6 Beach Blanket Barbie (12 page)

“I take it you heard about the fire?” Salinger asked as I sat down on one of the hard plastic chairs lining the wall
.

“I was called in to pick up the owner
’s dogs. It looks like someone finished what Barbie started.”

“Perhaps,” Salinger acknowledged. “At this point
, we don’t have any information about the cause of the fire, nor do we have any suspects in the shooting of the store owner. I would appreciate it if you’d refrain from making a connection between Ms. Bennington’s death and what happened this morning until we know more.”

“You think there
’s a possibility they might not be related?”

“I think we don’t know enough to make that leap. Unsubstantiated theories can only hurt the investigation if they
’re made public. At this point only you and I know that Ms. Bennington broke into the place before her death. I’d like to keep it that way.”

“And Levi, Zak, and Ellie.”

“What about Levi, Zak, and Ellie?”

“You said only you and I knew about Barbie’s break
-in. I wanted to clarify that Levi, Zak, and Ellie knew as well.”

Salinger frowned. “I really wish you hadn’t told them.”

“I told you that I don’t keep secrets from them. Don’t worry, they won’t say anything. They’ve been helping with the investigation.”

“And have you found out anything?”

“Perhaps.” I showed him the ad for the antiques auction and shared with him our theory that Barbie’s death must in some way be tied into her presence at the auction, as well as her attempt to steal the clock. Salinger didn’t seem thrilled by what I’d found out, but he did say that he’d look into it and let me know what, if anything, he discovered. He assured me of his intention to find out exactly who had bought the clock, as well as who’d offered the clock for sale in the first place.

I was moderately pacified by his assurances
, so I returned to the Zoo to check on our sick mountain lion.

Once I returned to the Zoo, I went through the motions of my day. I cleaned pens and fed animals. I processed adoption applications and finalized our ad for the adoption clinic the following weekend. Goliath seemed to be resting comfortably, although his respiration was shallow and irregular at times. Scott came back and declared him stable. After quite a bit of discussion, we decided that Tiffany would stay with Goliath while I went to check on things at Zak’s, and then I would come back to stay overnight to keep an eye on our patient. I had medical training that Tank and Gunner didn’t, and given the nature of the situation, I didn’t feel it was right to ask one of the employees to administer the two a.m. shot.

I’m not sure what I expected when I let myself in Zak’s front door. Possibly another Armageddon. What I was greeted with instead was a clean and organized home and absolute silence. “Zak,” I called as I made my way through the house. Somehow
, Zak had even managed to get the T-shirt off the fan. The sound of laughter from the back of the house led me in that direction. I walked out onto the back deck to find Zak and Scooter paddling around in Zak’s two- man kayak. Scooter was laughing at something Zak was telling him, and the two of them looked like they were having a fantastic time. Zak waved at me when he saw me standing on the deck and started paddling toward shore.

“Did you see me?” Scooter asked as he hopped out of the boat before Zak had even pulled it all the way onto the sand.

“I did. It looked like you were having fun,” I answered as Cody and Lambda trotted over to greet the paddlers. I held my breath as Cody approached Scooter and the boy leaned in for a hug.

“Zak showed me how to paddle
the kayak. He’s gonna teach me to use the stand-up paddle board tomorrow.”

“Do you know how to swim?” Stand
-up paddle boarding can be difficult to learn, and more often than not, a novice will spend a good amount of time in the water.

“Yeah, my mom taught me before she died.”

“Can you stay for dinner?” Zak gave me a quick peck on the cheek.

“We’s having pizza,” Scooter informed me.

“Pizza sounds good. How about I call and order it while the two of you get changed?” I volunteered.

“Just cheese,” Scooter declared. “I don’t want no olives or other stuff.”

“Just cheese it is.” I looked at Zak. “Any preference on a second selection?”

“Whatever you want is fine. Don’t forget to
wash your feet in the outdoor shower,” Zak reminded Scooter as he trotted toward the house with the dogs on his heels.

“What did you do to that kid?” I asked as Scooter washed and dried his feet before heading inside.

“We just had a man-to-man talk.” Zak pulled the kayak up toward the house. “He’s had a tough time of it. First his mom dies unexpectedly, and then his dad goes off the deep end and basically stops parenting. I think his misbehavior is really just an attempt to get the attention he’s been lacking.”

“He seems like a different kid th
an the one I had dinner with yesterday,” I admitted. “And he seems to be getting along with Cody.”

“Cody is a good dog. Once Scooter settled down
, Cody settled down. I talked to Sally’s dad. He’s going to bring Sally by tomorrow after school. We thought it would be good to see how Cody responds to Scooter with Sally in the picture. I told him that he could take Cody home with him after the visit. I hope that’s okay. It seems Sally has been beside herself since the biting incident.”

“Yeah, that should be fine.”

“We decided that we’d arrange for Cody and Sally to meet up with Scooter and me on the street somewhere on Friday to see how Cody responds in that situation. Hopefully, all will go well and we’ll see the last of Cody’s biting spree.”

“You’ve really worked wonders with that kid.” I kissed Zak on the lips.
He was going to make some kid a great dad one day.

“Where’s Charlie
?” Zak had noticed that he wasn’t by my side.

“I left him in the truck until I had a chance to check out the situation. I’ll go and get him before I call for the pizza.”

“And I’ll go and change while you do that.”

I
went back to the truck to get Charlie, who had been waiting patiently, before returning to the house and ordering the pizza. I decided to make a salad to go with the pizza and began digging through Zak’s refrigerator to find the fixings. Zak did a much better job of keeping his kitchen stocked with fresh food than I did. It isn’t that I don’t appreciate fresh fruits and vegetables, it’s more that I rarely take the time to go to the grocery store until I’m out of pretty much everything.

I could hear Zak and Scooter talking in the living room as I worked. It sounded like they were trying to decide on a video game to play while they were waiting for the pizza. I rummaged through the refrigerator until I found the bottle of Pinot we’d opened a few days
earlier. If I was going to be ignored, I supposed I could have a glass of excellent wine while I waited.

“Pizza ordered?” Zak walked into the kitchen.

“It should be here in about an hour. I’m making a salad to go with it.”

“I have a new salad dressing I’ve been wanting to try,” Zak informed me. “The man at the farmers market assured me it’s made fresh weekly.”

“You went to the farmers market?”

“Yeah
. I try to go every week during the season. Didn’t you notice all the fresh produce?”

“I did
, but I thought it was from the market.”

Zak sliced the tomato I’d
placed on the cutting board. He sliced off a chunk and fed it to me. “That’s delicious,” I had to admit.

“Farm fresh is the best. I’ll pick you up some stuff to keep on hand at the boathouse when I go next week. They have those olives you love
, and I know that corn on the cob is your favorite. They have locally brewed beer as well.”

“Maybe I can take some time off and go with you,” I suggested.

“Sounds like a date.”

“
Did you hear about the fire at One Man’s Trash?”

“Yeah, I picked it up on the scanner.”

“You have a police scanner?”

“It’s a hobby.”

I frowned. How could I have practically lived in this house for over a month and not known that? I really did need to learn to pay better attention. Levi and Ellie both insisted that Zak was more invested in our relationship than I was. I liked to deny that fact, but the truth of the matter was that he knew everything about me and I was constantly amazed to find out new things about him.

“Did you hear anything interesting?” I wondered.

“Just that they’re pretty sure the fire was set intentionally, and that the man who was shot is on life support. I heard them mention that the dog lady was on her way, so I figured you might know more than me.”

“I was called in to pick up the owner
’s dogs, but I don’t know much. My guess is that the fire and the attempted murder of the shop owner is tied into Barbie’s death in some way. If I had to guess, someone picked up where Barbie left off and broke in to steal the clock. The store owner caught him and was shot for his effort. I imagine the fire was set to destroy any evidence that might have been left behind in the store.”

“Sounds like a good theory. Have you spoken to Salinger?” Zak asked.

“Yeah. He wants me to stay quiet about my ideas until he can investigate. Part of me feels like I should drop everything and dig into it while the trail is hot, but I have a sick mountain lion to worry about, so my plan is to leave Salinger to his investigation for the time being. Who knows, maybe he’ll turn something up. If not, I guess there’s always tomorrow.”

“Speaking of tomorrow,
I thought I’d take Scooter to the mall in Bryton Lake to do some shopping. He needs some new clothes. We thought we’d make a day of it, maybe take in a movie or check out that new arcade. I know you have book club tomorrow night, so I figured you’d be otherwise occupied anyway.”

“Sounds
like fun, although I’m not sure I’ll have the energy to attend book club. I’m staying over at the Zoo tonight, so I’ll see how it goes.”

After I returned to the Zoo
, I tried to sleep but ended up pacing until it was time to give Goliath his shot. I grabbed the tranquilizer gun as a precaution, in case he should wake from his deep sleep, and let myself into the cage. I administered the sedative as well as the antibiotic and rechecked his vitals, as Scott had shown me how to do. He seemed to be resting more comfortably than he had been earlier in the day. His heartbeat was strong and his respiration steady. I checked his bandage, which appeared to be clear of seepage from the wound Scott had needed to reopen earlier in the day.

I returned to the converted storage room we’d been using for Tank and Gunner’s overnight shifts and found Charlie sleeping on the cot
. I hadn’t stopped to consider how uncomfortable the thing was until I was faced with sleeping on it and vowed to look into the purchase of a proper bed the next day. I’d brought a couple of books but found my attention wandering. It had been a long and emotional day. I knew I needed to sleep, but the harder I tried to drift into slumber, the more dreamland eluded me. Finally, I got up and switched on my computer. If I couldn’t sleep, I might as well see if I could find out anything new.

I began by pulling up the ad I’d come across on Tuesday. Barbie was definitely standing in the background
, but there were several other people in the ad as well. I tried to decide whether I recognized anyone else in the photo. There was a woman with short blond hair wearing a deep blue suit in the foreground. I didn’t think I knew her, though there was something about her that seemed familiar. She was holding a plate that looked to be from a set of antique china, but rather than looking at the china in her hand, she appeared to be looking at something or someone in front of her, out of camera range.

Barbie stood behind her
, off to the right. She was looking into the distance as well. If I had to guess, both women were looking at the person who took the photo, but it could just as well have been another person or even an object that held their attention. Just to the left of Barbie was a man in a dark-colored suit. The man was far enough away so that he was out of focus, so I couldn’t make out any distinguishing features, other than the fact that he was tall and had dark hair. The only other person in the photo was a man who seemed to be familiar with auctions in general. He was perfectly groomed and well-dressed but had an unmistakable look of boredom on his face.

I knew the preview
had lasted three days, with two hours set aside on each of those days for potential buyers to check out the items to be auctioned, so chances were many people had attended the event. I was interested to see what, if anything, Salinger would find out that might help us narrow things down a bit.

After studying the photo for so long that my eyes began to water
, I decided to try to search for evidence of Barbie’s life over the past three months. I don’t know what I hoped to find, since neither Zak nor Salinger had been able to uncover anything, but I was bored and antsy, and it gave me something to do. After two hours of searching, I was on the verge of giving up when I came across a photo of an auction in a town four hours to our north. Standing in the background was Barbie with the man Ellie and I had come to think of as lifeguard guy. I scrolled back to the original photo and realized that the man who was out of focus in it shared features similar enough to lifeguard guy that it was arguable that it was the same man in both photos. I didn’t know what, if anything, that might mean, but I figured it might be worth our while to find out who exactly lifeguard guy was, and why he happened to be with Barbie not only at the auction but on the day she died.

At some point I drifted off to sleep and ended up with my head on the keyboard, which is where Jeremy found me. He sent me home to get some sleep, and by the time I woke up it was well into the afternoon. There were three messages from Levi, asking me to meet him at Ellie’s Beach Hut after I got off work, which gave me time to grab a quick shower before heading out.

“Levi called and said he had a stop to make
, so he’ll be a little late,” Ellie informed me shortly after I arrived. “Have you eaten?”

“No
, and I’m starving. Mountain lion sitting is stressful work.”

“How is Goliath?”

“Better. We had an uneventful night, and Jeremy called to say that Scott stopped in shortly after I left. He’s doing much better, so they’re going to cut back on the sedative and try to get some food into him.”

“I’m so happy to hear that
,” Ellie said, then glanced across the deck. “It looks like the couple at table five are getting up. Go on out and grab it, and I’ll bring you a sandwich.”

“With potato salad,” I requested.

I tossed the empty take-out containers the people had left into the trash before sitting down at the table overlooking the beach. It was another beautiful day in paradise. The sun shone brightly on the clear aqua-blue water that was dotted with sailboats out for an afternoon cruise. During the summer, the beach on this part of the lake is so crowded you can hardly see the sand, but at this time of year, only a few families venture out on a Thursday afternoon.

Ellie set a sandwich and potato salad in front of me
, along with my favorite microbrew. “Can you believe that the Memorial Day weekend events start tomorrow?”

“I had a momentary panic attack earlier in the day
, but I went over everything in my mind and I think we’re ready. I’ve confirmed the vendors for the kiddie carnival. Willa volunteered to check everyone in tomorrow morning. I figured they could start setting up in the park as early as ten since the carnival doesn’t start until three. The food vendors are likewise confirmed, and Jeremy promised he had a handle on the pet adoption before I agreed to go home this morning.”

“It’s supposed to be a really nice weekend. I’m be
tting we can expect a good turnout,” Ellie added. “I posted flyers all over town and took out ads in all of the newspapers within a hundred miles. I’m really excited to bring Hannah to the kiddie carnival. Kelly is going to cover the Beach Hut for the weekend, so we can spend some quality mother-daughter time.”

“Don’t you think Hannah is a little young to throw darts at balloons or toss a ring over a bowling pin?”
I watched as a group of kids chased a dog with a towel in his mouth down the beach.

“Maybe, but she can hold a pole at the fishing booth and pick a duckie out of the duck pond. She’s going to love it. Kids are so
much fun.”

“If you say so.”
It’s not that I don’t like kids; it’s just that I find kids—except for Harper, of course—somewhat terrifying.

“How is your own little delinquent doing?” Ellie
said, referring to Scooter.

“Actually, when I went by Zak’s for dinner last night
, the two of them were having a blast. It looked like they’d negotiated some sort of truce and then spent the day doing the male-bonding thing. Zak took Scooter shopping today, and they planned to hang out tonight. I think Zak is really enjoying his babysitting duty, and Cody and Scooter are now friends, so that’s one catastrophe averted. Zak called earlier and said that Cody’s home with his family and everyone involved is happy.”

“
That’s wonderful. Zak’s going to make some lucky kid a great dad,” Ellie commented.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “He really is.”

“Maybe you and Zak can bring Scooter to the weekend events.”

“Zak might want to
, but I’m going to be pretty busy. Not only do I have to oversee the kiddie carnival, but I have the pet adoption clinic and the water show to worry about.”

“
Relax. You just finished telling me the kiddie carnival was all but handled and Jeremy was on top of the pet adoption. I sort of forgot about the water show, though. Are you and Levi going to be ready?” Ellie asked.

“We’ll do fine. We haven’t really had time to practice
, but we’ve been skiing and boarding together since we were kids. We have a rhythm. I just hope Levi isn’t too distracted by this murder investigation to focus on what he’s doing. I’d hate to get our lines tangled in midair.”

“He did sound sort of off when I spoke to him earlier,” Ellie
said. “I’m sure he isn’t getting a lot of sleep. He had this almost manic tone to his voice.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of.”

“So what did you think of that buffalo chicken?” Ellie asked as I finished off the sandwich she’d brought me.

“It was good. It seemed like it needed something
, though.”

“
That’s what I was thinking too.”

“Maybe try blue cheese crumbles in a ranch dressing rather than using blue cheese dressing. And maybe trade pepper jack cheese for the regular jack. And bacon,” I added. “You can never go wrong with bacon.”

“If you had your way, I’d put bacon on everything,” Ellie teased.

“Hey
, guys.” Levi sat down next to me. He looked like hell. His eyes were bloodshot, and it looked like he hadn’t combed his hair in days. Levi is usually meticulous about his hair.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yeah. Fine. Just had a late night, but I think I might be onto something.”

“How about something to eat before we get into this,” Ellie suggested.

“Eat?” Levi looked confused.

“Nourishment,” Ellie teased. “I can grill you a burger.”

Levi looked toward the industrial-size BBQ Ellie had installed on the outdoor deck. “Yeah, okay. I guess I could use a burger.”

Ellie got up to toss a patty on the grill.

“Where’s Zak?” Levi asked me.

“He’s hanging out with Scooter.”

“Scooter?”

I explained about the babysitting job Zak had agreed to in an attempt to save Cody.

“Way to sacrifice yourself,” Levi commented.

“Things started off a little rough
, but I think Zak and Scooter are bonding. Scooter has had a tough time since his mom died. I think maybe he just needed a patient and stable adult in his life—who happened to have access to a jet.”

“A jet?”

I explained about the deal the two had struck on that first night.

“I’m glad Zak saved Cody and
, apparently, saved Scooter too in the process, but I was hoping to tap into his superior intelligence to help us solve the puzzle I think I uncovered.”

“Hey, I have superior intelligence. Hit me.”

“Okay.” Levi shrugged and unfolded the paper Barbie had sent him. It was so worn and tattered, it appeared he must have read it a few thousand times. “I started to think about the conversations Barbie and I had in the past. It didn’t make sense that she would send me a message I couldn’t figure out, so the clue in the paper had to be something that would have meaning to me but not to others.”

“Makes sense.”

“I went back over the ads that were placed on Thursday. Given what we’d found out about Barbie’s participation in the auction at which the clock she tried to steal was sold, the ad for the estate sale or perhaps the antique cabinet for sale seemed the best fit. The thing is that Barbie had no way of knowing we’d find out about the clock and the auction. Logic would dictate that her clue would be placed in an ad I would associate with her. From the first my gut told me that the ad for the apartment was my best bet. Barbie was really pushing for us to move in together prior to the spilt, and there were a few occasions when we actually talked about the type of place we’d look for. The ad seemed to meet our wish list, up to and including the nook in the kitchen. I spent an ungodly number of hours trying to find a code within the text since that was the way it worked in the movie. After hours and hours of coming up blank, I noticed that the ad didn’t provide a phone number but rather a post office box where inquiries were to be sent. I realized that was strange in and of itself; usually an ad for an apartment for rent would provide an address, or at least a phone number. I went to the post office and located the box. It was one of the temp boxes with combination locks the person who pays for the box can input. After about twenty tries, I figured out that Barbie had used my birthday. I opened the box and found this inside.”

Levi handed me the fl
yer I’d found online that showed her at the auction preview, with the clock in the foreground. “So she wanted you to know about the auction,” I realized. “But why?”

“There
’s a number written on the back of the flyer. It took me a while to figure this out, but each item in the auction is assigned a lot number. We need to find out what item this number was associated with for this particular auction.”

“And then what?” I asked. “Let’s say the item leads to the
clock. We already know the antiques store has been burned to the ground, so any clue we might gain is long gone.”

“Yeah
.” Levi sighed. “But it’s the only lead we have. And maybe the number doesn’t lead to the clock. Maybe it leads to something else. Or, more importantly,
someone
else. I hoped Zak would be here so he could use his magic computer to find out what item was associated with this number.”