Davis, Krista - Murder, She Barked - A Paws & Claws Mystery (A Paws and Claws Mystery)

Ellie made a production of looking at her watch. “My goodness, Holly! Didn’t you say that you promised Liesel you would be back at the inn by one? You’d better get going, honey.”

I fell in step with her game, flashing her a grateful smile. I owed her a big favor for this. “Oh dear! Must go. I’ll see you both later.” I turned quickly and hustled away before Aunt Birdie could demand I stay.

“Your mother is going to hear about this, young lady!” Birdie shouted.

The woman could not give up. I had never heard her utter a kind word. Everything that came out of her mouth dripped with dissatisfaction. Truth be told, she was an attractive woman. But bitterness pinched her face, and that wicked tongue of hers lashed out constantly. My mom insisted that Birdie hadn’t always been so caustic. Their parents had moved to California around the time my parents divorced. My mom packed us up and moved to be near them, but Birdie staunchly remained in Wagtail. Behind her back, my dad called her the wicked witch of Wagtail.

I should have called her yesterday, but with everything that had happened, I’d honestly forgotten all about her. Once I had everything with Oma straightened out, I’d go by with a basket of muffins or a box of chocolates.

Oma’s situation weighed heavily on me. My instinct to sleep on her sofa the night I arrived had been on the mark, only for a different reason. My worst suspicions had been confirmed. If Ellie hadn’t realized that Dolce was running loose, then the person who called the inn to say she needed help had very likely done so to lure Oma to Ellie’s house. Otherwise, wouldn’t he or she have called Ellie? That person must have waited in the cover of darkness and the heavy fog and then unwittingly killed Sven.

We picked up speed and dodged visitors as we returned to the inn. Ben spotted me in the foyer and called out my name.

Rather rudely, I shouted, “Later!” and whipped along the corridor and down to the reception area. The door to Oma’s office was closed.

Zelda looked up at me. “Sorry, you can’t go in right now. She’s with Mr. Luciano.”

Twenty-three

I drifted over to the loveseat to wait. Was there a romance between Oma and Mr. Luciano? He was far too young for her! Why was she having so many meetings with him?

Trixie whined at me.

“I’ll take off the leash inside the inn, but you have to promise you won’t run away again.” I unlatched it, secure in the knowledge that she wore the inn collar with GPS. Trixie jumped up beside me and wedged her nose under my elbow so that my arm hugged her.

“That’s very cute. You’re a sweet girl.”

Ben barreled down the steps. “Holly! Where have you been? You keep running away from me.”

I motioned him over. “I have a problem.” I glanced up at Oma’s office door. I needed to speak to her about what was going on. But it might not hurt to hash it out with someone I could trust, like Ben.

“Take a little walk with me.” I debated whether to hook Trixie up to her leash. She probably needed some exercise. “Can I trust you?” I asked.

She wagged her tail, her ears perked, and her eyes looked hopeful.

We headed for the lake, Ben taking my hand as we walked down broad stone steps lined with giant pots of orange and gold chrysanthemums. I immediately second-guessed myself about removing Trixie’s leash. She ran just like the man in the woods had described—without her feet touching the ground. She zigged, she zagged, she flew across the lawn, chased a squirrel up a tree, and finally slowed to circle around the base of the tree with her nose to the ground.

We strolled down to the lake in silence. Sunlight caught the water in tiny stars, and a glimmer of orange kissed the sugar maples around the inn. A couple of fishing boats bobbed gently on the water, but we had the dock to ourselves. Lanterns with pine trees etched into the panels decorated posts around the dock. I rolled up my pant legs, took off my shoes, and sat down, dangling my feet in the cold water.

I patted the dock next to me, meaning that Ben should join me, but it was Trixie who arrived at my side and sniffed the water.

Ill at ease, Ben fetched a chair from the lawn. He sat down and crossed his legs. “Sorry that Casey wouldn’t put me through to you last night. I tried calling you, but my phone wouldn’t work.”

“Something about the mountains. Apparently there are a lot of dead spots and only one carrier.”

“Casey was amusing. I wanted to go up to your room, but he said, ‘You’re not planning to sleep with her in front of her grandmother, are you?’ He’s a funny guy.”

Ben uncrossed his legs, rubbed his hands together, and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “Look, I know you’re worried about your job. I realize that I upset you when I said you wouldn’t find work in your field. Everyone wants players, you know? Nobody wants to hire a troublemaker.”

“But I’m right!”

“You’re so stubborn. But that’s not the point.” He studied his hands. “You could move in with me. We’ll sell your house, and your car, too, since I’m on the metro line. That way you won’t have a mortgage or car payments, and you won’t have to worry about finding a job. If things go like I hope they will, I’ll be moving up at the law firm, and we won’t need a second income.”

I splashed my hands in the water and rubbed my burning forehead. In a way, it was a generous gesture. But the thought of giving up everything that was me and becoming an appendage to Ben was too depressing to contemplate. Not to mention that there wasn’t enough room at his place for my shoes, let alone anything else.

Trixie lay down beside me and rested her head on my thigh.

Besides, I was pretty sure that dogs were not permitted in his building. I fought overwhelming sadness. Normally, I considered myself a fairly reasonable person with both feet planted firmly on the ground, not prone to flights of imagination or nonsense. I’d blown off Rose’s questions about Ben as silly. Yet here I was, totally crushed by Ben’s offer. I wasn’t even sure if it was meant to be a proposal of marriage. No declaration of love, undying or otherwise. No passionate kiss, no rose, no ring. I’d been through business deals that involved more romance. He didn’t need to get down on his knee or make a big production out of it, but he left me wondering if marriage to him would be . . . empty. Could Rose have been right? Or was I just being silly?

Maybe I wasn’t seeing things clearly because of the chaos with Oma. I’d give Ben and our relationship more thought when I went home and my life resembled normalcy.

I tried to make light of it. “Where would my shoes live?”

“We’ll rig up a pulley system for boxes on the ceiling.”

His joke broke the tension.

“Thanks for offering, Ben, but I’m not that desperate yet.”

“You have to be desperate before you’ll marry me?”

“That’s not what I meant. I’m not so desperate that I have to sell everything I own and give up on my life.”

“Oh.” He frowned at me. “I hadn’t thought about it like that. Well, um, the offer stands if things get rough.”

There was a marriage proposal no girl could turn down!

“Although my state of unemployment will have to be remedied, I have a bigger problem at the moment. I think someone is trying to kill Oma.”

Ben listened in horror while I explained my reasoning.

“You’re saying whoever was driving the car that was stolen from Mortie intended to kill your grandmother?”

“Whoever killed Sven probably meant to kill Oma.”

“Do you have any idea why? Is there something about your grandmother that I don’t know?”