CHAPTER

thirty-three

ASH MUST HAVE spied stacks of money. Wads of cash stuffed into an empty cereal box. In fact, hadn’t Russ Nolan paid Kevin Walker with money on hand to compensate for the undisclosed dog breeding activity? And bribed the volunteer at American Dog Makers with moola, too?

Pure and simple greed could be a clear motive to kill off the breeder. Who would have known about the cash stash? At least Indira. Or one of the other recent buyers.

Indira, Nicola, and Tammy. Any of them could have done it, and two of those ladies sat by my side at this very moment. Nicola and Indira could have used the extra inflow of cash to ease their money struggles. Tammy was married to Mr. Moneybags, but she might’ve done the deed out of a sense of justice for her injured dog.

I turned to Tammy, who sat staring at the floor. She seemed a million miles away. “Excuse me, Tammy?”

She continued to look down. Using her right hand, she traced the pale space on her left ring finger. The wedding band she had worn left a tan line there.

Kale inched closer to Tammy, perhaps feeling her sorrow. I needed to secure Tammy’s attention and assess how much anger she’d harbored toward Russ Nolan.

Stroking Kale’s ears, I asked, “Whatever happened to your lawsuit?”

Tammy whipped her head up. “How’d you hear about my divorce?”

Josh had told me about her separation, but . . . “I meant the one you filed against Russ Nolan.”

“Oh that.” She flopped her hand in the air. “It got dismissed.”

But of course. After all, the man had died. The lawsuit couldn’t go through after a death.

What would Tammy gain if she killed Russ Nolan? She’d have lost any chance of a legal battle and getting justice served.

Tammy seemed to gaze past me. “Why would he do this to me? I gave up the entire last year to take care of his child. And we even had another baby together.” She pointed at Kale.

I sensed that neither being a devoted stepmother nor forced bonding over a fur baby could have kept her marriage intact. I really felt for Tammy, who’d taken caregiving duties to the extreme and dropped everything to head up the PTA to fulfill a supermom role. “I’m sorry,” I told her.

Tammy dropped her head in her hands. I couldn’t help but think of an ostrich, one who hid in the sand to avoid the dangerous world beyond it.

Since Tammy seemed indisposed at the moment, I focused on Indira. She’d created a pyramid of fanny packs on one chair. On another, she draped a colorful display of her puppy pouches.

“All the bags look beautiful,” I said. “How’s business?”

“Booming.” She indicated the new carriers. “These are a big hit for me. Customers want multiple designs to match their varying moods—and extras, in case little Fido has an accident in one of them.”

“Good for you, Indira.” I rubbed my own golden puppy pouch. “This has been great for carrying a dog that can’t walk. Speaking of which, how is Ash feeling these days? When’s the surgery?”

She hemmed and hawed. Then she rearranged the pile of carriers, repositioning a silver bag with sparkling glitter to make it the centerpiece. “I’m still debating the pros and cons of each surgeon.”

“Don’t you want to help her as soon as possible?” The people at the surgical center seemed to think Kale needed an operation pronto. Wouldn’t time be a major factor for Indira’s dog as well?

“Ash is doing fine being carried around everywhere. I can hold off a little longer. Besides, it makes natural marketing sense and piques customer interest to see a puppy enjoying my carrier.”

Indira always paid attention to the bottom line. As a result, she did seem to be enjoying a lot of success with her new pooch pouches, a line first inspired by Ash’s medical condition.

I wondered how exactly Indira had obtained the capital to launch a new product when earlier she’d needed money to secure a surgery for Ash. Could it be from a dubious source like Russ Nolan’s loose cash? Maybe I could weasel an answer out of her, but I’d need to do it in a more private setting.

I pretended to admire the gleaming silver carrier at the center of the pile she’d reorganized. “Can we set up another time to talk, Indira? I think I need your expertise to sell more of your pouches at my store.”

“Sure, I can do that.” Then she focused on the instructor, who’d started bowing to her students. “Finally. Class is over, and a shopping spree is about to begin.” Indira rubbed her hands together with glee.

Soon, a swarm of women surrounded her. A few ladies also greeted Tammy, forcing her to come out of her depressed state. She spoke to them in a robotic manner.

Meanwhile, I snuck off to chat with Lauren at the other end of the room. While I was getting information about the acupuncturist, maybe I could also get a few leads on Nicola.

I found Lauren rolling her shoulders. “Give me a moment,” she said. “I’m still recovering from class.”

“Take your time.” Despite Lauren’s exercise attire, Nicola had been the one to take the brunt of the workouts in past sessions.

I snuck a glance at Sterling to see how he had fared. He seemed in the prime of health and even wagged his tail at me.

Lauren finished stretching and pulled out her phone. She fired off a text and said, “Sent a message to her. Sometimes the acupuncturist gets busy with clients and takes a while to respond.”

“While I have you here, Lauren, I’m curious about your experience with Nicola.”

“Why do you need to know about my ex-assistant?”

I could feed Lauren half of the truth. “She asked me to give her a job.”

“Well, Nicola was okay taking care of Sterling. She’s young and capable, I’ll give her that. It’s why I hired her in the first place.” She looked straight into my eyes. “But I have to warn you . . . Are you dating?”

“Yes, but I don’t see the connect—”

“Make sure she stays away from your man. That’s the real problem with her. She started small by wearing my jewelry. The next thing I know, she would’ve tried taking over my marriage.”

I thought about the decidedly unhandsome Mr. Dalton. And also about Nicola’s prior avid interest in Russ Nolan. “Are you sure about that?”

“She was always trying to chat up my husband. Once, I even caught her giving him a photo of herself. Maybe she wanted to lure him with her youthful looks.”

“A photo?” Why would Nicola do that? I snapped my fingers. “Actually, I think I know what she was trying to do. She wanted to work with your husband, not anything more sinister.”

“Come again?”

“Nicola told me she’s an aspiring actress. The assistant position with you wasn’t meant to be for the long term.”

“Can that be? Let me check something.” Lauren tapped away at her phone. “I found Nicola listed on IMDb. Maybe I did sack her without real cause.”

“Do you think you might rehire her?”

“It’s too late. I already put out feelers and have interviews lined up. Anyway, I would want someone permanent. And maybe a lot older—and uglier—just to be on the safe side.”

“One more question, Lauren. It’s about Nicola’s personality.” If Nicola had gotten rid of Russ Nolan, it might have been for money, but a crime of passion seemed likelier. “Did she have a dark side? Maybe some sort of instability?”

“I don’t think so. In fact, she seemed particularly cheery after Sterling arrived in our lives . . . although her happy attitude plummeted recently.”

“When?”

Lauren opened up her calendar app. “Around this date. I remember because Nicola called in sick, but she sounded depressed more than anything else. I had to scramble to get a substitute.”

I looked at the date and did a quick intake of breath. She’d called in sick the day after Russ Nolan had died. Why? Had she felt sad about their date going awry—or remorse over taking his life?

Lauren’s phone pinged, and she read the new text. “My acupuncturist’s blocked out a time for us to come by tomorrow morning. And don’t worry. I’ll pay for their first acupuncture session. Those poor darlings . . .”

“You’re too kind,” I said.

Her eyes flashed to the sleeping Sparky. “Those puppies deserve better. It’s not their fault they were born with bad genes.”

“Should I meet you at the acupuncturist’s office, then? Just provide me with her location.”

“I have a better idea, Mimi. We can caravan. And since you’ll be at my place bright and early anyway, you can make my morning shake.”

Fair enough. I agreed to her condition. One smoothie for a pack of pain-free dogs? I’d take that deal any day.