by Molly Fitz
I took in a deep breath, vowing to give this whole experience a fair chance before deciding it wasn’t for me. After shooting quick smiles to Stone and Harmony, I at last positioned myself on the table—far less gracefully than Charles had, but at least the deed was done.
“Lavender for relaxation,” Harmony said, spraying something all around the room.
“Our own proprietary blend,” Stone added fondly.
The two took turns speaking to us in quiet, even-tempered voices. Their words blended together perfectly, and I imagined this whole opener had been rehearsed many times to get it just right.
When they had finished, Harmony placed a soft, warm hand on my neck and began to tug gently on my robe.
My heart sped to an uneven gallop. Weren’t massages supposed to be calming? Because my anxiety had officially been kicked into overdrive here. “Can I keep the robe on?” I mumbled, hoping it was loud enough for her to hear me.
“No,” she said in a voice that brooked no argument, lowering the robe farther and farther until at last she stopped at my hips.
“It’s okay, Ange,” Charles said from beside me. “It’s normal to be nervous the first time. Just keep talking until you relax.”
The first time? Had Charles done this before? Had he done it with his ex, Breanne? Yuck, I sure hoped not.
Still, by the time my masseuse had begun to rub oil into my upper back, I’d decided to take Charles’s advice. At least talking would make the time go by a bit faster.
“Nice place you’ve got here,” I mused. “Of course, I can only see the floor right now, but the stuff I saw when coming inside was nice, too. Haha.”
“Relax,” Harmony cooed, sweeping her hands gently along my spine. “Relax.”
That did not help me relax.
“So, you guys are new around here? Right? What made you decide to set up shop in Dewdrop Springs? And why is it called Serenity? And are your names really Harmony and Stone?”
“Relax,” Harmony said again, a sharp edge working its way into her previously calm voice. What would happen if I didn’t relax? Would they call the whole thing off? I didn’t want to do that to Charles, especially knowing how hard he worked as the only partner at Glendale’s most infamous law firm.
“Sorry, I’m just nervous.” I took several slow, shaky breaths, trying to match my breathing to Harmony’s, hoping that’s what would ultimately help me get into the right headspace for this experience.
“You’ll enjoy our work more if you let your tension go,” Stone suggested rather unhelpfully.
“This is her first time,” Charles explained. “Can we all just talk a little to help her ease in?”
“We won’t be going over the allotted appointment time,” Harmony warned. Each time she spoke, her voice lost some of that ethereal quality. I wouldn’t be surprised if she worked her way up to screaming at me before long.
“We don’t need to,” Charles was quick to respond. “But she’s not going to have a good experience if we don’t help her relax.”
“Fine,” Harmony spat while Stone just chuckled good-naturedly. Of course, I got the ice queen masseur, but I suppose it was better than having the unknown man’s hands all over me while I lay there exposed and helpless.
“We’re called Serenity because that’s the aura we try to create for all who pass through our doors,” Stone said.
“What about Trish?” I asked, unable to help myself as I thought back to the startling encounter with the lithe blonde. “She didn’t seem very serene when she ran out of here in a hurry.”
“We don’t discuss other clients,” Harmony said, giving me a little pinch as she did.
“Clients? Was she here to get a massage?” I asked innocently.
“Yes,” Stone answered definitively. “Yes, she was. And don’t worry about her. Her experience definitely wasn’t typical. She at least left us with less stress than she brought in with her.”
Harmony let out a frustrated groan but said nothing more.
“Why is she so stressed?” I asked.
Although I certainly hadn’t expected an answer, Stone provided one anyway. “Because the city cut funding to the animal shelter, and they’re having a rough time over there.”
“Stone,” Harmony hissed. “Remember our code of ethics, please!”
Everyone fell silent for a few minutes.
“Hey,” Stone said, forgetting to use his soothing meditation voice. Rather than sounding irritated though, he came across more like a friend. “You know what helps me when I’m feeling nervous? I like to list all the things I’m grateful for. Let’s all take turns as we focus on the positives in our life. I’ll go first. I’m grateful for being able to do what I love for a living.”
“Me, too,” Charles piped up.
“Me, too,” I said. “Well, sort of. I haven’t been doing much of it lately, but—”
“No explanations,” Harmony snapped. “Just state your thought, release it, and move on.”
“Fine,” I snapped back. “Then I guess I’m grateful for my cat.”
But was I grateful for this experience? Certainly not.
Maybe next time Charles would let me plan date night.
Chapter Ten
“Did you enjoy your massage?” Charles asked after Harmony and Stone left us to change out of our spa robes and back into our street clothes.
“Yes,” I said definitively, hoping that he would believe me. I appreciated the gesture but didn’t find the actual act of getting touched all over by a stranger very relaxing at all. I’d much rather pet Octo-Cat or Paisley until all my troubles melted away. Or get in a few snuggles with my boyfriend. Or go on a sugar binge with Nan.
Basically anything other than being poked and prodded by an angry person fake-named Harmony.
“You’re such a bad liar,” Charles said with a chuckle. “And even though I couldn’t see you, I could still tell your wheels were spinning that whole time. You were thinking about the shelter. Weren’t you?”
Okay, he knew me eerily well, but I guess that was just part of his charm. “Don’t you think it’s weird that city hall would cut the shelter’s funding when it’s already struggling?”
“Maybe the shelter isn’t the only thing struggling,” Charles suggested. “This past year we’ve had a pretty high murder per capita. It could be that people are moving away, houses are sitting empty, and the local government has less money to spend overall.”
“Maybe,” I agreed half-heartedly. His logic made good sense, but my gut was telling me something else was to blame here. “But I don’t think that’s it. It seems like something fishy is going on with the shelter in particular.”
Charles played right along. He, too, had learned to trust my instincts, and he never made me feel bad about needing to investigate—or obsessively discuss—a hunch. “And you think that woman we saw… Trish… is at the center of it all?”
“Of course I do.” I accidentally turned around before Charles had finished getting dressed and caught an eye full of his bare legs and chest. “Oops, sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m not nearly as shy as you are.”
I waited for that tell-tale sound of pants zipping up before turning around again.
When I did, Charles greeted me with a grim expression. “But I can’t help worrying about you. Are you going to at least be careful about inserting yourself into a potentially dangerous situation this time?”
I shook my head and let out a sarcastic huff. “I’m always careful.”
Charles laughed so hard he had to cough. “Yeah, we both know that’s not true, so let’s try again. Can you at least be more cautious than you usually are?”
“Fine,” I acquiesced and let him wrap his arms around me. “Although you know I no longer work for Longfellow and Associates, which means you’re not my boss anymore, either.”
“Yeah, but you mean more than ever to me now. You think I’m only warning you off because I’m your boss? That hurts.”
“Now that you mention it.” He placed a kiss on my forehead first, then my nose, and finally finished up with a lingering kiss on my mouth. “I do have one tiny request.”
Even before Charles said anything more, I already knew I’d grant him any wish he wanted. I was a big pile of cotton fluff in his hands. Literally.
“Let me swing by city hall to see what information I can gather about the budget cuts. Once I do that, you’re free to investigate to your heart’s content.”
“Fair enough.” I pulled his face back down to mine and gave him another enthusiastic kiss.
“What was that for?” he asked with a smile once we’d pulled apart.
“For trying to make me feel better, and then actually doing it.”
“So, you mean I shelled out for this fancy couple’s thing when all I had to do was wave my lawyer card around a little?”
We both chuckled and then kissed again. Even if I kissed Charles every day for the rest of my life, I doubted I’d ever grow sick of it, sick of him.
Still, we had things to do, so I reluctantly pushed him away. “Now turn around and face the wall so I can get dressed in peace,” I instructed, happy to put this whole experience behind me and get back to the real world where people went by their given names and spoke in their actual voices.
Buh-bye, Serenity.
Hello, mystery at the shelter.
I returned home to what could only be described as a war zone. Nan wore pink camo sweatpants to go with her pink Dog Mom shirt, and even her adorable sidekick Paisley had undergone a costume change. The shaking ball of sleek fur now wore a skull and crossbones tank top with a glittery pink bow affixed to one side of the skull.
Oh, brother.
In the dining room, a giant map of the Blueberry Bay region took up most of our large table. Nan had also brought out a fresh piece of poster board and a rainbow array of all her favorite Sharpies.
“What’s going on here?” I asked, not entirely sure I wanted to know the answer.
Noticing my arrival at last, Nan marched straight across the room and put a hand on each of my shoulders. “The check was cashed,” she informed me, eyes flashing with glee.
I frowned. This seemed like a ridiculously over-the-top way to celebrate a check being cashed. Of course, my head was all fuzzy from Harmony’s massage, so maybe my synapses were still slow to fire.
“And you turned our house into a war room, because…?” I asked, anyway.
Nan pointed toward the desktop computer she kept set up in the far corner of the living room for her occasional use and said, “Remember how you taught me to pay all my bills online?”
“Yessss,” I answered slowly, not sure I liked where this was going. It was one thing for me to take risks for a case, but I hated the thought of ever putting Nan in harm’s way.
“Look at this.” She thrust a piece of computer paper at my chest.
Although the image was grainy, I could clearly make out the scan of Nan’s check from earlier that day, along with the sloppy signature and the stamp that read First Bank of Blueberry Bay.
“Check out the address,” Nan urged me with an eager smile.
“Dewdrop Springs, huh,” I read aloud. “But why would the Glendale Animal Shelter be cashing checks in Dewdrop Springs?”
“That’s what I was hoping to learn from you. You were just over there, after all.” She grabbed the paper back and waited for me to explain everything.
I didn’t have the answers she was looking for, but I did have a bit of information that could help us get there. It was my turn to make a big reveal, and I relished it. “Now that you mention it, Charles and I did run into Trish at the massage place. Do you think she’s the one who cashed the check?”
We both studied the messy scrawl of the signature, but it was impossible to decipher without knowing Trish’s last name.
“Weird,” I said at last.
“Definitely weird,” Nan agreed with a nod.
“So what is all this about then?” I motioned around at the giant mess that had exploded in our normally pristine home during my brief absence.
“It’s easier for me to think with all my supplies close at hand,” Nan answered with a shrug.
This made me chuckle. “And what have you thought of?”
“That we definitely need to be investigating that shelter more for a start,” she said without a second’s hesitation.
“Yeah, I kind of have the same feeling, too. Ooh, let me catch you up on what I learned while I was out.”
“Excellent, but first, tea,” Nan declared.
She scurried toward the kitchen with a plucky Paisley in tow, then let out a sharp gasp. “Oh, dear. I think we’ve had another attack!”
I raced after her only to find a pair of coffee mugs shattered against the hard floor.
What in the heck?
Who was breaking all our things?
And how had Nan not heard all this racket from the next room over?
Sigh.
It seemed that we now had more than one mystery to solve.
Chapter Eleven
Despite my niggling dislike of Harmony, even I had to admit she’d gotten one thing very right: I slept like a log that night. It could have been the massage, or it could have been the fact that I’d decided to stop tiptoeing around my angry cat and had actually gone to sleep in my own bed when the time came.
I hadn’t laid eyes on Octo-Cat before tucking myself in but knew he must still be somewhere in the tower bedroom. Not that I cared all that much at the moment. Honestly, I was so done with this tantrum of his. He could either learn to live with Paisley or he could make himself a prisoner in my bedroom until the very last day of his very last life.
I hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but he’d made it quite clear that he wasn’t willing to negotiate when it came to our new doggie family member.
Beyond exhausted, I didn’t rouse that morning until my angrily ringing cell phone forced me out of bed.
“Ugh, what time is it?” I groaned in the general direction of the phone instead of saying hello outright.
Charles laughed on the other end of the line. “Wake up, Sleeping Beauty. Your prince charming has some news!”
“Sleeping Beauty has Prince Phillip,” I corrected, wiping the sleep from my eyes.
“And you have Prince Charles. Oh, hmm, maybe not.” He chuckled to himself, but I was still too groggy to join in.
“Anyway, I’ve got news,” Charles continued. “And it’s almost ten o’clock by the way, you should really get up and greet the day.”
I groaned again, which only made my boyfriend laugh harder. “What’s your news?” I asked, searching my nightstand for the gummy multivitamin I took each morning.
“Well, I started my day at city hall as promised. You can really learn a lot when you know the right people, I might add.” He sounded quite proud of himself. Did this mean he had found something good? Something that would help Nan and I figure out what in the heck was going on with that shelter?
“And what did you learn today?” I asked with a smirk before popping the sugary vitamins into my mouth.
He sucked air in through his teeth, then explained, “That the animal shelter funding hasn’t been cut like Stone said. In fact, it’s increased year over year beyond inflation.”
I yawned and tried my best to refocus. It was way too early for words like inflation. “Which means?” I asked, hating how stupid I must sound to Charles’s educated ear. Granted, my seven associate degrees were nothing to shake a stick at, but they still weren’t nearly as impressive as his one law degree.
Charles took a deep breath, then revealed, “It means that if the shelter has a money problem, it’s not due to lack of funding.”
“Do you think someone’s stealing?” I asked, unable to think of any other possibility given the way that evidence had been stacking up the past coup
le of days.
“Stealing from a business—or in this case a nonprofit—is called embezzlement. And, yes, it does seem like that might be a possibility here.” The fact that Charles had shifted into full-on attorney mode told me that whatever was going on, it was very, very illegal. I sincerely hoped the culprit would not only be caught, but also punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Rage flew through my veins, waking me up better than any form of caffeine ever could. “But it’s not just money,” I argued. “It’s these animals’ lives! They’re already three to a cage… What happens if the shelter has to be shut down?”
“Maybe another shelter would take them in.” Charles’s whispered words betrayed his true beliefs. He felt just as hopeless as I did in this situation, and it didn’t do anyone any good skirting around the issue.
“Or maybe they’d all be turned loose on the streets. Or worse, eu-eu-euthanized.” I shuddered at that last word. It represented one of the most awful things I could imagine. Those poor sweet animals.
“That’s not going to happen,” Charles assured me. His voice came out stronger now, surer.
“But how? How can you know that for a fact?” Hot tears stung at my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I needed to stay angry. Angry got things done.
“Because I know you, and I know you would never let that happen,” my boyfriend told me.
“I gotta go,” I mumbled into the phone, already halfway to my closet and ready to throw some clothes on in a hurry.
“I know you do,” Charles said, and I could hear the smile in his words. “Stay safe and call me if you need anything. Got it?”
“Got it,” I said, then pressed to end the call.
Never had I been so determined to solve a case—and to solve it quickly. Dozens of lives depended on it.
By the time I’d clambered down the stairs in my hastily assembled outfit, Nan was already dressed and waiting for me at the front door. “Finally,” she said with a huff. “Ms. Paisley and I have been waiting all morning.”
“Hi, Mommy!” Paisley cheered, wiggling her butt in merriment. “We’re going for a car ride!”
