for a pulse, I reached beneath me and picked it up.
It was a pearl.
I don’t know why I did it, but I stuffed it into my pocket quickly. And no, I didn’t tell Patty about it.
“Listen, Will,” says Patty, “maybe you should take his sister home and get her as settled as you can. I don’t think I need to tell you this, but… until further notice, the Pet Shop Stop is closed.”
I nod. I knew that was coming, but it still hurts to hear it. I’ve been around my fair share of bodies and I’ve helped out on a couple of murders here and there, but there’s never been one in my shop. And to think that I was only feet away when it happened…
“Patty, we both know that this was no accident,” I say, a bit more forcefully than I intend. “This was a murder, and it happened in my store, on my watch. I want to be in on this.” Since I’m a licensed investigator, it’s within Patty’s ability to hire me to work with the police on a case.
But she shakes her head, no. “We’ve been over this before, Will. I can’t bring you onboard when you’re close like this. It’s a conflict of interest.”
“Adam was a good guy. He didn’t deserve this, and I want to find out who did it,” I insist.
Patty looks at me sadly. “That’s exactly why I can’t bring you in on it. You’re already talking like you want some sort of revenge.”
“I barely knew him!” I almost shout. I take a calming breath and say, lower, “It’s not revenge. It’s justice.”
She taps the badge on her chest twice with a finger. “That’s my job. Go home, Will. I’ll call you when I know something.”
Sammy appears beside me. “Go ahead, Will. Take care of the sister; I’ll stick around here and lock up when they’re done.”
“Thanks, Sammy.”
Outside, Sarah sits on the sidewalk beside Lindsay, hugging the younger woman. I kneel beside her. “Lindsay, the police chief thinks I should take you home and get you as comfortable as we can.”
Lindsay looks up at me. I expected her face to be streaked with tears, but her eyes are dry and blank and her face is chalk-white. She’s still in shock, it seems.
“No,” she says softly. “I don’t think I can. We shared a house, me and Adam.”
I look over at Sarah for help. “Why don’t we take you back to our house?” Sarah offers. “You can stay with us for a little while, until we get all this sorted out, okay?”
Lindsay nods once, staring at the ground. “That’s very nice of you. Thank you.”
Sarah helps her to her feet while Dennis continues to pace. “You coming too?” I ask him.
“How did this happen?” he asks breathlessly.
“I don’t know,” I tell him, “but I’m sure the police will find out.”
He lowers his voice to almost a whisper. “Will, there’s something I need to tell you…”
“Will,” says Sarah behind me, “I’ll take her in my car. Meet us back there?”
“Uh, yeah. By the way, what happened with your mom?”
Sarah shrugs. “I don’t know. She never showed up. But there are more important things going on right now.”
“You’re right.” I reach into my pocket and feel the pearl there.
CHAPTER 8
* * *
Sarah sets Lindsay up on the couch with a blanket and a cup of hot tea. “Is there anything else we can get you?” she asks.
Lindsay shakes her head, that faraway look still in her eye.
“Is there someone we can call?”
“Yes,” Lindsay murmurs. “Uncle Max.”
“Uncle Max. Does he live nearby?”
“Bridgeton,” she answers softly. “He’s the only family I have left now.”
Sarah squeezes her shoulder and heads into the kitchen to retrieve Lindsay’s cell phone from her purse. “I’ll call this Uncle Max,” she tells me. “Keep an eye on her for a minute?”
“I can call him,” I offer.
“No offense, Will, but you’re not very good at this sort of thing.” She’s not wrong; when it comes to condolences, breaking bad news, or small talk, I’m pretty lousy. What can I say? I relate to animals way better than people.
When I head back into the living room, I’m pleased to see that Basket, who is usually very anti-stranger, has jumped up onto the couch and nestled beside Lindsay, who strokes his back absentmindedly.
I hear the front door open and the telltale sound of heels on hardwood. Anger roils inside me as I stride briskly to the foyer and stick a finger in Melinda’s surprised face.
“Where have you been?” I practically hiss.
She blinks at me. “Not that it’s your business, but I was out shopping.”
“Oh yeah? Where?”
“Excuse me?”
“Where were you shopping?”
“Several places around town. Why? What is it to you?”
“Where are your pearls, Melinda? That silly pearl necklace you always wear, where is it?”
Her hand instinctively moves to her bare neck and her expression hardens into a glare. “Again, not that it’s any of your concern, but… my necklace was stolen today. I was trying on jewelry and someone took it right off the counter.”
“Uh-huh. Sure. Well, while you were out ‘shopping,’ a man was murdered in my pet shop.”
Melinda’s mouth falls open slightly. “You’re kidding.”
I scoff loudly. “Why would I kid about that? What’s more, I found this there.” I reach into my pocket and pinch the pearl between my thumb and index finger, showing it to her.
Her expression goes completely slack. “Why… that’s not… you can’t… Will, what is all this? What are you trying to say?”
“Mom, there you are!” Sarah joins us suddenly in the foyer and hugs her mother tightly. Melinda pats her on the back, still bewildered and staring at me. “Where were you?”
“I…” She clears her throat. “I was out shopping, dear. Will was just telling me about what happened. I’m so terribly sorry.”
I shake my head in dismay and storm out of the foyer and back to the living room, to find Dennis sitting on the opposite end of the couch from Lindsay. He seems to be saying something, but he clams up as soon as I enter the room.
“What’s going on?” I ask him.
He shrugs, looking thoroughly guilty. “Nothin’.”
I glance over at Lindsay, who blinks back at me with her eyebrows raised. “Dennis was just telling me that you’re a detective.”
I shoot Dennis a quick glare. “Was he now?”
“Is that true?”
“Um… technically, I’m a private investigator. There’s a difference.”
“Are you going to find out what happened to my brother?” she asks with hope in her eyes.
Oh, boy. “Lindsay, I can’t make you any promises.” She stares up at me, a bit of life behind her eyes for the first time since we found her brother. “But… I’ll
do what I can.”
CHAPTER 9
* * *
While we wait for Lindsay’s Uncle Max to arrive from Bridgeton, Dennis keeps an eye on her in the living room and Sarah makes a pot of coffee. I stand nearby in the kitchen, leaning against the counter with my arms folded.
“Hey,” Sarah says, snapping her fingers in front of my face.
“Huh? What?”
“I just said your name three times. Deep in thought?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
She arches an eyebrow. “You’re already thinking of this like a case.”
I shrug. “Can’t help it. I mean, this happened at the Pet Shop Stop, Sarah. That’s the one place stuff like this isn’t supposed to happen.”
“What are you thinking?” she asks.
“I don’t know yet.” I’m certainly going to tell her about my suspicions of Melinda or about the pearl; it would kill Sarah to think that her mother was a potential suspect. All the same, I’m not discounting her until I have solid evidence to the contrary. Everyone else in the world might be innocent until proven guilty, but I’m more than willing to take a leap of faith when it comes to her.
“Patty isn’t going to bring you on for this, is she?” Sarah asks.
“Unfortunately, no. But I guess I should just count myself lucky that I’m not a suspect this time.” It’s happened more than once that the combination of wrong place/wrong time put some doubt on me, but Patty and I have done this dance enough times to know better.
“Will?” Melinda enters the kitchen from the adjacent den, wearing a tight-lipped and obviously forced smile. “Can we speak for just a moment? In private?”
I hesitate. “…Sure.” I start to follow her when Dennis appears in the opposite doorway, leading to the living room.
“Hey, Will, I really need to talk to you,” he insists.
Jeez, suddenly everyone wants my attention. “Give me a few minutes, Dennis.”