The Case of the Abandoned Aussie Page 8

  Oooh, Montreal. One of my favorite places. And I have a good friend from Montreal I haven’t seen in a long time. It was definitely a tempting offer.

  “What do you say, darling? We’ll put the Ferrari through its paces, do some great shopping, maybe catch an early dinner at Europea, and I can work on my French.”

  “Your French is terrible, Mom.”

  “Hence, my invitation for you to join me,” she said, beaming at me.

  I looked at Josie. “Ma mère ne sait même pas quand elle est d'être insultant.”

  “Je me suis toujours pensé qu'il était l'un de ses meilleures qualités,” Josie said, laughing.

  “What are you two talking about?” my mother said. “Speak English.”

  “Yeah, you’re going to work on your French,” I said, finishing my coffee.

  “So what do you say, darling? Feel like spending the day together? I’m buying.”

  “I would, Mom. But I’m buried with work today.”

  “Spoilsport,” she said in mock indignation. “Okay, it’s your loss. Is there anything you need?”

  “No,” I said. “I think I’m good.”

  “Really? That ratty bathrobe could certainly use an upgrade.”

  “My bathrobe is fine, Mom.”

  “If you say so, darling,” she said. “Have you given any more thought to a second date with Jerry?”

  Wow. I didn’t see that one coming. That’s the thing about having a conversation with my mother. Just when you think you’ve survived, she does a one-eighty and throws you a curve.

  “Yes, I have,” I said, glancing at Josie. “I’m considering it.”

  “That’s wonderful,” she said. “I’ll set something up and let you know. Leave everything to me.”

  “Geez, Mom.”

  She waved off my protest and headed for the door.

  “I have to run. You sure you don’t want me to pick up something nice for you?”

  “No, I’m good, Mom. But thanks.”

  “Okay. How about you, Josie?”

  “No, Mrs. C. I can’t think of anything I need.”

  “You two,” she said, shaking her head. “Always worrying about what you need. It is okay occasionally to get something just because you want it.”

  “I’ll try to remember that, Mom. Drive carefully. By that, I mean try to keep it under a hundred.”

  She laughed and departed with a wave. Josie started walking down the hill to the Inn. I headed inside, gave Chloe her morning snack, then showered and got ready for work.

  Chapter 15

  I parked on the side of the road, turned the headlights off but left the car running. I switched on the overhead light and looked at Josie in the passenger seat.

  “You ready?” I said, pulling the strap attached to my binoculars over my head.

  “I guess,” Josie said. “You want to run the plan by me one more time?”

  “It’s simple,” I said. “We’ll just climb over the gate and follow the road. There has to be a house back there, right?”

  “There’s only one way to find out,” Josie said, opening her door.

  I turned the car off, climbed out, and locked it. My phone rang. I considered letting it go to voice mail but checked the number.

  “My mother,” I said to Josie. I leaned against the car, put the phone on speaker, and answered the call. “Hi, Mom. How was Montreal?”

  “I’m still here, darling.”

  “Really? Did some charming French Canadian man make you an offer you couldn’t refuse?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t necessarily consider him charming, but he did make me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

  “I’m going to need some clarification, Mom.”

  “The man who made the offer was a cop. I’m in jail.”

  “What?” I said, shaking my head at Josie. “What on earth did you do?”

  “Apparently, 110 in a 60. The cop said I almost broke his radar gun.”

  “Geez, Mom. What is wrong with you?”

  “Don’t start, darling. I’m having a very bad evening.”

  “Okay, what do you need?”

  “I need to make bail. And the police won’t accept any of my credit cards. I think they’re being particularly snotty about the whole thing, but they’re holding all the cards. Literally. They confiscated all my credit cards. I feel completely violated. They even had the audacity to take the new Gucci bag I just bought.”

  “Yeah, cops are funny about things like that.”

  “I repeat. Don’t start.”

  “What do you need?”

  “I need you to drive up here and bail me out.”

  “Nice try, Mom,” I said. “Not gonna happen. What else do you need?”

  “Five thousand dollars.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Let me call my friend. Her name’s Marie. I’m sure she’ll help you out. Just remember to pay her back.”

  I unlocked the car, grabbed a pen and jotted the address of the jail down on my hand.

  “Okay, Mom. I’ll call her. Hopefully, she’s in town. I’ll give her your number as well. Hang in there.”

  “Thank you, darling.”

  “Hey, Mom,” I said, suddenly confused. “How come he didn’t just give you a speeding ticket?”

  “Well, I thought it would be a good time to try working some French into our conversation. You know, maybe he would take pity on me and go easy.”

  “Oh, no,” I said. “What did you say to him?”

  “I told him I thought he was a wonderful policeman.”

  “No, how did you say it in French?”

  “Let’s see. I said, Je pense que vous êtes un cochon sale.”

  Josie and I laughed.

  “Mom, you told him you thought he was a filthy pig.”

  “I did? Oh, my. Then I guess I can see why he got so mad. I think I better apologize to him.”

  “Yes, that would be a good start, Mom. But do it in English.”

  “Funny, darling. Go make your phone call, please.”

  “Hang tight, Mom.”

  “Thanks, darling. I’ll swing by in the morning and tell you all about it,” she said, hanging up.

  “She’s indestructible,” Josie said.

  “Yeah, she’ll probably end up with the phone number of the cop who arrested her.”

  I called my friend Marie, explained the situation, and she agreed to take care of my mother’s bail. We spent a few minutes catching up, pledged to get together soon, then I hung up. I turned my phone off, and Josie and I started walking up the hill that led to the chainlink gate.

  “My mother, the criminal,” I said, shaking my head.

  “She needs to rethink the Ferrari,” Josie said.

  “Yeah, she needs to get something a bit safer. Like a tank.”

  I turned on the flashlight as we neared the gate. We stepped over the chain that stretched across the road, and I turned the flashlight off. We headed up the dirt road in complete darkness.

  “Spooky,” Josie said.

  “Yes, but the flashlight is too bright to leave on. I don’t think it’s a good idea to announce our arrival.”

  “Okay, lead the way.”

  We continued up the road for several hundred feet. The only sound was our feet shuffling over the dirt and stone driveway. We saw a house with several lights on and two cars parked in front. Next to the house was another structure. I tried to make it out through the dim light.

  “What is that? A garage?” I said, coming to a stop on the side of the road near a strand of pine trees.

  “No, it’s not a garage,” Josie said. “It looks like a greenhouse.”

  “Makes sense,” I said. “A lot of people try to extend the growing season.”

  “Yeah,” Josie said. “How do you want to play it?”

  “Let’s head to the other side and get a little closer. From there we should be able to see through the front window.”

  Josie nodded and followed me across the road. We slowly made our
way to another strand of trees about a hundred feet from the house. We both raised our binoculars and scanned the house.

  “See anything?” Josie said.

  “Only about a thousand mosquitos,” I said, slapping at my arm. “I knew I forgot something.”

  “Bug spray would have been nice,” she said, also slapping herself. “Let’s get this over with.”

  I peered through the binoculars at the car parked outside the house.

  “Do you recognize either of the cars?”

  “No,” she said, staring through her binoculars. “Here we go. Now this is interesting.”

  “What?” I said, trying to follow her line of sight.

  “Downstairs. Second light on the right.”

  “Is that Carl the Gardener?” I said.

  “It certainly is,” Josie said.

  “I guess I just assumed that he lived on the island. You think this is his house?”

  “Well, if the greenhouse is any clue, that would be my guess.”

  “Then I wonder what Roxanne and Rosaline were doing visiting him late at night,” I said.

  “That is a good question,” Josie said. “Another one would be who is visiting him tonight.”

  I continued staring at the house through the binoculars. I scanned the kitchen and caught a glimpse of movement.

  “Kitchen. Last light on the left. Chef Claire appears to be cooking dinner,” I said, lowering my binoculars.

  “Can you tell what she’s making?” Josie said.

  I stared at her.

  “Really? That’s your question?” I said. “What’s she making for dinner?”

  “Never mind. It’s not important. What do you know? Carl and Chef Claire?” she said. “I didn’t see that one coming.”

  “What possible motive could they have to kill Crawford?”

  “No, I wasn’t talking about that. I meant I didn’t see the possibility of those two dating.”

  “Well, we don’t know if that’s what is going on. They work together. Maybe they’re just friends,” I said.

  We both focused our binoculars back on Carl who was stretched out on the couch in the living room staring intensely at something inside the house.

  “He’s watching TV,” Josie said.

  “Yeah,” I said, then saw Chef Claire enter the room and climb on top of Carl and kiss him hard. “Then again, maybe they’re really good friends.”

  Josie chuckled.

  “Okay, kids,” she said, staring through her binoculars. “Time to come up for air.”

  “So we know that Carl is getting busy with at least one of the women from the island.”

  “And maybe two, or even three of them.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Let’s go take a closer look while they’re preoccupied. I’d like to get a look at the greenhouse.”

  “Good idea,” Josie said, following me down the road that led to the house.

  We approached the greenhouse. It was big, covered with a dark plastic material, and locked tight.

  “Isn’t the idea of a greenhouse to let the light in?” I said.

  “Yeah, unless it’s being lit from inside,” Josie said.

  “You think he’s growing weed?” I said, scanning the outside of the greenhouse for any gaps that would let me take a peek inside.

  “That would be my guess,” Josie said. “And judging by the size of that thing, he’s growing a lot of it.” She looked around, then back at me. “Now what?”

  “Well, I’m not sure. Now we know who lives here. And we know that Carl and Chef Claire have got something going on. And that his interest in gardening isn’t confined to lawns and flowers.”

  “I think we should probably get out of here. I don’t think we’re going to learn anything else tonight. And I have no interest in watching them. Besides, I’m hungry.”

  “We could knock on the door. Maybe they’d invite us in for dinner,” I said, laughing.

  “Sure. Excuse us, Carl, but we were just passing by and thought we smelled chilidogs.”

  Josie chuckled under her breath; then I heard a low guttural sound.

  “Say, Josie?”

  “What?”

  “How hungry are you?”

  “I could eat.”

  “No, I mean, is that your stomach growling?”

  “I thought that was you,” she said. “Uh-oh.”

  “It’s a dog isn’t it?” I said, glancing over my shoulder.

  “That would be my guess,” she whispered. “A big dog.”

  The growl, coming from right behind us, intensified.

  “Sounds like a Rottweiler,” Josie said.

  “Yup,” Josie said. “Okay, Dog Whisperer, time for you to do your thing.”

  “I was hoping you’d have a suggestion. How do you want to play it?” I said, finally able to make out the beast’s outline in the darkness.

  “Very slowly,” she said, reaching into the pocket of her jacket.

  The dog started barking. Josie tossed a dog biscuit onto the ground. The dog stopped barking, and we heard a short burst of chewing. Then the beast barked twice before resuming the guttural growl. The front door opened, and Carl stepped onto the front stoop.

  “Max,” Carl shouted.

  The dog stopped barking and cocked its head at the voice.

  “What is it, Carl?”

  I recognized Chef Claire’s voice, and she appeared, half-dressed, next to Carl in the doorway.

  “He’s probably got something cornered out there. There’s been a raccoon hanging around that’s been driving him nuts.”

  “You need to go out there and get him?”

  “Nah, he’ll probably be fine as long as it isn’t a skunk or a porcupine.”

  “You want to make sure, or would you like a little appetizer before dinner?” Chef Claire said, wrapping her arms around his waist.

  “What do you think?” he said, turning around and leading her back inside.

  “Ah, the power of lust,” Josie said, then she turned and came face to face with the beast. “Max. Who’s the good boy?”

  Max wasn’t in the mood to chit-chat. He sat on his haunches and continued to growl as he stared at Josie. She tossed another biscuit in his direction. He snatched it out of mid-air and swallowed it whole.

  “Well, that’s all I got,” Josie said.

  “Hand me those biscuits,” I said, summoning up my courage.

  “Be careful,” Josie said, handing me the small plastic bag filled with dog biscuits. “You could lose a hand.”

  “Nah, he’s a good boy,” I said, slowly approaching the dog. “Aren’t you, Max?”

  The beast continued to growl, but it had softened. I slowly reached my closed hand forward, and Max stopped growling long enough to take a sniff. I then opened my hand and showed him the biscuit. He gently removed it from my hand, gulped it down, then sat at my feet and waited for another. I repeated the process. After three cookies, I rubbed his head and scratched his ears. I gave him another biscuit and Max decided he wanted a tummy rub. I scratched his stomach and gave him one more biscuit. I gave his head a final rub then stood and wiped my hands on my jeans.

  “Unbelievable,” Josie said. “How do you do that?”

  “I speak dog,” I said, laughing. “You ready to get out of here?”

  “Absolutely.”

  I began removing the rest of the biscuits from the bag. I gave one to the dog, then tossed them one at a time towards the greenhouse at varying distances. Max trotted off to start hunting them down.

  “Let’s go,” I said, starting the trek back toward the car. “What a cute dog.”

  “I’m starving. Let’s pick up a pizza on the way home,” Josie said.

  “Oooh, that sounds good,” I said, also feeling a hunger pang. “So what do we do with this new piece of information?”

  “File it away for now and just keep poking around?” Josie said, shrugging.

  “Yeah, that usually works,” I said, laughing. “I guess there’s just one m
ore question we need to answer tonight.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You want to get an extra large with pepperoni and mushrooms?”

  “You read my mind.”

  “Just call me the Vet Whisperer.”

  Chapter 16

  Sammy, our new summer hire, continued to impress us with his work ethic and love for dogs. As such, Josie and I had decided to accelerate his training and increase his responsibilities. At the moment, I was explaining how we put together our daily schedule as we toured the back section of the Inn where the dog condos were located. It was taking a while since I insisted on starting each morning personally visiting each dog to say hello.

  Some of my staff thought I was nuts to spend up to two hours rubbing bellies and getting licks and kisses from our diverse collection of four-legged fur balls, but if you can think of a better way to start the day, let me know. Chloe, trailing close behind, seemed to enjoy saying good morning as well.

  “Outside each condo, you’ll see that dog’s chart,” I said, handing one to Sammy. “The first thing you need to do is confirm whether the dog is a boarder, is here for a medical reason, or is one of our rescues.”

  “Got it,” Sammy said, entering a note on his iPad.

  “After you’ve done that, you need to cross reference it with Josie’s schedule for the day. If any of the dogs have a medical procedure scheduled, we don’t feed them in the morning, and we don’t let them outside to run with the other dogs.”

  “When can they resume their regular schedule?”

  “That’s a very good question, Sammy.”

  “Thanks,” he said, beaming.

  “Josie makes comments on each chart, and you should always check that first if you have any questions. And at the end of each day, we have a meeting where we review the day and discuss tomorrow’s schedule. It usually starts around five, and you should be there today.”

  “Is Josie at these meetings?” Sammy said, trying but failing to sound casual.

  Here we go. Another one completely smitten with Josie. I could set my watch by it. Meet Josie; fall in love. Unfortunately for him, being seventeen, Sammy would forever be confined to the realm of fantasy when it came to her. But I didn’t feel the need to discourage him. After all, he’s seventeen. And if you can’t dream big when you’re seventeen, what chance does one have?