CHAPTER

thirty-eight

AROUND CLOSING TIME, I started cleaning up the back room. Marshmallow stayed nearby, watching while I worked.

“If only you could hold things with your paws,” I said.

“What can I say? Cats are meant to be served, not the other way around.”

I grunted at him as I wiped down the table with antiseptic. Suddenly, the lights turned off.

“A power outage?” I said. “That’s never happened before.”

“How bad is business if you can’t pay the electric bill?” he asked.

“Not funny.”

I’d never had issues with the electrical system in the past. Hollywoof had its own subpanel, so I wondered if it had gotten shorted somehow.

A faint chime sounded from the distance. Could it be the front door? But no customer would walk in so late for my grooming help.

I sighed. I’d better call the power company to figure out what had happened and how to have the electricity restored. Too bad I couldn’t see well in the dark. I groped my way back to the main room by placing my hands against the walls to guide me.

As I passed by the waiting area, I thought I heard a soft plopping noise. I shook my head to clear it. The darkness must be heightening my imagination.

Near the front of the store, dusk let in some dim light through the glass window. I could make out the bulky shape of the cash register. Staggering over to the counter, I fumbled for the phone. When I finally lifted the receiver to my ear, I couldn’t hear a dial tone. Strange. Had I tripped on the cord and unplugged it?

Oh well. I could use my cell. Bending below to reach under the counter, I found my purse and started digging through its contents by touch. I felt odds and ends in there, but nothing shaped like my phone. Where could I have put it?

That’s when I heard the muffled footsteps. Straightening up from the counter, I found the silhouette of a female figure looming over me. She held up some sort of slender tube. A weapon?

Grabbing the item closest to me, I ended up lobbing the doggie biscuit jar at her. The woman shrieked, dropped whatever she’d been holding, and fell back into the shadows. Disaster averted.

From the sitting area across the way, a familiar tune started playing. “Chapel of Love.” Ma’s special ring tone.

I could see the top of my phone glowing in the dark, poking up out of a handbag. What was going on? I moved toward it, but something—or, rather, someone—tripped me.

Ouch. I landed on my side. A sharp pain seared my right ankle. I must’ve twisted it during the fall.

Sprawled close to the waiting area, I glanced at the nearby bench, already knowing what I’d see. My phone had been pickpocketed, and I recognized the metal-studded bag it lay in. Aunt Flo had been a decoy.

Tammy marched over to me. “I put my bag down on the bench so I would have my hands free to deal with you.” So the soft plopping noise I’d heard earlier hadn’t been my imagination.

She continued, “But you still startled me by throwing that jar. I even dropped the syringe. Good thing I don’t need it anymore. That fall knocked you down flat.”

Wait, she’d said something about a syringe? Injections. The cap I’d found had come from a needle. “Ketamine,” I said. The medication Dr. Exi had prescribed to numb Kale’s leg pain. “You used it on Russ Nolan.”

Tammy chuckled. “Sure I did. I knew it would make him drowsy.”

“You mean, make it easier for you to kill him?”

She shook her head. “No, I only wanted to knock him unconscious. He’s a big guy. I figured I’d need to drug him first to conk him out. I must have swung too hard.”

I tried to wriggle my foot. My ankle pulsed with pain. “Why didn’t you just wait for the lawsuit to go through? Do it all aboveboard?”

“Mimi, it was a frivolous claim.”

Josh had told me the lawsuit had been dismissed. Why again? The original contract terms had forbidden suing. What if it hadn’t been Tammy’s inept lawyer who’d made a mistake? “You knew all along the lawsuit would never work.”

“Of course I did. It was a brill move on my part, don’t you think? Filing it cast suspicion away from me.”

My phone rang. “Chapel of Love” again. Tammy reached into her bag and silenced the song.

“You must have hated Russ Nolan for tricking you with an inferior puppy,” I said. “And the canceled dog show fundraiser didn’t help, either.”

She huffed. “I bet nobody could stand that doofus. It was only fair he paid for the problem he introduced.”

“That’s not a good enough reason to kill him.”

She shrugged. “My only real regret is that you got curious and followed my trail. Pretended to be Soo Yi at school, talked to my vet, and even impersonated me over the phone.”

I gritted my teeth so I could endure the pain in my foot while I inched toward the bench. Maybe I could snatch my phone and make an emergency call. Three simple numbers.

Tammy wagged her finger at me. “You were trouble from day one, Mimi. You even blocked my way at the house.”

A sudden realization hit me. “So that’s why I ran into you the day after the murder. You came back to look for the cap from the syringe.”

“I didn’t realize I’d lost it until way after and figured I’d have better success searching for it during daylight.”

“But a man dying for your sense of fairness, to cover Kale’s surgery?” I shuddered. “It’s not like you even need the cash. You married into money.”

Her voice turned bitter. “And that fairy tale has ended. I’ve no regrets Russ Nolan died. An eye for an eye. After all, he killed my marriage.”

“He did?”

Coldness seeped into her every word. “Yes, by selling me a horrible pup. Kale was supposed to be a substitute for the child I couldn’t conceive. A new pet that would help our ailing marriage.”

“Your fur baby.”

“A wonderful addition to the family,” she said. “Instead, Kale broke things and chewed on wallets. And then the leg problems showed up and added too much stress to my marriage.”

“That’s why you tried to take Kale back to get a refund from Russ Nolan, but he refused.”

“So I did the next best thing by taking Russ Nolan’s money to pay for the surgery. I thought if Kale got better, somehow everything would go back to normal.”

“Why did you want your money back from the surgical center, then?” I asked.

“I need everything I can get to survive, now that he’s filed the divorce papers.” She pointed at me. “By the way, you’re not looking too hot.”

I had, however, managed to drag myself to the edge of the bench during the past few minutes. If only I could sit up, then I might reach my phone. I had to keep Tammy talking to distract her.

“I don’t understand,” I said. “If your husband doesn’t like Kale, why is he paying for the procedure now?”

“His brat of a daughter whined about it. Ironic. He’ll keep the dog but kick me out.”

She rummaged in her bag and retrieved something. A water bottle. “Mimi, it was so easy to sneak up on you. People are very clumsy in the dark.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “You were the one who shut the lights off?”

“Easy squeezy. I asked an electrician who’s part of the PTA. He walked me through how to access the subpanel over the phone.”

She lifted her bottle up.

I flinched and tried reaching for her bag. It was still too far away. I’d have to sit up to get it. “What’s in your bottle?” I asked as I pulled myself up.

“Some seashore.”

Panting, I rested my back against the bench. Then I processed her previous words.

A memory flashed before me. The first doga class I’d attended, when Lauren had borrowed Tammy’s water bottle and wiped off—“Sand,” I said.

“You figured it out. I weighted this bottle down. But don’t worry, I know exactly how to make the strike quick. Second time’s the charm.”

“The police will catch you,” I said.

“Not that clueless detective,” Tammy said. “Excuse the pun, but he’s always barking up the wrong tree. How confused will he be when his prime suspect goes kaput.”

I tried to shrink back but found myself stuck against the bench with nowhere to go.

She lifted the bottle high above her head. “I’m not going to prison because of some meddlesome pet groomer.”

Before she could come any closer, blue eyes glinted in the dark. A giant fluffball launched at the woman from out of nowhere. Marshmallow started clawing Tammy. But like a woman possessed, Tammy kept pressing her attack.

It was too late for me to grab the phone now and call for help. I had to defend myself.