Stiffs and Swine (16 page)

“Good point, Lindy.” Lucy scribbled on her notepad. “We need to see which of the other team leaders might be pinched for money. They’d have the most convenient access to Jimmy’s camper, after all.”

“And didn’t that Hailey girl say she had spent a few hours fraternizing with one of the enemy teams?” Bennett pointed his fork at his friends. “In the middle of a competition? Doesn’t that strike you as kind of peculiar?”

Everyone nodded in response.

“Maybe Hailey’s been lookin’ for greener pastures. With Jimmy as my boyfriend, I sure as heck would be.” Lindy grunted.

Lucy gestured for the check. “We’ll start with Felicity. Hailey will be tied up at the sheriff’s department for a while. And James is right, we need to find the guy Jimmy fought with if we can.” She glanced at her watch. “When is the barbecue rib contest over, Lindy?”

Lindy dug her folded schedule from her red leather purse and scrutinized it carefully. “It should be done by now. The next food category is Poultry. The judging begins in less than two hours.”

“Perfect. We’ll just have time to interview Felicity before we start talking to the cooking teams.” Lucy looked up as the check was placed in front of her. She slid across the table to Bennett. “What’s the damage?”

Bennett eyed the check and performed an instant calculation. “Eleven dollars and thirty-three cents per person.” He reached into his wallet and pulled out a ten and two singles. “That includes the tip.”

After settling their bill, they climbed back into Lucy’s Jeep and drove toward the festival grounds. They waited impatiently at one of the town’s intersections as phrases from Gillian’s narrative haunted their thoughts. The red light seemed interminable, as car after car passed through the intersection. Finally, a sheriff’s department cruiser shot across their path, followed very closely by a car that looked strangely familiar to James.

It can’t be
, James thought to himself. Panicked, he leaned forward in his seat and peered intently at the moving car, hoping to catch a glimpse of the license plate. He couldn’t be certain, but he was relatively sure that it read THESTAR, an abbreviation standing for their hometown paper, the
Shenandoah Star Ledger
.

It appeared that Murphy had ditched her stories on fancy felines and yodeling in order to drive to Hudsonville, and James had the distinct feeling that she hadn’t changed her plans solely to spend quality time with him. She must have heard about Jimmy’s murder.

“What’s up?” Bennett whispered from the seat next to him. “You look like you saw somethin’ strange.”

“Oh, nothing unusual for us these days.” James ran his hands over his temples. “Just more trouble.”

Felicity was practicing
with her dogs on the far end of the campground area. A pair of Jack Russell terriers leapt through a series of hoops in blurs of white fur as they raced one another. At the end of their obstacle course, the dogs barked and smiled, their tongues lolling and their stumpy tails wagging fiercely as Felicity lavished them with praise.

Two border collies began their routine next, dashing through tunnels, climbing steps, and weaving in and out of flexible poles with lightning speed. Felicity encouraged her animals by calling their names and blowing shrill notes on a small silver whistle. As the supper club members walked toward her, James observed that Felicity’s dull blonde hair was braided and piled on top of her head and that she wore a baggy, white cotton shirt embroidered at the neck and hem with small flowers. With her long black skirt and mud-covered clogs, Felicity looked more like a Dutch milkmaid than a dog trainer.

“I was wondering if y’all were going to track me down,” she said by way of welcome. “The news about Jimmy’s death has spread around this place like germs on an airplane. I heard about Gillian, too. I even asked to see her after they were finished questioning me at the station, but they wouldn’t allow it.” She picked at the end of a coiled leash in agitation. “How is she?”

“Not so great. But at least she had someone to confide in before her arrest, thanks to you.” Lindy took both of Felicity’s hands in her own. “We are so grateful to you for taking care of Gillian last night. We were all frantic with worry over where she’d gone.”

“It was nothing.” Felicity waved off the notion that she had done anything special. “Plus, I made a new friend. That doesn’t happen too often at our age, does it?”

One of the border collies trotted over to Bennett and began to energetically sniff at the cuffs of his pants. Bennett shifted his feet and backed away from the curious canine.

“He’s harmless,” Felicity assured Bennett.

“Everybody says that about their own dogs,” Bennett muttered, “but I’m a mailman, lady. I’ve seen the supposedly
nicest
dogs turn into savage, droolin’, postal-carrier-hatin’ maniacs in my presence.” He eyed the dog fearfully. “This dog’s gonna eat me, isn’t he?”

“Not Parson. He might lick you to death, but that’s it.” Felicity laughed and placed her hand on the head of the black and white collie sitting calmly beside her. “And this is Vicar. The terriers are Minister and Clergy. My father was preacher, as you might have guessed, but he passed away years ago. These guys are my only family now. All four of them.”

“Is your show still set for tonight?” Lucy asked.

Felicity nodded. “Yes. Nothing on the schedule’s been altered despite this morning’s, uh, discovery. That’s why we were practicing. Besides, I wanted to get my mind off my trip to the sheriff’s. It was very intimidating being questioned by them.” She giggled nervously. “I felt guilty even though I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Believe me, we’ve all felt that way before,” James said soothingly and Felicity shot him a look of gratitude. “And we can assure you that Gillian’s innocent of Jimmy’s murder as well.”

“I’m sure Felicity made it clear to the authorities that Gillian was too inebriated to have been able to find her way to Jimmy’s camper and climb onto the roof,” Lucy said, affecting a scolding tone toward James.

Felicity fidgeted with Vicar’s collar. “I told them what happened. Plain and simple. We both drank a lot of wine and fell asleep. When I woke up this morning, Gillian was gone.” She shrugged in resignation. “I don’t think I made a very good alibi for Gillian. She could have left anytime during the night and I wouldn’t have been the wiser, I’m afraid.”

The supper club members exchanged glum looks. Felicity ruffled the fur on Vicar’s neck and sighed. “I’m sorry.”

Lucy touched the trainer on the shoulder. “Don’t be. All you did was tell the truth.”

“Did Jimmy have something against dogs?” James asked abruptly.

Felicity narrowed her eyes for a second and then forced her face to go blank. “I have no idea. Why?”

James’s friends shifted their gazes so that none of them were staring at Felicity as he pursued his indelicate line of questioning. “We were standing with him yesterday when you, ah, shouted rather passionately at him.” He held out his hands in supplication. “I’m sure you had every reason to be angry at the guy. We’d only talked to him for a few minutes, but it didn’t take us long to figure out that he was a louse.” He looked to his friends for confirmation. “Right?”

Lindy nodded. “Rude and crude.”

“Loud-mouthed jerk,” Bennett murmured.

“Don’t forget chauvinistic hillbilly,” Lucy added.

Felicity studied James and then sat wearily on a folding chair positioned between her tent and a row of roomy dog cages and gestured at a picnic blanket spread open on the ground beside her. “Why don’t y’all take a seat and I’ll tell you how that demon disguised as a human being caused me to end up here, performing like a circus monkey and sleeping in a tent.”

The second the supper club members had gathered on the picnic blanket, both of the Jack Russells made a beeline for Bennett and, after covering the back of his hand with a frenzy of wet kisses, settled down on either side of his legs and closed their eyes.

“Looks like you’ve got a pair of bookends,” Lindy teased him.

Bennett rolled his eyes in response. “Why me?”

“They must’ve detected the scent of a fellow carnivore,” James remarked and then turned his attention back to Felicity. “So you travel all around with your dogs? Doing shows?”

“That’s right. Festival after festival for about eight months of the year. When we’re back home in South Carolina, I pick up extra money doing doggie birthday parties and performing for nursing homes and day cares and such.” She stroked Vicar’s head and the dog blinked his liquid brown eyes at her in adoration. “But this didn’t used to be our life. My dogs were competitors and for several years, the best in the Southeast. I used to teach classes at one of Columbus’s top kennels, too. That was all before Jimmy came along and ruined that way of life for me.”

“What did he do?” Lucy glanced at Parson in alarm. “He didn’t hurt the dogs, did he?”

Felicity shook her head. “No, though I wouldn’t have put it past the bastard. Two years ago, my camper—this was back when I had a pretty nice one—was parked next to Jimmy’s at the Memphis Brews and Barbecue Festival. My dogs were competing in the agility trials and I was also asked to help judge the jumpers event, as my dogs never competed in that category.”

“Do the dogs earn pretty good prize money?” Lindy leaned forward, curious.

“It’s not bad,” Felicity replied evenly. “Top prizes could earn you a thousand dollars here and there as well as food and supplies and stuff like that. We won quite a bit, but I made my money giving lectures and demonstrations. Back then, folks saw me as an expert in the field. My reputation paid my bills.” She scowled. “That’s how Jimmy got me. He tarnished my reputation to the point where people wouldn’t want me to so much as clip their dog’s toenails, let alone enroll in my agility training or obedience classes.”

“How? He’s … he was just a tow-truck-driving barbecue cooker.” Lucy gave Felicity a look of bewilderment. “How could his opinion matter to anyone in your circle?”

“His opinion mattered when he lied to the head judge at our competition in Memphis. Jimmy claimed that I was giving my dogs illegal substances so they’d have more energy. He said that he removed pills from their food bowls because he was worried they might be dangerous for my animals. Turns out they were illegal steroids—the kind men use to bulk up their muscles! He even claimed to have found the empty pill vial in my garbage!” Felicity slapped her hand on her leg. “As if I would ever put the lives of my dogs in jeopardy. They’re my closest friends!”

“But the judges believed him?” Lindy asked, her eyes filled with sympathy.

“Maybe they did and maybe they didn’t, but Lord knows they were concerned about having a scandal connected to their event, so they disqualified my dogs, cancelled my lectures and demonstrations, and found another judge to replace me. After that, I was blackballed in the dog world because everyone
assumed
I was guilty. And now,” she waved her arm around the campground, “here I am. Barely scratching out a living.”

James reached out and stroked Parson’s soft fur. The canine winked his eyes in contentment. “But why did Jimmy go after you in the first place?”

“He complained that my dogs barked too much in the early morning when he was trying to sleep,” Felicity answered and then snorted. “He told me that it was their fault he didn’t win his cooking contests that day and if ‘my beasts’ weren’t quiet the next night, he’d teach them or
me
a lesson.”

Thinking of how Gillian had described Jimmy’s cruelty to the chickens he had delivered to the poultry plant, James believed that Jimmy’s threats against Felicity and her dogs were issued in complete seriousness.

“Did you move to a different place in the campground?” Bennett wanted to know.

Felicity sighed and shook her head. “No, I didn’t move my camper, and not a day goes by that I don’t regret that decision. I was too proud and stubborn to have realized that one man could change my life with a single lie.” She shrugged helplessly. “And he taught me a lesson all right.”

“Well, I’d like to hurt the guy, but someone’s already beat me to it!” Lindy declared and Felicity smiled meekly.

“Like I told the sheriff, it wasn’t me. I listened to Gillian’s story, drank some wine with her, and fell into a coma in my sleeping bag. When I woke up this morning alone, I was a bit confused, but then I saw the blanket I had lent Gillian folded neatly in a corner of my tent and I knew that she hadn’t been a figment of my imagination.” She gazed at her four pets lovingly. “I’m not sorry that Jimmy’s dead, believe me, but it wasn’t by my hand. If I were sent to jail, then who would take care of my dogs? It may sound silly, but they’re my reason for living and I’d never risk their future like that.”

Lucy chuckled. “That’s not silly at all. Wanna see my babies?” She removed a color photograph from her wallet and unfolded it for Felicity to view. “These are my darlings. Bono, Benatar, and Bon Jovi. I named them after my favorite rock stars.”

“Gorgeous!” Felicity exclaimed and showed the photo to Vicar. “Look at these German shepherds, Vic. I bet you guys would have a great time playing together.” She handed Lucy the photograph. “Would y’all like to watch our show tonight? We’d be proud to have you in the stands.”

“We’ll come if we can,” Lindy promised, and she got to her feet. “But right now we’ve got to do everything possible to help Gillian.”

“Of course.” Felicity slipped a leash around Vicar’s neck. “Please let me know if there’s anything I can do. After all, she barely knew me and yet she offered me a job. She said she’s been thinking of expanding her grooming business into a full-fledged dog obedience school and kennel. Oh, what was the name of her business? The Yuppie Puppy! That’s it!” Her eyes grew misty. “She said that I could run the new business with her, as a partner. Just like that, she was giving me that chance to go back to my old way of life. She believed in my talent and integrity.”

“That’s our Gillian,” Bennett stated proudly.

Lucy touched Felicity’s shoulder. “But you drew her out of the water, put a blanket around her, and let her unburden herself to you. And
she
was a stranger to you when you did those things out of sheer kindness. You’re a good woman, Felicity, and you’re now a friend to all of us.” Lucy put her hands on her hips in the determined posture James had seen many times on the past. “We’re going to straighten this all out, and when Gillian is back with us, we’re all going to celebrate together, okay?”