“Since the package cost around six hundred dollars, it’s unlikely he paid cash. Too bad the sale took place so long ago. If it was recent, we’d be able to use the time stamp on the receipt to pick our guy out on the store’s surveillance videos.
“They had several of this model. They’ll track down all of them for us, if they can. Then we get to sweat the guys who bought them, match them against hunters licensed for the deer cull.”
“You think it was a hunter who did this?” Lia asked.
“They didn’t buy the bow to kill George, then wait a year to do it. That doesn’t fly. They had the wrong arrowheads on the bolts for target shooting. So they bought it to hunt with. There are a couple hundred bow hunters licensed for this year’s cull, but only thirty had permits to be in Mount Airy Forest when George was killed.”
“Thirty is a lot of suspects, isn’t it?”
“George typically didn’t head for the park until after nine. Most of these guys were at work and will have alibis. It’s still plenty to go through, and there’s no guarantee that our man had a legitimate license for that period. He’ll show up somewhere on the registry, though. You don’t spend that much money on a bow unless you intend to use it.”
“What else is happening with the case?”
“I reviewed Munce’s phone calls. He was talking to a divorce lawyer, so we’ll need to interview him. It looks like Munce was planning to be a different kind of statistic. Enough about work. How did you do today with the flyers?”
“Bailey and I hung up at least fifty flyers around the park. I imagine, if Daisy is still there, she’d be near the picnic areas because that’s where she’d find people and food. I’m thinking about taking Honey up there and walking around. Daisy knows her. I’m hoping if she’s still in the woods, she might smell Honey and come out.”
Peter winced inwardly at the thought of Lia up near the killing ground. He reminded himself that the woods were still closed to all hunters as well as hikers, stifled the impulse to lecture. “That was smart thinking. It might work.”
“No one we talked to has seen her, but we’re getting the word out. Someone is going to spot her and call.”
Day 5
Sunday, October 13
“What’s this?” Jim asked as Lia pinned a poster to the bulletin board at the park. Chester sat up on his haunches in front of Lia. She knelt so that he could give her a kiss. Viola and Fleece eyed each other, as if to say, “Show off.” Jealous, Honey leaned against Peter, who was along for his weekly visit to the dog park. He stroked her head.
“Bailey and I are looking for George’s dog. You know Daisy, don’t you? Hasn’t Fleece played with her before?”
“Sure, I recognize her.”
“We spent yesterday afternoon putting up posters. There’s so much to do still.”
Jim studied the flyer, scratched his beard. “What can I do to help?”
“Next on our list is contacting the rescues. That might be time consuming. You can only get some of them by email, and with the others, you rarely get a live person on the line.”
“That’s all right, I’ll take care of it. Just tell me what to do,” Jim said.
“Great. I’ve got to work today. I wouldn’t have been able to get going on this until tomorrow afternoon or later.” She handed him a poster. “Here’s the information.” Jim folded the poster in quarters with the picture on the inside, then pulled out a stumpy pencil. Lia listed a number of rescues he could contact, which Jim wrote on the back of the poster.
Terry walked up. “Greetings! What’s the word?”
“The word is that George’s dog got lost when George was killed and we’re looking for her,” Lia said. “Would you mind calling around to the vets in the area?”
“The lovely Daisy has gone astray? I’m happy to help. I can also send a notice to the Northside newsletter. I’m sure Bits ‘n’ Pieces will run it. They may even do it as a special notice.”
“That’s a great idea. Can you check the internet for ‘found’ notices, while you’re at it?”
“Milady, I am at your service.”
“Thanks, Terry. I owe you one.” She handed him a poster.
~
“Lia! Just the person I want to see.” Jose approached Lia’s table with Sophie ambling at his side. Sophie walked up to Lia and presented her backside. Lia leaned over and gave it a good scratch.
“Hitting on my girl, Mitsch?” Peter was sitting next to Lia with the rest of the group around them.
Lia elbowed Peter. “Hey, Jose, what’s up?”
“Nah, nothin’ like that. I know you carry a gun.” He winked at Lia, then reached into one of the cargo pockets on his pants and pulled out a phone. He passed it to her.
“What’s this for? Am I supposed to call someone?”
“You can call anyone you like, as soon as you activate it with your number.”
“You’re giving it to me?”
“I got a new one. I thought, I can trade this one in for next to nothin’, I can mess with selling it on eBay to some stranger, or I can give it to a friend who doesn’t have a smartphone. It’s only a first generation Android, but it has a camera and you can do things you can’t do on the phone you have now.”
“You mean like playing Draw Something with Jim while he’s sitting here right next to me?”
“There’s GPS, taking pictures, looking up stuff on the internet . . . ,” Jose enthused.
“Spending more money on phone bills . . . ,” Lia added.
“Butt dialing . . . ,” Bailey said.
“Well,” Terry said. “The accidental pocket dial is certainly a danger with older models. I always carry my phone in a pocket on my vest. It prevents such mishaps.”
“I’m not going to wear a concealed carry vest just so I won’t call Peter by accident. I look terrible in camouflage. Thank you, Jose. This will be fun.”
“Stick it in a cargo pocket,” Jose said. “That’ll fix it.”
“I don’t know,” Peter said, rubbing his chin. “Maybe I want her butt to call me.”
Day 6
Monday, October 14
“I don’t know what to do, Bailey.” Lia and Bailey were tossing balls in the back of the dog park. Lia had Max on a leash to keep her close. Max kept giving her hurt looks, then walking to the end of her lead, as if she wanted to chase the balls. Lia knew better. Max would use any excuse as an opportunity to escape.
“What’s the problem?”
“Peter brought up living together again. We tabled the subject, but I know he won’t forget it.”
“You don’t want to wake up every morning next to that handsome hunk of man-flesh?” Bailey’s amazed expression made Lia laugh.
“I can do that now, anytime I want. That’s not the issue.”
“What is it, then?”
“I’m barely surviving as an artist. I’m only managing because I make sacrifices. If I move in with Peter, I’ll have to upgrade my standard of living and I’ll wind up splitting the cable bill. Then it’s no longer feasible for me to support myself and I wind up financially dependent. I hate cable.”
“Living with Peter could make things easier on you, couldn’t it? Wouldn’t he be willing to pick up the slack?”
“Maybe, but what will he expect in return?” Lia threw a hand up in the air. “Right now he’s unhappy that I’m going over to Renee’s because Kate Onstad is staying there. He can’t create too much of a fuss about it because we’re not living together. What if we move in together and he starts telling me what I can and can’t do, the way Tom did? What if he expects me to put him before my painting?
“Then I’ve given up my place, which I love, and I’m stuck starting over. A nice, inexpensive two-family in Northside is hard to come by. It took me a year to find the place I have now. I don’t want to go through that again.” Lia looked at Bailey helplessly as her rant ran down.
“I see what you’re saying. I have an idea.”
“What are you thinking
?”
“Have you ever heard of synastry?” Bailey asked.
“What’s synastry?”
“That’s what they call it when you compare charts in astrology, to see how two people are going to get along together.”
“Astrology? Seriously, Bailey?”
“Synastry is what convinced me that astrology works.”
“How is that?”
“I took my chart, and I compared my planets to each of my ex-boyfriends’ planets, and the result was the story of our relationship,” Bailey explained.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. It took a weight off my shoulders. It showed me that I didn’t do anything wrong. Things were meant to be the way they were. Like when you add bleach to ammonia. You always get chlorine gas. No amount of self-help books will ever change that.”
“I don’t know, Bailey . . . .”
“It can’t hurt to let me try. Do you know what time your were born?”
“I can find out, but won’t you need that information about Peter, too? You want me to ask Peter when he was born so you can tell me if our stars align?”
“That would be best. I can still tell a lot with just his birthday.”
“Ha! I can just see telling him I’ll consider living together if he’ll let you run an astrology chart on him.”
“You never know. He might go for it.”
~ ~ ~
“I hope you brought an appetite,” Renee said as she led Lia to the breakfast nook. “Esmerelda is making her special potato pancakes. I thought Kitty could use some comfort food.”
Despite what she’d said to Peter, Lia had been hoping to avoid Kate, since she was the one who ratted her out. It was bound to happen. Best to get it over with.
Kate Onstad was seated at an oak pedestal table set in front of a bay window with a view of Kentucky hills on the other side of the river. She looked up from her paper and smiled hesitantly.
“You must be Lia. Renee tells me you’re responsible for me having a good lawyer and a quiet place to stay. Thank you.”
Lia relaxed, relieved. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I had no idea Peter was going to arrest you. I feel so bad about that.” She took a seat and poured coffee from the carafe, added cream.
“You didn’t know what was in my trunk. I didn’t either. I was the one who let them look in my car.”
“I imagine that was quite a shock,” Lia said.
“I didn’t understand what it was at first, because it was all black and jumbled. I’ve never seen a crossbow before. It looked like a child’s toy rifle with this contraption on the barrel.”
“Should you be talking to me about this? You do know I’m in a relationship with the detective in charge of George’s case, don’t you?”
“Renee explained that to me. I suppose my lawyer wouldn’t approve, but I honestly can’t think of anything I could tell you that would make my situation worse.”
“How bad is it?”
“Well, I knew George, and I knew where he was going to be. The crossbow and his wallet were in my trunk. But I also had that flat tire the day he died. The tire couldn’t be fixed because someone stuck a screwdriver in the sidewall, and you can’t patch that. It took hours before they were able to get me into a new car so I could get back on the road.
“They won’t find my fingerprints or DNA on anything in that trunk. I never got into it. Of course, I don’t have a motive. I loved George.”
“Martha thinks they’ll have a hard time making a murder charge stick,” Renee said. “And they’ll think twice about trying, with her as your defense attorney. Our best bet is that they look in another direction and find the one who did it.”
Lia was charmed. The woman who was so diffident at the park was now warm and compassionate, exuding gratitude when many would be bitter. “What do you think happened? Do you mind me asking?”
Esmerelda interrupted with plates bearing potato pancakes and fried eggs with crisp bacon on the side. The three women busied themselves with the food while Kitty considered her question. “I hate to point fingers, you understand. I know so little about his life here in Ohio. I wonder if his wife found out about us. She was supposed to be at work, but maybe she got someone to do it for her?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Lia said once she’d chewed her bacon and swallowed. “That woman is a piece of work.”
“Oooh, do tell,” Renee urged.
“I don’t know much, but she went off on me when I asked about Daisy. Then she was totally unconcerned when I offered to look for Daisy, like she couldn’t care less that her dog was running around, lost and traumatized. You know, in all the time George came to the park, no one ever saw her with him. What kind of woman doesn't want to walk in the woods with her husband?”
“She doesn’t sound like a romantic, that’s for sure,” Renee said. “Maybe she had to work?”
“Not in the summers, she didn’t. She’s a school counselor.”
“Oooh, good point,” Renee said. “So what was her motive?”
“Besides George wanting to divorce her?” Lia clapped a hand over her mouth. “Oops, I should not have said that.”
“He did?” Kitty asked. “How do you know?”
“Well, I guess the milk’s already spilt. Peter said he had several calls in to a divorce lawyer on his phone. That’s not proof, but it’s suggestive, isn’t it? What if Monica knew he was going to leave her and didn’t want to split the assets?”
“I don’t know, but I’m so glad you told me.” Kitty wiped a tear from her eye. “He said he wanted us to be together, but you never know if a man really means that kind of talk or not, especially when all you’ve had is the internet.”
“Please don’t mention this to your lawyer. Peter will never tell me anything ever again if it gets out I told you.”
“I imagine Martha will find out soon enough through discovery, don’t you think?” Renee said.
“That’s quite all right.” Kitty said, smiling, mistily. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”
“Kitty, how did you and George meet?” Lia asked. “I hope I’m not being too nosy.”
“I don’t mind, and please, call me Kitty. I met George back in high school. It was very West Side Story, or maybe Grease. He was from the wrong side of the tracks. George was really smart, but he never showed that to anyone. He was always doing this Elvis sneer.” Kitty’s smile told Lia the memory was a fond one.
“Then one night, he rescued me from this party after I caught my boyfriend making out with another girl. George took me for a drive out in the woods to cool down, and he was so sweet. I just fell in love with him.”
“Oh, my,” Renee said, patting her chest. “Be still my heart.”
Kitty bit her lip, looked at them with a gleam in her eye. “I lost my virginity in the woods that night. It was the most amazing night of my life. All those hormones, all the newness, and George treating me like I was a goddess.”
Renee fanned her face. “Whew, is it hot in here or just me?”
“That’s quite a story,” said Lia. Breakfast forgotten, she leaned forward, chin propped up on her hands. “What happened?”
“Like I said, he was from the other side of the tracks and he a rough life. I didn’t know this until recently, but he’d decided we wouldn’t work out as a couple, so he might as well end it while the memory was a good one. I didn’t see him for several days, and then when I did, he acted like we didn't know each other. I was so crushed.”
“I imagine,” Renee said.
“What brought you back together?” Lia asked, riveted.
“George was so unhappy. He tried to hunt me up on the internet, but couldn’t find a way to contact me. Turns out we had a mutual friend on Facebook. Neither one of us had any idea. Then one day, he saw a comment I made on our friend’s page.
“He pursued me after that. I was so suspicious. It had been thirty years and I’m no prize these days. He said it didn’t matter, that our night tog
ether changed things for him. It took a while, but I came to believe it would be worth the risk to see him again.”
Renee’s neglected coffee sat cooling as she placed a hand on Kitty’s. “Was it worth it?”
“Something in me broke that day when he ignored me. Coming here healed me in ways I’m just now beginning to understand. We had less than two weeks together, but we were happy. I’ll always be grateful for that. I’ll never forgive myself if it turns out I was the reason he died.” She sniffed and dabbed discretely at her nose with her napkin.
Lia took Kitty’s other hand, looked directly into her eyes. “No matter why someone says they killed him, the only reason he’s dead is because a murderer made the choice to take a human life. Whatever you and George were doing, there were other options. Don’t let them victimize you.”
“Thank you for that. Renee says you’re an artist, and you’re painting a picture of Dakini. Will you let me see what you’re working on?”
“Sure thing. Let me fire up my laptop.”
~
An hour later, Renee walked Lia to her car. “So what did you think about Kitty’s story?” she asked.
“I thought it was very romantic, but I’m not married,” Lia said. “What would you do if Harry left you for a high school flame?”
“Oh, I’d kill him. There’s no question about that. A crossbow sounds just about right for the job. But I’d also walk in the woods with him. There’s no excuse for allowing a marriage to grow empty like that.”
“And yet it happens all the time.”
“It’s work, keeping a marriage going. But it’s worth it.”
“I wonder about that. Peter wants more out of our relationship, but I’m scared it will spoil everything.”
“I don’t know all the answers, but I do know it’s important to be with someone who is willing to work things out with you, who listens and takes your feelings seriously. And you both better be able to laugh at yourselves, because there will be times when that’s the only thing left to do.
Maximum Security (A Dog Park Mystery) Page 9
