Drool Baby (A Dog Park Mystery) (Lia Anderson Dog Park Mysteries) (9 page)

"I'll get it," Lia said.

When she set down the glass in front of him, Jim said, "So, we're 99% sure Bailey was set up. Agreed?" Lia and Peter nodded. Jim continued, "So far we have
a list of names of people that Bailey said knew about her key, and we have a print-out of the posts Bailey made at the Crystal Bridge web-site. And aside
from the doctored Depakote, that's all we have, correct?"

"Not exactly. Whoever killed Luthor took Lia's phone, and it only makes sense that they took it that day, after their argument at the park. Back then,
Lia made a list of everyone who had access to her bag that day. We think our perp will be on both lists, but that's not a given. However, they have to be
on Lia's list." Peter took his wallet out of his hip pocket and pulled out a folded scrap of paper that had been pressed flat from months of being sat on.

"Aw, you kept it," Lia mooned.

"I wished I could say I was being sentimental, but the truth is, I've never been satisfied with the way things went down." He unfolded the paper and put it
on the table.

"Hey, I'm on that list!" Jim exclaimed. "Guess that means I can't be alone with you, Lia."

"We can cross Jim off the list." Peter took a pen from a jar sitting on the table and struck a line through Jim's name.

"Why is that?" Lia protested. "How come you get to cross somebody off the list?"

"I can cross Jim off the list because he came to me in the first place. All he had to do was wait awhile, then tell Frank he had the meds analyzed and
there was nothing in them."

"He could be playing a very deep game, Detective. Maybe he enjoys toying with you."

Peter looked at Jim. "Do you enjoy toying with me?"

Jim put his hands over his ears again and started chanting, "Mea culpa, mea culpa . . ."

"I thought not." He leaned close, and said loudly, over the chanting, "You can take your hands down now.

"We can cross off Bailey and Catherine. Are we agreed, Madam Artist?"

"I guess so," Lia sulked.

"And Terry was in a wheel chair when Bailey was arrested. I think we can cross him off, too."

"Can't we leave Terry in?" Jim asked. "He squeezes into that kayak of his, I bet he could crawl through Bailey's window in a cast."

"You just want him to be a serial killer because he's a right wing Republican," Lia said.

"Moving along," Peter interrupted, "that leaves Anna, Nadine, Marie, Jose and Charlie."

Jim produced his folder and opened it to Bailey's list. He compared his list with Peter's, calling out names as he circled them. "Nadine, Marie, Jose, and
Charlie are on Bailey's list. Anna isn't."

"Jim, didn't Frank say that Jose and Charlie didn't know about the key?"

"Yep, but they're on the list because she figured they'd know how to break in without leaving signs."

"So we concentrate on Nadine and Marie as most likely," Peter said.

"Nadine? Lia scoffed. "You think she pulled this off in between babysitting her grandkids?"

"We can't take anything for granted. No matter how well you think you know them. Whoever is doing this is a pro, a real actor. They're good at getting
people to believe they're something they aren't. There's no getting around it. This person is someone you know and like. You can't take your feelings into
account here."

"So how do we start?" Jim asked.

"Let's do a little profiling first. What are some things we know about our perp?"

"Can we give him a name," Lia asked, "Or do we have to keep calling him 'our perp.'"

"What do you want to call him?" asked a frustrated Peter. "Goofy? Lassie? Marmaduke?"

"How about DPK, for Dog Park Killer," Jim said. "We could add vowels and call him 'Deepak.'"

"Sounds too much like Deepak Chopra," Lia said. "I can't stand him. I wouldn't mind seeing him as a serial killer, but I don't want to have to think about
him. He's too smarmy. Our serial killer is not smarmy."

"How about Cujo," Jim offered. "He's a killer dog."

"Too obvious. Our person doesn't act like a dog. They act like a cat. Cats are sneaky . . . . It should be a cat name. I know!" Lia exclaimed. We'll call
our killer 'Bucky.'"

"Bucky?" Jim and Peter asked simultaneously. They looked at each other and shrugged.

"Bucky is a cat's name?" Peter asked.

"From 'Get Fuzzy'. Don't you ever read the comic strips? Bucky has seriously twisted, psychopathic tendencies. He fantasizes about turning monkeys into
batteries."

"If you say so. Can you live with 'Bucky', Jim?

Jim shrugged.

"Fine," Peter continued, "let's figure out what we know about 'Bucky.' Who wants to take notes?" He held out a spiral notebook.

"I'll do it," Jim said, "because I don't want to hear an argument about girls having to be secretaries."

"Okay, first, Bucky is smart and organized," Peter said. Jim wrote the two words down, list style, in a column.

"Sneaky," Lia added.

"Good actor," said Jim.

"No access to prescription drugs," said Peter.

"Can get street drugs," Jim said.

"Connected with Lia, Bailey, Catherine, Luthor, and likely Terry," Peter said.

"Terry?" Lia asked.

"We can't count out Terry's accident. Terry was asking around about the gun. If 'Bucky' thought Terry was getting too close, Terry's fall might have been a
murder attempt," Peter said.

"Oh," Lia said.

"Which is why I'm so concerned about your safety. Yours, too, Jim."

"Meticulous," Jim said, hoping to head off another argument.

"Could get into Bailey's house without being noticed," Lia said.

"One more thing, the most important," Peter said.

"What's that?" Lia asked.

"He's done it before."

"I think I know the answer to this," Jim said, "but why do you say that?"

"He's too meticulous. This can't be his first time," Peter answered.

"So what do we do with this profile?" Jim asked.

"We keep this all in mind as we look at our suspects. I'll run off the background checks we did on everyone last summer."

"What are we looking for?" Lia asked.

"Whoever our perp . . . er . . . 'Bucky'. . ." Peter emphasized the name, "is, he didn't get that way overnight. Luthor's death was very well planned and
executed. As I said, it's likely Bucky has done this before and not been caught. There will be a questionable death somewhere. A family member, a
co-worker, a neighbor. Maybe we won't find it. Maybe all we'll find is a questionable attitude. Before Bucky got good at acting, he had to show his true
self at some time. Maybe we'll get lucky and hear about missing or dead pets."

"Why dead pets?" Jim asked.

"Serial killers, and I think you'll agree Bucky is likely to be a serial killer, often start by torturing or killing small animals when they're young. So
if we can go back far enough, say, to adolescence, we could get lucky there. Or fires. Some serial killers were fire starters as children."

"You've given this a lot of thought," Jim said.

"So, are we just supposed to walk up to Nadine's old neighbors and ask them if she strangled hamsters as a hobby?" Lia asked with an arch look.

"I wish it were that easy. We need to come up with a pretext, something like an award of some kind, and we're looking at the candidates' characters. Or
perhaps we're vetting them for some kind of local public office."

"Why can't we just say they're a whozit," Jim said, snapping his fingers, "a person of interest in a case?"

"Number one, there is no case, not officially, and number two, if they still have contact with our suspect, we want to give them a good reason not to tell
our target about the interview. If it's an award and it's supposed to be a surprise, hopefully they won't. We want there to be some kind of reward for our
suspect, so if they have reason not to like the person, they'll want to spill the dirt and ruin their chance for the reward.

"We don't want to suggest it's a police matter. People often don't want to get involved with police business."

"That's going to take some thinking," Jim said.

"This sounds really complicated," Lia commented.

If you want out, just say so. I'll keep looking on my own. It'll take longer . . ."

"No, no, I'm in," Jim said hastily.

"Don't be pulling that," Lia said. "I make my own schedule and Jim's retired. We're much more flexible than you are. And you're already working overtime,
chasing down creeps. I'm not going to take an easy out on this."

"Even if I wish you would?"

"Even so. Look, with more help, it'll get done faster, right?"

Peter reluctantly nodded.

"And just because Bucky doesn't know we're onto him, doesn't mean he's stopped, does it?"

Peter sighed, "No, probably not."

"So I'm safer if we find Bucky sooner, right?"

"Maybe, maybe not. You could slip up and Bucky would be onto you. Then where would you be? I'd be out a girlfriend."

Jim put his hands over his ears. "Mea culpa, mea culpa . . . ."

"Relax Jim." Lia pulled his hand off one ear. "We'll continue this after you leave. But I'm in, you can count on it."

"You're in if I'm staying here for the time being," Peter bargained.

"If you're staying here," Lia bargained right back, "it's because your plumbing is broken."

"Why is that?"

"Because if you just move in, I'll have to be all lovey-dovey about it, and I'd rather bitch like hell. And you get to sweep up all of Viola's fur. She
sheds like she's undergoing chemo."

Peter figured the plumbing ruse wasn't all bad. While Jim could be taciturn, Lia was moody and he expected the investigation to upset her. She wasn't good
at hiding her feelings. That was why he would have preferred not to tell her about Bailey's meds. The plumbing scenario allowed her to be as moody as she
liked and blame it all on him. Everyone knew she was leery of cohabitation and they hadn't been dating long. Everyone would just figure she was having
intimacy issues and no one would think she was being strange. Not that he would tell Lia any of his thinking about this.

They planned to meet again the next evening to put together their thoughts about their list of suspects, and ideas regarding how to pursue their covert
investigations. This would also give him and Lia a chance to settle in and get over any jitters.

He watched Jim walk to his car, then shut the door. He turned to Lia and took her hands in his. "You all right, Babe?"

"Babe is a pig. Wanting to protect me from a big bad serial killer does not give you the right to act like a Neanderthal.

"My bad. Is the big, dumb cop allowed to give his best girl a hug, anyway?"

"I don't see any big, dumb cops, but you can hug me if you want to."

He gathered her close and brushed his face against her hair. "I'm really sorry about all this. I can bunk on the couch if you want me to. I just wouldn't
ever get any sleep at my place, I'd be too worried about you. Bucky likes to strike at night."

She turned her face so that their lips met, then nipped him.

"Ow!"

"Okay, I forgive you for being overprotective, for now."

"Mea culpa," he whispered into her hair. "Mea culpa," he kissed her temple. "Mea maxima culpa," he met her lips, and this time she didn't bite.

Lia was sitting on her usual table in the dog park when Anna climbed up next to her. "You look awfully grumpy for someone who got to kiss the handsome
Detective Peter this morning."

"How do you know I saw Peter this morning?"

"I see Viola chasing Honey, but I don't see Peter. That means you brought her. That means you saw him. That's supposed to put you in a good mood."

"Peter's staying with me for a while. They're redoing the plumbing in his apartment, so he needed somewhere to go. You know these old Victorians. They're quaint, but
something always needs work. Apparently the person who originally split the house up into apartments did it the cheap way. He won't have any water at his place for at least a week, probably longer." Lia realized she was babbling, and stopped.

"And this is upsetting because?"

"I already feel like I can't breathe. I'm just not used to having someone around all the time. The two-family I live in doesn't have enough room for all of
us."

"You have dogs around all the time."

"They're different. They don't make fun of my television viewing pleasures. I want to watch 'The Bachelor' in peace."

"You watch that trashy show?"

"I always did love a good cat fight."

"Lia, I don't believe you!"

"What? It's not like I'm watching 'Jerry Springer'. Every weekend, he likes to lay around watching grown men get excited over a stupid ball. Why can't I
watch a little girl-sport?"

"Well, that's true. What other despicable things does our handsome detective do besides ridicule your choice of entertainment?"

"Oh, he's not despicable. He doesn't have the decency to be despicable. Not yet, anyway. The most annoying thing is that he's so accommodating, I have
nothing to complain about. So far, anyway. I'm just not looking forward to thinking about another person. I can't just go into the kitchen and get
something to eat, I'll have to ask if he wants something and instead of eating an apple, I'll be fixing dinner. It's going to throw my rhythm off. I'm at
that stage in Renee's project where I just want to work for hours and live on carrot juice and green tea."

"Ugh. I'm glad it's him and not me. I think you'll find having him around is not nearly so bad as you anticipate."

"I like my space. And my privacy."

"And you'll get them back. Meanwhile, I assume he's getting a break in his rent, so he can pay for dinner and take some of the burden off you."

"Yeah, whatever." Lia knew she was being bitchier than the situation warranted, but there was so much she couldn't talk about. Since it was Peter's fault,
it made sense to use him to dump her frustrations.

"So how is Renee's project coming?" Anna asked.

"Jose and I will be planting the the pole next week. I'm still working on the design. I'm hoping to get the main part done before it freezes. If not, we'll
have to wait until spring."