The Puppy Project, page 12
part #9 of Tess and Tilly Cozy Mystery Series
“No. Just be sure to extract the cat before you seal up the box and take it to the church.”
I continued to sort through the piles, moving a few items from one to another, but Tony had done a good job of anticipating my wishes, so there wasn’t as much to do this evening as I’d anticipated. While the cats were loving the chaos, both dogs looked sort of stressed, so we decided to take them with us when we went to dinner. There was an indoor/outdoor Mexican restaurant we knew was dog-friendly. Those patrons with dogs needed to eat out on the deck, but the space was partially enclosed with a roof and a heater, so eating outdoors even when it was slightly chilly was actually very comfortable.
“I think I’ll try the chicken enchiladas this time,” I said. “The pork tacos I had last time were really good and the beef chimichanga I had the time before that was really good too, but I think I’ll stick to something lighter this evening. Are you going to have your usual fajitas?”
“They have a shrimp special that looks good. I think I’ll try that.”
Once we ordered, we settled into a conversation about the move. Tony was uber-organized, and it seemed as if things were going a lot more quickly than I initially thought they would. I supposed that was a good thing, but the speed at which things were progressing also made me feel a bit like I was being carried along in a current heading out to sea.
Once our server delivered waters, chips, and salsa to our table, Tony brought up the subject of a Hawaiian vacation once again. He needed to go for at least a week whether I went or not, but I could tell he was excited about the prospect of our going together.
“What if we made it a honeymoon?” I asked.
Tony choked on a chip. “You want to get married between now and July?”
I nodded. “Hear me out. I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I realized that while I very much want to be married to you, I really don’t want to deal with a wedding. Mom suggested a small affair at your house, which initially sounded okay, but then Mike pointed out that once I opened the door to a wedding, Mom and Bree would take over and the next thing I knew, I’d be smack dab in the middle of the event nightmare I’ve been wanting to avoid all along. Mike thinks we should elope, and, in theory, that sounds perfect, just you and me in front of a justice of the peace, or maybe an Elvis impersonator. I haven’t quite figured that out yet.”
“But?” Tony chuckled, knowing I’d never go with anything less than the real Elvis.
“But my mom would never forgive me, and to be honest, that sounds sort of empty. Mike’s caution to me had to do with opening the door to a wedding and then losing all control, but what if we don’t open that door?”
“I’m listening.”
“What if we pick a date that only you and I know, and then we invite Mike and Bree, Mom and Aunt Ruthie, and Shaggy and his date over for dinner? Once they all show up, we tell them we are getting married and then do it right then and there. Mom and Bree will be able to attend, but they won’t be given the opportunity to take over and turn our wedding into a three-ring circus.”
Tony smiled. “I like it. I’d need to fly Nona out. She’s my only family. I don’t have to tell her about the wedding. I’ll just tell her I want to bring her here so she can meet you.”
I swallowed hard. “Okay. That sounds like it could work. Will she come?”
“I’ll persuade her without giving away the big ending to the evening. Did you know that Shaggy’s girlfriend is licensed to officiate weddings?”
I raised a brow. “She is?”
He nodded. “She started off doing spiritual bindings, but eventually got her license so she can do a legal ceremony for those who want one. We’ll need to go down to the courthouse in Kalispell and fill out all the paperwork, but she can sign off on the ‘I do’s.’”
“Okay, that’s actually perfect. We’ll just invite everyone to dinner to meet Nona, and then, once everyone’s there, we’ll get married. But you can’t tell anyone before the big day. Well, I guess Shanti will need to know, but no one else. If my mother finds out what we’re planning, small and simple will not be an option.”
“I promise I won’t tell anyone.” Tony leaned over and kissed me. “So when do you want to do this?”
“I’ll mention a dinner party to Mom, Mike, Bree, and Aunt Ruthie and see if they have any dates that don’t work. I’ll tell them it’s a house warming of sorts to celebrate my move. You call and talk to Nona and see what her schedule is like, but I’m thinking maybe a Saturday in June.”
“That sounds perfect. Let’s float the idea by everyone and take it from there. Really any weekend that works for everyone else works for me.”
The server brought our food, ending the conversation at least temporarily. I found that for the first time since the subject had come up, the idea of a wedding didn’t send me into a cold sweat. Meeting Tony’s grandmother, however, was causing an elevated heartbeat, but somehow her approval or lack thereof seemed a bit less important now that Tony and I’d committed to taking this final step.
Chapter 15
Friday, May 22
The week had flown by. Tony and I had been able to get my cabin cleared out and repaired. I’d had three offers, one from Brenda’s cousin, Hannah. They were all close in terms of the price offered, so I decided to go with Hannah, provided she could make the trip out to view the property in person this weekend. She agreed to do so.
No one had called in response to our lost dog ad, so chances were that either my dad hadn’t seen the notice, or he’d seen it and hadn’t understood it. Tony was hesitant to send an email to Dad without the certainty that he would be the one receiving it, so in a way, we were in a holding pattern. We’d discussed the situation with Mike and decided it was too risky to continue to look for the women on the list or the children they bore until we’d had a chance to talk to Dad face to face. Of course, Dad wasn’t one to pop by often, so who knew where that whole thing would end up.
While I was curious about the women and their offspring, as well as the identity of the man or woman who sent Tony the instructions to track them down, I was also preoccupied with the move, the job change, the sale of the cabin, and Tony and my plans for a secret wedding, which made the waiting a bit easier.
It was decided that my final day working for the post office would be May twenty-ninth, which was a week from today. A woman who had experience as a mail carrier had been hired to take over my route, so little training would be needed. She was going to start on June first, which worked out neatly, but now that I had a specific date in sight, I began to grow nervous. I supposed that was to be expected.
The really interesting part of my week had to do with Mike’s investigation into Johnny Peyton’s death. I looked down at Tilly. “You ready?”
“Ruff.”
I took a breath. “Okay, it’s showtime.”
I opened the door to Hap’s hardware store, and Tilly and I slipped inside. “Morning, Hap,” I said just as I had hundreds of times.
“Morning, Tess, Tilly. How are you holding up with all the changes going on in your life?”
I set my mailbag on the floor at my feet. “Okay. My cabin should be in escrow by Monday as long as Brenda’s cousin, Hannah, likes it as much as she is expecting to, and my last day at the post office is next Friday. I’m still really committed to making a change, but it’s all happened so fast. I feel like my head is spinning.”
“That’s understandable. I have to admit I’m going to miss you and Tilly coming in every weekday.”
I placed a hand over his. “I know. Tilly and I are going to miss it as well, but we’ll still come by to visit. This is, after all, the best place to catch up on all the local gossip.”
Hap chuckled. “That it is. If there is one thing you can say about old Hap Hollister, it’s that if something’s going on, he knows about it. Have they started construction on the shelter?”
I nodded. “Mike released the site a few days ago. He still hasn’t solved the case, but he felt he’d gotten all the evidence out of the gravesite he was going to get, and he knows how anxious Brady is to get started.”
“I hear the two of you are going to be doing a search and rescue training course.”
“We are,” I confirmed. “The course starts on June first and runs every weekday for two weeks. After that, we’re committed to attending a seminar one Saturday a month, and there are advanced sessions once we identify the dogs we’re going to use for the team. Brady has Tracker, who’s already trained in search and rescue, so he’ll be ready to start right away. I need to look for a dog to take through the course, but adopting a dog is a big deal, and I’ve been pretty preoccupied, so Brady and I discussed it, and we’re going to wait until things settle down a bit to take that step. The earliest we’ll be ready to start the training classes we’ll build our own team from is this fall, and that’s only if everything falls into place perfectly.”
“Which we know never happens.”
“Exactly.”
“Well, I wish you both the best. The service you and Brady provide to the community is to be commended. One of the reasons I like living in White Eagle so much is because folks really care about the other members of the community, both the two and four-legged residents.”
I couldn’t agree more.
“Any news about Johnny’s murder?” Hap asked.
“Not really,” I said as nonchalantly as I could manage. “I know Mike has a few theories and is following up on some leads, but I don’t think he’s made any arrests. It’s tough to sort through everything when the murder was so far in the past. People have moved on, and even those who stayed are no longer involved with the same people or in the same activities as they were eight years ago.” I picked a hard candy out of the jar, unwrapped it, and popped it into my mouth. “I spoke to someone who has lived in the area for a while who told me that Donny Smith isn’t necessarily who he appears to be. She told me that he was the sort to put on different faces for different folks and was very skilled at presenting to each person the face he felt they’d most like to see. I guess that has me intrigued, although I suppose we all do that to an extent. The person I spoke to seemed to think that Donny used his ability to bond with people as a tool to con them.”
“You don’t say.”
I nodded. “Mike talked to him again, and, of course, he presented a façade of a mature and concerned citizen who was totally willing to do whatever was needed to find justice for Johnny. This time, however, Mike paid closer attention to both Donny’s answers and his body language, and by the end of the discussion, he was of the mind that he was being played.”
Hap’s gaze narrowed. He leaned in just a bit. “So, what are you saying? Does Mike think Donny had something to do with Johnny’s death? Those two boys were friends for a long time. I’d hate to think that’s true.”
“He doesn’t necessarily think that Donny killed Johnny, but he does think that he knows more than he’s saying. Of course, everything I’ve just told you is highly confidential.”
“Of course.”
“I probably shouldn’t even be jibber-jabbering about this at all, but you know me, Miss Blabber Mouth.”
“So does Mike think Donny knows what happened to Johnny?” Hap asked.
“He thinks it’s a possibility. Donny called him this morning to set up a meeting for later this afternoon. Mike figures that Donny is going to spill the beans then. The good news is we should have this whole thing wrapped up by the end of the day.”
After I left Hap’s, I went to Hattie’s and told the same story. I then went to Bree’s bookstore and repeated my tale. By the time I’d made it to Mom’s diner, I was pretty sure that if the person who had killed Johnny was still around and either knew that Donny knew the truth or at least suspected he did, they’d go looking for him before his meeting with Mike. Of course, Donny was actually in custody after his interview with Mike. Mike didn’t have a reason to hold him for Johnny’s murder, but Donny did have a whole passel of unpaid parking tickets. Thousands of dollars worth to be exact. In White Eagle, as well as other areas with heavy snowfall, it’s illegal to park on the street during snow conditions as cars on the street block the plow from doing its job. Most folks want the street plowed and respect the ordinance, but based on the number of tickets the man had racked up, it appeared that Donny didn’t think the law applied to him. His refusal to pay gave Mike a bit of leeway to bring him in and place him in custody. He couldn’t keep him long, but hopefully, he could keep him long enough.
Of course, no one knew about Mike’s plan except Frank, Gabe, Tony, and me. I only knew because Mike thought I would be the natural one to spread the rumor, and Tony only knew because he cloned Donny’s phone so we could monitor calls made to him while he was in custody.
The plan seemed like a good one. Let everyone in town know that Donny planned to spill the beans to Mike about who killed Johnny, and wait to see who showed up to kill him. We just hoped the guilty individual was in town and able to respond since the amount of time Mike could keep Donny in lockup was not unlimited.
Gabe and Frank were hanging out at Donny’s house, waiting for whoever was going to show up to show, and Donny’s secretary had been sent a text from Donny’s phone letting her know that Donny would be working from home today. We figured that way, if anyone called the office looking for Donny, she would send them in the right direction.
Of course, the plan called for me to spread the rumor while delivering the mail and then go home. However, me being me, I had a better plan. I dropped Tilly off at Bree’s bookstore so she would be out of harm’s way, and then headed over to Donny’s house to watch from afar. I wasn’t surprised when Darian showed up. Brenda had indicated that he wasn’t quite as reformed as he wanted everyone to believe he was. Knowing Mike would kill me for disobeying a direct order and parking across from Donny’s house rather than going home, I headed back into town, picked up Tilly, and then headed home to the lake house.
Chapter 16
“What do you mean Darian didn’t kill Johnny?” I asked Mike after I’d called him and he filled me in.
“Darian admitted to running a car theft ring. He admitted that Johnny worked for him stealing cars. He also admitted to knowing why Johnny was killed and even had a good idea who, but he swore he didn’t do it.”
“Maybe he’s lying,” I pointed out.
“I thought so at first, but once Darian was in custody, we finally got Donny to talk. They were questioned separately, yet both told the same story.”
I sat down on the edge of the bed. I was in the bedroom putting away a box of clothes we’d moved while Tony was making dinner when I’d decided to make the call. “Okay, so what is the story?”
“Darian admitted that by the time Johnny came home from college, he had a serious drug habit he needed to support. He found out about Darian’s little enterprise and wanted in. Darian said Johnny was doing a good job choosing the right cars and getting them out of sight before anyone knew they’d even been stolen. He said he figured the kid had a real future in crime until Johnny happened to steal a car with cargo too hot for Darian to handle.”
“Cargo?” I asked.
“Drugs. The entire trunk was filled with drugs. Cocaine, to be exact. Darian told me that he was a thief and not a drug dealer and wanted nothing to do with the drugs. When he found the drugs in the trunk, he wanted to dump the car and the drugs, and stay well out of it, but Johnny had other ideas. He figured that if he hid the drugs and then tracked down the people who would be looking for them, he could negotiate a finder’s fee before returning them. He was wrong.”
“So, the people who Johnny tried to con out of a fee are the ones who killed him?”
“That’s what Darian is claiming. He told me that Johnny put some feelers out in the drug community, letting it be known that he’d found the drugs and was willing to negotiate a deal to have them returned. Donny told me that on the night Johnny died, the reason he’d called was to let him know he’d set up a meeting with the owners of the drugs and would be late getting to the party. Donny never saw or heard from him again.”
“So Johnny must have met with the drug dealers while he was on his delivery route, and instead of giving Johnny a finder’s fee, they killed him.”
“That’s the opinion of both Donny and Darian, yet neither have any proof or even know for certain that’s what happened.”
I wasn’t really sure why Darian hadn’t admitted this in the first place since he’d already gone to prison for running a chop shop and was unlikely to be arrested for the same crime a second time, but maybe there was more to the story. “So, what now?” I asked.
“Now, I see if I can find out who the drugs belonged to. Darian said the car that was stolen was registered to Dick Parkenson.”
“Coach Parkenson?” Dick Parkenson was the high school football coach when I was in high school. He was a fixture in the community.
“That’s what he said. I spoke to Dick, who told me his car had been stolen earlier in the week. I checked, and he never filed a stolen car report, but he said he knew some of the kids who were mixed up with Darian and figured he’d work it out himself.”
“Okay, that makes no sense at all.”
“I agree, but at this point, I don’t have any evidence linking Coach Parkenson to Johnny’s death. Until I’m able to do that, I can’t bring him in. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have any outstanding parking tickets.”
Talk about a twist. Coach Parkenson, a drug dealer. I really couldn’t see it, but the evidence did seem to be stacking up that way.
Chapter 17
Saturday, May 23
“My realtor called,” I said to Tony the next morning as we worked on weeding the herb beds in preparation for planting. “She said that Hannah toured the cabin and loved it. We are now officially in escrow, and it turns out that Hannah made a cash offer, so the deal should be done in a matter of weeks. A month at the most.”
