Home is Where the Bark Is

by Stella St. Claire

  Telescope had given up on following her around the house after the third lap. Then, he opted for lying on his doggie bed and watching her wander.

  “Lucky dog,” Willow muttered. She wished she could relax as easily as he did. He wagged his tail in a way that she found smug.

  Her frustration alternated between anger at the situation and at Griffin directly. Murders happened so rarely in Pineview. Why did one have to happen right when she moved back? And why did it have to happen right in her own backyard?

  What was Griffin up to that he could be wanted for murder? It was obvious she didn’t know him well anymore. The Griffin Maynard she remembered from high school wouldn’t have gotten mixed up in anything like this.

  Edna had selected him as the contractor to work on the house, but obviously, the situation had changed. Willow was on a tight schedule to get her business up and running before dog show season. She couldn’t work with somebody who could be arrested at any minute.

  The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She had been so hopeful about the renovation. Now she just felt like screaming.

  The doorbell rang and Telescope jumped to his feet. Willow walked to answer it, silently reminding herself not to take out her frustration on the caller. She didn’t want to scream at a little girl selling cookies or a mailman greeting the new resident.

  However, when she saw it was Griffin at the door, she knew she wouldn’t be able to contain her anger from bubbling over.

  Telescope greeted the contractor by jumping on his hind leg and wagging his tail. Willow wasn’t feeling as friendly.

  “How dare you,” she said.

  “How dare I what?” Griffin asked, taking a step back. “Answer police questions?”

  “You were accusing me of being judgmental before,” Willow said with her hands on her hips. “You were judging me for judging other people. But it seems like I wasn't a very good judge of character – because you’re wanted for murder!”

  Griffin’s jaw clenched. “I’m certainly feeling very judged right now.”

  “I’m feeling something different,” Willow said. “What’s one step above rage?”

  Telescope sat between them and looked back and forth between the humans.

  Griffin ran a hand behind his neck as he shook his head. “Your father is judging me even more than you. I’ve been having one of the worst days of my life. I don’t want to fight. I just came here to troubleshoot the construction plans as best we can.”

  She noticed how tired he looked and tried to calm down. She took a deep breath.

  “I’m sorry you had a bad day,” she said as politely as she could. “I can definitely understand that. However, I think that these circumstances might be too potentially disruptive for us to continue working together.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “All things considered, I think I’d like to go with another contractor,” she said, trying to be firm but kind. “If you would please return my money, I’d like to take my business elsewhere.”

  Griffin avoided eye contact. “I can’t do that.”

  “Why not?” Willow asked, leaving the doorway to confront him. She wished she were taller, so she would seem more intimidating, but she had to look up at him to glare.

  “I can’t give you your money back.”

  “Why not? Are you a thief as well as a murderer?” she asked acidly.

  “No!” He threw his arms up in anger and then turned away from her. He started to walk away but then seemed to deflate. He took a seat on the steps of the porch and shook his head.

  Willow walked around him and stood in the grass. She was pleased that she was taller than him while he was sitting. She crossed her arms and said, “Griffin, I need my money back. I don’t have enough to continue repairs with someone else without what I already gave you.”

  He looked up at her. “It’s not that I don’t want to give it back. It’s that I can’t access my money now. The police have frozen my accounts.”

  “Why would they do that?”

  “It’s part of their investigation. They’re trying to establish a motive for me as a murder suspect. They’re looking at a business deal.”

  Willow felt like pacing again. “So, because they’re investigating you, they’ve frozen all your accounts, which means that I can’t get my money back?”

  “And I can’t use the money to get all the materials and equipment I need for my projects.”

  “I can’t believe this is happening,” Willow said, repeating her earlier refrain. “I don’t know how I’m going to get these repairs done in time.”

  “I know you said your timeline is tight. Getting ready for those dog shows.”

  “They’re a big deal in the dog trainer world,” she explained. “That’s how you make a name for yourself and build clients that can sustain your business. The Field Club Championship is one of the most prestigious shows and one I’ve had luck with before. But it’s annual. If I miss this one, I’ll have to wait a whole year. And I don’t think my business could survive until then.”

  Griffin sighed. “That does sound like a big deal.”

  “It seems like I need your accounts unfrozen whether I have you continue the renovation or not. I can’t just wait around until this gets figured out,” she said, kicking the dirt. “With my timeline I wanted this started yesterday.”

  “I’m sorry,” Griffin said, looking at his hands. “I don’t know what else to say.”

  Telescope moved closer and sat next to him.

  “Well,” Willow said, biting her lip. “I think there is one more thing you should say. I’d like you to answer one very important question.”

  “What’s that?” Griffin asked.

  “Did you kill him?”

  She braced herself for the answer, ready to look for signs of shiftiness. Instead, Griffin looked her right in the eye.

  “No,” he said, earnestly. “I didn’t.”

  She was inclined to believe him. He sounded sincere, and his eyes were holding heartbreak from these accusations. She looked at her dog for his advice. Telescope nodded. Willow nodded back and then joined Griffin, sitting on the porch.

  “Then, I’m sure this will all get settled soon,” she said, reassuring him. “Later than we both would have liked, but still soon. There are some good detectives on the force here. They’ll back up your alibi and dismiss you as a suspect. Then, they can find the real killer.”

  “I think that’s part of the problem,” Griffin said. “I couldn’t give them my alibi.”

  “Are you kidding? You’re a suspect in a murder.”

  Griffin rose to his feet. “Yes, but like I told the police, a non-disclosure agreement isn’t letting me explain things fully.”

  “Maybe a murder investigation is a sufficient reason to ignore an agreement?”

  “I can’t do that,” Griffin said. “I’ve already lost enough money and time by becoming a suspect. I’m sure my reputation will suffer some too. But I can’t destroy what’s left of it by violating my contract without permission. I can’t lose that opportunity too.”

  Willow stood up, listening to all that he had to say.

  “I’ve worked too hard to build up my business to lose it all now,” he continued. “I don’t know if you can understand that.”

  Willow softened. She understood it better than he might have imagined. She knew what it was like to lose everything and she wouldn’t wish that on anybody else. She had put her heart and soul into building her first dog training business and lost it when she split with her husband. She wished now that she’d kept better records pertaining to all the legal and binding documentation that proved the business was hers. She understood not wanting to make a mistake when it came to contracts and understood about loss.

  She wanted to tell him all this, but instead, she said, “Why don’t you come inside, and we’ll see what we can salvage from the project? Maybe there are still some things we can begin now.”

  Griffin gave h
er a small smile as he followed her into the house. Telescope wagged his tail as he joined them.

  “You believe me?” he asked.

  Willow nodded. Part of her was surprised that she was convinced, but the truth was that she truly did believe him. She could sense that he wasn’t a killer.

  “I promise to do what I can to help,” said Willow. “We both want to see this situation resolved as quickly as possible.”

  Telescope yipped, chiming in that all three of them wanted the same thing. Griffin stared at the dog, seeming more convinced than ever that Telescope understood what they were saying. Willow laughed, finally releasing some tension from the terrible day.

  “It’s unanimous,” Willow said, bending down to rub the dog’s chin.

  “Well,” Griffin said, clearing his throat. “I know many of the repairs are on hold.”

  “Because the backyard is off limits because it’s a crime scene and my shiny new appliances haven’t been delivered so they can’t be installed,” Willow summed up, wryly.

  “Right. And not many of the materials were previously purchased. However, I think there might still be some smaller projects that I could begin.”

  Willow nodded. After pacing around her house so much that afternoon, she had an idea where they might be able to start.

  “I could begin with the downstairs bathroom,” he said.

  Willow smiled. “That’s what I was going to say.”

  “I could start removing the old fixtures and the tile. They’re all going to be changed to more easily accommodate dog grooming. Those are things I can do by hand.”

  “That’s what I was thinking too. And an advantage of getting that room underway is that once it’s done, Telescope won’t be able to soak us again after he takes a bath.”

  Hearing the word “bath,” Telescope scooted away from them. She watched as he headed into another room to hide, but then Griffin brought her attention back to him by placing a hand on her shoulder.

  “Thank you,” he said simply.

  “No problem,” she replied.

  He gave her a smile and then went to grab his tools. As he walked away, she began to frown. There was still a problem.

  If Griffin wasn’t Lee Hunter’s killer, then it meant that there was still a killer loose in town. Who could it be?

  5

  Inhale. Hold the breath. Release. Bang, bang, bang!

  Willow sighed. It was hard to find inner peace with hammering going on in the other room. She switched positions on her yoga mat and tried to concentrate. She inhaled again,

  She and Wednesday were on the back deck of her new house trying to find Zen. After the stress of the afternoon, Willow was happy to take her sister up on her offer to visit, so they could stretch and try to relax together. However, it wasn’t going exactly as planned.

  She knew that hearing the sounds of construction was good news because it meant that Griffin was able to begin work, but the noise was distracting.

  Willow transitioned into Downward Facing Dog, placing her hands and feet on the ground and raising her hips into the air. Telescope’s version of the pose was different. He was lying down with a paw over his face because he was trying to ignore Wednesday’s multi-colored, long-haired cat.

  The cat kept crouching down and staring at him with her vivid green eyes, trying to invite Telescope to play with her. He looked like he would much rather take a nap.

  The cat picked up one of Telescope’s rubber balls and deposited it in front of her owner. She meowed as Wednesday ignored her, and Willow realized that her sister was playing on her cell phone as they did their yoga.

  Wednesday looked up and saw the ball. She threw it into the yard, and her cat bounded after it, beginning a game of fetch. The cat had come with the name Ruby when Wednesday adopted her, but she soon changed the name to Rover because the animal clearly thought she was a dog. She had black, white, and orange fur in a patchwork design. Between her distinctive coat and personality, Willow thought she was the perfect pet for her sister.

  Willow sat on her mat without getting into another position.

  “I’m not sure this is working for me today,” Willow said. “Between the construction and the game of fetch, I’m not feeling centered.”

  “Maybe you should join a yoga studio,” Wednesday said absently.

  “Join a studio?” Willow asked, frowning.

  “Sure,” Wednesday said, sitting on her mat too. “You could reconnect with people you used to know in town. Or meet new people.”

  “I don’t know. I’m not sure I’m up for that yet.”

  While Willow wanted to make Pineview her home again, she wasn’t sure her defenses were quite ready to be bombarded with questions about her life from the people she used to know. She would rather not talk about her divorce if she could avoid it. She also didn’t want to dwell on losing her former business until she could announce the opening of her new dog gym – and its opening on time was looking shaky at the moment.

  She was knocked out of her reverie by the sound of something falling in the bathroom. She was sure it was an intentional crash but didn’t like its volume.

  “Well,” Willow said, as she looked toward the source of the noise. “Maybe a temporary membership might not be a bad idea.”

  “My ideas are usually pretty good,” Wednesday said with a smile. Then she looked away, lost in thought. Willow knew something was distracting her sister but wasn’t sure what it was.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “Fine.”

  “You seem preoccupied with something.”

  “Do I?”

  Willow was about to question her further, but Rover returned with the ball. This time she brought the ball to Willow, and she lobbed it into the yard. Telescope decided that he wanted to play after all, and the two animals ran after the ball.

  Willow watched them run and scanned the yard. She groaned. How could she have not have realized it? Of course, her sister was distracted. They were trying to do yoga on the same property as a crime scene.

  “I’m sorry,” Willow said, getting to her feet. “I wasn’t even thinking. We’re too close for comfort to where a dead body was found, aren’t we?”

  Hammering continued behind them, but Willow remained sympathetic.

  Wednesday shook her head. “No. I’ve been working at the police station too long for that to bother me. I can handle a fair amount of odd or unpleasant. And the body’s not there anymore.”

  “But, you knew the victim, and I didn’t,” Willow pointed out. “I’m sure that makes a difference.”

  “It is sad. I didn’t know him well, but he was always doing great things for the community.”

  “Really?” Willow asked as she began rolling up her mat.

  Wednesday nodded. “Yeah. All sorts of stuff. In fact, his annual 5K is happening in a few days. Or it was happening. I wonder if it still is.”

  Willow stood up with her mat and looked at her sister. She was playing with her phone again and ignoring her yoga mat.

  “If he was involved in the community, it sounds like a lot of people would like him. Did he have any enemies?” Willow asked.

  “Dunno,” Wednesday said, still swiping on her phone.

  Willow looked towards her backyard and where they found the body. She frowned.

  “Did Lee Hunter even know Aunt Edna?”

  “Dunno,” Wednesday said again.

  After a particularly loud thump from the hammer, Wednesday looked up. Willow was not looking particularly pleased with the short answers she was being given, so Wednesday continued, “I mean, I think she knew him as well as I did. As someone who did things in the community. She didn’t invite him over for tea or anything like that.”

  Wednesday mumbled a few more things about tea that Willow could barely hear, but thought were nonsensical anyway. Wednesday was back on her phone.

  Willow turned from her sister and looked at the yard again. “If it had nothing to do with Aunt Edna, why did the murder
happen here?”

  This time she didn’t get any response from Wednesday.

  “Wednesday, I’m talking about murder here. It’s not exactly a boring subject. Can you stop ignoring me?”

  “What?” Wednesday asked, looking confused.

  “What are you staring at on your phone that’s so engrossing?”

  “Nothing,” Wednesday said. However, the way she hid the phone behind her back made Willow think otherwise.

  Willow reached around her and grabbed the phone as Wednesday protested. Willow was used to moving quickly and intercepting objects, though it was usually to stop dogs from trying to eat something that they shouldn’t. Phone in hand, she moved quickly away.

  “We’re not kids anymore,” Wednesday said. “I don’t want to chase you.”

  “You couldn’t catch me anyway,” Willow teased.

  Willow was reminded of their childhood and the games of tag they used to play. She was reminded of it, even more, when Wednesday stamped the ground like she used to when she was a girl. She took a step towards Willow about to give chase, but Tele and Rover chose that moment to return with the ball. Wednesday grabbed the ball and threw it as hard as she could in frustration across the yard.

  “Uh-oh,” she said as the animals gave chase. “I hope they’ll be able to find it. I don’t see where it went.”

  “Tele and Rover are pros,” Willow said. “They’ll bring something back to us.”

  Wednesday stopped watching the pets and turned to Willow. “Can I please have my phone back?”

  Willow paused. She relented and was about to put the phone in her sister’s outstretched hand when she caught a peek of what Wednesday was looking at. She had been collecting photos on her Pinterest, and it was filled with photos of police. Some looked realistic like they might be found at the Pineview Police Station, and some were outright S&M pictures.

  “What is this?”

  “It’s not what it looks like. Or not exactly what it looks like.”