by L A Dobbs
After Kevin hauled Tara away, the campers sat in Sam’s office in disbelief. None of them had wanted to believe they had a killer in their midst. Sam wasn’t surprised—you never knew what was lurking around underneath the surface when it came to people. When they finally left, they said they were planning to pack up and head home. None of them had any enthusiasm for camping.
Reese had just taken Lucy out for a walk when Kevin came back. The three of them leaned against Jo’s desk, coffee mugs in hand. Jo passed around the donut bag.
"So I was wondering. How did finding the bra in the river help you figure things out?" Kevin asked.
Sam thought he saw something flicker in the officer’s eyes that he hadn’t seen before. Interest. Sam realized that was one of the reasons he’d never really taken to Kevin. He’d never seemed interested in the cases. Until now. Maybe it was because Sam had never included him as he had in the office here. Might be a smart idea to include him more often.
"Actually, I should’ve figured it out earlier. When we were at the campsite after we discovered the body, Tara was making lunches for the campers. She only had six lunches," Sam said.
"So? They were going hiking, right? Makes sense they would be making lunches," Kevin said.
"Sure. Except there were seven campers. Why was Tara only making six lunches? Because she knew one of the campers wouldn’t be joining them."
"Why even make the lunches?" Jo asked. "She had to have known that Lynn would be discovered missing. Even if the body washed downriver and wasn’t found, they wouldn’t have gone hiking if she was missing."
Sam shrugged. "Keep up appearances, I guess. She couldn’t very well refuse to make the sandwiches. Then everyone would know something was up. She must have been not thinking straight and subconsciously not made one for Lynn since she knew Lynn wouldn’t be eating lunch that day."
Jo squeezed her donut in the middle, causing a blob of jelly to poke out of the hole. She swiped at it with her finger then licked it off. "Yeah, but there was no motive for Tara. At least not that we could figure, so why would we be scrutinizing everything she did? I wouldn’t beat myself up for not noticing that."
"The signs were there. Company doing badly. Tara was the CFO." Sam chewed his donut thoughtfully. "She was very clever, though. When her initial plan of making it look like an accident didn’t work, she adapted pretty quickly. Like how she told us that Lynn borrowed her bra. She knew she put it in the pile. Probably, no one would have noticed that if Lynn’s death had been ruled accidental, but with us asking questions, she was afraid it might come up, and telling us Lynn borrowed it was the perfect way to explain it being there."
"Not to mention it gave her extra ammunition to push her lie about Lynn and Noah," Jo said.
"Too bad she didn’t know we could get Lynn’s phone records." Kevin held up a sheet of paper that was on his desk. "Verizon finally came through, and Lynn had made calls to Roger Bannister. We would’ve tracked him down eventually and found out about the company’s troubles."
"Yeah, Reese really helped speed things up with that one." Jo looked at Sam pointedly. "She might be a little green, but I think she’s a great asset to the team."
"Agreed. Maybe we should give her more to do." Sam glanced at the piles of resumes that were still on the corner of Jo’s desk. "I suppose we still have to hire someone new, though."
He glanced at Kevin just in case the officer had changed his mind about coming on full time. Kevin looked away.
The door opened, and Dupont entered. Instead of his usual scowling face, he looked almost jovial.
"Congratulations on solving the Palmer case! This is wonderful news." He clapped Sam on the back, and Sam nodded and stepped away. He still didn’t trust Dupont and didn’t need his praise.
"I hope it brings some closure to her parents," Sam said.
"I’ve talked to them. They are relieved. Of course, they’re upset that it was a friend of Lynn’s but glad that justice will be done." Dupont glanced over at Tyler’s desk and back at Sam. "How are the new hires coming along?"
"We’ve been kind of too busy solving this case to interview people, but now that it’s over, I guess I’ll have to start weeding through the resumes." Sam put the donut down. Suddenly, he didn’t have an appetite.
"Good. I want to make sure this town is in tiptop shape. Show the citizens that I keep crime to a minimum here and that I’m the best man for the job of mayor," Dupont said.
Across from Sam, Kevin’s eyes widened. He was facing the door, and Sam turned around too late to see Reese coming in with Lucy. Lucy saw Dupont and growled, her hackles rising.
Dupont whirled around.
"Have you people been keeping this dog here?" He jerked his head back in Sam’s direction. "I thought I told you to get rid of her. It won’t do to have dogs in the police station. I’m running for reelection, and I can’t have any blemish on my reputation."
Sam didn’t give a crap about Dupont’s reputation and was about to say so when Reese cut in.
"Oh, don’t worry about that, Mayor Dupont," Reese said.
"Don’t give me any bullshit about bringing her to the shelter. You people have told me that twice already. Now, I want to tell you there are no—"
"It’s not that," Reese interrupted him, but in the nicest way possible. She went over to her computer and hit a few keys. The printer hummed to life and spit out a page. Reese grabbed it and held it up. "I thought you knew. We’ve been accepted for a K-9 LEAP grant. Lucy is an official K-9 dog now."
Dupont ripped the paper out of Reese’s hand and glowered at it. "K-9 program? That costs the town money. I don’t remember authorizing this."
"Actually, it’s a grant. It won’t cost any taxpayer money from the town. In fact, I’ve talked to a bunch of people in town, and they are very impressed with how you were able to get this extra resource for the town without having to raise taxes." Reese smiled at Dupont. "Very clever of you."
Dupont’s demeanor faltered. "They are?"
"Yes. Everyone knows that Lucy was instrumental in solving this last murder. Having her here as a resource will be a great asset to the town and help keep crime levels low."
Dupont cleared his throat. "Well, I see what you mean."
He looked down at Lucy and held a tentative hand out toward her. The dog eyed him suspiciously but gave his hand an obligatory sniff.
"Very well, then." Dupont tapped his lips with his finger. "Maybe this is something I should play out in my campaign. People like dogs, right?"
"Absolutely, they do," Reese said.
"Good. Well, carry on." Dupont exited, and Jo turned back to Reese.
"What was that all about? Did you make that up?"
Reese laughed. "No. Remember the other day when we were talking and you said it was too bad we couldn’t hire Lucy?"
"Yeah, but I was joking."
"That got me thinking. I know other precincts have K-9 dogs, and I did some research and asked around at school. It turns out there’s a grant program. So I took the initiative to apply." Reese looked sheepishly at Sam. "I hope you don’t mind me doing it without asking, but you were busy with the case, and I figured it was a long shot, so I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up."
"I don’t mind at all. But how did you get it past the mayor’s office? Don’t they have to sign off on this?" Sam asked.
"Sure they do, but I have a friend that works in city hall, and she just happened to put the paperwork in along with a bunch of other paperwork, and Henley Jamison, the vice mayor, rubber-stamped it. Then I have another friend who’s really good with computers, and we managed to, um... fast-track the application."
Sam narrowed his gaze. "Fast-track? How did you do that?"
Reese grimaced. "Well, I—"
Sam held up his palm. "Never mind. I don’t want to know. The important thing is you got it done."
Reese beamed. "Now Lucy can be here officially all day. We don’t have to bring her to the shelter. She could stay here
in the cell, or someone can take her home at night. And she won’t be alone all day while we’re at work. Plus, she really did help out. The grant pays for dog food, a bulletproof dog vest, even a dog bed."
"Excellent work." Sam squatted down, and Lucy trotted over. Maybe it was his imagination, but her fur looked a little shinier today. The rip in her ear looked to be healing.
Jo crouched down beside him and scratched Lucy’s neck. Even Kevin bent down to pet the dog. Sam glanced back at Tyler’s empty desk in the corner, then at his crew now huddled around Lucy. They were happy, laughing. Even the dog was smiling. Maybe things were looking up for the White Rock Police Department.
Epilogue
Two weeks later...
Sam pushed the stack of resumes onto Jo’s desk, nudging the white donut bag aside. "I want you to look through these. I only see three applicants that would be good for the job, but I want to get your take on it."
"Sure thing." Jo leaned back in her chair, slapping her feet up on the open desk drawer. Things had been quiet since they’d closed the Palmer murder case.
They’d had the usual small-town disturbances. Finding the owners of lost pets, arbitrating problems between neighbors, even solving the fascinating case of the missing milk bottles from Mrs. Murphy’s steps. It turned out some bored kids had been playing pranks on her.
But, even though it was quiet, things were looming in the future.
"You going to the town council meeting tonight?" Jo asked as if sensing Sam’s gloomy thoughts.
That night, the town council was meeting on a rezoning law. Thorne wanted to rezone a parcel of land he’d purchased so he could continue on the build-out of his resort. Sam was alarmed at the rate that Thorne was buying up properties from the old-timers. He suspected there might be some strong-arming or at least hard persuasion going on to get that land but had no way to prove it.
"You bet. I don’t know who Dupont thinks he’s kidding. He can’t keep influencing the council members so that Thorne can ruin the land and build more hotels and restaurants."
"Tell me about it." Jo glanced out the window. "The scenery is so beautiful here. I’d hate to see it turn into a city."
"It’s not gonna. Not if I can help it."
"Woof."
"Even Lucy agrees." Sam crouched down and patted the dog. Lucy was now a permanent fixture due to the grant. Dupont had stopped complaining about her when he’d seen how much the locals loved the idea of a police dog in town.
For Dupont, it was all about the votes, but in this case it also worked in Sam’s favor. Of course, Dupont had taken the credit for getting the K-9 grant. Reese played along—she was happy just to have saved Lucy.
Sam had taken to bringing Lucy home with him. He’d gotten accustomed to having the dog as company. She was better company than either of his ex-wives, just as Mick had predicted. She never talked back, was always happy to see him, and didn’t expect him to take her out to dinner.
Jo opened the manila folder and started shuffling through the resumes. "I don’t know. It seems disloyal somehow to be hiring someone else in Tyler’s place."
They both glanced over at the empty desk. Lucy must have agreed with them. She trotted over and started sniffing around then looked back at Sam and whined.
"I know. Even Lucy senses the loss. But we have to fill the opening," Sam said. "Maybe we can get a different desk for the new person."
"Woof." Lucy scratched at the corner of the desk.
"Are you hungry?" Sam glanced at her dish. He’d fed her just a few hours ago.
Lucy kept scratching and looking back at Sam with those whiskey-brown eyes as if she was trying to tell him something.
"Looks like she’s after something," Jo said. "Did you ever clean out Tyler’s desk?"
Sam nodded solemnly. Kevin had done that job shortly after Tyler died. He’d handed all of Tyler’s notebooks and all his notes for the various cases to Sam. The desk was empty.
"Well, I don’t know what she’s after," Jo said. "Maybe some old food stuck in the bottom of a drawer?"
"Woof!" Lucy’s scratching became more persistent. She shoved her nose into the three-inch space under the bank of drawers on the side of the desk and sniffed loudly.
Sam went over and crouched down beside her. "What are you doing? Is something under there?"
"Woof!"
Sam pressed his cheek to the cold marble floor so he could get a better look at the bottom of the drawer. As if to encourage him, Lucy pressed her snout under the desk too, looking sideways out of the corner of her eye at him.
The desk was old, made of solid wood, not like the new particleboard crap. Even the bottom of the drawer was old oak. Except for a small piece of metal that glinted gold. He wedged his hand under, his fingertips brushing the smooth surface of packing tape and thin bump of something the tape was holding. He peeled the tape away, and something small and metal clinked onto the marble floor. He grabbed it.
Jo had come over and was squatting next to him. "What is it?"
He pulled it out and opened up his hand. A small gold key tarnished and pitted with rust gleamed in his palm. The numbers 317 were engraved on the rounded top.
Jo plucked it out of his hand. "What is this? A post-office key?"
They both looked back at the row of post-office boxes. Those old boxes didn’t take keys—they were a combination lock with two dials on the front. And besides, they didn’t need a key to get into those boxes. The backs were open.
"Or a safety deposit box, or locker key? Those types of keys are all this size with numbers on them." Sam took the key back and flipped it over in his hand. "It would be impossible to tell where it came from."
"How long do you think it’s been under the desk?" Jo looked up at Sam. Their eyes locked. "Do you think Tyler put this here?"
Sam got that tightness in his chest. The feeling that told him this was something important. That this was something he needed to investigate. "Hard to say. These desks are left over from the post office. The key looks old. So anyone could’ve put it here, but..."
"Yeah, I know. It seems awfully strange. I don’t think this is something we should just put off as coincidence."
Sam stood up and glanced back at the empty desk, a feeling of foreboding darkening his thoughts. "But if it was Tyler who hid this key under the desk, then that begs the question… what the hell had Tyler been up to before he was killed?"
********************
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Also by L. A. Dobbs
Sam Mason Mysteries
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Telling Lies (Book 1)
Keeping Secrets (book 2)
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L. A. Dobbs also writes light and humorous cozy mysteries as Leighann Dobbs:
Silver Hollow
Paranormal Cozy Mystery Series
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A Spell of Trouble (Book 1)
Spell Disaster (Book 2)
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Mystic Notch
Cat Cozy Mystery Series
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Ghostly Paws
A Spirited Tail
A Mew To A Kill
Paws and Effect
Probable Paws
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Blackmoore Sisters
Cozy Mystery Series
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Dead Wrong
Dead & Buried
Dead Tide
Buried Secrets
Deadly Intentions
A Grave Mistake
&n
bsp; Spell Found
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Mooseamuck Island Cozy Mystery Series
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A Zen For Murder
A Crabby Killer
A Treacherous Treasure
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Lexy Baker Cozy Mystery Series
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Lexy Baker Cozy Mystery Series Boxed Set Vol 1 (Books 1-4)
Or buy the books separately:
Killer Cupcakes
Dying For Danish
Murder, Money and Marzipan
3 Bodies and a Biscotti
Brownies, Bodies & Bad Guys
Bake, Battle & Roll
Wedded Blintz
Scones, Skulls & Scams
Ice Cream Murder
Mummified Meringues
Brutal Brulee (Novella)
No Scone Unturned
About the Author
L. A. Dobbs also writes light mysteries as USA Today Bestselling author Leighann Dobbs. Lee has had a passion for reading since she was old enough to hold a book, but she didn’t put pen to paper until much later in life. After a twenty-year career as a software engineer, she realized you can’t make a living reading books, so she tried her hand at writing them and discovered she had a passion for that, too! She lives in New Hampshire with her husband, Bruce, their trusty Chihuahua mix, Mojo, and beautiful rescue cat, Kitty.
Her book "Dead Wrong" won the "Best Mystery Romance" award at the 2014 Indie Romance Convention.
Her book "Ghostly Paws" was the 2015 Chanticleer Mystery & Mayhem First Place category winner in the Animal Mystery category.
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