Bite the Biscuit (A Barkery & Biscuits Mystery) (19 page)

Later, I’d head for the Knobcone Heights Resort.

Where had that thought come from? And then I realized. My own mind, my subconscious, was working on my problem. The place I needed to go—again—to try to figure out who’d killed Myra was the place she’d managed, the place her local family most often hung out.

The place she’d probably frequently been while arguing with people, including that fired chef.

Good thing my brother happened to work there. He’d be my excuse to visit. I wouldn’t go there, of course, until after I’d finished up doing all I needed to here—the things that were my obvious responsibilities.

But my responsibilities to myself included keeping my businesses going, helping me keep my part-time vet tech job—and saving myself from worrying about being arrested. Or from actually getting arrested. I’d call Neal soon and warn him I’d be visiting him at the resort a little later.

I had a really enjoyable time taking over at Icing from Judy. A lot of customers came in, apparently a tour group whose guide had developed an affinity for the store’s baked goods while Brenda had been in charge.

After they left, there weren’t a lot of those goods left. But fortunately Judy came through and brought the red velvet cupcakes out to the display case, along with several dozen sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies that she’d baked at the same time. I thanked her profusely when she appeared with them, and we spent some time organizing them behind the glass.

When we were done, I decided it was time. This was one Sunday when I didn’t have a shift at the veterinary clinic. I’d leave my shops anyway for a while—but for an entirely different reason.

First, I went into the kitchen to call Neal while Judy and Dinah were still in the stores. He couldn’t talk immediately but said he’d call me back. “As soon as you can,” I told him before he hung up.

I didn’t want to get back to baking just then, so I went into the office and booted up the computer, checking out sales figures but mostly staring at the screen. My stores were both doing okay, considering they’d been opened—or reopened—for just over a week.

Would that continue?

My cell phone rang. It was Neal. “What’s up, Carrie?”

“I need an excuse to visit the resort today.”

“Really? Why?” he asked. When I opened my mouth to respond, he said, “Oh, don’t tell me. I think I can guess.”

I smiled grimly. My brother might not have a lot of ambition, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t smart and intuitive.

“You probably can.” I hesitated. “I had another visit from one of those detectives. It wasn’t official—at least I don’t think so. But I can’t just wait to see what happens. So … good. Tell me how I can show up there and stay a while without getting tossed out.”

“Not sure about the ‘tossed out’ part. You’re not exactly the favorite person of any of my bosses. But … ”

“Yes?”

“Hey, I know. We’ve got a lot of visiting dogs right now. A bunch of guests brought theirs along. Maybe you can bring some treats for them to taste.”

“Good idea,” I said, then stopped as I considered it further. “You think your bosses will be okay with it? In a way, it’ll look like I’m flaunting that I’m competing with Harris Ethman’s pet store.”

“I know. But Harris isn’t here, and Elise seems to still be running this place. She wants to earn brownie points with their parents, bring in a lot more tourists, make even more money than Myra did, so if you please a lot of those folks who brought their pets, she’ll probably like it.”

“Right. And I can always say it’s a test, and it’s something Harris might want to do too.”

“Hey, right. Not a bad idea. So when will you get here?”

I glanced at the ovens on the Barkery side of the kitchen. Fortunately the treats I’d been working on before were nearly done. Yes, my Barkery shop could have used some more product—but now I had enough to give out a fair amount of samples at the resort. “About half an hour,” I said.

I gathered up a generous sampling of the different kinds of the biscuits I’d made that morning, then put them into a couple of bags.

I treated them carefully. They would be my apparent excuse for hanging around the resort, so I wanted them to look good. And taste good. And garner a lot of attention, particularly from dogs … so I would look as if I belonged there while I tossed some human inquiries around.

If the treats actually achieved the secondary purpose of introducing guests to my Barkery, all the better.

When I was ready, I said a temporary goodbye to my staff, then got Biscuit into the car. I didn’t want my helpers to have to worry about her.

Even more, I didn’t want to worry about her in the care of my helpers.

I dropped her off at her doggy daycare for an hour or two. Faye wasn’t there but others I knew were, including Al. Then, I drove along the winding, busy streets to the resort. It was late morning and I wouldn’t be able to spend a lot of time there.

I was also very aware that today, being Sunday, was the last day I’d have both helpers around for a while. Monday and Tuesday, respectively, were the days that Brenda had given her assistants off, since weekends were usually very busy. Last week, Dinah and Judy had both agreed to work both days, to get the two shops going, and I’d paid them a little extra—still thanks to Arvie’s generous loan.

I needed to start staggering their weekdays off, though. Tomorrow was Monday again, and only Judy would be here. She’d seemed okay with the idea of my leaving for short periods, maybe an hour at a time, so I could do brief stints at the clinic. I wasn’t sure if I was comfortable enough with anything longer, but I’d eventually have to get used to it, though not tomorrow. Tuesday was Dinah’s turn to work at the shops, and again I could test leaving for short periods.

All the more reason to do what I was doing today—and hopefully get some results. Otherwise, I’d be hard-pressed to find time to conduct any investigation on my own over the next couple of days.

And if I was hauled off to jail … Well, I wouldn’t even think about that. But when a hint of panic crossed my mind, I figured that, worst case scenario, I’d beg Judy and/or Dinah to give up some of their days off because of the emergency. Hopefully it wouldn’t be for a long time … But in that kind of situation, I wouldn’t have an opportunity to hire any additional employees to help them.

I reached the resort’s parking lot, took a ticket to enter, found a spot, and retrieved the treat bags from the floor of the back seat behind me. After locking the car, I took a few deep breaths and walked first to the end of the lot so I could see the lake. There were quite a few boats visible on the quiet blue water today. I sort of envied those on board.

But I’d have envied them more if this lake hooked up to the Pacific somehow and I could have gotten onto a boat and just sailed away, not worried anymore about being considered a murder suspect.

That thought startled me and I erased it from my mind. I loved it here in Knobcone Heights. I enjoyed my job as a vet tech. And I was full of hope and ambition for my new venture as a baker for dogs and humans.

Squaring my shoulders after repositioning my purse and steadying the bags I held, I headed for the closest entrance to the resort’s large lobby.

I pondered stopping by to say hi to Neal but decided against it. I didn’t know how well my presence would be accepted, and although our relationship was known to his superiors, they might forgive him for his potentially over-assertive sister’s presence if there was no indication he’d encouraged her. He wasn’t paid much and his hours weren’t always desirable, but it was a job, and his bringing some money in was better than none.

So instead, as I walked inside the spacious, crowded lobby, I headed toward the row of office doors near the registration desk. I wasn’t sure which Ethman I’d run into first, nor which one, if I had a choice, was most likely to go along with my scheme—and perhaps deign to hold a conversation with me.

Given my druthers, I’d prefer talking to Les Ethman, but I doubted he’d be here. Next choice was Walt Hainner, but he was probably out building or remodeling something.

Harris Ethman? Even if he was here instead of at the Emporium, he was unlikely to give me permission to pass out treats let alone talk to me civilly.

His parents? Maybe they’d be best.

But instead of finding either Susan or Trask, when I peeked into the office I saw only Elise Ethman Hainner sitting there. She was on the phone, but she noticed me right away and scowled.

Maybe this had been a really bad idea after all. But I was here. I had to give it a try.

And I realized that, on some level, my mind had settled on Elise anyway. She might be the best one to talk to since she knew all the players—plus Neal had said she was in charge of running the resort, at least for now.

So instead of scowling back, or fleeing, I gave her a huge smile and lifted up the bags I was holding as if she’d requested them. I made a motion to let her know I’d be waiting right outside her door.

And that’s what I did, making sure that though my back was to her she could see that I continued to stand there. I scoured the lobby and did, in fact, see a number of people with dogs on leashes, mostly small yapper types but a few medium-sized canines like Goldens and Lab mixes. I had an urge to approach one or two and start handing out my treats so I could demonstrate to Elise, when she emerged, exactly what my cover story here was, and show that it could garner a lot of interest from guests.

As it turned out, I didn’t have to approach any of them. A person who looked familiar—I’d met her at the vet clinic, so she must have been a local—was drawn in my direction by a gold-colored Pekingese on a leash. The small dog had her nose in the air and seemed to be smelling the treats. I realized then that she looked just like one of the visitors to the Barkery at our opening party; if it was the same dog, she might recognize my scent and the treats’ scent and be anticipating another handout.

“Hi,” said the owner. “You’re Carrie, aren’t you? I met you at the Knobcone vet clinic, and you’re also the lady who owns that Barkery, right? Phaedra remembers you.”

“And I remember Phaedra,” I said with a smile. I reached into one of the bags. “I brought some of my treats along today to see if I could introduce them to some other dogs here, but I’m delighted to share them with pups who’ve already had an opportunity to sample them.”

Phaedra seemed happy with one of the small apple-flavored biscuits I’d brought, and her excitement drew the attention of some of the other dogs in the lobby, as well as their owners. By the time Elise emerged from her office a little while later, I seemed to be the most popular person in the large, well-populated room.

“What are you doing here, Carrie?” she demanded.

I grinned. “I think that’s obvious. I brought some of my treats for your guests’ pets.”

She took my arm, smiling at some of those guests as she pulled me aside. I noticed a few sad-looking dogs watching and mentally promised them I’d be back.

“Are you trying to undermine Harris’s pet store by showing up here?” she demanded softly. “He has enough to deal with now that Myra’s gone. Or is that part of it? Maybe that’s why you killed her.”

My grin disappeared. I glanced around. A lot of people were watching us, not just the dogs, but Elise at least had the courtesy to keep her voice down as she accused me.

“I didn’t do anything to Myra but respond to her insults about my Barkery. And now—well, if Harris wants to give out treats to encourage people to come to the Emporium, fine. And if you’d think this through, you’d know that you’d be a better manager here, even a temporary one, if you gave people special, unanticipated benefits, especially for their beloved pets. I’m helping you here, Elise. Don’t you see that?”

I realized that I was laying it on a bit thick, but I was delighted to see Elise’s furious stare seem to melt a little. Did she feel a little insecure here in her role as substitute person-in-charge?

“Why don’t you come into my office for a minute, Carrie? I might let you pass out some of your treats afterward, but we’ll need to establish some rules.”

Rules I probably wouldn’t like. But what I did like was the opportunity to go into her office and ask a few questions. Maybe more than a few, about her and her family and … well, I’d just have to see how far I could go.

“Sure,” I said. “But first—”

I reached into one of my bags again and handed out small pieces of biscuit to the dogs who’d been waiting so patiently while we argued.

SEVENTEEN

I
SAT IN THE
chair Elise designated, across the desk from her.

“Would you like something to drink?” she asked. “Coffee? Water? Soda?”

That sounded a lot nicer than I’d been anticipating. “I’d love some coffee with cream,” I told her. I half expected her to tell me the price, but instead she lifted her phone receiver, pushed a few numbers in, and ordered my coffee and a latte, presumably for herself.

I’d wondered before what Elise did for a living—real estate sales? Nothing? Apparently her family trusted her enough to put her in this position, at least for now.

She was probably in her forties. I’d noticed how slender she was when she’d led the memorial service for Myra, in her black dress. Her hair was a deep blonde, probably not her natural color, and it waved softly about her face. She wasn’t beautiful, but neither was she unattractive. I figured that her excellent makeup job, with arched brows and perfect lashes and pink lips that were full but not huge, were probably at least partly thanks to her family’s wealth—which enabled visits to salons and purchases of the best brands of makeup.

Did that sound catty or jealous? I was neither. I didn’t really care, except that I felt relieved we were getting along now. Or at least she wasn’t still telling me how unwelcome I was here.

Did that mean it was time for me to ask some cagey questions about her family and how each of them had really gotten along with Myra? I’d have to use some finesse so I wouldn’t be totally obvious. But how much subtlety could there be in indirectly asking a person if she, or someone she was related to, had hated her sister-in-law enough to have killed her?