Саманта Сильвер - Barking Up The Wrong Tree

“Well since I’m here…” I started with a hopeful smile.

“Absolutely not, young lady. Besides, you promised me you weren’t looking into this murder.”

“I’m not,” I added hastily. “I was only kidding.” I threw a smile on my face and got up to leave. “Thanks, Chief,” I told him. “I know Sprinkles is a lot better off with me until we find him the right new owner.”

“You got it, kiddo,” Chief Gary replied, and I left the office with a small wave and a smile on my face. Sprinkles was in my care until I found someone suitable to care for him. No matter what Kelly Dottory wanted.

I was so happy I even gave Jason Black a wave as I left the police station, feeling his eyes follow me with an amused look as I practically skipped out the door. It was time to go home; I was going to get to tell Charlotte and Sophie everything I’d found out about the new potential murderer!

Chapter 12

After I got back and told Sophie and Charlotte what I’d found out, Sophie asked me if Sprinkles would want to go for a walk.

“I was just thinking, he’s been inside all the time since he came back, except to go do his business,” she was telling me. “It might be good for him to go out for a little bit.”

“I agree,” I told her. “I’ll ask him, if we promise not to go near Andrea’s house, he might be ok with it.”

I found Sprinkles lying down on the floor in my room, which he’d taken as a safe haven from Bee’s judgemental eyes. She still hadn’t quite forgiven me for bringing a dog into the house.

“Hey Sprinkles,” I told him, sitting down next to him. “Sophie and I were thinking, it might be good for you if you went for a short walk around the place. Would you like to do that? We won’t go anywhere near where Andrea was hurt. It’ll just be for a short while, and Sophie and I will take good care of you.”

Sprinkles thought about it for a moment.

“Ok,” he finally replied. “That would be nice, thank you. Although, could we please make it a short walk? I’m still a little bit nervous whenever I go outside.”

“Of course,” I told him. “Fifteen, twenty minutes at most. How does that sound?”

Sprinkles got up, and as he went to the door, I might have been mistaken but it seemed as if he had a little bit more energy about him. I nodded to Sophie, who grinned and went to grab her running shoes.

I took Sprinkle’s leash – which I’d run through the washing machine after he came home with us – and clipped him up to it. His tail even began to wag slightly as I reached for the door handle.

“Why don’t we turn right at the end of the driveway and head towards Main Street?” I asked Sprinkles. “We’ll turn back in about ten minutes or so. Would that be alright?”

“Ok, that’s good, thank you,” Sprinkles replied as Sophie came out of the house as well.

“I want to hold him!” she begged, and I handed her the leash as Sophie came out and gave him a pat.

“You’re really brave coming out with us today,” she told Sprinkles as she stood up and we started our walk. Sophie and I had a silent agreement not to talk about the murder; after all, with Sprinkles right there we didn’t want to talk so seemingly callously about the death of his owner. But Charlotte had added Kelly Dottory’s name to the list of suspects.

“It’s a gorgeous day out,” Sophie announced as Sprinkles sniffed a bush like his life depended on it.

“Yeah, if the weather this spring is an indication of things to come, this summer is going to be amazing,” I replied.

“I’m thinking of taking up paddleboarding,” Sophie told me, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Really?”

“Yeah. What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing, but you have the balance and co-ordination of a drunk elephant,” I told her.

“Oh that’s so not fair.”

“Isn’t it? Because the other day I saw you fall over trying to put on a sock.”

“It got hooked on my little toe,” Sophie protested, but I saw the blush crawl up her face.

“Fine. I’ll come with you to some lessons if you want.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I not only think it’s a good idea, and it sounds like fun, but this way we’ll be able to record each other when we fall into the ocean.”

Sophie grinned. “Deal.”

Just then we saw Annalise come up the street with her dog, a little white schnauzer poodle cross named Strawberry, who barked in greeting as soon as he saw Sprinkles.

Sprinkles sprung forward on his leash; he obviously knew and liked Strawberry. Sophie ran forward with Sprinkles until the two dogs were close enough to say hi, and they started sniffing each other’s butts while their tails wagged wildly.

“Hey, Annalise,” I greeted her. “How are things?” Annalise was a customer at the vet clinic, and I saw her around town enough to say hi.

“Good, thanks Angela. How about you?”

“Yeah, not too bad. Taking care of poor Sprinkles here.”

“Oh the poor thing. Did you hear, Antonia deLucca’s being taken in for questioning at the police station. They spoke to her a few days ago, but they want to talk to her again. Apparently it looks like they’re coming close to arresting her for the murder.”

“Really?” I asked, looking surprised. We did have Antonia as one of the top suspects on our list, but I wanted to give the impression that this was shocking news.

“Yes. The police stopped by the café and were looking for her. She was doing her grocery shopping, and so they said they’d wait for her to go home and then bring her in when she’d packed them all away.”

“Wow, they must have some evidence against her then,” Sophie chimed in.

“Exactly. Apparently there was some feud between her and Andrea, something to do with Andrea’s husband. I’m not sure exactly what. Anyway, I’d better be on my way. Take care, girls!”

We said goodbye to Annalise, who went on her way. Sophie and I looked at each other. We definitely needed to find out what the police knew that led to them questioning Antonia deLucca twice about the murder. Or even better, we needed to be able to get into the room to hear the interrogation.

A few minutes later we turned back and headed home.

“Thank you for my walk,” Sprinkles told Sophie and I as we headed home. “The outside isn’t quite as scary as I remembered, and I liked seeing Strawberry.”

“No problem at all,” I replied, and passed the sentiment on to Sophie.

“Anytime, little buddy,” she told him, giving him a scratch between the ears. I had a feeling Sprinkles was growing on my best friend.

We let Sprinkles back into the house, but Sophie and I both stayed outside.

“I know you’re thinking what I’m thinking. We totally need to find out what the cops know and why they think Antonia was the one who murdered Andrea.”

I nodded. “Yup. Definitely.”

“But how are we going to get in there?” Sophie asked. “It’s not like we can barge in and just look around without anyone seeing us.”

I smiled coyly. “That’s where you’re wrong.”

Sophie’s eyes widened as she realized what I meant. “Are you serious?”

I nodded. “Absolutely.”

“I am so in,” Sophie replied, as I glanced towards the house.

“Should we ask Charlotte? She might feel left out if she knew we were going to do this without telling her.”

“Nah. She’s got a bunch of work to do. Besides, all she’d do is complain about how we’re mis-using magic, and trespassing, and stuff.”

Sophie did have a point. We jumped into her car and parked out behind the vet clinic, so to any passers-by it would look like we were just doing some work on our day off. I unlocked the door and we went inside.