Five

“It’s a possibility that Dovie isn’t happy. She hasn’t actually said anything to me, but I do get the idea that she’s miffed. I’d better get back inside. Were you able to get someone to cover for you tonight? I so want for you and Liesel to be at the WAG Lady dinner.”

Rose had invited the WAG Ladies to her home for dinner to thank them for all their hard work. She’d included Oma and me, mostly because Oma was her best friend, but also because we were housing them during their stay in Wagtail. “I believe Mr. Huckle has agreed to watch the inn.”

“Wonderful! Thank you for coming, sweetie. Leave the gate open for Fritz, will you?” Rose pecked me on the cheek and returned to the house.

I stood on the sidewalk and studied the gate. It connected to a fence that extended out of sight on both sides of the house. This was very likely the gate through which Fritz had escaped. Had Dovie left the front door open? It could happen, of course. But given the odd things that had occurred, I wondered if letting Fritz out was part of the plan. He had always seemed devoted to the judge. If I was right about that, then he probably would have hung around outside the house unless something lured him away.

Mae Swinesbury waved to me from her porch and hurried toward me. “Hi, sugar. How’s your grandma?”

“She’s well, thank you.”

“I’m so worried about the judge. As strong as he seems to be, it was really Theona who was the stalwart one. She was so quiet and gentle, but he relied on her. I loved it when he was using fancy lawyerly words to make a point and Theona would ever so discreetly tell him to shut up. I don’t know how he’ll manage without her?” She ended her sentence on a higher note, as if she was asking a question. She gazed at me with raised eyebrows, but I wasn’t that stupid. I knew she wanted information about Rose’s presence.

“I just spoke with him. He seems to be doing fine.” Quickly changing the subject, I asked, “Were you here the day Fritz ran away? I’m just wondering who let Fritz out. Most people around here would have known better.”

Mae rolled her lips inward and looked down at her hands. “I tell you, I feel a bit guilty about that myself. I saw Fritz out on the sidewalk. I figured the judge was somewhere nearby. It never dawned on me that Fritz would wander off and wouldn’t come back home. If I had known that, I would have dashed out there and nabbed him. He got out on the day Theona died, too. That was about the saddest thing I have ever seen. When they removed her body from the house, Fritz followed behind the gurney. He sat right over there and watched them load Theona into the hearse. When it drove away, I saw him trotting behind the hearse, like his own little procession honoring the woman who had rescued him from a dreadful life.”

“That’s so sad. Poor Fritz.”

“It brought tears to my eyes. But he came home that day. I can’t imagine why he hasn’t returned this time.”

“So it wasn’t intentional,” I said aloud. Trying hard to find out if she knew anything about the alleged eavesdropping, I asked, “Are any relatives taking care of the judge now?”

“Well, there’s Addi. She’s sweet as can be. But she doesn’t live here. She’s in town for that big gala, and I saw her at a restaurant, but I don’t know if she can stay.”

I still wasn’t getting the kind of information I hoped for. “That’s a very big house, and Dovie isn’t young anymore. Surely she doesn’t clean it all herself?”

“I believe she does. I don’t mean to be a busybody, but Dovie has been with the Barlows for decades.”

“Yes, of course.” I smiled as sweetly as I could. “You understand, I don’t want anyone taking advantage of the judge. Perhaps you could let me know if you see strangers or anyone who seems out of place hanging around the house?”

Mae blinked at me. “It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Dovie had an interest in the judge, if you know what I mean. But I see what you’re getting at. Wagtail is such a lovely place that it didn’t occur to me someone might try to fleece him.”

She paused and gazed at the house. “So many people were here when Theona was ill. Nurses and caregivers, not to mention when she died. People were in and out like there was a revolving door on the house. But it should all have calmed down now. That’s always the worst part, isn’t it? When everyone leaves and there’s not a sound in the house. You’re all by yourself with nothing but your thoughts. I suppose that’s what they mean by a deafening silence.”

I had the distinct feeling she was speaking from experience.

After a moment she patted my shoulder. “Don’t you worry. I’ll keep an eye out for anyone suspicious and let you know. Wagtail will rally around the judge and keep him safe.”

I thanked Mae and called Trixie. Figuring that Dave was somewhere around the green, we headed in that direction. Trixie sped ahead, pausing occasionally to sniff a particularly enticing spot.

Not too far from us, I caught sight of Seth talking with Oriana. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she seemed angry and shouted after him when he walked away from her.

I found Dave outside of Café Chat. The café name was an intentional double entendre easily realized by anyone who took a moment to consider the café’s logo over the door of two cat silhouettes, back to back, with their tails entwined.

Trixie reached him first and danced around his feet. He bent to pet her and looked up at me. “I knew you couldn’t be far away.”

Sergeant Dave Quinlan had been a sailor in the navy before returning home to Wagtail. He was now part of the police force located on Snowball Mountain, but Dave lived in Wagtail and was our primary law enforcement officer. He was in his early thirties, not much older than me.

I skipped the niceties and launched into my question. “What do you know about Judge Barlow?”

Dave straightened up and tilted his head at me. “Why are you asking about him?”

“You’re not concerned about the strange goings-on at his home?” I asked.

Dave was a nice guy and I knew it. He would have leaped to their aid if he had thought it was necessary. So it surprised me when he said, “I didn’t say that.”

“You think someone is messing with him? Gaslighting him?” I asked.

“There’s no evidence. In my experience so far, the judge has always been honest and straightforward. I hope this isn’t the first sign of his mind slipping. Losing Theona has been very hard on him. Dr. Engelknecht says it’s unlikely that it brought on sudden confusion of this sort but that he could be sliding into dementia.”

“He seemed fairly clearheaded to me.”

He nodded. “Me, too. And he has stuck to his story. He doesn’t waiver on it or embellish it. The hallmark of truth in my experience.”

“Oh great. So you don’t know what to think, either.”

“I’m keeping tabs on him, but there’s really nothing I can do.” Dave shrugged. “He forgot he opened a window. Dovie probably bought oatmeal and didn’t remember. I find things in my kitchen all the time that I forgot I bought. There’s just nothing there, Holly.”

“You could search for listening devices in the house,” I suggested.

“I already did that. There are too many ways to listen in on people these days. I love modern technology, but it comes with a price. You don’t have to be a computer genius to set up listening devices anymore. They come inside flash drives and wall plug-ins. You’d never know they were there. And those are the ones I’ve heard about. There are many more.”

“I wasn’t allowed to say a thing inside the house,” I pointed out.

“Listen, Holly, my time is best spent finding Fritz and bringing him home. He’ll watch out for the judge around the clock. Besides, while it is sufficiently creepy and most certainly illegal to listen to what’s going on in that house, roses and oatmeal hardly sound sinister,” he protested.

“I suppose you’ve met Seth, the pet detective?” I asked.

He looked at me with surprise. “No. I haven’t. Did Dovie hire him?”

“Apparently so.”

“She feels responsible for Fritz’s escape. But I don’t know if he’ll have much luck. No one has seen Fritz. By the way, I’ve asked for additional police presence for the gala. Wouldn’t want anyone swiping our visitors’ jewels. They advertised that thing from here to Pasadena.”

I smiled at his exaggeration.

“No joke, Holly,” he persisted. “That’s like waving a red flag in the faces of thieves.” He pointed his finger in a panoramic way. “Out there, mingling with kindhearted people who want to save dogs and cats, there are degenerates without a conscience who think what’s yours should be theirs.”

“You’re awfully grim today,” I observed.

“Just doing my job.”

I left him to his thoughts of crime and walked over to the Wagtail Springs Hotel to check on the WAG Ladies and the There’s No Place Like Home Gala preparations.

The old Wagtail Springs Hotel had been restored to its former glory by a new owner, and the ballroom was simply gorgeous, with large arches that melded together at the tops into a curved ceiling.

Garbo, the saluki, and Fagan, the Scottish terrier, rested on a stage, watching their people fuss. Trixie raced to join them. All tails wagged on her arrival.

I walked over to Brenda and Oriana and held out the basket from Oma that contained a bottle of wine, locally baked cheese sticks and gingersnaps, as well as dog and cat treats. “This is for a weeklong stay at the inn. Where should I put it?”

Joanne Williams was across the room, but her head snapped up as soon as I spoke. She strode toward me imperiously. Joanne struck me as a meticulous woman, which probably accounted for her frustration with those who were less organized. I had yet to see her without a clipboard in her hand or nearby. Although Wagtail was on the casual side, Joanne wore a fitted sky blue dress with three-quarter-length sleeves. Multiple gold necklaces draped over her dress. She wore her hair in a simple chignon at the nape of her neck, and her makeup was flawless. She was elegant in an office-setting way. I could imagine her striding along corridors while wary employees jumped back to work.

She reached out her hands. “I’ll take that. We can’t have it getting lost, can we? Addi is responsible for the donations.” She swept her arm wide, as if showing me the room. “As usual, Addi is late. I have no idea why we put her in charge of anything. You could line her arm with a dozen wristwatches, and she would still be the last to arrive. I really don’t understand people like that. It drives me nuts. How can you get anything done if you’re not on time? And Louisa has disappeared again! Well, I’ll log this in and be sure it doesn’t fall into their hands.”

Joanne marched toward a table and set the basket on it.

“Don’t mind her. She’s only happy when she has something to complain about,” Brenda McDade grumbled in a gruff way.

An unexpected streak of caramel brown ran between the tables, and a small cat jumped up on one. He wore a handsome green collar that couldn’t compete with the glowing green of his eyes.

“Hershey!” Joanne smiled and watched him fondly as he dropped a stuffed cartoon mouse on the table. It had a comical expression and tiny feet that jutted out, giving it a look of eternal surprise. Hershey promptly gave it a whack. It flew to the floor, and Hershey looked down at it, his fluffy tail waving. He pounced, picked up the fabric mouse, rolled over, and zoomed to the other side of the room.

Brenda laughed. “He follows Joanne around like a dog. I’m told that’s typical of Somali cats.”

I studied Brenda with fresh eyes, wondering whether Wallace McDade was her brother. Had she saved her father’s life and testified against her brother? How did a person cope with something like that?

She had removed her hat, revealing fluffy honey blond hair. It stuck out at odd angles as if she might have cut it herself.

Oriana gazed at her with huge brown eyes and said softly, “Give her a break, Brenda. Joanne means well.”

“How can you manage a huge company and be so overly sensitive? Or does your husband do all the dirty work?” Brenda stalked off, calling to Joanne, “Are those supposed to be the silent auction tables? The setup is all wrong.”

I wasn’t sure if Oriana was struggling to maintain her composure or if she was always so serene. At least outwardly. For all I knew, she was seething underneath.

“We really ought to give Joanne a task to complete,” she said. “That way she’ll be too busy to interfere with the rest of us.”

“That sounds like an excellent idea,” I said, glad it wasn’t my problem.

Without sounding snide, Oriana said, “That is how one runs a big company. One defers to a person’s strengths. Brenda was right about one thing. Joanne is happiest when she’s busy. She has a need to be on top of things.” She walked toward Joanne.

I watched as Oriana deftly distracted Joanne and moved her focus to place cards while Brenda pushed the silent auction tables where she wanted them.

Across the room, Loki the husky bounded in and headed straight for the stage. Louisa followed him, pale and devoid of energy. Her face showed the strain she had been under no matter how cheery she pretended to be.

“How nice of you to show up,” called Joanne. She picked up her clipboard and bustled toward Louisa, her head held high and rigid.

Louisa wilted at the sight of her. Fortunately, Oriana and Brenda rushed to Louisa’s side.

“What kept you?” asked Joanne. “Oriana and Brenda have been here for hours.”

Louisa opened her mouth to respond, but Joanne held up her hand like a stop sign. “Never mind. I don’t want to hear another sad song and dance, no matter how creative. Now you promised to take care of table settings.” Joanne swung around and gestured toward the tables. “They appear naked to me. I hope this isn’t what you had planned for tomorrow. And just let me say that I have no intention of working through the night to fulfill your responsibilities.”

Louisa’s face flushed. But I had to give her credit. In spite of her discomfort at Joanne’s chiding, she maintained her dignity.

At that moment, the ballroom doors opened and a hotel employee brought in a luggage cart packed with boxes.

I would have been tempted to shoot a nasty glance at Joanne, but Louisa simply smiled, turned on her heel, and thanked the man, handing him a tip. He unloaded the boxes and left. Louisa withdrew a box cutter and a frighteningly large pair of scissors from her purse and proceeded to open them.

From the first box, she withdrew snow white tablecloths. Oriana, Brenda, and I took several and spread them on the tables. As we worked, Louisa came around to each table, added round votive holders of a golden hue, and placed a candle in each.

Joanne stood by and watched until she noticed the candles. “No, no, no! Do you really want dogs and cats overturning candles, Louisa? I think not!”

Louisa kept working. Her voice didn’t reveal even a tinge of aggravation. “They’re battery operated, Joanne. No pups or kitties will get hurt.”

Oriana picked one up and turned it on. The flame flicked just like a genuine candle. “Unbelievable. They look real. They even feel like candles.”

“They’re dipped in wax,” explained Louisa.

I wasn’t part of their group, but since Addi hadn’t shown up yet, I stuck around and helped. With everyone except Joanne pitching in, the tables looked great in less than an hour.

Joanne still busied herself with the place cards. “No flowers?”

By that time, I wanted to smack her. Did nothing ever please this woman?

“They’re being delivered tomorrow so they’ll be at their freshest. They’re very pretty.” Louisa, her complexion now burning crimson, faced Joanne head-on. “Roses, snapdragons, and baby’s breath, all nontoxic to cats and dogs.”

Joanne blurted, “Then where is Addi? We should start unloading the donations for the auction.”

I took that opportunity to slip away. I gave Trixie my hand signal to come. She jumped off the stage and ran toward me. The two of us stepped outside, drawing only the attention of the other dogs.

As we left the hotel, Addi rushed up the stairs and promptly fell face-forward.

I stopped to help her up. She gladly took my hands to stand, then lifted her long gauzy dress to examine her legs. Blood oozed from scrapes.

“Let’s go inside,” I said. “Maybe they have a first-aid kit and you can clean up your knees.”

“No need.” She sighed and sat down on the stairs. Her dress had torn in the fall.

Trixie immediately sniffed her and demanded to be petted.

“Hello, Trixie.” Addi rubbed her ears and, for a moment, seemed to forget about her mishap.

Nonplussed, Addi pulled a small unmarked bottle and tissues from her oversized Vera Bradley bag. It was a lovely pattern of blue swirls.

She fingered the skirt of her dress. “Rats! Oriana says I shouldn’t bother wearing cotton silk. I’m too hard on my clothes.” She poured liquid on a tissue and cleaned up her knees. “I don’t know if I would be happy wearing rugged canvas clothes like Brenda, though. Not that I have anything against them, but they’re stiff and heavy. I love cotton silk because it’s so light and delicate.”

She brushed long chestnut hair off her forehead and stashed the bottle away in her bag.

“Not to be nosy, but what did you put on your legs?” I asked.

“It’s just hydrogen peroxide. I carry it with me because I’m always tripping over my own feet. My shrink says it’s not my fault, that it’s some kind of genetic thing. I’m not sure that’s true”—she smiled at me—“but I’ll take it as an excuse.”

“Your friends are inside in the ballroom,” I said.

“Thanks. I’m sure Joanne is complaining. That’s her thing, you know. Joanne is never happy unless she’s fretting. It can be quite disconcerting if you don’t know her. But it’s tolerable once you realize that’s her happy place.”

Sounded about right. “I met your grandfather, Judge Barlow, this morning.”

Addi looked horrified. “Pops? I hope he was nice to you.”

“He was fine.”

“That’s a relief. He can be kind of gruff. He’s an old marshmallow inside, but that crusty exterior can be very annoying until you get to know him better.”

“Addi? Is that you?” called someone who sounded just like Joanne. “What in the world are you doing sitting around out here when there’s so much to be done?”

Addi’s eyes widened. “I hope she didn’t hear what I said about her,” she whispered.

“I was just on my way in.” Addi cringed and glanced at me with big eyes.

“My fault, Joanne,” I said. “I needed to speak to Addi.”

Addi shot me a grateful look.

In a tolerant but undeniably seething tone, Joanne demanded, “Where have you been?”

“Oh, Joanne. Please. You know perfectly well that I’ve been helping out my grandfather. Are you really going to berate me for that?” Addi smiled, picked up her bag, and strolled past Joanne, her head held high.

Joanne looked at me, her eyebrows raised. “I didn’t even know my grandfathers. Did you know yours?”

“Only one of them.”

Joanne glanced at her watch. “I’m off to pick up a gift we ordered for Rose. She’s been such a help, stepping in and organizing things on this end. I don’t know how we would have managed without her.”

She bustled off, and I continued on my way. Oma’s husband had died before I was born. The story went that he had won the Sugar Maple Inn in a poker game. I found that hard to believe, but whether it was true or not, I gathered he was quite a character.

Restaurants and bars were beginning to get busy. That meant afternoon tea would be over and things would be quieting down at the inn again. I stopped and stared at the show window of Best Friends, which carried dog and cat accessories. I thought I had found just the things for Trixie and Twinkletoes to wear to their first black-tie gala, but the sun sparkled on the faux diamonds of a tiny tiara, and I couldn’t resist it.

While Trixie ran to the counter where she knew she would be rewarded with a mini treat, I plucked the tiara out of the window display and checked the price. It definitely wouldn’t break my budget. I carried it over to Marsha Deadmond, who rang it up for me.

As Trixie and I walked out the door, we nearly ran into Seth the pet detective.

“Perfect timing,” he said with a grin. “I was just going to find that inn.”

“I’ll be happy to show you the way, but unless there was a cancellation, I don’t think we have any rooms. I’m afraid you’ve arrived just before the There’s No Place Like Home Gala and everyone has been booked for weeks.”

Just to make chitchat while we walked, I asked, “How do you know Louisa?”

He drew a deep breath. “She’s the girl who got away.”