The Comfy Canine Murder Case

by Adele M Cooper

  “I don’t even know why you need to question her,” Jackson said. “She only met him once, didn’t she?”

  “Once was enough, especially when it was right before the murder,” Jack pointed out.

  Jackson raised an eyebrow. “Are you suspecting your own girlfriend of murder?”

  “Of course not,” Jack scoffed, throwing an eraser at Jackson, who dodged as it sailed out the door. “Get real, Jackson. But you and I know that we have to do things by the book after what happened during the last murder. I can’t just say I didn’t question Paige because we’re together and I believe in her innocence. I’ll question everyone who attended the training school, which includes her.”

  Jackson grimaced at the reminder that their conduct in this investigation was being watched closely after the mess they had made of things last time. Even though they had solved Cynthia Johnson’s murder, no one had appreciated Paige’s involvement in it all. This time, they had to make sure there was nothing that could potentially ruin their investigation.

  Jack sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Why did everything have to be so complicated?

  Upon arriving at the station, Paige was very surprised to find herself being directed toward one of the interrogation rooms. That was when the penny dropped; she was here to be questioned.

  “I’m not sure why I’m here,” she admitted as she sat at the table across from Jack. “I didn’t even know Jonathan.”

  “I’m questioning everyone involved with the training school,” Jack said to her with a brief smile. “You’re part of the school, and you saw Jonathan only a few days before the murder, so that does involve you, and you need to be part of the questioning process.”

  “I see,” Paige said. She shrugged. “Alright, what do you need to know?”

  “Could you tell me your movements on the day of the murder?” Jack asked, opening a folder.

  Paige thought the question was a little foolish; she had seen Jack on the evening of the murder and told him about her day. But she knew this was protocol, so she cast her mind back.

  “I took Barkley to my parents’ house in the morning, and went for an appointment with a client, Jessica Wilson, at around nine o’clock,” she said. “The appointment lasted until twelve o’clock, after which I picked Barkley up and spent the afternoon with him at home. You arrived in the evening and we sat down for dinner before the call came in.”

  “Thanks,” Jack said, making some notes. “Actually, Jessica Wilson is also on our list to question, since she attended the school. So the two of you were definitely in an appointment between nine and twelve?”

  “That’s right,” Paige said with a nod. “We also had her husband, Daniel, on speaker; he’s visiting his sister in Sherwood.”

  “Great,” Jack said, but he didn’t look pleased. “Can you tell me a little about your relationship with Jonathan Cook?”

  “I didn’t really know him,” Paige said. “I only met him once. He was kind to Barkley, and I thought he was very talented as a trainer. But that was all I knew of him.”

  “Understandably,” Jack said.

  He made another note and then closed the folder with a loud sigh.

  “Is there a problem?” she asked “Too many suspects?”

  “No,” Jack grumbled. “Not enough suspects.” He eyed her and then sighed again. “You’re going to find out soon anyway; Jonathan Cook wasn’t actually killed at the winery. We’ve determined that he died at some point during the day, in the morning to early afternoon, but every one of our suspects has alibis for that time. We also don’t know when the body was dropped at the winery, but we believe it was moved several hours after the murder.”

  “Seriously?” Paige asked, startled. “That means it couldn’t be someone from the training school, right?”

  “It’s looking that way,” Jack groaned. “Which shoots my theory down the drain.”

  “What theory?” Paige asked.

  “I really thought that this murder might be connected to my dog kidnapping case,” Jack admitted. “But, so far, I can’t find anything to link the two other than the victim being a dog trainer at the school where the dogs go missing.”

  “That is frustrating,” Paige agreed. “If only you could investigate the school a little more, without having to worry about everyone involved trying to be careful because you’re a cop.”

  She glanced at him. He frowned back at her, not sure what she meant. Then, suddenly, his expression cleared and he scowled.

  “No,” he said.

  “Come on, it would really help you,” Paige wheedled. “All I’d have to do is ask a few questions and see what everyone says, right? It wouldn’t technically be investigating. It would be…gossiping.”

  “What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand?” Jack snapped, and Paige sat back, stunned. “I’ve asked you multiple times to leave the investigation to me. You cannot be part of it, and you know why, Paige!”

  “I do know why,” Paige said, feeling her own temper flaring. “I’m not offering to investigate. I’m offering to help you out by passing on some information.”

  “Even doing that could get us into trouble,” Jack said. “Paige, stay out of this. You aren’t involved. You barely even knew the victim. Just focus on your clients, and leave the murder investigation to the professionals.”

  Paige stood up, pushing her chair back, angry and hurt.

  “Are we done?” she asked coldly.

  “Yeah,” Jack said, frowning at her. “I mean it, Paige. Leave it alone. I don’t need your help on this one.”

  “Fine,” Paige said, clenching her fists at her side. “I understand, Jack. I’ll talk to you later.”

  She stalked out of the room. Jackson looked up with a smile, but it faltered when he saw the look on her face as she breezed past him.

  She didn’t care what Jack said. She would not be made to feel useless when all she wanted to do was help him.

  Chapter 9: Fallout

  9: Fallout

  By the time Saturday rolled around, Paige had not managed to shake off any of the anger, frustration and hurt that she was feeling. If anything, the emotions had strengthened; it was painful to realize that, for some reason, Jack did not seem to trust her enough to help him anymore.

  She didn’t understand. When she had first reunited with him eight months ago, they were almost strangers after not seeing each other in so long. Yet he had trusted her then, had listened to what she had to say and discussed his thoughts and feelings on the case with her. Now, after being together for eight months, he didn’t trust her anymore? It didn’t make sense. Surely they were supposed to trust each other more now.

  She understood that her involvement on the case could get Jack in trouble again. She definitely didn’t want him to lose his job, or hinder the investigation. But she wasn’t offering to help him solve the case. Paige was only offering to help him out so that he could get the answers he needed.

  Obviously, Jack had a different idea. He didn’t want her help at all.

  Paige gritted her teeth as she pulled up at the field that the training school met on, her eyes blazing. She didn’t care what Jack thought. He didn’t want her help?

  Fine, she would figure the mystery out on her own.

  The class was a lot smaller than it was last week, Paige noted as she walked Barkley toward the group. She could see Alice Campbell standing to the side, her arms wrapped around herself, and she headed toward the woman.

  Alice looked up as she approached. Her eyes were rimmed in red, as though she had been crying, and her skin was pale. Looking at her, Paige found that she was surprised that the class was even running today.

  “Paige,” Alice greeted with a poor imitation of a smile. “It’s good to see you back. How is Barkley doing?”

  “He’s fine, though he ripped some documents that I needed the other day,” Paige said. She looked closely at Alice. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” Alice said, her lip trembling. “W
e’re about to start, so you should probably join the others.”

  Well, questioning Alice was out, at least. She looked so grief-stricken that Paige would feel like the worst person in the world for trying to get any answers out of her. Instead, she did as she was asked and headed toward the group. There were five other people missing today.

  Among them, she noted with interest, was Alex Ward. He was so pompous that she would have expected him to be here no matter what happened.

  “Hi, Paige,” she heard behind her, and she turned to see River Townsend, who looked tired and drawn.

  “Hi, River,” Paige said. “Are you okay? You don’t look like you feel well.”

  “I, uh… I got questioned by the police yesterday, and I couldn’t sleep after,” River said with a sickly smile. “I’m not even sure I should have come; barely anyone else is here and Alice isn’t going to be able to do this class on her own like that.”

  Paige looked at Alice. The poor woman still hadn’t made a move to greet the class, and now had her hands covering her face as her shoulders shook.

  “Did you get questioned?” River asked, drawing Paige’s attention back.

  “I did,” Paige said. “But I was in an appointment with a client at the time of the murder,” she said. At River’s uncomprehending look, she added, “I’m a divorce lawyer.”

  “Oh,” River said, nodding. “Yeah, the police were pretty frustrated when they questioned me; I don’t think they’re getting very far with suspects. I was in Otter Rock on the day, visiting my uncle. Do you know Andy Parker?”

  “Yeah, he owns the general store,” Paige said with a nod. “He’s your uncle?”

  “Yeah,” River said with a small smile. “Anyway, I was there from early morning to late afternoon.”

  Paige opened her mouth to say something. And then she paused, frowning at River.

  “What time did you visit him, exactly?” she asked carefully.

  “…Eight until after two,” River said, suddenly wary. “I was there all day. Why?”

  Paige remembered that morning. After she dropped Barkley at her parents’ house, she had headed into town to meet Jessica. Before she got to the office, she dropped by the general store in order to pick up something to eat and a newspaper.

  “I work in Otter Rock,” she said. “And I went to the general store that morning. I spoke to Andy for a little while, then I bought a pastry and a newspaper. My office is just up the road from the store.”

  River stared at her. She looked very pale as she realized what Paige had discovered.

  “You weren’t in the store that morning,” Paige said. “So…?”

  River’s lower lip trembled. Her dog, Sadie, looked up and whined, feeling her owner’s distress.

  “I had to tell the police something,” River said finally. “If I told them I was on my own all day, they would suspect me for sure!”

  “So you weren’t with anyone all day?” Paige asked.

  River hesitated and then shook her head.

  “I was down at the beach,” she said miserably. “Sadie loves the beach, so I take her as often as I can. I was there with her that day, but I didn’t want to admit I was on my own. And telling the truth now would be even worse; if the police have no other suspects, they’ll suspect me for sure.”

  “But it will look worse for you when they find out the truth,” Paige pointed out.

  River bit her lip, anxious. “Do you think they will find out?”

  “Eventually,” Paige said with a nod. “I know the sheriff. He’s very good at his job. Even if you don’t tell him, he will eventually find out.”

  “But you won’t tell him, right?” River asked. Her eyes were swimming with tears. “Please, I know I shouldn’t have lied, but I only did it because I had nothing to do with the murder.”

  Paige eyed her. “You’ve only known Jonathan for a little while, right?”

  “Right,” River said, rubbing the tears out of her eyes. “I was the new student before you came. Jonathan… He was really kind to me. He’s always asking how Sadie is and giving me advice. Three weeks ago, Sadie stopped eating the food I buy for her, and I was really worried. Jonathan took me to a vet friend that he had; it turned out Sadie just had a stomach ache.” She sniffled. “I would never kill Jonathan. Even in the short time I knew him, he did so much for me.”

  She let out a small sob, squeezing her eyes shut as tears fell. Paige felt her heart clench at the grief on River’s face.

  It reminded her of watching the family and friends of Cynthia Johnson, when it first struck her just how someone’s death could affect the people around them. She hesitated and then reached out a hand to pat River’s shoulder, feeling useless but wanting to give some sort of comfort.

  River gave her a watery chuckle in response and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

  “Sorry,” she said. “It’s just… I liked Jonathan. He and Alice have helped me so much. It just seems impossible that something like this could happen to such a nice person, you know?”

  “Yeah,” Paige said, wishing that she had known Jonathan better; everyone had such nice things to say about him, but she hadn’t known anything about him at all.

  “I know I don’t have the right to ask this…but please don’t tell anyone about my alibi?” River asked, her eyes pleading.

  It went against everything Paige was here for. Then she reminded herself that there was no way to pass information on to Jack without him realizing that she had come to class to investigate, which he had told her not to do. She grimaced and sighed.

  “I won’t tell anyone,” she promised. “But, as I said before, it won’t stay a secret for long.”

  “I know,” River said with a small smile. “It would probably be best if I go down there and tell them myself. But…” She sighed and laughed humorlessly. “Maybe if I get arrested, you can be my lawyer.”

  “I wish I could, but I specialize in divorce,” Paige said with a sigh. “I’ve never taken on a criminal case before.”

  River sighed. “It’s fine. I’ll figure it out. I shouldn’t have lied in the first place. I was just so scared when they called me in.”

  “It’s understandable,” Paige assured her. She looked around, desperately wracking her mind for a change in subject. “Hey, I noticed that Alex wasn’t here.”

  “Alex?” River asked, startled out of her depression. “Actually, I noticed that. I thought it was a bit weird. He’s never missed a lesson as far as I know. He didn’t even like Jonathan, so he wouldn’t have cared enough to miss class just because he had been murdered.”

  “Why didn’t Alex like Jonathan?” Paige asked.

  “They always clashed because Alex thought he knew how to train his dog better,” River said with a shrug. “Of course, we all knew he was blowing hot air, especially since he kept coming to class. But two weeks ago, just before you came, Jonathan lost his temper and told Alex that he didn’t have to come to the lessons if he thought he knew better. I didn’t really expect him to come back, but then he was there last week.”

  Paige frowned, considering this. Alex was as unpleasant as they came, and it was suspicious that he wasn’t here, especially if he and Jonathan had been having problems recently.

  “Maybe Alex is sick?” she suggested.

  River snorted. “About a month ago, Alex was sick with the flu, but he still dragged himself here. He’d have to be on his death bed to be missing class.”

  “He did seem pretty high strung,” Paige said. She glanced at River. “Maybe I should go visit him after class, see how he is.”

  “Count me out,” River said. “The less I have to do with that man, the better.”

  “It’s fine,” Paige said. “Do you know where he lives?”

  “No, but I think Ron does,” River said, scanning the small crowd of students. “See him over there? He’s the one with the curly brown hair and the Golden Retriever.”

  Paige looked over. The man River was pointing at was talking
with two other students, his large, golden-furred dog sitting patiently beside him.

  “I’ll talk to him after class,” she decided.

  “If we have class,” River said, looking over at Alice again. “Honestly, I think it would be better if we canceled it today and did another lesson later. I don’t think Alice is up to it.”

  “I guess they would have been together for some time,” Paige commented.

  “From what the others have told me, the two of them started this school together,” River said with a nod. “It’s four years old now, so they’ve known each other for that long, at least.”

  Four years was still a long time, and it explained why Alice was grieving so much. Paige felt sorry for the woman.

  But, despite this, she couldn’t let this opportunity pass her by. Even if she wasn’t going to report back to Jack, she could still gather information. With everyone just standing around and waiting for Alice to start the class, she had the perfect opportunity to question everyone.

  In the back of her mind, a little voice that sounded like Jack reminded her that she could get everyone in trouble if she persisted. But she found she didn’t care anymore. She would show Jack that she knew what she was doing.

  She would show him that he could trust her.

  Chapter 10: Looking for Answers

  10: Looking for Answers

  Paige looked again at the hastily scrawled address that she had gotten from Ron, and then glanced at the GPS on her phone. According to Ron, Alex lived on Northwest Lee Street, but she had gotten herself turned around at some point while following Ron’s directions before finally giving in and turning on the GPS.

  Before she could decide which way to go, however, her phone rang. Startled, she realized it was Jack, and it made guilt form in the pit of her stomach. After all, she was currently on her way to talk to someone who was behaving very suspiciously in the wake of the murder.

  She breathed in and out deeply and picked up the phone.