Every time I dozed off, the image of someone snatching Persephone out of the Canyon room played in my mind. I woke with a jump every time, hoping I could stop them before they got out the door. But she was sleeping beside me, curled up against the pillow.
When the birds started chirping, I officially declared sleep a lost cause for the night. The little coffee bar near the office wouldn’t open for a couple of hours, but I was running on pure adrenaline. I ripped a few sheets of paper from the Rappaport Motor Inn stationery pad and made a flow chart of all the people we’d come in contact with so far, and how they were connected to Rosamund.
It might have been sheer exhaustion, but I had a pretty good feeling I knew who did it.
I couldn’t get too excited, because it was entirely possible I’d hallucinated this conclusion.
And we still had to catch the thief red-handed.
No sign of Casey yet, and I didn’t want to wake her. One of us needed to be lucid today. If I’d learned anything since I’d come to Rappaport, it was to expect the unexpected.
It was time to make a phone call.
“Helping Paws Animal Shelter. Brooke speaking.”
“Man, I miss hearing your voice.”
“Addie! I’m so glad to hear from you. What’s going on there? I saw reports that Persephone was missing. I messaged Casey, and she said not to worry, but she didn’t get specific.”
“Persephone’s right beside me, eating her breakfast.” And I wasn’t letting her out of my sight. I might have closed her into the bathroom with me while I showered, but I wasn’t ready to admit how freaked out I was to Brooke yet. Not until we could look back at this and laugh. “How are things going there?”
“Hectic, but good. We had a dog come in who got hit by a car. He’s got a broken leg but he’s gonna be okay. We had to call Doctor Oliver to set the bone. The dog had no tags, no chips, but we were able to get some media coverage to try to find his people.”
“How did I miss that?” Finding Cupcake was important, but so was staying on top of everything at Helping Paws.
“I meant to call you after we got him settled, but I crashed. Thank goodness Jason’s helping me out. I’m not used to being in charge.”
“If it’s too much I can come home.” My first priority was always the shelter.
“I can handle it—it’s just different. You make it look so easy. Darlene, Erin, and the guys have been clutch, too. Some of them have asked me about staying on after you get back. Being around the animals makes them feel good.”
“Absolutely. We’d love to have them.” I wouldn’t have Brooke and Casey with me forever, but if I had some people I could count on, it would make it easier to keep doing these adventures.
That was, if we got out of Rappaport in one piece.
“How’s the investigation going?” Brooke asked.
“It’s crazy. I feel like we haven’t even looked for Cupcake.”
“I’ve been reading some of the threads online—so you don’t have to.” She chuckled. “The search parties are on the ground. Some of them have lived in the town all their lives. They know things you don’t, but some of them don’t understand why you’ve been brought into the mix. They see you as a threat.”
“Who sees me as a threat?” Goosebumps blossomed on my bare arms. If it was the same person behind the shot and the ransom note, they were getting bolder.
“I wouldn’t worry about what some townies say. What you’re doing is on another level. Don’t doubt yourself, Addie. You’ve always had amazing instincts when it comes to animals. When everyone else gives up, that’s when you get started. So I have no doubt you can find Cupcake.”
“Did I ever need that pep talk.” I had the best employees. Who was I kidding? Brooke and Casey were way more than that.
“That’s what I’m here for.”
“I can’t wait to get home. Back to normal. Even though all my stuff is still in boxes.”
“We’ll have to have another party when you get here. Casey needs to meet Jason’s friends.”
“How are things going with Jason?”
She let out a happy sigh. “Amazing. Barkley’s getting endless treats for bringing us together.”
“Speaking of Casey, she just knocked on the door.”
She poked her head into the room. How did she already look perfect?
“Brooke’s on the phone.”
She took the phone from me. “We need to get on this Vets and Pets calendar idea.”
“Do people even buy wall calendars anymore?” I laughed. I loved the idea, but I wanted to make sure we hit the audience just right.
“Then we’ll make it digital. Maybe a coffee table book. Oh! An in-person adoption event.” She turned her attention back to Brooke. “Keep sending me pictures of the guys. We need all the strength we can get to make it through this.”
Once she hung up, she gave Persephone a scritch. “Please tell me you haven’t got coffee yet. Don’t make me walk around this creepy hotel alone.”
“Were you up all night, too?”
She nodded. “I kept having the same dream where Marnie bonded me to Brian and Roy and they were my husbands forever. They spent the whole night trying to outdo each other. Hands down, the most disappointing dream ever.”
“Better than mine.” I filled her in on my morning. “We need to stop by and say good morning to Roy, though. Tell him about the ransom note.”
I expected that groan. “You’re probably right.”
We stopped at the coffee bar, and we hit at exactly the right time. The front desk clerk had just put out fresh cranberry orange muffins. They were still warm, and the cinnamon-honey butter melted on contact.
“These are amazing,” Casey said. “I need this recipe. Imagine having these at the shelter. Maybe we could have a Vets and Pets bake sale.”
“It’s a family recipe,” the clerk said. “Roy won’t share with anyone. He’s had some big restaurants and food companies ask him to sell it to him. He refuses.”
Casey’s mouth dropped. “Roy made these muffins?”
“Why does that surprise you?” he asked.
Casey and I jumped at the sound of his voice. How long had he been standing behind us? For once, I’d like to have an even playing field when it came to him, but he was constantly one step ahead of us.
“You don’t seem like the type who likes to cook,” she said.
“Neither do you.” He stepped closer to her. “Have you made any progress finding my sister’s cat?”
“That’s what we’re here to talk to you about.” I wedged myself between them. I almost tripped over Persephone, who was practically climbing my legs.
Roy smirked as I caught my balance. “Talk away.”
“We found a ransom note on the door to my hotel room.” I held it up, but didn’t offer it to him. “Whoever left it was aware of an incident that happened at the New Wave Diner moments before.”
He furrowed his brow as he studied the note. “Did you expect Cupcake to pop out of one of the pinball machines?”
“No.” I couldn’t let him see he was getting under my skin. “We were there to talk to Scott, who was very complimentary of what you’ve done with this hotel.”
“And for the town,” Casey added.
“Scott’s a good guy. Too bad things didn’t work out between him and Roz.”
“Cat,” Persephone said. “I smell cat.”
Okay, she was definitely picking it up from Roy. Which meant Roy had a cat. And I had so many questions.
“Did you make any progress with the search parties?” Casey asked.
“That’s your job.”
She gave him a tight smile. “Remember you declared yourself king of the search parties out at the tiki bar?”
“It seemed to have slipped my mind. Rum, sun, fun, paying customers—they tend to do that to you.” He mirrored her expression. “Maybe you can refresh my memory.”
“After a couple drinks, people tend to share their troubles with the bartender. Let their guard down. The suspect is getting bold. And they’ve been here.” She motioned to the ransom note. “Chances are, you’ve talked to them.”
“Rosamund assured me the two of you were professional private investigators. But you seem to be a magnet for unsavory characters.” He snatched the note out of my hand. “It’s not the type of element I welcome at my motor inn.”
“Neither do we.” I sighed. “We’re trying to work with you, Roy. The sooner we find Cupcake, the sooner all of this will stop.”
“You want me to do your job for you.”
He was impossible.
“We’re perfectly capable of doing our job.” How Casey made that sound civil was beyond me. “We’d love to learn more about your vision for Rappaport, and the things you’ve done to help your sister keep her store functioning.”
“Meet me at the tiki bar tonight. After you wrap up your investigation for the day.”
“We don’t want to take you away from your paying customers,” she said.
“We’ll be there.” I ignored the glares coming from both humans. Persephone consistently smelled cat when Roy was around, and if we could get him to ourselves, I had a feeling it would be a gamechanger. “What time is good for you? We’re flexible.”
He nodded. I braced myself, expecting to be excluded—for Roy to say this was a date. But I wasn’t letting Casey out of my sight, either. When the going got tough, ladies stuck together.
“Meet me at sunset.”