Alibis and Amethysts (22 page)

“It’s pretty useless. The only reason I can identify him here is because I already
know it’s a picture of him. I could always try the freelancer bit again, though I
doubt he’s as naive as the Newirths. Or we could go with Jaye’s method of sneaking
up and scaring him to death.”

Jaye shook her head. “It’s probably not a good idea to startle someone who might have
anger management issues and, for all we know, an Uzi in his desk drawer.” They were
all quiet for a minute. Sierra tried unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn, which made Jaye
yawn as well. “Hey,” she said, “we’re all tired. How about we sleep on it? Maybe one
of us will have a stroke of genius by morning.” The suggestion won immediate and unanimous
approval.

Jaye was asleep a second after her head hit the pillow. She awoke once during the
night to use the bathroom and noticed that Raffles wasn’t there. She didn’t look for
her elsewhere in the apartment. During the day the not-a-cat napped in a variety of
places, including the bathtub on occasion, but she always spent the nights curled
up in Jaye’s bed. Since the bedroom window was open, it was a good bet she was out
on the prowl. Jaye crawled back into bed, and the next thing she knew it was morning
and her bedmate was once again asleep near her feet.

Jaye padded through the living room into the kitchen, following the aroma of freshly
brewed coffee. This was one of those mornings when she was sure that programmable
coffeemakers were the best invention of the twentieth century. She poured herself
a cup, added milk and went back to the living room to turn on the TV for the news
and weather. The photographs were still laid out on the coffee table where she’d left
them before going to bed. She set her cup on the end table, where she couldn’t accidentally
spill it on the photos, and started to gather them up. That’s when she noticed the
photo of Adam Grayson smiling for the camera. She picked it up for closer scrutiny,
half expecting it to disappear like a hallucination. But it didn’t. In the picture,
Adam was seated at a table with Peggy in what looked like Dahl & Di Luca, the same
restaurant where he’d also taken Jaye. But none of that was important. What had her
eyes glued to the photo was the fact that she’d never seen it before. And then she
realized where it had come from and who had found it. She jumped up and ran into the
kitchen for the phone.

“Raffles is the only one who could have brought it here,” she said after describing
it to Sierra.

Sierra was already deep into baking, and her voice faded in and out as if the phone
were wedged between her ear and shoulder. “I don’t remember seeing any photograph
like that when we were in Peggy’s house, did you?”

“No,” Jaye replied, “but we were so focused on looking for something hidden, we weren’t
paying much attention to what was out in the open.”

“I know I should be doing some kind of happy dance about the picture,” Sierra said,
“but I don’t get it. How did Raffles know what we needed and where to find it?”

“I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around it too. She must have seen the picture
the day we were in Peggy’s house, maybe in an album. We certainly didn’t have her
in sight the whole time we were there. And last night she must have figured out from
the other pictures on the table and from bits of what we were saying that we needed
a better shot of Adam—one as big and clear as the others. She already knew how to
get into Peggy’s house, so she went back and took it.”

“That’s pretty impressive,” Sierra said. “I think Raffles just earned herself a salmon
dinner.”

Chapter 32

The partners divided up the list Jaye had compiled of all the dog groomers, animal
shelters, doggie day cares or any place where one might find the fur of a variety
of dogs. They’d decided not to include veterinarians, because they were likely to
clean their exam rooms more often and more thoroughly. Of course, there was also the
issue of trying to elicit information from a medical practice, even one for four-legged,
furry patients. The staff was sure to balk when it came to answering questions with
regard to their clients. Sierra pointed out they could also cut Dee’s from the list,
since Frosty went there almost every day and there was none of his fur in the sample.

Armed with her copies of the suspects’ photos, Jaye set out to canvass the local places
she’d drawn. They were starting with the half dozen right in Sedona, after which they’d
move out in a widening circle. They hadn’t discussed a contingency plan in the event
that their quest came up empty; they were fresh out of ideas anyway. Jaye had decided
to hit the groomers in the late afternoon, when they might be running late, wanting
to get home and therefore more willing to bend the rules. Her first stop was Lap of
Luxury, advertised as the new, posh doggie salon and spa. She had no trouble finding
it in a strip mall in West Sedona. From the parking lot, it didn’t look any more special
than any storefront in any strip mall, but stepping inside was a game changer. Jaye
found herself in a waiting room where no one was presently waiting. Plush banquettes
covered in an earth-toned tweed hugged the walls, the pattern probably chosen to mask
both light and dark shades of fur. The focal point of the room was an elaborate French
provincial reception desk, presided over by a beautifully coiffed and manicured blonde
with kohl-rimmed eyes and enough blush and lipstick to supply a small beauty pageant.
Jaye wondered if she’d been done up by the stylists in the salon. She gave herself
a mental slap—bad girl.

Classical music was playing softly, punctuated by the barking and yapping of a chorus
of dogs who clearly didn’t appreciate the genius of Bach, Beethoven and others of
their ilk. The receptionist seemed to be of the same mind, because she’d been wearing
earphones and swaying to a very different beat when Jaye arrived. As soon as she saw
a potential customer come through the door, she ditched the earphones and whipped
out a welcome wagon smile. Okay—Jaye had found herself a rule breaker right off the
bat.

“May I help you?” the blonde asked in a hushed voice, as if not to disturb her clientele,
who were raising such a racket at that moment that they wouldn’t have heard her if
she’d been using a megaphone.

“Hi, Corinne,” Jaye said, reading the nameplate on her desk. “What a great place you
have here.”

Corinne laughed. “Thanks, but it’s not mine.”

“I meant . . .,” Jaye let it go; it wasn’t worth the time it would take. On the plus
side, Corinne appeared naive and gullible. Time to trot out the private eye persona.
“I’m currently investigating a murder case,” she said in an “I do this every day”
tone of voice. Corinne looked properly shocked. She even sat back in her chair as
if to further distance herself from such a terrible subject.

“Maybe I should call the manager or the owner,” she said, reaching for the phone.

“No need to bother them,” Jaye assured her more gently. Corinne wouldn’t be any help
if she was scared to death. “I just have a few photos I want to show you.”

The fear in the girl’s eyes slipped from a nine to a six. “Oh,” she murmured, “I guess
that’s okay.”

Before Corinne could change her mind, Jaye held up the photo of the Newirths. “Have
you ever seen either of these people in here?”Corinne stared at the picture for a
good thirty seconds before shaking her head. Jaye couldn’t tell if she was just afraid
of making a mistake or if she was having trouble with her memory. Given her age, Jaye
figured it was the fear factor. They went through the other photos with similar results,
until Jaye showed her the one of Elaine.

“
She
was in here,” Corinne said eagerly, as if she’d just passed a test of some kind. “I
don’t remember her name though.”

Jaye was suddenly riding an adrenalin high, although a nagging little voice in her
head kept warning her not to count any unhatched chickens just yet. “Her name is Elaine
Feldman.”

“I’m sorry. It doesn’t ring a bell.”

Jaye tried a different approach. “Do you remember
when
she was here?”

“I know it wasn’t long after the salon opened.”

“Do you keep the old appointment schedules in your computer files?”

“Yes, but she never made an appointment. She looked at our price list and asked if
we offered a discount to local merchants. When I told her we didn’t, she left in a
huff.”

“Did you give her a tour of the facility?”

“Yes, the manager insists we do that with every potential customer. We charge more
than other groomers, but you get a lot more bang for your buck here. Seeing the facility
helps to seal the deal for most people.” Corinne seemed proud of her workplace.

“Was Ms. Feldman left alone at any time during that tour?” Jaye asked.

“Absolutely not,” Corinne said, as if she’d been charged with dereliction of duty.
“We’re not allowed to let customers roam around on their own for any reason. It would
be a breach of security.” She was so adamant about it that Jaye wondered if she was
lying. Had she left Elaine alone to answer the telephone or make a quick trip to the
bathroom? There was no way to rule out those possibilities.

“One last question,” Jaye said. “Are you the only receptionist who works here?”

“Yes.”

She thanked Corinne for her help, and as she was walking out, she heard the younger
woman exhale a tremulous sigh of relief.

***

It took Jaye the better part of two days to check out the other local places on her
list. When she was done, she had nothing more to show for her time and effort than
blisters on both pinky toes from the new sandals she wore the second day. Bargains
weren’t always great deals in the end. She kicked off the offending sandals the moment
she reached her apartment.

Too tired to fuss with dinner, she and Raffles shared some canned tuna. Then she checked
in with her compadres to learn that she was the only one who’d uncovered any connection
to their suspects. They were going to have to widen the search. Unfortunately, the
farther afield they had to go, the more time they would be spending away from their
respective businesses. Tourists who’d been told they shouldn’t miss a trip to Cravings!
when they were in Sedona were as disappointed as Sierra’s loyal customers when the
bakery’s shelves were empty by noon. She had to start waking up an hour earlier to
increase her output when she knew she wouldn’t be around to bake later in the day.

Daniel confessed that although his cousin George fully understood the necessity of
finding the killer, he was becoming disgruntled. He was taking out as many tours as
he could handle without compromising the quality of the excursions, but the simple
truth was that he could drive just one Jeep at a time. He had to turn people away,
only to see them sign up with the competition down the street.

Jaye was dealing with her own business woes. Bryn’s knowledge about Crystal Clear’s
inventory was improving, but she was still far from having Jaye’s expertise. And although
she was an enormous help when they were busy at the shop, the girl needed her own
Bryn to keep up with everything when Jaye was gone for the entire day.

Sierra tried to put a positive spin on things by reminding Jaye that whatever they
might be losing in revenue was sure to be less than the retainer of a fancy lawyer.
She told Daniel how much they appreciated his help up to this point, but she made
it clear that there was no need for him to risk his livelihood for their sakes. It
came as no surprise to them when Daniel flat-out refused to step down.

Jaye prepared the new lists. Sierra would be traveling as far south as the Verde
Valley, Daniel would go west to Prescott and she would go north to Flagstaff. Going
east would have to wait.

***

When Jaye picked Flagstaff, she took the longest of the three lists. Since Flag was
the only real city among them, it had more permanent residents than the other two
and more businesses that catered to dogs. Her plan was to start at the center of the
city and work her way out. That meant she would have the shorter drive on the trip
home, when she was apt to be more tired.

She ended her second day there with K9 Kutz, a discount grooming shop located in a
part of the city that seemed to be in the throes of change, but Jaye couldn’t tell
if it was undergoing gentrification or sliding toward the abyss. Half the buildings
had undergone facelifts, but the other half were in various stages of dilapidation.
Although K9 Kutz bore a fresh coat of paint and had clean windows and a bright, cheerful
sign, it was still the polar opposite of Lap of Luxury.

When Jaye entered, she found herself in what looked like a low-end pet store. Twenty–
and fifty-pound bags of kibble were stacked in piles on the floor. Cans and packets
of food lined the shelves on one wall. On another wall there was a Peg-Board with
dog toys and bins with various types of balls and chews. The floor was green linoleum,
scuffed and faded. There was one counter with a chipped green Formica top and one
of the oldest computer registers Jaye had ever seen. No one was manning the counter,
but she could hear dog noises coming from behind the partitioning wall at the rear
of the shop. She called out to let whoever was in charge know they had a customer,
but when no one appeared she headed in the direction of the noise.

The back of the shop was divided into two large rooms, one on each side of a short
hallway. The one on the left was outfitted with stainless steel tubs for bathing the
dogs, but it was currently empty. In the room on her right, there were two metal grooming
tables, each occupied by a small poodle, one black, one gray. The dogs’ collars were
hooked to metal arms that kept them in place while they were being clipped and dried.
The black one was still wet, awaiting his turn with a look of resignation. The middle-aged
woman who was working on the gray poodle seemed about as thrilled with her job as
the dogs were with the services she was rendering. She was stocky, with a halo of
frizzy brown hair and a ruddy complexion. Beneath her waterproof apron she had on
a T-shirt and a pair of pants that were straining at the seams. Had it been fifty
years earlier, Jaye would probably have found her with a cigarette dangling from her
lips.

There were several dogs in crates against one wall, all of them either barking or
whining. Most of them had blue or pink bows on their collars, which Jaye took to mean
they were finished and waiting for their owners to return and claim them.

“Excuse me,” she said, since the groomer didn’t seem to know she was there.

“You need to talk to the girl at the counter,” the woman said without looking up.
“You’re not supposed to be back here.”

“I’d be happy to do that, but there’s no one out there.”

“What the—? Did Tiffany take off again?” she muttered thickly, turning to Jaye. “That’s
what happens when the owner hires her daughter to play receptionist. The kid’s useless.
How am I supposed to get anything done around here if I have to take up the slack
every time she runs off to a shoe sale or her boyfriend?”

Since Jaye couldn’t answer any of her questions, she waited patiently for her to wind
down.

“You here to pick up a dog?” the woman asked finally.

“No, I was hoping you might be able to help me out with something.”

“Do I look like I have nothing better to do?”

“I won’t take more than a minute of your time,” Jaye promised sweetly, since a heavy-handed
approach was only likely to elicit more vitriol. “If you’d be kind enough to look
at these few pictures and tell me if any of these people have been in here, it would
be an enormous help in an ongoing investigation.” Her last words appeared to make
an impact.

The groomer said, “You’ve got thirty seconds.” Jaye handed her the photos, and she
shuffled through them at warp speed. She stopped at the picture of the Finnegans.
“He’s a regular here. Smallish, black dog. Brings him in maybe every couple months.
Never seen the woman.” She shoved the photos back at Jaye.

“You’re sure about him?”

“If you weren’t going to believe me, why did you bother asking?” She turned her back
and resumed clipping the poodle.

“Thank you,” Jaye said. “I’ll let myself out.”

She’d just stepped into the hallway when the woman grumbled, “Don’t know if he’ll
be back after the last time.”

Jaye backtracked into the room. “Excuse me?”

“When he came to pick up the dog, Tiffany was off somewhere again. So he walked back
here like you done. Slipped on all the fur on the floor. Went down hard too. That’s
why folks ain’t supposed to come back here. It’s a good thing he didn’t sue, or I’d
be out of a job, ’cause we all know it’s never Tiffany’s fault.”