Though I had offered him up as a sort of insurance policy, there was something about the way the doctor said what he said that rubbed me the wrong way. I wasn’t some petulant child whose hand needed to be held. Even if I was, Sammie and I didn’t really know each other well enough to constitute this sort of concern over me. I would be fine and, if we were going to continue getting to know each other, he would have to make his peace with who I was and what kind of life I lived. The last thing I needed was another person wringing their hands over my safety.
“I can take care of myself,” I said sharply. Realizing my tone was a bit more assertive than I intended, I looked over at Dr. Appleton. “I appreciate the offer, but this isn’t my first time.”
I leveled a gaze at Sammie, one harsh enough to let him know I meant business. “I can, Sammie. I’ll be just fine.”
“Okay,” he answered, stuffing hands into his pockets. “Just promise me you’ll be careful and, if you need help, make me your first call.”
“I can do that,” I said, looking at the sweet man as he chomped into his apple again. “And as for the rest of you,” I said, turning my attention to the doctor and Wanda. “I can’t have you hovering around me while I’m doing this. Whoever forced Lionel off that roof thinks they’re getting away with it. There’s no reason for them to believe anyone is onto them, and we should try to keep it that way. Let me do what I do, and go on about your business as usual.”
“Easy for you to say,” Wanda said, her jaw tightening and her voice breaking off at the end.
Staring at the woman, my heart broke for her. It wasn’t easy for me to say, regardless of what she thought. I knew exactly what she was going through on more than one level. My life had changed completely and irrevocably after I died. It would never be the same, regardless of how much I wanted it to be. That went double for the people I left behind. How many of them were like Wanda, broken and desperate for answers?
I hadn’t given them those answers yet though. Regardless of how much I had tried, or how many wrongs I had made right, the truth was, I still hadn’t done what I had been brought back to do. I hadn’t solved my own murder and brought closure to those closest to me.
I would do it for Wanda though, if it was the last thing I ever did.
“I’m going to make this right,” I said, swallowing hard as I looked at the new widow. “I’m going to get to the bottom of it for you.” I blinked hard. “But maybe you shouldn’t be here while I did it.”
“Excuse me?” she asked, her eyes narrowing into accusing slits. “Are you telling me to leave?”
I sighed, wanting nothing less than to offend this woman who had just been through such a tragedy. Still, I had to say what I thought was best for her.
“I’m saying you have things to do, Wanda. Your husband deserves to be buried, and I don’t think he’d want his wife torturing herself with the details of his tragic end.”
Darrin would absolutely flip if he knew I was suggesting this. The last thing he’d want is for someone he considered to be a suspect skipping town. That was the thing though, I knew Wanda wasn’t a suspect. I could feel it in my bones, and I wanted to try and protect her from whatever questions Darrin and Angie might have for her.
Unfortunately, it turned out Wanda had the same sort of self-reliance streak in her that I had.
“I honestly don’t care, Ms. Redoux,” she answered firmly. “I don’t care what you want, and I don’t care what he would have wanted. My husband will be buried, and he’ll be given all the courtesies he deserves, but he’ll also be given justice.” She shook her head. “No. I’m wrong. Justice isn’t for him. Justice is never for the dead, is it? I’ll have justice for him, and I want to be here when it comes.”
Her speech effected me on a level I didn’t necessarily expect. Was Wanda right and, if she was, did the people who lost me need that sort of justice to gain closure?
If so, would I ever be able to figure out who murdered me and deliver that closure to them?
She picked up a cantaloupe and stuffed it into her bag.
“Now you need to prepare, ma’am,” she said. “You have a dog show to infiltrate and a murder to solve.”
11
“I certainly didn’t mean to upset you,” I said, walking behind Peggy with a pie in each hand as we headed toward the Milton Myers annex building. Ever since I was a kid, the rundown building named after a war hero who had passed away before I was born, had basically sat stalwart. Sure, it housed a church function every once in awhile, and ever hosted a senior prom or two that spring a pipe burst and flooded the school gymnasium, but what I was looking at now was completely different.
I hadn’t necessarily believed Mayor Heston when she went on and on about all the opportunities the Southern Skies dog show would bring to the town. It was only a dog show, after all. It wasn’t like we were hosting the Super Bowl or something.
She must have had better luck convincing the other townsfolk though because as I strode toward the building, I took note of all the changes.
A fresh coat of white paint had been slapped on, and a brand new garden had been planted around the perimeter. Blooming lilies and sunny daisies waved in the breeze, greeting us what was obviously a bigger deal than I had thought.
“I’m not upset,” Peggy said, shaking her head and balancing a chocolate pecan supreme in one hand and a decidedly out of season strawberry cream in the other. I tried to warn her against it, but she liked the idea of having variety, especially given the fact that the majority of people attending the preliminaries today would be out-of-towners and, as such, she wasn’t going to know anything about their preferences.
It was a solid business decision; one I might have made myself if not for the seemingly never ending stream of murders and the way they’ve stopped me from being able to focus on our business the way I wanted.
Then it hit me again, something I should have been able to remember by now.
It wasn’t our business anymore. It was her business. The Rita who started it with her was in the ground for all she knew, and the one walking behind her, trying to explain herself, was nothing more than a friendly employee.
“I wouldn’t blame you if you were,” I said, jogging ahead of her, slipping a pie over the broad part of my arm and using my now free hand to hold the door open for her. “After all, this is going to be a lot of work.”
“I’m used to working,” Peggy answered, moving far enough through the doorway to hold it open with her body and allow me to grab the other pie with my hand again. “I’m even used to a lot of it, Rita. I just wish you would have given me some warning. I mean, who decides to join a dog show the night before the preliminaries start? How does that even work?”
I sighed, trying to keep from sounding to aggravated about the whole thing. I didn’t want to be in this dog show. I had never even watched a dog show. I was only here to investigate things, to get to the bottom of what happened the other night with Lionel. Still, I had to pretend that wasn’t the case. Peggy might have been my best friend in the world, but I wasn’t hers. Not anymore, anyway. The truth of the matter was, she didn’t know this Rita the same way she knew the other one. To her, I was a new-ish addition, and I wasn’t sure if letting her in on what was going on was a good idea.
She was friends with Darrin too. Technically, she had even known him longer, and I couldn’t risk him finding out what I was doing here, not after what he told me in the sheriff’s office the other night.
“Dr. Appleton set it up,” I answered, which wasn’t a lie. He’d bent more than a few rules meant to keep late entries from joining to get me into this thing. “Mayor Heston thought a hometown contestant would be a good angle to push.”
“That sounds like her,” Peggy said and, though I couldn’t see her eyes given the angle she was walking in front of me, I knew she was rolling them. “In any event, I can manage just fine, and it’s not like you’ll be busy all the time. Given what I know about dog shows, you’ll spend a lot of
your time waiting for your turn.” She smiled back at me as we made our way down the hallway which led to the main area of the annex. “You can use that time helping me.”
Peggy was an angel. Even now, with her business plans obviously messed up, she was making the best of this situation. She really was the best person I knew, even if she was marrying my fiancé. I shook my head, trying not to think about that last part. Though I understood, it still bothered me when I really took the time to think about it.
“You think you can win?” she asked as we made our way into the mouth of the hallway and were deposited into the main area.
“No. No,” I answered quickly. “Not in a million years. Not in a billion years.” I chuckled. “Not in a billion dog years.”
It had been maybe ten years since I had been inside the annex building. Still, I didn’t remember it looking like this. The entire room had been built up. The dusty, dingy bleachers had been replaced by brand new seats, the sort of folding kind you see in ballparks in the big cities. The plain brick walls had been painted over, with bright landscape portraits of the city, meant to accentuate a sort of brighter version of Second Springs, and a carpet (red and curling up at the ends if I remember correctly) had been replaced with real hardwood.
“Wow,” I muttered, taking in the area.
“I know,” Peggy answered. “Mayor Heston really spared no expense revitalizing the place.” She shook her head. “She might be a handful, but her heart is definitely in the right place.”
“I guess so,” I said, still looking around. My opinion of Second Springs’ newest mayor had never been too high. She was, in my view, a haughty nuisance who never left well enough alone and liked to push people well past the point of reason. Still, obviously, Peggy had a point. The mayor expected a lot from the town, but she also wanted to give the town a lot. I could get behind that.
“So?” Peggy asked, motioning to a large set of tables in the far corner adorned with a fancy tablecloth and sign that read ‘Catering Furnished by the Pie Ladies’ Paradise and its owner Peggy. The sweetest girl in town’.
Can’t really argue with that.
“So what?” I asked, looking around at the throngs of people jammed inside this building. The seats were starting to fill with folks I had never seen before, obviously dog lovers, and the floor was packed with handlers, owners, and dogs of various different breeds. Still, they were all larger, all similar in size and stature to my dog.
I saw Dr. Appleton off in the distance. He was speaking to a tall, thin woman with gray hair and white gloves on. He caught sight of me and nodded slightly, but kept speaking to the woman.
“So, do you think you can win?” Peggy asked as we settled in front of the table with our sign in front of it.
I chuckled loudly. “With Mayor McConnell? I think we both know the answer to that.”
“Don’t be so sure,” Peggy said, setting the pies down, sure to put the strawberry cream in the most prominent spot. That was daring, given the fact that it was a few days away from Halloween, but it was also unconventional in a way that I would have agreed with, had she thought to ask me.
“We haven’t even trained,” I admitted, waiting for her to tell me where to put these pies. Though I knew exactly how they should be laid out, it was only fair to let her tell me. She was my boss, and I had just bailed on what was about to be our little company’s biggest opportunity to date.
“That is a little strange,” Peggy admitted, motioning to the exact spots I would have set the pies myself. “But Mayor McConnell is a good dog. He’s simply breathtaking, and there’s no denying you two have a certain connection.”
If that connection is passive contempt on the part of my dog, then I would be inclined to agree.
“I guess we’ll see,” I said, smiling and shrugging.
“Where is the old Setter anyway?” Peggy asked, looking around. “Shouldn’t he be here by now?”
“Yeah,” I admitted, pulling at the ends of the tablecloth so it looked as neat as possible. “I didn’t want to bring him with all the sweets though. So my fa- So Mr. Clarke promised to bring him over.” I shook my head. “Which Mayor McConnell was probably fine with; given that he actually likes him.”
“He’s not the only one,” Peggy smiled. “I wonder if he’ll bring Aiden’s mother with him.”
“I wonder,” I said, trying to keep the groan out of my voice. I wanted my dad to be happy. Really, I did. Still, there was something strange about him being romantically involved with the woman who would have been my mother-in-law if things had gone differently.
“Hello there,” a voice said from behind me. Turning, I saw Dr. Appleton standing there, a polite smile on his face. “These look amazing.”
“Thank you,” Peggy and I said at once, a showcase in Southern hospitality.
“I wonder if I could steal your employee for a moment,” he said, looking past me to Peggy.
“Well, I do have more setting up to do,” she said before doing the Peggy thing and relenting for the sake of politeness. “But, of course. I’m sure I can manage.”
“I’ll be back as quickly as I can,” I promised Peggy as Dr. Appleton and I walked to a far end of the room.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Dr. Appleton said as we stopped near a hallway in the back.
‘What’s happened?” I asked, my mouth quirking to the side as I looked up at the good doctor.
“The woman you saw me talking to-”
“The one with the white gloves?” I asked, interrupting him.
“It was Myra Plimpton,” he said nodding.
My heart skipped a beat. Myra Plimpton was the person who was most poised to benefit from Lionel’s death. With him out of the way, odds were good that her dog was going to take home Best in Show and-with it- a substantial cash prize.
Still, she was an heiress in her own right. Did money really matter to someone like her? Though perhaps she had her other reasons.
“I think we were on the wrong path,” he said, sighing hard.
“I wasn’t on any path, Dr. Appleton,” I said, making sure he heard me. “I was just following a lead. If something you’re about to tell me changes things, then I’ll follow a different one.”
“Well you might have to,” Dr. Appleton said, his mouth thinning into a tense line. “Because Myra just told me someone threatened her life.”
12
I paced back and forth as Darrin question Myra Plimpton in her dressing room. For the rest of those in attendance here inside the annex, it was business as usual.
Other than calling the police, Dr. Appleton only told me about the threat Myra had shared with him, which was smart. With Lionel’s death hanging so freshly in the air, another threat like this would serve as the spark this tinderbox needed to blow, and no one wanted that.
I wanted to speak to Myra myself, but there had been no time. She’d called the police herself right before she shared the information with Dr. Appleton and, given the fact that this town was about as big as two shoeboxes lined up longways, it took all of a minute and a half for Darrin to come marching in.
Luckily for no one, he brought his brand new number one partner with him.
Both Darrin and Angie McConnell shot me looks as they passed. Darrin’s was obviously somewhat kinder than Angie’s, who probably still thought of me as a weird baker girl with a fixation on possible murders.
She wasn’t exactly wrong about that.
I was driving myself crazy waiting for Darrin and his partner to finish up with Myra. I needed to know what the woman said, what she’d hear and, in what way, she had been threatened.
Dr. Appleton didn’t know anything. For all my questions to him, the only bit of information I could get was that the voice Myra heard on the other end of the phone was a male’s and that he said was going to ‘end her in a rather grizzly fashion’ if she decided to stay here.
“Hey there,” a familiar voice sounded from behind me. I took a deep breath, recognizing it
and steeling myself up the way I always did when I knew I would be faced with seeing him again.
I spun on my heels, plastering on a wide smile as I watched my father walk toward me with Mayor McConnell at his side.
He looked lighter somehow, less weighed down than I’d seen him in awhile. Though, perhaps that was just an attribute I was placing on him myself, now that I knew he was seeing Aiden’s mother. I wanted so much for him to be happy, for him to have a life that didn’t revolve around the women he’d lost (myself and my mother), even if it came attached to the lips of my ‘once upon a time’ would- be mother-in-law.
“He’s supposed to be on a leash,” I said, looking down at my dog and trying to keep my voice steady.
Upon hearing this, Mayor McConnell’s head turned up snootily.
Oh come on! Like it would kill you to be a regular dog just one time!
“I know,” my father answered. “I just didn’t have the heart though, and frankly I didn’t see the need. He’s such a well behaved little guy as it is.”
“He is?” I asked, my eyebrows shooting up as I looked down at the mayor and shaking my head. “That’s news to me.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked, stopping short as he looked me up and down.
“What?” I blustered, my heart doing a little jump as I remembered how hard it had been for me to lie to him in my previous life. Hopefully, it would be easier now. “Nothing’s wrong, Mr. Clarke. Everything’s fine.”
“Does the new sheriff buy that song and dance?” he asked, folding his arms over his chest the way he always used to whenever he caught me in a lie as a kid. “Because the old one certainly isn’t, little lady.”
So, I guess it wasn’t going to be easier this time around.
He sighed. “Look at you. One glance was all I needed to see that you’re stressed out.” He took his hands, placed them on my shoulders, and pressed down, causing me to relax. “And that’s where you’re holding it all.” He blinked hard. “Just like my Rita used to.”
Twice Dipped Murder Page 6
