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Fred acted like I’d been gone for months when we pulled into Bonnie’s drive. I bent down to rub his ears and got a wet face in return. People who don’t own dogs would have been horrified and run into the house to wash their face. I wiped off the slime away with my shirt sleeve and gave Fred a big hug. The thing about dogs is once they decide they belong to you, they love you with all their heart. You don’t have to worry about them hooking up with someone else the minute you're out of town. On the other hand, I might have worried about Kelly’s sanity if she kissed me like Fred does every time I went away for more than an hour.
Bonnie left Fred and me to get reacquainted and went to sit with Tigger on the porch. The cat was purring in her lap when we joined her. “It’s such a nice afternoon, Jake. How about you get us something to drink, and we’ll sit here and talk about it?”
“Other than the previous owner and cut conduit, what’s to talk about?”
“Cut conduit? Is that why you stayed outside? I thought it was...” She caught herself and quickly looked away.
***
I RETURNED A FEW MINUTES later with a glass of iced-tea for Bonnie and lemonade for myself. She took one sip and got up. “This needs more sugar, Jake.”
I tried not to laugh and gave her several packets of sugar I’d hidden from her. “Sit down, Bon. I was hoping you’d cut back but brought you some just in case.”
She put three packets in her tea and stirred it for what seemed like an eternity. Tigger had gone off after she had risen, and Fred went to join the cat when he saw I didn’t bring him anything from the kitchen.
***
“PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS.” We’d barely spoken while gently rocking back and forth on some chairs I’d made for Bonnie back in Colorado. They were one of the few things she'd brought with her to Missouri.
“Just wondering how much longer this weather will last. You’ve got to admit it’s better than being back home. I heard they had snow again yesterday.”
Bonnie had a faraway look in her eyes. “Do you miss Evergreen, Jake? I know I don’t miss the snow, but I wouldn’t mind going back in the summer. The humidity and ticks were brutal last year.”
“Not to mention the snakes,” I said. “I’m always worried Fred or Tigger will get bit by a copperhead. I never saw a snake or tick in the fifteen years I lived in the mountains.”
“You sound like you’ll be going back once the work is done on the house.”
“I don’t know, Bon. Fred loves the pond and being able to run loose. He can’t do that back home anymore. They’ve built several houses behind us and we no longer have access to the trail leading up the hill. Some people have actually fenced it off. I guess it all depends on Kelly, and right now I’m beginning to think she’s getting a little tired of me.”
“She’s not the only fish in the sea. I saw the way that realtor looked at you. You could do a lot worse, you know.”
Mention of Michelle reminded me I still had a job to do. “You know, Matt’s ex does have the most to gain by his death. And the way Michelle described her affinity to spend, I wonder if she hadn't bought the watch thinking it was real.”
“It might have been the straw that broke Matt’s back.” Bonnie’s eyes sparkled. It was like she had just scratched off some winning numbers on a lotto ticket.
I started to question her, then saw the connection. “And one of them, probably him, threw the watch in the lake when he discovered it was fake.”
Bonnie held up her glass in a toast. “So, all we need to do now is prove it.”
***
KARI HADN’T BEEN VERY happy when I called and told her we’d asked Michelle to see her neighbor’s house. “I imagine she gave you an earful about me.”
“Not really,” I lied. “She's a suspect, and I needed to quiz her. I couldn’t very well interrogate her like a cop, so I had to do it covertly by pretending we were interested in buying a house.”
“That’s pretty clever, Jake. I’d have never thought of that. What’d you find out?”
“Nothing I didn’t already know, not until I saw the cut conduit. Unfortunately, I couldn’t look too closely—we were supposed to be looking at the house.”
“Cut conduit?” I wished I could see the surprise on her face that I heard in her voice.
“The power cable going to your dock was out of the water and it looked like it had been cut. I wanted to take a closer look, but Michelle was finished showing Bonnie your neighbor’s house and wanted to show her another home.” I left out the details of why I'd stayed outside. She didn’t need to know about Kelly. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go back for a closer look.”
“Why not stop by tomorrow? I try not to work on the weekends and should be home all morning unless someone has an emergency. Say about eight? Will that work for you?”
“Works great. See you then.”
“Was that Kari?” Bonnie asked. I’d made the call from my room but had left the door open. The sunroom, my temporary living quarters, had been an extension to the formal living room where Bonnie was getting ready to vacuum. The lack of privacy was another reason I missed my cabin in Evergreen.
“Yeah. I asked if I could come out to check on that cut conduit. You doing anything tomorrow morning?” If she’d seen my reaction to her eavesdropping, she didn’t show it.
“I suppose I could call off my bridge game, too. I’ve been dying to see inside that house.”
It was times like this I wished they made duct tape for mouths. I'd hoped to be alone with Kari. Then I had an idea that might let Bonnie see the house and host her bridge game, too. “I could show it to you online.”
Bonnie pushed her vacuum aside and came into my room. “Really?”
“Sure. It’s MLS, so we should be able to see it on Zillow or Realtor.com.”
***
FRED AND I LEFT THE farm a little after six. I would have slept in, but he'd woken early and still hadn’t learned how to unlock his doggie door. Bonnie stayed home for her Saturday bridge game with members of her church. The online pictures of Kari’s house seemed to have worked, or maybe not. They'd given Bonnie some decorating and remodeling ideas that would keep me busy for weeks. When she’d offered to make breakfast, I said we’d pick up something at Fred’s favorite restaurant before heading out to the lake.
There had been fog hanging over the lake overnight, and it was just beginning to lift when we pulled up to Kari’s house. It was only seven-thirty, and I didn’t see any lights on in the house, so I sat in my truck with Fred cuddled next to me and took a few minutes to think about my so-called case. Kari had been right. Someone had rigged the dock's wiring that caused Matt’s electrocution and drowning. I was sure of it. All I had to do was check out the power cable and if I saw any signs of tampering, report it to the sheriff. Bennett might be stubborn, but he wasn’t stupid. Once he accepted the fact that Matt had been murdered, my job would be finished. I hadn’t been hired to find out who killed Matt. Kari had hired me to get evidence it hadn't been an accident and after today I could wash my hands of the whole mess. Well, at least that was the original reason she hired me. I knew she would like the evidence to point to Rob and Katherine. Matt’s insurance company probably wouldn’t pay Katherine if they thought she might be involved in his murder. My dilemma was the kids. Would Kari give them their share? And what about the house? Would she share any equity from it after it sold? Fred saved me from having a brain fart over what I should do when he woke up and barked to be let out.
“How old are you anyway?” I asked, reaching for the passenger door handle. “You must be older than me in dog years. I’d think you'd have learned to open your own door by now.”
He answered with another bark. This time it was much louder, and I saw a light come on in the house.
The path to Kari’s front door was long and winding. Fred followed me faithfully and only stopped to smell a couple bushes. Bushes I prayed he didn’t feel the need to water because I’m sure Kari was watching us by now. I knew she liked dogs from the other day we’d been here and met her in her scrubs, but I didn’t know if she’d allow him in the house again if she saw him water her plants. I chided myself for not leaving him in the truck. Fortunately, it turned out we didn’t need to worry.
“Can I offer you some coffee or tea, Jake?” Kari had been standing in an alcove by her front door. If she’d been a snake, I’d be dead. Even Fred hadn’t noticed her until she spoke.
“Sur...sure.” My stutter wasn’t because I was nervous or surprised me, or maybe it was. Kari was wearing a bathrobe and little else. It was that thin. “How about I meet you around back? I wouldn’t want Fred to track mud through the house.” I didn’t wait for an answer and took the path leading to the dock.
***
THE PATH LED US DOWN a slight hill toward the lake. It branched into two separate paths at the back of the house, one going toward the deck overlooking the lake, and the other toward the dock. We took the path less traveled, which is to say neither, and headed toward the dock’s control box. After checking that the breaker was off, I followed the conduit toward the dock. Although it was buried, dirt had washed away where it went into the lake, leaving it exposed. Exposed probably wasn’t the correct word, because the wires were enclosed in a gray, plastic conduit. It was the same conduit I’d seen the day before, the one that looked like it had been cut.
Fred followed me as far as the control box. I must have been moving too slowly in my inspection of the conduit, and he decided to go for a swim. The problem, of course, was the water had receded beyond the dock, and by the time he got to the water he looked more like a chocolate lab than a golden retriever. He was covered in enough mud to make an entire kindergarten class happy. I’d been too engrossed in my inspection to notice him until it was too late.
“Is that the cable you were talking about?” I’d also been too engrossed to see Kari come up behind me.
There would be no shadows out in the open to hide her robe as the dark alcove had earlier, so I didn’t dare look directly at her and pretended to watch Fred instead. “Yeah. I thought I’d check to see if there were any more breaks,” I said, but not before giving in and sneaking a look.
She’d managed to change into less revealing clothes. Her new outfit wouldn’t make a missionary blush. She had thrown on some loose-fitting jeans, a man’s red-plaid wool shirt, and boots. All she needed was an axe and she could have passed for Paul Bunyan’s sister. My hormone levels dropped twenty points, and I was able to devote all my attention to the cable again.
“This has definitely been cut, Kari,” I said when I got to the break in the conduit I’d seen the day before. I was standing in the mud next to the dock with Fred. He’d returned from his swim only to get covered in mud again. Kari was far more sensible and was sitting cross-legged on the dock, watching us.
“Really?” she asked, letting out a huge sigh. She must have been holding her breath while Fred and I’d been down in the mud checking the conduit. I guess his curiosity had gotten the better of him, because he was watching me like I’d uncovered a cache of tennis balls.
“Yeah. Notice where the conduit used to be held in place on the dock frame with clips? Someone loosened those and let it fall into the water, but not before cutting it and removing insulation from the wires inside. I’ll get some pictures to send to Bennett.” I resisted the urge to pet my sidekick and reached for my cell phone. I thought about asking him to hold the cable away from the dock so I could get a better shot and dismissed that idea almost as quickly as it came. Even if he could understand, he’d probably spread mud on the section that had been cut.
“Would you mind holding the conduit away from the dock for me, Kari. I’m afraid the water has made everything the same color and I won’t get a good enough picture.” The original, gray conduit had taken on the same washed-out, grayish-white of the floats below the waterline, but the color above the water was still jet-black.
She was leaning over the edge of the dock and casually pushed the hair that had fallen in her face before reaching for the conduit. “Wow, I see what you mean,” she said, looking closely where the conduit had been attached at one time. “There must be at least four or five clips that have been removed.”
Her voice reminded me of my daughter when I’d first brought Fred home as a small puppy. Kari wouldn’t have surprised me if she'd squealed with laughter. I quickly took several pictures from different angles, having her reposition the conduit with each set. In some, I had her put her hand behind the section that had been cut so there’d be better contrast between the background and the wires when I zoomed in for a closeup. At first, it was all either of us could do to keep Fred out of the pictures, but by the time I got to the close-ups, he’d decided to check out the local wildlife and gone back toward the house where he’d seen or heard movement we’d missed.
I put my phone in my shirt pocket and the conduit on a rock to keep it dry, not that it would help if Ameren let any more water out of Truman Dam. “I better go she what he’s into, Kari.”
Worry lines formed on her brow. “I’d like to hear what you tell the sheriff, Jake. How about I get us something to drink and meet you on the back deck before you call him?”
I found Fred out by the mailboxes on the street. He must have heard the mail truck. “Come back here, Fred!” I yelled. He was at least a hundred yards away and must have become deaf all of a sudden. He ignored me. I could see the mail lady had left her truck and was petting him.
“Sorry about that,” I said when I made it to the street. “He must have got water in his ear when he was swimming. He usually comes when I call.” Then I saw why he had pretended not to hear me—she was giving him doggie treats.
“I wish all the dogs on my route were this friendly. What’s his name?” she asked, handing him another treat in the shape of a small bone. She couldn’t have been much over five feet and a hundred pounds. It was no wonder she bribed the dogs on her route. Some of them probably weighed more than she did.
“He usually answers to Fred. I’m Jake Martin, by the way,” I said, offering my hand. “I’m his owner, but sometimes he makes me wonder if it’s not the other way around.”
“Jake Martin! You’re the guy who thought I’d left a bomb on your porch!” Her body had gone rigid. I began to wonder if she also practiced karate. Then she smiled.
“Yeah, that was Fred’s fault, too. He wouldn’t let me near the package. It wasn’t until later we discovered it was because of those treats. What are they anyway? I know they couldn’t be catnip—he’s a dog.”
She giggled and relaxed. I didn’t think I’d told a joke, but her reaction was better than a karate chop. “Just some generic brand I get at Walmart. I don’t have a clue what’s in it, but it does work on most dogs.” She reached down to pet Fred once more and give him another treat. “Take care of your master, Freddie, and keep him away from his phone the next time I leave him a package." She winked at me then got in her truck.