“It’s Delilah,” she said.
“Delilah?” Ashley chortled loudly. The puppy opened her eyes and lifted her head. “Hey, look! She likes me.”
“Shhhh,” Jane said softly
The rebuke didn’t have the slightest effect. Ashley was now bouncing around the room on the balls of her feet. She peered into an open crate, then kicked a ball across the room. It hit a table leg, ricocheted off, and came flying back.
When Jane had requisitioned these two family members to help out with the puppies, she’d clearly overlooked the fact that Ashley might need a caretaker herself.
“Ash,” Megan said, her voice firm. “Sit.”
“Sit.” Ashley sank down on the couch. She held her arms up in front of her, wrists cocked downward to make her hands look like paws. “Stay. Beg.”
Megan reached into a bag of treats on a nearby tabletop. She pulled out a puppy biscuit and tossed it at her twin. Ashley bounced up and caught it in her mouth. I heard the treat crunch as her teeth bit down on it.
Wow. And I thought my family was nuts.
Ashley swallowed, then said, “So where’s Leo? I thought he’d be here. We only came today because we wanted him to see us.”
My first thought was: she calls her grandfather Leo?
My second: Ashley and Megan hadn’t come to the Puppy Fest to see Mr. Brody. They’d only shown up so that he could see them. Apparently Claire had been right about that.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Jane staring at me. She looked like she could guess what I was thinking. Once again, she looked annoyed.
Or maybe irritation was just Jane’s habitual expression. Because I’ll tell you what. I’d be cross too if I had to deal with these people every day.
Dressing up like an elf was nothing compared to how this was turning out. By the time Puppy Fest was over, Claire was going to owe me big time.
Chapter 5
“I need you to do something for me,” Jane said.
Hopefully she wouldn’t tell me to get lost again. “Sure,” I said. “That’s why I’m here.”
“Would you run over to the kitchen and get some bottled water?”
And just like that, I was demoted from puppy handler to waitress.
“How many bottles do you want?” I started counting heads. “One for everyone?”
“Oh, it’s not for us.” Jane was biting back a smirk. “It’s for the puppies.”
“The puppies,” I repeated.
“I don’t want to upset their little stomachs with town water.”
She had to be kidding. Everyone I knew who lived in lower Fairfield County drank town water. Including me and my family. And our little stomachs were just fine, thank you very much.
“Bottled water,” I said, just to make sure that we were on the same page. “For the puppies.”
“You got it. I’m sure there’s some in the kitchen. We’ll need at least twelve bottles. Just tell them I sent you.”
As if I wouldn’t even have the ability to speak up for myself.
“It’s a long way to the kitchen,” I said sweetly. “Are you sure you don’t want to write that down for me?”
“Nah.” Jane was already turning away. “I’m pretty sure you can remember it.”
Over on the couch, Ashley was grinning like a baboon. Taking a cue from her aunt’s behavior, she was clearly enjoying my discomfort. She raised her hand and waggled her fingers. “Ta! Try not to lose your way.”
Insulted by a girl whom I’d just watched eat a dog biscuit. I was pretty sure my day couldn’t sink much lower than that.
A workman in the ballroom directed me to a back hallway that bypassed the family rooms I’d inadvertently entered earlier. The passage was a reasonably direct route to the kitchen and other working areas of the house. An hour had gone by since I’d made the trip in the other direction. By now, everything was unloaded and the crews had moved on. My trip to the kitchen was swift and unimpeded.
There, the catering staff was putting together various elements of the lunch that would be served buffet style to the on-site crews. Once prepped, it would be available whenever people had a chance to come and grab a bite to eat. At least a dozen people were working in the crowded room, all attending to tasks that looked more important than the errand that had brought me into their domain. Loath to interrupt the flow of frenzied activity, I hovered briefly in the doorway and looked for an opening.
“You there.” An apron-clad man, busy filling a huge serving bowl with creamy potato salad, paused and pointed his spoon at me. “What do you need?”
“Bottled water,” I said.
“One bottle?”
“No, twelve. It doesn’t have to be cold.”
Several heads swiveled in my direction. Obviously my request was more entertaining than food prep.
“Twelve bottles?” The man frowned. “Who’s it for?”
“Jane Brody. She wants it for the puppies.”
“What puppies?”
Well, crap. If the caterers didn’t know the purpose of the event for which they’d been hired, I didn’t have time to stand there and explain it to them.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to.
“Are you kidding me?” A man who’d been standing with his head poked inside a sub-zero refrigerator straightened and turned around. “It’s Puppy Fest today!”
He had dark, curly hair and broad shoulders that tapered to a narrow waist, and when the man turned and I saw his face, I felt a small jolt of recognition. I’d seen those same narrow features and light blue eyes several times already today. Apparently members of the Brody family shared several identifying characteristics.
Aunt Peg would have been fascinated by that. If Leo Brody were a dog, we would have said that he was prepotent.
“You must be another one of Mr. Brody’s sons.” I walked over to where the man stood. “I’m Melanie Travis. I’m helping out with the puppies.”
“Right you are. I’m Joseph Brody. Call me Joe.” Unlike his sister, his handshake was firm but not painful. “So you need a dozen bottles of water, is that right?”
“I’m not sure need is the correct word,” I told him.
“But, yes, that’s what I was sent down here to retrieve.”
“You’ll have to watch out for Jane. She has a wicked sense of humor.”
Not in my company, she didn’t. In the time I’d spent with Jane, I had yet to see evidence of any humor at all.
“Don’t let my sister push you around,” Joe said. “She’ll send you on a snipe hunt if you let her.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Good girl. Now come with me and I’ll show you to the pantry. If we have bottled water, that’s where it would be.”
As l followed him across the beautifully appointed kitchen, Joe talked to me over his shoulder. “Have you met my father yet? Puppy Fest is his favorite day of the year. He likes to introduce himself personally to everyone who’s come to help out.”
“No,” I admitted. “I haven’t even seen him.”
“Too bad then, you just missed him. He was here a few minutes ago nabbing half a sandwich. Dad loves to eat. He’ll grab just about anything around here that isn’t nailed down. Ahh, here we are.”
Like everything in Leo Brody’s house, the pantry was enormous. When Joe flipped on the switch, track lighting revealed shelves on three sides of the rectangular room stocked with everything from canned food, to baking supplies, to dry goods. My family could have lived in there for a month without missing a meal.
“I see you’re ready for the apocalypse,” I said with a laugh.
“Never hurts to be prepared. And speaking of which, look . . . two cases of bottled water.” Joe picked up half a flat and handed it to me. “Can you carry that all right?”
“Sure, no problem. Thanks for your help.”
“Glad to be of service.” Joe started to leave, then turned back. “A word of advice?”
“Sure.”
“Jane likes to be in charge. “Do
n’t let her bully you.”
The warning sounded as though it was based on experience. With nine children from three different mothers, I wondered where Joe and Jane fit in the hierarchy of the family.
“I don’t have much choice in the matter,” I told him. “My only job today is to take orders.”
“Oh well.” Joe grinned. “Then I guess you’re out of luck.”
I carried the water back to the salon. Upon my arrival, Jane glanced at me with disinterest and waved vaguely toward a corner where some other supplies had been stacked. I dumped the bottles there—no surprise, the errand hadn’t been an emergency—then headed outside to the terrace to see if any help was needed.
Two exercise pens had been set up in the shade of the house, their floors lined with a thick layer of newspaper. There were currently three puppies in each, including Delilah, whom I’d last seen in Megan’s arms. While I was gone from the room, both twins had disappeared. And as far as I could tell, Trace had yet to show up.
I might not be Jane’s first choice as assistant, but at least I was there. It seemed to me that should have counted for something.
Lucy and Will were lounging in the shade while they kept an eye on the puppies. “Everything under control out here?” I asked.
“Just great,” Lucy replied. “Puppies are a breeze.” She gave me an uneasy look and I wondered how much of my conversation with Jane she’d overheard. “You know, unlike people sometimes.”
“We didn’t have a chance to meet earlier,” I said. “I’m Melanie—”
“Why is everyone standing around talking?” Jane interrupted. She leveled a glare in my direction. “You said you were here to make yourself useful.”
“What do you need?” I didn’t snap out an impatient “now” at the end of that sentence, but a careful listener might have heard it hanging in the air between us.
Both Will and Lucy pointedly looked away.
“I want you to go find Caroline.”
“Okay.” I paused. “Who’s Caroline?”
“Caroline? Caroline Richland?”
I shook my head.
“As curious as you are about my family, surely you’ve seen her picture somewhere.”
So then another Brody relative. Possibly another sister.
“I saw her half an hour ago,” Will volunteered. “She was outside the living room. I asked if she was ready to come and kiss the puppies, and she said there were a few other things she had to do first, but that she’d be along shortly.”
“That’s Caroline.” Jane was annoyed again. “Always running on her own schedule and figuring everyone else will wait. She needs to be here now. It’s time.”
So help me, I couldn’t resist asking. “Time for what?”
“To kiss the puppies,” Jane told me. “Weren’t you listening?”
Well, sure. But I’d only half-believed what I was hearing.
“It’s tradition,” Lucy explained. “Before every Puppy Fest, Mrs. Richland kisses each of the puppies for luck. You know, so they look really cute on TV and get adopted.”
“Does it work?” I asked.
“Oh, who knows?” said Jane. “It’s probably just a silly superstition. But Caroline likes to make a big deal out of it. She says it’s her contribution to the event’s success. And our father humors her, just like he’s always done. The rest of us plan, and prepare, and work our fingers to the bone, and then Caroline shows up at the last minute and blows a few kisses, and everyone tells her how special she is.”
Jane abruptly stopped talking. She looked at the three of us and frowned. “Not that I’m jealous or anything.”
No, of course not, I thought.
Suddenly the mission didn’t seem like such a chore. I had no desire to go back inside the small, stifling room with Jane. “What does Caroline look like?”
“Tall and blond,” Jane said. “Bone-thin, perfect manicure, flawless makeup.”
Not that she was jealous or anything.
“She’s wearing a red suit,” Will added helpfully. “And”—his hand flapped in the air as he searched for the right words—“high heels. That’s what you call them, right? They were red too.”
“Oh, just ask anyone.” Jane frowned. “Everyone knows who Caroline is.”
“Will said he saw her near the living room,” I said.
“Then start there.”
“So it’s okay if I wander around the rest of the house . . . ?”
“If you’re only going to wander,” Jane said shortly, “you’ll never find Caroline in time.”
“That isn’t what I meant—”
“Enough arguing already. Just go.”
So I went. The living room was empty, as were the next two rooms I peered into. The mansion had more rooms than I would have known what to do with, but Leo Brody seemed to have had no problem filling all that space with furniture. I paused and took a closer look. Probably antiques.
The only people I ran across in my travels were one maid and two men who appeared to be guards, positioned unobtrusively to watch over the private areas of the house during the day-long event. All shook their heads when I described Caroline.
Suddenly Jane’s advice to just ask anyone wasn’t sounding particularly helpful. Especially since I could hear a clock ticking in my head. The game was due to start in ten minutes. Puppy Fest was being broadcast live. The show would go on the air whether or not Caroline had performed her traditional duties.
Maybe Caroline was carrying a cell phone, I thought suddenly. And Jane would have her sister’s number. My hurried progress through the house slowed, then stopped altogether.
Damn. Joe had warned me and I hadn’t listened.
Jane had sent me on a snipe hunt.
And I’d fallen for it. Idiot.
It was a good thing Caroline hadn’t actually needed to be retrieved because by the time I made it back to the salon, the broadcast was already starting next door. As I hurried past the ballroom, I saw that the lights were on, the cameramen were filming, and Fred Brody was welcoming the audience to the Third Annual Puppy Fest sponsored by the Puppy Posse Foundation of Stamford, Connecticut. To his credit, Fred didn’t trip over a single word.
Jane and her assistants now had four more minutes of relative calm while a pre-taped profile for each of the puppy players was shown to the viewing audience. The game would consist of two thirty-minute halves, with a ten-minute break in the middle and a five-minute wrap-up afterward. Jane had already decided the order in which the puppies would appear. A schedule was taped to the back of the door between the two rooms.
I opened the door to the salon and slipped inside. The first person I saw was my supposed quarry, Caroline Richland. She was hard to miss. From the top of her impeccably coiffed head to the toes of her Christian Louboutin shoes, the woman was so perfectly put together that the very air around her seemed to glisten.
And she was indeed kissing puppies.
Jane, Will, and Lucy were facilitating. The three of them had formed a canine assembly line and they had the process down to a science. Will lifted each puppy from the floor. Jane held it while Caroline applied her lips to the puppy’s muzzle. Then Lucy carefully wiped away any lipstick stains before putting the puppy back down.
I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it.
As I stood there watching the spectacle, Jane caught my eye and winked. Or maybe I imagined that.
A monitor had been set up in the salon so we could follow the game’s progress. Now we all saw that the profiles were coming to an end. It was time for the first group of puppies to make their entrance.
As Caroline exited the room, Jane thrust a chubby black-and-tan bitch into my hands. As I tucked her under my arm, Jane placed one of the Labs in my other hand. Since Megan and Ashley—not to mention Trace—were still MIA, I’d finally been promoted to the position of puppy handler. Yippee.
“Missy and Jackson,” Jane said. “They’re the last two to go in. Just follow us and do what we d
o.”
That sounded easy enough and it was. Ninety seconds later, all eight puppies were on the playing field. They went scrambling from one end of the large structure to the other, running, jumping, and tossing toys in the air. A whistle blew and the game began.
Lucy and Will returned to the puppy room. Jane remained behind, standing out of range of the cameras and watching the action live. For the moment, everything seemed to be under control. Claire was on the other side of the playing field. Clipboard hugged tightly against her chest, she was chewing on her lip as she watched the game on a monitor. I walked around to join her.
Claire saw me coming and silently beckoned for me to follow her. Together, we walked halfway down the large room. Close enough so Claire could still see what was happening, but far enough away that a wide-ranging microphone wouldn’t accidentally pick up our conversation.
“Where have you been?” she whispered. “I checked on the puppies five minutes before the broadcast began and you weren’t there. You’re supposed to be helping Jane.”
“I am helping Jane,” I said with a grimace. “I’m doing everything she tells me to. Unfortunately, most of it has nothing to do with puppies. Jane’s had me chasing all over the building, running errands for her.”
“That sounds like a waste of your talents. But I guess if that’s what Jane thought she needed . . .” As she spoke, Claire stood up on her tiptoes. She surveyed the crowded room with a preoccupied frown.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“I just realized that Mr. Brody isn’t here. He told me earlier he was excited about watching the game live. I assumed he’d appear when it started. But I don’t see him anywhere. Do you?”
I’d only ever seen Leo Brody in pictures and on TV, but I was certain I’d recognize him. I pulled over a straight-backed chair, climbed up on the seat, and had a look around.
“I don’t think he’s in the room,” I said after a minute.
That wasn’t what Claire wanted to hear. She exhaled a loud sigh. “I was so pleased when we started right on schedule. But now Mr. Brody is missing the game. I’m sure he meant to be here. He must have lost track of time.”
Claire’s gaze swung my way. Her eyes narrowed. “Did you just say that you’ve been running all through the house?”
Murder at the Puppy Fest Page 5
