Trouble at the Kennel (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery #9)(18)
Well , Kelly thought, so much for not breathing a word of it. I’ve read where dog shows are viciously competitive, but to promise someone you won’t tell anyone about a confidence and then a moment later renege on your promise is really wrong. Guess she wants Fluffy to be the number one Yorkie, and with Duchess out of the running, she very well might be. It sounds to me like Lisa had a motive to commit murder, and she’s very angry. That’s a combination that easily makes for another suspect. Time to head home and see if Mike’s found out anything.
CHAPTER 14
“Hi, everybody, I’m home,” Kelly said to the two big dogs who greeted her as soon as she walked into the house from the garage. “Come on guys, let’s get Skyy out of her kennel and take her outside. You two could probably use a little time in the yard as well.”
A few minutes later Kelly saw all three dogs frolicking around in the back yard, two big ones and one little one who kept herself busy aping whatever the big ones were doing.
Puppies need to eat a lot and even though she’s been fed twice today, I’ll bet she’s hungry. I’ll take care of all three of them before I start our dinner. Fortunately, none of them is food possessive, and I can put all of their dog dishes with food in them on the patio.
She carried the three plastic bowls to the patio, pink for Lady, light blue for Skyy, and dark blue for Rebel. Within minutes, the food had been eaten. Kelly refilled the big water dish she kept on the patio for them and let them back in the house.
Mike’s probably had a long, tough day, and there’s nothing better than a good meal at the end of one of those kind of days, Kelly thought. Sometimes there’s nothing better than a hamburger, and the recipe I got from the manager of a fast food chain in Portland will be perfect tonight. I’ve got a can of beans, and I’ll doctor them up the way Mike likes, so he’ll be a happy camper.
She looked at the monitor of her ringing phone and saw that it was Mike. “Hi,” she said. Hope you’re not calling to tell me you’re going to be late.”
“Nope, I’m calling to tell you I’m almost home. Be there in about five minutes. How are all the dogs doing?”
Kelly heard a commotion and looked down the hall where Skyy was running with a roll of toilet paper in her mouth and trailing a long white banner behind her. “Well, other than the fact that Skyy has just discovered how much fun it can be to take a roll of toilet paper from its holder and run with it, they’re fine,” she said laughing. “I’ll let you clean that mess up when you get home, so I can concentrate on fixing dinner.”
A few minutes later Mike walked in, looked down the hall and rolled his eyes. “I don’t know if your cuteness extends this far,” he said to the little ball of fur that was jumping on his legs, begging to be picked up. “Rebel, Lady, you have a little work to do with this one. I have no intention of buying stock in a toilet paper company simply because we have a dog that has to run around the house with a roll of it in her mouth.” He walked over to Kelly and lightly kissed her. “So, how was your day?”
“Very interesting. And yours?”
“About the same.”
“Any luck on finding the killer?” She paused for a moment. “Mike, those words sound awful. I wonder how many marriages there are when almost the first words one spouse says to the other is ‘any luck on finding the killer?’ I can’t believe that’s the first thing I asked you.”
“I can believe it. It seems we’re always in the wrong place at the wrong time, but in answer to your question, no, I didn’t have any luck finding the killer. I’ll tell you all about my day, but first I need to change clothes and pick up toilet paper. I’ll be back in a minute,” he said setting Skyy down on the floor. He walked down the hall, followed by Skyy and Rebel. Lady opted to stay with Kelly.
“Thanks, girl. I was beginning to feel unappreciated.” She set out the ingredients for the special burgers, put the cast iron grill on the range, and then poured a can of beans into a small saucepan. She added some brown sugar, barbecue sauce, and a few diced onions to the beans. Kelly poured each of them a glass of wine and set the table. Mike returned in a few minutes dressed in a t-shirt and jeans.
She handed him a glass of wine and said, “Could you believe the coffee shop when you were there? It was absolutely standing room only from the time I opened to the time I closed. Rumors were flying, but no one seems to know much about the murder or letting the dogs out of their kennels. What did you find out from the manager?”
“Nothing much. She’s still pretty much in shock over the fact that her boss was murdered, and the dogs were let out. We tried to figure out who would have had access to the kennel area. As you know, there are a lot of individual kennels in the big building where the kennels are located. There are four doors that lead into it, so we figure one of those was probably left unlocked by a kennel employee. I asked Sandy if she knew of anyone who would like to see the kennel get bad publicity, and she couldn’t think of anyone.”
“Did she mention the people Noelle told me about?”
“Yes, she was very aware of the situation with the pit bull guy and the Yorkie woman, but didn’t think either one of them was capable of committing murder or letting all the dogs out.”
“What about disgruntled employees? Any leads there?”