Pit and Miss Murder

by Renee George

  "Of course not. Thirty-five is the new twenty-five. Meghan Markle is thirty-seven, and she's having a baby. Heck, women are having babies in their late forties now."

  "I was pregnant once when I was twenty-three. Jock and I had only been married a year, and he was just getting his practice established." Her face blanched as she recalled the memory. "When I told him, he left the house without saying a word. That night was the first time he hit me. He'd accused me of scheming behind his back." She shuddered.

  "What happened?"

  "I went and had an abortion the next week." I could feel the pain in her words. "I told him I'd miscarried. I knew, the first time he'd laid hands on me, that I would never be a parent. It was something I'd wanted for as long as I can remember, but Jock..."

  "Was a pig," I finished for her. "You deserve better. I'm glad you're with someone who makes you feel special. Loved." I still didn't know if Parker wanted kids. What if we didn't want the same things? Would that be a deal breaker? "And Keith is happy about the pregnancy?"

  "Over the moon." She beamed with pleasure as she said the words. "He's already talking baby names, turning the second bedroom into a baby room, and getting safety locks for all the cabinets and covers for the outlets. He's going to be such a good dad."

  Keith's compassion with the rescue dogs left me with little doubt he'd be spectacular as a father. "Any child would be lucky to have you both."

  Impulsively, Theresa hugged me. She was taller, so I got a face full of breasts. When she let me go, she said, "Thank you, Lily. You always know how to make me feel better."

  "It's my pleasure."

  "I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't kill Jock, and I don't know who did."

  My lie-o-meter lightly pinged, which meant, she probably didn't know for certain, but might have suspicions. "Who would want him dead? Can you give me a few names?"

  "Lots of people disliked Jock, but killing someone, that takes some real hate."

  "Revenge, greed, opportunity, accident, jealousy, pleasure, and mental illness."

  "What?" she asked.

  "The reasons people kill. It doesn't have to be about hating him." I decided to try a different approach. "Tell me if any of these names jump out at you as someone who might have a motive. Electa Laverty?"

  "Electa? No. She'd do anything for Jock. They have been friends since high school."

  "Interesting. How about James Hanley?" I didn't really think the kid had a real connection to Jock, but he'd been in the courtroom and at the rescue. I had a gut feeling he'd done the damage to our siding, creating the paint chips that had made Smooshie sick. Even if he wasn't a killer, I planned to execute a little old school shifter justice for the young man if I found out he was responsible. And no, that didn't involve me actually executing him, but I would make him sorry.

  "James? Clem's son?" She shook her head. Jock was James's godfather. He and Clem go back to high school as well. Jock didn't want any children, but he had been fond of James."

  Okay. Strike two.

  "Do you have anyone else?"

  Her dad and her boyfriend, but I didn't think it prudent to ask about them. "No. I don't suppose I could have the keys to Jock's law office."

  "Lily!"

  "I'm just kidding." But not really.

  "Well, even if you weren't, I don't have the keys."

  Shoot. I guess I was going to have to figure out some late night breaking and entering. "I better get going," I told Theresa. "If you need anything at all, you give me a call. And I will cover your shifts at the shelter until you are ready to come back."

  "I think I'm ready," she said. "I miss the furbabies already." She stopped me at the door. "If I hear anything that can clear your cousin, I promise to tell you."

  Again, she wasn't being dishonest, but the statement made enough noise in my head that I knew she would tell me the truth as long as it didn't cost her. I couldn’t blame her. There are not a lot of good reasons to lie, but protecting the people you love, that one ranked right up there.

  Chapter 12

  “Smooshie!” I squealed with complete delight as she greeted me at Parker’s front door, rearing up on her back legs, turning in circles, and wagging her whole booty with excitement. “Someone wants to play.” I rubbed her jowls between my hands and kissed the top of her nose. She lifted her head at the same moment, knocking against my chin, and making me bite my tongue. “Ow.” Even though it hurt, I laughed. “My bad.” After the day I’d had, along with the tragic revelations about Theresa, it felt good to be with my girl.

  She gave me a rue, rue, roof! bark followed with a playful growl. “I missed you, too.”

  Smooshie tap danced around me as if to say, I don’t understand English, but I’m willing to play along.

  I’m sure Parker had kept himself busy this morning. Sitting around doing nothing was not his strong suit. He had wanted to be at the bail hearing with me, but I’d insisted he stay at the rescue. Between Theresa being gone and the new intake, the shelter had needed him more.

  I grabbed Smooshie’s leash from the coat hooks near the entrance. I held it up. “You want to go for a walk?”

  She jumped up and twisted like an actual bull and barked with joyous fervor. I laughed again. “You are so silly. Get over here.” When she came, I held up two fingers and said, “Sit.” She sat. I held up four fingers and said, “Stay.” She couldn’t hold her tail still, and her butt gyrated against the floor. “Gah! Why you got to be so cute?” I asked her. I clipped her leash onto her collar. “Such a pretty girl. A pretty, pretty princess.”

  I grabbed some poop bags then led Smooshie out the front. A bumblebee zipped past her head, and she nipped at the air it had occupied. “Don’t eat the bee,” I told her as we walked down the sidewalk. We stopped into the shelter first so I could see Parker. As much as I calmed him, he did the same for me. I’d expected to see him in the office, but Keith Porter was there instead. He’d shaved his patchy beard but still dressed as if he were going to the skate park. He yawned and rubbed his face, the lines around his young eyes deepening with exhaustion.

  “You should have taken the day off,” I told him.

  He jumped a little. “You startled me. I didn’t hear you come in.

  “I’m sure Parker would have found someone to take your hours. You know, so you could be with Theresa.”

  He shook his head. “Her dad said it wouldn’t look good if I showed up to court this morning.” He frowned. “Did you see her?”

  “Yes. She’s getting a few things from her house that she couldn’t take when she’d left him.” Smooshie whined a little. I petted her head and made a soft shushing sound.

  “When her mom called last night, Theresa dissolved into tears.”

  “So, you were both home when you were called about Jock’s death?”

  “Yes. Theresa hadn’t been feeling well, so she was napping at the time.”

  Which meant, Keith could have left their trailer, found Jock, stabbed him, and put him in Buzz’s parking lot. It would have been a lot to plan, and a bit of luck would have had to come into play, but it wasn’t impossible. “Had she been napping long?”

  “About an hour.” Keith narrowed his eyes on me suspiciously. “Are you trying to figure out if I have an alibi?”

  “No.” I gave him a frank stare, then said, “Maybe.”

  He snorted a bark of a laugh. “I’m flattered you’d think I am capable. I wished Jock dead plenty of times, but I didn’t kill him.”

  His confession rang true, but I couldn’t stop thinking about something Theresa had told me after she’d finally gotten the nerve to leave Jock. “Theresa once said that she’d been afraid to tell you about Jock’s abuse because you were the kind of guy noble enough to do something about it.” ‘Noble enough to do something stupid’ had been her exact words.

  “And I might have had she stayed with him. But she left him and came back to me. I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that. I love Theresa more than I hated Jock.” He sm
iled grimly. “That’s a ton of love, let me tell you. Theresa isn’t the kind of person who could kill someone, and I’m not either.”

  Buzz was being framed, and as much as I liked Keith and Theresa, and believe me, I thought they were both awesome, I knew that sometimes good people could be driven to do terrible things, especially under the right circumstances. Smooshie whined again. I scratched her ear. “Hold on, girl. We’ll go out in a minute.” I just had one more question I wanted to ask Keith.

  Parker’s sweet minty scent preceded him into the room. His arms wrapped my waist, and he placed his chin on my shoulder. I let him hold me for a moment, before I said, “Hey, you.”

  “Hey, you,” he said back. “How’d it go this morning?”

  “The judge gave Buzz bail. The Dixon sisters said he was tough and rarely favored the defendants. I really thought he would hold Buzz until trial.”

  “Who was it?” Keith asked. “The judge, I mean?”

  “Judge Robinson.”

  Keith nodded. “His wife divorced him two years ago. Jock Simmons represented her in the matter, and the judge ended up with a raw deal. I’m surprised he didn’t let Buzz go on his own recognizance.”

  “How in the world do you know this?”

  “My mom works for the county clerk, and she’s old school Ozarkian.”

  I raised a questioning brow.

  “She likes her gossip,” he explained. “I really am sorry for Buzz whether he did or didn’t kill Jock.” To Parker, he said, “I have to get to work, but I’m going to go give Marvel some cuddles before I go.” Keith worked at the auto parts’ store on West Central Street. He usually worked afternoons until closing, but occasionally he had morning shifts. Even with a full-time job, he never missed his volunteer hours.

  Parker stood up straight. “Thanks for coming in this morning. I know you would have liked to have been with Theresa instead, but I really needed the help.”

  “No, problem,” Keith said. “I was happy to do it.”

  “Who’s Marvel?”

  “The new puppers,” Keith said. “The little guy needed a name, and I think he’s a little marvel, so we gave him the name. He’s so stinking cute.”

  Uh oh. Someone had been bitten by the love bug. I had a feeling that once the dog came through his mange treatment and neutering, he was going to find a forever home in a double-wide trailer. “That’s a great name,” I told him. “Hey, before you go, “Did the police ask you for an alibi? You or Theresa?”

  “No, not really, but I just assumed since Buzz was caught in the act—”

  “He wasn’t,” I interrupted. “Buzz found Jock alive. He tried to save him.”

  “That’s not what we were told,” Keith said.

  My hackles raised. “Since Buzz was gone before the police arrived, I think it’s safe to say that none of them actually saw what happened.”

  “But Theresa’s mom said there was a witness?”

  This was the first I’d heard of someone else being at the scene. “Who?”

  “I don’t know, Lily. Honestly, that’s all she told me.”

  “I’ll figure it out. You go get you some of that puppy,” I told him.

  “You’re leaving to find out who the witness is, aren’t you?” Parker asked as he turned me in his arms.

  I stared up into his baby blues. “You betcha.”

  A pungent aroma filled the room. I glanced over at Smooshie, who’d been really quiet. She smiled up at me, her tongue lolling out of the side of her mouth, as she panted happily. “Oh, poop,” I said.

  “What?” Parker asked.

  “Poop. Literally.” I pointed to a brown pile of doggy-do on the floor behind Smooshie. I couldn’t be unhappy with her. I mean, she’d tried to tell me a couple of times, but I’d been too busy trying to squeeze information from Keith. “Sorry, Smooshie. My bad.”

  Parker chuckled. “It’s not the first time or the last time this floor will be crapped on. I’ll get it cleaned up if you want to go on.”

  “Now, how in the world did I manage to land such a fine man? You cook and clean. It’s like I hit the lottery.” I went up on my tiptoes and gave him a peck on the cheek. “I’ll make it up to you later.”

  “Dad’s invited us to dinner tonight. You up for it?”

  “Will this be a double date?” I teased. Reggie and Greer had been dating for a year now, and while Parker liked Reggie and was glad his dad wasn’t alone, it unsettled him that I knew a lot of details about his father’s sex life. BFFs talk. It’s a thing.

  “I wouldn’t call it that, but yes, Reggie will be there.”

  “Yes,” I said a little too eagerly. Reggie might not be able to talk to me about the case, but it didn’t mean she couldn’t answer a few generic questions I had, like, how does someone go about dying of acute pulmonary edema, because if the knife wound hadn’t killed Jock, then whatever had caused his lungs to fill with fluid had. “It’s a date.”

  Chapter 13

  At six-thirty in the evening, Parker and I arrived at Greer’s house. The interior had changed a little over the past twelve months. The velour beige and blue flowery couch had been replaced with a pale green loveseat. Greer had put away most of the pictures of Parker’s mom. She’d died when he was in high school, and they both missed her, but it was awkward trying to date when there were signs all over the place that you weren’t ready to move on from your past. Reggie had insisted that he keep the family portraits up, but the wedding photos were gone. He’d also changed the curtains to something more masculine and less frilly. He’d asked Reggie’s opinion. She’d told him to go with something that reflected his own personal style, to which Greer had replied, he had none.

  Nadine and I enjoyed Reggie’s dating stories. She’d been in a messy marriage before we’d all met. Her ex-husband had tried to cause a lot of trouble for her, which is how she and CeCe had ended up in Moonrise.

  Greer, a handsome man with blue eyes and graying hair, hugged me at the door. Smooshie shoved herself between my knees to get to him. Greer laughed when she nudged his leg with her nose. He let me go and reached down to pet her. “Hey, girl. It’s about time you showed up. I only invited your mommy, so I could see you.”

  Greer often babysat Smooshie for me, and they’d developed a close bond. Next to me and Parker, Greer was her favorite person in the whole world. He said it had to do with personal charisma, but I think the treats he kept tucked in his bill drawer were a determining factor as well. Smooshie was not above being bribed. She might as well have hung a sign around her neck that said, “Will kiss and cuddle for chewies.”

  “It’s good to see you, Greer.”

  “It’s been a month of Sundays since we’ve had a sit-down,” he said. “I’ve missed you.”

  Between the shelter, the Petry’s Pet Clinic, and school, I had a full plate, but it was no excuse to drop Smooshie and run. “I’ll make time. Promise.”

  “How’s Buzz holding up?”

  “As expected.”

  “Hey, Dad,” Parker said, he and Elvis bringing up the rear. He held out a bag. “I brought the wine you asked for.”

  “Great. Put it in the fridge to chill.” He closed the door behind us.

  “Where’s Reggie?” I asked.

  Greer shrugged. “She’s running a little late. Some work came up. You don’t mind waiting, do you?”

  “Nope.” Parker walked to the love seat near Greer’s recliner and sat down. “It will give us a chance to catch up.”

  “How’s the work on the new place coming along?” Greer asked. “I keep meaning to get out there and take a gander, but there never seems to be enough time.”

  Parker’s face lit up as he spoke about the new shelter. “The main shelter building is completed. It has turned out better than I could have imagined. It has twenty large kennels, four isolation rooms, three playrooms for volunteers and dogs to hang out, a bathroom with a large shower, a utility room with an industrial sized washer and two dryers that we got dirt cheap. A
large office with two bunks, just in case someone has to stay overnight. I have to go out there this weekend and finish putting the fences up for the eight different outdoor spaces. I rented an augur last week and drilled all the holes and then set poles in concrete.” Happiness wound through me as I watched him talk about the work with so much pride. His passion for rescuing pit bulls was a true calling. I admired his tireless efforts.

  “One of our volunteers, Jordan Deeter, is a graphic art major at the college. She did some wonderful mural work in the playrooms. She’s also done a great job revamping the website.” I pulled out my phone and clicked on the gallery so Greer could scroll the pictures.

  “Wow, you’ve done some incredible work here, Parker.” He glanced at me. “You, too, Lily. I know my boy is capable of doing this on his own, but he wouldn’t have gotten this far in such a short amount of time without you.”

  I blushed. “Parker deserves all the credit.” A year and a half ago, we had found a sack of stolen bank cash on my property. Parker and I had nearly lost our lives to two men who’d been searching for the money for a long time. After they were arrested, I split the reward money with Parker. Seventy-five thousand dollars each. I’d used the money to pay off my house and get started on fixing it, and Parker had used his half to get the foundation poured for the new shelter, and the entire structure roughed in and roofed. Those were the most expensive items. He’d spent the last year and a half begging for donations of time, materials, and money to finish the place. “His tenacity, hard work, and never quit attitude got the place built.”

  “I’m proud of you, son,” Greer said.

  Parker grinned. “It’s going to be amazing, Dad. As soon as we get all the paperwork in order, we’re going to plan a big open house in a week and a half on Saturday. Hopefully, it will get us some more foster families and volunteers. If we’re lucky, we’ll get a few dogs adopted in the process.”

  “You know I’ll be there, and I’ll help out however I can.”

  The door handle rattled then the door swung open as Reggie walked in. “Hello,” she said. “Sorry, I’m late.”