Three Barks For Murder

by Gayle, Susie

  I hadn’t thought of that. “True. But that means that either of them would have had to sneak through the kitchen twice—once to go outside, and once to get back in.”

  “Hmm. Did you see the friend go into the basement?”

  I nod. “Yeah, definitely. The door was right off the kitchen.”

  “Are you sure there wasn’t another way out down there?” Sammy asks. “Most basements have a second exit, like Bilco doors or something.”

  “Hm.” That’s a good point. “No, I don’t know if it does or not.”

  “Okay. One more question. Does Karen know that you were in the bathroom during the same time that she said she was in the bathroom?”

  I think about it for a long moment. “No, I didn’t mention it. But there could be more than one bathroom.”

  “Then that’s your next move.”

  “What is?”

  “Talk to Karen.” He takes a long sip of beer, watching my reaction.

  “What? Why? That sounds terrible. I don’t want to do that.”

  “You don’t have enough information,” Sammy says simply. “You need to know two things. Number one: Did Karen tell the cops that she was in the room the whole time? Because if she did, that could implicate Sarah in the eyes of the police. If she didn’t, signs would point to your ex-wife. Number two: What bathroom does Karen claim to have used? If she says upstairs, you know she’s lying.”

  “Huh,” I murmur. “I guess that’s true. But what motive could Karen have to kill Jeff?”

  He shrugs. “I don’t know, but between you and me, it didn’t seem like her and Jeff were ‘shopping for a birthday present’ when I saw them together the other day.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Barber’s intuition.”

  I scoff. “That is not a thing.”

  “Sure it is.”

  “Well, think hard. Did you actually overhear any part of their conversation?”

  He strokes his chin again. “You know what, I did. It’s the whole reason I brought it up to you in the first place. I saw them at the coffee shop, Better Latte Than Never, and as I walked by their table I heard Karen say something about how upset Jeff’s wife would be ‘if she found out.’ That’s why I assumed they were sneaking around behind her back.”

  “Jeez,” I mutter—and not because of the notion that Karen might have been messing around with a married man, but because Sam’s right. I’m going to have to talk to her, and find out what she told the police. Any way you slice it, it looks bad; either Sarah is going to the top of the suspect list, or Karen is going to look really guilty.

  CHAPTER 9

  * * *

  I love when people say, “It goes without saying…” because they almost always follow it up immediately by saying the thing that goes without saying. But I guess I’m a big ol’ hypocrite, because it goes without saying that I didn’t sleep much last night.

  After leaving the Runside, it was too late for me to go calling at Karen’s door, so I headed home with Rowdy and tried in vain to get some shuteye. But too many thoughts were intruding on my mind. What if Karen was trying to silence Jeff for his infidelity? What if Anna had found out about it and took her ire out on her husband? And what about Steven, the “friend of the family” that I know nothing about? Could he have motive to kill his pal?

  Early the next morning, I stop off at Better Latte Than Never and get the largest available size cup of coffee before I head to the shop. I go about my duties in a sleep-deprived, caffeine-fueled stupor until Sarah comes in. I can tell immediately by her own zombie-like expression, eyelids half-closed and mouth frowning, that she didn’t sleep much either.

  “Morning,” I say, refusing to add a “good” to it.

  “Hey. I’ve been thinking.”

  “Yeah, me too. You go first.”

  “I’m thinking that I should head to the police station and tell Chief Mayhew about Karen,” she says somberly.

  “Okay,” I say slowly. “You can tell her that you were in shock and forgot that Karen had left the room—”

  “No,” Sarah says forcefully. “I really think honesty is the best policy here. I’ll just tell her that I didn’t want to put any guilt on Karen.”

  “You realize, though, that if Karen didn’t tell the chief the same thing, she’ll likely go right to the top of the suspect list?” And if she did, the same might apply for Sarah—though I don’t say that part out loud.

  She nods. “I know. But it’s eating at me.”

  “Alright. But before you go, will you keep an eye on the shop for just a few minutes? I have to run a really quick errand.”

  “Uh… okay,” she says, confused. “Where are you going?”

  “Just to the bank. Back in a flash.”

  ***

  It’s not a lie, not really. Karen works as a loan officer, and even though she doesn’t work for my bank, it’s still a bank.

  It only takes me a few minutes to get there, and when I head inside a smiling teller greets me politely. “Can I help you, sir?”

  “Uh, I’m looking for Karen Bear. I just need to talk to her for a minute—”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Karen isn’t in today. She’s not feeling well.”

  “Okay… thanks.”

  Back out in the car, I tap my fingers on the steering wheel as I think. I don’t have Karen’s phone number, on account of her changing it while she was living in Portland, and I don’t know where she’s living. I know that Karen was staying with her mom when she first moved back to town, but that was months ago, and…

  Wait a second. At the adoption event, she said that her apartment was cat-friendly. There are only three big apartment complexes in town; Sarah lives in one of them, and I know her place isn’t pet-friendly. Another, on Wilshire Boulevard, is less than a block away from the house that Karen and I used to share, and it would be visible from almost any of the apartments. I take a gamble that it’s the third and head north.

  The Gardens at Seaview Rock is the newest of the three complexes; even though it’s built in the mandated mid-nineteenth century style, the apartments are nice and every one of them includes a balcony, which suits Karen’s appreciation of a place with a view. I pull into the lot and check the names on the mailboxes until I strike gold; the name “Bear” is written on a piece of masking tape fixed to the box for apartment 2C.

  I head upstairs and knock on the door. It doesn’t have a peephole, so she won’t see me coming.

  “Who is it?” she calls out.

  Okay, so maybe she’ll hear me coming instead.

  “Uh, it’s Will.”

  She opens the door just a few inches, leaving the chain lock on. “How’d you know I was home?”

  “The bank told me you called in sick.”

  “Yeah. After last night, I just needed some time alone. What do you want?”

  “I just… wanted to stop by and make sure you were okay.”

  She rolls her eyes. “Uh-huh. What are you really doing here?”

  “It’s important. Just let me in.”

  She frowns for a moment, but then closes the door, slides the chain off, and opens the door for me. She wears sweatpants and an old t-shirt and cradled in one arm is Pookie, the cat she adopted.

  Once the door is closed again, she regards me flatly and asks, “Okay, now what do you want, Will?”

  I think quickly about how to go about this. I can’t be brusque or accusatory; that’s not the way to get information. There is another route, but it involves lying to my ex-wife to potentially save my girlfriend from being a suspect in a murder that she most definitely did not commit. Am I willing to do that?

  Yeah. Turns out I am.

  “I’m actually here because of Sarah,” I tell her. “See, last night, when the cops took our statements, she told them about you leaving the room for a short while. The guilt is eating at her; she’s afraid it’s going to make you a prime suspect.”
/>
  Karen scoffs. “We’re all suspects, aren’t we?”

  “For now, yeah. I guess so. But she just wants to know if you told the police the same thing.”

  Karen purses her lips, thinking. “Come to think of it, no, I forgot to mention that.” She sighs. “I guess I’ll have to get dressed and go down there.”

  “You probably should. Um… by the way. Where did you go when you left the room?”

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but I used the bathroom.”

  “I was in the bathroom then.”

  She scoffs. “Will, you saw the size of that house, right? They have two bathrooms. One upstairs and one downstairs.”

  “Oh. I didn’t realize.” Then why on earth did Anna send me to the bathroom upstairs?

  “Wait,” she says suddenly. “This isn’t you trying to help me.” She points accusingly. “You’re interrogating me! You think I could have done this? Are you nuts?”

  “No, it’s not like that—”

  “Oh, yes it is! Because if I left the room, that means your little girlfriend was unaccounted for at the time, doesn’t it? Which makes her just as much of a suspect as the rest of us.”

  CHAPTER 10

  * * *

  “Sarah couldn’t have done it!” I protest.

  “Oh? Why not?” Karen challenges.

  “She had no motive.”

  “And I did?”

  Well, so much for not being accusatory. “Yeah, maybe you did,” I tell her. “Because I know that you weren’t shopping for a birthday present with Jeff Abernathy. I looked Anna up on social media. Her birthday isn’t for another five months.” During my sleepless night before, after Sammy revealed the new details, I looked Anna up through the account I keep online for the pet shop. Her profile is public, and I saw that her birthday is actually in May.

  Karen’s mouth falls open a little, but she doesn’t say anything. Instead she seethes at me through narrowed eyes.

  “So?” I ask. “Do you want to tell me what was really going on between you and Jeff? Or do you want to tell the police?”

  She sets the cat down first so that she can throw both hands in the air dramatically. “Fine! You really want to know? Jeff and Anna were in the process of separating—possibly even divorcing.”

  “Oh,” I say meekly. “I probably should’ve guessed that. I’ve never met two people so incompatible.”

  “It wasn’t just that. Jeff had made some stupid financial decision in the last year or so. He got all giddy on the big contract from Sprawl-Mart and was throwing money around left and right. Anna wanted him gone. The only things keeping them together were the house and the dog—Jeff would have lost both in a divorce. So he refused to leave. I’ve been the shoulder Anna’s cried on for months now.”

  I’m starting to put it together. “So when you two were out getting coffee…”

  “I was trying to talk some sense into him. I told him I was tired of seeing Anna upset. He confided in me that he’d just made another bad decision, spending thousands to put that stupid parquet floor in their house. I told him that if he had any decency, he’d leave.”

  Aha. So when Sammy overheard Karen say that Anna would be upset “if she found out,” she was talking about how much money Jeff had spent on his latest project.

  “And the whole thing with Cheese, the adoption dog,” I ask, “was that just some attempt at keeping them together?”

  Karen nods. “Yeah. It was Jeff’s version of the way some people have kids to rekindle their relationship.”

  “Oh.” So when Anna told him that getting a second dog was dumb, and that he knew why, she was talking about their pending separation. “And Jeff refused to leave, but Anna wanted him gone…”

  Whoops. Shouldn’t have said that last part out loud. Karen’s jaw tightens and she sticks a finger in my face. “Don’t even suggest that she could have done something like that!”

  “Okay. Let’s calm down a second. So it wasn’t you, and it wasn’t me, or Sarah, or Anna. So it must have been Steven, right?” This time I throw my hands up melodramatically. “Great! Look at us, we solved it!”

  “That’s not what I’m saying. I don’t really know much about Steven. But I do know Anna, and she wouldn’t have done it. She’s not capable of something like that.”

  Hoo boy, is that the wrong thing to say. I really want to reply with something like, “You’d be surprised what people are capable of,” in the hopes that Karen picks up the reference to her and her affair—which was indeed at the time the last thing I thought her capable of—but before I can say anything, three loud bangs sound on her door, like someone knocking with a closed fist.

  “Now who is it?” Karen grumbles. She throws the door open and then takes a step back, as surprised as I am to find Officer Tom and Chief Mayhew on the other side.

  “Karen Bear,” Patty says, taking a step inside. “I’m sorry to have to do this, but you’re under arrest for suspicion of murder.” She nods her head at Tom.

  “Please put your hands on your head and turn around,” he tells my ex as he reaches for the cuffs on his belt.

  “Wait, no… this isn’t right…” Karen stammers, tears welling in her eyes.

  “Karen,” Patty warns, “please don’t make this difficult.”

  “I… I…” She has trouble forming words but complies with their request. As she turns, she faces me. “Will, tell them I didn’t do it!”

  Patty looks up as if just now seeing me. “Will, what are you doing here?” she asks sternly.

  “I was just… checking up on her,” I tell the chief, still in shock myself.

  “You have the right to remain silent,” Tom begins reading her rights as Karen’s eyes bore into mine until I have to look away.

  “Will!” she shouts.

  “What makes you sure it was her?” I demand of Patty.

  “Every other statement was consistent with our findings but hers,” Patty tells me. “Until forensics turns up otherwise, she’s our lead suspect. Sorry, Will.”

  CHAPTER 11

  * * *

  I head back to the pet shop, feeling mostly numb—and not from the cold. My thoughts seem as if they’re grappling with themselves; on the one hand, I’m not entirely sure that it couldn’t have been Karen, but another part of me insists that the woman I was married to for seven years wouldn’t have it in her to kill someone.

  I enter the shop to find Sarah sitting on the floor petting Rowdy. She looks up at me and can tell immediately that something is wrong.

  “They just arrested Karen for suspicion,” I tell her flatly.

  Sarah’s hand flies over her mouth. “Oh my god! I didn’t think they would… Will, this is my fault!”

  “No it’s not. You can’t think like that—”

  “You don’t understand. While you were gone, I called Patty and told her that Karen had left the room.” She shakes her head sadly, and then abruptly looks back to me. “Wait, how do you know they arrested her?”

  “I was there. I went to talk to her about what she knows.”

  “You lied to me,” she says quietly.

  “No, I… yeah. I did. I’m sorry. I just didn’t want you to be a murder suspect.” I refrain from using the word “again.” “I’m really sorry, Sarah.”

  “Do you think she did it?” she asks me suddenly.

  “I don’t know. I suppose she could, physically, but I don’t see a clear motive—”

  “Not with your head. What does your heart tell you? Do you think she did it?”

  I shake my head slowly. “No, I guess I don’t.”

  “Okay then.” Sarah gets up off the floor and unties her apron. “Then we’ve narrowed it down to two suspects: Anna and Steven. I don’t think the police would arrest Karen solely on the strength of my statement, so something that one or both of them said must have incriminated her further. We need to find out what it was, and… what?”

  She pauses
as I take her gently by the shoulders. “Sarah, just because I don’t want to believe she did it doesn’t mean that she didn’t. I think we should just wait until the police get hard evidence, and then—”

  “I’m not going to do that. I don’t think she did it, and I know what it’s like to sit in jail and be accused of something you didn’t do. Her being there is partially my fault, so I want to do what I can to help her.” She takes one of my hands in both of hers and adds, “You should, too.”

  “Fine,” I mutter. “But there’s one problem. We don’t know Steven’s last name, or how to contact him, or where he lives.”

  “True, but we know someone who does. Which means we know where to start.”

  I groan a little. “I don’t want to go back there. She said she never wanted to see any of us again.”

  “Well, we don’t always get what we want,” Sarah says as she reaches for her jacket.

  “Wait. I think I should go alone,” I tell her.

  “Why?”

  “Because if Anna didn’t do it, it might seem suspicious to her that two of the four suspects—the two she knows the least—show up together. And if she did do it… well, she might feel threatened and clam up.”

  Sarah frowns, but puts her jacket back on the hook behind the counter. “Fair point. Okay, go, and hurry back and tell me everything.”

  ***

  Ten minutes later, I knock on the door to the palatial colonial house for the tenth time, bouncing lightly on my heels with the cold. Anna’s car is in the driveway, but so far I haven’t seen or heard a peep of her; only Oliver the German shepherd barking at me from inside.

  After the eleventh time knocking, the curtains part for just a second, and I catch a glimpse of Anna’s scowling face. A small speaker next to the doorbell crackles and her voice comes through.

  “I thought I said I never wanted to see you again,” she says through the intercom.