Donally, Claire - Cat Nap (A SUNNY & SHADOW MYSTERY)

Just as she was considering closing up the office to plaster the downtown area with posters, Will Price knocked on the office door.

“If you’re coming to tell me that the sheriff’s department is joining in the hunt, that’ll just be too much.”

“What hunt?” Will asked in bafflement.

Sunny handed him a poster. “Oh,” Will said. Then he looked at her more closely. “Oh, I’m so sorry to hear this.” Even though he was in uniform, Will dropped his usual cop persona. “I’m back on the day shift now, so I’ll try to keep an eye out for Shadow.” He smiled at her, trying to cheer her up. “I don’t know if I can convince Sheriff Nesbit to join in the hunt, but you have a couple of friends among the constables. I’ll get the word out there.”

“Thanks,” she told him. “Every bit helps.” She took a deep breath, thinking of how quickly Shadow had adopted her. “Even if he’s landed with another family, I just want to know he’s all right.”

“I know,” Will said gently.

“So, if my cat didn’t bring you in, what brought you by?”

That snapped Will back to police mode. “I spent the weekend carefully reaching out to some buddies on the Portsmouth force,” he said. “They tell me there are some newcomers in town, lending money.”

“Oh-ho,” Sunny said. “From foreign parts?”

Will nodded. “Turns out they’re Ukrainian, not Russian. Guy named Danilo Shostak seems to be the brains of the operation, with someone called Olek Linko acting as the muscle.”

Sunny nodded. The names matched what she knew, and what she’d told Will.

“ It seems the Ukrainians made a specialty of smuggling, which includes moving money around,” Will went on. “Nobody is sure how big a deal this is, but it sounds like the major players in Providence gave the okay, and a Ukrainian operation in Montreal sent Shostak down. So far he’s kept a real low profile.”

“Avoiding trouble,” Sunny murmured.

“That’s one way to put it,” Will agreed. “So if Jane’s ex was involved with him, he can’t be very happy with Rigsdale getting killed. Sooner or later, Trumbull is going to start shining some light where this guy won’t want it shone. I mean, he’s got to be going over Rigsdale’s books.”

And when that happens, Dani will have to go on vacation, Sunny thought. He’ll either have to find the money Martin stole to give his bosses, or he’ll squeeze it out of Jane.

Will misread her expression. “I’m sorry to come in and mention this stuff while you’re worrying over Shadow.”

“No, I think it helps to take my mind off that,” she told him.

Because now I can worry about Jane, and the money, and who might have it. Sunny tried not to let her feelings show on her face. Because I haven’t got a clue.

16

Sunny went throughthe motions, gobbling a quick sandwich she’d brought from home and then putting up posters in the hopes of finding Shadow. Store owners offered space in their windows or by their cash registers. Some people she knew and many she didn’t stopped to read the notices and offer their good wishes. A few seemed to know about Shadow’s disappearance already. Sunny looked at the picture on her poster. You’re getting famous around these parts, little guy.

Unfortunately, none of these folks had any information to offer. They promised to keep an eye open, though.

Through all that time, Sunny’s brain kept spinning its wheels on the question of where Martin Rigsdale had hidden his ill-gotten gains. Stealing from the Ukrainians in the first place suggested that Martin had intended to get out of Dodge. She was sure that Dani—not to mention Olek—would take a dim view of him making off with the money, especially since it wasn’t even really theirs.

Equally obviously, something had gone wrong. Dani mentioned finding out about the bank withdrawal before Martin had expected him to. He also mentioned a very foolish bank officer—another victim of Martin’s charm. Apparently, though, Dani didn’t consider the banker to be a coconspirator of Martin’s, which suggested that she had been squeezed dry of information already. Sunny could only hope she hadn’t been squeezed in other ways. She remembered Dani’s graphic demonstration of what Olek could do if he had to.

If Olek wanted some information out of me, I’d just tell him. Sunny might follow the guy, but she knew her limits.

Knowing Martin’s preference for feminine companionship, Sunny was pretty sure that he’d planned to run away with someone. But if Dani and Olek had pretty well dismissed the bank officer, it had to be someone else.

Dawn Featherstone seemed the strong contender—young, impressionable, and looking at her from Martin’s viewpoint, easy to control. Of course, Martin might have been wrong about her. She could be the one who’d killed him. But whether or not she was his girl of choice or his murderer, she should have her hands on more than a hundred grand. She could go someplace far from Maine and open her dream fitness club. Why was she hanging around?

On the other hand, maybe she didn’t have her hands on the money and was looking for it. In that case, the only way that Sunny would know that Dawn had succeeded was if she suddenly disappeared. That might help Jane with the suspicion of murder thing, but it wouldn’t help her with the Ukrainians.

Wait a minute. There was another woman in Martin’s life, the dark-haired classy one. Unfortunately, Sunny had no idea whatsoever who that might be.

Sunny returned to the MAX office feeling tired and drained. And she still hadn’t started any of the day’s business. Stifling yawns, she went to work answering e-mails. The phone rang, and she snatched it up eagerly. Thankfully, she remembered to answer it, “Maine Adventure X-perience,” and not “Any news?” because the voice on the other end was Ollie the Barnacle’s. “Anything exciting turn up today?”

Sunny decided he didn’t need to hear about Shadow running away. “Nothing that requires an executive decision,” she told him.

“Okay, it looks as if I’ll be getting back in sometime late tomorrow,” he said. “I’ll probably be in on Wednesday.”

Sunny was surprised. Ollie usually didn’t give her advance notice on when he was stopping by the office. Maybe he wants to make sure I get rid of all the pizza boxes and beer bottles before he comes in, she thought.

“Okay,” she said. “If you need anything, you know where to find me.” At least he hadn’t called while she was out putting up posters. At least she didn’t think so. Sunny paused for a second. “Do you know anything about loan sharks?”

“What?” Ollie’s voice got a bit belligerent. “Is somebody saying I’m a loan shark—or that I need one?”

“Nothing like that,” Sunny assured him. “I’ve, uh, got a friend who was thinking of borrowing some money. I thought with you being more business savvy, you could help me explain things—”

“Don’t get involved with a shark,” Ollie interrupted. “You start off borrowing to buy buttons and end up losing your shirt. The way they compute the interest, you never get to pay off the principal that you borrowed in the first place.” He chuckled sourly. “It’s as bad as credit cards—except they don’t have people who come to your house and threaten to beat you up.”

“Do they really do that?” Sunny asked.

“Yes.” Ollie tried to sound patient. “That’s the big difference between them and your neighborhood bank.”

“Do they kill people?” Sunny pressed.

That got a moment of silence out of Ollie. “Jeez, Sunny, how much are you figuring to borrow?”