Саманта Сильвер - Barking Up The Wrong Tree

“Get off me,” Kelly whined, pulling away from Austin. She grabbed her latte and her purse, and turned off in a huff, muttering about idiots in this town as she left the room.

“Well, that girl’s a piece of work,” Austin said as he sat back down at the counter.

“Thanks,” I forced myself to mutter.

“She always was a spoiled one,” Betty told us, rolling her eyes. “Even when she was little.”

“You knew her?” I asked.

“Oh yes,” Betty nodded sagely. “Not well, of course. Her parents, Andrea’s brother and his wife, lived in Portland. But from time to time they would come here when she was little. Although over the course of the years they seemed to lose touch, I think the last time I saw Kelly she would have been eleven or twelve. And of course, her father passed on when she was eighteen or so.

I felt a sudden pang of sympathy for Kelly. She might have been vain and arrogant, but no one deserved to lose a parent so young.

Betty continued. “Her mother was always very high maintenance. It looks like she passed that down to her daughter, although while her father made a very good living, apparently he had no life insurance. And Rose Gelder’s daughter works at the bank in Portland where Kelly does her shopping. Apparently she’s racked up a lot of credit card debt,” she added in a hushed whisper. “For her, it’s really a godsend that she inherits her aunt’s money.”

“But wait, Andrea wouldn’t have been that well off, would she?” I asked. It wasn’t that she couldn’t have made any money, but Andrea Dottory owned a late 90s Toyota that made Charlotte’s car look healthy and new, and I’d never seen her wear any clothes that seemed like they’d been made after 1980.

“Oh, don’t let Andrea’s frugality fool you. The woman was great with money. She wasn’t rich, by any stretch of the imagination, but she invested every cent she had rather than spend it on herself. She liked investing, she treated it like a job. She didn’t necessarily care about having the money, she enjoyed the satisfaction of being able to make her numbers go up.” Betty sighed and stared off into the distance. “If she was born in another era, I think she would have been a much happier woman.”

I couldn’t help but ask myself if Kelly Dottory was the kind of woman who would kill for money. After all, she could have easily driven down to Willow Bay and then gone back to Seattle. It was only a few hours along I-5 between the two cities. Still, taking someone out with a crowbar seemed like an especially brutal way to kill someone. I wasn’t sure if that waif of a woman had it in her. But money, I reminded myself, made people do funny things.

I thanked Betty, said goodbye to Austin, and headed back home. We had another name to add to our already long list of suspects.

Chapter 11

The first thing I did when I left Betty’s was head back down to the police station. The more time passed between my interaction with Kelly, the angrier I got about it.

How dare she just demand that she get to take Sprinkles? How dare she call us a hick town? How dare she look at me like I was that far beneath her?

No, I already knew, I was never going to give Sprinkles to a woman like that. She was the type of person who only cared about herself. And I was absolutely going to make sure that I didn’t have to.

I walked into the police station, but Chief Gary’s door was closed. I asked the receptionist, Casey, if he was in, and she said he was, but that he was in a meeting and if I waited maybe twenty minutes he could see me then. I agreed, and thanked her. Maybe giving myself a little bit of time to cool off wasn’t a bad idea, anyway.

As I turned to sit in one of the waiting area chairs, I saw Jason Black already occupying one of them.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, sitting in a chair two down from him.

“What, no hello? How are you doing Jason? Thanks again for saving my life, Jason?” he teased, a smile on his face. Damn it, why did his smile have to be so good looking?

“I already thanked you for saving my life,” I replied.

“You do realize I’m not a murderer, right?” he asked. “I’m not just sitting here getting ready to confess.”

“Then what are you doing here?”

“I’m a reporter, remember? I’m writing a story about Andrea Dottory’s murder, since it’s a little bit more important than the news that the post office is repainting the front of the building before the summer rush, or that Betty MacMahon is adding cheesecake to her menu for the summer.”

“Oh man, cheesecake? That’s amazing. That one’s probably worth a headline.”

Jason laughed. “You should probably stick to healing animals. What are you doing here, anyway? You have way less of a reason than I do.”

“I have to see Chief Gary about Andrea’s dog.”

“Of course you are. Are you secretly trying to solve this case as well?” Jason’s brown eyes twinkled as he said it, and I felt a tickle in my stomach. Ugh. Why was my body always trying to betray me?

“I am not,” I replied indignantly. “I’m just making sure that stuck-up niece of Andrea’s doesn’t get to take Sprinkles until I can find him a good home.”

“Her stuck up niece?”

“Kelly. Believe me, when you see her, you’ll know.”

“I haven’t had the pleasure yet.”

“Neither have I,” I replied darkly. “I’ve met her, but it wasn’t a pleasure.”

Jason burst out laughing. “Now I want to. Although, I’m pretty sure you’d say that about me, too.”

“To be fair, I did think you were a murderer when I first met you.”

“And now?” Jason asked, his eyes twinkling once more.

“Now I just find you infuriating.”

“Infuriatingly awesome, I think you mean.”

I opened my mouth to send out a retort, but before I got the chance to the receptionist told me I could go in and see Chief Gary now.

“If it was anyone but you I’d complain that I was here first,” Jason told me as I got up.

If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was actually flirting with me! But there was no way. For one thing, I couldn’t stand Jason. Or so I kept telling myself. But the more I spent time with him after he saved my life, the more he seemed like a self confident guy, rather than an arrogant killer.

No, I reminded myself. No, he did save my life, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t arrogant. The way he sat there, with that cocky grin, the way his eyes twinkled when he teased me. Nope, there would definitely never be anything between Jason and I. I’d make sure of that.

I made my way into Chief Gary’s office. Chief Gary was the stereotypical looking small town police chief. With greying hair and a bit of a gut, he still had an honest, kind face. The kind of guy you want to have in charge of a small town’s police department. He’d never had the motivation to move to a bigger town, and to be honest, Willow Bay was pretty much perfect for him. He was a good policeman, and a good chief. We needed him here, and I was glad to have him. Right now, however, he looked like he hadn’t slept in days.

“What can I help you with, Angela?” he asked, smiling. Chief Gary had been the first responder on the scene of the accident that had killed my parents, and ever since that day he’d always been extra nice to me. A little bit protective, even.

“Hey Chief, I just saw Kelly Dottory, and I wanted you to know that she might mention that she wants Sprinkles when she comes in here to see you, but I really, really don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Chief Gary laughed.

“I know. I know Kelly. Don’t worry about that. She’s coming in to see me in an hour, I’ll make sure she knows Sprinkles is your responsibility. Boy did I not expect that at all. Here I was thinking you were coming in here to see what kind of information about the murder you could pump out of me again.”