Death Comes to a Retreat (Book 4 Molly Masters Mysteries)

by Leslie O'Kane

  “So you put the poor thing into the car and brought her to my house? Why?” The dog waddled past us as we took seats in the living room. Judging from the jingles of her collar, she’d headed into the family room off of the kitchen.

  “I had to tell you something important. I was afraid to let it wait. Molly, I think you’re being set up.”

  It gave me a small measure of relief that someone else could see this, as well. “That’s my impression, too.”

  “Celia told me about how both sets of keys were found in your purse this morning.” She lifted her voice at the end as if this were a question. I nodded, and she went on, “I thought I should tell you something right away.”

  I waited, but she didn’t continue. Thinking how this reminded me of conversing with one of my children, I prompted, “Go on. What?” The back door squeaked. A moment later there were the soft quick thuds of sneakered feet.

  “Mom?” Nathan called. “Is there anything to drink?”

  “Water.”

  “That’s all? “

  “Unless you want to dissolve Cheez Whiz in it.” Under my breath, I said to Julie, “My children are going to be thrilled at having a dog here, however briefly.”

  “What type of dog do you have?” Julie asked, with that presumptuousness of true dog lovers: the concept that everyone wants—and should own—a dog.

  “Oh, boy! Nathan, Rachel, look!” Karen called. Then came the clatter of running feet, as they charged down into the family room.

  “We just have guinea pigs. A neighbor in Carlton is taking care of them.”

  “Whose dog is this?” Nathan called. “It looks sick.”

  “She’s not sick. She’s pregnant, so leave her alone.” I looked at Julie, who, for someone who “couldn’t wait” to tell me something urgent, now seemed to be in no hurry. “You were saying—”

  “Eew! What’s she doing?” Karen cried. “Mom? You’d better come here!”

  “Uh-oh. I’ll bet it’s time,” I said to Julie as I raced into the family room, battling visions of permanent carpet stains. At least the carpet was already brick red.

  Julie raced to the middle of the room, then crouched down and cooed, “Come here, Teak.” Teak snarled at her. “Uh-oh,” Julie said “She doesn’t want to be moved. I never should have brought her.”

  Rachel was looking truly frightened by the commotion and had slunk away, her eyes wide and her hands covering her lips.

  I needed blankets, towels, cleaning supplies, a veterinarian. Thanks to our current transient state, my options were limited. “Karen, quick. Get the pizza box out of the garage. We’ll try to slide it under her.”

  “She’s gonna have puppies in a Dominos box?” Nathan asked in disgust.

  “Well, it’s better than on our carpet.”

  In a flash, Karen returned. We pulled the corners of the box apart and I tried to coax Teak into allowing me to slide it under her.

  “No time to be polite,” Julie said and lifted the back end of the dog just far enough to shove the cardboard underneath. She sat back on her knees, then turned to me. “Anyway, Molly. The thing is, Celia had her keys all along. Or else, she had your keys. At any rate, I saw her putting some keys in her pocket after the lights went back on. I said to her, ‘Oh, great. You found your keys.’ But she just looked at me as if I were crazy and said, ‘No, I didn’t. What are you talking about?’ So I said, ‘I just saw you put a set of keys into the pocket of your skirt.’ To which she said, ‘No, that was just some change. My keys are still missing.’”

  She widened her eyes and spoke with such enthusiasm, she seemed to expect me to applaud. I was torn between trying to absorb what she was saying, all the while concerned about the dog giving birth two feet away from her.

  “Come on, Rach,” Karen said. “We should sing a song to the doggie to soothe her.”

  “Did you see what the keychain looked like?” I asked Julie. Celia’s ring held wooden dice. Mine consisted of two loops on an unadorned metal cylinder, and I’d attached the rental car’s ring with its plastic ID tag.

  “Eew!” Nathan said, half laughing as he pointed at the dog. “What’s that?”

  Teak pushed out what looked like a random organ about the size of my fist. “Here’s the first puppy!” Julie exclaimed. “Now watch. She’s going to eat the placenta.”

  Grimacing, I said, “I don’t think we need to watch—”

  While all of us Masterses plus Rachel gasped, Teak bit into the red glob, and out slid a tiny dark puppy that looked a lot like a wet rat. Then, sure enough, she gulped down the non-puppy part while the three kids giggled and cried, “Eew! Sick!” Yet another reason I’m glad to be a human mother and somewhat removed from the animal kingdom.

  “No,” Julie said, “I couldn’t get a good look at the chain, but I’m sure they were keys. So, she either lied about her keys being missing, or she took yours.”

  “Um,” I struggled to get my mind back in sync with Julie. “That’s definitely odd, all right.” I believed Julie’s version. It would have been in keeping with Celia’s super-controlling personality if she’d pretended her keys were missing just to make sure we stayed for the entire workshop. But the road was out. We were already stranded. Unless those were my keys Julie had seen, which Celia had taken prior to learning the road was blocked.

  “Wasn’t that neat, guys?” Julie said to the children. “It isn’t every day you get to watch an animal give birth. She could have as many as eight more.”

  In a somewhat predictable piece of telepathy, Karen and Nathan exchanged a look, then turned toward me and cried in perfect unison, “Can we keep the puppy, Mom?”

  “No. This isn’t ours to keep, and besides, I’ve never wanted any dog bigger than a cocker spaniel. They’re too much—

  “Look!” Nathan said, “The puppy’s right in the middle of the pizza box. We’re gonna have to name it Pepperoni.” Karen giggled. “You don’t want to name a dog that!”

  “What do you want to call it,” Nathan said to her. “Extra Cheese?”

  “The puppy isn’t ours to name,” I interjected, mesmerized at the sight of the tiny little thing already nursing while Teak licked her.

  “These puppies are going to be too little for you to take all the way to New York with you when you fly back,” Julie said helpfully.

  “Hey,” Rachel cried, “I think she’s having another one!”

  “Here comes Extra Cheese!” Nathan cried, excited.

  All three kids were now into the spirit of this and chanted “push” at the dog.

  “Actually,” Julie said, “I do happen to have a cocker puppy who needs a home.”

  “I really don’t think—”

  “She’s five months old and has all of her shots. She belonged to Allison. Her name’s Betty.”

  “Betty Cocker?” I said. “But surely Richard wants the dog, doesn’t he?”

  “Richard?” Julie repeated, looking totally confused.

  “Allison’s ex-husband. I know they’re divorced, but that doesn’t mean—”

  “Richard Kenyon’s dead, Julie said. “Surely Allison told …” She paused, then told me in a whisper, “He was murdered several months ago.”

  Chapter 6

  Stuck in the Middle with Ewe

  “Maybe we should go boil some water or something,” I said to Julie to coax her out of the children’s earshot. We went back into the living room and reclaimed our seats, though I was now so tense it was all I could do to sit on the edge of mine.

  My thoughts paged back through all of my past correspondence with Allison. She’d never given me even the slightest hint that her ex-husband was dead, let alone murdered. “I thought they were divorced,” I said quietly to Julie. “In fact, she told me yesterday that splitting with Richard was the best thing she ever did.”

  “They did get a divorce. They’d been separated for two years and officially divorced last year. Then Richard was killed four or five months ago.”

  “How?”
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  “Shot while asleep in his bed. As far as I know, the police still haven’t arrested anybody. It looked like a burglary gone bad at the bachelor pad he’d moved into.”

  “Do they have any suspects?”

  Julie shook her pretty head, her blond ponytail bobbing behind her like a palomino’s. “Not as of the last article I remember seeing in the Camera. Course, I could have missed it. I’m always accidentally using the wrong paper as a tinkle mat.”

  From the other room, Nathan’s laughing voice cried. “Eew! That dog will eat anything!” His voice grew louder as he climbed the stairs toward the kitchen. “I’m getting the Cheez Whiz!”

  “Nathan,” I called over my shoulder, “leave the dog and our canned cheese alone.”

  Fighting off the momentary distraction of Nathan’s comment, I waited until his footfalls—heavy now that I’d stopped his fun—were heard retreating. “Did they ever rule out Allison as a suspect?”

  “According to the papers, the killer was apparently a man. At least, some witness spotted a man running from the building immediately afterwards. Of course, the big rumor was that Allison hired the person. But I don’t think anybody knows for sure.”

  A car door shut just outside, and Julie sat up and peered through the sheer curtains. “Oh, dear. It looks like you have more company. And here my dog’s monopolizing everything. I’m so sorry I’ve inconvenienced you with all this. I was just so anxious to tell you about Celia and her keys, and I thought to myself, I’ll only be there for five or ten minutes. What are the odds that Teak will have her puppies then?”

  “With the way my luck’s been going, it was a forgone conclusion. But don’t feel bad. It’s been a happy diversion for the children.”

  The door opened and Lauren and Tommy walked in, carrying groceries in opaque plastic bags.

  “Hi, Lauren. Nice to see you again,” Julie said, smiling as if she’d just been reunited with a long-lost best friend.

  Lauren gave a polite but cool greeting, then glanced at me, as if looking for signs that I was in even deeper trouble. Tommy greeted her with a nod, and we all headed toward the kitchen.

  “Mom!”Rachel called. “Come watch the dog have puppies!” Shopping bags still in hand, Lauren stared at the gathering downstairs. Though Teak looked like a canine contortionist, she was doing her best to lick the puppies’ fur as they nursed.

  Lauren turned her gaze to me. “You bought a pregnant dog while we were out getting groceries?” She glanced back at Tommy. “I told you we should have chosen a faster checkout line.”

  “It’s my pet Labrador,” Julie explained. “I have four bitches that I breed.”

  Her casual use of that particular word made my skin crawl, the death threat clearly brought to mind once again.

  “Do you breed them in your car?” Lauren asked.

  Unlike me, Lauren was not prone to sarcastic comebacks, and her warm, ready smile was absent. She obviously wanted nothing to do with Julie.

  Tommy leaned against the counter and watched Julie intently as she launched into a profuse explanation about how foolish she’d been to bring Teak with her.

  “Uh-huh,” Tommy said when Julie paused for air. “Must be missin’ something.” He casually scratched his freckled nose. “Why exactly did you come here, and how did you get Molly’s address?”

  That last part was a very good question—one I should have thought of myself.

  “I kind of brought the dog with me in the hopes that Molly might be interested in buying one of her puppies.” Julie’s perfect smile faded slightly. “I got the address from Allison. When Celia suggested the retreat to me, I tried to speak to Molly about it, to decide if I wanted to attend or not, but I couldn’t get in touch with her.”

  “Why would Allison give you this address?” I interjected. “Why wouldn’t she have given you my cellphone, or my number in Carlton? That would have rung through to my portable office equipment here.”

  “She did,” Julie said, her smile taking on a nervous edge, “but by that time you’d already left to come here. So, I asked for the phone number and address where you’d be in Colorado, you see.” Her vision darted from me to Tommy and back. In the meantime, Lauren was listening to our conversation while quietly putting away groceries in the pantry behind us.

  “Uh-huh,” Tommy said He said that frequently during the course of his conversations. It was something of a verbal nervous tic, “And you came here…why? Just to ask Molly if she was int’rested in gettin’ herself a puppy?”

  “You’re a police officer in New York, aren’t you?” Julie asked, her pretty features souring.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “I don’t think I should be talking to you about this without my lawyer present.”

  Tommy held out his palms. “Just askin’ as a friend of Moll’s. I’m not here in any official capacity whatsoever.”

  “Even so,” Julie said frostily. “As soon as I can get my dog—”

  “Mom!” Karen called. “Come quick! Teak’s having another puppy!”

  “This one’s going to be ‘Anchovy,’” Nathan added, laughing.

  “Anchovy?” Lauren repeated

  We all rushed into the family room and watched little Anchovy get delivered. Tommy gasped and started to reach for the dog when she bit into the sac, but Rachel informed him in very authoritative tones not to worry, that this was just one of the things that mother dogs do naturally.

  Julie was acting uncomfortable, as if Tommy had truly offended her with his questions. Her attitude surprised me. She had to know that I would tell Tommy exactly what she’d told me anyway. Why she wouldn’t simply tell him herself was beyond me. She might have felt as if she were being interrogated. Personally, I was so used to Tommy slipping into his police-sergeant role during personal conversations that it didn’t bother me. He was now making a studious point, I thought, to keep the conversation friendly and focused away from the murder.

  Teak had a total of four puppies, at least during the two hours she spent in our family room. Julie and Tommy worked in tandem and managed to hoist upTeak, plus pizza box and puppies, and transfer the whole operation to the backseat of Julie’s car. We had no spare towels or sheets to donate to the cause, but Julie remembered she had a blanket in her trunk.

  Julie studied me for a moment before she got into the driver’s seat. “If you’re at all interested in adopting Betty, you can come see her tomorrow. Allison had already bought her from me, but of course I reclaimed Betty once I realized she’d been orphaned. I’d give her to you and your family for free if you promise me you’ll take good care of her. She’s at my house for the time being. Forty-six eighty-six Cherry Drive. Just on the other side of Jay Road.”

  That was on the same street as Allison’s house, I thought, as Julie continued, “As much as I’d love to, I really can’t keep her. I’ve already got four dogs. If you don’t want her, I’ll have to put an ad in the paper.” She said goodbye to Lauren and Tommy, and to the kids said, “Dogs are children’s best friends, you know.” She drove away at about two miles an hour.

  “Betty’s the name of a puppy?” Tommy asked me.

  “A cocker spaniel. Tommy, can you get access to police records of an unsolved murder from some four or five months ago?”

  “Depends on what kind of records. Might be listed in national records for violent crimes, but the information there’s just the bare bones. Whose murder we talkin’ about?”

  “Richard Kenyon.”

  “Kenyon? As in Allison Kenyon?” I nodded.

  Tommy rocked on his heels. “That’s interesting. I might be able to pry a report from the officers at the BPD.

  Where’d the murder take place?”

  “I don’t know for sure, but probably right here in Boulder,” I murmured, my attention having been drawn to a sheriff’s vehicle parked across the street. An officer was sitting behind the wheel, reading the newspaper. Tommy followed my eyes.

  “The police are watching me.”

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nbsp; “Don’t mean nothin’,” he said laconically. “They’re just trying to psych you out, watchin’ how you’ll react. Just don’t let it get to you and stay put. They’ll realize you’re not acting suspicious and leave you alone.”

  My heart was pounding and my face grew warm with bottled rage and desperation. “This was going to be a vacation for Lauren and me and the kids. I have a dozen friends I was hoping to see. Now, one of those friends is dead, and I have a police tail parked outside my home. Tell me something, Tommy. Under these circumstances, what the hell does unsuspicious behavior look like?”

  He shrugged. “Like I said, stay home.”

  “I should go offer him some dinner,” I grumbled as I went back inside.

  Not surprisingly, my entire evening was spent answering the phone so that my neighbors could ask why a police car was out front and friends could discuss the murder with me. Though we’d had no friends in common, the story of Allison’s death at my greeting card retreat had spread like an airborne virus. I declined the offers of my three dearest and most loyal friends who wanted either to drop by or to vouch for my character at the police station. There was no need to panic, I assured them and myself. If I needed character witnesses at some point in the future, they were readily available. By the same token, though, I didn’t want to involve them in this.

  During one conversation with a particularly dull and loquacious neighbor, I found myself doodling and hit upon a potential non-occasion greeting card. After several false starts, I sketched an enormous corral crammed with sheep, with just a cat’s ears and tail visible from the center of the flock. A thought bubble from the cat reads: Drat! Stuck in the middle with ewe!

  Finally, around eight p.m. I turned off my phone to give myself a chance to put Karen and Nathan to bed. By then, Rachel had conked out completely, and Tommy and Lauren were watching television. While I was upstairs, quietly reading to both of my children in my room so as not to awaken Rachel, the doorbell rang. Tommy called up to me that he’d get it. Moments later, we all recognized Jim’s voice—telling Tommy how he hadn’t expected to wind up in Colorado and so hadn’t packed the key to this house. We rushed downstairs.