After they finished their main course Jill said “You better leave room for dessert, you definitely want to try the apple pie. Joanie bakes it herself it's truly an out of this world experience.”
“Hmm, sounds yummy, I'm sure I can fit dessert in. Also, I'm having a great time with you guys. I must say, you've been a real life saver. Had I been there alone by myself today, things would not have gone well. I would not have known what to do other than to call 911. But thanks to you knowing who to call and what to do, it worked out a lot easier.” Cynthia grabbed both their hands in an expression of gratitude.
Mandy said, “Listen, we visited a pet spa with the idea of having a fun time, we had no idea that this would turn into another murder. Let me tell you, this is not something we relish. For whatever reason, we happened to be at places when a murder is committed and we got caught up in it through circumstances that forced our hand. I'm glad that we were able to help.”
“Do you own a pet?” Jill asked Cynthia.
“I had a Shitzu and unfortunately he died of old age. I haven't been able to bring myself to get another dog.” Cynthia said sadly.
“Oh, you're not alone, I understand completely.” Mandy said. “It took me seven years to have the mind frame to get another cat, and the reason Roger is in my life is thanks to Jill. She united me with this wonderful animal, thanks to her perseverance. I hesitated quite a bit at the thought of getting a new cat, but getting Roger was the best thing I did at this stage in my life. Roger is truly a blessing.”
“Yeah, I had to twist her arm, and she was sore at me more than once for even suggesting it.” Jill said, ribbing Mandy. “How long has it been since your Shitzu passed?”
“It's been a year” Cynthia said.
“Yeah that's a short time period. Well, when you're ready, you'll find a great new dog to keep you company.” Jill said.
“They say time heals all wounds, I guess I'm just going to wait and give it time. I'm still relatively young and I imagine there will be another dog out there for me, somewhere.”
“Well, when you're ready, talk to me, I have great connections at a shelter.”
“I'll keep that in mind.” Cynthia said. “Well guys, it's time for me to go home. I must call the employees that can help me tomorrow with getting the animals that are there out of the spa until the investigation is resolved. I'm also going to give Allen a call again. I feel terrible because he seemed like such a nice guy. I hope he turns himself in.”
“No problem, we'll give you a ride. Also, I want to say this up front Cynthia, if you need anything, any help or just want to talk, you can call either of us, we're happy to help. Don't get shy or feel weird because you just met us. We understand that this is a horrible situation, so don't feel that you're all alone in this world with no one who'll understand.” Mandy said.
“I'll keep that in mind. I'm pretty sure that I'll feel better as the night goes on. But thanks, thanks for everything.” Cynthia replied.
So, everyone went home for a little peace and solace, still recuperating from the events of the day.
Once Mandy got home, she fed Roger and thought of all the things that had happened. What a horrible day. While cleaning out the contents of her bag, she came across the notebook she had found earlier. She said to herself “I forgot to give this to Cynthia.”
She started to study the contents, and it looked like an old accountant's notebook. A strange collection of numbers, entries that dated on a regular basis and the amounts carefully detailed. Listings of when certain deposits were made, big sums of money listed on a regular basis. People usually kept track of accounting activities on a computer. Mandy thought to herself why did Karen do this stuff by hand? Did she truly like the old school ways of doing things on paper? Then she remembered what Cynthia had said that Jeffrey hired Karen and had her take over the books. Karen kept the company numbers in a notebook? Something didn't make sense here.
Chapter Seven
The next day, Cynthia was not having much luck with anything. First, she couldn't get a hold of most of the owners of the animals the night before. She hoped to be able to contact them today and get an idea of how many animals she could remove from the spa. The second thing troubling her was getting people to come to work. Word had spread someone murdered Karen and this just spooked everybody. Nobody wanted to come to the office. Nobody wanted to be in an environment of bad vibes and death. The chances of anybody coming in, late or at all, were slim to none.
As a result, she performed the jobs usually divided up among three to four people. She checked on the animals to make sure they got fed this morning. The cleaning of the cages and playing with the animals could be dealt with later. She couldn't do this by herself.
In the middle of all this, Jeffrey came into the office. He didn't look too good, apparently Karen's murder had affected him badly. As a result, he did not have a cheerful disposition this morning. Cynthia shared with him her lack of progress and the absence of employees. This angered him.
“Look, tell these people if they don't come in today, don't bother coming in at all, and we'll have to hire new people in the future.” Jeffrey said.
“Look Jeffrey, I'm not happy this is happening either, but we can't fire them. You start hiring new people and training them, you may be out of business for a while. Our current employees are scared, and understandably so. Someone's been murdered at the place where they work, and they want to avoid being in that environment.
“These are regular people that come in, do their job, and go home, not unlike retail workers. They're not trained professionals doing a job in which lives depend on. Actually, they sort of do, but they didn't go to school to become vets. They just learned to feed and clean animals, and we had to train them. So we can't make rash decisions and threaten people with firing them because then you're going to alienate your workers, and that's never a good situation for an owner to be in.” Cynthia explained.
“Well, when you put it that way, you're right. This is a tough situation all around. I didn't get much sleep last night, which is no doubt affecting my judgment. How are you holding out?” Jeffrey asked, calming down a bit.
“I had a rotten night, I kept thinking of what happened to poor Karen. The whole image of finding her dead in the office kept playing in my mind. I don't know when I'm going to go back to normal. In addition, I had no word from Allen, which is confirming my worst suspicions. It continues to add to my general overall mood, which is lousy right now.” Cynthia said.
“Well, I didn't want to say anything because, as you are well aware of, I'm biased when it comes to Karen, but I always found Allen weird, and this confirms my suspicions. I didn't make him out to be a murderer, but actions speak louder than words, and since we haven't heard from this guy, it tells me he's on the run. Why he felt compelled to kill Karen is beyond me. Such a waste of a human life. But these guys are trained to kill, and sometimes, they go off the deep end, and this is the result.” Jeffrey said, quite upset.
“I have to agree it definitely looks bad for Allen. I tried reaching out to him and I haven't heard from him. It's truly a shame because he's a very nice guy. He only gets upset cause Karen is continually flirting and showing off her body. After the blowout they had, I figured that was the end of their relationship. I didn't think he wanted to kill her.” Cynthia said.
“Yeah, I'm very familiar with Karen showing off, I've seen her action.” Jeffrey said from his experiences when he dated Karen. “Still, it's no reason to kill Karen.”
“And it's also sad because Karen had recently hooked up with some friends from back in high school. They truly enjoyed seeing her for the first time after many years and amazed at how she had changed. Karen didn't have many friends and these people are very nice.” Cynthia said.
“What people do you mean?”
“Mandy and Jill. Karen ran into them at the business luncheon for the first time in decades. They didn't recognize her. Mandy explained to me Karen used to be overweight and pre
tty mixed up head-wise in high school. Another thing she told me was that Karen used to dye her hair jet black because of her involvement in the Goth scene.” Cynthia said.
“Really? I never would have thought that.” Jeffrey said, honestly surprised.
“When they first saw her, they didn't recognize her. In their minds, they had that image of somebody with jet black hair and overweight. They were very happy for Karen, and how she had turned her life around. They had a good meeting at the luncheon. They came yesterday because they wanted to check out the pet spa. And they helped me so much during the crisis. I tell you Jeffrey, if it wasn't for Mandy calling up her friend, the police captain, I'm not sure that we would have gotten such a quick response.” Cynthia continued.
“Mandy is friends with the police captain? How so?” Jeffrey asked, curious.
“They've known each other since high school. Apparently, Mandy and Jill are some of the holdouts in this neighborhood. They never left, whereas most people move out of their hometown and go live somewhere else.” Cynthia explained.
“Did Mandy get to speak to Karen much yesterday?” Jeffrey asked.
“Not exactly. They walked in when Karen and Allen were having a big blowout. He walked out in a huff after his last words. Karen was not in the mood to be social. So, I showed them the place. They love pets and are in the process of researching the pet spa business, but wanted to find out what goes on in one before doing anything. From what I understand, they did a lot of catching up at the luncheon. At least, that's what Mandy said.” Cynthia continued.
“It's too bad Karen didn't live to continue her friendships. More importantly, live out the rest of her natural life.” Jeffrey said still upset.
“Yeah, this is definitely the worst thing I've ever experienced.” Cynthia said.
“I'm sorry you had to find the body. Well, with any luck the cops will be done soon and we can get on with the day-to-day business. See if you can contact owners to pick up the animals and give a call again to our employees missing in action, perhaps they had a change of heart, or they calmed down enough to come to work.” Jeffrey said.
“I'll see what happens Jeffrey, but as to the employees, don't hold your breath. They're pretty scared and freaked out.” Cynthia replied.
Cynthia called the couple of employees who regularly worked at the spa. Her calls went directly to voicemail, nobody picked up. Cynthia thought to herself, I guess they're not having a change of heart. She wondered who else she could to call to help her out on this day. Then she remembered what Mandy had said about calling her if she needed anything. She wondered if she'd be perceived as too pushy. Well, it doesn't hurt to find out. Mandy did say call her if she needed help with anything. She had a big dilemma. Besides, it's only for a couple of hours. Cynthia called Mandy.
“Hi Mandy, it's Cynthia.”
“Hi Cynthia, is everything ok?” asked Mandy.
“Well, not really. I hate to make this call, and I hope you don't get mad at me, but I tried calling the employees of the spa, and not one of them wants to come in today on account of Karen being murdered. They claimed it's a highly charged atmosphere, bad vibes, but they don't want to come in. I wondered if I could enlist you and Jill to help me out. It's mostly making sure there's food for the animals and their litter is ok. I understand if you want to decline, but I'm just asking.”
“No, it's ok Cynthia, I can definitely come over and help. I'll ask Jill if she's available and I'm sure we can come together to the spa.” Mandy said.
“Thanks so much Mandy, I'm at my wits end how I'm going to tie these loose ends together.” Cynthia said gratefully relieved.
They both hung up and then Cynthia thought of something else. She hadn't checked on Vance. She had been so pre-occupied with people coming to work and contacting pet owners, she forgot to see how he was this morning. After his episode yesterday and the state he was in, she wondered if he actually came to work today. She went out of the spa to check up on him. She saw him walking out the main door of the building.
“Vance, Vance” Cynthia called out.
Vance turned around and smiled at seeing Cynthia. He seemed chirpy considering his behavior yesterday.
“Hi Vance, just wondering how you felt today. I know you didn't have a good day yesterday.”
“Oh Cynthia, thank you for asking. Charley, the counselor from the clinic, took me back to the clinic and they gave me a new medication. I had run out of my regular meds two days ago and didn't feel well yesterday. However, today I am feeling much better. I am wiser and healthier.” Vance explained with a smile to show he was making a joke. “
“That's great Vance, I'm glad they gave you something to make you feel better.” Cynthia said relieved.
“Yes, I'm going to be ok today. It's truly amazing what these medications can do to you. Also, thank you very much for taking the time to care yesterday. If you hadn't called the clinic, I might have gone into a major funk.” Vance said, with a goofy smile, no doubt a by-product of whatever medication they gave him. “Well, I have to make my rounds, I will see you later.”
“I'll see you later Vance.” Cynthia said. She thought to herself, he's right, it's amazing what they can do with these drugs today. He's like a new person today. Well, it's one less person to worry about.
Chapter Eight
Mandy gave Jill a call to see if she was available. “Hi Jill, I got a call from Cynthia regarding the pet spa.”
“What happened?” Jill asked.
“Apparently, she tried calling up a couple of the regular employees and none of them want to come in on account of the murder.” Mandy said.
“Yes, I can understand perfectly, if they're learning about it for the first time when she's calling them to come in. I'm sure it's a big clash of emotions, fear, uncertainty, being exposed to an environment where a horrible act has been committed. It will keep anybody away who has to work there for 8 hours.” Jill elaborated.
“But since we've been there already, she asked if we could help her out cause she needs the extra hands. I told her I'd call you and check if you were available. I understand it's not the optimal situation, but we get a chance to see how the pet spa actually works. We can actually get our hands dirty, doing the real work.” Mandy explained.
“Well, most people would say no, but having the experience of working at the animal shelter, I know better than anyone situations where animals need taking care of and there aren't enough people to take care of them.” Jill said.
“Great, I hoped you'd want to go. I wanted to go to learn more about the spa. I also want Roger to meet up with Lana again and see if they hit if off again today or if that situation lasted only one day. And there's something else I want to investigate.” Mandy said.
“Something you want to investigate? I thought we agreed this was a domestic matter?” Jill said, a little confused.
“Well, I found something I need to discuss with you later. I came across it while taking care of Roger at the spa, a notebook. When I first found it, I thought I'd give it to Cynthia, but in yesterday's activities, I forgot. I discovered it still in my bag last night when I got home. I studied its contents, and it's a bookkeeper's notebook. However, there are quite a number of large sums, and it looks a little cryptic. Anyway, I'm not going to get into it now, but there might be more to Karen's murder than just a simple domestic act.” Mandy explained.
“You're not going to start investigating this murder? Fred is going to have a major fit if he finds out you've been snooping.” Jill reminded Mandy.
“Well, right now, I'm not investigating the murder. I just found something, I need a second pair of eyes to look at this, give me honest feedback, and then we can either dismiss it and give it to Cynthia, or we keep it and be on the lookout in case anybody starts asking for it. If someone starts asking for the notebook, it means they know what this represents. I have a feeling this is not exactly a squeaky clean notebook, but one containing insidious information.” Mandy said, half-joking and h
alf-serious.
“Well, if you ask me, this sounds like the beginning of a revolting predicament.” Jill said jokingly.
“We'll take it one step at a time, first you look at it and you give me your first impression.” Mandy said.
“Alright, I'll look at it.” Jill said, thinking to herself, get this whole thing over with quickly as possible, and to make sure Mandy got rid of it.
“Great. I think first we should go help Cynthia at the spa.” Mandy said.
“I agree, that's the first priority.” Jill said.
They hung up and started to get ready to leave for the spa. Mandy said to Roger “C'mon Roger, we're going to the spa again and you'll get to play with Lana.”
Mandy put the leash on Roger and grabbed the things she needed for the spa. She made sure she put the notebook away in a secure place. She wanted Jill to look at it, find out if her journalistic instinct told her something didn't add up, like her own instinct did. Mandy got to the pet spa first. She saw Vance sitting outside, he seemed happy. Hopefully in better spirits than yesterday.
“Hi Vance, how are you feeling today?” Mandy asked.
“Much better, thank you. They took care of me at the clinic last night and I'm on a new medication. I feel much better today.” Vance replied, again, looking overly happy.
“I'm so glad to hear you're better Vance.” Mandy said.
“Is it ok to pet Roger?” Vance asked eagerly.
“Let's see if he's in a mood to be petted.” Vance put out his hand and Roger went towards it. Vance petted Roger and Mandy could see how happy this made him.
“He's such a great cat, you are so lucky to have him. I wish I had a cat like Roger.” Vance said enthusiastically.
Murder at the Pet Spa Page 5