Dog Days Murderous Nights: Winnona Peaks Mysteries Book 1 (4 page)

Clearing her throat Christy said, “I made sure to tell him that I changed the recipe from Pad Thai with peanut sauce and he was grateful.”  Christy put a tissue up to her face and through a small sob said, “I rushed down to the market to get something to make Korean barbecue.  I checked all the labels to make sure it would work.”

“That’s right.” Hailey nodded.  “There’s no way he would have accidently tossed peanuts in his mouth.  Not only did he have a wrist bracelet, he always had an epi pen. Did you find his epi pens in his clothes?”

“We haven’t quite done a thorough search of the room but we’ll check again.”  Kathleen noted it on her pad and moved on. “So, I’m sorry I have to ask this, but Hailey, where were you after dinner?”

“I was alone in my room.”

“Can anyone confirm that?” 

Christy raised her hand before Hailey answered. “Officer—”

“It’s just Kathleen at this point.”

“Well, Kathleen, that’s not going to work.  I can attest to the fact that everyone except Gregory here made other dinner plans.  I can’t say for sure where anybody was except for him and even he went to bed early.  I mean, it’s a creaky old house but I didn’t hear anybody go up the stairs.”

“Yeah, I didn’t want to disturb anybody so I just picked up a burger after my errands.” Diana offered.

“Mable and I were getting our beauty rest but I’m not sure my puppy is much of an alibi.” Nori offered, stroking her dog absent-mindedly.

Kathleen let out a deep sigh.  “Well stranger things have happened in an accidental death.  Insurance statistics say the most dangerous part of the day is right after someone took a bath.  It’s where most household accidents happen.  You know what?  It’s been a long night.  I guess it goes without saying that all of you need to stay close until we clear this matter up.”

“We’ll be at the dog show anyway so we’ll all be close.”  Nori chirped.

Christy stood up.  “Kathleen’s right.  We’re upset so we’re not going to get anything else done tonight.  Let’s all just go back to bed.  I’ll have the coffee on early tomorrow morning and hopefully things will look a bit different.  We’ve all had quite a shock.” 

“I guess it goes without saying that everyone needs to stay close.” Kathleen reminded.  Everyone agreed and got up to go to their rooms.  Gregory hung back a bit to discuss some things with Katherine while Christy tidied up a bit in the kitchen, turning off lights and trying her best to do her normal lock-up routine.  She had to admit that half the time she didn’t lock the back door in Winnona Peaks.  Hearing the dead bolt click reminded her of her Grandfather’s shotgun coming straight as he held it to his eye for pheasant hunting.  The boom of that gun always made her jump. 

“I really don’t know where to start,” Kathleen said, watching Christy check the back door twice.  “There are no fingerprints or forced entry.  Didn’t you say you had to use your master key to get in when you tried to serve his dinner on a tray?”  Christy nodded.  “See that just leaves the possibility open that someone came in from the veranda.”

“Without a ladder that would doubtful, and I’m sure I would have seen or heard that kind of racket,” Christy replied.  Kathleen pinched the bridge of her nose.  She had a headache coming on.  This was supposed to be her weekend with her dogs.  She got these headaches at work here and again. 

“Well I hope tomorrow brings us some new clues,” Kathleen said, squinting through the pain.

“Do you want some aspirin?”  Christy offered.

“Thank you but I have a prescription in the car.  I’d better be going now,” Kathleen said,

as she made it to the front door.  She waved good night with a weak wave and faded into the darkness. Christy locked the second deadbolt on the front door.  She remembered Grandpa’s shotgun again and it made her jump the same way. She decided to leave the porch light on.

Chapter 8

All Christy did was toss and turn. Her digital clock flashed the red numbers 12:07 and she knew it was going to be a long night.  It didn’t make sense for J.W. to eat the trail mix. He’d already refused it earlier that day. He wasn’t that absent-minded.  He was one of the most together older men she’d ever seen. She was even embarrassed to admit to herself how he made her feel.  People like that always kept what they needed nearby. What happened to his epi pen?

Creak. Someone was on the staircase!  She had this entire place memorized just by the echoing footsteps anybody made on the stairs or near the cellar door. Christy’s heart skipped a beat, wondering who would be headed up there. Was it the killer trying to cover their tracks?  Were they trying to get in there before the police could go over it with a fine-tooth comb?  It was making her crazy.  She wasn’t sleeping anyway. Might as well take on a murderer. She got up and, wrapping her robe around her waist, she considered taking the umbrella by the stairwell as a weapon.  She decided against it.  What was she going to do? Pose as Mary Poppins and scold him into dropping the gun?  She was slow getting to the foot of the staircase. Looking through the moonlight she jumped and whispered, “Gregory?” 

“Shhh! Yes. I need to get another look at his room without the others around,” he whispered back.

“Step on the bannister,” Christy hissed.

“What?” he whispered.

“The only way to sneak up there is to get off the steps.  Otherwise you’ll wake up the whole house.”  She demonstrated by straddling the huge staircase and holding the bannister.  He got the idea and they made it up to the hallway in front of the master suite.

“Where did you learn that?” Gregory whispered.

“I grew up here.  It was the only way to get into the kitchen at night.  You need a key, maybe?”

“Guess I should have told you,” Gregory said.  Christy tried to get her bearings and have her eyes adjust to the dark hallway while she opened the door.  He had a pen light he flashed around the dark room trying to find evidence of a fight or a struggle.  “Sorry about your boyfriend.”

“My what?”

“Well it looked like you were really into him.  I just thought—“

“Some detective you are.”

“Oh, come on.  You were looking through his photos and he was babysitting your dogs while you checked us in.  What was I supposed to think?  I’ve seen that smile before on your face.  Not everything has changed since we were seventeen.”

“Now Mr. Binks, I don’t see how any of that is your business, now is it.”  Christy was just glad it was dark so Gregory couldn’t see how red her face was.  She unconsciously pulled her robe a bit tighter around her neck.

“Well maybe I want to make it my business.  You know I don’t know how many people will remember me in Winnona Peaks.  It would be nice to have a friendly face nearby.  I could fix different things around here,” he offered.

“Sorry, Mr. Binks, we’re not hiring at the moment.  This place is a one-woman show.”

“Oh, come on, admit it. You liked the guy.”

Christy sifted through the drawers and then finally gave in.  “Oh, okay so maybe it was nice to have his attention these last couple of days.  Trust me, I don’t get many hot bachelors around my age staying at Alfie’s Bed and Breakfast. That’s one thing that has changed.  The dating pool around shrank from a pool to a small puddle.”  She was at the base of the closet looking for clues around where he’d packed his shoes.  “Hey, look at this!” Hailey straightened up and Gregory swung his penlight around to reveal J.W.’s camera.

The lights all flicked on and Christy blinked as she stepped back.  “What are you doing in here!”  Hailey was in the shadow of the doorway, her eyes puffy from crying. 

Gregory covered quickly, snapping,  “She owns the place.  It’s why she has a master key.”

“That doesn’t mean you have a right to go through his things!”  Hailey stomped into the room.  Alfie and Snowy came up to see what all the commotion was about, driving Hailey to jump up on the chair.  “Ugh! Dogs!” she shrieked.  “I hate these furry things.”  Snowy hopped on the bed and into Christy’s waiting arms.  Alfie turned his head at the screaming lady and wondered what was going to happen next.  Seeing that she was a bit crazy he started sniffing around the room.  Jumping up on the couch he sniffed around more until he attacked like he’d cornered a mouse in the cushion. Alfie started barking.  Gregory was happy to ignore the crazy lady on the chair.

“What have you got there?” he said to Alfie, lifting the cushion.

“Gross!” Hailey whined, pulling her hand up around her mouth, holding back a gag.  Gregory held up a tuft of white dog hair that matched Mable, the bright white Skye terrier of Nori.  Christy gently put Snowy on the ground and waved Gregory out of the room. 

“Gregory, do you mind if we have a moment?”  He shrugged and took the tuft of hair. “You too, Alfie.  I’ll be right down.” Alfie whined.  “No, you go back to bed.  That’s right.  You’re a good dog.  You want me to get you a treat?”  Alfie’s entire back end wagged. “Ok, well go find your bed.”  The Pomeranian scampered down the steps.  Hailey went back to crying.  Pulling her down off the chair and hugging her shoulder, Christy shook her gently and whispered, “Hey.  I know it’s been a big day.  First you lose your job and then your boss dies.  I remember when my Grandfather died.  I think I cried for a solid week.  Do you want some warm milk or peppermint tea?” Hailey looked over at the camera on the table.

“I just didn’t get it.  All he loved was that damn camera and his dogs.  The last thing I did was scream that he was a monster.”

“I’m sure he understands.  Why don’t you try to get some sleep?  The first couple of nights are the worst.” Hailey nodded and with shoulders slumped with the weight of the world she shuffled out of the room.  Christy picked up the camera and padded downstairs.

Chapter 9

Gregory sighed and pulled the kettle off of the stove and started to fill it with water.  He obviously wasn’t going to get much sleep.  He was supposed to be done with all the bad guys.  He was supposed to ride into the sunset and sell coffee to tourists and old farmers.  Tourists and old farmers.  That was supposed to be the deal.  “They sure are good dogs,” he thought to himself as he saw Alfie race down the stairs and wait patiently on his bed in the kitchen.  Gregory thought that maybe that’s what he was missing.  He’d have to pick up a dog right after he figured out curtains for his new place.  He started rifling through the kitchen for some instant coffee or something.  Every kitchen had to have instant coffee.

“What are you doing?” Christy demanded, setting the camera on the table.

“Making coffee.  I can’t sleep.”

“You can’t just waltz into my Grandmother’s kitchen and make coffee.”

“Where’s your instant?”

“Instant coffee!  What kind of beast are you?” Christy chided, yanking the kettle out of his hand.  “Go sit down there before I throw you out of my entire bed and breakfast and let you sleep with the wolves.”

Gregory smirked.  “How do you know I wouldn’t just howl?”

“Sit,” she ordered.  She busied herself grinding fresh coffee from the beans and adding water to her coffee maker.  Soon it was bubbling sweet smells of French Roast into the kitchen and she retrieved two cups from the adjoining cupboard and set them on the table.

“That little lady in there is a mess,” Gregory said, as they listened to the echoes of Hailey still crying in her room.

“You need to go easy on her,” Christy said as she retrieved a box of dog treats from a nearby pantry and rewarded Alfie and Snowy for staying on their beds.  Snowy whined for another but she shook her finger at him.  “Oh, you’re fine.  You know the rules.”  Turning to Gregory and sitting down with a sigh, she ran her hand through her auburn locks.  Her hair was stunning in the midnight light of the kitchen.  Gregory tried not to stare as Christy continued. “She’s just been through too much today.  I never got many of the details but J.W. fired her today.  He seemed pretty sad about the entire thing.  J.W. was convinced he was making her miserable and that she was tired of caring for an old man who was pretending to have a career and never making any money.  Her emotions are just all haywire.”  The coffee finished the last of the gurgles and she got up to retrieve the pot.  “Any cream or sugar?”

Gregory shook his head.  “Just black, thanks.” Taking a sip he chuckled slightly, looking out into the night. “Maybe I should hire you to make my coffee.  This is amazing.” 

“I learned to roast beans a few years back.  Business slows down in the winter and a girl has to keep busy somehow.” She remembered as she sat back down.

Gregory took another sip and looked her in the eye.  “I’ve seen quite a few dead people and strange things, Christy.  All those haywire emotions could just mean that she was the one who killed him.”

“Over getting fired?”

“Wouldn’t be the first crime of passion I’ve ever seen, and it takes quite a bit of anger to rip that plunger off the screen door.” He waved his cup toward the front door.  “If you’ve got a drill and a screwdriver, I’ll fix that for you.”

“Remember, Mr. Binks.  I’m not hiring, right now.” She smiled.  “I guess I can see how you can see that.  She really hates dogs.  That might have pushed her over the edge.  But she’s the one that told us about the allergy.  Why would the killer point to the only clues we have?”

“Well, then there’s this clue,” he said, pointing to the white hair on t table he found in J.W.’s room.  “Could you get me a Ziploc?  I need to make sure the police get this.”  He held up the tuft of white hair.

As she went to the top drawer, she looked at it closely. “That’s not human, is it?  You know what?  I’d bet you anything that’s Mable’s hair.”

“Mable?” Gregory asked.

“Mable is Mrs. Deswood’s dog.  Let me tell you.  She’s a piece of work.  It’s like she lives in a Manhattan penthouse the rest of her days and anything else is camping down by the Winnona River.  I hate to talk about guests this way but she’s just a miserable person who loves going around barking orders like she’s the queen.

“She did say she missed dinner and so far this hair puts only her at the scene of the crime.”

“Did she know about his peanut allergy?” Gregory asked, taking a sip of coffee.