by Woods, Lori
“Ooh, okay; I like this,” Molly declared. “I bet this will be ten times better than that last cake we made.”
“Anything would be better than that last cake you made,” Braxton teased. “But before you two get started, I’ve got something to share with Molly.”
“Oh?”
“I think I found something for your case,” he said, pulling out his laptop. He pulled open a social media page that he had saved to his favorites tab. “Check this out. I think there’s trouble in paradise.”
Molly glanced over his shoulder, where she could see a long thread of Lilith and George going back and forth at each other. “Whoa,” Molly said as she read some of the very hurtful comments George was making online for everyone to see—calling Lilith some rather crude names.
Down the thread a good way, a woman had commented in Lilith’s defense: “You don’t need to talk to her like that, George! I mean it!”
“Who was that?” Molly asked.
“Lilith’s mom,” Braxton said. “Took me a bit of digging through old posts, but I figured it out eventually. Lilith’s parents live out in—”
“Texas,” Molly said. “Yeah, I found that bit of information online too. I wonder why George was berating his fiancée online like that? I think I’m going to call Jeffrey. See if he wants to go with me to do a follow-up interview with Lilith.”
Of course, he did. Jeffrey arrived shortly afterwards in his patrol car, and after making sure Bonnie and Braxton were good to go in the shop, the two of them headed out to meet up with Lilith at a coffee shop. The woman had both of the dogs with her that day, so they sat out on the coffee shop’s patio together. Molly pat the dogs on the head, and with permission from Lilith and some reassurance they weren’t poisoned, she offered the dogs some homemade treats.
“Sorry for my caution,” Lilith said. “But after what happened at the dog show, you could never be too careful. So, what is it you two wanted to talk to me about today?”
Jeffrey pulled up the social media posts that Braxton had found for them that day. “I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about this?” he asked, showing it to her.
Lilith’s eyes rolled so dramatically Molly wondered if they were going to get stuck in the back of her head. “George being a jerk,” she said. “He’s accused me of cheating on him with Oscar before, and he did a little rant online about it. But we’ve put that behind us.”
“Why did he accuse you?” Molly asked.
“George and Oscar have just always been competitive with each other,” she said. “Honestly, sometimes I felt like George just thought of me as a prize for their competitive nature with one another. I mean, that’s all behind us, like I said. And like I’ve told George a thousand times, Oscar and I never really got that serious. Sure, we dated for about a year, but it’s quality over quantity, you know?”
“How often did the subject of you and Oscar come up with you and George?” Jeffrey asked.
“Not often,” Lilith said. “Usually just around the time of the dog shows. It’s not like I would see Oscar any other time than that.”
After a while, it seemed as though Molly and Jeffrey had maxed out anything they could possibly ask Lilith, and it was clear she was starting to get bored with the questions. The dogs were getting a little antsy as well, so after each of them finished their coffee, they went their separate ways. “So,” Jeffrey said as they loaded back up into the patrol car. “I suppose George’s jealousy of Oscar and Lilith would make him a prime suspect for Oscar’s murder.”
“Yeah, but unless we find some actual evidence, we’re not ever going to move past him merely being a suspect,” Molly said. “I suppose the thing that is really confusing me is just the amount of stuff that went down at the show. I feel like it’s all related somehow. I’m just not able to picture it all together.” Molly leaned back in her seat, thinking hard, when an epiphany finally came to her. “You know what? There were a lot of cameras filming at the show.”
“There was only the one backstage, and we’ve already reviewed it at the station,” Jeffrey said. “It didn’t catch anything.”
“That may be true, but what about the footage that was broadcasted on television?” Molly asked. “Maybe we could review it. See if anything stands out to us?”
“I suppose,” he said. “Not like we have any more leads we could dig into. We’re going to need to talk to George at some point, though. I want to see what he says when we ask him about his accusations towards Lilith and Oscar.”
“So, do we want to meet with George first or watch the dog show?” Molly asked.
Jeffrey decided to give George a call, but the man was a bit busy at work and requested they meet later. They set a time, and Jeffrey hung up. “I guess we’re going to go watch the dog show first.”
“Let’s head back to the shop. I’m sure Braxton won’t mind if we use his laptop to look up some footage from the show,” Molly suggested, and soon they were arriving back at the shop.
Bonnie and Braxton were busy with customers, and, of course, Braxton was more than willing to let them use his laptop. Molly eventually found a link that would allow them to re-watch the dog show in its entirety as it was aired that Saturday. Jeffrey and Molly sat near each other at one of the pink tables and chair sets, watching the dog show unfold as it had that day. “I can’t believe you guys sat through this,” Jeffrey said with a yawn. “It’s kind of boring.”
“It was more interesting actually being there,” Molly said.
The bigger dogs were led out in a line, and Molly cringed, knowing that the dogs were about to get very sick. Just when she was about to say there wasn’t going to be anything worth looking at, she paused the video. “Wait,” she said as she paused it on a close up of George and Reggie as Reggie was being observed up close by a judge.
“What? What do you see?” Jeffrey asked.
She pointed right at the dog. “That’s the leash that was used to choke Oscar!” she exclaimed, a few customers glancing her way.
“Um… we’re watching a television show,” Jeffrey said, nudging Molly for alarming her own patrons. “Are you sure?” he asked her.
“Look. It’s black with the shiny red threading in it. That’s exactly what was found around Oscar’s neck,” she said. “George has the motive. Not only has he been super competitive with Oscar, but he believes Oscar and Lilith may have cheated, and not to mention, Oscar had accused George of poisoning the dog treats. Those two probably fought and George one-upped him, and wound up strangling him!”
“You’re sure that’s the same leash?” Jeffrey asked.
“I’m sure,” Molly said. “Reggie’s leash was the murder weapon.”
Chapter 11
Molly soon found herself within Jeffrey’s patrol car, heading across town to George’s home. Jeffrey had managed to get a hold of the man, requesting an interview. George had responded, stating that he and Lilith would be arriving at his home soon as they had just left Lilith’s apartment with another carload of boxes. “So, something still isn’t adding up for me,” Jeffrey said as he pulled down another street.
“What’s that?” Molly asked.
“We know Jennifer poisoned the dog treats to try to help George’s dog win the competition,” Jeffrey said. “And, based off what we saw in the footage at the dog show, not to mention their history, we’re also pretty sure that George is our killer.”
“Right, so what is it that’s not meshing right with you?” Molly asked.
“Reggie.”
“The poodle?” Molly questioned.
“Yeah, the poodle. Everyone so far, with the exception of Isaac, has told us they are not allowed to tip the groomers, right? And Isaac has tried to convince us that he made two grand in tips, all in one-hundred-dollar bills, which is doubtful, to say the least. So, my question is, who paid off Isaac to shave Reggie’s head? Was it Oscar? And maybe George found out?”
“I have another theory,” Molly said.
“Do tell,”
Jeffrey said.
“I think it was Lilith,” she said.
“That doesn’t really add up,” Jeffrey argued. “Why would she want to ruin her fiancé’s chances of winning?”
“Hear me out,” Molly began. “George knew about Jennifer poisoning the dog treats. Jennifer has told us so much already. George most likely told Lilith not to give her dog any of the treats as she is his fiancée, after all, and he’s probably close with her dog too and didn’t want the poor fella getting sick. So, Lilith already knew that either she or George would be taking home first prize. But to ensure herself the victory over George, she paid Isaac to mess up the shave.”
“But why?” Jeffrey questioned. “Why did she want to win so badly that she would pay off Isaac to mess up her fiancé’s dog’s fur?”
“Because I think Lilith was planning on leaving him,” Molly said. “Her parents live out in Texas, and I found a book on Texas-living at her home, as well as a one-way plane ticket. She and George have gotten into it online lately because he apparently is always accusing her of cheating. I think Lilith needed to win so that she could afford to leave George.”
“So, she forked out two grand to bribe a groomer on the off chance messing up one dog’s hair would put her dog in first place?” Jeffrey asked.
“It wasn’t an off chance,” Molly argued. “It wasn’t an off chance because George would have told her about the lipstick in the fudge. So she knew it would be between her dog and Reggie. All she had to do was make sure Reggie was out of the running. Now, she has herself a flight for Texas booked and all of her stuff is packed up neatly in boxes. All she’s got to do is get her belongings shipped off, which she can certainly afford to do now, and with the ten grand she’s won, she could probably even afford to put a down payment down on a new home.”
“Man, I think you might have hit the nail on the head with this one,” Jeffrey agreed. “All right, so this gives me some leverage when we talk to George and Lilith. They think we’re just coming for a follow-up interview. They have no idea we’re onto both of them, and no doubt George has no idea that Lilith was the one who messed up Reggie’s head.”
“What are you thinking?” Molly asked.
“Just follow my lead,” he said as they pulled in the driveway of the small home. There was a truck in the driveway with a trailer attached, and Molly could see George and Lilith going back and forth between the trailer and the house, bringing in her belongings.
George offered them a friendly wave as they stepped out of the patrol car, and when he opened up the front door of the house, both dogs came bolting out to greet them. Jojo was especially excited and came up and sniffed at Molly, as though expecting her to have more treats. “Thanks for agreeing to meet with us again,” Jeffrey said as Lilith stepped out of the home and stood on the front porch with George.
“Of course,” she said to him.
“Any closer to finding out what happened to Oscar?” George asked.
“No,” Jeffrey said. “However, we do know what happened to Reggie.”
George’s eyebrows raised. “What do you mean?”
“We mean that someone bribed Isaac to shave your dog’s head,” Molly said, and she could tell that this was news to George. His face turned an angry red.
“I knew it!” George roared. “I knew it. It was Oscar, wasn’t it?”
“No,” Jeffrey said, and without saying a word, he merely looked in Lilith’s direction.
George caught on and he spun around to face her. “You?” he asked. “Why would you… why would you pay Isaac to mess up Reggie? You know how much money I put into that dog!”
“I don’t know what they’re talking about!” Lilith exclaimed. “I didn’t—”
“Someone paid him exactly two grand to shave your dog’s head,” Jeffrey said, and that number seemed to mean something to George.
“Two grand?” he asked. “In all hundreds?”
“That’s right,” Jeffrey said. “How did you know?”
George glared at Lilith. “Is my cash stash missing?” He ran into the house, and when he returned flailing an empty shoebox around, Jeffrey knew then that Lilith had clearly snatched the cash from George. “You stole my money and bribed someone to mess up my dog’s hair?” he questioned, his face turning redder by the second. “Lilith! Why would you do that?”
Lilith was at a loss for words. She couldn’t even manage a stammer. Jeffrey interrupted. “Yes, I imagine this is all a bit shocking. Lilith, I am going to have to ask you to come to the station. You are not being charged with anything just yet, but—”
“Not being charged!” George wailed. “Why not? That’s destruction of property! She tried to rig a contest, too!”
“Well, George, we are well aware that you and Lilith both knew about the poisoned dog treats,” Jeffrey said. “Jennifer has already told us as such.”
George grew a bit quieter. “I had nothing to do with that,” he insisted. “And neither did Lilith. That was all Jennifer! She’s the one who put lipstick in the dog treats, not me!”
“Yes, well, I think it’s best that we all just head down to the station to talk about all of this,” Jeffrey said, and Molly now understood exactly where he was going with all of this. Jeffrey wasn’t making an arrest just yet; he was trying to get George to consent to coming down to the station to talk about the dog treats and about the bribery so that he could place him under arrest there, in the event he resisted, and he did seem like the type who would resist.
“I am not going anywhere!” George declared. “I already told you. I didn’t do anything. Jennifer poisoned the dog treats, and apparently my girl decided my dog needed a bald head!”
“Lilith, would you please get in the patrol car?” Jeffrey asked politely. “I appreciate your cooperation. We can contact a lawyer for you when we get to the station if you’d like. We’ll have to go get Isaac as well since he was a part of this. I’m sure the committee for the dog show is going to want to hear all about Jennifer, Isaac, and yourself.”
Lilith frowned, but she seemed pretty eager to get away from George, so she consented and willingly got into the back of the patrol car. Molly turned to George, remaining friendly. “We really would appreciate it if you went with us,” Molly said. “I agree with Jeffrey. We need to talk this out with everybody to find out exactly what happened for when Jeffrey draws up the report.”
George shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “Talk to Lilith and Jennifer.”
Jeffrey sighed, and Molly saw him reach for his handcuffs. He was throwing the easy way out the window, it seemed. He reached out and grabbed George under the arm. “You’re under arrest for the murder of Oscar—”
Before Jeffrey could finish his statement, George reared his head back and managed to knock Jeffrey in the nose. “Oh no you don’t!” Molly yelped as George took off up the driveway. She and Jeffrey both bolted after him, but neither of them were first to catch up to him.
George didn’t even have a chance to get out of the driveway before Reggie, his own dog, went running in front of him, tripping him up. George tripped over the large poodle and landed face-first on the concrete. He moaned, and Reggie gave him several kisses as Jeffrey hurried over and placed the man in handcuffs. “Good boy,” Jeffrey said to Reggie as he sat George up; Reggie continued to prance around George like a very proud dog, kissing his now detained owner in the face.
“I’ll give you this: your dog likes you, at least,” Molly said, and George growled. “So, why’d you do it? Huh?”
George grumbled. “I thought Oscar had paid off Isaac to shave Reggie. And he thought I poisoned the dog treats. We got into it, threw a few fists… things escalated…”
“I’d say,” Jeffrey said, pulling George to his feet.
Molly smiled, feeling that another mystery had been solved. She escorted the dogs back into the house for the time being, until Lilith would likely be released later that day with a minor charge under her belt. “You know, they’re
probably going to take that prize money from you,” Jeffrey told her as he and Molly entered the patrol car. “Not that I can blame you. I’d want to move to Texas if I was stuck with that guy too.”
Chapter 12
“Behold! The world’s greatest carrot cake ever, according to my home economics teacher,” Bonnie exclaimed as she stepped out of the kitchen of Molly’s Dessert Emporium carrying a large round tray with a heavily iced carrot cake in the center.
“Whoa,” Whip said, sitting upright at the small pink table where he had elected to kick up his feet after his and Dazzle’s long shift. “That looks pretty awesome.”
“Go ahead and cut everybody a slice,” Molly insisted. She, along with her employees, were in the middle of a shift change as Bonnie and Braxton had arrived to the shop after a long day at school. Molly had attempted Bonnie’s carrot cake recipe earlier that day, and the cake had finished cooling just in time for Bonnie and Braxton’s arrival. Bonnie had decided to ice the cake herself, excited to share the recipe that had earned herself an A in her advanced home economics course.
Braxton had already hung up the current special poster that was featuring Bonnie’s dessert. The positive reviews online after having sold the dessert in the shop for a few days had added to the impressed nature of Bonnie’s home economics teacher; she was the only student after all, whose recipe was now being sold in a riverfront store in Savannah.
Molly took a bite of the carrot cake, and she grinned ear to ear at how mouthwatering the dish was. “Bonnie, no wonder your teacher was raving over this,” Molly said. It was the third cake they had made, but this was the first one she had had since the cake Bonnie had chosen to serve to her class. “This is delicious,” Molly added, giving Bonnie a thumbs-up. “You might have a future career as a baker.”