"You're just in time to go on a run with me," Willie said the next morning as I came down to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. He was dressed in his running clothes.
"Ha! You know I don't run. But Bella will go with you, won’t you, girl," I said, reaching down to give her a pat as her eyes were following me and then, every so often, she would glance at the treat jar.
Quack, quack, Topknot joined in.
"You two are impossible," I said as I grabbed a dog treat from the jar, throwing it at Bella, who caught it swiftly and started crunching, which then made Topknot start quacking incessantly. "Just a second. I'm getting it," I said and grabbed a little homemade treat for him from the refrigerator.
Duck treats weren't easy to come by at the pet store, but I had found some recipes and made them myself. I gave him his treat and within seconds they were both looking at me wanting more, but I shook my head. "Maybe, Bella, if you go for a run with Willie, you can earn another treat. You don't want to get too big now. It's not good for your joints." I spoke the words, but obviously Bella didn't really care, as she kept begging for a treat.
"I would take her, but last time I tried, she only lasted a mile and I had to carry her back."
"And?" I said with a straight face, as if carrying back a dog who was now full-grown and almost 200 pounds was some easy feat.
"And I thought I was going to die," Willie said, then reached over and gave Bella scratch.
"If you're not doing anything for lunch today, Katy and I are meeting at the Mi Casa at noon."
"I don't know. I've got to call my sergeant back in Chicago at eleven thirty. I'm not sure how long it's going to take."
"You think he’s going to try to talk you into changing your mind?" I said as Willie grabbed his ankle, bending his leg back behind him and then switching to the other one to stretch out his quads.
"Probably, and I feel bad, but I'm just burnt out. Being here has been refreshing. Every time I think about going back, I fill up with dread. I need to do something that makes me feel like I’m making a difference."
I took a sip of my coffee, leaning my hip against the counter. "I totally understand. I can always use extra help at the flower shop," I said, teasing.
"I don't think flowers are my passion either. I want to stay in a law-enforcement capacity—just not what I was doing before."
"I’m sure you’ll get it figured out. And like I said yesterday, you don't have to be in any rush to move. You can come stay with me and Cooper at the new place, or I know my parents would be happy to have you stay here. My mom would love someone to spoil."
"I appreciate that. We'll see," he said and headed out the door for his daily run.
Willie was something of a fitness fanatic. Cooper liked to work out and stay in shape, whereas Willie was a little obsessive over it. I was always very firm in the fact that I didn't run, and if you saw me running, you better figure out who was chasing me. I set down my coffee and reached for the bread to make myself toast for breakfast when I heard my phone buzz. I looked down at it and saw it was Cooper.
"Hey. You just left half an hour ago. Miss me already?" It was Sunday and he was working when we normally spent the day together. Not that I minded. I loved his drive and ambition, but I did miss spending time with him.
"You know it. I miss you and I wanted to see if you could drop something off at the office."
"Oh, so the truth comes out. You need me to bring something to you. I see how you are," I teased.
"You caught me. I purposely forgot the folder that you should be able to see right on the breakfast table because I wanted you to have to bring it to me so I can see you."
"Good save. But yeah, I'm leaving in a few minutes. I can head over."
"Thanks, babe. See you in a bit."
I put my bread in the toaster and poured another cup of coffee into my travel mug. The toast popped up and I spread it liberally with butter and scarfed it down. I didn’t have enough hands to deal with my purse, my bag, and two unruly animals, much less holding onto my breakfast to eat in the car.
Before I had Bella and Topknot, I would easily drink my coffee and eat breakfast while driving, sometimes even putting on my makeup, which I knew wasn’t a safe practice. Now, with these two, I had my eyes on them at all times. I grabbed Bella's leash and clicked it on her collar, and pointed to the cat carrier Topknot rode in.
"Come on, buddy," I said to him, pointing my finger in the direction of the cat carrier again.
He knew exactly what I expected of him. He gave a loud quack of indignation so I wouldn’t forget how much he was against it, and walked to the cat carrier. I flung my purse and my bag over one shoulder, grabbed Bella's leash with one hand and Topknot’s carrier with the other.
At first, when I used it to transport him, Topknot would squawk the entire time he was in it, but he finally figured out he didn't get to go for rides if he wasn't in the carrier, and he did like to go for car rides. We walked up the driveway and I dropped Bella's leash to open the door for her to get in the passenger side. I set Topknot in the back, buckled in the car carrier, and then buckled in Bella.
I set my bags in the front of the passenger seat and my coffee in the cup holder before we were all set. I started to back up the driveway when I realized I forgot Cooper’s folder, so I pulled back in the driveway and ran into house. I came back out and put the folder between the console and my seat and started backing out again, successfully this time, to head down the driveway to town. It wasn't far. I pulled up in the parking lot of City Hall twenty minutes later and grabbed the folder.
"I guess I need to take you two with me. I don't want to leave you in the car alone."
Bella looked at me, her tongue out of her mouth, panting, and Topknot quacked. They were always up for an adventure. It was just sometimes a pain to go everywhere with big dog and ornery duck in tow. But I loved them to death, so it was worth the trouble. I unhooked Bella, then went around and opened her door, grabbing her leash. She jumped out, and I then grabbed Topknot’s carrier.
"Oops, I almost forgot again," I said to them as I opened the door back up and reached in to get the folder, sticking it under my arm. We headed to City Hall and walked in. I pressed the elevator button to go to Cooper's office on the second floor. Even though he'd only been in office a short while, everyone in the building was used to seeing Bella and Topknot by now. The elevator doors opened, and I walked across the hall, pushing the door open into the mayor's suite of offices.
"What are you doing out front," I said to Tobey, who had helped Cooper get elected and was now his Chief of Staff.
"Tanya called in sick, again. And right now, Dale Meriwether is in talking to Cooper."
"Dale Merriweather? His wife just died. What is he doing here?" At least I knew he wasn’t still in the hospital. That was a good sign.
"He came in here and started yelling about the crime rate in Hunter's Hollow. Cooper quickly ushered him back to his office. I came out here to stay out of the fray.
"I’m pretty sure she was murdered, and it seems like Dale thinks the same thing," I said softly.
"Presley, you can’t play amateur sleuth anymore when your husband is the mayor."
"I can’t help it if I just want to be helpful."
Tobey started to say something when the door between the reception area and inner offices opened, and Dale came out with the same red face and frazzled expression he had yesterday.
"Dale, are you okay? I was going to come visit you at the hospital, but seems like they let you out," I said, mentally smacking myself in the head. Obviously, they’d let him out. He was standing in front of me.
"You better tell your husband that something needs to be done in this town."
"You're worrying me, Dale. Take a deep breath."
"I'll take a deep breath when the sheriff catches who killed my Susan." Dale pushed past me and didn't even bother for the elevator, heading to the stairwell to the right.
I saw Cooper walk out.
"He certainly wasn't happy," I said.
"No, he wasn't."
"So does he just think someone killed Susan or does he know this for sure?" As I said the words, Cooper just sighed and looked at me with a smile.
"You just can't help yourself, can you?"
Bella walked over to him and started rubbing her head on his pant leg. Thankfully, he was wearing khaki today, because when Bella rubbed her head on black pants all you could see were dog hairs.
"She was my partner for the Fall Harvest Festival. I hate that something bad happened to her."
"Well, what Dale said was true. The sheriff called him this morning and said that it looked like someone tampered with the safety release latch on the cooler. Even though they’re not sure how she died yet," he said.
"If the sheriff thinks it was tampered with, then someone did it on purpose, which means whoever did it wanted to trap someone in that cooler,” I thought out loud.
"But how do you know that person was after Susan?" Tobey interjected.
"There’s no way to tell that," Cooper said.
"If you're willing to make a calculated guess, you might. Anyone entering that contest knows that Susan was fanatical about the temperature of the flower cooler after the wilting debacle last year. Out of everyone, I think she's probably the only one that would've actually stepped inside to test it out."
"I have every confidence in Sheriff Blackford. He'll get to the bottom things," Cooper said. "Presley. Presley," Cooper said and I startled.
"Sorry. I was lost in thought. Here are your papers," I said, handing the folder to him.
"Thanks, babe," he said, taking a step forward to give me a kiss on the cheek. “Oh, and do me a favor. Please try not to tick off Sheriff Blackford.” With a pat on the head to Bella and a few kissing noises to Topknot, he headed back to his office.
I turned to leave when Tobey stopped me.
"I mean it, Presley. You need to be careful about what you do nowadays and not jeopardize Cooper's standing in the community."
"Don't worry, Tobey. I'm not going to jeopardize anything.”
Tobey gave me a look and I smiled sweetly at him. I called Bella to follow me as I went back down the elevator to my car and got them both buckled in. As I pulled out of City Hall and headed back home, I made a mental list. At some point, I needed to see if Trevor had found anything else out and I needed to talk to Dale. If someone had indeed killed Susan, Dale would have the best guess as to who that might be.